Dolphins Training Camp 2021 Day 4 Recap

right back at it on Monday. We had a very eventful practice with lots of competition, a nice mix of offensive and defensive wins, some more aerial displays in the passing game, some fun battles up in the trenches, and a whole lot more. We're gonna get top Performers, matchup of the day and all my practice notes and the best part of all that in front of the awesome Dolphins fan base from Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drive Time Podcast. You know.

Last year, I thought the thirteen thousand fans give or take, that were permitted to hard Rock Stadium did a great job of bringing the noise that you would expect from the larger crowd. The sixty seventy fan crowds in the National Football League, and obviously as the year when along more teams did have limited capacity fans, and I felt, I really felt that change personally, even watching on TV. You know, football is about atmosphere and in college more

so than the pros. But the pageantry of it all, the whole show is is kind of what makes football so great to me. So without fans, there was a decent little chunk of the game that I was that I was missing, the game that I loved, that was missing, and today was euphoric for that reason. The fans back here at a Dolphins practice, I saw so many jerseys, smiling faces, Aquan Orange, people decked out in their full game day garb, and the chance in the stands, the cheers.

When Christian Wilkins came out, he was greeted to a Freddie Mercury sized ovation and he was giving it right back to the fans, loving all that energy and reciprocating it. Like, I hope I don't sound emotional on the podcast, because that really struck a chord with me in the biggest way.

Like it's just a game, right, nah. The ones that know football is way more than just a game, man, and if Wilkins greeting was Freddie Mercury, the two was Elvis Presley oh Man to the Dolphins fans love to see their quarterback for the first time ever in a practice. Remember last year, he didn't get a half fans there

all season for his training camp practices. So to what comes out, grabs the microphone and addresses the fans and he was getting them pumped up, and personally, my favorite part was that he reminded everybody to stay hydrated at the South Florida heat is no joke. It is really really hot out there, and if you haven't seen it, check the media tab on my Twitter timeline. I got a pretty good video of it. I'm sure our social team will have a better one too, but you can

check that out now. To close this part out, the part that I did not catch on camera was the fans reaction after to put the mic down a to uh to a chant broke out. I got the camera back up, but just missed the end of that chant. It spread across the entire facility and they brought that energy all day long. Seriously, Dolphins fans, those of you that were out there, you guys were fantastic and we can all agree that to is pretty hot topic, right. He's the guy that gets on talk shows and whatnot.

Maybe it seems like those segments can be critical at times, but I want to make this abundantly clear from my experience today here on the Dolphins practice field. Dolphins fans love this kid, and why wouldn't you A true leader, a face of the franchise quality in terms of the way he came out there and just the way he spoke, the way he speaks the media, the way he is respectful to everybody he comes across, and the way he spun the football today, well that was pretty damn good too.

Let's go ahead and start here with my Brian Flores media from before practice on Saturday afternoon, the Dolphins at the field at three thirty. We heard from coach before that I want to play you a clip before you is from that from coaches media, but just some highlights

here first without the audio. Before we get to the one clip I want to play, he talked about Jonathan led Better, and I thought that was a cool moment because Ledbetter obviously missed all but one game in twenty nineteen his rookie season, and he might recalled that Ravens game, he had five pressures in a sack. According to Pro Football Focus, he had a really good game to debut, and he hasn't been on the field since he left.

He missed last year with an injury, also an injury sustained during training in the off season, and he was asked. Coach was asked about led Better in that media and he said that led Better has mentioned to coach several times how great it is to be back, and so I loved hearing that because I don't want to see the game of football taken away from anybody that loves it, and so it's cool to see him get a chance

to get back on the field and playing. Speaking of guys that were down last year, Vince Beagel, coach also spoke about how Beagle has been getting ramped up with more work each day so far through training camp, and I thought he had his best day today as well. We'll talk more about that here in just one second. Coach also mentioned the depth of the defensive line, saying he's got guys that can play three technique and end.

He meant. Seiler and Wilkins talked about ray Kwon Davis's ability to play pretty much anywhere on the defensive line. Adam Butler and that same mentioned as well talked about some of the edge guys that can play inside, like an Emmanuel Ogba, and we saw that at practice and we continue to see it each day here down in Miami Gardens. Also, he talked about the benefit of joint practices and the Dolphins preseason plan. I want to go

ahead and read these quotes for you guys. The first part coach says, the joint practice is kind of I don't want to say replaced, but I think that's a good opportunity for us to get in a very competitive environment against another team. I think the intensity of those practices will be as game like as you can without getting into full on tackling and playing in the game.

We just felt as a staff that it was best to just work on our stuff, go through our normal practice routine, and go to Chicago, have Atlanta come here and kind of use those he's talking about, uh, not using the word replaced, but taking out the scrimmage, because he was asked if the Dolphins will have a scrimmage this year. The answer to that is no, He said, I don't want to call them scrimmages withouts. Four significant practices right there that I think will get a lot

of good work in. As far as the preseason games, he said, we had several conversations on this. Game reps are important, very important. We don't have a final answer on how we're going to approach the games. We have a pretty good idea of what we're gonna do, but that obviously could change. But game reps are important. I see guys getting into the game and playing. How much that's a discussion, how much or how little that's a discussion we'll have. I'll probably have more answers on how

we're gonna handle that a week from today. So very interesting. They're heading into, you know what about two weeks away now from the Chicago preseason opener up there in Chicago. We'll have practices for you covered here on drivetime up in Chicago from the practice facility up there in Chicago.

So looking forward to that. But I thought that was an interesting take from coach as far as how you might adapt to having those joint practices with two different teams, but also how you adapt to having just three games in the past compared to four where you had the typical. First game, the starters played like a series. The second game they play a quarter maybe a half. The third game they go beyond the halftime mark into the third quarter,

and in the fourth game they don't play at all. Now, of course that has changed in recent years, but that's how it was for a long time, Like the script

was the same. So it'll be interesting to see how coach Flora's the Miami Dolphins and other teams across the National Football League kind of change up their approach with just three preseason games, and the last one I did want to play for you guys here because he was asked about which traits he looks for at the center position, and I thought his answer was a really insightful one with regards to how important that spot is and what

it takes to be a good one. There here's coach talking about the importance of that center position and the traits he looks for. Well, you know, the center position to me is a signal caller position. Um. That person is uh making calls, and those calls affect people, you know, obviously the offensive linement around them, but also the backs, quarterback, etcetera. Um,

it's a leadership position. Um. And obviously you know from a play standpoint, UM, you know there's a lot of communication and um, you're involved with a lot of other players on nation blocks and you know, passing off guys in protection things of that nature. So um, there's a lot that goes into a position. UM. I think you know, there's a nice little competition there with Deater and Skura and camp so uh, I think they're all really doing

a good job, working hard. UM, good communication, understand what we're doing schematically, can get us in the right protection, understand where we need to go as far as my point in the run game. UM, but we don't have pads on, so it's it's still very early. UM. I think we'll have more information um and a better evaluation this time next this time next week, Uh, still getting my my days. I'm only you know, one day at a time, So this time next week will have a

little bit better evaluation. Um. But even then we'll still have preseason games to get to our obviously the joint practices against Chicago. UM, but yeah, it's a good competition. Those guys are are doing a nice job. Uh. But you know, I think we we try to the volume will increase, you know, yesterday we did some third down. We'll do some more third down um today, you know, we'll get in a two minute we'll get into um,

you know, go line and things of that nature. Sure yardage and that's when we really need, uh, you know, in those critical moments. You know that that position, that player, that communication, it goes a long way to having execution,

good execution offensively. One of the things we try to do on this podcast is educated about football, and anytime coach is gonna go in depth like that, we're gonna play on the podcast because there's no one better to learn from in this organization than Brian Floores when it comes to the football. So very interesting take there. He talked about combination blocks. It's going to be a theme on this podcast, So keep that kind of a footnote for you here as we headed forward into the podcast.

