To on remove Dallan Deep Speedways past Hellas.
From the Baptist Health Studio this inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
He's good, my avands in the playoffs? What is up Dolphins? And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, another day of Dolphins practice number thirteen is in the books. We'll have the news from a light practice. Plenty of news we heard from coach, some players including Jalen Phillips who is back
if you have not heard that news already. And finally, some additional notes from the game after a film rewatch, and some thoughts from around the National Football League after the first game first week, I should say of exhibition games across the NFL. From the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is It's a Drivetime podcast.
So in lieu of a bunch of practice notes, we do have some We're gonna run a ton of audio today and it might be something of a clip show from what you've seen from sitcoms over the years, but I'm gonna have a ton of audio on the podcast and it's not stuff we've done in the past, so
it's not really a clip show. I'm just gonna rely on different voices for a large portion of this podcast, and we'll do that to kick it off with some news and some great news at that that I already spoiled, and then you already know by now you listen to this podcast for news because we are late on the news because podcasts aren't live. But Jalen Phillips is back
and by k E Style. I wanted to ask JP about reflecting on that day on the trainer's table, the day after the injury, the one they captured on Hard Knocks, where he was talking about this opportunity for himself, and I think the somber nature of that episode really reflected, or rather resonated with Dolphins fans everywhere, and so I wanted to check with him on that because he's such a thoughtful and just introspective guy about where he was that day and where he is today and where his
mind goes when he thinks about those lonely days in the trainer's room versus being out there with his friends and his teammates. And as you'll hear from him here, he has in fact seen the episode of Hard Knocks a few times, several.
Several times, a lot of times. Yeah, I mean when it happened, obviously, I was just so devastated that, you know, all the work that we put in together as a team and obviously individually throughout the whole offseason and everything culminating to that, and kind of just the way the season was going. Obviously I had some some adversity in the beginning of the season injury wise, and so I felt like I was really hitting my stride and to you know, especially the way that game was going. Like
I said, I was hooping, I was bawling out. Mike had told me before the game, like this is your opportunity to kind of be a household name. And so I was riding high, like probably the highest I've been in my in my NFL career, and then to be humbled just like that, it was. It was devastating. And but right when I happened, I remember going to the shower and I was crying, and I just told myself
like like this is okay. Like this, I'm gonna attack this, like I'm gonna get over this, and it's gonna make me stronger at the end of the day. So I really thank god. I really said thank you, like thank you for giving me this opportunity because I know it's gonna make me a monster. And so yeah, it's it's been a hell of a journey, just having to test
my patience. Like I said, I couldn't walked for basically four months, and then getting back into it obviously, like I love running, I love speed, That's my whole thing, and so coming back into it, having to start on the treadmill and then when I'm out, you know, running on the ground. Like the first couple of times I was running, it felt good, but then afterwards I'm super, super sore and having to cut it down for a little bit. So it's just been an up and down process.
Like most things in life in general aren't linear, but especially recovering from injuries and a major injury like that, it's not linear. It's been a lot of peaks, a lot of alleys. But I feel like I'm in a really strong part of my recovery right now and I'm making a lot of big strides. So yeah, it's just I don't have a lot of time to reflect on it, just because like I said, I'm so president. I'm so
focused and really so eager to get back. But like when I watch those videos and stuff like that, sometimes I'll be having to remind myself, like who I am as a player, Right, I've been looking at old film, looking at the Hard Knocks episode and stuff, just to give me that confidence because I've been away from the gay This is the longest basically in my whole life that I've been away from football other than when I retired.
But you know, it's kind of a different story. But I came back swinging when I retired, so hey, don't come back swinging now.
And then to follow up here, just the process of how he was able to get on this track for the speedy recovery and if you guys don't follow Ghost of Adam Gays on Twitter, recommend it. He's got some really good insights for you on rehabilitation. He's been talking about the Aaron Rodgers achilles injury for a minute now and he's got some updates on the Gelen Phillips recovery and has some good information about the stability of that leg and how it looks like he is pretty day
close to getting back to to full go. Today was a little bit of walkthrough reps for him as well as to Ron Armstead. But I wanted to play this audio for you all on Jalen Phillips and how he got himself into this position to where it looks like come week one, been saying it, I think he's gonna go.
Oh man. Just trying to take it day by day, trying not to get to ahead of myself. Obviously, I'm a high achiever and I want to come back healthy as quick as possible, and so throughout this whole process, I've just been listening to my body, listening to my trainers obviously, and it's been great so far and definitely be great.
I always love getting a second hand perspective on a guy that's not going to brag on himself, and coach McDaniel will do that for us and tell us how special Number fifteen is.
What I got to learn about Jalen Phillips is that he's a He's a very capable, strong learner, because this is a this was a test of internal fortitude coming at you know, for Jalen his game, he's he's always been an impact player, but he was right when he got injured, he was kind of there was momentum swinging in a positive regard towards his conviction of how to play his position. He was feeling a different level of.
Confidence.
