Drive Time - Training Camp Day 9 Recap

back on the football field. Two more hours of Dolphins practice coming your way as we hear from Coach Flores and of course all of the news and notes from the practice field. All of that and more on this training camp August edition of the Drive Time Podcastphins. So we get some big news on Thursday evening, the Dolphins announced the cornerback xaviing Howard has been removed or activated rather from both the COVID nineteen slash reserve list as

well as the physically unable to perform list. And I went back on Thursday night and watched a couple of my own breakdown clips, little self promotion there, and man, you sort of forget how good he was, how dominant Xavian Howard can be at his best, that powerful inside hand jam, disrupting receivers at the line of scrimmage, at the top of the stem of the route at the catchpoint, running routes for receivers, and those ridiculous ball skills that

brought back seven picks. Just a couple of years ago, in his last full season, which was even a full season, he played thirteen games and brought down seven picks to lead the NFL. And just a reminder that last year, at this time he was the story of training camp. I seriously think he picked off more passes than completions allowed on targets in his direction, getting him into this secondary that honestly, I already felt good about watching it

on that practice field without Exavian Howard out there. Now you get a pro bowler back on the team. Let's go man. So x is back. Some more roster changes. Avery Moss is also back. The Dolphins resigned Moss after releasing him last month, so both Moss and Trent Harris, who were released on the same day, boomerang back and are back on the Dolphins roster. The Dolphins also say

goodbye to undrafted free agent rookie from South Carolina. Don L. Stanley, He's been waved and they make room for Xavien in the DB's room by also waving Picasso Nelson Jr. The cornerback. Other roster news. Busy day today. On this Friday, Caitlin Blage was traded to the New York Jets in Division. He joins back up with Adam Gaze in New York

for a conditional seventh round draft pick. Alright, some more housekeeping to be done here, just real quick before we get to coach floress Media as the official wellness provider and sports medicine provider of the Miami Dolphins. Baptist Health is ready and committed to continue caring for you safely. This pandemic has reminded us the crisis doesn't build character, it reveals character. It's also taught us that our health is truly what matters most. We have the power to

protect each other by wearing a mask. So who do you wear a mask for? Mask up South Florida, Keep caring, live healthy, stay strong, and learn more at Baptist Health dot net. Slash coronavirus and we kick off Brian flores Is Friday morning media availability with a question not about football, but importantly about the climate of the world right now, the Jacob Blake situation. How he addressed the team over the situation and how they're pursuing change right now above anything.

Here's coach, Well, you know we we we talked about this the other day. I addressed that the Jacob Blake situation with you guys and talk to you about you know, up setting it was how frustrating, Um it is when these situations occurred time at the time, at the time, how we need more unity. Um, So we spoke as a team. Look, we understand there's a lot of things. They're not where they need to be right now. It

pains us. So we decided to practice. We all know understand that things aren't where they need to be right now. And um, we're gonna meet later today and just talk about some things we can you know, uh, put in the action so that we can you know, try to create some you know, make a difference, to create some change. So, um, but we're going to practice. I mean this is you guys know this. I've lived this, you know, I grew up in this era. I've had guns pointed at me

by police officers. This is not something I take lightly, This team takes lightly. I've had multiple conversations. They've spoken to you, Cavan, talk to you about his situation. There's other other experiences that guys on our team have had that you know, are unfortunate and we need change. And that's that's where I'm at on on that, on on this situation. Up next, coach addresses the activation and availability

of cornerback Xavian Howard. Yeah, access, you know, ready to you know, get out on the Field's progressing with obviously you know the COVID of the knee. Uh so, um, you feel like he felt like he was ready to get out there and participate in practice. And again he's got He's got a long way to go as far as from a conditioning standpoint. Drill worked, uh, you know, communication with his teammates, so you know, this is the

first step. Up next, coach was asked about bringing back Avery Moss, who followed Trent Harris who made the return trip back to Miami. As we discussed earlier in the show, there's been some shakeups at the edge position so far in training camp. We lost Spence Bagle earlier obviously Curtis we were no longer here the Dolphins go back and

get Trent Harris and Avery Moss. Here's coach talking about familiarity with those players and if that helps make the decision easier to bring them back into the building after they had been released last month. No, not necessarily. Um, I think need was played played a big part in that. I had a couple of guys banged up. And yeah, we know Trent, we know Avery, um, but we we all we also worked out a few other players. Uh So again, we're always going to try to bring in

guys who we think. It helped this team from a practice standpoint and from a playing standpoint, it does hurt. I'll tell you that, you know, Uh, it doesn't hurt at all. That we know the player, we know what type of people they are, we know and how important the game is. It doesn't hurt them at all. But we're always going to try to bring in players who

we think can help us. One of my favorite things about coaches that while he has the intense demeanor around the building here and he's pretty much always serious and always on point, there is a joking side to coach and you're gonna hear it right here. The other day, soft A Dean and him how a comical exchange, I suppose about the bald head and taking the bit to the bald head. Well soft fit came back with a question to coach about coach Gerald Alexander in the defensive

backs room. Here is coach's initial response about keeping that fresh baldhead, but then talking of course, more about the quality of coach he believes he has in Gerald Alexander. Well, it keeps a fresh bald head softed. So I know you like him, but yeah, g A is a good, good young coach obviously played in the league. Smart uh, Energetic for sure. I think he does a great job of communication. He's a good teacher, good young cod uh. And you know, I'm excited to work with him. You know,

I've had a lot of conversations. You know, he's coaching the secondary, so we have a lot of you know, safety was the first position I coached, so we have a lot of conversations about about that group and somebody adjustments, some of the improvements they need to make. So but you know, my conversations are with g A and then all the other coaches that we gotta good young staff with camp A Nounston and I being Uh, you know, Charles Burns is coming along, so the same thing offensively

and in they taking the game. So m I'm excited about all those guys, and I'll try to keep my head shaved like he does. And you do so. I mean as a writer, that's story structure, one on one right there. You start with a lead and you come back to at the very end of your story. Coach nails it right there, talking about g A, his energy level, his coaching ability, but also getting his jokes about the clean shave, bald head of himself, Softa Dean and Gerald Alexander.

We finish up here with a question about the secondary, the two safeties Eric Row and Bobby mc cane by Kyle Crabs, the host of the Lockdown Dolphins podcast. Here is Coach talking about the value of those safeties having cornerback experience. Uh. Yeah, I mean it's it's it's important. So you know, when guys have played multiple positions, and they especially at the safety position, to be able to relive some of their corner days and some of the issues they may have had um at that position and

then communicate it and understand it from that perspective. I think that that goes a long way. Um, it's one thing to try to put yourself in those shoes, it's another thing to have actually been in them. But the flip side of that is not a lot of corners have gone down in the box and played had to fit the run game either. So there's there's a learning curve and a learning process for UM guys who move from corner safety or safety the linebacker or linebacker D

Line's always a little bit of a learning curve. I think both guys accepted the challenge to to to to to move positions. UM. I think it helps the communication to have been UH and those other spots going from corner safety, But there's some challenges as well. You know, I would say fit in Iran and dealing with UH. You know run fits is a little bit different for

both guys. Obviously Roll more than Bobby, But at the end of the day, I think both guys are working to improve that we're going to get better and please go guys. So there's coach some powerful stuff and that powerful stuff continued onto the practice field on Friday. As one thing you'll learn quickly in the NFL is that

everything is regimented and scheduled very carefully. We're out here for practice at ten oh six on the dot, and that stuff starts right on the nose every single day, and normally the team, after doing some special teams work or doing some individual stuff getting their technique down, will break for stretching. But they gathered everyone together before the stretching portion of practice when practice officially begins, and had

some players step forward to talk. We obviously don't know the content of that conversation, but we did here Coach Flora's talk in his media availability on Friday morning that he would address the team later today and allow some of the players to expres us themselves to their teammates and just kind of have an open forum. And so

we saw Coach Flora's start the conversation off. Then Bobby McCain got in there, Jesse Davis, jakeem Grant, Byron Jones, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brandon Bryant, Cavan Fraser, Mary and Hobby Gerald, Alexander Devon god Shaw, Ted Carriss, Ray Kawadacmillan, and then Coach Flora's closed out before practice officially began right around ten twenty six or so, twenty minutes after the team gathered for that discussion, So powerful stuff there from coach.