We'll get to some more audio later in the pod. Let's go ahead and get to the training camp notes. That's what you're all here for. We covered the players, entrances, the buzz, the atmosphere just so so good to be a part of. And I should also note that Shakheim Griffin got an Eddie van Halen entrancetance around the rock and role theme right here of his own and they were loving him, and he was loving it too, and

they would love him even more later on. We'll get to that here in just a second on the podcast. Let's go in order of position group today. Yesterday was more of a period by period order. I think this weighs a little bit better. And we'll start there with the quarterbacks. And I thought this was the best day from the quarterbacks in general, all three guys. Two. It

was sharp. Jacoby showed a real command attack in the middle of the football field, throwing off leverage, and I would guess his stat line was pretty solid too, if you're into that sort of thing for practice. I am not, and read Senet had a really good camp, has had a good camp, I should say. I don't think today was the best of the four days, but I think that he's been sharp and today was a good one for him as well. Let's go ahead and start with

QB one. The first drill was being run from inside the five yard line with three pass catchers to one side of the field versus three defenders. So obviously that's gonna favor the offense anytime you get to these drills that erase one side of the field that gives the offense so much more room to work with, and it can be really tough on the defense. And it started

off that way to us. First throw was a bull it on a little hook up where Albert Wilson found space between two defenders and showed to his numbers and the ball was right there when he turned and a bit off frame, so Wilson laid out and caught it going to the ground. An excellent effort and catch there from Albert Wilson. The next one was picked off, but it was after the play had concluded. It was good coverage, so it kind of shuts the play down. And there

was really good coverage in this area. Again for a drill that does no favors for the defensive side of the football. And when plays fizzle out like that, the quarterback is still gonna throw the football because there's no reason to not get the work in right, like even if there's a coverage sack or a sack, still throw it and get yourself a rep that way. And this was tipped and went up in the air, and we know what happens when that happens. Trail Bonds pulls it

down in our steps. Then too, I had what it was probably his worst play of the day. And that was about as far as the town side goes, because it got really good from there. But I want to give you guys the full compliment here, and this honestly goes more in favor of Jamal Perry, who just made a great play on the football. He saw to a line up and throw to the far pyleon and he just jumped it, picked it and had gone for a hundred yards back the other way. We've we've had to

have seen the foot race there. I think it was Albert Wilson. I'm not sure on that would have been an interesting foot race if they finished the play out they did not put a great play by Jamal Perry.

The very next throw to a jams one right into Waddle similar to the first touchdown pass to Albert Wilson, and Waddle continues to show this excellent concentration on passes in traffic, scoring touchdowns, catching the ball, shot underneath intermediate, doing a little bit of everything, and back to the quarterback here. Arm strength is something that everybody wants to know about, right he You know how far can you throw a football? Which how much zip can you put

on the football? Whatever it might be? And two was flatted out driving the ball today. And it started, honestly in those goal line throws. But in seven on seven, the first play, he rips a comeback from the far hash. So we're talking twenty five or so yards, so the perimeter fifteen yards on the route. I don't really know the first thing about math, but that works out to something like thirty yards or so. I think it's not plus fifth team. There's some equation there, but you know what,

it's an NFL throw. How about it. We'll call it an NFL throw and just leave it at that. Later another anticipation rip where there's good coverage from Justin Coleman driving down the stem, and Robert Foster is a great job of going down and protecting the football and making the catch on the first comeback the first route, I should say of seven on seven. And one area that continues to impress me with to his game is what looks like the mental side of things and knowing where

his options are. I heard to his trainer this offseason, and I forget what show it was. I want to say, Pat McAfee, but that does not feel right. But either way, his trainer was on a particular podcast and they were talking about how to a has xs and o s written all over his house, certain plays written up on the wall. Called it like football hiero glyphics, he said, And that tangible impact is what you see on this practice field. We saw a day one on a touchdown

to Adam Shaheen. I broke that down on Wednesday's podcast. Go back and check it out if you have not heard it, or if you want to hear it again. We talked about it and check downs earlier in practices this week too. How he squared up to the goal post in the middle of the field, and when he makes a decision that he's not going to go there, it's a quick flip of the hips, feet and shoulders.

Everything gets outside to square up to your new target where he knows he's already going to be on that release valve and the ball is gonna get there quickly. And every single pass catcher of all time wants the football early, as early as you can get it to them. And this this extra even if it's a half second, makes a big difference to create yards after the catch. I saw that a couple of times in today's practice.

