Dolphins Roster Construction, Rookie Report, Inside the Numbers

enjoy your weekend off? I certainly did recharge the batteries back home with my wife, daughter and two cats. It was a great weekend. Some great NFL action to cover as well. We'll talk about that on the podcast. Give you a little glimpse into tonight's Monday Night football game. As the Dolphins opponent next week place tonight. In this particular Monday Night football game, Rams and Bears, we're gonna talk about the Dolphins season rankings, both individuals and teams.

We are also going to hear from Coach Flores, Mike Gasicki, Preston Williams, and Shack Lawson planning to come here on this Monday October edition of the Drivetime podcasts and drive Time is brought to you by Auto Nation. There are so many reasons to drive pink, but for Auto Nation, there's only one to finish the fight against cancer. In fact, Auto Nation helped raise over twenty five million dollars to

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And I want to first recap the weekend that was in the NFL because we had tons of action around the league that really pertained to the Miami Dolphins as we take a look at this team heading in to the final ten games of the season, the final ten weeks of the season, as the bye week is now in the rear view, and we have a slate coming up against a bunch of teams out West with the Rams, Cardinals, Chargers, Broncos all coming up. Road and home games involved there

as well. Dolphins get the Rams this coming Sunday and the Rams on tonight's game. Tonight's Monday night football game against the Chicago Bears could be an interesting matchup. But I look at this game as a way for this Brian Flores Dolphins team to really kind of get their self scouting and get their self evaluation and try to fix the things that they thought they were not doing correctly.

In the first half of the season. The first six weeks of the season, we hear coach Flores, Coach Josh Bowyer, coach chan Gaily, all these guys talk about daily improvement and stacking up these days where you make yourself a better football player today than you were yesterday, and the bye week is a great opportunity for that. We saw this Dolphins team come out of the bye week last year under Brian Flores, and that was when things really

began to shift for this Dolphins football team. Of course, we all know the results of the first four games of the season last year, and they didn't get the ws off the bye week in the Washington and in the Buffalo games, but they started playing much better football, much more competitive football. And you go back to last season. I had Eric Rowe on the podcast a couple of weeks ago and he mentioned that Buffalo game as when

things kind of began to shift for the team. They kind of started to really understand the buy end process of playing for Brian Flores and this coaching staff. And I think that when you take a look at this year's team, the improvements they've made through the first six weeks. Obviously by the record, the point differential, we have guys atop the leader board in some statistics. The defense is the number two scoring defense in the NFL coming into play.

We'll talk more about that here in just one second as we review the numbers for the first six weeks. But you look at this team and the applications you can make as far as the bye week and benefiting you going into the second half of the season. I just think you have a good opportunity here to really take the things you do well and improve those, but also get better at the things you do not do well.

And you look at this week's opponent in the Rams, short week, six days of rest, in a Monday night football game, you hope, you hope the Bears can make it a physical, tight contested game, a high stress game. Maybe you get over time, maybe you get a fifth quarter like we had in that insane Seahawks and Cardinals game onto Sunday night, which was the best football game I've seen in quite sometimes time as far as entertainment

value goes. But that's what you always root for in your in your previous week matchup right, play as long as you can play as many plays as you can get those guys tired, especially on a short week, especially coming across the country on a five hour flight, in that early window, the ten am West Coast time window for the Rams against the Dolphins team coming off of a bye week, and we're gonna preview this game later on in the week, but I have one more stat I want to go ahead and run by you guys

that I saw and I talked about it on the podcast a little bit last week as we kind of started to do the preview for the Rams and and just kind of get some nuggets here and there. I talked about the condensed nature of the Rams offensive formations, and that's what they do. They think they bring things in tight, they run tight splits, they bring the receivers inside the numbers. They don't really spread things out and

go the horizontal spread game. In fact, next gen NFL stats has the Rams as the tightest formation in terms of average width of their offensive formation at twenty point four yards per snap. The team that has the widest formation comparatively is your Miami Dolph at thirty point one

yards of width. Now, obviously the two offenses don't go up against each other, but you see the contrasting styles there of the Rams offense and the Dolphins offense in terms of how they split the field, how they spread the field pre snap. So I'll be taking a look

