Drive Time: August 24 Training Camp Recap

for you guys. Here from a fun practice that concluded with some competitive one on ones after three straight touchdown passes from quarterback to a tongue bailoa. I'll tell you about each of those, all the breakdowns from the day, and here from head coach Mike McDaniel, cornerback Keon Crossing defensive tackle Raykwon Davis and linebacker Andrew van Ginkel from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.

This is the Drive Time Podcast Maye Geffy. Tomorrow on the show, I'm going to do my ten overall takeaways from camp and get you ready for the Jacksonville game with Juice OJ McDuffie. But today we have more camp to cover, including some roster news. AJ Johnson Alexander Johnson if you want to look him up and try to find his name, I've always known him as AJ Johnson. Couldn't find him by that name, but apparently it's Alexander Johnson as far as Google is concerned. But you know,

it's kind of funny. Ben Solak from The Ringer is out at camp today and he asked me who they gonna go with at mike when they need some size in that position, because you know, both Jerome Baker and David Longer not the biggest linebackers, and same with Duke

Riley and Channing Tendall. And he was just as he was asking that the Johnson news came across the wire and Johnson manned the mic position in Denver under vic Fangio previously, and we'll see what his role winds up being here as he works to get acclimated into this

defense that he knows well. But he's been an accomplished player in the system, a true B gap to B gap thumper, which is a lot what Roberts did last year, six foot two, two hundred and forty five pounds, which for comparison's sake, e rob was six ' one two thirty eight a year ago. Johnson's done a fantastic job in his career against the run with his tackling from day one has been really sharp. He's been a positive graded tackler in terms of very few miss tackles in

his career. His first year in twenty nineteen, after going undrafted in twenty eighteen and not getting any snaps that rookie season, if you want to call it that, he played seven hundred and thirty one snaps with two hundred and fifty four coming against the run, and he made thirty three run stops that year. Then he made a massive jump to fifty eight run stops, playing over one thousand snaps with four hundred and eleven of those coming

against the run. So this is an experienced player. This is a player that you can get to defeat blocks in a variety of fashions. But when you go that light box that we know that coach Fangio loves to call, He's got the thump to take on blockers and not have any issues finding the backs when teams want to try to block him out with that big center or guard climbing up to that second level. In total, one hundred and twelve career run stops on seven hundred and

ninety seven rundown snaps. That's very effective and very efficient. He's played over one thousand coverage snaps. He's rushed the quarterback two hundred and eighty nine times with forty pressures in his career, So I think it's a role that he fits here. It gives you more depth and obviously

some special teams as well. I previously liked Miami's depth here more than I've heard most with Channing Tendall, I think having a nice second camp and Duke Riley being a very accomplished, you know, depth and special teamer throughout the course of his career, and then obviously Andrew Van

Geigle getting cross training. But this just makes it even more so, and some counting stats for housekeeping purposes, played thirty nine career games with thirty four starts, with four years of play in Denver twenty eighteen through twenty one and then the last year in Seattle twenty twenty two. He's recorded two hundred and fifty two career tackles, four and a half sacks, one pick, eight passes defense, and

he has four forced fumbles and two recoveries. The Dolphins also, in a coinciding move, waved linebacker Mike Rose, who had a couple of coffee here for a couple of weeks, and also waved injured safety Miles dorm So one open roster spot there. As we record this podcast late on a Thursday afternoon, let's go ahead and start the camp Report today with some sound from head coach Mike McDaniel as he talks about his quarterback and the offseason two I had in twenty twenty three.

question correctly, how to his offseason's been. And you know what I can say that I can say hard facts that I've seen with my own eyes, and it's it's been as it's top five on the team in terms of you know, we've had a lot of guys really step their game up, and and you want to talk about somebody that's committed to doing what he's doing for the right reasons, you know, I I've he was already invested before this year, but then you know, taking a

bunch of things that have happened, you know, he really put an onus on controlling what he could control. So you want to talk about every metric that that Dave Poloka and his strength staff really track, which is pretty much everything. I mean, to the to the degree of blinks, every metric of strength that that is measured. He's you know, he's he shattered his previous highs and some in in some instances he's he's almost twice as strong with with things.

