Drive Time: Answering Your Mailbag Questions

via Twitter mail bag. We're gonna hear some additional media availability from this week's OTAs on Wednesday, and I'll give you the first look into my NFL positional off season grading project I kicked off a couple of weeks ago, and wear the Dolphins stack up in that all of that and more from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drive Time Podcast.

It's Zimoski who emerges as the number three wide receiver. I like Cedric Wilson, but chosen is proven in the NFL. Good group we got here though. Yeah, I think it's perhaps the most intriguing camp storyline, just because there are so many options and variables for that role. And remember, this is a team that is deep at running back, that utilizes a full back as much as anybody else in the NFL, and has a lot of varying skill sets in that tight end room that allows you to

run sets that only feature two wide receivers. You know, twenty one or twelve personnel at one of the lowest or I should say highest rates in the National Football League. So last year Miami ran eleven personnel. That's the typical, very standard personnel grouping in today's NFL. That's three wide receivers with one tight end and one running back. The Dolphins ran that grouping on just forty five percent of

their plays last year. That was the fourth lowest rate in the National Football League, and that of course is due in large part to alec Ingold in his role and his effectiveness within that role. Thirty five point one percent in twenty one personnel last year was tops in the NFL, just a few percentage points more than San Francisco and then ten percent higher than the third highest frequency used to twenty one team in Baltimore last season.

You know, Kyle Yuschek a big part of that for the Niners, Patrick Riccard a big part of that for the Ravens. We have alec Ingold here as our guy, and personally, I love those sets because it's a great set to run the football from. If they go light in the box, if they do not go light in the box and they load up. All of a sudden, you have one on one chances to go vertical with Tyreek and Jalen And that is a recipe for success

every single time. And the reason I mention all this is that you can utilize two of the very best wide receivers in the game to the max. In my opinion, the first and I think fifth best receiver in football. That's how I rank them. I know, travisherhom or whatever, go talk to a wall three thousand yards last year. If I play, you know, if a play calls for two wide receivers, who do you want on the field more than those two guys in the National Football League.

They both can score from anywhere. They both can get maximum separation and make the job of your quarterback easier. But you also have plays where they go get a drink of water on the sideline and talk to Wes Welker while they bring in a couple of guys to knock some dudes off the football and run the ball and have some effective red zone offense. Think about the River Craikcraft touchdown at home against the Bills last year. Both Waddle and Hill were off the field in that play.

All of that is to come back and say when they do go three or four wide receivers. You know, four receivers was like one point nine percent last year, which was tied for third most in the NFL. But no one runs that set more than you know, three four percent of the time. But on balance, a year ago you saw more than two wide receivers on the field for less than fifty percent of your snaps. Pretty uncommon in today's NFL. Cedric Wilson, I think offers a

ton in that role. He's got a vertical skill set, run after the catch ability, He's a good blocker. I think that a second year in the offense could do him wonders in terms of just getting the positions down and playing more roles in this offense. I think Eric Azukama has all the talent in the world, and speaking of getting the offense down, I mean basically a red shirt year for him last year, if he gets that

put together. We all saw it in camp in preseason him showcase the ability to go get the football at its highest point. And I know college is not the same as the pros, but I keep going back to that Texas Tech tape where he was one of the best run after catch guys in college football. And the physicality he shows the strength of the legs. He wears the short shorts out of practice. You see it every

single day. He's one of the more built guys you know below the waist in terms of his power, I think it translates to this level personally, then Chosen Anderson has been one of the best vertical threats from inside alignments, from that slot position really since he came into the NFL. I don't think he's a plus outside receiver, but he can certainly give you that role. You know, you put him in the slot and all of a sudden you

get attention to that area of the field. It just creates so much more space in other areas of the field, both of the run game and the passing game to both Tyreek and Jalen. Everything this offense should do should

funnel around creating chances for ten and seventeen. And that's why I think this third receiver role can either do that or if you take away your attention from this spot, these guys can win these one on one matchups, like for Brax and Barrios for instance, who I think in short spaces, if you do go eleven person now on a third and three play ten to seventeen comand a

ton of attention. All of a sudden, you've got agent zero Braxon Burios one on one in a short area against a guy who's probably cornerback three or four for the team. And if you want to bring cornerback one to that position, guess what that means. That means you have cornerback three or four on Tyreek or Jalen good Luck, which how that happened for the Lions last year. You don't want to do that. I mentioned great craft touchdown

against Buffalo. If you have a four wide receiver set and he gets cornerback four, you better be deep there because he is a crafty route runner who if you don't have a good corner against him, he's gonna beat him. That's just how he is with his skill set and his route running. So just a deep group that I feel confident with seven different guys, seven or eight guys here who all offer unique skill sets from one another. At Andrew McGuire, I didn't answer the question there. I

think to me, I think it's Cedric or Azukama. That's my two picks at Andrew McGuire underscore who is your top three most clutch South Florida sports players of all time? And who is your favorite succession character? And why? Let's go ahead and start with the second part first. I actually have not began season four yet, went through Barry and watched that over again a couple of times. I think you should leave just came out as well, so

I watched that really quickly. And of course all the Heat and Panthers games have taken up some time, and Julio Rodriguez is scorching hot right now in the marriage of playing good baseball, so sports are kind of reigning supreme. Outside of my Berry obsession. I'll probably begin that this weekend. But to me, it's not a great show for weekly appointment viewing. It's best binged. I don't think that's the

case for all shows, but that's what I do. I actually kind of like the week long discussion between shows when you have that break. As for my favorite character, isn't the point of the show that you're not supposed to like any of them? I don't know. Something about a bunch of silver Spoon Trust fun kids growing up and still throwing tantrums at the rate of my three year old is about as unlikable as it gets. Now. That said, I am the viewer who typically likes the villain.

I thought Gustavo Fring and Lalos Halamanka were the best characters in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, respectively. I liked Ryan the Office the most. I thought he was the funniest character on the show. So a little bit of contradiction there, but my answer is none of them, though if I had to pick one, it would be Greg just because he's funny and the least silver spoony of them. All three most clutch South Florida's athletes. That is tough, and I'm gonna kind of take the question

a different direction here. I just kind of give you the three that I think had the most clutch performances. I think so Dan Marino's number one because he had the eighth most fourth quarter comebacks of all time, still does. And there's only one guy that was from his era or earlier who tops him, Like you're talking about, you know, it's like Brady and Manning and Roethlisberger, and I think

Matt Ryan's up there as well. But Johnny Unitas is the only guy who who started his career before Marino, Who's ahead of him on that list thirty four to thirty three. So just one more damn comeback for Danny ties the great Johnny Unitis. So Marino's Number one for me is Jimmy Butler next, or is it Dwayne Wade? It has to be one of those two guys, right,

It's probably Dwayne Wade. He obviously is heat basketball, but two fine four years with a roster that didn't have Lebron and bosh on, it didn't have shack on it. I mean, it's impressedive what Jimmy Butler has done three in the Eastern Conference Finals in the last four years. I'm not going to answer that one entirely. It's one of those two. I lean d Wade, but I think you have to make a strong case for Jimmy Butler.

And then it's Josh Beckett. His two thousand and three World Series clinching start was one of the best baseball performances of all time. I mean, complete game, shoutout, scattering just five hits and two walks compared to nine k's in the World Series. He goes sixteen innings, eight hits, five walks, nineteen strikeouts, some more ks than guys on base a one point one to zero ERA, and his OPS allowed was four fifty six. Average OPS that year in baseball was seven twenty five. He was like sixty

percent of that. That's as incredible. OPS is the number that translates most wins and losses. So that's what I go by. That entire postseason. That year, the Marlin second World Championship and last one, probably the last one I'll get for a long long time. He had a two to one one ERA on five five starts six games, forty seven k to just twelve walks, opponents hit one forty five with an ops of four ninety eight, and

the entire postseason that is absurd, absolutely absurd. And just to let you know, I'm not going back to the seventies or even the eighties because I wasn't alive and I can't pretend to know how those performances were from a you know, cultural standpoint in terms of how they, you know, impacted the way people saw the game. At Marcos, Vieira asked me to give five reasons Yellowstones better than Succession. Never seen an episode, my man. I know, I know

everyone talks about how great it is. I've only heard great things, but I'm pretty particular and that show just does not draw my interest. At Kyle the commiss are you going to be traveling to Germany for the game against the Chiefs? If no, on behalf of the community, we would like to sweet talk your Boston too it We can make it a family affair too, if the wife and little ones want to go as well. So

I'm on radio post game. So traveling hasn't really been conducive to making that show the best version of itself. We do it when we can, but it's you know, plus, traveling is tough with the little kids. Like you mentioned, my wife is really pushing to make this trip happened. I will say, we'll see. It would be a ton man getting a three and a half year old at that point in a one year old on a flight.