And then for a guy that has ambitions as he does, he wants to be great in the worst way. It is a long vision challenge to attack this injury appropriately and not something that by nature is totally his speed.
He wants to fix the issue and go play. So to watch him diligently go about the process, and I thought he was going to be a number one violator of of you know, secretly overdoing what he was supposed to do, to be patient and to have the vision for his teammates really and what you know, we're all relying upon him coming back and him being able to first find his footing from a health perspective and then
be able to contribute to this team. I've been very proud of how he's how he's attacked that and while doing so, doing things that leaders do, which is you feel his presence as a teammate. You know, I think even when he's not playing, he definitely took note. Both him and Bradley did how Jalen Ramsey attacked his injury last year and as a result, he's he's already impacted twenty twenty four dolphins before he sat on the field, so excited for him to go to the next stage.
And and we'll see how his body responds with that.
And you know how special he is as an athlete, as a humanitarian in the community. And I just want to spill some additional behind the scenes t real quick. So we have this award that the media gives out every single year. It's called the Good Guy Award for players who are gracious and cooperative with us in the media. And I don't think you even need to hold that vote this year because to me, Number fifteen won it today.
And this goes back to you know, I've voted for him the last couple of years here he was my I think he was my top choice last year, if I'm not mistaken.
But he's just a unicorn man.
He's like twenty four years old, and he conducts himself with the maturity of someone who's seen a full lifetime already. And you know a little peak behind the curtains here in media scrums, it is first come for sir, whoever gets the question first or in most cases, the loudest is the one who gets to speak, and somebody's question got stepped on today. But JP acknowledged the question that didn't get asked and said, I'll come back to you next. And then this is how it also works. More, Uh,
what's the word I'm looking for here? More chatter out overshadowed the person trying to ask the follow up question, and JP pointed at him, said, no, we're going back to I think it was Chris Perkins. We're going back over here because I promised him that he could talk next.
You know, he could ask the next question.
Just that level of thoughtfulness, of self awareness, that level of compassion for people. I mean, gosh, I talk about us all the time in my personal life. This is something that has been jarring to me come into the East Coast, is how horrible customer service is. Like any place, but like even fast food restaurants, if they don't tell you please and thank you, they don't like you have to ask them for what you need. There's no like how are you doing today. It's a shock to me.
I'm not used to that being from a smaller town and in today's age, in today's you know, instant gratification, Like I need entertainment now, I need to think about myself right now. Like for a twenty four year old to have that level of compassion, I just think it's so rare. And I don't know about y'all, but that's the kind of energy that I gravitate towards personally. Is people that look out for others more so than just themselves.
More news, Grayson Murphy and Cam Brown both were added to the injury reserve or the reserve injury list, I should say, which when that happens before the season begins, you wind up missing the entire season, which is such a bummer because Grayson Murphy, man, he was off to a hot start in camp. He was a great fifth of this defense and how they run twists and stunts and games and different guys condensed different spots and can blitz or drop from different locations, and he made that
first play in the game. On the preseason, in the preseason opener, and on the telecast, you heard Steve Goldstein talk about how McDaniel in their production meeting had said that Grayson Murphy was a guy that should have been drafted and he was surprised that he wasn't, so he's
on IR. Cam Brown also goes to IR, a special teams ace that was signed from the Giants this offseason, and in their place Wyatt Ray and in last name that I don't know how to pronounce, but I'm gonna try it, David Ania, I think is how you say it, and An Nih. Those guys were added in place of Grayson Murphy and Cam Brown. And just to speak to the cutthroat business that is the NFL, they got their jersey numbers too. Wyatt ran forty seven, David Ania in
number fifty nine. Odell Beckham Junior will not practice this week per McDaniel, but after that he'll be week to week so he is on track to return sooner than later. We did see Eric Azukama back at practice, not a lot of action in a very tame down edition of a training camp practice. And then Tanner Connor will also miss some time, probably the rest of this week most likely, and they will assess him going forward. No update on what that injury is. And I keep seeing the question
on Twitter. I'm not ignoring it because I don't think you guys are worthy of responding back to I want to give you much information as I can, but when it comes to the nature of injuries, they're typically not discussed unless it comes out from a third source. So just know that I'm not hiding it from you, guys. I just don't know because I haven't heard that yet.
