Drive Time - Virtual Fan Experience Winner and Twitter Mailbag

dive into your questions via the Twitter mail bag. We welcome in a very special guest who I am willing to say has a claim as the biggest Miami Dolphins fan on planet Earth and as the best analytics man in the business. For my money, Warren Sharp puts out his annual NFL preview. Will look at some data from Warren Sharp himself and how it concerns the Miami Dolphins and the construction of this defense. All of that and more on this right a July the tenth edition of

the Drive Time Podcast. And again he is my absolute favorite analyst in the business. Warren Sharp of Sharp Stats and Sharp Football Analysis. He has multiple avenues, all branded and self titled publications. I'll try to get him on at some point this summer to talk some football. But I just ordered his three hundred and fifty page manifesto

and we'll dive into that here on future podcast. But I want to take a look a quick peek here at an article that he published up on sharp Football analysis dot com, and it takes a look at the frequency of sending just three rushers at the quarterback in today's NFL. And the reason I want to look at this is because the Dolphins ranked near the top of

the league in doing this. And our guest that we're gonna have on here in just one minute posed a specific question to me that will lead into the mailbag regarding defensive back usage and specifically about Nick Needham and

his spa on the football team. And so when you look at Miami's defensive makeup in a traditional sense, right, we go back to the A. J. Dewey podcast from a couple of weeks ago, and he told us how you mostly had eleven guys who started on the on the defense for you in a game, and they played

pretty much the entire game for the most part. So from that lens, a little bit of an antiquated lens, you would use four down linemen and three linebackers or of course three down linemen and four linebackers with four defensive backs regardless of which front you used on every snap, give or take a few. Right, Well, this is good tangible evidence of how the game has evolved and the vision of coach Flores to have a litany of cover guys on the back end that can really help drive

this defense. So from Warren Sharp, the Dolphins utilize three man rushes on of the nineteen defensive snaps, one out of every five plays. That was second most in football behind the Detroit Lions. And the article was really in earnest about the New England Patriots, and they were down to fifteen percent last year after going to three man rushes.

But you go back to the previous three years from through sen they rushed three in the twenty two percent range, so nearly one quarter of their snaps they would rush three guys. And Sharp talks about the way these rushes are effective and how it might be one of the potential answers to all of these athletic, fleet of foot quarterbacks that can make you pay so dearly with their feet. We're doing the Know the Enemy series right now up on Miami Dolphins dot Com as well here on the podcast.

And just look at the schedule. I mean week one, Week fifteen, you got Cam Newton there with New England. You got Josh Allen with the Buffalo Bills two times a year. You've got Gardner Minshew, he can make some plays with his legs. Russell Wilson on the schedule there, justin Herbert or Tyrod Taylor in week seven, Kyler Murray's on there. Joe Burrow, we saw what he did in college.

Patrick Mahomes obvious lee. So that's what the NFL has become, a league where the quarterback is just as much a liability in terms of beating you with his legs as they are with their arms. For the most part, with modern day quarterbacks, right, the game has changed, and so on defense you have to keep up with that. And he talks about how you can affect those types of quarterback that can really make you pay with their legs.

And he shows this example of a rush play on third down and fifteen against Buffalo where the ends kind of fan out and widen out that defensive line and they create this pocket for Alan to step up to rather than going into that hell Marry mode where he breaks the pocket and you allow guys to uncover downfield because you just can't get a hand on the quarterback. And this is one of the ways Sharp rites that you can manufacture a rush over the idea of just

relying on one guy like for instance, Cam Wake. For how many years did we have to have Cam Wake win his pass rush matchup? Otherwise we didn't get pressure on the quarterback. You can manufacture this pass rush through this team ski rush approach, and the Patriots last year we're second and total pressures despite ranking on ESPN's pass rush win rate that's a mouthful, which is a measure of success within getting to the quarterback within two and

a half seconds after the snap. So you don't have to necessarily get to the quarterback immediately to win with your pressures because more coverage on the back end gives you more time to get after the quarterback. And so how this all relates and comes back to the Miami Dolphins is that it pairs so well with a secondary that has so many good cover guys like we hope to have here with Byron Jones, Xavian Howard, Noah Igbanogamy,

Nick need Um, Bobby McCain, Eric Rowe, Brandon Jones. You guys know the usual suspects in the secondary by now, and Sharp notes that from this defense, you have multiple guys that are liable to come after the quarterback at any time. He mentions Kyle van Noy rushed on se of his snaps, but they also have two more guys that exceeded six rush rate and an other who had at rush rate coming after the quarterback from that linebacker position.