I just don't know. But my wife studied abroad for a couple of years in college, did one semester in Spain and another in Germany, and she taught American children on a military base in Germany while she was getting her master's degree. So she's a big time traveler. She loves being overseas, actually has talked about moving overseas in the past, and I'm like, hey, look, I'm not a big America guy, but like I kind of like it here.

I just I like what I know. But again, making that flight with the little ones, and then I just don't know. We'll see, We'll see. At YZ eighty, do you think the Dolphins will sign another defensive tackle before the season begins, and also which udfas have the best shot on making the roster For the UDFA answer, I'm gonna go ahead and defer you back to the Emery Hunt podcast when he talked with us on that episode.

For my picks, I think Brandon Peeley from usc makes a lot of sense to the defensive tackle Anthony Montalvo from UCF are two guys they definitely put some priority in. Looking at the rest of the group here, Chris Brooks is intriguing to me. I like to tackle from Cincinnati a lot, James Tunstall. But go back to the Emory Hunt podcast. You're gonna get a good look at what he said there, and he knows these guys better than

I do at this point. But as far as the defensive tackle question, we do know they got some additional cap relief with the post June one portion of the calendar, so there's some more flexibility there, which this team always does a great job of managing and maintaining. I do think you need a solution behind what you have with you know, Seler, Wilkins and Rayquan and you know the first two guys especially, but Rayquon's job really needs a secondary snaptaker because they just don't have that on the

roster right now. Unless you rely upon, like you mentioned, undrafted free agents, You're gonna have to have a look at the two guys Pelam Montaldo here at OTAs and these can act as a bit of a tryout session for like what the team might need as they assess heading into training camp where it's kind of like, you know, full steam ahead and you still have roster moves that happen, but that's like, really, all right, what happened over OTA's Where can we get better? Who can we call to

make it better? So you hope that someone can plant their flag in that role over the next couple of weeks. Here you really don't have a proven answer right now for that John Jenkins role last year right now, that's only two hundred and sixty snaps. Not a lot, but that is twenty six you know, thirty percent of your workload, give or take. But you don't want to be grasping for someone to fill that role all year because it is an important one. It's it's two hundred and sixty snaps.

Is not a lot, but it's two hundred and sixty snaps. I thought Jalen Twyman and Josiah Bronson had a really nice start to OTA's here the first couple of practices I saw. That's two hundred and eighty five and three hundred pounds. Those are more Sealer and Wilkins analogs. John Jenkins played at three thirty five, which is the same as rake one, which tells you nose tackle right. It was an area I thought was a need coming into the off season and looking at the list now, it's

pretty thin. Honestly, the name that jumped to me the most on the UD or the available free agents was probably Vincent Taylor. Remember him. I always thought he was better suited for a more one gap penetration, get up field style of de which could be more of the defense this year. But he did play it. Three fifteen a year ago, so I don't know. I think a proven vet on the back end of his career makes

a ton of sense. I talked about a Keem Hicks a few times during the free agency run up, but Mike Pennell Penell is still playing, He's still out there, three hundred and thirty pounds, He's been good for a long time. I would call him and say, hey, can you give me a three hundred snaps? That would be a guy I'd be interested in kicking the canon at Finn Reaper. I've seen several people say they would put

Jimmy Butler on this Dolphin secondary. But my question is what two dolphins would you pick to help the Panthers and Heat win at all? And why it's a great one one for the Heat, one for the Panthers. I need somebody to body up Jokic in the finals here, so we need him to be able to get to the perimeter and defend the craziest shot in a hoop, that step back, fading away released behind the headshot that

Jokich does. Look, you're not gonna get anyone from the Dolphins in the seven foot range, so we need length and we need to be athletic. So I use this great staf on Zach Sealer on the podcast all the time. His pro day workout from his Faires State days put him in a class with Mario Williams and JJ Watt And this is a mouthful. So I'll go slow as slow as I possibly can. Here it is again since two thousand three, players have hit these metrics with their

combine or pro day workouts. Six foot five plus two hundred and eighty five pounds plus under a four to eight five forty yard dash, more than thirty bench press reps, a one hundred and fifteen inch broad jump or more, and a three cone time of under seven one five, which is like receiver receiver numbers. There's three guys that have done that, Mario Williams, JJ Watt, and Zach Sealer. So give me Zach's either to bang down the post and also contest Jokic on the perimeter for the Panthers. Look,

I fancy myself a pretty knowledgeable football mind. Obviously, that's the whole podcast here. Baseball and basketball where my sport's growing up through college. So that's you know, I feel good about those sports. No clue, no clue, no clue whatsoever. I'm guessing lower body strength, good ankle flection, hand eye coordination. Can I go Ryan Hayes. He was a three sport All Conference player in high school. He's got great size. He's from Michigan. I assume he was born in the

Paris skates by his side. Is that a crazy pick? You guys? Tell me I'm lost here. Let's go ahead and take our first break right there and come back on the other side, and we'll go ahead and get some media availabilities. But first I want to play a fun game with y'all taking a look at the little project by working on here for the NFL. That's next Drive Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you

by Auto Nation. Before we close out the week of podcast here and head into the weekend with some player availabilities from Wednesday we did not cover on the post practice report, which if you have not heard that, go back and check it out. We'll have three podcasts breaking down practices next week essentially as a training camp run through a rehearsal if you will, for those three days in a row, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday'll have a podcast for

you guys. Each of those days. We have some fun content coming your way from Media Day as well, so keep it locked right here and on our socials, on all of our channels. We have tons of stuff coming away this summer to get you through to the break as the Heat and Panthers have done to get you into the month of June, and then I guess you

have baseball to carry you through into football season. But we have content for you, guys, to help you get to that bridge that gap, I should say, and I wanted to do this segment here at some point in the summer, and we'll go ahead and do it right now. A little project I've been working on to just kind of get myself more familiarized with the rest of the

National Football League. I do it most years, but this year kind of putting some more time into it, watching more and more tape, and I want to make sure that it's not or make clear I should say that it's not a finished product right now. I need to go back and cut some more tape this summer and get more into the weeds. I also want to tack this thing with a second lens. My first one was going down one team at a time and grading each unit.

I think doing each team's running backs and then each team's wide receivers, and going by position rather than by team. I think that could help kind of trim some fat off of the grades as you stack them up against one another and get a better feeld for you know, here's the Giants backfield versus the Cowboys backfield type of deal. So that's my disclaimer to say that I'm not final stamping this, and it's June, so dub, but I'll tell you this. Here's where my Dolphins grades racked up in

my rough draft. The system was this three through ten. I didn't give twos and ones. I didn't give it ten either, but ten is generational best of all time, best position group we've ever seen. Number nine is elite slash best of their position group's top four or five is in the nine category, in the eight range, and these all have decimals two, so it's three point zero through ten point zero. So you can be like eight point seven, but the eight number is top ten of

your position group or on the periphery. Number seven is a good unit. So like above average, six is in the average range, five below average four I put oh no, and then three I put disaster. So that kind of gives you an idea of the grading scale here. Let's go upside down here for positions, because the quarterback is last, and I can't wait to hear tell you guys what I think of the quarterback here, which you already probably know if you listen to the podcast every Day. Safety's

eight point one. That's tied for six in the NFL, the Bills, Steelers, Chargers, Broncos, Bears. Then I had the Panthers and we tied with the Seahawks there. So Javon Holland Brandon Jones to Shaun Elliott feel pretty good about that. Elijah Campbell also, with what you know, the matchup pieces we have, Jalen Ramsey's ability to play multiple roles, I just feel good about that position group here for Miami, speaking of Jalen Ramsey. Cornerbacks nine point two is first,

we have the best cornerback room of football. It's good up top, it's deep, it's matchup centric, it's inside outside, it's tackling, it's Vic Fangio's scheme. Everything you want. Best cornerbacks in the NFL. Linebacker eight point two. Some of you guys are gonna say that's pretty high, Travis. I think the world David Long. I think David Long Mixedjuro and Baker a better player. I think Duke Riley's good depth. I think Channing Tendall is going to get a bigger

role this year. I like this group. Tied for fifth Bills, Browns, Bears forty nine ers, who are top at nine point five. We tied with the Carolina Panthers the Edge Surprise Surprise, nine point five, a second behind only Philly. Just waves and waves and waves of really good players. I think Jalen Phillips is going to be a superstar, breakout player this year. I think Chill will give you a better football than he gave you last year. I think Ogba's back.

I think Malik Reaves a good player. I think Andrew Vannon Gingkles a good player. I think you get pass rush from Stealer and Wilkins in those types of roles, although they also work as interior defensive lineman because they play multiple spots. Which by the way, the IDL is eight point nine, which is fifth, so Bill's Colts, Eagles, and Niners, so the defense tied for sixth, first, tied for fifth, second, and fifth. This could be one of

the best defense in the NFL. Man, And that's before you get to the offense, which I think is even better than the defense. How cool is that? Although on this particular position group, I have the Dolphins tied for twenty fourth. Offensive line six point seven. That could jump up. Man, if one of the left guard and right tackle position shows you quality starter, then that jumps way the hell up, way up. Because I think tron O'Connor are great players. I think Robert Hunt is right on the verge of

becoming a great player. Two positions to wonder about that. That's why it's tied for twenty fourth. Right now, Wide receivers and tight end nine point seven number one, number one in the league. Talk to a wall. Running Backs six point eight was tied for twenty second, though. I feel this has the chance to skyrocket this year because I think Devon Ahchank could potentially be special and with Jeff and Raheem for a full year, if for he moster it stays healthy, I think he's pretty underrated back

and then quarterback position. What is Travi's going to do at quarterback? I'm going eight point seven. It's tied for fifth. The Bills, the Bengals, the Chiefs, and the Eagles are higher, and it's tied with the Chargers for fifth. And again, if you want to argue with me on this, it's fine. I'll just tell you just wait, just wait until you see what happens this season. Last year was just the beginning,

So some notes here on the project. In total, the highest grade I gave a group was the Chiefs quarterback was nine point nine. Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback I've ever seen, so probably should be a ten, but I went nine to nine. Maybe I'll change that in the second go round. The next highest grade across all

position groups in the NFL was the Dolphins wide receivers. Legit, I think the best room in football, mostly because of those top two guys, but I was thinking, because you're seven deep with guys that can play at this level, I think those complimentary parts all fulfilled different roles. Also, I think this offense, we'll see plenty of twenty one and twelve personnel get talked about in the mail bag. You know, two tight end, two backs, and that removes

the need for a third. Lots of time. So when people say the Bengals having Tyler Boyd makes them better. I say these two guys allow us to say, in a run heavy package and hit verticals from play action attempts with one on one matchups on the perimeter, the best unit because it impacts the game the best. The lowest grade was a lot of teams had a three in different areas, not a lot, I should say, But the Commander's quarterback was a three. I still hate they

didn't address that position. Also gave the Rams a three and four categories running backs, cornerbacks, edge, and safety who hits rough and the Cardinals running backs got a three and really their quarterback would two if Kyler was out for the year, which he might be, so we'll see. And what I'm certain everybody wants to know, I have the Dolphins with a second best composite score. They trail

only Philly. I have not accounted for my weighted grading yet, which is quarterbacks are two point five times, the mean wide receiver slash tight ends two times, the mean offensive lines one and a half, edges two times, and cornerback is one point five. So there you go. Fun exercise and a fun Friday topic here to discuss. Let's go ahead and pick this up with media availabilities from Wednesday we did not cover, and that includes Cedric awayHe and

Tyler Croft. We start with the offensive lineman who was asked why the Dolphins.

thing or two. We start here, though, with what about his game he would say stands out and he says, you know, I'm a little bit more viewed as a blocking tight end, but I think I can be more than that.

was a stupid rookie at one point. So I've told him just not get too low on himself and don't get too high when you are making place too, because everybody out here is the best players at their college, best players in their position. There's a reason they're here, and there's a reason he's here too. So just making sure that he keeps his head on straight and just don't get too low, don't get too high, but just trying to take each day at a time and stack them.

We're gonna be busy with that, taking you guys through what happened on the practice field, at the podiums and afterwards, talking to the players and of course coach Mike McDaniel. Also this week, Finn's Weekend is back and better than ever, June second to the third. I know today is the second.

Join your favorite Miami Dolphins coaches, players, alumni and chillers at the twenty fourth annual Finns Weekend featuring a phishing tournament, exclusive parties and more, with all the proceeds benefiting the Baptist Hell Foundation. Tickets are limited and available for purchase at Finn's Weekend dot com. All right, everyone, have a good weekend out there. You all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, leave us a rating and leave us a review. You can follow me

on Twitter at winkfle NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank podcast. I think Chris Chambers is coming up here soon, and I know they have Jeff Wilson as well. So a current and a flashback for you guys there. Check out the YouTube channel for Dolphins Today, media availabilities, and so much more, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time, fins Up. Caroline Cameron Daddy's Coming Home.