Breaking Down the 2020 Defensive Back Class with Ben Fennell

Miami Dolphins football. And on today's show, we've previewed all the positions on offense for next week's NFL Draft, and this week we're gonna go over the defensive side of the ball, starting with the defensive backs in this year's class, a good group of cover corners, versatile safeties, and impact players. We'll talk to NFL Networks and NFL Films Ben Fanel about these defensive backs, all of that and more on this Tuesday, April, the fourteenth edition of the Drivetime Podcasts.

And to be perfectly Frank is one of my favorite positions to scout, evaluate, and talk about in all of football. We're gonna get into the weeds on the defensive back class and this year's draft on today show. And times have certainly changed with how we look at these guys as versatility is really becoming prevalent across the league. We

saw Eric Rowe play multiple spots last season. We've seen Bobby McCain pace play safety, and nicol and this year's class is packed full of guys that can do just that, play multiple positions on your defense. This interview is going to detail that, but some other fun stuff about your Dolphins as well. You'll hear Ben talk about Miami's accomplished free agency period for helping to reduce need heading into this year's draft and hoping to put together a squad

that can line up and play a game today. Is the idea of free agency, Ben says, and that gives you ultimate flexibility on draft day, and with fourteen picks, Miami are in a good position to select the best

player available, regardless of position. And one last note that did make it into the podcast, and since Ben works with the Philadelphia Eagles on the Journey to the Draft podcast, he knows our new linebacker Cammu grug Hill quite well and he said that we Dolphins fans will love this guy not just for his special team's work, but what he can do on defense as well. And calm Wu

himself mentioned that to me on the podcast. He did on the interview series with the free agent signings a couple of weeks back, and Ben said that when Cammu got hurt last year in camp, you could have heard a pin drop out there in Philadelphia. The team was devastated by that loss to begin the season. But that's

a linebacker. We're going to discuss that position along with the defensive line in our final draft position preview on tomorrow's Drift Time podcast, but asked for today, let's go ahead and get into the defensive backs with Ben Fennel. And joining me on the podcast now is Ben Fennel. He covers the NFL Draft for NFL Network. He's part of the Journey to the Draft podcast with Fran Duffy

on the Philadelphia Eagles podcast Network. Ben, how's it going, man, It's going great, I say, as good as it can go in this crazy climate in the world right now. But we're two weeks away from the NFL Draft, and it's crazy to think we're already in mid April. Yeah. You and I spoke a little bit off air about kind of some of the challenges of doing all this virtual work these days, and you had told me that the Eagles sent you a microphone, a new microphone so

you can record your podcast from home. Now, how are you doing with the quarantine man? You just staying safe, You're staying healthy. Are you staying sane? Yeah, trying to. You know, the first week was a little tribal, you know, it was sleeping in and not putting pants on and staying up all hours of the night. And then we got a little structured. You know, we're waking up, we're making to do list, We're being a little more productive

the past couple of weeks. Uh. I'm used to being home part of the year, so I have a pretty good at home station to still watch film and be productive. But uh, kind of hurts to not be at NFL Films right now working on my draft coverage. It's kind of a fluid situation right now. Every day is a new kind of revelation with the broadcast, so a lot of moving parts, but it seems like the show will go on. I get some pretty odd looks from my neighbors what I'm doing lunges across my backyard with my

weights out there. My my makeshift jim is is getting me by for now. But we have you on here Ben to talk about this Miami Dolphins secondary and the draft in the secondary, and when you're talking about defensive backs with Brian Flores and the Miami Dolphins, that's where it starts. He has a really really strong resume in his past in New England. Now in Miami and he in defensive coordinator Josh Boyer have really done a good job of bringing up young defensive backs and developing those guys.