And when someone just deems it the time right to talk about what body part is injured, you'll hear about it on this podcast as well as well as at the press conferences. Lots of guys came back. Jordan Poyer was back at practice. Jalen Waddell went through stretch but then missed the rest of practice. That was a little bit of a tease there, but it's good to see him coming back and getting work, you know, after missing
a few days last week in practice. Chop Robinson, who didn't play the game on Friday because of some small Nickson bruises, was back at practice in full go. Jordan Brooks was back and Braxon Barrios was also back there as well. Tron Armstead got his first team drills of the season, albeit in a walk through fashion. We also had no Mo Kamara and no Neville Gallimore at practice, so plenty of news there. This is not a news podcast. But we got what was that ten minutes of news
in the show right there. I want to now pivot though to a combination of practice today, press conferences today, and the game on Friday. So Jalen Wright showed us why the Dolphins dipped into their twenty twenty five draft treasure trove, and with the knowledge that they have two third round picks coming their way back through the compensatory formula, they used their organic third round draft pick to go get this guy. And you've seen it play out exactly
how they imagined. Because this offense is going to get backs to the second level. They're going to get backs in space, and they're going to ask you then to make special plays like Devon ah Chen did, and like Jalen Wright does, and like where Hee Moster does. And I cannot stress enough how that game you saw on Friday was the culmination of his entire training camp and ota in roocky Many camp to date, the running style he showed us and the production that he produced in
the game, and I have many thoughts about this. First though, let's go ahead and hear from Jalen Wright on his ability to be a complete back in this league.
I mean, I feel like I'm a back that could do anything. I feel like I'm a very versatile back, you know, somebody that could, you know, go out in space, catch the ball, make something happen with the ball in
his hands. So I'm just feeling I'm really confident in you know, my ability, you know, do anything, you know, whether that's running through the line of screamage, breaking tackles, you get seeing the scene, hitting it and not being caught as well, you know, catching a ball and you know, see it a scene and you know, not getting caught as wheel.
So yeah, and at today's practice, it was all red zone. It was basically all the ones, with some rotation at a few spots, but mostly to a tongue of Bai Low at the quarterback position, some Jalen right and more impressive runs. But it was more of what a game
script might look like. And that's why I always, you know, I question the motive behind, like, oh, it didn't look good today when you think about like them trying to work on third and eighths where the percentage of execution is low, not like it's because they're not game planning for how to beat their own defense. They're trying to establish certain looks to make things tough, to improve on those things, and then go back to their bread and
butter whenever they damn well please. I've talked about this on podcasts countlessly, but lots of you know, backfield mystique and shifting and eye candy. There was a rep where alec ingold like goes in motion and then peels back and stays in pass pro for the six guy and pass protection. They slide to the left and make everybody else, you know, change their rush, land their gap, and it creates these big pockets for two to throw from which he did all day long.
They move to a they scramble them, they boot him.
I thought it was refreshing to see a version of what the offense will become the season that with the media and the fans in and attendance to kind of get a look at, you know, this is what it
actually looks like. And then on top of that, their combination of a curveball or a change up rather to the fastball they have in the running game, which is obviously wide zone stretch zone concepts get the defense flowing as fast as you possibly can to the perimeter, and then it gives you the opportunity to pull the ball back out and create displacement in the passing game and in the gaps in the running game. But then you combine what we saw from that power football on the
Jillen Right touchdown on Friday night. Power football is not just running the ball. It's an actual scheme. So power is typically when you get down blocks and a pulling guard from the backside, or sometimes a tackle if you want to go counter trade like you can pull multiple guys. But power is essentially man up block the man in front of you. We're going to go ahead and pull an extra backside player to give you an extra lead
block in that gap. We saw in the Cowboys game Jeff Wilson behind some Rob Jones blocks in man gap power schemes, and in this practice we saw or in the game rather on Friday. That's how Jalen Wright scored behind the lead block of Sean Harlow, behind the crack back of Malik Washington, behind the down block of Hayden Ruccie.
And we kept seeing that, and I just keep thinking about all the eye candy in the backfield, the mix of run action, the added tight end ability with both Julian Hill's growth in year two and what John new Smith offers. I think they just continue to add pieces and sheets in this playbook that's gonna make you ultimately even more difficult to defend. And we saw it all day on Monday, we saw on Friday. I am very
intrigued by that. I'm intrigued by the fact that we saw today Jalen Wright score on a run to the perimeter where he got outside of the force defender, which is tough to do in his own right, turns it upfield and has the sliver of an angle that he found between the defender and the sideline. Like it was impressive. Man, He's so impressive. And the way that pairs with what he keeps showing us on those inside zone runs or
power runs, gosh, it is awesome. And yet still Jalen Wright thinks he can add more to his game.
Yeah, just being detailed, like you know my tracks, you know, pressing, you know, pressing the right tracks, you know, delivering the blocks to the linebackers on you know, uh with with thessignments. You know what I'm saying, Just this processing the play when I hear it, you know, so I could get to where I need to be in every certain formation so you know just the details and everything.
And that's why I think he's having success early on what he just said right there. That mindset that will play, you know, that's going to play in this system where the ability to play fast and then have it be a second nature reaction to you, that's going to take you a long way. And I think Jay Dubbs well on that track. And there's a reason they spent next year's draft capital. This guy's going to contribute right away.
They know that.
You can see it as clear as day, and it's become an embarrassment of riches in that backfield.
Man.
I saw Chris Brooks with some more impressive runs, Raheem Moster, Davon a Chien, Jeff Wilson's having an awesome camp so far. In fact, let's go ahead and take our first break right there and come back and continue this on the running back room and McDaniel will tell us how he wants to approach crafting the depth chart with a room this deep and running backs. That's all next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by automation.
