Breaking Down Combine Workouts with Kent Platte and NFL News Picks Up

your Miami Dolphins. How's it going? Everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield, And on today's show, we are putting a bow on the combine and some draft notes until after free agency calms down from the first week or two of activity. We're gonna welcome in our annual guest and Kent Platt of the Relative Athletics Scorecard to help us

break down the on field workouts. Plus we have to talk about the crazy week that has been in the National Football League, franchise tag deadline, major quarterback news, and the impact on the new league year. Coming your way next week with wall to wall coverage here on the Drivetime Podcast and all over Miami Dolphins content avenues from somewhere in South Florida. This is the Drive Time Podcast. We start here with some Dolphins news and we'll get

to the league news here in just one second. But we start with some tendered exclusive rights free agents. Defensive back Elijah Campbell, who joined the club mid season last year and really became one of the core special teamers and was an absolute maven in that role for that matter, watching him on tape, he was consistently getting down on tackles and getting off blocks and just doing the work, the dirty work that kind of goes unnoticed on the third phase so often, and you can never have enough

defensive backs, especially when they function that highly on special teams. And then also running back Savan Akhmed, who you might recall began his career with the forty Niners as a U d F. A out of you, Dub and Mike McDaniel. There with the Niners, he'll get a chance to show this staff what he can do. And what I've always thought that Savan could do is hit home runs. He has electric speed and acceleration to the perimeter and otherwise.

What game was that last year? I think it was the Panthers where I thought he was a shoe string tackle away two separate occasions from hitting the big run. You bring that single high safety down, you get it blocked up, well, you make one guy miss at the second level, and you can hit some home runs in the running game, and we know how much I love big plays in the running game. And then also his

factoring into the passing game. Remember that wheel route he caught against the Bears from Jacoby Brissette last preseason for a touchdown. That happened almost daily in camp, and I always wanted to see him get more of those looks and get another opportunity to see just more of what he can do. And we'll get that opportunity here this offseason to watch him in the offseason camps and up

to training camp. Then, of course, nothing can become official sands players who were outright released agreeing to terms with new clubs, but nothing else can become official until the new league year. You might recall Alex Smith's trade back in or the Matt Stafford trade last winter. Both of those went down within a week of the Super Bowl, per reports, right, couldn't make it official until the new league year. Then we saw them officially executed on you know,

in mid March. And it's not like that's some new thing. I mean, I remember the Sam Bradford trade to was it Minnesota, No, it was the one before that was the Eagles trade But that was which leads me into the first point I have about all the news that went down on Tuesday. Actually first in case this is the only football content you consume, and if it is, we thank you. But here's the news that happened. So Aaron Rodger, Rogers ROJ will reportedly sign a new contract

to stay with the Packers, probably until he retires. Right the contract has had to be four years, which will take him well into his forties. And how cool was the reaction to that news and kind of a peek behind the curtain in terms of how these NFL front offices and executives are just always working trying to find the best way possible to improve their football teams. I mean, the Rogers links to Denver, especially with Nathaniel Hackett there,

they were quite strong. And then that began in earnest, long before that last year on Draft night, when those reports first surfaced that Rogers might be interested in a trade out of Green Bay. I'll never forget being at the stadium for Draft night and the draft party. It was all we could talk about. Whether I was talking to alumni, fellow media members, people fans at the stadium.

Everyone was buzzing about the potential Aaron Rodgers trade that was supposed to go down that night on Draft night. It never did. It never materialized, and here he is now back with the Packers. But that was all we could talk about it. It took up the headlines at sure as hell, takes up the a block of so many syndicated radio shows I'm a fan of, and it

grew a little bit tiring. But that shoe dropped. Then the bigger shoe dropped in the Russell Wilson trade, which again this gives you the idea, you know, the Broncos so heavily linked to Aaron Rodgers. That gets announced, and just a couple hours later, the Russell Wilson trade has been announced, and you know, much of the dismay of my friends back home in the Emerald City and the

breathtaking Pacific Northwest. He is a Seahawk. No more. Seattle and Denver strike a trade that sends the future Hall of Fame quarterback. I feel pretty comfortable saying that to the Rocky Mountains in exchange for and it's a lot. There was a fourth fifth round pick swap. Let's get

that out of the way. But Seattle gets Denver's first rounders, and that's the ninth pick this year, and that, to me is where the real value there comes, because you know, even if the Broncos don't play too I think what their expectation would be. Even even in that instance, you have to assume like seven eight wins minimum, which puts you in the teens of the following draft. So the ninth pick is probably not guaranteed, but probably the highest

pick the Seahawks will get from that hall. Now, when we got the picks from Houston for the Larrymie Tunzill Kenny Stills trade, I think there was always the potential for those Texans teams to have what amounted to, you know, a Murphy's Law type of season, right where everything goes wrong, because they had injuries to DeAndre Hopkins, to j J. Watt, to so many crew crucial players on that roster. And that was without an injury to the starting quarterback who

played all sixteen games that year. And that's I mean, that's why it's somewhat insane that with Dolphins wound up with a third pick and ultimately Jalen Waddle and Javon Holland and another first round pick in more on us here in just a minute. So can the Seahawks use that ninth pick to a whire more draft capital this year? Maybe maybe my buddy Mitch from back home might lose

his mind if that happens. In fact, I told him I might mention him on the podcast and the idea of them moving back, and if you know the Seahawks, they move back in the draft all the time. And he says, if they find a way to trade all the way out of the first round altogether, that he's looking or that I'm looking rather at the newest Miami

Dolphins fans. So Mitch, come join us, my friend. But the Seahawk get the two first rounders, they get to second rounders, They get Shelby Harris, a damn fine player. They get no Offense who I think has all kinds of ability that has not yet shown itself in the National Football League in terms of his upside and production. And they also get Drew Lock, the former second round

pick there of the Denver Broncos. And with that Jimmy Johnson trade value chart that we consult so often on this podcast, on Twitter and really across the football landscape, that's a suggestion these days. Right, the value that we have to evaluate off of is really just the recent trade. So that brings me back to this point, a trade the Dolphins made back in tween that the sun has still not set on in the Larry me Tunsel Kenny Stills trade two first round picks and a second round pick,

which again Waddle and Holland are part of that. Hall feel pretty good about that. Some mid round swaps and some players swaps. You know, Johnson Batamosi was part of that trade, a special teams player and defensive back to that nineteen Dolphins team. And again you should also mention Kenny Stills because he was a heck of a player and he his name often gets buried in revisiting that trade, but he was a big piece for that Texans offense

as well. But I mean, we're talking about quarterback value for a non quarterback and maximizing the opportunities you have to get well above market value when the opportunity presents itself.

And now, if you look at reports circulating out there, like lances are lined for instance from NFL dot Com, who does radio in Houston and as as plugged in and Houston as anybody across the National Football League suggesting that Larry me Tunsil might be available for a trade this offseason, and he floated the idea of potential late

first round pick to make that happen. Like, I mean, that's that's about the value you see from Orlando Brown, from a even a Frank Clark of you know, non quarterback, big time producer that was traded at you know, before a contract came up. And what do you see who with the quarterbacks who get dealt in these blockbuster trades. I think Matt Stafford's going anywhere from Los Angeles an

time soon. He'll be there forever. Probably do you think Russell Wilson's gonna play anywhere but Denver for a while. I mean, he had to sign off on a no trade provision to let this deal happen. You have to think the Rams and Broncos respectively, feel like they have their quarterbacks for the next seven eight years minimum. Stafford was acquired for two first round picks and a third But another big part of that trade was offloading the

Jared Goff contract. But from a picks perspective, it was literally less than what Miami got for Laramie Tunzil, and we talked about this roster on the podcast a lot, right. You know the names, Christian Wilkins going back to nineteen injury, Van Ginkel to a big rob Ray Kwon Davis, Brandon Jones,

Jalen Waddle, given Philip Javon Holland. In a lot of ways, that trade set the table for the Dolphins to have this run of draft success where they're picking up big time contributors on rookie contracts and really having those guys be primary producers on this roster. The flexibility you gain from that and the fact that you're still profiting off that that trade and future draft picks. It creates a

level of flexibility. It creates a level of, well, we can go after this position because we know we have more picks here. It's just ms that's definition of flexibility. But it really set the table for Miami to get themselves into this position where they have the most caps based on the National Football League, the least amount of dead cap in the National Football League, a whole bunch of young players on rookie contracts who are big time producers in the system. That's a big part of it.

So that's the Dolphins lens on that and frankly, I'm excited to have another year of someone else's first round pick. It always adds an element of excitement to that particular season. Now, Wilson to the a f C is well, I mean this conference and the balance of quarterback play is it's tough that division. Someone asked me this or asked this question on Twitter. I should say, is this the best

quarterback division of all time? And I saw some references to the nineties a f C East with Marino, Kelly Bledsoe, Assaissin, a Siasen and Hardbaugh. That's pretty good, But I think I might lean towards this one right now. I mean Mahomes, Wilson, Herbert Carr, Derek Carr would probably be minimum the second best quarterback. And like a lot of divisions in the National Football League, the majority of divisions, and you can certainly make the argument that he would come in forth

and an a f C West quarterback power rankings. And this is a guy that I had firmly, very firmly among my top ten quarterbacks this season ago just insane. The balance of power there by the way we played the a f C North this year, but we've seen ten wins come up short of a playoff birth. We've seen nine wins come up short of a playoff birth.

We've seen the team have back to back winning seasons result in zero playoff berths, the first team to do that since well US in two thousand to two thousand three. And that speaks to the balance of power between the conferences the last two years. And this a f C gauntlet,

So no one said it was gonna be easy. Lots of work to be done for every club, obviously across the National Football League, but it did get a little bit harder with Mr Unlimited coming to the a f C. Alright, that wasn't the only news we talked about Mike Gasicki's franchise tag on the last edition of the Drivetime podcast. There was some more that went down. Mike Gasicky, Dalton Schultz, the Cowboys, David Najoku from the Cleveland Browns, the tight

end market there depressed a little bit. Davante Adams, Chris Godwin, Jesse Bates, Cam Robinson, and Orlando Brown. So the tight end market takes a bit of a hit, But that makes you feel better about Mike Asiki coming back, Adams with Rogers and that contract. Both those guys will have on like on the tag and and the extension that Roger is reported to receive. That would be fun to

watch how the Packers piece that thing together. Two very very expensive players and too well, the best probably the best quarterback in the best receiver in the National Football League. So with Adams and Godwin going off the market and Mike Williams signing an extension with the Chargers on a MEGAMEGA deal, that deeplets the receiver market a little bit.

Which we're gonna do an updated version of some of those free agent primers we did, was it a month ago and give you a better vision of what it looks like now come the new league gear. So those guys off the market, Calvin Ridley obviously was mentioned among reports as guys that might be available for trade. Strike that idea. That's four guys at the receiver position that we're inside Pro Football Focus is top twenty available free agents, and not a free agent but a guy that was

rumored to be potentially on the move. So four of those top guys out of the equation now and just some late breaking news into the podcast as I'm recording, Carson wentz It sounds like we'll be going from Indianapolis back to the NFC East for the Washington Commanders, so some more quarterback movement here in the league. The dominoes continue to fall. So we'll have all of that stuff covered for you here on the Drivetime podcast in the coming days and the coming weeks here as the new

league your kicks off next week. And look, I want to make an apology here real quick to the Miami Heat and Heat fans everywhere, because I was caught up in the hysteria of the NFL offseason, which is, in all honesty, the second best season of sports behind the NFL season, and so I tweeted that all other sports are just passing time between the NFL's tent pole events. But you guys know, I'm all in on the Miami Heat.

Let's go Heat, baby, and they're run to the finals as there's a drive deep to left and I'll make it a four oh ball game. So, like I said, we'll revisit this next week. I also want to hear from you. Put your questions in the Apple podcast reviews. I'll answer the five star ratings on our mail Bag podcast next week. Also, I'll put a tweet out for that and get some written questions on the Miami Dolphins dot com web page to get as many of your

questions answered as we can. But coming up next back to the Combine, my annual guest Kent Platt, the creator of the Relative Athletics scorecard that's coming your way next here on the Drivetime Podcast brought to you by Auto Nation. Back here on the Drive Time Podcast, brought to you by Auto Nation, and I am thrilled to be joined as I am annually by This is off my show notes Kent. But the best mustache I've seen so far

in the whole zoom process. He is Kent Platt, the creator of one of my of my favorite draft resource that's out there in the Relative Athletics Scorecard. Kent first, welcome fantastic mustache. And to kick it off, rather than me explaining r A S, why don't you go ahead and give the audience here a quick rundown on what exactly r A S is. Yeah, great, I'm glad that

you have me and I always love coming back. Relative Athletics score was created to be a way to contextualize the metrics that we get at the Combine days every year. It's very easy to use all those buzzwords like oh, this guy is quick but not fast, or this guy is explosive and and that type of stuff doesn't really mean anything. It's just words that they throw around. But then you see the times, the actual raw metrics, and

those don't really mean anything to most fans either. If I if I tell you that a wide receiver ran a four or five two, that doesn't really mean that much. But if I tell you a wide receiver ran a four five two and a defensive end ran at four five two, well that's the same time. That's that's that's good for both, right, Well, it's it's okay for a wide receiver, whereas for a defensive end that's a fantastic time.

And RAS does a great job of contextualizing that, because your score at a receiver for four or five two is gonna be just about average, a little bit above average, but for a defensive end that's gonna be very very high. Because for a defensive end that's a much more impressive score. Everything's rated on a zero to ten scale. Everybody can understand zero to tend. Zero is never good, tend is always good. When you zero it's end um and everything's

color coded. You know, it's got the whole style Blake colors, color scheme, red, yellow, and green, and people can figure that stuff out on their own too. So the idea was to create something that was very fan facing and very easy to understand, and I think it's done a pretty good job of that over the last couple of years. I think without question it has especially the red, the red, green, yellow.

Man Like, every time I type in a player, like a for instance, on draft night, if the Dolphins draft someone that I'm not intimately familiar with their game, I'll already as that thing, find it out, and then it's all green. It's like, all right, here we go. Now we're talking. Now we're cooking with guests. And so that kind of brings me to a question I was curious about, Kent, and I don't know if there is an answer to this or not. I'm just kind of kind of going

off script again on you. I apologize for that, but it fascinates me so much. I was just wondering, do you find, uh, you know, certain certain indicators, or is there a certain way to score or measure ultimately the success of draft picks or players. That ties back to RASS because you know we've talked. We talked about this off air. You don't have to have elite testing numbers to be a great NFL player, like Xaviing was a player who who wasn't a high RAS scre one of

the best cornerbacks in the National Football League. But have you kind of over the years, because this goes back to ven, have you kind of put together something in your mind about like, Okay, I know that when a player does this, this, and this, it tends to equal that or does that not exist in this project. It's hard because when you're trying to explain and everybody wants it to be like, well, higher number means better, so if I get this, I should get this, and it

doesn't really correlate in that way. Everything's kind of threshold based and you can really see it. I actually put it up on the site now on the main page at r S Football. You can actually sort by Pro bowlers or by thousand yard receivers or thousand yard rushers or different pass rushers have ten sacks in the season, and you'll see it immediately because the majority of those guys are going to be in the green so it shows you that there's a correlation over time for guys

to test really well. But that doesn't mean that a guy tests well and he's gonna do well. It just generally means that if a guy does well, he probably tested well. So it kind of worked the other way around. And once you get that kind of mindset, it really helps to project because you're never gonna look just at

testing numbers. You're always going to go back to the tape and see what else is there, Because whether a guy tests well or he tests poorly, if he's got good tape, that's the guy that you're going to be considering. Drafting for your football team is just weighing the risk based on tons of different factors, of which athletic testing

is one. No, it makes perfect sense. And and for me, you know, knowing those kind of comparison cards, like I told you, I use this tool not just during draft season, but sometimes in season when I'm trying to think about particular matchups for for the team, Like, for instance, if they have a super athletic, long speed type of receiver, I might think about Byron Jones because of how athletic he is and how he might match up in that

skill set. So it's fascinating stuff, can't We're just getting started here, and before we do get started, you know, I wanted to look at maybe some current dolphins and where they checked in to kind of help develop that shared aesthetic for both you and I but also for the audience. And again, where else would you start besides Byron Jones, who broke all kinds of combine records and even a world record on the broad jump? What about his r as? That really kind of I guess just

walk us through Byron Jones and and the rest scorecard. Yeah, Byron Jones actually broke bras. The original calculation that I had for for RAS was broken by Byron Jones because his his twelve foot three inch broad jump was so much higher than the next best guy that the old calculation that used just just wasn't sufficient an before. But Byron Jones came out with a with a straight tent because I think he came out as a safety originally

and then transferred transition quarterback cornerback. Um, but he's got a nine point nine nine and almost all of his stats are above nine. Anything above eight is considered elite tier, that top and he's above nine on almost all of his metrics, and the ones that he's not above nine on, he's still above eight on every single metric. Is green. You know, this isn't a guy that came out messing around when it came to his combine testing. He he wanted to blow everything out of the water, and then

he did. He definitely did that. Another guy that we just saw it get the franchise tag for the Miami Dolphins, and Mike get Sicky. He had similar testing numbers, which surprised nobody who knew about his basketball, his volleyball, his college tape background. But what about Mike A. Sicky? Where did he check in among tight ends all time? I guess since A seven. He came in at nine point nine seven, which was the second highest for tight ends, so he got a second or third, but it was

one of the highest all time for tight ends. He tested, like you said, extremely well and ending, and the only thing he did had that that didn't really compare favorably was his weight. But that's a that's a historical thing, because that's been trending downward for tight ends for quite a while now, for at least the last seven or eight years, where tight ends have gotten a little bit more lean and a little bit faster, a lot faster um and Gauziki ran a four point five four, which

was nine seven percentile for a tight end. You know, he was very fast, very quick, very agile, and very explosive at a four be one inch for you know, all of his numbers were good. And if if your worst thing is I mean he's a little skinnier than those guys from back in the nineties. If that's the worst thing that you can say about a guy, I think you're doing all right. Yeah, exactly right. And you

know we're speaking of skinny and larger guys. I mean, we'll talk about Jordan Davis here in just one second. My want to combine that guy had but at that same position group and one of the fan favorites down here is Christian Wilkins. And again going back to previous evidence him doing the splits at the National Championship game, you probably how to fill in that guy was pretty limber and pretty athletic. How did he do and rest?