And now we get Cal defensive backs coach Gerald Alexander, who coached a few of these guys are in this year's draft class last year at Cal. Can you kind of give us a outsider's perspective and outsider's synopsis of those three guys and how they work in the defensive

back room. Yeah? Well, obviously Brian Flores and Josh Boyer were tied together in New England and Boyer being a defensive back pedigree is more of a defensive back coach, even though he did have the defensive assistant uh and the you know, the defensive pass game coordinator label with the Dolphins. He has a pedigree in the defensive back room to coach cornerbacks and safeties. But what they all like in New England is they like versatility, they like

interchangeable parts. We're starting to see that with the Eric Rose and Kyle Van Noise of the world on that defense. But first and foremost, they believe in fundamentals. And I think we get so excited with upside and speed and length and measurables, and I just love how archaic these teams get, whether it's New England or now the Miami Dolphins, and they believe in fundamentals first and foremost. And I love hearing that they're number one trade and defensive backs,

especially corners, not cover, not ball skills, tackling. We only get eleven on the field. Everybody must be able to tackle. And I just love the philosophy that they have for cornerbacks to say, you know what the number one quality and corners they must be able to tackle. And I think you're starting to see that trend with these bigger corners going after the Byron Jones of the world, the Eric Rose of the world, those hybrid safety corners with

really good size. They clearly have a type. And last year at training camp, an old football nerd like me, I loved watching it because they would break on team drills and go into ball security drills are tackling drills

or block beating drills. It was relentless and that's one the Dolphins were one of the top teams in the NFL last year when it came to fewest penalties assessed against them, So it definitely had an impact in your number one, Ben, you mentioned the addition of Byron Jones and also the multiplicity of Eric Rowe in the secondary. Let's go ahead and start there with the former though, a guy that played in your division last year in

the NFC east of Byron Jones. Guy comes into league as a cornerback, moves to safety, goes back to cornerback. He could really do it all. Canny. Yes, he's a really impressive player. And there's a couple of people in the draft that kind of look like Byron Jones. That's one of the easy comps to Jeoffrey, a Cuda from Ohio State. He really looks like Byron Jones with his length, his size, his ball skills, his physicality. But Byron Jones can play anywhere on that back end of the defense.

And Dallas played him at corner, they played him at safety, they played him at nickel. I think just having that experience, the versatility. We all know his explosiveness with this jumps in the world record broad jump at the Combine a couple of years ago. But a really impressive player that went through kind of a revolving door of defensive schemes there in Dallas. So I'm hoping he's given kind of one role, one position, one assignment to really take and

tackle and then move forward with his career. And then last year we had Eric Row a transition into more of a safety role and he was covering tight ends, covering backs, and doing some different things on that Dolphins defense, and he was really erasing most tight ends that he went up against, with a low completion rate, a low yards per target rate, all the good stuff you want to see from him. Now, you had a chance to see Eric Row up close and personal there in Philadelphia

for a year. What was your takeaway from what Eric Row can do for a defensive backfield. You know, in a similar conversation of Byron Jones, you didn't know if he was a true corner or a true safety coming out of Utah. A massive, massive corner with really good speed.

He's a guy that Chip Kelly kind of designated just to take away the ex receivers from opponents and just locked down the number one big receivers, which made him a really good presence in the red zone, really good down the field and protecting the vertical balls, really good ball skills, good and runs support. And I'm telling you without pads on, Byron Jones and Eric Row are gonna look like twins out there. There are two massive cornerbacks. And you mentioned the cornerbacks out on the edge of

the Miami Dolphins. Looking at the Draft Networks big board right here of cornerbacks, we have several guys slated to go in the top fifty according to the Draft Network. That's where I want to go ahead and pivot to you. Now. You mentioned Jeffrey Okuda off the top of the podcast, and what he does, I think pretty much unanimous number one cornerback on everyone's big board. Can you just kind of sort the cornerbacks that you think might go in

round number one for us here? Ben, Yeah, absolutely, I think it's pretty consensus that Jeffrey Coud is gonna be a top ten pick, and then there's a bit of, you know, contention with who those next off the board are gonna be. Whether it's a c. J. Henderson at Florida that has some questions, you know about his physicality, but what he's gonna do is wake up in the morning and lock down the number one receivers and man coverage, and that's what you want on the outside in the NFL.

So I think C. J. Henderson's in that conversation. Christian Folan is starting his work work his way into that conversation after a really good year with L s U and then Trayvon Diggs, who is in the exact same mold as Eric Row and Byron Jones, long, strong, broad, six one two pounds and can run. They all are in that same type of mold and package right there

for the Dolphins. But you know, when you're looking at the collective defense and the collective roster and the Miami Dolphins, I love what they did in free agency because the the old adage from GMS are can you go into the draft ready to play a game? And I feel like the Dolphins are ready to play a game. Obviously there's some questions here and there with some talent level, but I love what they did and bringing in Byron Jones and stockpiling some other players in the linebacker position.

I think they're ready to play a game, and now it's just see where the board falls to them and what type of value is available to them when they're picking.

I really do like the way they approach for agency as well, because they went after some positions where you know, we've had some different guests in the podcast where maybe some of these guys that come off the board, like for instance, they got Eric Flowers and Ted Carriss on the interior offensive line that might be more of Day two projects or Day two prospects, i should say, or off the defensive end position group where you have Chase Young up top, but then maybe there's a bit of

a drop there in terms of the next tier of players. So they go out and get aug Ball and Shack Lawson and round out that position group. Like you said, to be ready to play a game, to be flexible on draft day. Now, this defense wants to be flexible and its secondary and you mentioned the tackling skill set of cornerbacks in this defense and the fact that Miami do have Xavien Howard and Byron Jones here. Nick Needham had a good season last year. We have Bobby McCain,

who plays some free safety and slot. I just want to ask a couple of questions here, Ben, of this of this cornerback group, who do you think is the best tackler? And also what you who are some guys in that kind of day two range that might come off the board and be productive starters right away. Yeah. You know, when I look at the Dolphins team, I feel most comfortable with the secondary. I like these pieces Avian Howard, Eric Rowe, Adrian Colberg, Byron Jones, Nick Needham

is a really interesting player, I Bobby McKean. But if there are still looking to stock aisle and add some depth, because we know depth is going to be tested looking at the tackling position, obviously those guys at the top, the Jeffrey Acudas and Treyvon Dicks, have really good size. But once you're starting to get into day two and looking at the you know, Jalen Johnson's of the world from Utah or Reggie Robinson the second from Tulsa, who I think is the day two version of Jeffrey Acuda.

When you're talking six foot corners, two hundred pounds, running under four or five, jumping ten six and abroad, there's only three corners in this draft, Jeffrey Acuda, C. J. Henderson, and Reggie Robinson at of Tulsa. So I don't think Reggie Robinson's getting a whole lot of love that he should be getting. I think he's gonna be a bona

fide Day two player right there. And there's a lot of other guys with some really good size, whether that's uh, you know, Josiah Scott at a Michigan State or a J. Terrell at a Clemson, these guys with a lot of experience. A J. Green at Oklahoma State is a tall, upright corner with really good physicality that's starting to get some buzz.

And then there's some smaller guys that you don't think you're gonna be tough, like a Jeff Gladdene who's pounds, but it's as feisty as anybody in this class, very much like a giant Alexander who's carved out a nice role with the Green Bay Packers. So they don't all need to be six one to ten to be a physical presence. Some of the little spark plug guys like a Jeff Gladney could fit in as well. We've got Ben Fennel here on the Drivetime Podcast, part of the

Miami Dolphins official podcast network. He comes over from the Philadelphia Eagles Journey to the Draft podcast with fran Duffy on their network. There, Ben, I want to ask you here because we know the Patriots, Lions, the Dolphins, all these Belichick disciples and people off of the Bill Belichick tree play a lot of man coverage. You're gonna see the Patriots, the Lions, the Dolphins rank one to three in man coverage for the most part pretty much every

single year while those guys are there. So who in this class gives the best man coverability and maybe you can separate this for us top of the draft, middle of the draft type of thing like that. Yeah. Absolutely, So you know the man coverage you obviously you are going to go right to the SEC. A lot of these guys have tons of experience Trayvon dig c J Henderson, But I love the kind of next tier of press coverage experience, whether that's Lavert Hill out of the University

of Michigan. This Michigan defense sent twelve kids to the combine talented, talented group that just could not get on the right track in the wind Toll, But there is tons of good talent and upside with this team in the vert Hill that showed up to the University of Michigan playing press man from day one, and Don Brown's defense a lot of good experience on tape. Damon Arnett's another one. Shaheim Carter at Alabama plays a lot of

press man there in the SEC. So you can even go to day three with some guys a little bit off the radar, like a Troy Pride at a Notre Dame who ran really well, or DeMarcus a c at of Missouri. Those guys in the sect are used to playing man coverage. So if you're gonna find one of these guys in the Big twelve, like a A J. Green or Jeff Gladdeney that's used to that off coverage position, there might be a little bit more of a learning

curve to get up there and press coverage. In the NFL on Sundays, we talked a little bit about Bobby McCain's ability to play both free safety and nickel cornerback, and he did that last year with the Miami Dolphins. And we come into this class with some guys that can do a little bit of both of those things. But depending on where Bobby plays, we might have some opening areas at the safety position for example. For example, so in the safety class, can you tell us who

you like in the first round? Which guys really top the charts in the NFL drafted safety Yeah, I've been absolutely blown away with Xavier McKinney in this draft. I think he's a clone to like a Malcolm Jenkins style of player, a guy that you just want around the box, around the football, good and run support, good blitzer, but he can match up against tight ends, matchup against slot receivers, a smart player. I think he is a bona fide