And this can make the quarterbacks pre snap read foggy and maybe force an error in his a signing of the past protection assignments up front. And once you get that with eight guys falling into coverage, boy, that becomes tough to beat, especially when you can show this look and still wind up sending a fourth or even blitzing a fifth on that confused past protection alignment in front

of you. And so I look at the Dolphins and the coverage skills they have, and you go down the board with whether it's pre draft scouting reports or the NFL tape they've put together in conjunction with coverage grades via sites like Pro Football Focus or NFL Next Gen Stats, whatever your flavor is, these guys great out well in that area for the most part. Then comes the idea

of the position list front seven defense. I just rewatched the second game against the Jets from last year, the game on the road, and there was one instance where we have one down lineman and three linebackers and the other seven to fenders on the field our defensive backs. That is your quarter package Nicholas five defensive backs, Diamond six, quarter seven, and Dollar is eight. And the broadcast crew is just flabber gassed by this defense. And it was

a successful play. The defense got the stop and got off the field. So I look at how you might utilize Kyle van Noy and Vince Bagel and Shack Lawson, Emmanuel Ogba pick your poison. You really see the idea of the defense and how you really set yourself up to win on that critical down. The money down. Third down is everything in this league, and I'm a big fan of this idea of how you win on those third downs. Okay, that's our deep dive into the analytics

for the week. Let's transition now and get to a very special guest here on the Drivetime podcast. He was the winner of our virtual draft sweepstakes. And if you're on Dolphins Twitter, you certainly know him by now. If you've been to Dolphins training camp, you know who he is. You can't miss him. He is big E. And here is my interview with arguably the biggest Dolphins fan on planet Earth, Big E, Ian Burger and writing shotgun now on the Drive Time podcast. Is the winner of our

virtual fan experience. You guys all know who he is. If you're on Dolphins Twitter by now, he is Ian Burger. Ian. How's it going, man, I'm doing great, Travis. Thanks so much for having me today. I really appreciate it. Man. We're very excited to have you on because I almost feel like, in a way you represent the Dolphins season ticket members because of your very public facing persona. You got the jersey you were a training camp every year that has your name on it. And is it number?

What numbers on that jersey? Sixty six represents my height I'm six ft six inches tall, But it's also Larry Little, so we can't gotta give him a lot of credit for that. Well, you can't miss Biggie because he is six six because he has the jersey. Also a good company there with Larry Little, who did a flashback podcast with us, one of my favorite guests we've had so

far on this podcast. But enough about the past. Ian, you're on the podcast today to talk about kind of your fan experience, and you're decked out in the full on Dolphins garb right now, I am myself. We both love this team through and through aqua running through our veins. I want to ask you when did you first when, like, what was the moment where you were like, Okay, I am not only a die hard football fan, but I am a die hard Miami Dolphins fan to my core.

I think when I probably about fifteen twenty years ago, is when I really realized that I was a die hard. I mean, my my grandfather took me to my first ever game in five, but it took me a while to really get into the game, to understand it. My parents weren't really big into football, so I never I never watched it. It was never on the TV at home. Um. But then around two I started bringing my dad to games, to his first ever football games, and UM, I'd say

after ninety two I really started growing the fandom. UM. And then about ten years ago I joined this wonderful social media thing called Twitter, and I think Twitter has just blown my fandom, you know, out of the water because the ability to be able to interact with fans not just locally but around the world and there are a lot of Dolphins fans around the world. Um, that has actually helped me become better fan because I want to learn more and I want to engage more with them.

Football is certainly a family affair. I think that's true for a lot of fans that kind of go through generations of you know, getting season tickets and being there at the stadium and all these fun things to go

along with that. You mentioned the fan base around the globe for for the Dolphins, and I'm a great example of that because I'm from the Pacific Northwest, and you mentioned kind of being there at the stadium and getting indoctrinated with the game itself, but not really growing into the big fan you are you've become until about five years ago. It was kind of the same for me because I grew up in a generation where I was all about going to the Kingdom and watching King Jr.

And my Seattle Mariners. But then does Dan Marino guy came around in my life and kind of swayed me over to the football side. I have to imagine he was a big influence for you too well. And remember back in that was that was Dan Marino's heyday, So you know, my I had many years of watching him, and I think the great thing about Dan Marino which we have you know, which we may not have seen over the last twenty years, is it didn't matter if it was a winner loss With Marino, you were gonna

have about four hundred yards in the air. It was going to be a high scoring affair, and it was gonna be a lot of fun to be there because the fans go crazy for every touchdown. Um. So yeah, he was definitely a strong influence for me, for me

through my Dolphins years. It's funny, man, we have these new rules in today's NFL where it's a little bit trickier to play defense and defensive back, and so you have some stats there may be a little bit more inflated than they were back in the eighties, like you mentioned, and this has been a topic on Twitter this week, is Dan Marino's four season. It just to me it stands alone in a class of its own in terms

of football accomplishments. Individually on the football field from a statistic standpoint, So, Dan Marino, we all can kind of rally around that guy. But you mentioned years as a fan. How long have you been a season ticket member for? So I was. I've actually been a season ticket holder for about eighteen years. But the way that it worked is back eighteen years ago, I I had a co worker who was upgrading to club, but she didn't want

to sell her regular seats, so I volunteered to buy them. Um, I wasn't able to go to all the games, so I ended up selling some of them and kind of made some of that money back. And then about eight years ago, I actually started my own account and I have two tickets, so I get to rotate between my wife, my fifteen year old daughter, and my thirteen year old daughter.

But I am the consistent one that will go to every single game from start to finish, regardless of what the score is, and all preseason games from start to finish. So um, we have made it a true family affair, and my kids and my wife they love going to the games. It's it's really more about the experience of being there and doing everything that we do versus what the final score is for them, even though of course I prefer a win, and I think we all prefer

the win. You know, we'll get there two hours before. We'll set up a tent with just either my daughter and I or my wife and I throw the football around for a while, we'll play some cards, just hang out, and then we'll go in about an hour before the game because we want to see what's going on in the field and make sure we catch the pregame warmups. Um. And then we'll stay. You know, we'll stay till the

very end for four thirty. And you've got to stay till the very end, of course, because you know, the Miami miracle happened to the people that stayed till the very end. Um. So that's uh, that's that's part of the experience. And I think when my kids get older, they're not going to really remember what the final scores were, who we played. They're just gonna remember they had a really nice time going with dad to football games, and

that's what I've really tried to create for them. I have a couple of questions off of that answer that I think are just terrific in terms of what football and family can mean for people. One. I was at the Miami Miracle and the last four games I've been to whereas press and the previous game that I went to as a fan in the stands was two thousand eight against the Patriots. We lost the wildcat year, but I was at the Miracle game and it was unlike

anything I had ever seen. Is there a game that sticks out in your mind that's the greatest game you've ever been to their hard rock stadium? Is that, you know, there's there's a lot of them. Obviously that one is right up there. I'll take you back two years ago, you know, to the what is it the it's the world record for the longest NFL game. And what was great about that was that we got there nor you know,

game time started at one o'clock. We got there little early, did like we normally did, and then we were in the stands, and then of course the first delay happened, and my daughter, I brought my at the time, she was eleven, and you know, she was all good for the first time. Then the second delay came, you know, and then more and more people started leaving, and uh, and I finally said to my daughter, I said, hey, we don't have plans tonight, would you want to stay?

