Drive Time: 2023 NFL Scouting Combine Recap

pad out of the two. Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins. Now let me check your pulse if you're not fart of what is up? Dolph fans and welcome to the Drivetime podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins podcast network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it going? Everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield And on today's show, we are recapping the scouting combine twenty twenty three. We've checked another box in the draft process season. What changed from

the workouts and the week that was in Indie? How do each position stack up through the Dolphins lens who really put their name on the map. All of that and more, plus will look around the league a little bit as well from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drive. Let's go ahead and kick this podcast off with a little bit of news. As the new league year just around the corner.

We had franchise tag deadline yesterday. All kinds of moving and shaking really across twelve months in the National Football League, and the Miami Dolphins were part of the Tuesday news. Adam Schefter from ESPN reports the Dolphins planned to release

cornerback Byron Jones with a post June one designation. Again that from Schefter, the Dolphins also planned to release tight end Seeth and Carter and offered the exclusive rights free agency to safety Elijah Campbell, who I thought was really really good on his role in special teams the last couple of years and some spot duty as kind of a dime safety, a subpackage defensive back who can come into the game and rush the quarterback. He's a great

tackler off the edge. Big fan of Elijah Campbell's game. I think he's earned the right to really make a name for himself on the roster, and the Dolphins will give him that chance, provided he does not sign a tender with another club, so Byron Jones per Adams Shafter will be released post June one. Tight Seethan Carter has been released, and safety Elijah Campbell exclusive rights free agent. Before we go back to Combine news, we had some NFL news that came across the wire on Monday when

I'm taping this show. Probably a good chance I'll have to do some editorializing on Tuesday, as stuff seems to be picking up with regards to the veteran market players being released. I saw that who's the linebacker? Eric Kendricks was released from the Vikings. Love his game. I think he's a great player that could be a good fit for a lot of teams in this upcoming cycle. There's gonna be lots of players release that don't count against

your compensatory formula. It just makes the process really interaction and see how teams attack it, how they approach it. Trades are going to change things. Like I mentioned, the veterans that get cut will change things. The class you see right now for next week's free agency crop is not what it will be next week when that comes up.

But we did get the first domino to fall on the most important part every single offseason the quarterback carousel, which can hold things up sometimes if there isn't much movement, and we get some movement here, and it should get some clarity on some other veteran moves. Now, the two top dominoes that would still have to fall have not. That would be Lamar Jackson and Aaron Rodgers. Though I tend to think the former of that listing. Lamar Jackson, I think he stays put and I tend to think

the ladder. Aaron Rodgers, I think you might retire, but we'll talk about that in another day. But Derek Carr goes to the Saints, and how nice is it to see a good quarterback leave the AFC and go to the NFC after last year? And you know, we didn't expect Russell Wilson to have the year he had in Denver. But after seeing Russell Wilson go to the AFC, after seeing well Deshaun Watson changed teams but stay in the AFC.

After seeing Herbert Booa, Burrow, Tua josh aland Patrick Mahomes, all these top of the line quarterbacks atracted into the AFC over the last several years. You have eight teams that feel like they have future franchise quarterbacks or current franchise quarterbacks, you know, on the right side of age, like twenty seven. It just makes for a challenging conference. So seeing you know, I wouldn't put car in that category, but seeing him leave the conference that makes me happier.

But what happens now with Aaron Rodgers And the reason I bring all this up is because I think we all hope that the Jets are the ones that get left without a chair once the music stops right. Part of me is intrigued by the idea of Rogers, you know, maybe going to the Jets half in. I don't know if that would be the case, but if it is, that would be awesome. But I do think that in his mind, it would make more sense to choose either an NFC team to stay in the weaker of the

two conferences. Let's be completely transparent about that, or retirement, because I don't think you contemplate this hard when you're all the way in. I mean you don't, it's a fact. But just based on all the content he's provided, I think he's going to lean more towards that direction in the future. In the media world, and I'm sure he

can make a bunch of money doing Pat McAfee. But the reason I bring up all of this is because it's worth watching because it impacts eleven point eight percent of the Dolphins games next year two games right, divide two by seventeen. I already did the math for you. It's eleven point eight percent to out of seventeen game So no need for jokes there. And with car going

to the Saints, does Jameis Winston become available? Like I said, the players that are out there right now is not what you're going to get next week when the new league years starts. So that's what's going on in terms of the veteran market. And we're going to talk about free agency on Friday and Monday's podcast. Get You're ready for the It's not called will tampering anymore? What's it called? I forget the negotiation window. We'll talk about that the

next couple of podcasts. But how about the Combine week Now, we did have a great interview with alec Ingold on the Monday podcast, and if you have not checked that out, go do so. We also had the Combine interview recap on YouTube. Go to the YouTube channel, and if I don't ask for much here, but if you want to support myself and the team here really mostly myself, that's what we're talking about right now. Go click on all the content that includes me, the YouTube recap, watch the

alec Ingold video on YouTube, and the podcast. It just really helps the numbers go up, helps me look good to my bosses, and it makes the numbers just you know, everyone wins when the numbers are higher. So if you want to support the podcast that way for free, doesn't

cost any money, go ahead and do that. But we had some really big time guests on a fun week of interviews talking about this exciting twenty twenty three Dolphins team that we're all so eager to see built and eventually go out there and perform in August and into the season in September, and that starts well, it starts back in the fall for the scouting staff. But the real big turn of the page to draft season usually occurs at the Senior Bowl, but bleeding into scouting combine.

The two events are a month apart. For me personally, it feels like they're a week apart. That's how fast this time of the year goes by and man, what a week it was, not just from our own content, but this impressive class of athletes and young men. I put some general thoughts on Twitter, and I want to expand upon those before giving you more detail on the workouts that really stood out and the context behind them.

So just going in order of position groups here, let's go ahead and start with the offense and the qbs, which we know Miami's not probably in the quarterback market, especially at the top of the draft. You know, I think the quarterback market they would be in would involve veteran backup options. I don't envision a scenario where any top pick, or any pick from the Dolphins for that matter, is the backup quarterback next year. But you never know.

As far as the quarterbacks in this year's class, though, I think the Anthony Richardson workout and tape juxtaposition brings the most important debate in the sport to the table. And this is where I want to go with this, because again we're not looking at quarterbacks in this year's draft class. But I go back and forth on this, and first, you guys that are daily listeners of the show know that I have been clamoring over this prospect since his first start at UF back in twenty twenty one,

and that wasn't even necessarily for the game. Well, it was because he had like a fifty five year I touchdown run where he was the fastest person on the field, but the back handspring backflip he pulled off at halftime, I was watching that like that is a specimen. That is a guy that's going to jump forty inches in the vertical, probably run a four four, and give us more than ten feet on the broad jump. And sure enough,

those were all the things that he did. Now, I didn't think exactly that, but with hindsight you can go back into piece those things together and it's the same thing that really, you know, I was so fascinated by Josh Allen. I remember thinking sending a DM to Mark Sessler of the Around the NFL podcast. I used to, you know, conversate with him quite frequently, just about random stuff, and he was a big Browns fan and he was really intrigued by that twenty eighteen class and I was

telling him Baker Mayfield looks like a good prospect. Didn't really hit that one, but I did tell him Josh Allen was a guy that could change things for you. And I did the rock Pile Report podcast, a Buffalo Bills podcast, and told hit them he's the kind of guy that, if you develop him correctly, can change the skyline in your city. And the Bills are building a new stadium, so he did do that already. And then

Patrick Mahomes the other guy. I've told you guys about my exploits watching him in college football, just just wanting you know, always picked the Red Raiders to win games because they have Patrick Mahomes. He's that kind of player. So there's a parallel there between the athlete and the extended play guys. With those three I mentioned there, with Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes, those two, I should say,

with Anthon Richriston being the third. But sure enough, that backflip, back handspring, all of that stuff translates to a four four forty, the best vertical jump by any quarterback ever, and a broad jump that was in that same territory, best among quarterbacks in this year's class. And I've seen this question post what does vertical jump even mean for a quarterback? Well, I saw this broken down by a

guy on Twitter named bets. He does a lot of good like runfit content of former football coach Great follow. I think he changed his ap though, so it's not bets anymore. But I digress. Not important. He mentioned the rotational capacity and how it generates a greater window for success with the ability to do things physically that other players can't not so like his mechanical operation has more margin for error because of that athletic or the lack

of athletic constraints. I should say if that makes sense, and it makes sense to me, I don't know if it does for y'all out there. But now that said, the tape had a lot of accuracy, inconsistencies and clips from the pocket that make you say, WHOA, what happened there? That was a pretty routine dig route that you sailed by five yards over his head. So the reason I go into this, and I saw this debated endlessly on Twitter, is the league is shifting more towards athletes over true

pocket passers. Right, No, it's not like, Yeah, the athletic ability and extending of plays, that stuff is great, don't get me wrong, But did you know that on roughly nine of NFL plays, the football is out in two and a half seconds, Like that doesn't incorporate any scrambling ability,

any explosiveness. Only three quarterbacks this year average more than three seconds of time to throw on an average drop or average per drop back basis ensure the scrambles an extended plays throwing off platform makes the highlight reels, and that gets passed around Twitter and it becomes a narrative.

And actually I heard Lance Zeroline talking about this both on Twitter and that same around the NFL podcast about how this draft community on Twitter posts the highlights and it creates these narratives that force the general public to have the wrong perception compared to the NFL, who thinks things differently because they have the entire body of work.

But that's the problem with social media in sports and in life, Right, you just play your highlights, then someone's going to get the wrong idea of what your life is really. Like, I personally find more respect in someone that says, yeah, parenting is hard. Yeah, you know life is tough right now, Like it's not just my life is awesome all time. That's not how anybody lives. When they show that social media, that's a front for something. Right,

and this isn't some referendum on Anthony Richardson. It's just general discussion that his game sparks because he's arguably the best athlete we've ever seen at the position, and there's lots of flashes on tape as well. But the truth remains, winning from the pocket is the best trade any quarterback and have. If we can start there and win that way, then you add the athletic ability. That's when it really pops. That's where it happened for Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes.

They've mastered the idea of playing the quarterback position against those two high shells that takeaway deep passing and you have to stay in the pocket against rush lane, contain and pick teams apart that way. Now we saw Mahomes master it, and really that was part of the Tyreek Hill trade for them. They thought that he could play a different style of football. He proved it right. He's the best quarterback on the planet. He's the best quarterback to ever play. Go talk to a wall about it.

Josh Allen had some struggles this year in that regard. He was not patient enough. He forced the issue down the field. He had the most giveaways and the most interceptible balls this year because he was not as patient, and I think that happens with maybe a little bit of a regressed weaponry. We saw that, you know, no Emmanuel Sanders, they you know, Cole Beasley was a shell of his former self and an absolute idiot. But you know, Stefon Diggs was the go to guy there and they

didn't have that. That reliable number two is Gabe Davis. Kind of struggled on and off here and there. But if you can capture that lightning in a bottle with the Mahomes or Island style, that's great. But the fact is that those guys are more unicorns than the norm. It's why JaMarcus Russell didn't work out. It's why we'll see about Jordan Love. I still think he has all the upside in the world. I love his game. I think he's even more gifted than even you know, Justin

Herbert was. It's why who else can we talk about here? I mean Malique Willis lash year was the same in terms of the traits and intangibles, but he couldn't play the position. He got replaced by Josh Dobbs, and essentially it was a playoff game for the Titans. So there's give and take, but ultimately, you know, with the quarterbacks, you have to be able to win from the pocket. That will never ever, ever, ever change. So with the quarterbacks, I thought we saw some athletes. I thought we saw

some live arms. But still, even after it all, I think my personal QB one CJ. Stroud, which tells you where I come down on this argument about traits versus tape, because what's his game pocket management and ball placement. I think the ultimate conclusion I personally have is this, give me all those fun traits that can open up the playbook and make the play caller right when the play call is wrong by extending or doing something off script. But first and foremost, give me the guy that can win,

instructure and make the right decisions quickly. That's the important part, quickly making correct decisions, and that's why we go to the tape. It's an intriguing class this year. I think having multiple quarterbacks in the top ten range always makes for a more exciting draft, and we should get that this year. I personally think we see four go in the top ten, worst case scenario, top fifteen. As far as your top five athletic scores from Next Gen Stats.

Anthony Richardson had the maximum score in ninety nine. He's out of Florida. If you didn't know that already, Clayton Tune from Houston was an eighty nine second place, so ten points behind our leader. It's like a ten stroke lead at the Master's. Malik Cunningham from Louisville eighty nine as well. Will Levis from Kentucky another one of those top four guys wasn't eighty four, and Tyson Badgeant from

Shephard wasn't eighty Now some more notes here. Richardson had the perfect ninety nine score that was the best in the entire class. The next four on that list were two corners, an offensive guard, and an edge. I thought you saw in this class easy gas on the football from Will Levis. Doesn't take much for him to get power and velocity behind the football. That's really all I had. CJ. Stroud was sharp, and he's the kind of guy that's gonna throw really well on the air because he is

so sharp with the ball placement, accuracy and spin. I thought Levis showed the traits, and Richardson proved to be an absolute specimen that we all thought he would be. And I also thought Malie Cunningham's bund the football pretty well as well. Good spot for our first break there. That's not really dolphin centric, but I think it kind of is with the quarterback de baton and what really

you look forward to position. Let's go ahead and take our first break and comeback on the other side and talk about some more positions of need for the Miami Dolphins. That's next Drivetime podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation back here on the Wednesday post Combine post alec Ingold Interview edition of the Driftime podcast. If you have not gone back and checked out that interview with Alec, please do so. It's I'm really proud

of it. I tried to take his book and the lessons and weave them into the Miami Dolphins in his football life, and I think it was pretty successful. Go ahead and check it out and give me your thoughts and notes on that. Let's go to the running back position here, and again that was a fun debate for me for fifteen minutes there. I'll start the podcast, but let's get into some more Dolphins centric notes here and the running backs position. I mean, we don't have any

running backs on the roster right now. That'll change, obviously. I'm sure some guys will be brought back. I'm sure you can look at some existing veterans in the free agent market. But I think this draft class presents a real opportunity to get better, faster, and more explosive at the position. The real takeaway for me here is just the amount of speed that this position features. That's always