And he's such a likable dude, Christian Wilkins coming out, Um, Wilkins actually got an elite score, but he didn't have a ton of elite individual testing metrics, which I love these types of guys because this isn't a guy who comes out here and he's just blowing your way with one big thing. But he's he's better than pretty much everybody at everything. He's he doesn't have any any individual flaws from an athletic standpoint, and it's really great to

see guys that do that. You know, he's above average in his speed, and his explosiveness and his agility. None of those are elite marked, but all of them are really good, and that to me, that tracks to really who he is as a player. He's just really good at everything. And he really flashed some elite level run defense this year as well too, So seeing him kind of come into his own and get better every single year.

Is there anybody else out there you want to throw in that I'm forgetting on the Dolphins roster that just kind of blew your mind on the scorecards, Javon Holland was a guy that came out and just blew out testing. I mean, he had a nine point five four. He had really good speed, really good explosiveness. Um, you kind of expected that when you watched him on tape because he's very clearly a fast and explosive guy. Hunter Long

was notable. I know you guys already had Gisicky, but but whenever you drafted tight end, tight end is the most, uh, the most correlated position when it comes to athletic testing and success in the NFL. And when you draft the tight end, you you just should go after the better athletes. It's it's it's play and the numbers, right, you want to play the numbers. Um. And how the Long came out in the class that didn't really have quite as many top tier athletes, UM, but he was. He scored

really well on explosiveness and great in his speed. UM. You know, four seven one doesn't even it doesn't sound as great as it used to because we're so used to these ridiculous guys like the Zicky coming out now. But four seven one is still really really good for a sight end. Um. It's just below eightieth percentile UM. And you get a guy like that and you compare him with some body with like Kisiki, that's that's that's

putting some weapons on your football field. UM. And then of course Jalen Phillips came out last year Jalen Phillips Um posted a nine point eight seven, one of the highest all times for a pass rusher. All of his numbers were really good except for his bench, but he's got longer arms, so guys longer arms but usually have the best benches. All of his other numbers were fantastic. They were they were elite speed, elite explosion, great agility drills.

I mean, you just can't go wrong with that kind of athletic profile, and we saw that translates to breaking the Dolphins rookie sack record this last season with eight and a half sacks for Jalen phillips You really kind of caught my attention there with the hunter long stuff and the idea behind the athletic tight ends. I wasn't aware of that. So that position group by the numbers, just traditionally and historically looking back, is typically favors the

more athletic player. That's what you're saying. Yeah, it's it's not very common that you have a tight end that finds a whole lot of success in the NFL that doesn't have an elite profile. We've got a couple of guys recently who didn't have that top tier profile. You're Jimmy Graham's, your Rob Groundkowski's. Um zach Ertz is probably the most notable one. He didn't have that elite profile. Mark Andrews was close, but he didn't have an elite

profile either. But most tight ends who find success in the NFL, even a little bit of success, are elite testers. These are your best athletes that you can get on a football field. UM, there are no good examples of a tight end who didn't test well and found significant in NFL success. The the one guy that we had was a Jordan Read from Washington, and he was injured coming out and then injured for a good deal of his NFL career. But he just barely qualified and was

below average. UM. Everybody else that's found significant NFL success. And when I see significant nflos success, I'm talking about yardage benchmarks because that's something I can track. UM, and and he had it's just a seven and fifth yards season or better, and nobody else has had. It's there's this there's just so rare. You're very into the qualifile of metrics, aren't you. There, Ken I I don't blame you for that. With numbers, it's a tough sport to quantify.

So that's why I saw. I'm a huge fan of of what you and your team do over there, Ris, But um, you know, let's let's go ahead and pivot now to the actual draft class this year and can I went down and just I found team needs on CBS sports dot com and they list an offensive line, running back, receiver, and uh, the linebacker position. So let's go ahead and just focus on those four here for this particular podcast. And let's go ahead and start at

the running back position. And I want to hear just about guys that really kind of popped in R A S but also the question I had specifically about Iowa States Bruce Hall, because I know he's for sure going

to be on your list. And I heard a stat today again going off script, once you get on you here on the podcast Around the NFL podcast talked about how his measurements in terms of his I think it was his next gen score was like Sae Kwon, Barkley, Reggie Bush, Derrick Henry and forgive me forgetting the rest of the class, but all guys that have had really good NFL careers, is that kind of the mold you found him in in the r A s Well he

posted a nine point nine five. Okay, you can't, you can't get a whole lot better than that, but he falls within a really good, a really good group of testers who became those top tier types of rushers. Uh, you're you're really just talking about size and speed and explosiveness.