at that throughout the course of the week. We'll come back on Thursday and have the preview podcast for you guys taking a look at this Los Angeles Rams football team and get you the matchups, the highlights, all that fun stuff before we turn this over to media to get sound from coach Flora's Preston Williams, Mike Kisiki, and Shack Lawson. Let's go ahead and run through some Dolphins

numbers through the first six games of the season. And remember this does not include the Monday night football games that was going on maybe as you listen to this podcast or recorded it before that game happened. Dolphins offensively points per games still twenty six point seven. All those

numbers are still the same, but the rankings have changed. Obviously, twelve and points scored twenty second, total offense twenty second and rushing eighteen passing offense, they second, third down conversion rate at and they have allowed the ninth fewest sacks

with ten acts allowed this season. I haven't used Football Outsiders very much this season, but they have a d v O rating Defensive Adjusted Value over Average rating they use to grade offense defense special teams, and they have the Dolphins as the third best special teams in the

National Football League. The dolphins fifteen successful field goals by Jason Sanders are the most in the league without a miss kick, and the net punt average of forty two point four by Matt Hawk is the twelveth best in the NFL. And the Dolphins have twenty eight penalties assessed against them for two hundred and twenty eight yards this season. That's the fourth least in both those categories across the National Football League. So once again a very discipline team

here under Brian Flores. Defensively, the points per game eighteen point eight. Man, you look across the league, how many games are thirty four forty thirty? I mean there's points golore this year in the National Football League, Miami allowing eighteen point eight points per game. That's second in the

National Football League. Total defense is seventeenth, rushing defense is nineteenth, Passing defense is sixteenth and the third down conversion rate of just thirty one point three percent against his first tops in the National Football League. We fall down the sack chart because we didn't get you sacks on Sunday. We didn't play a game, so we have seventeen sacks. That's tied for the eleventh most in the NFL. Some individual metrics here. Miles Gaskin has three hundred forty rushing

yards and eighteen first downs. Both of those stats are twenty three in the NFL. He also has two hundred and twenty five yards after initial contact and the averages two point seven four yards per carry after initial contact. Both of those ranked eighteenth among running backs who have forty or more carries this season. Davante Parker is twenty second among receivers with at least twenty past targets in his yards per route run at one point nine nine.

Preston Williams is twenty in the league and touchdown receptions with three, and Mike get Sicki is six among all tight ends and receiving yards with two hundred and eighty two yards. At this tide, imposition up on the offensive line on the interior, solemn and Killy and Eric Flowers both have allowed just eight pressures each. That's tied for eleventh eleventh fewest among all guards in the NFL. Per pff and Ted Carriss is one of fourteen NFL centers

without a sack allowed this season. With minimum two hundred pass blocking snaps at both guard and centers, so a good job there for those guys. Emmanuel a Ball off the edge is tied for eleventh among edge defenders with twenty quarterback pressures. His five sacks are tied for seventh most in the NFL, and he has eleven run stops. Those are tackles within two yards of the line of scrimmage,

and that's tied for sixteenth best in the NFL. At edge positions, Christian Wilkins is eleventh eleventh among interior defensive lineman with thirteen run stops. Linebacker Jerome Baker has forty six tackles that leads the team. It's twenty eight in the NFL, and Kyle van nois twelve QB pressures are second among all off ball linebackers, where a land and Roberts is tied for thirteen with his five QB pressures

from that same position. In the defensive backfield, safety Bobby McCain, who we're gonna talk to you later this week on Drive Time has a passer rating against a zero point zero that according to Pro Football Focus, he's the only dB with more than one hundred snaps who can say that. And Eric Row has five pass breakups that's tied for

second among all NFL safeties. And cornerback Xavien Howard has a passer rating of forty nine point oh that second best among corners with at least twenty past targets, and of course he is tied for the league lead with four interceptions. And then Jason Sanders once again is one of three kickers with double digit makes without a missfield goal, and punter Matt Hawk has ten points down inside the twenty yard line that's tenth best in the National Football League.

So Miami well well represented across the leaderboard in the National Football League. And before we turn this thing over, real quick to coach Flora's and the players for their Monday media availability. The Buffalo Bills did beat the New York Jets. Man I was hoping the Jets can pull that game out. Help us pulled the within a half a game of the Bills, but they do not. The Bills get to win. They move to five and two on the seasons of the Dolphins, one and a half

games back in the a f C East. The Dolphins did jump over the Las Vegas Raiders in the a f C wild card picture. Right now at three and three, the Dolphins are just one game back of the Colts for that seven seed. The Dolphins currently your eight seed in the a f C. So everything is in front

of us right now. Talks about the Rams, the Cardinals coming up, a couple of tough teams from the best division in the NFL for my opinion, on the docket there the Chargers and Broncos, couple of young quarterbacks they're

coming to the pike as well. So plenty of good action coming your way from the Miami Dolphins as they have a chance to really put themselves in a prime position down the stretch of the season with a good run, a good month here in November, and one more way you can really get that improvement in the second half of the season that the coaches and the players talk about here in Miami is to get more production out of your young players, in particular out of your rookies.

And we know this Dolphins team has eleven rookies that were either drafted or traded, four who were drafted from some other team, Las Vegas Raiders, and Lynn Boone Jr. We had Benito Jones make his NFL debut on Sunday, the undrafted free agent out of Old miss And I want to touch on those eleven rookies and how they've performed for the first six games and maybe a forecast

for the final ten games of that rookie season. But it got me thinking about the construction of this Dolphins roster and where the players on this Dolphins roster have come from. And that got me thinking about previous draft classes, right, because we look at this team and think there are plenty of first and second year players, but there are also players who have been here for three, four or five years that are now considerable contributors, significant contributors, guys

that are very, very important to this football team. And we start in pick fourteen of the first round. Devanta Parker is a bona fide number one receiver in this NFL and he's been playing consistently throughout the course of this season. We talked about it on an earlier podcast, playing through the nicks and bruces and kind of taking it upon himself to make sure he's out there for all sixteen games. And the talent has always been there,

so the production catching up there as well. For Davanta Parker that same draft class, in the fifth round, pick one, Bobby McCain, who we're gonna feature on the podcast later this week out of Memphis. He was a quarterback when he was drafted, now playing safety. We talked about his numbers in the open, zero point zero passer rating against Bobby McCain this season. He's a captain on this defense, a almost never leaves the field type of player, a

ninety plus percent player in terms of snap counts. Those two guys back in the draft still here and having a huge impact on your Miami Dolphins. You go ahead to ten, second round pick thirty eight, Xavian Howard. I mean, we talked about him too, one of the lowest passer ratings against tire from league lead and interceptions this year, most interceptions in the NFL back to December. He was a home run pick there in the second round for your Miami Dolphins. The first pick that year turned into

multiple draft picks in the future. We wound up with Solomon Kinley and Noah Ignogeny in this year's draft from that trade. We also have two more picks next year, a first rounder and a second rounder, looking like two

top forty picks right now currently from that trade. So that draft provide you with plenty of value as star player a good looking rookie guard to a very toolsy and trades the youngest player in the NFL cornerback out of that trade as well, and then two more future premium picks next season currently on this roster and in future rosters for your Dolphins seventeen draft class, though he is on injured reserve right now. Devon god Show in the fifth round, pick one eight, in the seventh round,

pick two thirty seven, Isaiah Ford that year. Both have been contributors on this football team this year, one on defense, one on offense, some big catches for Ford, some big run stops for Devon god Show on defense as well. And then you skip ahead to in the first selection that year, turned into Austin Jackson this year, who was having a damn fine season before he wound up on

injured reserve. You wound up with Mike Gatsicki in that draft class, who is one of the top tight ends in the NFL right now in production as a receiver, catching touchdowns, yardage, all that fun stuff. And the third round Jerome Baker, who's playing almost every snap at linebacker for you. He blitzes, he covers, he defends the run, does a little bit of everything on the defense. In the fourth round, Durham Smith been one of the best run blocking tight ends in the game for my money

this season. In the seventh round, Jason Sanders, who has not missed a field goal this year, been the best, most accurate, most consistent kicker in the NFL this season. Jump ahead to twenty nineteen, Christian Wilkins, one of the top leaders in run stops this year for the in the NFL. For your Miami Dolphins. In the seventh round, Chandler Cox, playing snaps at fullback Miles Gaskin one pick later, leads the team in rushing eighteen in the NFL in

rushing yards. In the fifth round that year, Andrew van Ginkl, linebacker out of Wisconsin, giving you sack production, coverage production, run stop production, playing well so far in his second season. Michael Dieter on the bench hasn't played this season, but as a quality interior backup on the offensive line. Still in the fold there you also had Preston Williams as a U d f A that year and Nick Needum, who both are playing plenty of snaps this year for

your Miami Dolphins. And then we jump ahead to this year. And this is the point of this entire diet tribe here so to speak, to talk about the rookie progress report so far through six games. I wrote about it on this morning's blitz up on Miami Dolphins dot com. And we start with the first pick for the Dolphins, number five overall, to a Tongue of Valoa. He threw only two passes for nine yards in the NFL so far, will make his NFL debut, starting debut, I should say

this Sunday against the Rams. You go back to what Jerome Baker said about how he asked for advice on what he can work on, what he can see, whatever

it is that he can do to get better. And that was the thing that Jerome said really stuck out to him was how he truly wants to get better, how he wants to make this Dolphins football team win games, So not much of a progress update there on to a but in a few weeks time, we'll be able to get back to this and talk about to and some starts he has under his NFL belt as he

gets more playing time in his NFL career. The next pick, Austin Jackson, we talked about him, hasn't allow of sack this season per Pro Football Focus, and coach Steve Marshall talks about how fierce these guys are on the offensive line, how they're intrigued and engaged to learn and get better every single day, and the competitiveness of those guys. And we've seen Jackson's true talents the sweet feat. He is so nimble, so athletic and can get into those pass

sets so quickly. We saw that on display through the first four games before he got injured and headed to i R. We'll see if we can get Jackson back here this season shortly at the cornerback position Noah Igbogen. He got thrown to the fire there for Byron Jones, playing the same position as Byron when he got hurt. Played two six snaps, plenty of good experience there, made ten tackles, he did force nine incomplete passes on twenty

five pass targets. But the biggest thing that I took away from Noah's first six games of his career was what Byron Jones said about him. He's probably one of the most impressive young guys I've seen in a very long time, Jones says of Imogen. The way he approaches the game. This kid is here early. He's here early, looking at film with the coaches. He's there late. The way he practices and the way he really approaches practice is really impressive for a young guy to understand that.

So big praise there from the Dolphins cornerback Byron Jones for rookie cornerback Noah Igbogny in the second round. Tackle Robert Hunt, who has started two games, played plenty as that kind of six off nds of linemen and heavy packages, and he has surrendered just six quarterback pressures this year and all of those are hurried, so no sacks, no hits on the quarterback from Robert Hunt, who's been playing

right tackle for the last two games. Ray Kwon Davis has a hundred eighteen snaps through six games, three QB pressures, seven total tackles, two run stops, and we've seen a bit of increase in playing time from him since the Von Godshaw went down, so we'll see more of ray Kwon Davis here in the second half of the season. Safety Brandon Jones has played two d thirty five snaps at five defensive positions and a member of four special teams units, so he's playing plenty in his rookie season,

plenty on his plate. He's tied for fifth on the team and total tackles with one and he had that big tackle for loss on third and two in the Jets game to help preserve the only shutout this year in the National Football League. In the fourth round, we talked about Solomon Kindley three nine two snaps this season. He's been credited with just eight pressures allowed on the quarterback through six games on two hundred and thirty nine pass blocking snaps. He averages a quarterback pressure on just

three point three of his pass blocking snaps. That's one every twenty nine point three snaps in past protection, so basically right around one per game, a little bit more than one per game for Solomon Kinley. Jason Strowbridge has not made his debut just yet, but Coach Hobby has talked about how he had a really good camp. Coach Hobby said back in September that he thinks that Strobridge is getting better every day, thinks he has a role

on this team. It's a long season. I think we're going to need him to end that quote from Coach Hobby on Jason Strowbridge, fifth round draft pick for the Miami Dolphins at long snapper. I mean, can you complain to God about Blake Ferguson If the field goal kicker hasn't missed, if the punter is top ten with punts down into the twenty yard line top ten and punt average, Blake Ferguson putting the ball on the money key details. Special teams focus on these very important minute details to

some people, but important details here. Long snapping one of those details, and Blake Ferguson has done a good job so far his rookie season. We haven't yet seen Malcolm Perry this year. I thought he was really impressive and camp chan Gailey had this to say about him. Malcolm is converting to wide receiver, so he has a lot of things to learn yet about the game. I think he has a chance to be a good player end quote there, and then the draft or the trade from

the Las Vegas Raiders. Who was drafted in the third round this past season. Why receiver Lynn Bowden played a little bit of quarterback and receiver in college. He was on the Bulletina cough Watch list the last season there at Kentucky before the quarterback gets injured, so he takes over at QB and just goes on to set sec rushing records for most rushing yards in a game from a quarterback, things like that. Very impressive college career for him,

and the coaches had this to say about him. Shanguilly did rather, he has some natural route running ability, has some natural athletic talent. He's still just in the process of learning everything the nuances of playing at this level. It's not the athletic talent, it's just learning the nuances of being able to compete and quote and you know, he came in after the install had all occurred. Shanguilly

also talked about this. He came in after the offense was installed, so he kind of has been working through certain packages and trying to get up to speed in the base general install of this Dolphins offense. And he also has a few carries and Wildcat had a nice block last week well, So plenty of contributions from Dolphins young players, from Dolphins rookies, from guys that were drafted here in the past five or six years in Miami.

And hopefully that natural progression continues here in year one for these rookies as they continue in their first season, and if they give you more than they've been giving you so far, that's a good sign this year for your Miami Dolphins and beyond. Speaking of the rookies, let's go ahead and jump into the Monday media availability and we'll start here with Dolphins tight end Mike Asiki, who was asked about the quarterback change to a tongue of

Valoa and how ghasick. He says he is perceived by his teammates in the locker room and what makes him special as a person. As we've heard so many times before, Um yeah, I mean two us one. A phenomenal job with you know, just being a just being a guy in the locker room. You know, um, you know everybody, um,

you know has phone in there around him. He's a funny guy, He's he's a good time to be around and then when he's out on the field, Um, he does he has that you know where he can kind of flip the switch and you'll make it serious, but

also you know, still have fun with it. Uh. So I think that that's something that you know, I look forward to, you know, getting out on the field with him and you know, seeing him in the huddle and you know, making a big play because you know, you know, you know it's eventually coming, and you know how he reacts to that. And I think it's it's it's exciting to you know, be part of that that chapter that

you know that that next phase. Um. And I think that he's done a you know, a phenomenal job kind of earning everybody's respect in the locker room and then obviously you know everybody's respect outside of the locker room, you know upstairs, you know, um, you know, giving him this opportunity, uh and you know he's earned it, and you know, I'm excited for him. Up next, Mike was asked about how he might see his role changing in the offense or how the offense in general changes with

the change at the quarterback position. Um, I'm not really sure, honestly, you know, I don't. I don't know how you know the game plan is or is not going to change. Um, you know what I will say is that, uh, you know, to has you know, I think he's got every throw in the book, and I think he's got you know, the intelligence to make all the reads, and he's got the you know, the lay eggs to be able to you know, escape pressure and you know, make some plays

with his feet. So you know, I don't really know if you're gonna take any plays out or you know that he's going to do something that you know Fitz wasn't doing or anything. I don't. I don't think that that's what it really comes down to. I think it just comes down to, you know, our coaching staff and you know kind of what they've done this season is put guys in position to be successful, and I think that that's gonna be you know, a common Trenjent moving forward.