been my preference at the position. You guys know about that if you listen to the podcast all the time. Guys who can make a well blocked play go from twelve yard games to seventy yard touchdowns. Whereheim mostart has that gear and that's why he's a priority for me to bring back. And we saw it a handful of times that you're the big run against the Buffalo Bills, had that long touchdown against the Cleveland Browns. There was another long run somewhere else too, but I forget which

game it was. This class has dudes that are like that. I think if you can compliment that and not lose that speed when you take Raheim out of the game, if you can't bring him back, would be a major, major boon for this offense. Running the football to me, is the next step this group has to take. You know, the offensive lines a big thing you debate about and bandied about, but the quarterback to me, really maximizes the

offensive lines ability to protect. And we saw that with tah and without two the disparity and sacks allowed pressures, well, pressures are kind of the same, but TA was able to not convert those pressures into sacks or it was able to prevent them from being converted to sax And again like there's I saw a great tweet today Kyle Crabs retweeted it from Lockdown Dolphins, and the Dolphins were the fewest sacks allowed team in the NFL for nine

years straight to Dan Marino stats sacks or a quarterback stats. So I think that that's a little bit overblown in terms of the past protection. You know, you're going to see it from the talking heads on ESPN and whatnot are going to tell you like, oh, they need better offensive line. Well, the quarterback makes up for a lot of that. That's why I think running the football can help keep the defense more honest and give you more balance to keep you more from developing tendencies. I think

that has the biggest tangible impact on this offense. And so the most impressive thing I saw a week outside of to me, Darnell Washington from Georgia is the best player the Dolphins can add this offseason. We'll see if he's there when they pick in the second round. I don't think he will be again, going back to Kyle Krabs, he thinks he will be. I don't personally see it that way, but just his existence was the most impressive

thing I saw in Indianapolis. But the second most impressive thing I saw was the feat of Jamir Gibbs, and it tracked with his tape at Alabama. I think those agility drills and the cut and decision point bag drills are as game day applicables anything you do on the field in Indianapolis. And just watch the way he keeps his feet under his body, or the way the body

lean and the feet like stay consistently underneath him. That's where he's so explosive in and out of cuts and why he seems to accelerate when he hits it and goes. But he wasn't like alone in that regard. We saw b John Robinson just easy moving like he was so relaxed in that forty yard dash. He's gonna go easy

top twenty, probably even higher than that. We saw a Deuce Vaughan moving like the jitterbug that he is, and how smooth he is as a pass catcher, like they're around that flat drill where they would catch routes in the flat and turn up field. And I really clamor every year about the easy transition from pass catcher to ball carrier and the way he was able to pluck it, put it away and get up field was just so

smooth like you would see from a wide receiver. Him and Jamir Gibbs led all backs third down catches this last year in college football. How about the tracks beat of Devin a Chain. That guy is amazing. He was flirting with four two. He's a hell of a receiver. So is Taje Spears from Tulane, who killed the Trojans in the bowl game, had a great senior Bowl. Didn't run the forty, but I'm betting we get a four

three guy when he runs it. As Pro Day, i think you're gonna see backs drafted in the third round in this year's class. They're going to be ultraproductive as rookies. It's a great class and a great time to have a need at running back in Miami right now has no running backs on the roster, but again that will change.

Prior to the draft. Top five athletics scores here were Denitric Pierce, our Prince Rather from Tulsa eighty nine, b John Robinson, the best back in the class from Texas eighty five, Chase Brown from Illinois eighty two, our Guy Gibbs eighty one, and A Chain from A and M seventy nine. Those are top five backs in terms of the workouts. Spears Taj Spears. He would have been on that list if he had ran the forty, but he did not because he went thirty nine inches in the

verse ten to five and the broad it's wild. He's so explosive and so powerful in the lower half, and it shows up in the way he passed protects and the way he plays in the contact as a runner inside. And then back to Gibbs, there was a cool comp you know, Jeremiah was tweeting up the printed out sheets of paper comping two players, and he's so good at that, but he was comping Jamir Gibbs to almost identical traits to Jamal Charles. He's one of my all time favorite backs.

Five eleven compared to five nine and a half. You know Charles was five eleven. Both were two hundred pounds four three eight for Charles four to three six for Gibbs. Gibbs got him in the vert by three inches thirty three and a half to thirty and a half. And the play styles, to me is where it really shows the most, and it goes back to the feet. It all starts with the feat Both those guys were so smooth, so balanced, and so quick without losing that balance even

through contact. Now I mentioned the offensive line. I think the Dolphins do need to add some pieces here, and Chris Greers mentioned that as well, some depth in competition. I think the big takeaway here is the number of athletes you have in this year's class. We've talked about McDaniel's commentary on retraining your brain to play O line in the scheme, how it's about firing off the football

and laying fast more so than reactive. And this really tracks with the modern trend because each year the gap in athleticism between defensive line and offensive line. It grows like rather substantially too, and it probably happened again this year. However. Check out this tweet from underdog fantasies Josh Norris. He does a great content, by the way he writes. Since twenty ten, just twenty eight offensive lineman have recorded a

four four seven short shuttle or better. At the combine, those twenty four players went on to start eighty four percent of their NFL games. Here's that list. Nate Solder, Anthony Costanzo, two great tackles, Andre Dillard go Coog's, but hasn't worked out for him so far. Eric Fisher number one overall pick. Great tackle, Zion Johnson a guy we're a big fan of last year. Jake Matthews, a franchise left tackle. Joel Betonio one of the best guards in football.

