Drive Time - Dolphins Assistants Media Availability

offensive and defensive side of the football doing media. We're gonna play the hits on this Wednesday, September the second edition of the Drivetime Podcast Dolphins and Will Percocole talk to the coaches here of the Miami Dolphins. Some roster news that came in on Tuesday afternoon. The Dolphins have released receiver Ricardo Lewis. He of course with the team in twenty nineteen on the injured reserve. He was cut back in July, re signed in August, and now he's

been released again by the Miami Dolphins. Also, we have waived cornerback Dietrich Nichols, safety Jeremiah Denson, and defensive and Avery Moss. Each of those guys recently brought into the building as well, Avery Moss on his second stint here with the Miami Dolphins. So some roster changes coming before cut down Day on Saturday. We're gonna have you guys covered on cutdown Day with all the latest news and

notes about your Miami Dolphins. But asked for today's podcast, let's go ahead and dive into the coaches media availability. We had nine assistants on this particular day, plenty of questions, plenty of answers, plenty of stuff to divulge from the Dolphins assistants. Let's go ahead and jump right in with defensive line coach Mary and Hobby, who was asked to evaluate the play of fifth round rookie out of North

Carolina Jason Strowbridge. Well, I think I think Strowbridge has done a really good job and he's had a really good camp. You know, he's a young player. He's done better than the last time we talked. You know, he keeps getting better and better every every day. I think he's got a role on his team. You know, in the long season, I think we're gonna need him, you know, maybe the first week, second week. We all know when his number is going to be called, but I think

we're differently gonna need him. You hear coach talking about the depth of the defensive line. There's something you have to have deep in spades at all possessions up front because of the nature of the league, the rotation business that it is nowadays, plus COVID contingencies, all the things that go into that. Jason Strowbridge interesting guy because he played both inside outside at North Carolina. We've heard Brian Flores talk about that now getting some work across the

Dolphins defensive line up. Next, coach was asked about the depth and rotation on the interior of the defensive line with guys like Wilkins, God Show and ray Kwon Davis. Well, you know, with all the double teams that those guys again and all the pressure that get on the inside of Ringing, you'd like to keep him as fresh as possible, you know, and trying to keep a good rotation on

each one of them. Um, you know, just just different packages that some people might play a little bit more than others, but it is definitely a conscious ever and to keep them, keep them fresh. And so last year you have rookie Christian Wilkins playing seven hundred twenty nine snaps on defense. That was six of the Dolphins defensive reps. Devon god Shall kind of in that same boat every year of his career, seven hundred and seventeen snaps last

year of the Dolphins reps. And then once you got beyond John Jenkins, who played four hundred and seventy nine snaps, you were pretty short on bodies. With guys like Gerald Willis or Robert Kim DJ came over for a couple of snaps last year. We did pick up Zach Seiler at the end of the season and he played well down the stretch. You'll hear more about him here in

just one moment. But you talk about the overall depth and rotation ability, the ability to keep these guys fresh, whether it's playing guys series by series or having different packages than guys play until they stay fresh. That way, you heard coach Hobby talking about the multiple options they have to keep guys fresh. Up front. It's just a

deep group you have. You love the options you can throw at the posing offense, whether you're in an even front, odd front, four man front, three man front, whatever it might be, You've got options. This year, and Coach Hobby, in a separate question, would talk about how you can confuse the opposing offense with multiple rush looks. They don't know if four guys are coming, five guys are coming, whatever the case may be, that multiplicity creates confusion for

the offense. We finished up here with Coach Hobby to evaluate the play of rookie ray Kwon Davis. You got massive correct. You know, he's a he's a big man and uh he's a big athletic man, and he does a great job. You know, he's he's very conscientious of what of his play. You know, he wants to be coached. You talk about a big, strong athlete that has the athletic ability of ray Kwon Davis and the desire to get better and to be coachable. That's a good combination

there for that rookie out of Alabama. And on the topic of that length and size and ability to separate from the offensive line, coach had similar things to say about Zack Seeler his growth going in to next year with the Dolphins. After a good finish to the twenty