But we also see the same thing where he's progressing through targets to the deep and intermediate portions of the field, like this one ball and seven on seven where Wattle is running aroute to the middle of the field and to is facing us in the stands to the to the left side of the formation, and you see it again, hips feet, shoulders, helmet, they snap to another target and then flip to the other side of the field to come back and work that backside where he then finds

Wattle crossing into the middle of the field for a chunk of yards. Furthermore, Daniel Jeremiah once called too of the greatest rpo quarterback in college football history, and a big part of that is the ability to go for um the ball in the belly of the back, make that read that takes that tells you where I gotta pull this thing out now and flip it out behind

to the receiver. And this all happened so quick, right, And we saw that today when I throw to Durham smythe and once again get it to me early so I can have it and before the defense gets out there, I can make some yards before they hit me. And sure enough Durham doesn't even have someone within arm's reach of him until he's already past the sticks ten plus

yards down the field. So the quickness and the ability to get that release and get the football out quickly after pulling it out of the backs belly, it's hard to say, is a big trait for Tua. I also saw him sidestepping some rushes, but you know where his eyes always stay down the field. He does this, he climbs a tax lion scrimmage and launches an absolute strike to waddle again about twenty yards down the field, really feeling it at this point. And he did this two

more times. And it might be where some of the would be sack tweets you saw came from. I'll go ahead and clarify this for myself. If I don't tweet would be sack on the play, then I didn't think it was. And so go back over my timeline and you can catch up on those and kind of decide for yourself as far as what I saw through my eyes, and there was three or four of these are so one where he puts a deep ball over Eric rose head in coverage on Adam Shaheen, who hauls it in

for about twenty five yards or so. He got one to Hollands across the field, akin to the Cardinals game last year. He breaks the pocket, looks backside, has a receiver open, fires it out there, big chunk game, and the crowd is loving this all day, by the way, and then we get to eleven on eleven and the throw of the day the playoff camp for me, well, I don't know. Some of those deep balls were picture perfect. To this one is where I think the touch and

placement of to a really show up. Albert Wilson had Byron Jones playing inside leverage, so he's on the outside shoulder,

kind of asking you to go inside. The help is inside, and he gets into Byron and snaps off a dig route, which is typically a fifteen seventeen twenty yard incut down the field, and Byron's in great shape, he's right there, but to us softly lays this thing out right out in front right when Albert comes out of his break, and by the time the ball and Albert intersect, Byron Jones is fully ended and his hand is right where it looks like it needs to be for a pass breakup,

but the ball is just like six inches beyond that. It's perfect placement. Albert snatches it, the safety can't come down because of that kind of close quarters and make a play and soon enough burt Is gone off to the races, throws his hand up and runs that thing all the way for seventy three yards and a touchdown. Chef's kiss. What a day, What a first week. I can't wait to get back here on Monday and watch him work and try to build on these first four days.

I thought it was Jacoby Brissette's best day too. He had a really nice anticipation throw in the three on three goal line work to Waller where he throws it out to the pylon before Jalen plants the foot in the ground and gets out there on the speed out. Just great report. They're on the touchdown pass from Brissette to Waddle. He had another nice one on a comeback

in seven on seven drills to mac Hollins. And I think this is where Jacoby's real value or on field value, because he's gonna tell you about his willingness to be a great teammate. And there are also a testimonials from guys all over the league to talk about how good of a TEAMMATEE Jacoby Brissette is. But obviously I really

he doesn't play a snap for you this year. But if he does, I think his ability to know the call, the concept, know where the coverage is and how to attack it, and play efficient football that can compliment this defense and kicking game, which we know what they're capable of. I think there's a real value there for Jacoby Brissette. We didn't go to the running backs, and there was a lot of great vantage point run calls as far as where I was at and where I was sitting.

So I saw plenty of this on Saturday, more than the previous three days. But Miles and Savonne got plenty of work. Malcolm and Pat and Jordan Scarlett and Jared Doakes, the whole gang did, but the U Dub duo were the ones that got a lot of my notes. I can't wait to watch Malcolm and Jared Doakes when the pads come on, by the way, because these are big, big dudes with big, thick legs and they can certainly

provide some power that way. But Gaskin gets the first carry of the run game period, and he stretches the run out where he then makes his decision that he's gonna go and cut it up, and he just jams that thing up in there and it happens so quickly. To me, he looks faster this year, and I genuinely believe that he hit a twenty plus yard run on this first one. It can be hard to tell without contact industriels, but the shot through the lane was was impressive and he was just off from there, so I

thought he did have that big run. Miles also caught some balls in a variety of capacities, and I just continue to be impressed with his decision making. I can't give you detail without all twenty two tape, and obviously I haven't seen that for this practice. I never will. But from what I studied last year and when I saw live today, he makes so many good reads and is going to get the minimum yards that the play designed and blocking provides, like he's not going to be

the reason the play fails. And you say, man, that was blocked, Well, why didn't Miles hit it? Because he made a poor decision, At least not often. He's more times than not by a long stretch, gonna make the right decisions for You's a smart, smart player, and Savon has the jets man. He took a quick toss, stretches it out wide and then finds a crease and just shot through that thing inside of the outside. Man. That's a tough little phrasing there, but there was a great

edge set by brand Scarlet. He stretched that thing out to get pursuit to overflow, then boom just snaps it back inside for a big run. Then we go inside to the offensive line, and I made it a point to get a look at these guys, and we also had a great angle today, so that also helped. I

really liked why I saw from Michael Dieter today. I thought they held this defensive tackle group the center's an interior offensive line in general that has been really getting after it every single day to their least productive day, and they were still productive. Don't get me wrong. But to keep them and check is always a good thing because they have waves of guys that can get after you. And Deeter was kind of the focal point of a

lot of that. I thought he looks to really have a handle on passing blocks off you know, communicating things and getting some of the games and stunt, some twist picked up from the guards next to him and the things we touched on in that floor. As comment at the start, the leadership aspect of that going into year three after a great career at Wisconsin, I think Deeter has some of those traits and Rob Hunt first, you know,

I saw him up close at media after practice. Man, he looks trim, trim and big, and Joe Shiad jokingly said, you look even bigger in person, Rob, and he said, yeah, I get that a lot and kind of laughed about it and walked off at the end of his media But man, he's doing his thing out there, and I

loved why. I saw from him and Deets on combo box Michael Dieter in a drill they're putting together in Indies, the individual drills hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder, and in fact, this was common throughout the group, like Austin Jackson and Liam Eichenberg had a really good always called foosball table type of reps where you guys are doing the exact same thing and sinc right foot, left foot, left hand, right hand, like working in perfect unison together

and Kinley was in on the action as well. I also noticed Solomon Kindley's pad level in this practice. He can really drop that anchor and drop that backside, but keeps the feet active and moving, and that's gonna be tough to get around him in past protection, because one, he's a wide body, he's strong as hell, powerful as hell, he's nasty as hell, and if he can move that way too, for a guy that size, it's gonna be

really tough to get around him. On the interior offensive line, Matt Skura had a nice catching climb block where you chip the first level, get to the second level and seal off the linebacker, and it was a reach where he had to It's you know you talk about flank and leverage and football. The linebackers off to his left, so if you have to get to the left of that linebacker on a run to the left, it's called

a reach block and take it out there. It's it's a challenge, but he did it really well on this particular play, and I thought that was one of his four days on tape as a raven, So good to see that kind of translate here as well. And then back to Liam Eichenberg, mentioned his name a little bit. I noted his fundamentals on Twitter, and you just it just looks the part like I mean, that was the

buzz on him at Notre Dame. A technically refined player with a really great floor because when you play with such sound technique, you've always got a shot to be a good player. That's that's like football is just playing good technique and of course the physical stuff comes into But I thought he was excellent today. Him, Deeter and Hunt were all very good. I thought earlier in camp the tackles were kind of having the better camp of the offensive line, but today I thought the interior was

the one that really shined in this practice. At receiver, you're down DeVante Parker, William Fuller, Preston Williams, and Mike Asiki here all not practicing on Saturday, and the unit is still producing. I mean, Albert Wilson well more, can we say? I mean, through four days he'll be in the top performers. Again, that's three out of the four days and a long touchdown catch, the diving catch and

goal line. He's explosive as hell off the top of the route, and I think that really plays into his ability to get open deep because guys know that if they aren't driving down the stem, he's gonna eat them up underneath. And then Robert Foster continues to really play well this camp. It's been the same story you've heard, strong hands. I don't think i've seen him drop a ball or even fight a football for that matter. Throughout

the course of these practices. I put in my notes that he's getting off the top of the route with a lot of urgency. But his best play of the day and a throw that I didn't discuss during the two a bit was a mid route adjustment. Let's go ahead and paint the picture here of this play to what takes the snap, Foster runs a deep out and the underneath corner is camping in front of Foster because he knows he's got help over the top. At least that's what I thought I saw, and the safety is

back a decent amount. So when Foster cuts out to Ah, throws it up the sideline like not to the out, but like a wheel almost a wheel route looking throw, and Foster knew it and when he I would love to ask both these guys about this play because it looked like they've wrapped this a hundred times, no idea

if they have. But Foster does a head whip, and if you've ever played baseball before, whips are like if you're playing center field and you take off to the lesser r field gap and the ball goes back to those how do you you head whip around and you you take your eye off the ball and you relocate it. That's what he did, and he gets up the sideline and catches the football right in front of the safety.

