Constructing the Roster for Weekly, Adaptable Game Plans

talk about. And though it is game week, we aren't quite going to get to the Patriots just yet on this podcast, but we do have a busy show. We'll talk about the roster, construction update, the practice squad, get you the latest Miami Dolphins news here from Monday's Miami Dollar Friends, media availabilities, will scan the social and I'll tell you a little bit about driving from quite literally the furthest possible points of the continental US over the

last few days. Busy show, a very very fun show. I cannot wait to get into it. Let's do that from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drivetime Podcast. Plenty of housekeeping to get to before we dive all the way in. First, Isaiah Ford, Carl Tucker, and Benito Jones have been added back to the Miami Dolphins practice squad. And Isaiah Ford you know about him. He's kind of the ideal practice squad guy.

In this new age which was kind of spawned from the COVID era of the NFL, of the practice squad, updated amount of players you can bring on your practice squad, a post of how guys used to be street free agents this time of year. But because you can stash those veterans on the practice squad and protect for guys, now you get to keep them in your building and within the structure of your not just your system, but you're building in the playbook and all that fun stuff.

And with Isaiah, the thing you know about him is if you need him to step in and fill a role on Sunday, it doesn't matter what it is, He's gonna know every alignment, assignment, the site adjustments, and in addition to that, he'll help the guy next to him get lined up too if it's needed. That's the kind of player he is, so he certainly adds value to

your practice squad. Carl Tucker is back on the practice squad after having training camp here with the Miami Dolphins, and where he stands out above really anybody else on the roster is that fullback distinction. Now. You'll recall on the podcast from over the summer, he was a former receiver in high school, converted to tight end in college at North Carolina, and then was a grad transfer to

Bama operating more as a fullback slash h back. In addition to some of the inline work he did, attacked attached rather to the line of scrimmage, So he does a little bit of everything, but that fullback distinction him. You have some guys on the roster like a Durham Smith, like a Seethan Carter who can operate in that role a little bit, But Carl Tucker, as far as having FB in front of his name, he's the only guy

on the roster with that distinction. Benito Jones, he's a tree stump against the running game, man space eater up front, who can squat that that lower half and just be a guy that takes on double teams. This is a deep, deep defensive line we talked about all summer long here on the podcast. You get caught by the Numbers game there for Bonito Jones, but he is back on the practice squad. And since we haven't been with you guys since Friday, here is the practice squad. Varus Davis kicks

off our list here. His Dolphins announced the complete practice squad after the additions here on this Monday. Coming to you on Monday for a Tuesday podcast. But javars Da has had a really good camp, good ball skills, good job staying in phase and coverage downfield. I thought he really impressed to earn his spot in this role and a possible guy that could make some noise later on in the season if he continues the ascension we saw this training camp. Jared Jake's back on the practice squad.

Shortyard guy who had a lot of success in that Cincinnati game in those short yardage runs, but also just piling up or yardage I should say in general, also bring some quality pass protection, at least from his time in college. Perhaps you developed that a little bit more and get even more out of possible three down back there. And Jared Oaks Milo or Milo rather Eifler, I have some work to do on this guy. A rookie six ft one pound linebacker from Illinois. That's all I know

about him. But Milo Eifler on the practice squad Isaiah Ford talked about him already. Shakim Griffin a special team stand out with the cl Seahawks. He brings energy, he brings spirit, a good person to have in the building, and kind of like we talked about Benito Jones, you get a heavy or deep defensive line well for Shakim

Griffin's purposes. Both the linebacker position and the special teams most notably are very very deep, with plenty of guys that can play that core special team's role, Guys that can be gunners, jammers, personal protectors, return men, whatever it might be. It's a tough group to crack and shakeem has a chance to work as way back into that group off the Dolphins practice squad. But Ato Jones talked about him already. Patrick laired another one of these special

teams guys. I mean, they come in waves on this football team. You can just count on Patrick Laird in that area of the football game. Kirk Merritt and we talked about him a lot on this podcast throughout the course of the summer, and I think he has a good chance to continue his development as we saw him really take a major step from year one to year

two as far as training camp goes. But it's a good year as we've learned to have depth, especially at that position, and I think Kirk, if you needed to call upon him, could step him and do the job. Calvin Munson an absolute banger at B gap to B gap run defending missile, good insurance to the backup or to that linebacker room. I should say a guy like e Landon Roberts kind of similar playing style as far as tone setters and physical pleasances. But he also brings

