You are listening to the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network. This is Drive Time with Travis Wingfield. Back to throw to a looking whips about.
A wide Dolphin touchdown, Tyriquel, uncrelievable.
It's just blue fire for a second time. Don knew where he was going right away.
I want to hit that though.
Man, I'm gonna help you. Someone will keep on his man.
Away Wattle Wadle to a shotgun, back to throw, looking at them up Myers touchdown.
It's Waddle his sixth touchdown.
Parado of this ka Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins. Now check your pulse if you're not for I am not checking my pulse day because I am fired up for this episode of the Draft Time Podcast.
What is up, Dolphins?
How's it going?
I am your host, Travis Wingfield.
We have a very special edition of the Draft Time Podcast for you all today. The great Brett Coleman is going to join us to talk about a whole bunch
of things. Really, the conversation was shrouded around Dolphin's draft topics, the four players selected, the offseason in general, but really it just kind of evolved into Dolphin's ideas and philosophies and introspective thoughts and theories that I have about this Miami Dolphins football team that I put up to one of the smartest football minds that I know, Brett Coleman. Let's go ahead and jump right into it. From the
Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drift Time podcast.
Magge Geff Shush.
Let's get to it right away today my guest Brett Coleman. Part number one, Part two out on Monday. Here is part one with Brett Coleman joining us now. Is a man who needs no introduction, but I'm going to do it anyways. He's the co creator of Bootleg Football. He's the creator of the film Room on YouTube. He works at NFL Media and with the La Chargers, and when he finds time to come on Drive Time here he does that as well. Brett Coleman, Right, how you doing, man, I'm doing great.
Thanks for having me. I hope you enjoyed draft season and the grind that provides.
We always do.
Even though we only had four picks this year, it's still a lot of work to get all the analysis, all the you know, scheme fits and all that fun stuff. Divulged and discussed here on the podcast. That's why I wanted to bring you on. But before that, real quick, I kind of laid out your resume there. I think last I spoke to you, a lot of those jobs weren't on the actual docket.
So give us the update, man, How you doing.
How's the expansion into the world of NFL media, the Chargers, all that stuff.
How's Bootleg doing? Just give us the latest in your life if you can.
Yeah. I keep just adding more work for myself with each passing season. You know. Obviously I still have my channel where I covered the league from a national perspective doing X's nose breakdowns. You know, I do plenty of Dolphins content as well. Came out to Miami for a game last season. I was at the Buffalo game in Week three where it was a million degrees down in the field and that was fun. I really love going
to Miami and I want to come back next year. Obviously, still have the podcast, the Bootleg Football Podcast with my partner E. J. Snyder, where again we cover the league from a national perspective. And then during last year I started working with the folks over at NFL Media doing stuff for the NFL's YouTube channel, working on some kind of retro throwback x's and o's videos, because I got a call from them one day and they're like, hey, NFL Films dropped us All twenty two for every single
game going back to two thousand and two. You want to do some really cool stuff. And I was like, yeah, can you send me Bob Sanders playoff run all twenty two for like two thousand and five, And They're like, sure, we got you. So I'm going to do some stuff for that. And then obviously I started up working with the Chargers as well, doing content for their media team.
And you know, I could work with any team at this point, which is fun because I can kind of just diversify myself and work for myself and work for teams, work for the leg It's an interesting life and I'm very grateful for it.
It certainly is.
We'll have to fire up some of that two thousand and two Ricky Williams Tate because that was one of the most fun running back performances I've ever seen in my entire life.
And you mentioned coming down this way with E. J. Snyder.
He's on the podcast a few times too now. We get you guys both on here at various times of the season, but when you guys make your way down here, I'd love to get you in the studio and do a podcast with you off we can make it happen, So maybe that's something we strive for here in the near future. And Brett, I have three goals I want to accomplish on this interview, which I think might become two podcasts.
I'm not quite sure just.
Yet, but I want to break down all the Dolphins draft picks, all four of them, right. I want to test my many theories I kind of have conjured up this off season against you, someone whose opinion I really
really respect. And I also want to preview your Miami Dolphins preview because, as I told the folks here or tell the folks here on the podcast all the time, the summer content that Bootleg Football does with the team by team previews is, in my opinion, the best material for football fans who are looking to gain more knowledge of the league that.
Exists out But you guys do an exceptional job.
I'm floored every time with the level of in depth content you provide.
And then we talked about it last year.
Your editors and all the guys that do the work for you guys with the visual side.
Of it, It's perfect.
Man.
I love it so much. So those three things are my goals.
Here.
Does that sound good to you?
That sounds great to me. Let's hit it.
Let's start with a guy that And I was given a text from our buddy Kevin Dern, who I think you've spoken to before. He's a big Dolphins fan, and he told me to check out your guys' live draft stream and there was a shout out for me with the Cam Smith selection. Both you guys mentioned texting me, and I think I got your text. You know, Cam Smith just greater than Symbol six or seven times over again, how pumped up you were about that pick.
But I want to start here with just there's so many places.
To go, but I want to start with the aspect of Cam Smith's game that really pops off the tape to me, and it's playing in a complex man and zone match scheme and playing it so smoothly and so soundly that it just speaks to me to his level of football acumen and his anticipation skills. Is that what you saw on tape with Cam Smith and how does that really benefit him here with the Miami Dolphins.
Yeah, and I think that when you look at what Cam Smith does well, and again, I think the Dolphins got a tremendous value. I thought he very easily could have gone in the back half of the first round. And I think his skill set also fills in a hole that they didn't already have in that secondary. Obviously, they have big, physical corners with x and Jalen. They got more than enough guys that could play press coverage. But I felt like the one thing they were missing
was somebody who's a very good space player. And what I mean by that is not to get into too much detail on it. I don't want to give away state secrets or anything. But it's not just press coverage all the time in Vic's defense, right, there are certain adjustments they have to certain looks, especially when it comes to to trips looks or three by one with three receivers on one side, one receiver on the backside and
then a running back. Also, you know on the backside they need to have a corner who is capable of playing we call it from on top of the shelf, right like seven yards or eight yards off and being able to pedal and you know, change direction quickly in
t step and drive. And somebody who can you know, keep eyes on the quarterback and on the drop and playing his run assignments while also keeping the receiver in his peripheral vision and being able to id two receivers at once and read route combinations, and if he needs to zone off and get deeper, he can do that. If he needs to drive, he can do that. It's it's a different type of skill set to be a corner that thrives in space. There are some corners that
it's just hey, let me line up and press. I'll take away this guy and we'll go about our business. Not that Jalen and X can't play space, obviously they can, but I think that the best way to weaponize them is to play them in press. Go beat people up. But in order to execute a lot of the coverage they want to execute, they need to have a guy who thrives in space, especially as an outside corner to the trip's side, so they can run everything they want
to run. Again, not going to get into too much detail about it, but the fact that they have that type of corner now means that they have the flexibility if they want to, you can put X backside on a actually ironically X receiver backside and if they got a big slot or if they got a tight end in the slot. We're going up against the Chiefs. Travis Kelcey's playing number three to the strong side. Guess what
Jalen's going there. And then you got camp Smith outside and he can play two to one or one to two rather depending on the coverage call we got, or if they really want him to, they can also put him in press as well. But the fact that they have Cam means they can move Jalen an X around and that is really the key to that pick is it frees up their best players to go take away the most dangerous threats. And that's why pick.
Oh Man's that's great to hear, and I think one of the one of the questions that both Chris Career and Mike McDaniel fielded after you know, Night two was done, and why go in the cornerback room when you guys
look pretty deep at that position. But you go back to last season, this Dolphins team, the past defense coming into the year was kind of expected to be a strength and it didn't work out that way, primarily because they were down you know, five six cornerbacks at any given time, and Xavier and Howard, you know, hats off to him for the way he kind of battled through a couple of growing injuries that he suffered early on in the season that really, you know, that's one of
those things where you just kind of have to deal with it the rest of the season. But I'm curious to get your take on Miami's approach to round out that room because you mentioned x and Jalen, now Cam Smith, like cater Co, who had a fantastic rookie season.
Nick Needham is back.
He's a guy that's played every position in the secondary for US, you know, in a pinch, started a bunch of games as well. Trell Williams is a guy that a lot of folks were excited about last camp before he took us season ending injury.
So how do you feel.
About a team that can go seven to eight deep in that position group?
Is that overkill? Is it necessary? What's your take on that.
I don't think it is overkilled, because again, they this is a team historically, regardless of the coaching staff that's been here, even going back to previous regimes, like they were already great in the secondary, and they still took Noah Right, who's a very talented corner out of Auburn.
Like they have always wanted to have as many good capable corners as humanly possible so that a they can play whatever coverags they want to and you know, max and maximize their ability to match up against certain guys. But b if X goes down, God forbidden, right, knock on wood, they now have a little bit more insulation where he doesn't have to come back until he's one hundred percent ready to go, right. Because if you have depth at corner, it just gives you that freedom to
make sure that everybody's healthy all the time, right. And I think that that's also really important too, because again I've covered the lead for a long time. I interact with players all the time. When things get thin, the pressure is on to you know, maybe come back sometimes before somebody's ready, and you know, soft tissue injuries can be fickle, right, And so I think having as much insulation as possible at corner means that Jalen can stay healthy,
X can stay healthy. Tater again, knock on wood, he can stay healthy. If you're five deep at corner, that's the best possible scenario you can have for this type of defense. And it wasn't surprising to me that they invested in corner early. It was surprising to me that Cam was even available. So I love that thick.
So let's let's go back into that right there, because I do want to circle back and talk more about Jalen and X. You covered it really well, but I kind of want to hammer in the point about Jalen Ramsey's fit in the defense because I've been talking. One of the theories I talked about on the podcast that I teased you earlier was how if you do have the opposing team's best pass catchers, a tight end like Jalen can fulfill that role.
Man.
He can dictate the matchups based upon you know, if you want to pump the ball to your top target, you're gonna do it, but you're gonna have to do it through one of our top guys as well. And Jordan Rodrigue came on the podcast a couple of weeks ago or maybe a month ago at this point when Jalen got traded for and talked to us about that about how that Brandon Staley you know style of defense, which is a branch off of Vic Fangio's defense, really put him in position.
To do that. I want to come back to that.
But you talk about not expecting cam Smith to be there at pick fifty one.
Give us more on him as a player because you.
Talked about the fit in the system and how it creates more opportunities for you know, guys to play, or his ability to play in space creates more opportunities for other guys. But what about just the physical skills, