Dolphins Roster Review Part 2 | Offense

the ball. We did defense yesterday. Today we'll go to the offensive side and look at the traits that make Miami who they are on that side of the football. We'll talk about jersey numbers and really get into the weeds of the x's and ohs, all of that and more on this Tuesday, May the twelfth edition of the Drivetime Podcasts. And yesterday we talked about the defensive makeup

of this team. Will get to the offensive side here real quick, but first I want to read off these notes from Daniel Jeremiah which he shared a while back on his Twitter account at Move the Sticks. It was a scouting notebook on the type of players preferred at each level. Now it comes from Bill Belichick, but what we know about his background spans all the way back to the Bill Parcels era with those New York Giants

defenses of the eighties as well as the nineties. You've got some Nick Saban fingerprints on this and Brian Flores, who still technically was the last person to hold the defensive coordinator title there in New England. So you've got fingerprints from coaches all around the football landscape on these particular notes from Daniel Jeremiah, and he shared these on Twitter. I want to say it was about a month ago, so it's not like it's a secret or anything. They're

out there for you to consume. But he says this defense middle of the field. First, pressure up the middle better than running outside the quarterback, third down cover linebacker or six defensive back. Size, power, quickness, inside size over speed on the outside, outside linebacker, big range, e guy

if you can get them. Usually first round picks. Settle for guys who can stay on the line, long arms, quick hands, size, speed, athletic ability inside linebacker, play in close quarters, Instinctive explosive tacklers that face up and can knock guys back. Play zone, good blitzers, smart players need instincts over intelligence at safety. Tacklers two hundred pounds four five to four six forty range need range deep don't need mental giants. Size speed guys have to be able

to cover man to man. Former corners moved inside ideally if they have size. Ball skills and judgment are essential more than speed and athleticism. Cornerback tackle and force guys to the ground. Need a pure cover corner five ten and up. Small cover guy is a liability. Intelligence on defense not a great factor. And then defensive back in total have to work together like a great offensive line. Teamwork and unselfishness, cohesive trust. So you just go back

over that list we talked about. The safety is moving inside. That's Eric Row in a nutshell right there. A good cover guy that has the speed that can condense inside and cover guys up and play and tight to the box. The linebacker position, I was thinking of the land and Roberts and ray Kwa McMillan for guys that can line up and knock dudes in the mouth. The cover linebackers like Jerome Baker and Commu Gruge a hill, physical long

cornerbacks on the outside. You just see so many notes about this defense that kind of fit that model and fit that making of some of the best defensive minds across football really going back over the last two or three decades now. There's an article up on NFL dot com and this all leads to the same idea written by Greg Rosenthal and I talked about it on the

show yesterday. You look at any potential package you might want to run the four to five variations off that with big Nickel, three three five variations off that with bear fronts, and several other front options you have. There are front looks up front and all of these are gonna refer to the alignment and the assignment and the job of each player rather so stay with me here while we get into the weeds for just a moment. You're probably used to having two defensive formations drilled into

your head as a football fan. I mean even the video games like Madden, for instance, they're gonna tell you for three or three four, and that's pretty much it. But the fact of the matter is, in today's sub package world, those formations are really pretty antiquated. You'll still see them, but they have become the subbast of sub packages. If you will if that's even a word, So we know how much nickel defense is played. That's been the

base defense for quite some time now. In the last four or five years, teams have began to utilize more dime packages and even dollar packages, which is seven defensive backs on the field. So if you have six or seven dbs out there, that means what you only get four bodies up front, right, so you've got seemingly countless variations of three two or two three. Even on the Rosenthal article, he has the Patriots starting projected lineup listed as a to four based defense. You've got three three,

You've got four too, You've got five one. I mean literally any combination you want to think about, you can use. So stay with me here again, this is all gonna come back to be Dolphins related, I promise. And then within each of those packages you can have any variation of alignment assignment, and then also the coverage on the back end. But that's not something we're concerned about right now.

With all the moving parts. For the sake of this argument, for the sake of this idea, and the reason I want to make this stuff clear is you're probably gonna see depth charts or starting lineup projections from now until the season starts, and wonder why player X isn't listed there, but rest assured a lot of players are going to play a lot in this defense. It's a sub package league, right, lots of guys coming off the bench and getting fresh or staying fresh rather and getting in the game. And

Flores preaches multiplicity. Maybe didn't have the parts he wanted to be as multiple as he could have been last year, but now he does have those parts, and I think that the good will he built up by his coaching performance last season, you understand why you'd be willing to listen when he tells you this is what I want for the defense that I want to run. So, for the sake of entertaining podcast purposes, I won't run down a list of all the different defensive fronts you can run.