a lot to the special teams group. Like I said, this practice squad has guys that can step up and get on the special teams core units pretty much any Sunday of the season. This is a deep group for that. Regard Adam Panky, extra offensive line him and type of roles game plan specific, do you want to go heavy package throughout the course of the game, maybe you call up Panky because he did it so well last year as that sixth seventh offensive lineman on the roster to

come into goal line situations short yardage. But also he gives you quality depth, played some good left tackle last year in a pinch when he was called upon Brandon Powell. Same as kind of Eiffler here, some work to do on him. Don't know a lot about his game. I know he's a five eight one pound receiver who came out of Florida in two thousand and eighteen. A Deerfield Beach native. Derval kid as netto the offensive lineman of

from Brazil and the International Pathway program. He has a chance now in his third season to continue his development on the offensive line with that roster or the practice squad roster exemption. We saw growth out of derv Ball this year and some good production in his first NFL action and actual preseason games. Jabaal sheared and going back to kind of the Isaiah Ford mentioned here, this is the kind of guy that you can kind of stash in the practice squad and if you have some injuries

you need some depth to come up. Jabal year you can provide that for you. He can play that heavy end, a two sixty five plus pound guy off that edge to kind of funnel the run game to the linebackers, situational pass rush depth, and we talked about the depth of the defensive end slash. You know, he's a d M,

but he can play so many spots. But as far as like what aug Bought and Lawson did last year at defensive end, the Dolphins were I don't want to stay fortunate, but they were a little bit fortunate to have both those guys stay largely healthy throughout the course of the season because when you get beyond that part, those guys played so many snaps. Maybe some more depth at the position this year, as the Dolphins do have, can help keep those guys fresher and of course protect

against injury. I think Jabaal Sheared is in that vein, especially when you consider that he knows every bit of the scheme with the stunts and the games and the philosophy of the rush scheme and how to play the run and all that stuff. He knows what Brian Flores likes and he fits that mold. Continuing on our practice squad review, read sent it when we saw him in the Bengals game. Some athletic ability, big strong arm, some of ffness. Took a big shot on the big game

winning throw. Love having this guy on your practice squad to continue to develop. You can never develop enough quarterbacks potentially, let's say a couple of years down the road, everything goes great with tah maybe this guy can be developed into your backup quarterback behind to down the road. You never know. It's always good to have these guys stash here and continue that development. Keon Smith a tackle from Fayetteville State, six ft five pounds and undrafted rookie there

out of Fayetteville State. Cameron Tom, we know about the anchor and the past protection ability. Knows this system can be a good communicator on the interior of the offensive line. I am curious to see that development continue to be seen through here with Cameron Tom and then Carl Tucker rounds out our group. We already discussed what he brings to the table. And one player not listed there is Jamal Perry who was elevated from the practice squad up

to the active roster. What an up and down week for him makes the roster finds himself cut back on the practice squad, now back up. That's the nature of the NFL. Stay ready, young man, and we mentioned his ball skills without the course of training camp. Also love his ability to come up and tackle in some of those sub packages as well as on special team and

the reason he's up. Both Adam Shaheen and Austin Jackson were added to covid I are on Monday, and coach answered questions about their potential availability on Sunday, seeing saying they are preparing as if they will not have those players available, and if they don't, we know about the depth at the tight end position, but you also know Austin Jackson has been your left tackle essentially since opening day of last season, barring injuries. He's been the guy

out there, whether at practice or at games. So that could potentially open up a spot for a new player to jump into that role, and the Dolphins have some options. First, let's go ahead here from Brian Flores on the idea on the mentality of that left tackle position. Should Austin Jackson be down on Sunday in New England. We talked about that as a staff. You know, we've got a

few different options. We've got multiple players we've played over on the left and on the right, so um, who work of different combinations today and UM see what that looks like in practice, and UM, you know, talk about it the over the next few days. There's an opportunity to get you know, both guys back, so we'll we'll see how it goes. So there you're here. Coach mentioned some options at that left tackle position in the event that Austin Jackson cannot play. First, he was asked about

Greg Little. I think Greg's done a nice job. I think Greg's, um, you know, worked hard to learn the offense, to learn the terminology. UM. He's a hard working kid. UM. He's taken in all the information and then try to apply it in practice, um and in games. And I think he's had some some some bright moments a couple of weeks that he's been here, and you know, we're just going to continue to work with him and develop them. And one thing you'll see from the New England Patriots

is they do have pass rushers in waves. Whether it's Chase Winning Bitch, Josh you Jay or Matt jude On or those guys up front with Lawrence Guy or Dietrich Wise. They just have so many guys that can put a pressure on the quarterback. And when I think about Greg Little as a possible option at left tackle, I think about the athletic ability to get yourself in a position where you can readirect and get to that landmark and

work back inside. But also I think one of the key elements is going to be the mental makeup of that position, because, like with the Dolphins we're gonna talk about here in just a minute, the Patriots can throw so many things act you in different looks and different stunts in different games and different rush packages that I think it would behoove the team to really have someone out there that can communicate and pick up all the different options you might see from that Patriots Russian and

Greg Little has some experience in this league, so he certainly is capable in that regard. And I like the athletic ability there at that left tackle position from a Greg Little. What about a guy like Liam Eichenberg. Well, here's coach Williams day today. He's doing everything he can to get back out there as quickly as he can and um, we'll try to, Uh, he'll try to get out there as soon as he can. Um. And yeah,

that's where he's at. And if Liam can go, that's certainly gonna be indicative of what the coaching staff thinks about his ability to, like we talked about, pick up all the different looks and different action. The Patriots will

throw at you. But then again, of course, the health is the number one thing there with your second round draft pick and Liam Eichenberg, but as far as techniques and fundamentals and just general intelligence at the position, a guy who didn't allow a sack in his final two years there at nore Dame, you like his options there, will see how he is health wise and how the coaching staff wants to possibly fill in that gap. If

Austin cannot go, what about Jesse Davis? Now with him, you have the option to either shuffle the lie a little bit or keep it the same way if you want to plug in a Liam Eichenberger right tackle if he again is ready to roll. But again talking about the idea of the rookie in his first game against his Patriots team, do you change Jesse Davis's position to

get Eikenberg in there? We'll see if that's what the direction they want to go, But it's one of the options this team has, as so many these guys up front have cross trained across the offensive line. And then I put Adam Panky in here as well as one of my other options, a possible practice squad call up for game day, and like we talked about his ability to get pushed in the running game is always tangible

when you watch this offensive line play. So maybe it's one of those four guys, maybe it's something else, maybe it's a shuffle. But this team, as you've heard Coach talk about in that press conference answer, they're gonna have contingencies for the contingencies and self scout their roster with confidence and make decisions based upon the ability to recognize what they have in house. That's what they've done for three years here now in Miami. No reason to go

off that path at this point. And one quick note, we never got to and it's a great lead into the scanning the social segment of the podcast. We never covered the lone waiver addition and Elijah, Elijah Campbell coming over from the Jets. He was the lone waiver wire acquisition of that period of the calendar, the NFL calendar, And this kind of takes us into a two part mentioned here of the scanning the social segment. And first, I want to address the general theme of this topic

because you know, and it's cut down day. Is the theme or the topic I should say, And with regards to specific position additions like cut down day. It is never gonna be the time where you're going to solve your perceived problems on the open market. This is not free agency or the draft where you have the entire crop of the market available to you to pursue and know that, hey, that guy produced X, Y and Z for team you know T last season. These are players

who were cut from other team's roster. So if you're using cut down day to plug holes and then you're kind of doing it wrong. Not to say that it won't ever happen, It does happen all the time. One man's trash can be another man's treasure, right, Shoot, look at Savan Akhmed last year. But that's why you acquire talent.

Savon didn't even play until about mid season, and it wasn't a move that Dolphins fans pointed to and unanimously looked at and said, there, you know, Leonardo DiCaprio meme from Once upon Time in Hollywood, there's our answer to the running back room. We're talking about the sometimes the

fifty six player on other team's rosters. So just doing the math, fifty three three times thirty two, that's one thousand, six hundred and ninety six players that those guys are considered behind quote unquote players on NFL rosters, and then you get to this crop. So again I'm not saying

waivers is impossible to find significant solutions. You can do that, but to expect your team to go and just pick up players and fixed any of the perceived problems you might have in that portion of the calendar, that's just not realistic. And the reason I wanted to get to this was because the Dolphins obviously they add a defensive back, and my reaction to that is, well, the way these coaches have proven to develop talent and specifically at that position,