You have to let the players determine who gets the ball and how frequently and how much they're in the game, and that's very important. I think the cool thing when you have a position group that on the front end, you know, by NFL standards, is very, very talented, one of the most if not the most talented.
Of you know that you can remember or you've been on teams with.
You don't worry about how that is going to unfold. You let it unfold, and it's always very obvious. You can tell by how people execute their their blocks and their belief of the player carrying the ball, and you have to be able to be open minded to how it plays out. So I think, you know, the residuals of a deep room you can see on each individual player. I'm seeing, for instance, you know, some of Jeff Wilson's best ball.
That he's that I've seen him play.
I've you know, worked him out as an as a player in North Texas back in twenty eighteen, and some of his best stuff has been in this camp. And I can't help but attribute that to the to the overall.
Talents of the entire room.
So it's it's something that you're just you just keep coaching, you keep seeing how much guys games can develop. You don't you don't put a ceiling on that, because guys will continue to surprise you in a positive manner if you let them. And we just know that it's a strength of ours can be handing the ball off to some pretty good backs and we just go from there.
I don't think I've ever opened a segment before with McDaniel audio to kick it off right there, but obviously great to hear, and that just has me thinking about the other rooms and the talent that we know about, but also the leadership and the mentality that permeates throughout each of these rooms.
Spoiler alert.
Kay Adams will be on the podcast on Friday, and she talked about getting this impression from being here for half of a day and like Tua in the quarterback room and the aura that he currently possesses, like different dude right now right, Jialen Ramsey, Kendall Fuller at corner, Javon Hall, and Jordan Poyer at safety, the defensive backfield altogether with all the names and characters and you know,
personalities they have back there. To Ron Armstead in the example he sets on the offensive line, what that can do for a player like Patrick Paul. How about John hus Smith and what he's about, which is just about business and football right or Dura or durham smythe knowledge and approach to the game. How about Tyreek in the example he sets, he makes you practice at a higher standard.
Seiler and Campbell on the defensive line, Jordan Brooks, d long a Walk, Duken linebacker's room, JP and Chubb off the edge like every damn group. You can bet your bottom dollar it's not by accident. They were put here to be themselves, but also pull the boat along with them. Right as I was saying, pull the rope along with them, like they bring everybody with them, and it's by design. It's fun to watch, it's fun to see it develop.
Just great stuff all around. I want to go ahead and pivot now into the offensive line performance that I thought was just nails on Friday Night. I loved how connected guys were on combo blocks and like again, we Kyle Krabs talked about this on the podcast or I guess he and I shared this in our podcast notes early on about the progression of camp and Butch the aiming point and then kind of devolving or not devolving but rather adjusting what you coach and how you teach
it in certain ways of different guys. It's the progression has been there and you saw it in the game. I absolutely loved the get off and surge all night long. And if you didn't see that, like I don't know what you were watching, I tweeted about it several damn times. And it's it's time for Travis's favorite part of the podcast, right when Coach McDaniel affirms some of the tweets and
thoughts with his words. Let's go ahead and just play the audio here from coach and what he saw on Friday night from the offensive line in the preseason opener.
Overall, I think there there was several.
Technique principles that we've really taken a look at how we articulate and coach them and emphasize them. And so one of those being, you know, the line of scrimmage. And while I was happy, happy with you know, times during the game, in particularly in the in the group that Patrick was playing with, saw the line of scrimmage be reset, uh and that and that is something that uh, we were diligently at. We've we've tried to kind of
reframe how we articulated to to engender better results. And I think overall there's uh I you get to learn a lot about your overall team and where they're at by some of the twos and threes, and where their game's at, because it's almost like a baseline of what is your your your starting point, where your game's at, and what has clicked for for the group.
And to see the.
Line of scrimmage reset at times that was very encouraging. And then you know, I think there was some communication stuff that will always UH be working on so we can have conviction and unity when whenever we're executing whatever phase.
But I saw the line of scrimmage was a big positive coming out of that game, with the younger guys in particular really gravitating towards their new technique and fundamentals, that being the first time that in a competitive situation, in game like situation, they were able to execute those fundamentals.
And the guy that I didn't talk enough about on the podcast was Jack driscoll. He was excellent on Friday Night. Not only did he play connected to his guard or tackle combination next to him playing bull center and guard, but when you turn on tape on seventy five is consistently the first guy off the snap. His pad level was excellent, He had active feet through contact, and he just keeps those things churning, which gets more and more surge and displacement vertical and horizontal displacement.
On the offensive line.
I asked him today about the get off that connectivity, but also the chemistry of the running backs and how they established that going through an entire training camp for the first time. Here is a three question back and forth interview with myself and Jack driscol.
You got off the ball really well.
I know the system prioritizes getting off the football. I'm curious if you felt that way and just kind of how it's coming along for this system.