But there are a variety of different looks you can give opposing offenses, and all it really boils down to is different guys playing different positions across the defensive line. We all know about techniques and positions, right The zero

plays up over the nose, that's your zero technique. The widest position you can play is the nine that's what Cam Wake used to rush from here the wide nine technique, and then every single alignment inside of those two positions refers to the number three, five, whatever it might be.

You've got zero technique all the way through nine technique, and you have so many different options where a safety comes down and joins that group, or a linebacker comes down off the edge, or you mirror it called twins packages where you have two of the same technique alignments

on either side. You've got bigger, heavier defensive ends playing in more bear fronts where you might have a head up person lined up over the center as well as two big defensive ends lined up over each guard as two techniques, so you have multiple fronts, you can run multiple different defensive alignments, and that's why you need so much depth and so many different parts that can rotate into the defense and play in this sub package league.

All of this is to say Miami's active offseason, adding a premium price free agent cornerback, and then another cornerback in the first round, then another defensive back in the third round of the draft. Then you signed two more

dbs in Clayton Federalum and Cavon Frasier. Then you go out and you get Kyle van noy A, Landed Roberts, and Commu gruge a Hill when Baker, McMillan, Beagle all showed some bite last year, on top of Andrew Van Gigel and Trent Harris giving you some solid work down the stretch as well, or adding Curtis Weaver and Jason Strowbridge after you signed Emmanuel Ogba and Shack Lawson. Again.

All of this is to say, there are a lot of jobs on this defense and ability to pull out whichever package you see fit for that particular week, for that particular opponent, and you alter your snap counts accordingly, your calls, your assignments, your expectations for each player each week accordingly. That flexibility is invaluable in this defensive scheme. And that, my friends of the find is my long winded segue into part two of the roster review as we take a look at what the offense wants to

be for your Miami Dolphins under Chan Gaily. And look, I'm not gonna sit here and pretend to know exactly what gaily system or plan is going to be for the season. We just don't have the evidence to go ahead and make those guesses and projections, and who the hell are we to do that in the first place. But he's operated under quite literally every system under the

sun created in the football landscape across several decades. And he was the original pioneer of the spread game, incorporating into the professional ranks back in two thousand eight with the Chiefs when he coached up Tyler Thigpen into a passable quarterback that sees him. He then later, of course, brought that same system to Buffalo with Ryan Fitzpatrick, and then again to the Jets a few years after that,

again with fits. And what's the one thing Chan Gailey teams have done consistently well over his entire career really run the football. He had the unenviable task of creating an offense in the post Dan Marino era here in Miami, and all he does is get one thousand, one hundred thirty nine yards out of Lamar Smith and nineteen hundred rushing yards out of that team in two thousand and

then seventeen hundred yards in two thousand one. That, of course, the two years prior to Ricky Williams arrival and Chan's departure from the Dolphins and just so we're clear on this, Lamar had one thousand, one hundred thirty nine rushing yards and nine hundred sixty eight rushing yards those two years. His next highest totals in an eight year career seven thirty seven, six eighty and four fifty seven. So chan Gailey got mega production out of Lamar Smith compared to

the rest of his career. And if you can add some rushing production to the offense this year based upon what they did last year with Ryan Fitzpatrick, DeVante Parker, Preston Williams, Albert Wilson, Isaai Afford, on and on and on. Mike Kasicki at tight end, don't forget him there either. If you get some rushing production as well, man, you've got a balanced offense and you become infinitely more difficult

to deal with. Because Fitzpatrick was the leading rusher of the team last year and a lot of that, and frankly, a lot of the offensive production will scratch that. Most of it was from Fitzpatrick creating or getting the football out quick enough to where the rush was pretty much irrelevant. Fits with that quick processor and the fact that he's a good ball handler, that bodes well for the r p O game, the run pass option game, and the quarterback Miami drafted. I think most of you have heard

of him by now. To a tongue. Vloa has been lauded almost universally as the best RPO quarterback the college game really ever saw. We've heard that from analysts, coaches that coached for him, coaches that coached against him, players that played with him, and guys that played against him. It's pretty well owing out there. Type into a tongue of bloa, rp O into Google, you're gonna get some glowing praise. Josh Rosen and Jake Rudoc have seen r