You know, what would be the latest that you would want to stay? And she said, well, Dad, you know I'm in the stands. I'm kind of bored right now. She's like, would you mind if you got me Instagram and I won't bother you the rest of the game. So I had downloaded Instagram for her, and then we stayed till the bitter end, and of course not bitter end. It was actually a great end because obviously the Dolphins

beat the Titans that game. But with that was was that an eight and a half hour game or something some some ridiculous amount of time? And I'm proud to be able to say I'm part of some sort of NFL record for the my Amy Dolphins, which is pretty cool. Yeah, a great bargaining tool. There's something I'm gonna have to use in my negotiations with my new daughter when uh, when she gets of age to do things like that. We can actually start kind of bartering to each other

to get things, you know, from one another. But you know, you mentioned your daughter and one of my favorite game day traditions speaking of Twitter and how it kind of connects all of us as dolphins fans. Is you have I'm not sure which one it is one of your daughters, loads up the car with the magnets, pregame right, which which daughter is that and kind of talk to us about that tradition. That is my youngest daughter and uh and she I don't I don't remember how it happened.

It just kind of happened where we started taking pictures of her adding so we add about twelve magnets to my car and we had four flags to the car, and we started taking pictures and then everybody started calling her the good luck charm. So, you know, we just started doing it more and more than we did it as a time lapse and we did it as a slow mode. We just and it just became this real big thing. And I think a lot of people know

her as the good luck charm, you know. And and last year we we kind of put some stuff on the side because it was a little bit of a challenging season last year, so we said we'll save it for the next year when we know it will probably be a little better. Um, so she's gonna be back in the uh in the in the reins of doing

this again this year. So the great thing is too, I was out of town one one weekend for aurn away game, and I love the fact that she even though I wasn't home, she still put the magnets on my wife's car and she took pictures and sent it to me. And that just meant the world to me because she kept up the tradition, which is so important. Yeah, I think you've succeeded in having your your family become all Dolphins fans, because not every parent is fortunate enough

to have that. My my family out here as Seahawks fans, So I was the one that got away, I guess from the family, the family fan based so to speak. And and the reason we have you on here, Ian is because you were the winner of the virtual draft sweepsticks to come on and do some some special things

here as a member season ticket member. What are some other benefits you've had of being a season ticket member now with the Miami Dolphins, going back to however many years it's been, I will tell you it's it's actually been really cool because they've had a bunch of different events that you can go to as a season ticket holder, Like a couple of years ago they did like a family few type thing in Nova and a couple of the players were involved and you got randomly selected in

the audience to participate. Unfortunately, we weren't able to do that, but um, it was a lot of fun to be there. Last season during training camp, we were able to go into the bubble, which was something I never thought I'd be able to do. And we actually got a chance to meet all of the players who were on the roster uh last year before training camp and you got to take pictures with them. It was just a really great opportunity for us to to meet face to face

and see the players that you know. Otherwise you see them on TV, you never really have that opportunity to get that close to them. Um, you know, and some other things. I will tell you last year one of the greatest opportunities, and I don't think it happens all

the time, but it just so happened for us. Was. Um, my oldest daughter went to a game and she doesn't go to as many as she used to, and it was last game of the season, and I called up my ticket rep actually a couple of weeks prior, and I said, hey, listen, I love you know what we're doing on the field before the game starts with the United States flag and how we're doing that. Is there an opportunity for us to get on the field, And he said absolutely. He's like, let me just find the

right date. So the date was the Washington Redston's game. Got there really early, participate in that, and I will tell you that that was That's something that I will cherish forever because it was the first time we had ever done it, but my daughter will as well. You know, just being being able to be there, listen to the anthem, hold the flag with everybody cheering around you, it's just

an amazing experience. It definitely is something that I would love to do one of these days, get down there and be part of those pregame anthems and the pregame antics that really kind of, you know, really tell you what football is all about in community and all that

fun stuff. So great to hear on that end, Ian and you talk about going into that bubble man, that thing is impressive with how you walk out from the South Florida heat and then you're right there and air conditioning in an instant and it's just it hits you, like like those coolers at the big you know, grocery stores with like the Walmart or whatever, the massive amount of just cold air right in your face. It's a great feeling when you enter that bubble. Now. And we

talked about training camp. You and I had a chance to run into each other last year at training camp. I think I was like leaving the media room when you were coming out, going up the ramp to the stands. You're trying to go to training camp every single year. I really started going to training camp about four years ago. I think that it was something where I didn't realize the availability as much and my schedule was always messed up.