Attaching to you for sure, I mean, it's definitely something that they emphasize getting off the ball quick and being quick. And that's why of the reason I was excited to come out in here. I feel like, you know, I
did a good job. Obviously, some things to clean up and you know, work on some aiming points and timing and all of that, but I think for everyone out there was a good starting point for you know, push and you know, all the coaches to coach us up and kind of help us get to that next level. And like you said, you gotta start somewhere. So it's good to get out there in real game, live bullets flying and you know, you know, see the technique coming
to life. And again things to clean up. But and for everyone, I feel like it was a good, good opening day.
You guys had like one hundred and fifty yards in the ground. To me, combination blocks are pretty good. Curious tout your perspective on how the whole group did in that area.
Yeah, I feel like everyone had, you know, around their plays that you know, we really got movement. And that's like, again something you said earlier. They really prioritize here is coming off the ball and creating that surge and giving them back kind of a two way go again, like you said, there's obviously things we can clean up. There were good and some bad, but you know, I said, it's a good starting point and it's good, you know to see all that work that we put in with
butch kind of show on a game field. You know, it's easy during practice, but when a game it's for working to see that.
But one of the topics of the day today, is the depth of this running back room. What's the process like for an offensive lineman to gain that relationship with so many different backs to know their track and know when they're going to cut and just kind of building that chemistry with those guys.
Yeah, I mean it's huge. I mean, all those guys are so talented and so fast. They all have the ability to make big plays and all that. So we're excited about whoever's back there.
Blocking for us.
And you know, it's kind of like you said, running back back committee, where we have so many different it's not just one guy who can you know, do it. But you know, we're confident all those guys whoever they put back there that we're gonna block in that they're gonna trust us and you know, read our blocks and do the best of their ability and do what their coach do.
Two more guys that earned post omission notes from the game on Friday, and how dare I leave off River Craycraft because he was blocking once again, had an excellent block to create some space on an outside run, had the catch and run on the screen pass, had the out route that he ran so crisp where Tanner Connor made a long catch in behind him, and that's that's a for love of the game route. He's old the cloud corner to bite up on that route. That's his game.
No detail forgotten. He showed you on Friday night. Speaking of details, Hayden Rouccie, WHOA, I did not see that coming. Maybe that's a blind spot in my own scouting evaluations. But blocking was on another level from Hayden Roucchie. He was burying guys that touchdown run by Jalen Wright consistently
move guys in the running game and whacked him. Also, Curtis Bolton was a guy that I thought stood out for his just aggressiveness, for the way he kind of dictated the terms and in terms of how he played downhill that was fun to watch. He's made some plays out here at camp as well, had a good little run here since being a waver wire addition mid camp.
Let's go ahead and put a pen in some of that, and go ahead and circle back around to the weekend and stay here with a chat that I had with another player that I thought acquitted himself quite well, who has not made a bunch of practice notes.
But maybe that's on me. But the stat sheet the film.
All of it added up for Patrick McMorris and his NFL debut on Monday or on Friday Day's Monday, Let's go back to McMorris on Monday, who I chatted with about all of this weird coach this morning. Talk a little bit about some of the techniques and things that he said that you saw you're working on through the course of camp and kind of a culmination that came
out on the game on on Friday. I'm just curious if you could take us into that in terms of just the work and how far you feel you've come so far in camp.
Yeah.
No, I feel like I've come a decent, decent ways. You know, it's just credit to just the veterans and the coaching staff. Coach Low coach, We've just, like you said, just working on techniques such as just coming out the post, good angles to the ball, able to make those tackles, communicating on the back back end. So I feel like I've kim kim along lose.
He also said that one of the things that they thought they knew about you, but they couldn't tell until they got game date reps was the ability to tackle. Just curious your mindset in a game versus.
Here when you had to tack off. How nice was it to go.
Hit some guys?
Yeah, definitely different speed. It wasn't sure how my body was could feel after. It feels good though, but yeah, it was definitely a different change, you know, from just studying our little tag offs to now really taking guys on. There's definitely different speed. But I enjoy it. That's kind of it's kind of what I like and uh so like I succeeded.
And to follow up there, let's go ahead and hear from coach McDaniel, who was asked about Patrick McMorris in his Monday morning press conference.
Pats, it's been cool to watch Pat develop in non padded situations because you got to see a player, uh directly take technique, training and drill work and apply it, you know, in.
His game and evolve his game.
From the first day we saw him talking about breaking uh, you know, being in a pedal and and breaking at a direct angle towards towards a eligible as opposed to rounding out of it. Those little things I've seen him develop and then I think the team got to see him uh tackle and that that's a what we we thought we'd be happy, happy with it, but you never know until you get to see someone with the pads on in a tackle situation, and that part of his
game is is live and active. So it's been cool to watch him, uh, really take some extreme He's taken advantage of the opportunity. The opportunity is that he has a room headed by you know, Javon employer that have an immense amount of knowledge. You have, you have, you know, Elijah Campbell's really going after it. Nick Needham's getting in there sometimes. Marcus May has done a lot of stuff in this in this league, and all those factors he's taking advantage of.