nineteen season. Up next, we're gonna hear from coach Camp and only the linebackers coach here of the Miami Dolphins, and what I think was my favorite question and answer from the day on Wednesday, asking which Campanelli about how he maximizes his player's potential, kind of his approach to the coaching profession and his philosophy overall as a football coach. Here's coach Campanelli on the giving players information so they can process it and play faster. Really fascinating answer here

from coach Campanelli. I believe a coach's job is the organized information so that the player can process it and play faster. Um. I think that's our job. So organizing the information so the guys are thinking a sound bites not sentences, um, and they can play fast. You know, I think good football players uh. And good football plays are made with anticipation. UM. So where's you're trying to

take away all anxiety? Because you know anxiety obviously you're in fear, unsure of what's going to happen in the future, whether it be in the next few seconds or the next few weeks. UM. Anticipation is you have a pretty good idea. Hey, this is probably one or two or three things, not one of intend things. Um. And I think guys that have great anticipatory skills when they're playing. You can take a guy that and maybe he's a four seven, but he looks like he's playing at a

four or four, and and vice a versa. You can have a guy that is a four or four running the wrong direction. So I think our job as coaches h is to get that progression down because your your eyes, feet, and hands. I think it usually goes to that progression each play. My eyes are going to tell my fee what to do in my hands by any time, you know, and a lot of information is sent from the eyes to the brain telling your feet what to do each play. So I think that's a big role in terms of

the schematics are job as coaches. And here's a question we kind of have asked the different coaches on defense a couple of times now because there are so many players on this roster that can play in multiple positions that you do wonder how do the coaches balance which player goes into which room for which particular meeting. Here's coach Campanelli on the Dolphins defensive staff and the collaborative effort liately void of ego on that defensive staff you know.

One of the great things about this organization, and UH coach Boryder, Coach Flores, I had already may mention this in the past. Everybody really gets an opportunity to coach all the guys. The way practice is set up and UM, there's no egos in our defensive room, so everybody really it's a collaborative effort UM and that's really a lot

of fun. I think you get a great field for all the guys on the unit um and and you really you get to kind of spend time with players all over this you know, from from all different UH groupings on the field. So that's been awesome. It's a it's a great I think philosophically, it's something I've really enjoyed as well. And I've enjoyed getting the opportunity to be around all these different guys every day. They're They're awesome.

It's a great group of guys. And up next, we had a question for coach about the green dot communication helmet the defense. Whereas one player on the field with the communication headset. Here's coach talking about the value of having so many guys that can communicate the defense and a good quote here about how it's not just their job, it's their passion. We're fortunate to have a bunch of guys would love football. Um, it's not their profession, it's

not only their professions, their passion. So the more guys you have like that who kind of understand in our workings andy schematics, the front, the back end, how they're working together, what the offense is trying to do. UM, that gives you more or afford you more of an opportunity to find players who can step into that role on Sunday. And we've felt the guys throughout the course of the spring summer have done a very good job

of that. Let's go ahead and stay on the linebackers with coach Austin Clark, who coaches the outside linebackers, and start with my question for coach Clark. Hey, coach, wanted to ask you about Tyshan Render and how you've just kind of noticed his progress so far through training camp. He won some awards in college about best effort, best

hustle guy. Curious get your take on him and if you've seen that same effort here in camp so far, would say though those awards are accurate, Uh, he's a grinder. He's a tough guy. He plays really really hard, and I would say it's probably his best attribute. Um and uh yeah, yeah, I love the kid. I think he's getting better each day. Got got a lot of work to do, but I think he's on the right track.

Joe Shadow of the Palm Beach Post and I are pretty good buddies, and we talk often about these questions we asked these press conferences, and he told me today that I was going to appreciate his questions because I'm always wanted to go towards the football side and the philosophical side and that type of thing. Joe had a great series of questions today for all the coaches about

their philosophy and approach. Here's his question and answer for Austin Clark, I would say the first thing and and we're big on this here, and I personally believe technique and fundamentals are the most important thing that goes into any any front play, any defensive play, anything you do. You know, and as a coach, identifying what we want them to do and how we want them to do it, and holding that standard each and every day so there may be a time where they make a great play

doing it wrong. He said, Hey, that's that's a hell of a play right there. Here's how you know we want you to do it. And if you were going against an all pro here, that might not work, you know. Um, So I would say the biggest thing for me personally is technique and fundamentals and as far as you know, matchups and different things that you could use depending on an opponent's scheme or what they're showing or what they're doing.