Round one player. Now that next year is the interesting conversation, is that Grant Delpit, is it Jeremy chin At a Southern Illinois? Is it Kyle Dugger out of the lenore rhyme that's starting to get a lot of steam. Those are more rangey back end players with some really good length and size. But when you're starting to talk about the safety position, the NF bell is obviously a sub package defense, but we're getting away from the small nickel and we really want the big nickel package, and that

means having three safeties on the field. But in order to have three safeties on the field, you better be able to cover. So I have a big category here called coverage safeties, and I think this draft has a lot of interesting players of coverage safeties. And that's like a Covan Wallace at a Clemson who's been there for four or five years, a lot of good experience. Again, just like a Xavier McKinney can match up against tight ends,

slot receivers, good blitzer, good ball skills. And it's a bunch of other guys like that, whether that's Brian Cole the second at a Mississippi State, who is a former four star receiver at the University of Michigan that came over and play nickel that miss to Be State, or a Terrell Burgess at a Utah it's really a one year player, but a really really good player on that Utah defense that could come and play the alley and can also match up against these skill players on offense.

I just think there's different players in every level of the draft, and I love evaluating good players on bad teams. And that's Nigel Warrior at the University of Tennessee, who's a highly touted four or five star player coming in obviously like the University of Michigan just couldn't get the wind toll going. But a really talented player with explosiveness, coverage skills, filth, physicality. I just love digging into the players that always get miss evaluated because they're on bad teams.

I think Nigel Warrior is gonna be a pleasant surprise to somebody on Day three. You talk about versatility at the safety possession, guys that can come down cover the slot but also have range on that back end, and how valuable that is in today's matchup NFL. A couple of guys on this list I want to ask you about because one of them played for a team that was good last year, but historically the Minnesota gophirst have not been at one of the better teams in the

Big Ten. So Antoine Winfield junior there at Minnesota, and also California's Ashton Davis. That guy can flat out go. He was a high hurdle champion I believe it was in high school. So these guys have the range, the speed, the versatility. What do you make of those two's games? So ash and Davis, obviously the track star came walked on as a football player. Was more of a track

recruit on the cow goldenbarrass team there. But it will be interested to see the former Cow coach now with the Dolphins and how interested he's gonna be with some of his former players. They had a really impressive secondary. Also, Cameron Binnum coming out next year should be a top fifty player. But um yeah, Ashton Davis is more of a back end player rangie free safety in my opinion, Uh, kind of like a Jeff Heath with the Dallas Cowboys

but then going to the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Man, these have some really intriguing players and obviously starts with Antoine Winfield. Huge season in ball production, bunch of impressive interceptions, seem to be always around the ball, that magnet player where the ball just gravitated towards him. I think he's gonna be somebody went down around the box, more like a Tyrone Matthew style of player to blitz the run support.

He tested really well at the combine. I didn't necessarily see that on the tape, but a really fluid player, instinctive player. But don't sleep on the nickel player at Minnesota either. Chris Williamson, who's a Florida transfer, which a lot of people didn't realize coming from the SEC, and he showed up and played really well in the Big Ten, one of my first and foremost combines snows. I would have loved to see what he was going to test

there at the combine. I thought he was kind of a high four, four, four or five player, but that Minnesota defense a lot of good players with some good versatility. So I expect Antoine Winfield to be a Day two player, and if somebody takes Chris Williamson on Day three, I think they're gonna get a good steal. One more question for you here, Ben, just to get a kind of general vibe of the way this draft board could play

out on the first round over under? What is your over under on the number of cornerbacks and safetyes dbs? And Toldal we see their name called on right on night number one Thursday on the NFL Draft DBS. That's a great question. So I feel really good obviously about you know, the Zavia McKinneys of the world. Are we calling Isaiah Simmons a safety or a linebacker? I'm probably gonna go line packer for this conversation. I feel good about a KUDA. I think C. J. Henderson and Treyvon