You heard him earlier this morning talk about his experience with social injustice. Is very very forward thinking team here with the Miami Dolphins, and important stuff to get out there and talk about and give these guys, these players a platform. So that was some of the pre practice stuff. We then got into stretching. Here are some notes. Patrick Lair was back on the field, but in a red jersey,

so he is back and working. Receivers. Davante Parker and Kirk Merritt were not on the field however, missing practice on Friday. Exhabing Howard back out there working on individual drills, doing some stuff with Byron Jones working on the press and footwork. We talked a lot about how the hands and the feet and the eyes all go together, and Coach mentioned this. Brian Flores did that he has to get some drill work done, some conditioning work done. Still

has a long way to go. We didn't see X in the team period of practice, but he was out there getting some work and moving around, and I did want to keep a focus in an emphasis on watching how how X moved on the practice field, and it just looked really good to me. He was firing out of his back pedal, he was cutting laterally. You wouldn't even know he was coming off a knee surgery, knee injury, or being on the pup with that knee issue he had coming into camp. They did some shuttle work and

the individual drills. I thought he looked like one of the smoothest guys out there and being totally honest, and obviously we have to monitor the conditioning, but he was out there running sprints earlier this week as well, so he's probably not. You know, it's not a situation where he's starting from square one, as coach said, we have a long way to go. With the fact that he's out there with a start date for working out and getting back involved in practice in August is super encouraging

on that front. And to make a quick pivot here on the topic of versation, I want to take a quick note about a mystery man on the field. I can probably do some research and find out who he is, but he's a big dude, solidly built. On the coaching staff. He throws balls to the receivers and the individual drills and catches passes from the quarterbacks. He's like a full workout out there every single day, running around. But the thing that makes me want to mention him is the

impressive effort he shows every day to flash the gams. Man. Those aren't thigh high shorts we're talking out there. Those things are getting up close to hip high, and he's out there flaunting it every day. And he also throws a very impressive ball, if we're being honest. So a note to that coach, I'm gonna find out who he is. Then we go into the team period. Both offense and defense find their respective sidelines more game like situations and simulations.

They're having penalty flags thrown, keeping track of the clock down in distance. They go to their opposite sidelines and communicate things into the quarterback, and accordingly, it's offense backed up to its own two yard line and working on getting out of the end zone out of the shadow of your own goal post. The first snap is a hard count and got someone to jump on the offense

to false start, which is pretty common. Obviously, you've got nothing to lose down there when you're backed up inside your own two or one yard line, and obviously you can get hit with a half the distance to the goal, but that's gonna cost you what at most one yard if you're on the two yard line, even less the further year backed up. So a pretty common idea there to try to throw the hard count, try to get the defense to give you a free five yards and

get you off the goal line. This time at backfires, but again it's pretty much no risk, high reward there. The first play came from Brandon Jones, and I would go on to make or he would go on. Rather I didn't make any plays on Friday. He would go on to make several plays on this day. He is active as hell. Man. He draws the back in coverage and angles down on that thing for a really good stop after two or three yards on a pass out

to the flats. He also almost got himself an interception on a play down around the goal line when Isaiah Ford crossed face on the cornerback and Jones read it and read the quarterback's eyes over to the football. A bit of a collision there with he Isaiah Ford and Noah Ignogamy the cornerback in coverage, but everybody was just fine. But Brandon Jones looks really good out there so far.

But the offense would strike back quickly with the best throw of the day from Ryan Fitzpatrick, who drops an absolute dime that goes for thirty six thirty seven yards up the sideline to Preston Williams. It reminded me of last camp all over again, Preston getting vertical on on cornerbacks and Fits finding him down the field or Josh

Rosen finding him down the field. It was a tight window because he was going up against Byron Jones, who continues I talked about this all the time, continues to be in great position and the ball was just perfectly located right over the shoulder. It kind of reminded me of that pass in the Buffalo game last year at Buffalo, when Fits found Preston up the sideline for a big game.