p O in their careers as well. And then the r p O game, you've got an offensive line that blocks for the run and the past is the quarterbacks option. So the quarterback has to make that snap decision because well, if he holds the ball, then you're liable for an

ineligible man down field penalty. And once again, to go back to the Move the Sticks podcast, both DJ and Bucky have talked at length on their show about defensive oriented coaches like Brian Flores having a preference towards the type of quarterbacks that they find most difficult to defend against. So last year with fits constantly creating against difficult situations, and with two demonstrating that regularly in college, you can see the thinking there. Because RPO is designed to get

false steps out of the defense. You move people against their will with that sheer power which we'll talk about here in just one second, and have that success running the football. Then all of a sudden you get linebackers taking a step forward and that creates lanes in the passing game. Creating indecision in this league is the best

way to have offensive success. We saw it with the Rams back in their Super Bowl year when Sean McVeigh condensed a lot of those packages and formations in tight That creates natural rubs, it creates communication issues, and zone just gives teams the whole fits of situations to deal with. Then you've got last year with the forty Niners and Kyle Shanahan's Super Bowl team that used pre snap motion and tons of window dressing to move the defense and

create passing lanes that way. Just go look at their playoff game against the Vikings. It was constant a guy that would short motion, real quick move a linebacker and they throw right in behind that linebacker. It all sounds super complex, but it's all done with the same idea in mind, deception to open up lanes. That's what r PO is and that's something the Dolphins I think are well equipped to do this year. And I'll tell you why the offensive line is so equipped to excel in

that package here in just one moment. But first, that's not the only thing this offense can be. We've got quarterbacks that have played under center in a play action heavy game. We've ran out of the pistol, We've seen just about everything. This offensive line can run. Power. You're gonna get backside polls, typically a pin and pull idea where the front side pins the backside polls and tries to get a down block on a linebacker or a defensive end and just run it down the team's throat.

With Jordan Howard, who was an absolute load to bring down, but he also has the vision and patients to make zone systems work. And if you want to zone back, we'll look no further than Matt Brita, who was a serious home run hitter in the world renowned zone scheme of Kyle Shanahan and those forty niners last year, a third teen and three team who mowed through the playoffs and had a two touchdown lead I think it was

in the Super Bowl. He's also a dangerous pass catching back, and Howard is very well versed in that area as well. So you have two backs that can flex out and run for run routes into the pattern. You've got a tight end and Mike Asiki who can play in line. He can play why the slot, he can line up as your ex into the boundary. You see where this is going here. You've got skill players that allow you to play from a variety of formations from the same

personnel grouping. So the defense sees one back, one tight end, and three wide receivers on the field. That's eleven personnel by the way, one back, one tight end, and typically speaking, you match that with nickel personnel five defensive backs to match up accordingly with those three receivers. But if we condense it, suddenly you've got a tight end blocking a defensive back and a power back in Jordan Howard to run against a light box. Or you go the opposite direction.

You can flex Howard or Matt Britta out into the pattern and now you've got empty five wide against a nickel defense who is underman to cover five routes. And the permutations here are really limitless in their own right. Not to mention Uncle Vante, who can play any position on your offense at receiver. Preston was getting work as both the X and the Z last year. Albert Wilson, by the way, restructured to stay here. How about them apples.

He can play literally any position on offense besides well, the line, he can play slot, X, Z, H back, tailback, wildcat, triggerman. And Jachim Grant, well, he's in the same boat because he's electric as I'll get out. And in those two guys, you've got two really good options as your jet sweep guy on some wildcat action. And speaking of wildcat, what about Malcolm Perry in that formation? Isaiah Ford does a little bit of everything. Alan Hearnes plays inside outside, so

you've got flexibility all over the offense too. You can be a power run team one week, you can be an r PO team the next, and a spread attack the following week, just depends on who you're playing. So those are the core tenants of the skill spots. We have the running back acquisitions to go off of, and I think you just look at both those guys as

scheme diverse players. The only wide receivers added were undrafted free agents, so not a lot to glean there, But I mean the versatility at that position is quite apparent. We know what the quarterbacks can do. How about the idea behind the offensive line, Well, I mean it's beef, that's what's for dinner. Let's just run down the weights of these offensive lineman. Austin Jackson three seventeen, and mind you,

he didn't have an off season last summer. I am sure he can gain more way on top of that frame if they ask him to, and if he has to. Eric Flowers three twenty nine, that's a big dude. Ted Carris three oh five inside, Jesse Davis three, Robert Hunt three twenty three, Solomon Kinley three thirty nine, Hercules Hercules, Julian and Davenport three nine, Michael Dieter three ten, Adam Panky three thirteen, Danny Is Sadorra three oh six, Keaton