Xavier sue Filo, same deal there, Ali Marpett, Jason Spriggs, James Daniels, Ezra Cleveland, Abe Lucas Go Coog's a solid right chacle, Rickie of the Sehaks last year, Joe Noteboom, Zach Tom an absolute monster rookie last year for the Packers, John Erschel, Joe Hague, Jason Kelsey, Hall of Famer David Questenberry, Jeff Baca, Matt Pardis, Chase Rouyer, and James Leno Junior. I mean, that is a great list of players who hit that threshold this year. Only John Gaines from UCLA,

Boyse's John Ojoku and Ohio States Luke Wipler. We're within a half second of the threshold. Cody Mok and John Michael Schmidts within point nine seconds. And we've heard how impressive both they are athletically, and you see it on tape. For me, Match and Michael Schmidts are going to be good players on the interior offensive line. Those are options for you for Miami. I think possibly at pick fifty two. Match would also finished second behind Gains in the three

cone seven three one to seven three three. It's a great number for both those guys, and then Blake Freeland was fourth at seven four to six. We saw Miami go get to Ron Armstead last year, one of the greatest athletes the position has ever seen. And that was true for Connor Williams at guard, even more true for him at center. Rob Hunt has for my money, a Pro Bowl year last year. Go back and watch his Louisiana tape and he's the first guy off the football

and just plays fast at all times. Austin Jackson is a great athlete as well, So you can see the idea percolating behind which guys might be the best fit for this offensive line, And yeah, they're somewhat rare, but you can see that there are more guys that hit that threshold than in most years, or at least came close to it. I mean it's pretty much one guy year, but the top five athletics score for tackles this year.

Blake Freeland from BYU was eighty eight, Broderick Jones from Georgia was eighty five, Darnielle Right from Tennessee eighty five as well, Earl Bostick Junior from Kansas hit eighty two, and Jalen Duncan from Maryland hit eighty two. Among guards and centators, John Gaines was first obviously ninety eight. He led all offensive lineman. Sydney so from Eastern Michigan was eighty six. Nick Salad Verry from Old Dominion was eighty four, and John Ojoku from Boise State was eighty two. Yeah,

he got on both of those lists somehow. And then Luke Wipler from Ohio State eighty one. Just the general notes here, you know, I mentioned running back drills as being the most informative, those bag drills and applical being applicable to NFL games. I think the offensive line drills are a close second that old rabbit drill. Like now it's just a coach where it shows their movement skills and a kickslide, their change of direction to redirect, and

just their overall fluidness. I thought you saw some guys show that they're heavy footed, but you also saw some smooth movers like Roderick Jones, who really checked the box from me here. You know, he locked up a spot in the first round, probably top twenty with that showing. But again, this is a class that has rare movement. And again to refer that Norris tweet back to the

Jeremiah comps. You know for Jones, Rodrick Jones, Jack Conklin, they're separated by a fraction of height, three pounds in weight, a quarter inch arm length, same vertical and Jones best of the athletic score eighty five to eighty one. I mentioned Darnell Right ran the third fastest forty by an offensive Lineman who's over three hundred and thirty pounds since two thousand and three, he ran a five O one.

If he's how is there at fifty two, he won't be run the card up unless it's darting L Washington. I'm gonna give you my list of guys for fifty two here in a second. I think it's a good crop of guys who could go day two early day three to develop. Blake Freeland is a good example of that. I saw a great tweet that said, you're not drafting Blake Freeland for who he is today, but who you think he could be in three years. And that's perfect because I think he's got all the makings to be

the next great wide zone tackle. His tape screams it, but it's not all refined just yet. Need some more season and needs some more NFL strength training, I think. And it's that's the case for most prospects unless you go like top ten. That's why you take guys on the top ten because they're polished products for the most part. But a sub five forty at that size with his

jumping metrics have mercy. Let's go ahead and take our last break right there, and come back on the other side and do tight ends and wide receivers and move on to the defense side of the football. Long podcast today. That's next Drivetime podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. I find it funny how I reduced down to three shows in the off season and then I wind up doing forty five minute shows that basically gives you five episodes a week as it is.

Can't help myself. That's how it's gonna go on this podcast today as well. Let's go ahead and pick it back up at the tight end class. And I mean forgive me for this becoming the Darnielle Washington podcast, But did you guys see his sled work on the on field drills. There's a clip of him pushing a sled and I don't know how heavy those things are. There's one plate on the back of it, but I know the piping and the pads and it's all, you know, probably a couple one hundred pounds, but he pushes it

with total ease eight yards down the field. Then they cut to some of the other tight ends out there pushing the same sled and it's a struggle for two or three yards and that's a carry over from the tape. Right He's the most dominant inline blocking tight end I've scouted since George Kittle. He's unreal and what a class

this is. I think if it could cannibalize itself a little bit in the sense that teams could look back at their tight end kneed or whatever and see that there are five or six as they like, and think they can come back later and get one around after the fact without having a huge drop in talent and value. It's a fantasy football approach as well, like, oh, the running back classes deep right here, I'm gonna go ahead and pass right now. I'll come back on the backswing

and get it, you know, and around later. Top five athletic scores here. Zack Coon's from UCLA ninety four, my guy d dubbed from Georgia ninety one, Sam Laporter from Iowa eighty six, Luke Musgrave from Oregon State was eighty six. That's about where he expected him to be, and then

Will Mallory from Miami to Florida School eighty four. Darnell Washington clock to the fastest short shutow by a player weighing at least two hundred and sixty pounds since Frank Clark recorded a four oh five in twenty fifteen, Washington was four oh eight. It's just freaky, freaky movement skills. His six four to six four forty yard dash was the fourth fastest by a tight end, waging two hundred and sixty plus pounds at the combine since h three

four six four forty fourth fastest. How's that sound? His ten two broad was the second longest by a tight end in that time span as well, and only four tight ends since OZ six ran a faster twenty yards shuttle than Washington. Two of those guys were two hundred and forty one pounds. Two of them were two hundred and fifty four pounds Washington's two sixty four at six foot seven. Different type of breed. The wide receivers, I think we saw the best prospects show their value from

an athletic standpoint. Quinton Johnson from TCU is wide receiver one for me, and he went out there and solidified that. I was excited to see Zay Flowers go. And Daniel Jeremiah has a comp with him next to Tyler Lockett, one of my favorite receivers for the Seahawks fraction of an inch difference in height, both one hundred and eighty two pounds four four two and a four four for Lockett, both thirty five and a half inches on the vertical. Both those guys will go in the first day of

the draft. Top five athletic scores were Quinton Johnston from TCU ninety six, Jalen Higher from Tennessee eighty nine, He can scoot Man, Matt Landers from Arkansas eighty nine, Jackson Smith and Jigba Ohio State eighty nine, and Bryce ford Week from West Virginia eighty eight. Jackson Smith and Jigbo recorded a three nine three short shuttle, which was the fastest buy a wide receiver since Brandon Cooks ran a

three eight one back in twenty fourteen. Now that was before the podcast or before I became a podcaster, But there wasn't a bigger Brandon Cooks fan than I, and I love Jackson Smith and Jigbo. He's a first round pick, so it's not even a question we'll have to ask. But man, the thought of adding a player like him to Jalen Waddle and Tyreek Hill would be just an embarrassment of riches he would compliment those guys perfectly that

play style. And it seems like every year there's always four or five positions where fans were like, oh, they're not going to go in that direction for the Dolphins or for any team, but just draft good players like that's always the way to go. That's why I want to talk about wide receivers in this draft process. We're gonna talk about the good players, regardless of what position

they play. Interior defensive line. Flipping over the defensive side of the football, Kalijah Canty had himself an Aaron Donald day. Didn't he fastest forty of any defensive tackle since O three, besting Donald, and the top athletics score of anyone in this class that Donald comp Both are six one two eighty one pounds for Kancy, two eighty five for Donald, four to six seven compared to four to six eight. Now, Cancy was six points shy of Donald's ninety eight athletics score,

but the same jersey and helmet, both from Pitt. Top five guys among interior defensive line, Cancy was ninety four. Jalen Redman from Oklahoma was eighty nine. Moro Ojomo from Texas seventy eight, Tyler Lacy from Oklahoma State was seventy seven, and Keanu Benton from Wisconsin seventy six. I got we talked about a lot. I was curious to look at

players in terms of their weight. They performed at the guys that had top performances with large weights because nose tackle, I think, because an area you'll look at who stands out there? But Keanu Betton, who goes three hundred and fifteen pounds. We raised about him at Senior Bowl Week and those metrics at that size are impressive, But he might be a tweener. I'm not exactly sure where he lands.

I think those numbers say true three technique in an even front, maybe even the one technique as well, because the five tech in an odd front probably aren't that big, and then a true nose is going to be close sort of three thirty or three forty. So how about Key Andrea Coburn from Texas, the former Longhorns three hundred and forty three pounds, eight five broad twenty seven and a half inch vertical that illustrates some rare power and explosion.

Those nose tackles typically don't hear their name called until later, so I'm curious to see where he goes. But if you get back into like early day three and you can land at Coburn to be a thirty percent nose tackle, like that's a really good value in the middle of the draft. Just something to think about in terms of

positional drafting and value at spots that you know. We talked about Ben Solak or with Ben Solack from The Ringer on last Friday's podcast, and he said, we have the cornerstones in place, now it's time to fill out the margins. Guys, like that is what you're talking about at the edge position. How crazy athletic is Nolan smith Man. We didn't see him play down the stretch this year at Georgia, but I still think he belongs to the top ten, especially after this workout. And Jeremiah compared him

to Hassan Reddick. Smith is six two and a quarter compared to Reddick at six one, two hundred and thirty seven pounds. For both those guys, they both have twenty three and five eight or thirty three round in five eight inch arm length and they had seventy eight and seventy seven production scores in college. It's a next gen step and again back to the idea of athletes on the D line verse O line. This D line class

average four six three in the forty yard dash. That was the fastest average of any edge group since two thousand and three. They just keep getting more athletic Top five scorecards at Tatamoie. Out of Bore from Northwestern was ninety seven. He was a freak. You saw him for sure. Yah yah d Yabe from Louisville ninety, Nolan Smith eighty five, Keyon White from g Tech was eighty four, and Byron Young from Tennessee was eighty two. Out of Barway was something.

Wasn't the first rounder all day. He just blew up the combine. You get some really intriguing players in this crop that maybe showed you that they can play both off the ball as well as their position down on the edge. Sorting through twiners and finding out who can specialize right away is one of the tougher tasks GMS have coaches as well each year, especially this year. Let's move off the football to linebackers. Three guys had top of the line workouts. Then there was a little bit

of a drop off. I was surprised my guy Daon Henley didn't register higher than this was wrong about his forty time, but you had one player really stand out above the rest, especially when you consider that his tape shows a three way player by way of Jack Campbell downhill, backwards and side to side. I saw him mocked in the second and sometimes third round, but I think he's gonna be the first linebacker off the board after this workout.

He's the only linebacker since O three who was sixty four or taller to jump more than thirty seven inches in the vert and ten foot eight on the broad and then also run a sub four seven. That's freaky traits. Your top five linebackers and athletic score was Campbell at eighty nine, Owen Papo from Auburn at eighty nine, Trenton Simpson from Clemson eighty eight, then our drop off to Anthony Orgy from Vandy eighty three, and Dorian Williams, who's an absolute thumper at two lane. He was eighty one.

Back to Henley, it wasn't It was really just the forty that I was that was lower than I thought it was going to be. But the rest was great. Thirty five inch vertical, ten five broad Both of those were top five among linebackers. He's explosive as hell, and those stats show that at cornerback just an unbelievably impressive class. I keep going back to Juju Brents, Julius Brents from Kansas State. He came out this out of this as the ultimate protype for the position, maybe even a slot

cornerback with rare, rare length to play inside. And that's after a great week in Mobile for the Senior Bowl. And granted this is with a four or five forty, but he destroyed the change of direction metrics a shuttle right around four seconds, a three cone under seven seconds,

that's like Tyreek hilledlet numbers. Those times, paired with his play style of aggressiveness and length, gives him a chance to end the rep immediately and then if he misses initially, the chance to recover, so two chances to win the rep. It's like going forward on fourth down, right, you give yourself a chance to win on offense and then on defense on the back end. We like different ways to win games. Top five athletic scores Deontay Banks from Maryland

ninety eight. DJ Turner from Michigan ninety seven. Both those guys were top five across the entire group. Jakorey and Bennett also from Maryland ninety six athletes up there in the DMV, Christian Gans from Organ eighty eight and Emmanuel Forbes from Mississippi State was eighty six. This was the most impressive group of the week. The speed, the change of direction. It's a great offset to all the talent we've seen end to the league at wide receiver over

the last few years. And Daniel Jeremiah, who we can now call a friend of the podcast by the way, has been saying for years on move the sticks that encourage your kids to flip over to corner from wide receiver, because with all these passing camps and all these kids that are playing receiver, it generates tons of talent at that position, but the cornerback position has not been as popular. And you have a faster route to scholarships NFL playing

time if you play that spot. And he said, you think that's starting to happen here a little bit, and this class is evident of that. Joey Porter Junior is a first round pick for days, and I love his game and I love the game that moved the sticks plays where if you can't get that guy in the first round, who's an analog that might be available to get later on. Well again, how about this side by side from Porter and Brents a quarter inch difference in height,

five pounds in weight. Both have thirty four inch arms you can scrag your knee standing up, and Brents has Porter in the wingspan eighty two and five eights to eighty and seven eights. And to clarify, Brent is on the high end of all those comps, so he's more physically imposing than Joey Porter Jr. Christian Gonzalez hit the elite threshold for next Gen in the forty yard dash with a four three eight and a forty one and a half inch vertical. He's going to be long gone

by the time we pick. But my guy, Trevius Hodges Thomlinson and acquitted himself nicely thirty nine inch vertical, eleven foot broad and four four one forty. That might have pushed him in the high day two, maybe even out of our range. But I think he's a shot going round one as well. I like his game a heck of a lot. How about his four four one being bested by seven corners, and in that group, I think

there's at least five Day one, Day two picks. I think you're gonna see some cornerbacks on the board in the middle of the second round that would be first round picks most years. And back to that tight end conversation, maybe the value gets depressed a little bit because there's so many of them. That's good news for the Dolphins at both those positions and the running back positions. Three

areas of need right now. Safety Top five athletics scorer Sydney Ground from Illinois eighty nine, Jason Taylor not that guy Oklahoma State eighty eight, Daniel Scott from cal eighty seven, Brandon Hill from pitt was eighty one, and Chamari Connor from Virginia Tech was seventy eight. Interesting, ye're here for the safety position. I'm not crazy about the draft class, and it has become so much of a matchup specialty

position as there is really in the league. It's why I think we're so lucky to have Javon Holland, because he can truly specialize in anything you do in a given week. You need thirty snaps in the post, got it, need him to rush the edge fifteen times. Done want to have him matchup in the slot, tight end, quarterbacks

by good. I can do those two. But also back to the draft, this free agent class at safety is arguably the best one out there, and so I wonder how those two things kind of play off each other. We'll talk about the free agent class and the Friday Monday podcast. But Jesse bateson Von Bell, Chauncey Gardner, Johnson, Jordan Poyer. It's four really good players, four Pro Bowl level players with four different skill sets. Lots to like there. As for the draft guys, five guys under four or five,

which is pretty good for the position. Sidney Brown checking in at four four seven was what we expected and wanted to see from him. I think he's the best matchup guy in the class. He can cover, man up against tight ends and backs. His teammate jar Terius Martin topped his score there. Then Brandon Hill and Daniel Scott from Pitt and Cal respectively. It was the same cast in the Verton broad leader board, and sure enough, those guys are all big hitters. Two those two things typically correlate.

I was gonna go around the web here to finish the podcast up, but there's not much out there from a dolphin's perspective, which tends to be the case where you're not part of the top. You know, ten picks, twenty five picks, fifty picks. But here's Peter King's Football Morning in America. Daniel Jeremiah's three workout takeaways. C J. Stroud, Ohio State quarterback at six three two fourteen best peer passer in the draft, and he had what I would

call a graceful workout. I've been to workouts that are overpowering. Stroud was smooth and natural. He's a born thrower. Yeah, man, that's what quarterbacking is all about. And decision making. Number two Klijah Cancy from pitt Not often a players taller than advertised at his event, but Cancy was delivered on the explosive this we thought we'd see in a passing league. A disruptive player like this won't get out of the first round. And then Charlie Jones, wide receiver from Purdue

five seventy five. Not a great receiver year, but he ran fast four four three and had a phenomenal overall workout, might have worked himself into the third round. So just kind of random notes there from Daniel Jeremiah. Lastly, here I wanted to list some guys I think start to make sense to kind of round out your short list or your big board. It's tough to do it at fifty two compared to years past doing it at six

or eighteen or whatever it might be. But how about guys that can both impact twenty twenty three and be immediate contributors but also long term fixtures. Now maybe all these guys are gone, but today this list to me looks like this. Running back Jamir Gibbs, tight end Darnell Washington. Four guys on the offensive line, Broderick Jones, Darnell Wright, Cody Match and John Michael Schmidt's I think all of them will be gone, but those are the guys that if any of them fall, I'm going to debate for

a long time to draft them. Linebacker Jack Campbell, cornerbacks Julius Brentz and Trevius Hodges, Thomlinson. And then some additional names and maybe your day three targets or guys that you might see sneaking up in that range. That range. Running back two lanes Taje Spears, Kansas State's duce vam Illinois's Chase Brown tight end. I just don't think I like the blocking ability of anybody anywhere near what Darnell

Washington gives you. Maybe Tucker Craft on the offensive line, Matthew bergeron from Syracuse, Linebacker day On Henley from Washington State, Go Coogs, and then the cornerback position, Keiley Ringo from Georgia, and Emmanuel Forbes from Mississippi State. All right, that's a podcast. Friday and Monday are going to crack into the top one oh one free agent list from Greg Rosenthal NFL

dot com. I'll talk about what stands out from that list as we get closer and closer to the new league year one week away as of this publishing, keep it locked right here. In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast. Leave us a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me on Twitter at Wingfold NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank podcast as well as all the international podcast on the network. Check

out the YouTube channel for Dolphins Today. Media availabilities my alec Ingolds, Sit down, go back, and check out out three or four more times. And last, not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com until next time finds up Caroline and Cameron Daddy's coming home h