I don't know. I take the truck them route when it comes to that. So continuing this on here, the Dolphins have if you count Will Fuller, who doesn't count against the roster in Week one, but if you count his presence on the football team, the Dolphins currently have twelve receivers and twelve defensive backs in toe. Now again, they're gonna have to make a move to get Fuller

back on the roster. So eleven receivers and tight ends on the roster there twelve if you can't Will Fuller, and then also twelve defensive backs are Actually it's thirteen defensive backs now with Jamal Perry Intoe back on the roster, so twelve receiver slash tight ends again counting Will Fuller

and thirteen defensive backs. And it brought to mind to me the comment Coach Floor has made when I asked him about Javon Holland back after the draft and the idea of adding playmakers and never having enough defensive backs on your roster. Here's what Coach had to say about that question. UM, I mean it's a passing leak. I think we all know that. So you need to be able to defend the past. You got to defend the

run also. But UM, if you just look at the percentages, UM and strictly the numbers, UM, you know it's a passing league. So I think you know, in my in my opinion, and you Chris and I've had many discussions about this. UM. You know, you know we want to be able to obviously defend the deep part of the field,

limit explosive plays in order to do that. UM, and the guys who were back there are the defensive back So, UM, I think Chris, you know, he's he puts a lot of emphasis on on on that um with with the scouts um and we we we talk about, you know,

the back end constantly. We feel like it's important. I feel like all of it's important, and I never I hate to kind of talk about one thing because you know everything, every position, every you know, from the nose tackle to the three technique to the linebacker, which it's all kind of plays as one. Um. But at the end of the day, I mean I learned this a long time. There's nothing the nose cap tackle can do

about you know, fifty yard ball. So um we we we put an emphasis on that, and uh yeah, the next we gotta do is get him coached up and and you know, it's one thing to add players and then it's another thing to get him coached up and get them all on the same page so that we can try to defend these offenses that are are very good mis league. Plenty of very good offenses in this league. And I recall hearing another call back on I forget

what show it was, so I apologize for that. But the call back to the Nick Savan idea when he kind of adapted his philosophy from you know, beating L s U. Ten to seven for all those years and saying like, if you don't score thirty points in today's college football, you're not gonna have a chance to win. So kind of reinventing himself and going after more of an offensive heavy type of attack. And that's kind of what the NFL has seen over the last couple of years.

As points continue to climb up, you have to find ways to stop those guys. And so to the offensive point about eleven receivers and tight ends twelve with Fuller compared to you know, three running backs on the roster, and the idea of getting spacing, the ability to go more vertical, to go matchup base and really have that fleet of basketball type players that can match up with the type of defensive backs the opposition has. And what about the ability to influence the run game with things

other than the actual run game. I wanted to go back to this as far as the roster construction goes. Here's coach Flores once again, back on May the first, talking about how to influence the running defense of the opposition with things more than just your own running game. I think it does a lot. I mean, I think you got guys are going run on the perimeter. If you load the box, you know there's more opportunity for

one on one matchups and opportunities downfield. So defenses have to make that that decision when you have those types of players on the field. Um, and again, if you don't load the box and you play for those big plays and there's less people in the boxing, less people to block, and you know, I think it's really becomes kind of a numbers math game. You get those guys blocked, there's more space to run. So uh, I mean there's

a lot to this. And as you guys know, I mean, you guys watch have seen a lot of football and understand the game. So um, when you have guys on the perimeter and guys who who who you know, demand some attention, that kind of attention, Um, then you know there could be more space and there may not be. And if that's the case, then we've got to take advantage of of those matchups on the perimeter. So I mean, it's a it's a chess game, as you all know.

And um, obviously the run the run game and how how you attack the run game, that's that's that's part of it. I still find that to be one of the more insightful answers we've heard from coach. I've gone back to the few times during the podcast, so I appreciate you sticking with me on that, but I think

it illustrates a point. As you know, that first clip with the question with regards to on Holland that I posed a coach back on May the onet Any referenced that it's a passing league, as you heard, but that's both offensive and defensive. So what do we see with this team last year from a defensive perspective or just kind of generally multiplicity guys that can do multiple things

and have different schemes and roles. You can execute versatility within those players to make the scheme multiple rush games with stunts and twists and slants and bringing blitzers off the edge, down the pipe, whatever it might be, creative ways to kind of unload the kitchen sink. As coach Flores talked about with Matt Ryan back when the Falcons were here for joint practices back in August, blitzing. We have a top five blitzing rate in will that continue

this year? And just real quick, you can blitz teams that can be effective as we saw throughout the course of the season. But I wanted to pull up these two quarterbacks as I think the two best quarterbacks in the league for last season at least, and Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, and I went up to their Pro Football Focus page and when blitzed, here's Mahomes's numbers. Sixty eight point six completion percentage for one thousand three d

thirty six yards. That's eight point seven yards per attempt, which is more more than or a yard better than when he was not blitzed. Eighteen touchdown passes, two picks, and he threw twenty four touchdowns and six picks when he was not blitzed. What about Josh Allen sixty five eight percent completion rate one thousand nine yards for an average of seven point six yards per passed, twenty touchdowns compared to two picks. How about when he wasn't blitzed

twenty two touchdowns, nine picks. So seven man coverage generates more picks for the defense against those two guys at least last season, And I think that's a very intriguing thing to look at. But back to my list here, as far as you know, the blitzing games and running rush games and multiplicity inversatility. The last thing on my list is the ability to get into sub packages, and that kind of coincides with those blitz numbers different roles.

I mean, some days we might need to call upon four linebackers for five plus snaps in a game for each of those four linebackers. In fact, you know what coach addressed this, and we play the audio for you on the podcast last week. Sometimes's three linebackers, sometimes it's two, sometimes it's one, sometimes at zero, he said, And sometimes you need six defensive backs for twenty plus snaps each game.

Maybe you want to defend Mahomes or Alan or whoever the quarterback might be that you want to play more coverage against. Each opponent is a different puzzle to solve. And the more moves you're given at the proverbial rubrics cube, I guess like, if you have ten moves compared to twenty moves, don't you want the twenty that's better? Right? And that's where this added depth to me really comes

into play and real quick. It's always a kudos to say that's about a coaching staff, but the courage and conviction it takes to be adaptable, week to week, Like if you beat someone convincingly on Sunday, to go away from that plan the following week and take a new approach against a new opponent. I don't care who you are.

That takes courage. But with that depth, consider how you felt when a few of the guys were cut last week, Like you were mad at a few of those right, that's because this team has improved its depth into a position where you have to make tough decisions. And coach mentioned it last week, it was going to be a challenging decision day. But that's what they're paid for, right, making the tough decisions, and they feel they've made those decisions going forward here. So you know, you could have

going into the off season. You could have rested on what produced some nice numbers last year, and Bobby McCain, Kyle van Noy, and Shack Lawson, all three of those guys gave you valuable snaps and production. But this league is about constant evaluation and pursuing improvement, always always assessing.

Don't rest on your laurels. And with his defense, you want those added dbs because number One, you could wind up playing a ton of sub on any given week, for instance, the Buffalo Bills go back to Josh Allen. They were a very unique team in the NFL last year, for instance, and that they ran ten personnel, which is one running back, no tight ends, and four receivers going to challenge your defensive back depth. Right, They ran that

package at a clip far greater than anybody else. Even Arizona Cardinals, who kind of run that new Age spreads scheme with Cliff Kingsbury, they didn't run their ten personnel package anywhere near as much as the Buffalo Bills. So do you want to keep all your linebackers on the field where they're in that four wide package? Not likely? And the number two This team is about versatility, right, what position shows more versatility than the defensive backs inside? Outside?

Guys like a Nick Metum who learned that role last year inside and did it brilliantly. Know what I Benogamy has cross trained. Justin Coleman has played both throughout a decorated career so far. Your safety corner hybrid types, Brandon Jones, Eric Row and Javon Holland have all played either slot

or inside at one point in their career. Now they're on that kind of safety track, whether the S is in front of their name, at their position, group, slot, outside safety, they can do a little bit of everything. Then you've added a guy like Jason mccordy, and I love mccordy for the sake that if we get like an end game injury again like last year, a couple of times, you would feel good about plugging Jason mccordy

into flexible role to protect against what happened. For instance, when Bobby McCain went down in that Chief's game and Tyreek Hill scores two touchdowns on the handful of snaps where McCain's off the field. I love that mccordy can literally slot in any position to me at this stage of his career, on top of being a capable of

starting and producing. On top of that, I think his real value might be as kind of your utility player for lack of a better term, and to keep the baseball reference going, you can start him, you know, like five of your six games during the week in baseball, one game a week here, obviously at five different positions, to give guys days off, to give guys, you know, a struggling batter a day off, whatever it might be that is such a valuable addition to this team among

many reasons, but I think that one is my favorite for Jason mccordy. And as I say this, you know about the DBS being the most versatile, I mean, just look up front as well. Coverage and the pass rush work together right now. In most systems, coverage dictates the front, but you can't have one without the other, as we heard Coach talk about in that previous sound bite. So when you get into those sub packages and try to craft game plan specific to your opponent, Let's say you

want to heat up the quarterback. I mean, how good is Sam Aguavina blitzing? Pretty damn good. Let's say you want to play more coverage. We mentioned Mahomes and Alan earlier. Those are tough quarterbacks, but they aren't the only ones you'll have to game plan for this year. You can get to your primarily sub defenses and maybe play more coverage.

After listing those stats against the blitz I showed you earlier, at this stage, you can find ways to get more pressure with four and I think that's why the Phillips addition could wind up being so important. A guy that can hopefully develop into a guy that beats one on one pass rush situations frequently. Let's look at the schedule here for the Miami Dolphins and how that could look

different against different teams. We mentioned the Buffalo Bills ten personnel package, a quarterback that committigate pressure when you get home, and once he does that, and you're forced to try to plaster on the back end with four on four or maybe five on five. Boy, that's a tough ask for jah Allen. I mean, look at the first couple of series in the season finale last year. Lots of dropping seven and it got to him. You shut the Bills down for those first three possessions and got a

pick earlier in that game. Now he adjusted, of course, and responded later. And damn it, if you would have secured those two picks in the September game, Van noyen X had chances it picks with the same idea of playing coverage, that would have changed that game for my money, and possibly the result of that game. In eleventh win on the schedule. I mentioned Patrick Mahomes, but he's not on the schedule. How about the Patriots talking about changing

it up here. They're as flexible as they come, and that's what makes them tough because twelve personnel package with with Hunter Henry and John Y Smith, the two new tight ends they bring him and a heavy dose of a a running back like Damien Harris behind that beefy offensive line that's so good. We saw it in Week one last year. We almost never saw our fifth defensive back because they loaded up with backs and tight ends and extra offensive lineman. They ran so many six offensive

lineman packages that Miami. You know in that instance, you're gonna have to be able to load up with a Baker with a atlanda Roberts with a Brand Scarlett, etcetera, etcetera. And it's kind of similar going up against a team we're gonna see later on this year, like the Tennessee Titans. Last year for them, it was plenty of twelve personnel and we'll see who fills that role that kind of Anthony Ferkser played last year as the number two tight end and all those two tight end packages because now

John new Smith has gone to New England. But you just have to load up the box against that team because of Derrick Henry's presence. You cannot get a hat on a hat and beat Derrick Henry with a safety coming down to meet him in the gap. Not gonna happen. Then you've got you know X and Byron ideally to match up with the two elite receivers they have in a Julio Jones and a j Brown. It changes every week.

What about the Baltimore Ravens. This might be a team you have to uncork some of that maybe big nickel or you know, more safety heavy packages and that they can cover and give you more size inside against that tough run game. And by the way, literally just saw us come across the desk. Justice Hill for the Ravens tore his achilles today. Man, they're getting killed by injuries. But if anyone can overcome it, it's hardbod Costa and that team. But yeah, that's the thing. You need to

be flexible. And look at this Dolphins team and they are more adaptable on paper than the previous two Flora's teams in twenty nineteen and two. I like that different game plans for different teams. That is the idea quick hot change here on the podcast. I put this down in my notes. I forgot about it. We're gonna go

back to it. Roster construction. How the Dolphins, fifty three men on their roster entered the NFL first round draft picks, eight of them, second round draft picks, ten of them, third round draft picks, seven fourth rounders to fifth rounders one six rounders. There's three of them. Seventh rounders, there's three more of them. And the Dolphins have fifteen undrafted players. So eight in the first round, fifteen undrafted. That's how

this league goes. Maybe that's why you continue to turn the bottom of the roster developed guys and find those hits, because undrafted players make up the majority of the league. All right, let's go ahead and finish up here with some media that I found interesting from Monday, and we'll start here with Brian Flores talking about Miles Gaskin. And I loved Coach's answer here when he was asked if any one thing jumps out about what Miles really improved

in the course of this offseason. I mean, first thing that comes to my protection, UM, I think he's he's really worked hard at that um and made that uh a part of his game where um, you know, it's he's not a guy that we gotta take out in those situations. UM. So that's the first thing that comes to mind, and then you know, just his his professionalism.