Um I think that goes into it as well. And I think with you know, film and background I think we have here with our head coach and defensive coordinator, especially in the division, their background with opponents and even players, you know, some of the players we have to have backgrounds with a lot of these teams we're playing. Is big. And now we move into the defensive secondary with coach Alexander who always gives wealth thought out, eloquent answers here

on these press conferences. Up first, he was asked to evaluate the playoff rookies Noah egg Monogamy and Brandon Jones out of texts us the safety and of course the cornerback from Auburn first and third round draft picks of the Miami Dolphins, of course, Noah. You know, you started to see it with the course of camp him get more and more comfortable in his role as a perimeter corner. Um out there competing. You know, you see kind of the competitiveness Studies has as a player, things that we

thought that we saw as a college player. Um. He's still uh, pretty fresh to the position. You know, he hasn't been playing corner for that long and his in his career obviously being new to this level. Um, but you start to see a guy who is developing technically out there on the perimeter, and you know, look forward to kind of getting a chance to see what he

can do throughout the course of this season. As far as Brandon, um, you know, I would feel you know, just like you know anybody in this in this building, and we just haven't had a chance to see it live yet. You know. Unfortunately, we haven't had the opportunity to see these guys playing games as young guys with

the lack of the preseason. Based on what we have seen so far in practice, I mean, it's gonna be uh, you know, an opportunity for him to go out there and play in a real game that I would feel comfortable with UM and then get a chance to just learn from there. He's gonna be a guy that has to learn from experience out there on the field, whatever that role is, big or small, And I'm looking forward to seeing what both those kids can do in the

real game. And with the first time we got a chance to talk to g A after Xaviing Howard returned to the Dolphins practice field. Here he is talking about Exaviing Howard putting in the time mentally, getting the mental reps in place of the physical while he was down. I think x has handled himself as a professional UM, you know, in the midst of obviously is uh coming

back and being on the field with those guys. You know, one of the things that he's done, UM is to make sure that throughout the meetings and out there on the field, if he's not taking the physical rep um, he's taking the mental rap. He understanding the communication that's going on with those guys out there on the field.

So when he does insert himself into that role in the field, there's some familiarity, you know, even though he has taken the physical rep um you as much as some of the other guys giving his uh, given a situation, I'm not too concerned about it. You know, I think that he understands the terminology and he understands the responsibility

that comes with certain calls and in certain communication. Um. But it's just about getting getting that on the field experience and um, you know, practice, practicing it and obviously once we get in the game time being able to execute the things that we need to execute and the field and now we'll here coach kind of talk about the nickel position, the slot cornerback position and the value it has in today's NFL defense handling all the spread attack offenses in the NFL, and that that position is

so valued. Now you know that that that nickel role, you know, with the with amount of you know, spread personnel formations that you see offensively, and you know, you've got to have a guy in there that can cover in space, that can tackle in the run game, UM, that can you know, maybe at perimitive pressure off the edge. I mean, those those guys are invaluable to today's league.

But as far as you mall and guys like Tay Hayes and knowing getting some of those reps, I mean through the practice and through training, camp and those guys show flashes of making some some splash plays and um having tight coverage on the slot. And those guys have done a good job. And so I'm based on what we've seen so far, UM going into the season. You know, my my comfort level is you know, is is high

on them, um them getting into the game. But you know, obviously there's gotta be some some improvement as we continue to develop in the secondary, and especially in that position because of sex value position. And here is the shad question for g A about how to get players to go from good to great, the approach that he takes his philosophy of coaching defensive backs good from great. I

think it's really about routine and then understanding. You know what I always tell those guys, Understanding leads to control. And when you get a chance to understand your responsibility, not just yours as a player, but the entire big picture of what we're trying to get done as a secondary,

what we're trying to get done as a defense. Even though you're one of an eleven piece puzzle, if you understand and understand what your responsibility is and how you're going to be attacked, UM, that can give you an opportunity to do great things. And you know that's control