So he's in charge of how far that.
Goes and and and what he's able to do on this team as a rookie. But what I do know is he's taking full of of his ops and his game continues to to.
Grow in it. It has to as a rookie, you have to.
It's very, very hard to contribute as a rookie in the National Football League and the rookie years not built for everyone to excel during, so it takes a special commitment.
And so far, so good with him.
We'll see what this week and this practice has in store for us from him.
I just love this time of year. Man for things just like that. Yet another rookie who has shown his salt at one point or another this camp and in preseason. He forced an incompletion today on a Tua throw to Burrios on a corner route in the back of the end zone where he did exactly what the coach what coach talked about.
Right there.
He took a great angle to flash color underneath, and that will sometimes get in the quarterback's head, but it forced Tua to make a placement throw, which, by the way, he placed second in dan Orlowski's Traits ratings of ball placement behind Joe Burrow. I think he's for but it's one A, one B anyway. On this throw. It's you have to throw it high and away from the defender to get it into the spot. It makes it a tiny window, and when you stress those windows to make
them tight, you can force incompletions. And that's exactly what McMorris did getting under that route and not playing on top of it. We've seen so much from this rookie class, I mean so many rookie classes in the past, like you see one or two guys that show anything at all throughout camp right early on. Now we've also seen some rookies show out and then disappear, so that happens too. But my goodness, find the miss in this draft class right now. It's impossible. You know it's gonna happen. It's
not gonna all work out. It never does except for the very rare draft classes. It could be that that's a possibility as well, but it's pretty clear to see the role and the fit and the talent of Chop Robinson, of Patrick Paul, of Jalen Wright, of Mohammed Kamara, of Malik Washington, of Patrick McMorris. Grayson Murphy was on that list. Storm Duck has shown you that Jason Matria has showed
like goodness, gracious, it's been rate so far. Let's do the rest of the practice notes and we'll finish up and segment through with some additional weekend thoughts and sound bites. We saw plenty of Tua today and I thought he played really well in the practice. The movement ability again was on display. There was a play where he tried to swing one out wide on that little escort swing.
We keep seeing in games and in practices where there's a lead blocker and a receiver out to the flat to kind of stretch horizontally the defense and give you an option in the checkdown game. But Emmanuel Ogba put
his massive frame in the passing lane. So two of pumps over there gets Ogba off the ground, and it reminded me of Tusca Loosa to a man like there was a game I think it was against like Old Miss where he I had a whole thread back when I was covering college football at the same rate I cover the Dolphins now because of that rough twenty nineteen season for lockdown Dolphins as a draft primer for the entire season, and this Old Miss game, I had these
clips of two of just making plays in every imaginable fashion for a quarterback. And he would do that move where he would you separate the hands and pump fake and make a quick move back the other direction.
I saw that today.
I saw scrambling and shifty movement getting north and south. On this particular play, he had like five or six yards before the first defender converged. So Tua can get out of hits. I think he can give you positive yards on plays that in the pass were a sack. He also broke the pocket and completed two different passes, one for a touchdown. The Tyreek Hill off script. I think it's there. I think it's a real part of
his game now. He also threw a touchdown to John hus Smith on a beautiful ball into the corner, had a gorgeous throw to Tyreek for a touchdown that reminded me of the Gasiki Throat in Baltimore back in twenty twenty two. On the end line, this is one where he rips it over the second level defender, and you have to have so many RPMs to get this type of movement on the football. It has a little hump
over the second level of the defense. In this case, the defender was like three yards deep into the end zone and you have to get over that guy but under the goalpost so your receiver can make a catch on it, and you have to rip that thing with RPMs to make it.
Kind of hump back over that level of the defender.
It's the armed talent I talk about in the podcast that doesn't get mentioned enough into his game. It was on display again here on Monday's practice. So a really good day for him, really good day for the offense. Raheem Wright, h Hn Brooks all had touchdown runs. Let's go ahead and take our last break.
Right there.
I have some more notes about the quarterbacks, including Skylar and Mike White from the game on Friday, and a sound bye here from Coach McDaniel. That's all next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. I have twice now broken up the podcast mid mid segment or mid portion of the show, but I think it flows nicely here and I wanted to dip back into this quarterback talk because we left off talking QB one. I want to pick it back up
with QB two right here. So there, Coach was asked about the quarterbacks performance on Friday, and I think this is very instructive, and I think we should always listen to when Coach gets into questions like this, because he's transparent about the process and honestly cuts into a lot of the legwork for somebody like me covering practice because now I don't have to jump to conclusions because if you just listen, Coach will tell you exactly what he
thinks about the process. This time of year, so here he is on the quarterbacks and what they're looking for in the game, beyond the stat sheet which was not good.
Here's Mike McDaniel.
Well, absolutely, those things are monumental. That's cool that Mike said that, because that's you know, what we're talking to each quarterback. You know, you're in a competition that is inherently within the game.