Diggs get in there. So I probably said it about five for defensive backs collectively. And I think it's gonna be a lot less receivers than people think. I think there's a lot of good day to value receiver. People are gonna come up and get their tackles, get their quarterbacks, get their edge rushers. It's a really weak interior defensive line class, so if you need one of those, you

better go get them while they're available. I just see maybe more of the receivers getting pushed at Day two, and potentially the defensive backs as well, because it's a deeper group at corner at safety, that there might be more comparable value on Day two than in that round

one position at a lesser position group. That's one of my favorite things to do with the draft processes, to go through and find out which position groups almost kind of hurt themselves based upon the way they're stacked with the hierarchy, the depth of the class. It's always an interesting study and interest. I mean, it's a big part of like the identity of each draft. You know, in each draft has a different personality, and just because the group is stacked doesn't mean it's stacked at the top

of the draft. Sometimes, like you're just saying, it could almost be a detriment because you see more value later in the draft and you say, you know what, we can wait on that position. Let's go get a position that might not be available. How much do teams prepare for that, and how can they prepare for like playing out these scenarios. Are they in their offices doing mock drafts like all of us right now? I think so.

I've heard from more than a few teams and they do some exercises just to get their minds in decision making mode that hey, if this scenario played out, what are we going with? And a lot of times it's announcing to your scouting room and trying to decide those ties. And in order to know those ties and those situations, you kind of have to go through some real life examples.

And you know, the media world kind of laughs at mock draft, but teams need to go through that as well, just as an exercise for group think, for an exercise of decision making, and an exercise of weighing the collective board in the positional values. You have to weigh different groups. You have to also weigh them against your own team, your own roster, and find out how do we put the best fifty three men together in this room. And sometimes,

you know, sometimes it's just simpler than people think. It's not as deep. It's literally just weighing this guy versus our guy, what are we gonna go with? And having these exercises of mock drafts just give a little bit more time to prepare for teams. In the draft room, he has Ben Fennel of the NFL Network, NFL Films, and the Journey to the Draft podcast on the Eagles Podcast Network at Ben Fennel Underscore NFL on Twitter and Ben One of my favorite things about your timeline is

the photos from different college stadiums all over America. I am a sucker for the intimate college football setting, so please a full disclosure there. I went to a city campus with no football team, So going on on the road if esp in college football, I feel like I'm kind of living the actual college experience. To see the mountains in the pack twelve and the history and the sec and sometimes it's annoying to get to the campuses and I don't want to drive an hour from the

Moins to Aimes, Iowa. But sometimes you have to take a deep breath and say when will I ever do this again? And there's some really cool meccas of college football and a lot of history and culture to go see. So pretty pretty privileged to be able to travel around. Well, thank god for podcasts for those long drives. I definitely helped get us through. And then we appreciate your time today, man, and stay safe out there, sir, Thank you very much.

Thanks for Buddy and the way he goes. Very good information there from one of the NFL's best draft experts. You can follow him on Twitter for a bunch of good video, written content, audio content. Ben does it all. He's on the road all year long taking a look at all these prospects up close. So go ahead and give him a follow, check out his work, check out his podcast. And that's gonna wrap up the defensive back edition of the draft preview series here on the Drivetime Podcast.

We still have linebackers and defensive linemen to get to in the front seven. We'll handle that tomorrow. We'll have a mail bag episode this week. We'll have another throwback podcast this week as well, and another reminder to all you got is out there to go ahead and register on Facebook for the Miami Dolphins Virtual Draft. It's gonna

be a blast of a night. We're gonna have coverage taking a look at the prospects coming into Miami that gets selected, breaking down the players, breaking down the selections of all thirty two picks in that first round, and also having some player interviews here that we have already conducted talking to some of the Dolphins veteran players already on the roster. It's gonna be a great fun night. Make sure you check that out. Register now Miami Dolphins

dot com. But as for today's podcast, that is gonna be my time you all, please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast from. Go ahead and leave us a rating, leave us a review, Follow me at Wingfield, NFL, Fall the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins, and check out the fish Tank podcast with Juice and Seth and the Audible with John and Kim, and of course Miami Dolphins dot com for all your Miami Dolphins content. Until next time, fins up