in the field. And then you know, personally, you know, what do you do to prepare yourself throughout the year, throughout the week, throughout the day to make sure that you're, um, you're gonna be able to perform at your highest level on any given day. And so it's you know, it's tough. You know, it's just like any any anybody else in any business who is dedicated to their craft. Um, it takes more than being ordinary. And you know, it takes

doing destroying everythings all the time. And that's what I would say from a player. You know, that's that's why there's a few great players in this league. Were something about those guys, you know, not just the physical part has made them stand out in their career and and

showing that their body of work. When it all said and downe we jumped out to the offensive side of the ball with running backs coach Eric Studisville, who first talked about the newest Dolphins running back Solve the Akhmed out of Washington, Well in the draft, you know, I thought that he had a nice he did a nice job after Washington. Um, I think It was a lot very similar to what Minos did when he was up in Washington. Ran the ball good. He uses speed on

in space. Um made a lot of plays up there. He's just he's an exciting young player and broken record time on the whole Washington State University versus the University Washington watching as much solve on Akhmed as I did in college. This as a guy that, like coach mentioned, can use that speed out in space. He was so heavily involved in the passing game, catching swings and screens and flats and flares, all those routes down around the line of scrimmage. He can make guys miss in the

open field. He definitely popped when you watch Washington on tape last year. Now we go forward to a question.

I really appreciated the answer from coach on with regards to players carving out their role on the offense and having backs that don't necessarily get pigeonholed into one particular trait, one particular skill set, and how they want to expose these guys too as much as they can and allow the players to carve the rollout for themselves rather than being told by the coaches Initially, what you can and can't do well. I think they carve out the roles.

You know, they're they're going to determine what they can and can't do. I think the thing that I try to do with them is to expose them and show what they can do in all the different runs, you know what I mean. Don't just isolate one guy to say, hey, he just all runs all the toss plays or all the outside plays with this and that they all have

to be able to do it. And you expose them to the whole variety of our whole menu of plays, and then you they kind of determine, hey, I'm a little bit better at this one than the other ones, or this is what their strengths look like. And I think that's how we kind of develop and create those roles.

But I think the main thing is that you can't It's easy to fall into a trap of just making them do one thing and saying, hey, he's good at this when they because you're you're a broken shoelace or a chine trap away from a guy that you've now pigeonholding and being able to do one thing to really handcuffing your offense to what you need to do. So, I tried exposal to everything. We're gonna emphasize what they

do best. But at the end of the day, if we're calling something and it's working and and those kind of things, and they all gotta be able to do it up. Next we hear from coach or quarterback coach rather excuse me, Robbie Brown, who discussed his relationship with Ryan Fitzpatrick, how he's known him for a few years now and if he's noticed anything different about the quarterback heading into with the Miami Dolphins and in year sixteen

in his NFL career. Well, I don't think different. He's he's not changed as a person um in any way, shape or form. He he loves to play the game, he likes the mental aspect of the game. But you know, I haven't noticed anything different. But we haven't been back together, but you know, really for a month here, But really and truthfully he sees it seems the exact same to me. He just he loves to play, loves the game, loves

the mental part of the game, loves to compete. And now a perfect segue into a question about the quality of a backup quarterback or the value of the backup quarterback and which qualities they provide they give you the best option to win when that quarterback comes off the bench and into the game. And speaking of Ryan Fitzpatrick, a guy that has a bunch of experience coming off the bench, even just this last season, for instance, in

that Washington game and kind of sparking the offense. And it goes back to a quote I remember hearing about my guy, Gardner Minshew go Coog's back at the Senior Bowl when they had I think it was Jim Naggy on the Move the Sticks podcast, and he talked about how Minshew got in that locker room and had everybody

galvanized around him. And that's the type of mentality, the type of character you want in that backup quarterback position, and a guy that can really rally the troops and get guys to play for him in that spot in a pinch. We've seen Fitzpatrick do it over the course of several years in his career. We saw Matt Moore do it here for a while with the Miami Dolphins. Here's Coach Brown on the makeup of a backup quarterback.