So about four years ago I made it a point to as soon as I know the training camp days, I schedule it and I'll schedule other things around it if possible during the week I'm working, but it's mainly

on the weekends, you know. And that is also something that as a season ticket holder, there was a season ticket holder day at training camps as well, so you know, you get some extra special stuff like popcorn, free trinks and um and they do some great things with kids there too, where if you're there early enough or they

had done this in the past. You know, they'll they'll have some players signed some autographs for the kids, and after the training camp is over, you'll get a good ten to twelve player that will come over and meet you and sign our graphs. And I'm I'm always impressed with them because they just went through, you know, a couple of hours worth of practice in nine degree weather and they will come over to the fans and they

will sign the autographs and they'll take a picture. Um, and I'm always impressed with that and the way that that setup has been. It's going to be great. But I understand this new facility in uh In, Miami for the training camp. I saw it a couple of weeks ago. It looks very very impressive. So I know that's not gonna be this season, possibly next season, but I'm excited about that too. Yeah, we can't wait to move in. And last year was my first training camp, and you

mentioned the way the guys come off the field. They take their socks off and they can ring them out like wet wash cloths, and they just look completely spent because they did leave everything they have on the football field for the last two hours in that heat and sort of be able to go and connect with the fans. Really cool moment there for all the fans, all the players, the entire team. It's it's it's a fun experience. I highly recommend getting out there when you can, when we

all can get back to it. Now, Ian, I want to give you the floor here and give us your breakdown, your details. You mentioned this year's team might be one that you're looking forward to more. What's this team gonna look like this year? We got a good chance. I uh so, So I'm optimistic by trade, I guess you can say so. I'm always telling my wife that this is going to be a great year for us. But I really think that this year is going to be a great year for us. And here's here's the reasoning why.

You look at what we were able to do last year under quote coach Floras, you know, and he took us to five wins, which a lot of a lot of analysts that thought that the Dolphins weren't gonna have any wins last year. Um, and he did it with some guys that probably wouldn't have gotten an opportunity to start on another NFL football team. But then you look at this year, what we've done on the off season with you know, the free agents, with the draft, and

we have such young talented players. Um you still have coach Flores, which is going to be the common denominator. I feel very optimistic that this is at least an eight and eight team are better. And I know a lot of people think I'm a little crazy for that because it is a new team. But I think when you have the right leader in charge, and you've got the right person that has that message that players really respond to, I think you'll see good, positive things coming

out of it. I would expect nothing less from you, Big East, some optimism coming out of your end over there. Now. I know you're very active on Twitter, and I think with a couple of publications there, tell the folks when they can find you on Twitter where they can find some of the stuff and kind of maybe read some of your worker or here some of your work on other podcasts. Yes, thank you, Travis. So I write for Dolphins Talk dot com www dot Dolphins Talk dot com.

I also I am now putting together a weekly two minute drill which is just a two minute video clip of the recent Miami Dolphins news. Really keep the opinion out of it. Just the straight news that's going into it. And then um, I will be conducting podcasts with the Dolphins Talk Network as well. Coming up in the probably in the next couple of weeks, is as training camp opens and as the season opens. So um, that's gonna be my home for for as long as as long

as they have me. I guess you could say, Ian, I'll never forget your first two minute drill. The very first topic you talked about was congratulating me and my wife on our new child. And I'll never forget that, man, So thank you so much for saying that. That's that meant a lot to me. You're welcome. I got one more thing for you here because we are going to kind of transition into another segment here on the Drivetime podcast into the mail bag. Is there a question you

want to post me live on the air here? Um? You know one question I would probably have is, uh, you know Nick need Um. He showed some amazing, amazing success last year, an improvement from pre season when I think a lot of people didn't think he was going to be on the team to the end of the year where he was starting. So my question would be, where do we see Nick Needham fitting in the season and what is a long term prospect going to be for him with this team, especially now that we've got

such great talent at the cornerback spot. Yeah. I don't think you look at any of the additions they made in the second area and think that it really pushes guys out the door. I think it was more about just adding more quality bodies to the room because you look at Brian Flores pas Asked and Josh Boyer as well, their former defensive backs coach and now defensive coordinator. They want to have seven, eight nine guys that can play cornerback, can play safety, that can come down and match up

and man coverage and play that way too. And that's kind of the thought there with getting Byron Jones to go along with X and to add to Nick need Him and Bobby McCain and Eric Row and all these guys that have versatile backgrounds that can do multiple things.

And you go back to Nick need Him. Last year in training camp, I remember writing about him as one of the U d f A's to keep an eye on because he had such good footwork and he was so smooth in and out of his brakes and transition and all that fun stuff, and I thought, this guy can probably hit if he just kind of works at his game and makes it happen. And that's what he was doing. He was out there at training camp every day.

You probably saw it two Biggie. He was out there working on special teams, working with the gunners and the flyers on punt team, and getting extra reps in making a name for himself, and I thought he did so well to do that and to work hard. I think you may have talked to his mom on a podcast at one point. I know she's done some other podcast. I talked to her. She talks about the way he grinds, the way he works, just kind of has that in his you know, that Brian Flores type of trait that

he loves so much. And so with the way he works, the production he had last year, I think he can be a long term fit here for the Miami Dolphins in the defensive backfield. That's great. And yeah, I wasn't the one who had his mom on, but we communicate a lot on Twitter and she is his number one fan, and I think that's the best thing to have a mom that supports you so much and and really supports what you do. So but thank you, thank you for

answering that, Travis. I'm encouraged by that absolutely. And as far as being fans, we appreciate you, Biggie. You're you're one of the biggest, most recognizable Dolphins fans we can all reach out to. And thank you so much for your time today. Man, thank you for having me, Travis. I really appreciate buddy and the way he goes. Ian Burger.

If you don't know him by now on Twitter at Ian six nine three, give him a follow in a world where maybe there's a little bit of negativity going on, he is always a bright light that makes the timeline just much better to look at. So Ian, thank you so much for your time. And with that, with his question, he posed to us, let's go ahead and transition now into the Twitter mailbag. I put the call out on Twitter, you respond with your questions, and we talked about it

here on the podcast. Let's go ahead and start here first with Shorty. He's at Fins or Die on Twitter. Who are your top three wide receiver prospects for one draft? And I've talked about this at length on the pod or on Twitter. I should say how much I love this next year's receiver's class, when this past year's receiver class got so much hype and buzz, and rightfully so. But this next one, it's really difficult to pick three. I am a massive ron Dale Moore fan. I watched

his first game at per Due. He broke the school's all time all purpose yards record in that game. Big touchdown after big touchdown creates separation. Kind of a shorter, stocky build, but man, he is explosive. He squats. I think it's sixty six thousand pounds. I believe it's his squad. He can do. He's impressively built, strong, fast, explosive, all that fun stuff. I'm gonna put him in there. I'm

gonna put Rashad Bateman in there, out of Minnesota. He is kind of the antithesis of Rondale Moore are and that he's tall and lengthy, but he also has great straight line speed. He's a terrific route runner. He eats up the blind spots and attacks leverage beautifully. He is

awesome there. Now, the issue I have with putting these two guys on this list is now, I've only got one spot for Davonte Smith out of Alabama for Jamaar Chase, last year's Blit Nakough winner out of l s U, Jalen Waddle another Alabama product, and plenty of other receivers that really have a chance to get into this top

three range. But I'm gonna go ahead and go with Jamaar Chase because that guy was a video game last year with the statistics he put up, with the one on one wins he had over elite level coverage cornerbacks. Who again, go watch Igbo up against Jamaar Chase and watch that matchup to elite players going at it on that matchup. So I'll go Jamar Chase, I'll go Rondel Moore, and I'll take Rashad Bateman out of Minnesota for my

top three receivers and next year's NFL draft. This next question here from Pat He's at Patty Perk on Twitter, is a really interesting question. He asked, do you anticipate Flores and company treating the offensive line like the defensive line, where you keep the starting OH line fluid depending on the matchup. I don't, Pat, And here's the reason why. Because as much as we talk about positionless players and

and being rotation based and matchup based. Flora said last year at the start of camp when they were trying to figure out who the starting five are going to be about getting the best five guys out there and how impatiparative it was for them to build continuity, for them to stack days together and have that communication and stuff like that down. So I think you want to get your top five guys out there and play them as long as they're healthy, as long as they're playing well,

you keep the same five together. It's a lot like a basketball team in that chemistry and the way they communicate and how important that is. So I think at least for now, it would be just the five guys like it traditionally has been. I don't think anybody's ever done that on the offensive line, and I wouldn't expect it to start now. Next question you hear from Derek Shoop. He's at Derek Underscore Shoop on Twitter, making it easy on me. Get your crystal ball out. Travis prediction time.

Who will lead the team and tackles? Well, this is a really a question. You can go in one direction right towards your probably middle linebacker, the guy that plays the most at linebackers a safe bet because defenses are designed to create tackles for the linebackers. Defensive lineman eat up blocks, defensive backs cover, and linebackers come downhill and

they make tackles. But I'm gonna go a little bit off the reservation here and I'm gonna pick safety Eric Rowe because he is involved in so many of those fronts where he comes up and fills the gap in the running game or plays over the tight end up on the line of scrimmage, and has so many run fit responsibilities that he can get himself involved and make tackles that way too. And since we love context on this podcast, I'll go ahead and throw out his tackle

numbers from last season. He made that transition from more of an outside corner into a safety role right around Week six last year against Washington, But he made eighty one total tackles last year, and even when he was playing cornerback, he rapped up some tackles out there as well. He made eleven in the season opener against Baltimore. That was kind of an anomaly for an outside cornerback to make that many tackles, but he did so. Eighty one tackles last year. I'll go with Eric Rowe for the

most tackles this year for the Dolphins. Next question here from Morgan Lewis at MO Underscore lou twenty on Twitter. Where do you recommend someone start if they want to get into scouting and film review books on what to look for or just start watching and former opinions based on what led too good and bad plays. Well, I always say, you don't know what you don't know, so don't just dive in right away and just trying to

pick it up. I mean, that will help for sure, but you need to have some basic understanding of what the what defenses and offenses want to do to attack each other. And I do think for that reason, books are a great place to start. But also just go on Twitter and look at some of the best follows you can find out there. I retweet guys and like

tweets all the time from my favorite Twitter follows. When it comes to xs and knows, you can learn so much from just a two minute clip where they talk to you about specific coverages or techniques or things guys do like. For instance, Darius Butler, former Colts and Patriots Corner has a Twitter time Twitter account everything dB I think it is, and he breaks down some defensive backcover Jim Man. He really can teach you a ton in

a short period of time. But definitely get yourself into the All twenty two and definitely get yourself some books. One of my favorites is Steve Belichick's Football Scouting Methods. Anything Bill Walsh ever published is a great way to go because he's one of the innovators, or the innovator, i should say, of the West Coast offense, and so many offenses today are based off principles from that West

Coast offense. And the same is true of Vince Lombardi when it comes to running game concepts and how you block up certain run schemes. He is the ultimate innovator of running the football back when he was around with the Green Bay Packers. They're a great book by paul's Immerman, Doctor Z, the guy that I really tried to model myself after when I was younger. New Thinking Man's Guide to Pro Football. You will learn a ton from Doctor Z.

Another go one from Pat Kerwin. Take your Eye off the Ball is an exceptional place to start there as well. So yeah, there's plenty of options. Get yourself into some videos on YouTube, on Twitter, whatever it might be, get into some books, and then try to apply those lessons yourself when you watch the tape back on All twenty two. Next question from Greg Larson at g s l Now on Twitter. Realistically, what part of the season does to make his debut whenever he's the best quarterback on the roster.