Just really really good stuff from those two guys. And then Jachem Grant also gets in here for the second straight day, second really strong day he put together. Remember his touchdown catch on Monday Night football against the Patriots and seven team he had one similar to that today where he went up and pulled it down. He plays so much bigger than five A and he's catching balls, you know, the crossing routes, the swings of screens, all levels of the field. Jakeem Grants getting some play in

this training camp. Kirk Merritt had a couple more good grabs over the middle. He's getting plenty of work and today created a lot of separation on a corner route where Jacoby Brissette found him. Jacoby Brissette, sorry about that for a big play. He had another great heads up player where Calvin Munson tips a read senet pass and Terrell bonds. The cornerback sees this thing falling right into his lap like a Christmas gift, but Merritt yanks bonds of a and the ball falls harmlessly to the turth.

Very heads up play to help your quarterback. Their quarterbacks are always going to appreciate that and keep that in the back of their mind, like this guy is gonna help me out on a ball that might get picked off. Lynn Bowden made some moves in space. I tried to watch him more today. I like him in the screen game in that short area and just giving him chances to create mistackles because he had a few of them today in this practice as well. Let's go over to

the other side of the football. On the defense, it was a really nice day for the edge guys, starting with Emmanuel Ogba. First, him on the sled and the

tackling dummies is hilarious to watch. Those things are not light, but he makes them look like the way about twenty pounds, and he was in the notes for I think four pressures just from what I saw big day from him, had a chance to catch up with the manual after practice too, and just talking about we had that podcast back in February about all the past rush moves and stuff, and just having him talk to me about what he works on and trying to put to use, how I'm

gonna set this move up to do a counter off that move, and different pass rush ideas from this technique and a different position. Just really insightful guy that really gets the rond points of the game as far as how to be an effective pass rusher with a plan. Like he's not just going out there going full steam ahead or just trying, you know, rip moves, whatever it might be. He's got a nice plan as a pass

rush when that was really cool to see from him. Uh, Andrew Van Ginkle and Agy how to play where they would have met at the quarterback at one point kind of like I mentioned this on Twitter the twenty eighteen Jets game on Saturday night when and Donmicken, Sue and Cam Wake met at Bryce Petty. Because of that blown pass protection, they crunched him. They both went off the edge and kind of closed at the same angle. Would have been cool to see an opposing quarterback not our

guys on that play. Van van Ginkle was getting in on the edge, you know, a great deal today, really cutting down those angles and cording to the quarterback. He's really putting it together as a pass rusher, carrying over from a year ago and he's just building off that right now. Vince Biegel had a great Q and A with the media after practice too. I I suggest going to check that out. The media availabilities are up on my timeline, so go check those out as well. But

Vince Beagles was so good. I loved hearing him talk about taking the time away last year like his first fall, not playing ball, really his whole life to become a better man, a husband, and a father at some respect. Right there, events big time, Oh by the way, had himself a hell of a day two. I had him for a pair of sacks and a couple of additional pressures. Og bad Gink and Beagle were really really getting after it today, So too was Brandan Scarlett, who's got good

back to back days. In my notes, he had a would be sack and another really good rep off the edge, shutting that thing down. He's a hard edge to run against man. He's he's really tough out there, big strong body off the edge of the run game. Shakeem Griffin also had a strong second straight good practice. He got

in on Read Sinet for a would be sack. He also showed that counterspin move that kind of he made famous at UCF and got into the backfield where he rushed upfield, spun back across the tackles face and got in looping inside. So good to see Chachim putting his

moves together. And that's the next man up stuff that we love here right like no Jalen Phillips, that's okay, We've got the horses to crash the party still And the same thing we talked about at the receiver position, this team's depth has been perhaps its most impressive trait these US four days. Tyshan Render had an awesome retrace play retraces when they throw a screen behind your head

because as the defensive end typically they unblock you. You're the guy that they're it's a defensive end play like you're not gonna get blocked. They want you to chase the quarterback and you have to get on your horse, turn around and go back the opposite direction. He did that hustle out there and got to Jackie Grant of all people and all the speed that he has before he could get loose. And we all know what happens

when Jakeem gets loose, So great effort there. He also had a pressure in my notes and just a quick note here on render. He won practice player of the Week back at Middle Tennessee State. I think it was six times his last year for his effort. So that's something that he is known for in his football career. Inside the big guys really came on late in this practice.