The running backs all skipped the agility drills this year, do some some scheduling stuff with their combine, but he ran a four three nine, which is any thing sub four four is we've kind of lost how rare that that trade is, and it's gonna it's gonna seem even more common after this combine because there were so many fast runners of this combine. But it's it's nine seven percentile at the running back position to run under a four four that's that's not something that's common. That's that's

that's the highest three percent you can get. Um. And then his explosive drills, where ninety three percentile for his Verton is broad. You've got a guy who can plan his foot in the ground and then get up to a very high top speed very quickly. That's useful in the NFL UM and he's not a small back you know, he's not a huge bruiser, but you know, five eleven two d and twelve pounds or two hundred and seventeen pounds, that's not small. That's the guy that can that can

mix it up. So you've got that speed and you've got some size there, you can do a lot of damage with that three down back. With tons and tons and tons of college production. Another guy that had a lot of college production this last season. What's really in the Heisman Canada? Uh watched their towards the end? Was he goes by Kenny Walker the third now not Kenneth Walker from Michigan State. Where does he kind of check in and and just kind of give us the the

over over? What's the what's the term looking for here? The bird's eye view of geez, Travis, you do words for a living, the bird's eye view here of this running back class and how they stack up traditionally to the rest of running back classes going back to seven. Yeah, I'm very familiar with Kenny Walker. I actually live just just down the street from from the Michigan State campus runter. So um, you know he also ran us up for

for um. The big question for him coming in was whether or not he had that kind of breakaway speed and running for Stile Courtier a bath that kind of that answers that question. Um, he brings much of the similar stuff that that we saw with Breece Hall. You know, he's not quite as big, but he's a little bit more compact. He's a little bit more thickly built. So, you know, Breeze Hall might be maybe a rocket. Kenneth Walker is a little bit more like a bowling ball.

Shout out of the rocket, that's too good, that's too good. What about? What about? You know, just kind of thinking about where this where the draft might come off in terms of Dolphins have picked twenty nine, pick fifty. You never know where the running back goes. It tends to be like a cavalcade. Once one guy goes, a few more go and that's just how it kind of seems

to to materialize in the NFL draft. Who else do you like that maybe isn't catching that, you know, end of the first round buzz that kind of had a good workout and might have boosted their stock a little bit. Rashad White out of Arizona State posted some really good numbers. He he didn't have a sub four three, but he had a sub four or five. Still a very very good time for running back, great explosive drills. But I don't really hear his name talked about a whole lot.

He's a guy that I think could get a little bit more puzz um. I guy that I don't I didn't really talk about before. And he didn't put up an elite score. Um was tyle rology or from from the y U. And the thing about his profile wasn't that he had some elite profile, but he has a common profile that has worked out in the NFL. UM he ran a four or six, which isn't we're impressive on its own, it's kind of kind of midground for a running back, but he had a really good broad

jump and he's over to twenty. There aren't a lot of running backs that have done that type of testing that are about a four six, really good broad and over to twenty. But the ones that have your Levian Bells, your Montgomery's from the Bears, um C J. Anderson from from a couple of years back. Those types of guys have made it in the NFL and carved that a pretty easy niche. And it's a fairly common profile amongst

successful backs. So he's a guy I might look out for if you're not if you don't end up with an elite tier athlete. It's just a guy that fits a common NFL mold. Yeah, the running back position really seems to be one of those where it's just kind of about like your tape right, the way you run the football and your vision and field and those are very very difficult things to quantify. Kemp Platt here at

math bomb on Twitter r A S dot Football. We're gonna go ahead and take our last break and then come back on the other side, talk about the receiver's offensive line as well as linebacker position. Here on the Drivetime Podcast brought to you by Auto naytion Al. Right back here on the Drivetime Podcast with Travis Wingfield, presented by Auto Nation, we have Kent Platt, the creator of

r A S dot Football The Relative Athletics Scorecard. Again, just one of the most valuable resources you can find during draft season and all year long with the way these players test athletically and the metrics they post, and it's just a great resource, can't. I can't tell you that enough, man, It's it's great talking to you here as we do every March or February on the podcast. I want to pick it back up at the receiver position here because this is a group where, shoot, we've

had these receiver classes the last few years. We're spoiled as football fans that love you know, the high flying, you know the the the passing game that's just taken over to the NFL. And this class seems to have some more of those guys. And I'm just curious who those guys flew on was it Thursday night? Who really stood out for you in those in those testing metrics at the combine. A lot of juice in this class.