I said to myself, Oh wow, what the throw that was when it happened, so big time play there, And speaking of that, Jones would get his revenge later on in practice. But again, to go back to this point, I'm not even sure I would call it revenge because he's in perfect position on that throw. You just got two studs making plays down the field and a stud quarterback dropping in the dime. The old saying goes right, there's no defending a perfect pass. Well, that was a

perfect pass from Fitzpatrick. So good on, good on good. You love seeing that. Those are the kind of players that come back with all positives and training camp because usually you have one player wins the rep, one player loses the rep. But these are the ones you want to see everybody wins. It's just good football all the

way around. Now, as for the revenge itself, he drew Preston later down in the red zone and got isolated in a one on one position and did so well to stay composed, because that's that's a really tough spot to be in one on one with not really any help inside or outside against a receiver like Preston Williams. So he gets himself in that position, and really a Preston can break either direction inside outside, he can go

over the top. He has that size, the movement ability, the ability to sink his hips and get in and out of those breaks, and the overall skill that he flashes down there, and one on one, it's sure as health frees up the rest of your defense to get creative, as Byron Jones can drive on that pass and break it up in the end zone for a huge and completion. As Sam Madison used to say, courtesy of the Fish Tank podcast ten on ten, ten on ten, you put ten guys in there, you have the cornerback, lock up

receiver and call it good. From there, it creates way more creativity for your defense. Little fish Tank reference for you guys there. Check them out on the Miami Dolphins podcast network. From there, the defense kind of took things over. Shack Lawson had a number of big plays as he continued to disrupt a lot of the action, both as

a pass rusher and as a run defender. Even on the big pass from Fitzpatrick to Preston Williams, he was back in the backfield and it looks like maybe he could have finished it off, but the ball might have come out before he got there. I leaned towards it being a good completed pass, but he was close getting

pressure on the quarterback. I did have him with two for sure sacks on the day and possibly that third, but I'm gonna go ahead and call it too because I do think Fitzpatrick got the ball out before he got home for that sack. Two other common things that themes this week that continued on Friday was the work against the run from both Jerome Baker and Eric Rowe, a linebacker and a safety. Baker has done so well I've talked about it all week, to get down in

the muck, work through the trash. Normally, you want to keep that guy clean and have him making plays on ball carriers and not have to get off blocks, which he does that exceptionally well. We know he can do that. He's got the speed, the tackling, the shirt tackling, and

just the overall physicality to make that happen. But even working down in the trash and getting off those blocks, he was doing that all day again on Friday, to put some hits on the ball carrier, to really square those guys up and make a good sound hit to stop their progress. Very impressed with Jerome Baker that way. The story is the same with Eric Rowe, a face in the fan type of guy. He's not afraid to

go down there and put a lick on somebody. He even did it in the passing game on a short completion to Mike Gasicki out in the flat on a past that was located a little bit off the back of Mike Kaski's body, so he had to kind of make a contorting spinning catch and Row was right there to square him up. The safeties on this team in general have been so active. We talked about Roe and Brandon Jones, but also Bobby McCain and Cavon Frasier. Different

roles and different players, but they've all been involved. Talking about Clayton Federlum out there as well, plenty of these guys getting involved in the action. I think you feel really good about that position and the depth there as well.

And speaking of facing the fan here real quick, Nick need Um at cornerback also in that DB's room, had a really nice run stop working down in the muck where he popped the back, squared him up, popped him in the in the chess plate, then gave a pretty pronounced clap showing that he was very proud of himself

for that play. He's had a very good camp so far in Nick need Um, back to the depth talking about safeties in fact, I think you just feel good about the depth at all three levels on this football team. On this defense right now, I should say you've got good front lines, solid quality depth behind those guys and you see that depth filter in in the first team, second team, third team guys playing good football out there.

Just look at the depth up front. I mean, we talked about ray Kwon Davis just moving guys against their will. That was in my notes today. Even when the offensive line wants to move him off the spot, he just kind of stands it up, or he works down the line to get himself into the backfield, causing more and more penetration, forcing the offensive line to try to anchor and re anchor and re anchor again because he keeps pushing them off that spot. He can carry guys across

multiple gaps if he needs to. He just has been very impressive so far in training camp. I know that Devon got Shaw had two more run stops on this practice. He's been frequently in the notes this week showing that power, showing that run defense, and flashed some pass rush there as well. We've talked about Christian Wilkins. He is super trimmed down and moving so very well out there, very quick off the snap, as he has been active and

involved up on that defensive line. As we know, he has the ability to play multiple spots on the defensive line. Zach Seeler makes a play just about every single day out there. Today it was a bull rush that he converted to getting his hands up, create that separation that Mary and Hobby talked about on Thursday's podcast, create that separation with the offensive line, gets your hands up and knocked the ball down. He had one of those on Friday.

I took another note on the land And Roberts here being a tough, physical, nasty dude, had a chance to ask a coach Camp and Ellie about that on Thursday and he tells us that, yeah, Landon has that mindset on the football field. He flips that switch. But he is one of the best guys, one of the nicest

guys you can talk to away from the field. But there was a play where he greeted mac Hollins, who was working across the formation, comes under it, makes a catch and turns up field and as he turns up, he meets number forty four right there and Roberts just squared him up and it was like a brick wall man.

Mac Hollins is running pretty much full speed, obviously doesn't have his head forward yet, but he turns it up and Roberts is just squatting on like a like a pass protector dropping into his pass set, and the pass rusher meets him and just hits that brick wall and stops. And at the conclusion of the play, Roberts throws like a dummy fake uppercut at Hollands trying to punch the

football out, stripping the ball out. We know that's a big focus this year, as we heard from coach Alexander on yesterday's podcast as well as Josh Boyer on the podcast, to those two guys just competing, getting after it and showing some friendly you know, dapping each other up after the play as well, so competitive between the whistles afterwards. Your teammates Again, fun to see those guys work. I had Brian Borders with a really nice pass breakup down

around the goal line. And I also took another note on how well again Noah Ignogny, the way he moves. I talked about it, I think it was yesterday on the podcast. A tweet that I sent out a while back during his draft run up, a video of him working on Florida tight end Kyle Pitts and the transition to get out of the back pedal and drive forward.

I saw something very similar on a comeback route today where he has to honor the deep ball because without safety help over the top, you have to be sure you can turn and run and get down the field. But he stays right in that hit pocket and then from there to be able to accelerate full speed, hit the brakes out of that full acceleration and then turned back the other direction. That just takes an elite athlete.

And we know based on his testing, based on his tape, based on what we see on this practice field so far, that's what Noah is. He's super athletic, of course, a very very prominent feature here among cornerbacks in this Brian Flores defense. Byron Jones once broke records at the scouting Combine, and now Noah Ignogny here as well at that cornerback spot and a king of depth. Man. That cornerback position

is just nasty from top to bottom. We know about X Byron and Needham have had a good camp so far. The same is true of Noah Ignogeny. Tay Hayes continues to to show some flash and pop quite a bit. I like some of the work from Borders and Nickels. The stuff. They have done. Really good group out there in that defensive secondary and at that linebacker position. I'm

a fan of the depth there as well. You've got lots of positions that are really two or three deep there, like for instance, with Roberts and McMillan, both guys you know can come in on a in a pinch and be legitimate thumpers and run stuffers. Kyle van Noy does virtually everything, so does Jerome Baker. Andrew Van Ginkl has shown flashes down the stretch last year and three phases

of the game. He got in for a pressure on Josh Rosen today at one point as well in the team period with a really nice club move working up the field, showing some more pressure on the quarterback. Another player I note in this position group with a play on Friday is the undrafted rookie out of Middle Tennessee State, Tyshan Render. We talked about his build and his earlier this week on the podcast. I've been impressed with that strength at the point and his ability to work off blocks.