Wilkins had another really good practice. He rejected a pass after quickly getting into the backfield and the ball popped up and he frantically looks around trying to find it, but it descended back to the earth surface before he could. And just knowing Christian, you know how badly he wanted that pick to go do a dance and have fun that way too, Adam. But there's ability to get quick pressure.

It shows up every single day like this feels like Evergreen at this point, but every day he's knifing in there with power, with speed, with quickness, and he has an impact on the rest of the guys too. I also had Rake one and Sealer, both with potential TFLs in the run game portion. Earlier. The linebackers that popped out to me were Jerome Baker and but Nardrick McKinney.

McKinney had back to back plays in the run game period where you see him take that first step directly towards the ball carrier and the desired gap of the ball carrier. Now, there's no way to know this for a certain but I think based on what I'm seeing that he's getting a key, pulling the trigger and winning with his mind pre snap, and we'll see him get to the physical part when the pads come on here. But back to back TfL is in the run game. That's a big part of what fifty does out there.

And then Jerome Baker speed man like. He won a foot race on the outside with Myles Gaskin. He beat the ball to the flat and a goal line passing draw on a tight end close that thing down for a PBu. He flexed all the way out wide and coverage and shut down an outside pass to Miles Gaskin. He applied pressure in the middle twice. I mean that's a three down player on display right there in every single way. Love watching the way Jerome works. Nicol's number

fifty five out there. Then in the secondary, my first note here was regarding the drill, but they're catching the football like a rabbit. I n T drill. A rabbit is a player that acts as the receiver. Like if you're watching the scouting combine, they have the mirror drill with the offensive line has to go back and forth with another offensive lineman who's acting as the pass rusher.

They call him the rabbit. Same thing here. You have a receiver who's actually defensive back, but he's acting as a receiver going across the face of a dB who catches the football behind that kind of trying to work on catching the ball with your line of sight adjusted or messed up or disrupted. And not one of those balls was dropped in that period, So good hands. But the Dolphins dbs and Justin Coleman I thought was excellent today. He had sticky coverage on a two way go with

Jalen Wattle, where you can go inside or outside. It's a tough, tough ask waddle so explosive and he bodied him up at the top of the route and force and incompletion had another one latent practice on Isaiah Ford, but two rips it right over his outstretched arm, just like a throw over Byron Jones outretched arm to Albert Wilson.

He had just tight coverage all day long, especially in one play and seven on seven that basically created an I n T chance for Javon Holland, who couldn't quite squeeze a ball filled with the turf to push ups. But Justin Coleman was all over guys today. Jamal Perry had that great pick and goal line. Noah Igbanogeny had some really competitive reps. I thought, I swear I've seen more completed balls on a guy when he has good position, and I'm not saying he gives up a bunch of completions,

but when no one's like right there. These quarterbacks just for some reason, their throw their best throwers come with Number nine's out there because he's in right position, and the completion still goes. There was a couple of those today, but I note that as positive place for the cornerback because he's right where he needs to be. And then Terrell Bonds had another solid day Javarus Davis had two plays in the football for him. That's four passes defense

and two days by my count. I had a note on Nate Holly, the safety that I like the way he closes working downhill. He gets there fast and plays fast, guys full of energy. And then finally special teams, Michael Pollardi is crushing the football. I said that he kicked the ball to Miramar today. That's almost true really, that we're close to Miramar. Jason Sanders hasn't missed a practice

kick since I think two thousand three. I'm obviously being facetious there, but I just I don't see he makes them all like he hasn't missed a kick yet, I don't think. And I've not seen a bad snap either from Blake Ferguson. So the specialist, great work of week. Let's finish out this portion with a note on the ball security before we get to the matchup of the