You know a little different.
You're working with different players, different portions of the game, like Mike alluded to, and so there you may not and just knowing that from a coach's perspective, you know very clear with the quarterbacks that there's various things that you're looking for when when someone is in those type of situations in a close competition but with different control variables, how you handle yourself, how you add value to players, how you uh You can tell by the coordination of
an offense, the conviction and confidence of a quarterback simply by how players exit the huddle.
It's the when I say we evaluate everything, it's.
Literally that that deep of a dive, because you're you're responsible for conveying the initial conviction of every play with every play call, and then your assertiveness and your how you emphasize different words in a huddle call that can bring clarity and conviction to just how people approach the line of scrimmage, and can you do that while also juggling a Hey, make sure you tell your tell the Z to run a high corner because he doesn't know
what that is. You know, like things like that happens in preseason games and and and all of it is you take that into account so you can make sure that you present those types of challenges the equivalent challenges to you know, both quarterbacks. Skyler has the same opportunity in that way, and we can assess from there.
And I subscribe to that fully, and I think that's all well and good. But I can also go back to the tape, and you know, I was talking about Skylar's progression in certain areas of his game and training camp. It was good to see game reps because to me, it was more of the same. There was a rep man and I don't know how you how you get over this, but there was a rep in the game where it was like a cover one robber and they ran like a combination Like I don't think it was smash,
it was. It was something stick in the in the inside on the interior, and then an outbreaking route on the perimeter, and the cloud corner on the outside was inside the numbers and the robber was coming downhill on the hash and they were both converging on the stick and that's like the only throw you couldn't make in the play, and that's where the ball went. It just like, I want to see it process better for him in games, and I just haven't seen that yet, So that was
a concern I had in the game. But you know, if he can improve upon that and show you progress in that regard, it'll be great to see. But three years in it, it's tough to know if that's gonna happen or the light's gonna come on there. So it's a concern, I think at this point. But we have time to to kind of get it hammered out here. But I just wanted to clarify that and you know, be as transparent with you guys as possible.
A couple other thoughts I had.
So you know, Keon Smith's injury is gonna cost him the rest of this season, which is such a bummer because you know, he was on a cool trajectory of his development and I thought it was you know, I thought he was a player that wouldn't have a chance to make the roster a couple of years ago, and all of a sudden he works himself into great shape and makes himself an asset for this team, and I
think he was gonna make the roster this year. But he gets injured, and now all of that said, to me, he was O T five at this stage of camp. I thought armstead of Jackson obviously, Lamb obviously, and then I thought Patrick Paul was ahead of him. And that's why I think he was playing some guard because you probably wanted to get him some looks there to see how you can get him on the roster, because you
value what he is. But to me, he was OT five and the guard thing was coming along, maybe not this year, but down down the road.
Maybe.
Do you guys know THET four last year played seventy snaps Like this sucks for Keyon, there's no doubt about that. I am sick for him, but it's not a needle mover in terms of the overall season, like seventy snaps from the guy that plays ahead of him. So the fifth tackle like maybe a snap at some point. I just don't see all the hand ringing over an injury like this because it just doesn't really move the needle that much when you think about it from a factual standpoint.
I have, let's say, the last note I have here on a different player for the final segment, some final notes here on the day of work extra points style. I thought Kalais Campbell and Quinton Bell had really good days. They both got off blocks and had some some wins in the running in a running game that was having a lot of success today. They deconstructed blocks and got
off for tag offs. In the practice. I thought Emmanuel Ogboss had some really good edges and on one particular run forced Raheem Moster to bang up inside on an outside running play. Rob Jones and Jack Driscoll had some really nice one on one blocks at the point of attack that I thought sprung some of the big runs. And that's all I've got for you guys who are in practice notes. We covered some of it there, some of the guys that had big games on Friday falling
up on that. But it was I mean, it was like literally twenty five team reps today and it was half of it was you know walk through speed, so not a lot to go off of, but I do want to finish a couple of more notes here. I have two NFL notes, But first again just a insight into the mind of Mike McDaniel and how he approaches training camp and how you should listen to this and take reports, even my own with a grain of salt because process over results, baby.
The ultimate focus for our team is is rudimentary as what do we want our football to look like, how do we want it to feel, how do we how do we want to approach our technique and fundamentals? And so built around that is how do we get players adept at the system, adept at the techniques while also with the long vision of the season. And so for me, it's really prioritizing how when we go we recreate game
like enthusiasm, focus, attention to detail. That to me is how you create and build and maintain your standard within all of those moving parts.
You have to develop a trust, uh.
With from from my from my perspective, comes from wise, but you have to develop a trust with your with your locker room that they we won't ever short change the way we go about full speed stuff. But we have to dive into the science. We have to follow trends, and we have to adjust our rep counts accordingly so that we don't do either end of the spectrum, not
prepare guys or over over work guys. So that whole thing to me, uh, if you have one uh one group of people moving in the right direction or in one direction, and you explain your whyse with diligence and and get the appropriate buy in from the locker room, you can go out and we can get infinite amount of game reps more than our opponents.