I mean, this is this is a guy who's uh, you know, in early out late doing extras, whether it's jugs, whether it's running routes, whether it's um, you know, film study, and um, all the work that he puts in. Ah. Again, all the preparation that he uh goes through, UM gives him an opportunity to have you know, some success you know on the practice field, and then um, I mean hopefully in games. So he's done a nice job. We saw Miles play or more of the snaps in any

given game last year in games in which he was healthy. Well, that's kind of how you do it. You'll be a three down back that can catch the football and pass protect. Take another step in that past protection arena. Man, you have to like Miles gaskins prospects heading into the season. And you know, I love this from the reporters here in South Florida on the beat asking Miles Gaskin first off the top of question about that answer that coach

Flora's gave regarding his improvement with past protection. Here's Miles on how he was able to do that this offseason. Just making it emphasis for myself being a smaller guy. Obviously, Um, you're in the league now, Um, so just those guys are too, sixty two fifty, so you gotta bringing everything you've got east play, and Uh, I think I just

just kind of dove into it. Coach E and all the other running backs, we're always trying to help each other, So I think that's kind of brought me along obviously when I was younger. Now being able to help the younger guys savant obviously, Jared Um just kind of seeing it, just seeing it over and over again and seeing what I'm good at, and uh, kind of honing in on those gives. I'm not going to run the audio here, but I thought that Jerome Baker has we kind of

change gears here was forthright. In his media on Monday, he was asked a lot about Mac Jones and preparing for him compared to what Cam Newton might have been, who of course was released last week, And you know, he acknowledged that Cam is more of a running threat. But I love that he also acknowledged that Jones isn't a typical rookie in the sense that you can expect rookie mistakes from those guys because he's a smart player, called him a Patriots guy, which very much seems to

be the case. And I bring this up because I heard an interesting point. I'm sure it was Chris Sims, and this was something that kind of refuted a point that I thought that I had, and I liked hearing the perspective from a guy that played in the league that the Pats made the declaration when they did so so that there's no surprises come game you. That's like, that was my perspective, right, good, we don't have to

prepare for two quarterbacks. But Chris Sims told a great story about how one time, when the Patriots lost Tom Brady back in OH eight, they brought him in for a post will work out, and then after he got into the building, they said, hey, Chris, we're really sorry about this man, but we're gonna go with Matt Castle because we don't want the possible distraction or the possible like questions for Matt Castle or for coach every day,

who's gonna be your quarterback? I thought that was very intriguing and definitely a certain advantage for the team that announces their quarterback ahead of time. To you know, not get the advantage of preparing for two quarterbacks, but it also has an inherent advantage for the team that does it as well. I thought that was very interesting, had not heard that perspective before, but Chris Sims provide that

for US and the Patriots. Of course, who knows if that's the case, but I thought it was very interesting to hear that, as they have just made that decision here recently to go with one quarterback over the other. And I do, however, want to play this audio from Jerome on the best way to make things difficult on a rookie quarterback. I mean with any quarterback. It's like anything you play, basketball, football, whatever it is. You just trying to throw these men looks as you can. Um.

You know, football is a little different. It's a little harder, but you know, you just try to confuse guys and uh execute well, line up different um. And it really just played a cat and mouse game. You really don't know what we're doing. The same you know, same point offense. They do the same thing. We don't know what they're doing. They try to line up a guy differently, bring them back in, bring it back out. Um, you know, try to go fast, get us out of personnel. It's the

game of football that we all know and love. So um, I'm sure we're gonna do a little bit of that, and they're gonna do a little bit of So at the end of the day, we've got to coming to execute, follow our rules, and play together. So let's go ahead and change now from Jerome Baker to Jason mccordy, who

on that approach defending a rookie quarterback. And this was after he was asked about any possible trash talk with he and his brother Devin mccordy, And I've mentioned his leadership and a role on the team as a conduit for the coaching staff onto the field to help convey the message, and he said he's just focused on one play at a time, which again is right in line with that messaging. And I loved how he said the trash talking is for the mccordy children, his and Devon's kids,

going back and forth. Absolutely perfect answer. But he also talked about going against a rookie quarterback making his debut. Here's Jason mccordy. I think, for the most part, whenever you're preparing for an opponent, you don't really want to look at their experience. You kind of want to watch the film and see what they're telling you on film. And as we've gotten a chance to watch Matt throughout the preseason, I mean, he's doing a lot of good