Christian Watson that North Dakota State had a really good senior and he came into the combine with a lot of people talking about how he's already jumping up boards and if he if he just tests tests a little bit, well he might be able to continue that trend. And then he ran a four three six at six floor. That size speed profile is rare. You don't get a

lot of guys like that. Um, he's not as heavy as Calvin Johnson was, but that's that type of number that that really tall, really fast type of type of runner and he put those kind of things up. Also extremely explosive. We had Crysal Lobby and just hadn't hyped for some time. Out of Ohio State ran a sub for four. UM also a really good, really good burner, has tons and tons of speed. And then Garrett Wilson from Ohio State also ran a sub four four and

good explosion drills. You've got a lot of guys that can move in this draft class. Yeah, I mean, uh. There was a point that where they were starting to kind of wonder like are these unofficial times, are they doing any favors because everyone is just breaking records here, you know, flying down the track there at Indianapolis. A couple of guys that wanted to circle back with And forgive me for my my lack of knowledge here because I'm not quite sure if he got back in time

off the injury. But did John Metchi participate He did not, She didn't test. Um, I don't know whether he's going to or not at Alabama's pro day. I've I've heard yes and Iver no. My guests would be no. UM. I tended to air on the side of guys who

were injured or coming back from injury, probably shouldn't test. Yeah, at the same thing with Jelen Waddle last year, right, but we had the one of the new events they have is the GPS tracking, and from what you know, Daniel, Jeremiah and scouts all said that this guy just blew the GPS out of the out of the building. Yeah, and that's that's always a big deal because m COLD teams pay attention to this type of testing. But that GPS stuff has been picking up and it's going to

continue to do so. I wish that we had access to right the public so that we could see a lot more of whether whether that's good or not right, because they can tell us that it's it's they ran a certain amount, but we don't know if that's good, it's it's whatever they want to tell us. And that's what they told us last year, was that Jillen Waddle was a freak in that way, and you can see

it on ape. I mean, and just the way he moves as different the last guy I wanted to ask you about here because I was so fascinated to talk to him, and I just love this tape to a Kentucky there was Wan del Robinson, how did he perform in terms of R A S. He tested okay for R S UM kind of in the middle ground for that part of that. And due to his size, Wandale Robinson is not very big, um, but he's really fast.

He ran a four four four again with as many guys that were running sub four four here, that's still really really fast beginning. No one to lose sight that that's still really fast. Um. I think the only thing that people are gonna have any concerns with Wondale coming in is his size. Kentucky kind of kind of made it a little bit hard on him than harder on him than they needed to because they listed him at five eleven and then he came in at five eight And that is no fault of his own right, but

that that gets people with those expectations. You know a lot of people talking about these players, and if you think he's gonna be one way and then they come out another, that's one thing you can jump on. But um, he's not a big dude, never looked big taste taste, but he looked fast and he ran fast and that's what's important. And the funny part about that too, is that he's a guy that carried the football and has a running backs mentality when the footballs in his hands too,

So that's it's interesting to see how that works. Another example of how sometimes the testing and what you see doesn't always match what happens on tape. But again, the more resources we have, the more informed we are to make these decisions. And we're not making decisions, but we like to talk about it. So here we are, and uh, let's go ahead and pivot nowt to the offensive line,

and it just keeps going, man like. I mean, remember when McKay Beckton plays that forty r dash couple of years back, and everyone was buzzing about that, but it seems to be kind of that's just how it goes. You're your three pounds and you can freaking move in today's NFL. So who really popped to you on the offensive line group? Yeah, one of my favorite prospects to look at after they tested the combine was Cool Strange

at Chattanooga. Um I knew coming into the combine that he was considered a very smart player, a very cerebral player, and that's extremely important when you're a center. Um I had hipreded out as a are but he came in as a nine point nine five. It's gonna be similar to that at center, but I didn't expect him to

test out as athletic a superior as he did. In addition to that, UM, it's already a huge thing if you're a smart center and intelligence center who can read different coverages and adjust your blocking schemes and keep everybody in the right spot. But if you add to that that you're also really athletic compared to your position group, that's extremely helpful. You know, the Lions drafted Frank ragg Now a few years ago a similar athletic profile, and that's the type of guy you want to look for,

a guy that's really smart and cerebral and can also move. UM. He was the most impressive to me out of that offensive group. Zion Johnson, another guard out of Boston College, UM came in with that reputation of being a superior, a superior athlete, and then tested like it. It's one of those checking the boxes types things you don't want to You don't want to count it twice and kind of move him up because he was a great athlete.

But if he's a great athlete on tape and then he checks those boxes, then you already know how he looks on tape. That's how he is. That's what we're looking at. UM. And I think he did a lot to really help himself at the combine. And that can kind of start as a tiebreaker when when teams get into their their their war rooms and their draft board and trying to figure out is this player the guy

would go with that guy? Those those little things you check the boxes like you talk about, can be tiebreakers in those events. How about off the outside, how about a tackle or a couple of tackles that really kind of blew you away. Yea. Trevor Penning and Bernard Raymon are two guys that are considered kind of mid to late first round guys and both of them tested extremely well. UM.