That's kind of how how how I look at things.
So it is a balancing act for sure, which is why I have a hard time absoluting stuff and how things kind of change to a certain degree each and every training camp because you have a different problem to solve. And then what happens if you have too many players that need management and then you overwork we can't do
as many reps. You know, it's it's ever evolving. I think, you know, case in point the practice today, you know, with with various constraints at certain specific positions, we had to front load the front load with our full speed reps, and we kind of have to have an in between walk through and live practice jog through at the tail
end of it. That's something that you guys aren't used to me totally seeing all the time, but that's an adjustment to protect the way we train our fundamentals and technique, which if you want to be a good football team or the best football team, or anything that fall falls in the in the bucket of where we're trying to go, you have to train those much like.
You know.
I was talking to the team today about Steph Curry got a chance to talk to talk to him this offseason, and he talked about every time he shoots, his focus is the same on the front of the rim is in games, Well, then you can do some elite stuff, but it comes back to his practice in preparation for those moments or why he can do things that no
one else can. So that approach which makes it impossible to kind of forecast exactly how things will play out because you always have to attend to all the I mean you want to talk about that there's a lot of variables.
There are a ton of variables, but you just do your.
Absolute best with all the controllables that you can control and then communicate that amongst your teams so everyone knows why you're doing everything you're doing.
All right, I have two more notes and they are not Dolphins related. Did you guys watch the Buffalo game on Saturday. I don't care what the score, I don't care about any of that. But did you watch Keyon Coleman, This guy that I've seen nothing but praise because he's a goofy personality and good for him, but he looked like DeVante Parker, which is weird because I was his comp coming out of college. For me, if you can't separate in this league, if you can't separate in the ACC,
it ain't gonna happen in the NFL. And I keep seeing all these tweets from Buffalo fans about how he is going to be the guy that makes a difference this year. You went from Stefan Diggs at Devonte Parker. Weird how that works. My other thoughts here, Rookie quarterbacks looked really impressive across the NFL this weekend and after the twenty twenty one class, which had kind of equal expectations to twenty twenty. And I even remember some Dolphins fans that were saying skip out on this class and
come back in twenty twenty one for Justin Fields. Right, they've flopped except for one of those guys, and he's been a little bit underwhelming. I think Lawrence gets a bad rap. I think that he plays better than his stats would indicate. But he hasn't been the golden child for sure, But he's been the only hit in that entire draft class. After and after that, you get a nothing burger in twenty twenty two. Weird who could have called Kenny Pickett busting the last pick of the draft
that year is pretty good though, brock Purty. It's funny how the NFL works that way. Then you get one massive hit, albeit a single season so far, in that twenty twenty three class with c J.
Stroud.
But the jury is still out on the rest of that class. But I don't have a lot of faith in.
The rest of it.
But the start of the twenty twenty four class looks like a nice replenishing here at a key position, Caleb Williams. I'm wondering how it's gonna work for him in terms of like the I'm not saying he doesn't have desire to do it. I just I haven't really seen that dog mentality in him just yet. I think it might be too much to say that he doesn't have it in him, but I have a question about it, I guess, but man, the physical traits are really good. He looked
really good against Buffalo on Saturday. Jayden Daniels had a big debut. I watched enough of his Arizona State games to kind of like fall out a favor on him, even though he had the perfect year last year for LSU. I don't know how to feel about him right now going forward. I was kind of against him as a prospect going into the draft, but I can see the talent and where you might come out on that, but I'm just dubious on what he might become the next level.
At this level, I should say Drake may got one series?
What are we doing?
Michael Pennox was outstanding and that was all weak, not just the game, the processing, the decision making. I know what I have backside because of how I process front side. I think he's gonna be an absolute baller. And then JJ McCarthy had the one ugly pick, but then through two touchdowns and played really well after that first drive. So it's always good for the league when you get
an influx of young quarterbacks. And it's rare that you get a twenty twenty class where all five of those guys hit you know, one in the second round with Jalen Hurts. But I feel pretty confident we're gonna get multiple quarterbacks out of this class. Hopefully the one that misses is the guy that went to New England. Right, all right, Tomorrow, we'll be back with more practice notes, be more thorough on that. We'll do that through Thursday, well, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Dolphins only, Thursday, Commanders, Friday off. But we're gonna have Kay Adams in the podcast and preview the game for Saturday night, and then we're gonna get closer and closer to the regular season. Now, just what are we twenty seven days away from the Dolphins opener?
It's coming up, guys.
In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe, rate, review the podcast, all that fun stuff. Follow me on social at Winfield, NFL even got that TikTok Now look at me becoming a young man again at weekle the NFL on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok must name of the platform and the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins, check out the fish Tank podcast with my guys Seth and Jews. Check out their Jason Garrett interview as well as the YouTube
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Fin's up, Caroline Cameron Daddy, He's coming home
Mhm