things for them, man. Uh, just the way the subtle things he does, the way he moves to defense when he's looking off, getting him into the right play at the line of scrimash. So I won't say in regards to a rookie quarterback this or that. I just think we have a tough opponent coming in obviously in the division opponent we're going to visit for Week one with Mac Jones. There is gonna be a tough game. And you can see some of the things early on in his career that he's able to do that puts him

in a good place on offense. So we're gonna have to really go out there and execute well. Gosh, sharing the guy's breakdown matchups. It's here, baby, Football season is officially here. And I told you guys a lie because I'm recording this podcast on a Monday evening, and I said I wasn't gonna I was gonna finish on that last segment. But we have to get to my forty four hour drive across the country. And you know what, long distance driving isn't as bad as it used to be.

And the lone reason for that is podcast. Now. I brought my BOWS player because U haul trucks do not have the adaptable plug ins to put your phone or your music or whatever you have on your phone into the speakers. So I brought this BOWS player, this portable speaker I have. I forgot the charger, but my buddy who drove with me, and he knocked out twenty of the or rather eighteen of the forty three hours again light about the time there. I drove twenty five hours.

He drove eighteen four days total, nine hours, eleven hours, eleven hours and thirteen hours to make that trip across the country. But back to the bow situation. He brought a charger that plugged into the twelve volt so we had the bows the entire time and knocked out probably

twenty podcast. It was a good time hanging out with a long time friend of high school buddy making that drive and again that the drive log there with five six different stints, a four hour drive, two and a half hour drive, four hours two point five three point five, three point five and then my five hour drive home from Lake City, Florida to Miramar, and you know, it was a crazy event. I gotta see the Kansas City

Royal Stadium right off the highway there. That was really cool to see the Tennessee Titan Stadium as well, right off the highway, the Red Rocks in Utah. The absolute beauty that was the Wyoming countryside, the Tennessee Mountains, My goodness, how beautiful is the state of Tennessee. And then Florida was kind of the least scenic of the entire drive from being honest. Now, granted it was dark late night on Sunday night coming home, but there are no lights

along the turnpike there. But yeah, it's basically just the road. And the biggest snag was the fact that we had a blown tire in Wyoming on day number two. Blue Attire had to call a tire company that was luckily just eight miles down the road. How lucky was that? But we spent two hours outside the truck just trying

to entertain ourselves. And I thought this was the best part of the trip because we've invented two games it was like throwing this milk bottle off the top of the U haul truck and you had to catch it before we hit the ground. I know it sounds stupid, but it just became something we did because we were bored and didn't stick on our phones and just you know, be introverts that way. Then we had a game where you flipped this coffee cup into the cup holder inside

the truck like stupid little things. Man, it was fun to fun to kind of re enact my childhood creativity. Like when I was in middle school, my friends and I would go into my parents garage and just pick random things and use those items to create games. One of those was we did a um like curling game with a bike tire and ski poles where you had to whack the tire and sprint down the road and just keep that thing rolling. Sounds stupid, it was a

lot of fun. We also had a game where we taped a garbage can to a batting helmet and then had to take this stick with an attached net to the end of it and throw a hackey sack into the cup or into the can rather with the guy having it on his head. It's just to me. It was nice to know that childish creativity is still in there when you have to unearth it. But a lot

of fun on the drive. Some really boring moments as well, but plenty of good hotels, some good coffee, and just you know, saying what's up to the other U halls on the road a good time. And I think best of all was the fact that for four days I was kind of able to disconnect from my phone. I highly recommend doing that if you haven't done so lately, get off social media for a little bit. It can be a lot of fun. Lastly, Washington State goes down

to Utah State. Boo. The Huskies loose to Montana. That's pretty good. But that's the end of my weekend fund drive. Asked me any questions you want about it on Twitter. We have a busy week coming up for you guys here, including game preview on Thursday and the Friday kind of Hodgepodge podcast with a mail bag. So put some questions on the reviews for us if you have not done so already, a five star rating and a question. We're

gonna read that on the podcast for you. I'll also put the call out on Twitter for your questions on Thursday for the mail bag asked for today's podcast, That is gonna be my time. You all please be sure, Hey, Caroline, Daddy's coming home. You all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast. Leave us a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me on Twitter at winkld NFL. Can follow the team at Miami Dolphins, check out the fish Tank podcast with Seth and o J,

and of course Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time,