You're always looking for a guy that's competitive, that really loves to play the same things that Flow always talks about. You want them to be mentally ready. It's really the same thing you're looking for in the starter. You know, you're looking for a guy that wants to come in and and and compete, knows what to do, when to do it, knows how to lead. I mean, it's the

National Football League. So really, if you what, there's sixty four of those guys if you count starter and backup, So you're looking for the same thing, and and the difference is usually very small, and you hope it's as small as possible. And we finish up with Coach Brown here for a question that has been asked to the other coaches about rookies and mainly Brian Flores, and you're gonna hear coach mentioned Flow talk about that with the rookies.

Asked about getting a rookie quarterback ready for the National Football League and how quickly a young player who hasn't been around the block in this league before can acclimate to the NFL level. You don't, you know, Flow talked about the other day for all the rookies. You don't know until they go out there and and they see that that level of competition and that speed. We hadn't had the preseason games. We've tried to, I guess, simulate that the best that we can and go through all

types of situations. There's a lot of situations that a quarterback has to be aware of, down in distance, time on the clock, UH, matchups, all those kind of things. And my goal has been to get him better each and every day, UH and be better at those situations today than he was yesterday, and then when it's time,

when coach makes that decision, we'll go with it. And that's why this year's league should be just so interesting because we have I think the least amount of knowledge of the other teams across the league as we ever really have. I mean, as far as you know most teams go and most teams know, you don't really know who's gonna be playing out their significant snaps. You don't

know who's even starting in some cases. So it gonna be a fascinating season in the NFL with the limited off season, the limited training camp, no pre season, just a different, different time in the league right now. Up next, we hear from Dolphins offensive line coach Steve Marshall, who first was asked about Michael Dieter and his evaluation so far in training camp number two for Dieter out of Wisconsin. He's the guy that came in here last year, played

left guard. He has center in his background. Uh, he's working, you know, basically every day. I've been very pleased with what he's done center. And you know, he's he's a he's multi position learning and uh, you know, he played center at the University of Wisconsin when he was a sophomore, so uh, it wasn't unfamiliar to him, you know. And it's uh, it's just like Ted and all our other centers,

Keeton Sutherland that that you know, we're asking. We asked those guys a lot, and there's a lot of things and every day is a new adventure for him. And uh, but again, Mike has competed extremely hard, and uh, I've

been very happy with his development. And that last word there, development is so key because so oftentimes in the NFL, players get in the fans perspective season, maybe a half a season, maybe even a month a game sometimes to get a true evaluation or I guess a fair shot in their opinion, and development is not linear, it's not equal for all players across the league. So I'm always curious to see how guys take a step in your

number two or even your number three. Sometimes for some players, we've seen DeVante Parker, for instance, and your number five have his best season. So very intrigued by Michael Dieter, regardless of which possession he plays on the offensive line up next, speaking of young offensive lineman, coach Marshall was asked about the young lineman and how the older guys which aren't very old, are teaching them and being mentors to these young players. Well, we are young, that's for sure.

You know, Jesse's one of the old great beards. I think he's nine or whatever he is. Uh, Eric has been in the league four years and he's still Ted Carris. So there's there's a sense of yeah, there's guys that the only way this league is so different, as we've before, this league is so different in college football, Uh as far as the speed of it and uh and and uh the mental aspect of the game, and some of

that stuff only comes with playing and experience. And so uh, the guys, the young guys that we do have, you know, they've got to just we just got to get them in there and and and you know, see where they are and put on top of it, no preseason games where they could get a little taste of what the speed of the game is. We're we're going right into the first ballgame. Uh. It just happens to be the twelve and four football team. That's you know, Patriots, That's

it's a it's a big task. So uh but again we're having you know, it's been a great camp. We've had a lot of competition. Uh, there's been a lot of good Uh there's been you know, like as I can say, I can say, there's some you know, we've we've had our hiccups, and but I tell you one thing, the guys have fought their tails off and are working art and uh, you know, like I said, we're an