Sutherland three sixteen, Shot Calhoun three ten. And how about the undrafted center this year in Don L. Stanley. That's massive for a center and we rounded out with the other two undrafted free agents and Nick Kultmeyer who goes three thirteen and Jonathan Hubbard who goes to two on the scales, and again position flexibility is there. Flowers has played four offense of line spots throughout his college and pro career. Jesse Davis is in the exact same boat.

He actually flipped back and forth from right and left tackle, depending on strong side in college there at Idaho, Robert Hunt has played tackle and guard. Ted Carriss has played guard and center. Michael Dieters played everywhere, including two spots last year on the Dolphins offensive line. Solomon Kindley was a right guard at first than a left guard his last two years there at Georgia. That sheer size, that dense frame and lower body explosion works the same way

it does on the other side of the ball. We talked about yesterday on Defense one Volume and just by basic science, yeah science, Mr White creates less space to rush from, especially on the interior. Watch teams try to bowl rush Solomon Kinley at Georgia, for instance, They've got nowhere to go because he takes up the whole damn gap. A sturdy anchor certainly helps there too. But they've got those leaping metrics and pure power to drive people off the football power run game RPO gap scheme. But to

make it even more flexible. What did pretty much every pundit say about each of these Dolphins editions up front on the offensive line? Quote for a big man, he is quite nimble and quote And I think that's kind of a slight because big or not, these guys are athletic. You can look at testing metrics and that will help the cause a little bit. But man, the tape does the work for you. Kiley rolls up on dudes at the second level. They're in college, so does Austin Jackson.

Watch that freak of nature out in space. You get the same sense that Larry Little told me on Friday's podcast about his mentality on defensive backs and how bloodthirsty he gets seeing those guys out in open space. And then Robert Hunt's college tape as about as silly as it comes down there at Louisiana Lafayette. Ted Carriss does a good job getting out in space in his own right.

We talked about that way back on his Free Agent podcast interview where he said those plays out in space where his favorite along the offensive line, so flexible, malling athletes upfront position list receivers that can uncover quickly, Smart quarterbacks with good ball handling and process who can vacate the spot and make plays under pressure. Backs that keep

the entire playbook open on all three downs. Flores and company have no problem telling you what they want to be, and they are turning over every stone to try to become that vision they have for this football team. Let's go ahead and get out of the weeds now. We went through forty two players on the roster on defense yesterday. There are forty three on the offense and three guys on the special teams, giving you a grand total of

eighty eight players on the current roster. And real quick on those specialist Matt Hawk, Jason Sanders, and Blake Ferguson. We talked about versatility, and this might sound like a branch too far, but I mean, how many trick plays to those guys execute last year? Just the more you can do, man like, It's a theme all the way from the top down to the bottom, even me, like I worked for the team and I do video, I do podcast, I write. The more you can do the

better right. That's the entire vision of the Miami Dolphins organization. So even the specialist have that working for them in their back pocket. The quarterback position, we go Ryan Fitzpatrick to a Tongue Vola, Josh Rosen, and Jake Rudock obviously tongue of Byloa the only edition of the off season, a rookie the fifth overall pick in the draft. We talked about what we have in this position, group, smart guys, a good quarterback room that can really learn and grow

from one another. I think that's gonna be a big factor going forward, especially in this virtual offseason. We have at the running back position again just flexibility and versatility. Man Jordan Howard, Matt Brita can run out of any scheme, Miles gaskin random power scheme there at you dub but also caught passes. He can do multiple things. Malcolm Perry on that list as well. You want to talk about versatility, he is versatility to find Klein Balage and Patrick Laird

to Lance Turner and Chandler Cox the fullback. A bunch of guys in that room that can do multiple things. There's eight backs on the roster. Four quarterbacks, five tight ends Mike get Sicky and Durham Smith. Draft picks. Michael Roberts was a free agent addition before the combine. He's on that list. Chris meyer Rick mostly on the practice squad last season out of Temple, and Bryce Stirk, an

undrafted free agent there on the tight end group. Wide receivers Davante Parker, Preston Williams, Albert Wilson, Joachim Grant, Isaiah Ford, and Alan Hearns. Those guys remain unchanged from a year ago. I think you really have to love the progress and the upside of that group from a year ago. And then Mac Hollands, Gary Jennings, and Ricardo Lewis were all on the roster at one point or another last year. Injuries knocked some of them out preseason and in the season.