One comment he made there that I want to touch on was the ability to make plays with your feet. And we see it across the National Football League pretty much unanimously right now. Besides a few of the old veteran gun slingers that are still getting it done. The Tom Brady's, the Ben Roethlisberger's, the Drew Breezes of the world. For the most part, most of these quarterbacks coming into the league these days have to have that athletic trade, the ability to get off script and make plays outside

the structure. And it just reminds me of so many plays up to us back in college, Like, for instance, in the Old Miss game last year, when he had pressure right away, did a little bit of a ball fake, stepped up, slid around, got outside the pocket, made the completion on third down for the first down. Ryan Fitzpatrick do a plenty of times as well. The ability to get off the spot and make plays outside the structure going to be crucial for any quarterback. And I think

that Mike Sicky talks about there. I think we've seen plenty of that from tah in his college days. Let's go ahead and here now from Dolphins receiver Preston Williams, another player who will be catching passes from tongue Bylowa on Sunday, as he was asked, what are two of strength that he has noticed so far in practice? You know, I was, you know, throwing, you know, taking plays. Everything you on the quarterback, you know you've seen his tape.

Uh I speak for us. So uh, like I said, we said that tour and get his started, you know, just like everybody else on the site of to see him in his first game age and gets the Rams up. Next, Preston was asked about the challenge of facing this Rams defense, who has star talent all over the place, including a cornerback and Jalen Ramsey. Uh. You know, I know the range is a couple. The Rams at good. It's a good team. Uh. Now they're gonna They're gonna come ready

to play. We're gonna come ready to play. You know. You gotta beating a DV in there like that, you know, usually to each other game saying we're gonna take some shots out of my believe So you're gonna see. Let's go ahead and finish up with the players here with Dolphins defensive and Shock Lawson, who first was asked about the combination and playing on the defensive line there with fellow pass rusher, fellow edge defender Emmanuel the main beast man.

He's been going crazy these last six six seven games or we don't play man. He's been a dominant force and having him on the other side. Hopefully it's open New York now. Man, see he's been balling like that and things like that. But that guy has been a credible man. Has been a pleasure to work with him. You know, we both came in the league the same year. Uh so we we we kind of uh kind of had a relationship before we got him, knew each other.

But man, that guy's has been bothering. Man's credible. You've been playing. Let's go ahead and check in with Shack on his perception of what he's seen from two A toggle by Lower in practice, who of course makes his first start Sunday against the Rams. I'm looking forward to going out there and play with the Sunday. I've seen a lot a lot of him in practice. Uh, athletic year is how incredible player years. So to get to see you on Sunday this week, man, it's gonna be incredible. Man.

He's gonna leave his team in the right way. As advice being to lead, just tell the guy just continue to work hard and continue get better, man, and we're gonna follow your league man, and just just embrace brace every moment of And he as a guy has been seeing him, he's been doing that every day. You know, he's a guy who always have a smile on his face, a great kid, and always he always want to talk to vests and things like that. I want to learn new things for that guy. He learned a lot and

like to learn too. So we've heard that now from Shock Loss and Bobby McCain and Jerome Baker, three of the veteran players on this Dolphins defense. And that last question there was directed towards Shock about the advice he would give too for how to embrace his first start? How do approach us first start? This, of course a guy who saw the Buffalo Bills go from a vectrin quarterback to Josh Allen and saw the transformation of Alan Khan developing his first couple of years there in Buffalo.

So Shack's been around rookie quarterbacks before. He knows what it looks like. He's positive about the way he sees two in practice every single day. Let's go ahead and finish up this podcast by hearing from coach Brian Flores, who spoke to the media this afternoon, and we'll start with coaches expectations for what tour should look like this week. His first week as a starter for your Miami Dolphins. And I think he's just got to do a good

job of preparent um you know throughout the week. You know, I don't like to put expectations on on on anyone. I think we just need to go out there, um really not even go out there. But you know, have a good day today, have a good meetings, have a good walk to will, have a good practice, you know, put it. Put together a good week, um, and just trying to play a good football game come Sunday afternoon

and gets a good opponent. Uh to team effort. Um. Again, it won't be just two of you know, he is gonna have to do his part as far as uh, you know, communication, getting us lined up, um, you know, making good decisions. I mean we were saying specific to to tour, but you know this is anyone you know who steps on the field when we need them to do a good job or a communication. We need them to play with good fundamentals technique and we need him execute. So um, I mean we're asking of him or we

would ask anyone on the steps on the field. But again he's young. There's there's um. But yeah, we we would expect him to to go out there, play with the fundamentals, technique and execute. We'll go over to the defensive side for a couple of questions on the defensive side of the football here for coach, starting with some injury updates on a couple of Dolphins linebackers, and Kyle

van Noy and Andrew Van ginkle Um. You know, just you know, speaking talking about Van Noy, I mean it's look, there's only sixteen games, so you know, we don't you know, I'm not precautionary. I don't know if that's the word out use. He couldn't go m I felt like that was the best decision for him. Uh, And you know he's doing everything he can to get back out there. Ginko not quite out of the protocol yet, but getting closer. Looks like he's doing everything he can, but you know,

not officially out of the protocol yet. So he's he's uh, looks like he's he was in all weekend and doing doing, uh, trying to do everything to get back. Plenty of questions about the quarterback position. On this Monday, October Brian Flores media availability. I wanted to ask coach about a possible

quarterback on the defense. I asked him if it's fair to call Bobby McCain that, and what is it about the way McCain communicates specifically that really makes him fit into this Brian Florest defense, into this program and not that safety position. Fair to say that he's he's a quarterback of the defense. He's a good communicator. I think a lot of that's uh, you know, tied into his

relationships that he has with other players on the team. UM. You know, his willingness and well I would say, his uh, his his production on the field, his and just his overall uh wanting to communicate and make sure we're all on the same page. UM. I think he's taking that role on um and been successful in it. You need someone to kind of remind guys, hey, watch this, watch that it's third down, watch the sticks. You know, I think we all kind of need reminders. Um. He's he's

taken on that role and and really embraced it. I would say, and let's go ahead and flip back to the quarterback on the other side of the ball, the actual quarterback on this press conference for Brian Flora's and reference a question for two of last week and his media availability about meetings on Tuesdays with Brian Flora's here's coach on those meetings. What they go over game film, practice film, all the like. Here's coach, it's game film,

is practice, film is situations. He's a young player. There's a lot, We've got a lot to learn. He tries to be a sponge. Um. I think everyone you know kind of can see that, uh, players, coaches, his team, you know, I think it's it's it's uh, you know, he wants to learn so as much and he wants to see it from all different aspects. So UM, I might give him a defensive aspect, he gets it from

chant obviously from the offensive side of all. Yes, you know, you know defensive players, you know what things that they saw. I mean, this is um the type of kid he is, and it's a good thing. And he tries to learn as much as he can. And you know, I think it's you know, as a as a teacher, as a coach, I think that's you know, that's what you're looking for, UM. And I try to watch as much or as many different things as as possible. But you know, obviously you

don't want to overload the kid. And I know he's getting a lot of information from a lot of different places, but our meetings are more I would say, me giving him the defensive perspective. And I think when you're as an offensive player, if you understand kind of the thought process from the other side of the ball, it can make you a better player. I know that's the case. Defensively, we can think of how they're trying to attack us offensively. So, um,

that's what those those conversations you're like. And we'll go ahead and finish up the podcast on that point there from coach and you guys have heard me reference a hundred times maybe more the Move the Sticks podcast with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks, and a while back, I think it was before this draft season, they referenced the idea of having that defensive minded coach not only benefiting you for what it does to your defense, which Dolphins

eight teen point eight points per game, second rank scoring defense in the NFL, but what that can do for a young quarterback in your program, for the way you can kind of tell him, hey, here's what I think defensively, here's how we want to attack you and your your perceived weaknesses and maybe some of the vulnerabilities of that offensive call. Here's how you can react to us, to beat us where we might be weaker, where you might

be strong and can attack our vulnerabilities. So a very cool balance that are to think about with Brian Flores to a Tonga Valoa. Two guys who eat, sleep and breathe up ball just there at the facility working this thing out. It's a fun thought for a Dolphins fan, I think across the entire Dolphins nation. Alright, that's gonna be it for my time today on this podcast. We'll come back and be with you guys again tomorrow for coordinators and defensive assistant coaches. Until next time, that's gonna

be my time you all. Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, leave us a rating, leave us a review, give me a follow on Twitter. It's at Wingfield, NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins, check out the Fish Tank and the Audible podcast, and of course Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time finds up