I think it's pretty cut and dry that way. If you're the best player for the job, you'll play on Sunday's. Next question from Tannis stand for Life at Twist to J nine three one. Any interest in someday doing play by play of work? Yeah. I I've always been a fan of both sports talk radio or play by play commentary. Just talking about sports is what I've always wanted to do, So if I could ever make that jump, I would

be all for it. Although I will say it is so much harder than it looks, the work that goes into it, the ability to do it live and not really make any flubs as it were on a live broadcast. It's a hard job. I would have to practice and learn for it, but would love to do that someday. Next question from Jesse Picadas at finn Reeper. You walk into a cafeteria for lunch and the Dolphins players are taking up a room but are but there are three seats available. Do you sit at the offense, the defense,

or the special team's table. I'm gonna have to go with the offense, just because by nature, I've always gravitated towards the offensive side of the ball. I own I think something like fifteen or sixteen Dolphins jerseys, and every single one of them. And this is sacrilege because Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor and Cam Wake every single jersey I own is on the offensive side of the ball. It's just always really sparked my interest or piqued my interest more on that side of the ball. I mean,

even just the quarterbacks alone. Ryan Fitzpatrick can teach me about whatever he wants to with that Harvard education. He's also a very nice and fun loving guy to a tongue of la same story, very nice guy as well. Josh Rosen, super smart guy, can probably talk to me about the same things Ryan Fitzpatrick can. So just that portion of the cafeteria alone is gonna be super interesting.

I'll go over to the receivers and talk to them about who can win at two K or Call of Duty or Mario Kart, whatever video game we're playing that week,

So give me the offensive side in this scenario. Let's do a couple more of these, this one from Joe at Underscore Joe for Underscore under a storyline heading into camp, I think I'll just go with the development of some players that maybe we don't pay enough attention to because you look at last season, for instance, at this time last year, like we didn't have the same thought about some of the players that kind of rose through the ranks and made a bunch of big plays, and now

we consider them cornerstone pieces on the roster, and how those guys took to coaching and really made themselves into the players they are now. I'm curious to see which guys can take that next step at this point in their career. Obviously, you have plenty of rookies from last year going into your number two, Like, how does Christian Wilkins evolve into your number two? How does Andrew van Ginkel after coming back off the I R step into

his role? Where does Michael Dieter fall in line? All of these guys that have so much talent and just have to put it together on the field. How do they develop in year two and year three and so on. And that's not just for draft picks, for guys on the roster from top to bottom. I want to see how they developed and grew from last year. Last question here is from Brandon Christie at b A C in Demand. Who are the top three candidates to go to the

Pro Bowl this year? Pro Bowl is tricky because I was actually watching a Cowboys game the other day from against the Giants, and they talked about in that game how Byron Jones had no picks that season, but he was headed to the Pro Bowl, and that's had a

lot about his reputation as a cover guy. But counting stats tend to be what gets you to the Pro Bowl, So maybe not getting picks makes that tough, which is kind of a shame because the idea for a cornerback is to play such good coverage so they don't want to throw the ball to you, or that you can break it up and make a play on the football. But I'll still go with Byron Jones. I think the world of his skill set and his ability. I'll say Devanta Parker gets back in after last year's snubbing not

getting into the Pro Bowl. And I'll go with Kyle van Noy because I think he's gonna play just about every snap. He's gonna get a bunch of sacks, he's gonna be a big part of the run defense. He's gonna be there in coverage as well. So give me Byron Jones, Kyle van Noy and DeVante Parker. Is my top three Pro Bowl picks this year. All right, that's gonna be my time. We have more questions in the mail bag. We'll try to get to some of those next week on the podcast. I apologize if I did

not answer your question here. We are out of time though. As for today's podcast, that is 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, Go ahead and give me a follow on Twitter. It's at Wingfield, NFL. You can follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank and the Audible podcast, and of course Miami Dolphins dot com. The Isaiah Ford Foundation piece as well as they know. The Enemy Part two

piece is up on the website right now. Until next time, enjoy your weekend, Fins up