And then we have two U d f as the only additions to this group this offseason, and Kirk Merritt and Matt Cole on the offensive line. You've got fifteen guys here to make up the rest of the forty three players on the offensive roster. Austin Jackson was a first round draft pick. Eric Flowers I think he was the Dolphins first free agent acquisition, if I recall correctly, Ted Carriss another signing on the offensive line. So all three of those guys brand new to the team this year.

Jesse Davis really the veteran incumbent of the group who got that contract extension last summer. He really embodies what they want these guys to be in terms of toughness, smart players, guys that communicate well, guys that lead by example, and guys that keep their head down and work. Robert Hunt also a draft pick, the thirty ninth pick in this year's draft. Michael Dieter, he was a draft pick last year in the third round. Julian Davenport on the roster,

came over in the Tunsil and Stills trade. Solomon Kinley your rookie guard, drafted in the fourth round. Adam Panky wasn't in season signing last year. Danny Isadora a trade acquisition before the season. Keaton Sutherland was signed in training camp as well. Shot Calhoun was an undrafted rookie last year. And then the three U d f as Don l Stanley, Nick Koltmeyer, and Jonathan Hubbard round out your offensive line

and your offensive roster. And let's go ahead and finish up this podcast with some jersey numbers in case you missed it. And every year after training camp concludes and guys have been cut, you're gonna see jersey numbers changed. So we'll probably see more of that this year. And we actually saw four jersey number changes when all this

got handed out last week. Ryan Lewis the cornerback, goes from twenty four to twenty nine, Patrick Laird goes from forty two to thirty two to Lance Turner goes from thirty four to forty one, and James Crawford goes from fifty one to fifty seven. So those are the four changes ahead of the season. We also have plenty of rookie and veteran numbers for all the draft picks and

veteran acquisitions. The veterans Byron Jones Hill were twenty four, Matt Breed is gonna wear twenty, Jordan Howard's gonna wear thirty four, Cavon Fraser number thirty five, Clayton Federalum forty two, Eland and Roberts forty four, Commu Gruge Hill fifty one, Kyle van Noy fifty three, Ted Caris sixty seven, Eric Flower seventy five, Michael Roberts eighty nine, Shack laws In

ninety and Emmanuel Ogba ninety one. As FO your rookies quarterback to a tongue of Byaloa Gonna wear jersey number one, Malcolm Perry wearing ten, Brandon Jones will weare forty five, Noah Igbonogamy will wear fifties forty six rather Blake ferguson'll wear fifty, Jason Strowbridge fifty eight, Kylan Johnson wearing fifty Tyshan Render, the undrafted defensive lineman, will wear sixty four. Solomon Kinley were sixty six, Robert Hunt sixty eight, and

then Jonathan Hubbard will wear seventy one. Don L. Stanley seventy two, Austin Jackson seventy three, Ray Lema seventies six, Nick Kltmeyer were seventy nine, and then Matt Cole eight two and Kirk Merritt the two receivers he'll wear eighty three the rookie tight end brace. Stirk will wear eighties seven, Benito Jones will wear nine. On the defensive line, Curtis Weaver wears ninety six, and second round draft pick Ray Kwon Davis will wear. So those are your jersey numbers.

That's your offensive and defensive breakdowns here on this week's edition of the Drivetime podcast. We're gonna come back on Thursday and do a mail bag edition. We'll talk about rookie contracts as well. Plenty more to get to this week, as well as the flashback on Friday taking a look at another classic Miami Dolphins game. All of that to come and more. 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, Google Play where you get your podcast from. Go ahead and leave us a rating, leave us a review, and put those questions for the mail bag in the reviews. Give us a five star review, we'll read it here on the air and answer your question. Follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL. Follow the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins, check out the fish Tank and the Audible podcast, and of course

Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time finds up