And that's been a daily commitment that he hasn't wavered from his He's taken his nutrition to to another level, he's taken his commitment to what he's trying to do and really, you know, thought outside the box and really

really worked at it. So I couldn't be happier with the work that he's put in and that what I've actually viewed from my own eyes, it's it's every Basically, you're happy for guys as a coach when you can see in the present that down the road they're gonna have no regrets meaning the results or what the results are. But you know that without any shade of gray, that you've put your best foot forward. And he really he

really has. I think his teammates would agree we are getting the absolute best version of two that's existed.

even two years ago or three years ago. But I thought it was worth starting the podcast by your leader on the coaching staff or in the organization, talking about the leader in the locker room amongst the players and the example that he sets by the way he approaches the profession and his career. I mentioned I thought Tua was sharp yesterday getting the ball to the backs quickly in the short passing game. I thought he was even

better today. It was a lot of high red zone, lots of situational football, some drives that began on the periphery of the red zone with a short clock and minimal timeouts and kind of trying to get operation things squared away, getting the ball snap quickly, getting out of the huddle and getting too the line of scrimmage after completions and tackled him. But they finished the day with some mid red zone work and Tua was just painting

the practice field with tuddies. The best throw of the day, I thought was a back shoulder ball to Tyreek Hill working against all Pro cornerback Xavi and Howard. This was after Tua had brought them down to the mid red zone on a drive with thirty five seconds to play from the plus thirty yard line with completions to Hill and Hill that's Tyreek and Julian. Tua took a snap and used the league fastest release to pinpoint one on

the back shoulder. He had a couple of throws in that area of the field today where catch rock throw balls out and by the time the receiver finishes his route the ball meets him there. But Tyreek on this rep sold x upfield to the back pilon and then by the time he shut things down, the balls right there on that back shoulder just has to reach back and grab it and he secures it for a touchdown.

The last three touchdowns were two different players with different types of throws to one a back pilon touch pass to Chosen, and you know what, he probably didn't catch it, but it was a really gorgeous grab. Just didn't quite get the feet down and bounds. X point to the sideline saying he didn't make it in, but I don't really care. There was debate about it in the stands among the media. I really don't care if it's three

inches out of bounds. You still get the rep on tape and see how good of a play it was. And this was that. And this was after Tua had hit Chosen on three straight passes on slants to basically march them from midfield down to the red zone. But then they started to repeat the plays from the red zone, so you get those multiple touchdowns stacks up stacked up there. The first was to bury us on a shot to the perimeter outside where he made a little move and

found the front pielon with run after the catch. This dude has such a weird knack, not not weird, but a positive knack for finding the pylon or the sticks. He just his first step forward after the ball hits the jersey and he secures it for the catch. He just kind of like jitterbugs towards you know, the correct goal line, and it's impressive to watch, especially in an era where so many guys catch the ball and run backwards.

But he caught touchdowns a lot today. He caught the one I just mentioned, and then earlier from both Tua and Mike White in that first red zone session, and the third touchdown from Tua late in practice was they shot between two defenders to Cedric Wilson and that was the final horn of training camp. So really sharp day

from Tua. He had a throw to Eric Azukama that reminded me of the throw to savon Achmed Saturday in Houston, that upfield shoulder where you know it happens so fast, especially when you're running to the boundary the short side of the field. You only have what is that, I mean, the field's fifty three yards wide, so you have like twenty yards to work with. You better throw that ball quick if you don't want to put your receiver out of bounds or slow him down into a tackle. And

I watched the JT. O. Sullivan the Quarterback School breakdown, and he really hammered home the point of how important it is for the location of that throw to lead the receiver into the run after the catch. And I think that we get a little numb to how sharp Tua is in that regard because he's so consistent with it, and it's so innocuous that maybe you don't, you know, shout out from the rooftops the way you know you do a Justin Herbert seventy five yard throw down the

field or whatever it might be. But these plays are more frequent in an NFL game, in a football game, and Tua is so dialed on the layups like that, and I just really appreciate that about his game. So very sharp there. This particular one took Azukama into a big run after the catch, and that was pretty much to his day, just really on target, on point, and on time. I thought Mike White had some good throws

as well on this practice. Skyler had a touchdown pass to River Craycraft that was really nice, a strong throw with good timing on the throw and route. So yeah, good day from the quarterbacks. Speaking of the quarterbacks, we have some housekeeping to finish up this first segment with before I do that with Coach McDaniel who addressed Zach Seeler leaving practice yesterday, Tyreek Hill not practicing yesterday, and

then Mike White and the quarterback planned for Saturday. But first, it was so good to see Brandon Jones in a jersey that wasn't read today at practice. He was out there in the aqua colored jersey, got some reps during seven on seven, and when he came out onto the field, it was cool to see some of the guys dap him up, like, welcome back to the lineupster, it's been

a long time and we missed you out here. Let's go ahead and go to Coach McDaniel, who talked about Tyreek Sealer and eventually Mike White and the plane for the quarterbacks on Saturday and really the entire team on Saturday.

day to day, but nothing, nothing to worry about. Tyreek was uh, you know one of those classic coach to player protection things that had to do with where we were in training camp. Really what he did the day before, he really took it upon himself to dictate the terms of the energy and he did that full going, full tilt. I think he had the highest sprint yardage and was the fastest player that day. And so I I really liked where he was at. Didn't want him to take

a step back. Uh. So that that's you know, kind of my my role in that. So he'll uh you should see him today and if if I've seen enough of him today, then you'll see him stop playing football at some point, or he might play you know, the whole practice. I'm just connected with each individual for that very reason. Mike White is still in the protocol and uh, you know whether he uh you know, I'm no genie.

I don't have a crystal ball, but you know, I feel like it would be promising for him to clear protocol, but regardless, you're not going to see him on Saturday.

for the regular season. He did say if all things were even, Tua would play on Saturday, but like he said, they're going to revisit that after practice today on Thursday. But Tua has been prepared all week as though he's going to play in the game against Jacksonville. All right, let's go ahead and take a break right there and come back on the other side and get to some

more practice notes. We'll also hear from Rak One, Davis Tanner, connor keyon crossing play to come your way here on the Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation with training camp officially in the books, one more priests game and then cuts on Tuesday, and I just can't wait for it all to get here. Let's go ahead and start this segment though with Coach and the philosophy of rounding out the back part of

the roster. He was asked, how do you value or what do you value I should say on players eight through thirteen towards the back end. If you keep forty or forty five that you feel good about, you know about what are the rest of the guys? What do they have to do to get your attention? Here's coach on roster building at the back end of the rum.

most high intense, competitive across the board situations that that I can remember. So there in times like that when you know there there is a plethora of talent and you have minimal distinction between certain guys. Like what Vick's alluding to you, you really have to let the whole process play out. You have to fight your your urge to to try to in your mind figure out who those people are the competition from, you know, however you

rank them from you know, really forty to ninety. It's it's a real cool representation of what what you want the competition to be like on your roster. However, it makes it that much more difficult. So you have to factor in a ton of things. And you know, one a positions gain is another position's loss, and that balancing act makes it incredibly difficult. And we have multiple position groups where you could go heavy at on this team. So which position groups are those? Which individuals are those?

The only thing you can do is allow everyone to get their full opportunity communicate actively, but but let all the information lay out because in the game of football, uh, you know, who knows what can happen today, Which is why it's so exciting that you guys are going to be at practice. It's the last one and we're hoping for it to be a good one.

Another couple of explosive runs in the running game. Savon Ahmed used his speed to win the corner on a fifteen yard touchdown run. I'm loving how this team is getting the edge sealed and allowing those guys to open it up. I think it pairs very well with the passing game, and also run away from the trash inside

right like, don't run into three hundred pound guys. Use the speed to stretch those guys out, tire them mount through the course of the game, and force the opposing defense to run and chase and defend every blade of grass both on the run and pass game. They couldn't

get to Savon Ahmed today. I don't think most teams could get to Raheem Moster and Devon ah Chain and Savon also caught a touch down on a very nice back shoulder throw from Tua, very similar to the one he threw the Tyreek hill early in practice where he most also had a winding run for a big game where he was into the third level of defense with a potential one on one situation in a live situation

phrase touchdown against a safety. I think it was Javon Holland, and I don't usually pick against Javon in those situations, so we'll call it about an eighteen yard run. Speaking of the running backs, we heard coach talk about the value of the running backs in Miami. Here's coach on his running backs.

it think of it this way. You've gone to practices and you've seen two games and pick a day, pick a game, and you've seen, you know, a running back make plays a running back, which means there's there are different ones every time, which speaks to the competition that we have in that room. And you know, that's that's why I've always value the position. It's a big portion

of your of your touches. And you understand that in that process that that you have to have a you know, a good solid group for the really for the team and and for your offense for the whole year. So I think it's a you know, and I got my feet wet really in NFL game planning in the run game, so that it's and dear to my.

how you had hoped this training camp so far. But this is a guy that I know they were super high on a year ago, got a little bit of run, didn't really stick with the active roster, got injured, had the OTAs this offseason, came back for camp on pup. But now he's back out there and right away you see the long speed. He caught a short little pass on a little drag route and took it up the

sideline for a big ganer. Today, let's go ahead and hear from Tanner Connor, who's a position convert right former wide receiver from Kent, Washington. I used to work a job in Kent, Washington, believe or not. But he talked a little bit today about the growth from you ye ones a year or two. I like hearing this guy talk. He sounds like he really really gets it.

be able to from block properly. And so it was all about just you know, first second step, you know, driving my feet through contact, getting stronger in the offseason in terms of the route running game, just being patient, using my advantages against the defense, and you know, not sound for myself short, just being confident and who I am as a player.

Let's go ahead and hear from coach who talked about Rakon ahead of Thursday's practice.

as coaches. That kind of triggered my mind. A rep of the same drill back in last OTAs, so twenty twenty two OTAs, and I mean it kind of represents, you know, one of the main focuses of and appreciations of being a coach in this great game, and something that you really hope to see everyone go through, which was a complete and utter transformation in mind and body.

His attention to detail he's had. He's in the best shape of his life by far, and you can see it with his play, and there's a you know, he's he's adding different tools to his game, and you know, he's he's always been a highly I mean, he's always had a lot of love from the locker room. So you can feel that as a coach, and you can feel his teammates really appreciate where he's at, what he's done to control what he can control, and and uh,

you know, the Miami Dolphins are better for it. So that's a that's a big and deserving jersey.

for this year. Just going into this new defensive scheme, I'm definitely gonna have to, you know, be able to pass us and keep a high motor.

for what they called all eyes on Me. They gathered up to watch wide receiver dB one on ones in the first one was Eric Azukama on Cam Smith and Azukama got on top of really really good coverage like Cam was right there, but azu Kama got the space and James Blackman drops it right in the bucket and azu Kama caught it right in front of us in the media contingency and let out a pretty good battle cry as he was fired about catching that long ball

down the field. There were a few more, but my favorite one was the last one when they had Cater Cooho go to wide receiver and run against Daywood Davis at cornerback. Cater got him and stacked him and was open, but the ball was just out of reach. Cater had a super nice release on that route, and that tracks because of how good his feet are. And I saw him downstairs after the fact, and you know, the Daywood Davis was given the incomplete signal pretty adamantly in the

offense was dapping him up. But I saw Kate and I said, hey, I thought you stacked him, and he goes, thank you. I did thank you basically like, yeah, he knew what's up. Let's go ahead and hear from Andrew Van Ginkel and Keon Cross and who both talked about how much fun it was to get the all eyes on me portion of practice, and you'll hear key On Cross and discuss just how Mike McDaniel understands it and gets it for how to get his team fired up in a situation like that, just a.

we need to do and go hard. Man. So that's what it's all about the stakes was pretty much, uh, you know rooky on rookie, first year player, and uh, you know, it's compete, man, It's just to see the guys compete. Obviously first time experience in the NFL. You don't want it to think of You don't want to guys to think about fifty three cuts and all that good stuff. The best thing to do is do what we do best and have them compete. So, uh it

does a good job by Mike. He's obviously a brilliant Harvard guy.

more wins today. He's had a pretty good week and putting his final stamp on a training camp that he's trying to, you know, make the club on. David Long flew in for a couple more run stuffs at one point. Ben Solak, you know, I watched his practice with him again today just one point kind of laughed and said that, guys, it's he said that, dude, man like, it's pretty unreal the way he's coming here and made an impact. I mentioned earlier there was a three sacks succession when Skylar

Thompson checked into the lineup. It was Malik read twice. Keep an eye on him Saturday. I think he's he's about ready to have a breakout game here. I know it's exhibition, but he's been really percolating and getting close last couple of weeks. I think he's in the on the periphery of a big game. The other was Andrew Van Ginkel on the three sacks. I asked Gink about the benefits of playing all over the front seven and how playing off ball has helped you at edge and

conversely your experience at edge helps you at off ball. Yeah, for sure.

What else we got here, Deshaun Elliott had a very impressive breakup on a seam shot to Durham smythe off the hand of quarterback to a tongue Bai Loa, and then Javon had a good pass breakup as well on fellow tight end Julian Hill, who made a handful of catches today and looks like he's getting some pretty serious run and might have a chance to make this team. Javon was a guy that Solac could not stop raving. We pinpointed him on a few reps and just watched

him together where he's constantly moving. A few steps sooner than you expect based upon the play, the coverage, the rules, you know, the four, six, and eight that we cover here in this Fangio defense. So he really seems to be getting it and getting his feet wet in the system. And that's the podcast that's training camp. So there you guys go. I hope you enjoyed the entire month of shows. Here. Tomorrow, OJ McDuffie and I will get you ready for the

preseason finale in Jacksonville. I'll give you my ten camp takeaways and the next time you hear from me it'll be Sunday recap from the Jaguars game. We've got some guests lined up for next week as well, so the season is just getting started. In the meantime, that's gonna be my time. You all. Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast. Leave us a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me on social

at Wingfold NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank podcast with Steth and Juice, check out the YouTube channel for media availabilities, Dolphins to Day and so much more, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time, fins up on a camera and Daddy