Trevor Penning had some high expectations. You know. Spencer Brown took that ten point over as spot last year when he came out, UM, and he has been the top rated tackle athletically over the last thirty thirty six years, UM, and Penning had that he had to try to follow that, you know, UM, but he came out with a nine point nine six. I mean, that's not that's not too bad. That's that's at least making a free throw after you know, Jordan dunks on somebody. But uh, you know it's he

ran a four eight nine at three pounds. Um, it wasn't. It's crazy that we're looking at that and like that wasn't the best performance from a guy that rent that was three or greater because this combine was so bonkers. But that's still a ninety percentile forty yard dash for a guy that is, you know, huge even for an offensive tackle. Offensive tackles are huge, and he's an even bigger offensive tackle. I might need you to explain to me, Evan Neil, because not not the workout, just just kind

of making joking joking around here. But was it three thirty seven? He wade? Where is it? Where is the three three seven on that guy? Because that's how the photo man he looks green, looks fantastic. I just it speaks to what we you talked about how this year was totally bonkers. I think that picture kind of gave us some foreshouting for how this entire combine would go.

I want to finish up at the linebacker position here with you can't real quick I know about Nakobe Dean, Devon Lloyd, two guys at the top of the draft. They're expected to go in that first round. But I've heard this is a pretty deep linebacker class as well. Who really popped to you at that position? Yeah, we have Leo shanalat of Wisconsin who tested with the nine point nine nine and might even be better than that because he posted some some pretty crazy agility drills at

his protein. If those stand, he would take over the top spot for linebackers. For rez Um, there wasn't a whole lot of hype coming in from him. I have a lot of hackers friends and they've been hyping him up. But I kind you take that with a grain of salt, but they were right on this one. Um. Troy Anderson is a guy that I hadn't heard a whole lot about coming out of Montana State, but he also put up extremely good numbers. He around a four or four

two at linebacker, being ninth ninth percentiles. Percentile speed is extremely important and in today's NFL you want a guy that can move. And Chad Muma out of Wyoming was a guy that really impressed me. Um. I knew he was going to run fast. He ran fast. He also posted some of the best explosives numbers of the combine, both both his FURST and his Broadway percentile position. So, yeah, there you go. That that's I mean team speed. I saw.

I think Key Brooks was tweeting about talking about the movie six podcast about how teams speak can really can erase mistakes that you make, and US seems to be where these teams are getting faster and players are certainly getting faster, and you have an option to get faster in this year's class as well. Before I let you go, can't just real quick? Was Jordan Davis the most impressive workout of all time? It was the second most impressive workout of all time, but the most impressive workout was

Kelvin Johnson. Kelvin Johnson's worst metric was his ten yards split and it was ninety seventh percent. That was his worst number. You're not gonna beat that. But the fact that Jordan Davis was the second highest athletic test I have in the entire database is pretty insane. Um, I think his worst one he had an eight percentile for see not that was his worst metric, but you're talking about a guy that six six and one pounds, the numbers, the kind of athletic ability it takes to beat fast

and that explosive at that size just blows me away. Um, it's the most impressive one that I've ever physically seen, because I didn't actually watch Calvin Johnson's combine. Um, It's it's just insane. I can't I'm just laughing. It's it's stupid to me, and it's it's just I love this stuff. And when when guys don't make a mockery out of it, but they're just kind of like, oh yeah, I'll show up and do this, it's like, all right, man, we get it. You're you're You're not built like the rest

of us. You're not the same species as at this point, So kemp Platt at math bomb on Twitter, give him a follow. R I S Dot Football again, one of the most valuable draft resources are gonna find out there. Kent. Thank you so much again for your time. Like I said, I used this all year round, and you guys check him out as well. Kent. Until next time, my friend, thank you so much for your time today. You have a great one, and away, he goes. I love that

episode every single year. And might have to get Kent back on post draft and kind of talk about players the Dolphins drafted and make it just a Miami Dolphins theme podcast. Wouldn't that be kind of fun? I think? So. All right, that's gonna be my time today. You all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, leave us a rating, leave us a review. You can find me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL and the Miami Dolphins at Miami Dolphins. We have new Twitter spaces that

just posted on Wednesday night. Go ahead and check that out, and we'll be doing that, I think weekly, maybe bi weekly will be coming at you with Twitter spaces here myself, Seth and o J. As well as the fish Tank podcast there with those fellows, the YouTube channel for Dolphins Today, as well as our media availabilities. You won't want to miss those, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, fits up, Caroline, Daddy is coming upstairs