The most important thing you can do upfront is get off blocks, and I've seen him do it several times. So the defense really was getting after earlier, but things would flip as the offense would not go quietly into the night to a tongue of volois. First two passes of the team period went for touchdowns. A really nice pass to the corner to Adam Shaheen. I mean not to sound like a broken record here or anything, but the way he just layers the football out there with

that torque touch and spin on it. It's really fun to watch a supernatural thrower and I hate this term thrower of the football, but it's so natural for him from different platforms to layer that football out there with accuracy. The next was another touchdown from right around that same spot at the fifteen yard line or so, and this time it was a wide open receiver working the middle

of the field for that touchdown. I talked about his intentional location of the football a lot on this podcast, and it's something pretty subtle that you've got a key on closely if you want to see it. Like, for instance, a quick hitter to Ricardo Lewis would a cornerback playing off, He throws it high and away so that Louis can turn away from not only the hit but catch it and work up field for a yards after catch opportunity. We saw it constantly Abama, so that shouldn't be a

surprise here. That translates to the Miami Dolphins. On the offensive line, Eric Flowers has been a total wrecking ball so far through training camp. I credited him with a number of key blocks to spring runners. Ted Carriss also had a couple up there as well on Friday's practice, and speaking of backs springing big runs, I've mentioned a million times on this podcast how Miles Gaskin ran rough

shot over my Washington State Cougars. Go Coug's in the Apple Cup for four straight years, something like seven hundred and seventy rushing yards and eight touchdowns in four games. Oh man, good times. But it's much nicer to watch him do that in aqua. He's so shifty, he gets to the whole at the right time and can really change the angle on tacklers and a beat. He's had

a very nice camp so far. A bunch of big runs for Miles gas Kim on a quick aside a side note here, I really like watching this from practice was the level of instruction that occurs between each play. I saw a player come off the field go over to coach Flora's then goes over to chan Gailey, then to his possession coach teachers, Man, we hear about it all the time. We see it firsthand here every day on the practice field. I mentioned the gorgeous throat from

fits to Preston earlier in the day. The two would hook up again for a touchdown later on a nice little shake at the top of the route from Preston and then a rip an anticipation rip from Fitzpatrick with coverage and very close quarters for the score. Back to the offensive line. Adam Panky is a guy we haven't talked about much, but he's been consistently solid. I noted him with another nice block on one of Gaskin's good

looking runs down in the red zone area. There was a quick break in the action and for some more special teams work. I wrote this note down even on three quarter speed kickoffs, I feel like Jachem Grant is moving so fast and about to break one every single time. Man, that guy can flat out go. During the break, I went to the bathroom, but then I came back and saw the quarterbacks throwing into those stationary nets we talked out earlier this week from about twenty five yards out.

You put the football in the left hash. You put the net on the left side of the numbers, on the back of the end zone, right about yards or so away. I only saw three throws. They were all from tah but he hit the net on all of them. So progress from the quarterbacks on the stationary net throwing. Then there was some more goal line work, some wins for the offense, some wins with the defense. All in all, a good practice, a good primer for tomorrow's scrimmage at

hard Rock Stadium. As always, will have you covered on that practice here from the Drivetime podcast and before we wrap up on this abbreviated version of the show, no media availability from players today. As the official wellness provider and sports medicine provider of the Miami Dolphins, Baptist Health is ready and committed to continue caring for you safely. This pandemic has reminded us the crisis doesn't build character, it reveals it. It's also taught us that our health

is truly what matters most. We have the power to protect each other by wearing a mask. So who do you wear a mask for? Mask Up, South Florida, Keep caring live healthy, stay strong, and learn more at Baptist Health dot net slash coronavirus. Okay, we have a written piece to accompany this podcast up on Miami Dolphins dot com. We have the daily morning piece, the Blitz, the primer for the entire day, and Saturday we're gonna have all that stuff for you weekend special content. It is the weekend,

but we are in fact working in the meantime. You all please be sure to do me a favor and subscribe to the podcast on Apple, podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast from. Leave us a rating, leave us a review, Follow me on Twitter at Wingfield, NFL. Follow the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins. Of course, the fish Tank and the Audible podcast we mentioned them earlier in the show. Check those out, and of course Miami Dolphins dot com.

We also have the YouTube show up right now, the Drivetime Training Camp Special starring yours Truly, it was a fun time film in that episode out on the practice field. Check that out for us. Subscribe to the Dolphins YouTube channel as well. But that's gonna do it for my time here and until next time, the fans up