day and our top performers. This is my third year covering camp with the Miami Dolphins too with the Team one with Lockdown Dolphins, and this drill, the ball security drill is prevalent each year. You value the football right, but the big takeaway from me is that everything in this drill is a good example of it. There's a purpose to it we do. We're doing it for a reason. We're not just out here to do it just like everything else's team does. And you have you don't have

guys going through the motions. It's all effort all the time. And I put that Byron Jones was really working very hard in this drill, and that's a great example for the rest of the guys. All right, let's go ahead and get to the matchup of the day, the march up. Oh the it was Jerome Baker and Miles gasking for me because they both showed off that burst, that quick first step they have. There's no fall steps from Jerome Baker, there's no gimmicks, no frills. With Miles Gascon, he makes

great decisions. Both super smart players that just really they're often in the right position, and they both have you know, that three down versatility. And watching those guys match up in the run game, in the passing game as well, kind of flexing out and taking on some matchups that way. Jerome got some, Miles got some. They were just fun to watch them go back and forth and Jerome has talked about Miles work ethic and Jerome exudes the exact

same thing too. So to see those guys put the time in, put the work and go up against each other both get some wins. That was a lot of fun to watch for two of the really promising young guys on this football team and then top performers the

list is long. Today it was a great practice with a lot of team reps and more matchups, whether it was seven on seven, the goal line, three receivers verse three defenders, drill the team period, there were just there was more competition work today than previous ones with little fun to mentals and techniques and drills and stuff like that. Now they did that today too, but there was just

less of it. So with that said, Jerome Baker speed three down guy versatility contributed in all three phases or all phases today stud Miles gascon instinct's vision, full capacity of the playbook with his route running and the burst that to me looks better this year. Jalen Waddle. For Wattle to keep getting in the notes while not catching bombs is such a great sign in the early going. He's a tough dude and his concentration on contested balls

has been fun to watch. But Nardrick McKinney seeing things I love from his tape last year in camp this year. He's a very instinctive player, and today that was his best trade on the field In that regard, I thought Christian Wilkins adding pressures and TFLs each day. The PBu was such a slick pass rush move where he knifed in and got skinny and closed the angle to the quarterback quickly. Shakim Griffin pressures off the edge of the spin move, getting the crowd juiced up. Just love having

him out there. Jason Sanders, this is a cumulative mentioned. I mean, I'm serious, he does not miss. I mean he only met three or thirty nine field goals last year and something like forty p A t s, so it doesn't miss two a Tonga vloa. Been here again for the fourth straight day, getting off the spot, the ball placement, addressing the crowd. I'm just so happy the fans got to see his performance today. As Armando Salgarrell pointed out on Twitter, perhaps his best day down a

handful of pass catchers. Albert Wilson, you score from seventy three you get in here, plus a diving catch Andrew Van Ginkl, another sack from gink a handful more pressures. I was talking to Orlando Alzer Gary and he was just raving about Van Geinko. I said, Hey, I'm the president of the Van Ginko fan club, so join up. Vince Biegel, one badger to another. Beagle's ability to get under the outside shoulder and stay on his feet of the tackle was just a great sign coming back from

the injury last year. Again, go watch his media again today. It was really really good. Michael Dieter combo blocks, ceiling guys getting up to the second level. I cannot wait to watch him in the preseason. Gonna be good to see some reps from him after a year of no real game reps. Rob Hunt people move in the run game pass pro with stillar. Today just a continuing good hamp for Rob Hunt and then Liam Eichenberg by far his best day by my account, which is good to

see growth. A couple of those big runs came off his gap, so Eikenberg, Hunt, Deeter Beagle, Van Ginkel, Wilson, Toungo by Loas Sanders, Griffin Wilkins, McKinney, Wattle, Gaskin, and Baker. Those are your top performers. 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, Spotify, Google Play, tuned in, wherever you get your podcast from. That's how the podcast populates to more Dolphins fans, shoots

us up the charts, and makes us more discoverable. So if you're a fan, please go ahead and do that. If you have not done so already, and if you put a question in the mail but or in the review, I'll answer it here on the podcast, I'll go ahead and get that done. Give me a follow on Twitter. It's at Wingfield, NFL. We do the live training camp tweets every single day out here. Also follow the team at Miami Dolphins, check out the fish Tank podcast and

of course Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time,