just to get this season rolling. And staying on that topic, coach was asked to just give a quick synopsis on Robert Hunt, Austin Jackson, and Solomon Kimbley, the dolphins three rookie draft picks. Here's coach on the youngsters. Well, Rob Hunt, you know, he's Lafayette kid, came out and came in here and uh, you know, has done extremely well. You know, We've asked a lot of him as we have uh A J. Austin and uh Solomon, you know their multi

position learning. Uh. You know, so that on top of just learning a new league, uh, you know, going against the D line that we got has been has been a has been a big challenge for him. So uh, you know, every day, like I like I said before, every day with Rob Hunt and Solomon and uh a J. Has been been a new adventure. They've got to learn. And one of the things that you know, they I think they've learned where they were the big dog uh

at their college game. You know, in practice, it's highly competitive. Everything will snap. You know, you're going against lost and you're going against Ogba, you're going against uh Christian Wilkins or or any of those guys on the D line. Is is a battle every day. And that's the thing that I think that young guys coming into this league UH and ours to no exception, that every game, every

practice is a highly confierced competitive practice. And that's where what's where again that that they're learning every day a little bit better as far as to handle that kind of uh pressure, competitiveness, whatever you call it. And then obviously the chance that they're you know, they're they're they're being thrown in the mix or potentially thrown in the mix if they go. You know, that's that's kind of the whammy. But hey, they're they're they're talent, talented young guys,

and you see how it all comes out. But uh, like I said there, they've learned that they've learned a lot in a in a very very very short period of time, and they've gotten better every day. And I

can give you that right there. I was prepared to ask a question to Coach about those defensive lineman that can possibly give the offensive line of the Dolphins some issues and how it helps those guys grow up front, but Coach answered it for us that are talking about Ogba and Shack Lawson and Christian Wilkins and the issues

they present for an offensive lineman across from them. Finally, Coach finishes up here by talking about the philosophy of not getting just a five guys ready for game day, but rather the entire room with eight or nine players who will keep on the roster. This year, I think we're really zeroing in on on really not the five,

because you really can't zero on the five. You guys again think about you know, who the starters are, but we're really zeroing in on the eight or nine that are gonna be there because you've always got to take in the what if factors. Uh, you know, what if a guy gets hurt? What if you know, one of our guys goes down, Who who's the backup? Whose work?

Who's got to play two positions? So uh, we're really I'm more focused on that, you know, as we get ready to to start into the season, you know, because again those guys have to play multi positions and you've got to You've got five starters, but you also got you know, if we if we travel with seven, if we have seven up on game day or eight up on game day, Okay, one guy goes down, who's the position? Now you lose two of them? Then you get into you know, do we need an extra tight end or

what have you? Because it's it's really more of that's kind of my job, you know. I think as we get forward, we'll we'll have a pretty good plan on on on what we you know, going into it. Who is actually gonna get the starters quote reps and who gets the backup reps? So it's more from my standpoint because I'm a you know, right there every day getting eight guys ready to eight or nine depending on how

many I get on game day. It could be. I think there's a rule now you can take eight guys to the game, And so that's my focus is getting not only the starters, but the other guys are ready to go to We'll go ahead and keep this thing rolling here with Dolphins receivers coach Josh Grizzard as he first talks about Malcolm Perry and the work he's put in a camp so far during this rookie season, but also the relationship that goes back to the East West

Shrine game when you might recall Malcolm Perry had one touch one carry in that game, a fifty something you're a touchdown run to put his team ahead in the fourth quarter. That's what he did in college. He made plays. Yeah, he's had a nice job and it's a testament to him that he just he works his ass off all the time. So for him to be able to come in here and make that transition um from playing quarterback has been it takes time to get a feel for

routes and coverages and things like that. But what he does a good job of is not making the same mistake twice. So if you see something wrong on one play, hey man, you didn't do it quite how we wanted it. He does a good job of walking through it on his own and coming back the next day and improving on that and then following it away for okay, this is how this needs to be to be done. The next time, I actually coached down in the East West Shrine game back in January and had a chance to

work with him down there. I was working with the quarterbacks, he was, of course planned receiver, and just to see his attention at detail and commitment and knowledge and smarts, and you could tell that it was a guy that had a passion for the game. So for a lot of the same reasons we were talking about earlier on not making the same mistakes again twice, you can just see that he's very serious about getting better from day

to day. And guys that really enjoy the game, that's easy for him because they can come in here and work and he he kind of epitomizes that. Up next, coach was asked about the position flexibility of Jachem Grant, but it also gave him a chance to talk about the possessition flexibility as not many folks know. Like DeVante Parker, for instance, he had plenty of reps in the slot over the course of his career. A lot of these guys can play multiple spots. Here's coach talking about his

receivers playing all possessions on the offense. Really, with Jachim in and the rest of our guys, they have the ability to play outside, they have the ability to play inside. It depends on a week to week thing. It depends on a matchup for who we're going against. But I see Jachim is a guy that that can do both. I mean, we all see the ability that he has. Does that mean playing on the outside and taking advantage of his skill set there or moving into the slot

based on matchups? He can do that as well. So he really has the flexibility to do both. Let's go ahead and get a Ryan Fitzpatrick's story here from Josh Grazzard, Dolphins wide receivers coach. So, unfortunately, when I was at Yale, we did not beat Harvard one time. Uh so five years brutal um. Again, not not happy about that, But I can't remember who we were playing. I feel like it was the Jets or somebody, and Yale was playing Harvard, and I had the pleasure of watching it with him

on his phone as a as Yale beat Harvard. So that was a highlight of time spent with him. For some reason, that story reminds me of the author us when Andy is trying to suck up to Michael and wants to go watch Cornell at the bar and then go back to his house and and tie a few on and then go back out on the town and pick up some single ladies. But Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Grizzard instead of Michael Scott and Andy Bernard the Nard Dog.

Finally we end up here with tight ends coach George Gatzi, who first was asked on that same train of thought to talk about Ryan Fitzpatrick and the value he has to this Dolphins offense, to these Dolphins coaches, rooms, to the entire Dolphins operation and organization. Playing quarterback and Nolan Ryan really since two thousand four team when I specifically coached him in Houston. UM, the most important thing about that position is communication and gating to everybody on the

on the team. Just for that when the balls in your hands as a quarterback, everybody see it through your eyes and how a defenders playing you. He may affect something that maybe another quarterback expected at the top of the route to a little different. So get on the same page. You know that that's hard to do when you're not and have already experienced it in O t A. So now d're in training camp. It's that much's final. Um,

just personally, Ryan means so much. You know, he talks to us daily at all the positions, so uh, you know, our heart aches for him. Um, And I think that's IM speaking for everybody on the team. Really kind of enjoying these questions for the coaches about things outside of their umbrella, like the tight end position for instance, and hearing these stories about Ryan Fitzpatrick because there are so

many good ones out there. Next, coach was asked about his relationship prior to coming to Miami with Brian Flores As coach talks about spending three years there with Flora's in New England from eleven. Yeah, you know, the three years in New England from eleven to thirteen. Um, you know, we were both kind of making our ways as far as turning into position coaches, so we would use each other as sounding boards. UM. You know when when he had a certain area on defense and I had a

certain area on offense. We would always spend extra time at the end of the week kind of reviewing on what we call your future talk, meaning how are we going to get ourselves better as coaches. UM. We stayed in touch since those days. Uh, he's a good mentor right now, A good good friend has always been UM. And you know, as coaches we improve every year. We don't have all the answers. UM. Sometimes unfortunately, UM, we

learned from mistakes and sometimes you know, we're better. So UM, I'll say that his mind is always focused on what's best for the team. And so with that mindset, you're you're gonna be ahead of a lot of things. And that's where I see I see Brian a lot of times to step ahead of of of maybe a question that's about to arise, which that's encouraging not only from

coaches stampon show. The players see that too. And one of the nice things about the tight end coach or the quarterbacks coach, I think are the two possessions that really you can do this with is they have such small rooms because you have three quarterbacks on the roster, you have five tight ends on the roster. Is that you can basically go down the roster and ask him for a person by person evaluation. First, we're gonna hear

coach talk about Adam Shaheen, the newest Dolphins tight end. Um. Yeah, just the first question with Adam. You know, daily there's some um, you know, very similar to what I was saying. You know, you usually make sometimes as a player, you make some mistakes and then you learn from those. It's a lot easy to sit back there in the meeting room and coach them up, but um, a lot of

times it's getting out there getting those reps. And uh, we've done a good job as far as everybody on the you know, cumulative wise from an offense of making sure that we're slowly at port to the plate um. And for Adam's uh sake, you know, it's not only just learning the offense a little bit more and spending more time on that, but also you can get them on the field for more reps. So, um, we put them in roll is where he's blocking. Um, I feel

confident about that. He's got good range. Obviously, when you're a taller guy like he is, pad level is very important. So that's constantly something that we're working on a better part of that in the past with taller guys. So uh, we kind of have a good plan on that one. And again it's showing reps of of what he's doing in practice and how those individual driels can transfer over

and then in the passing game. Not only is he a good protector just with his length, you know, he can match up with some of those defensive ends, but also the size matchup on a safety or a linebacker. Um, he's a he's a big athletic man and you know he's has some basketball background. Um, so he has some Uh he makes good decisions in space. Um, we can we can improve that and I think he knows that too. Um. But again, trying to keep adding adding to some reps.

I got reps and scrimmage. So um, you know that's that's a sign of good, good improvement from from our standpoint. And next coach evaluates Durham Smith. Yeah, I really think Durham's, you know, a leader in that room. You know, Um, he does a good job of communicating when he's right, when he's wrong, but explaining exactly what he saw so that as a group we can get better. Um. You know he's he was putting a lot of blocking roles last year. Um and and and did did fairly well.

Um you know, he improved tremendously from his first year. He put on a lot of weights. I think we found a good spot at him at his at his weight and UM, you know he's he's in shape. Um. He plays a lot of reps out there practice, so he's putting his hydrating, he's getting his nutrition back, so he's maintaining his weight. Um. And you know he's able to help in all three phases, whether it's you know, blocking,

UM protection or running routes. So you know, I feel really confident about Durham and I really feel confident about putting him in any role in him known his assignment with that's the number one thing coach to player relationship is just we trust him. Um And like I said, his leadership in that room is invaluable. And we'll go

ahead and finish up with Mike Kasicki. But more specifically about finding balance between that tight end room and asking guys to do multiple things outside of just what they're good at like for instance, Derm Smith getting blocking and receiving, and the same true there for Mike KASICKI well, the way that we kind of work things from a script and standpoint, um, you know, I like to rotate them all and make sure that um, like right now, we're

not specifically game plan and something for one particular player, so in case something happens there in training camp. There's always something that happens, whether it's a you know slow pool here or maybe you know, we need to sit out for a couple of reps because you took multiple reps so excuse me, Um, So we put those guys

in that role. I know, we'd put Durham in a couple of two minutes situations where last year, you know we didn't necessarily put him in those situations, is um, you know I could have a better job with that, just preparing for maybe what ifs that occurred. Um. And the same thing with Michael, putting him in some situations

where he does have to you know, cut out shack Lawson. Um. But I mean there's are some good players that they're facing on the defensive, and with Kyle, I mean there's the list goes on and on so Um, they're getting good work and they're kind of learning different roles and I appreciate them kind of leaning on each other. And that shows you the chemistry in that room. It sounds just those two guys. I know. Adam asked a lot

of questions. Chris, Um, you know, we we we rely on Chandler two on some of his blocks because obviously the tight end is going to do some of those roles too. So it's a it's a good room as far as communicating back and forth. And uh, like I said, I appreciate the professional And so there you have at nine assistant coaches talking on this Wednesday, a player day off. Will come back tomorrow with Brian Flores some more player media availability and talk more about this football team at

length on the field with regards to the season. But asked for today's podcast, that is going to be my time. If you guys want to see the written portion of the story up on Miami Dolphins dot com, check that out. We'll have the transcripts up there as well. For the podcast. Please leave us a rating, leave us a review, subscribe to the podcast. It really helps the podcast grow and get out to more Dolphins fans give me a follow on Twitter. It's at Wingfield, NFL. Fallow the Dolphins at

Miami Dolphins. A new episode of the Fish Tank and Audible podcast are both out this week. Check those out Until next time, fins Up.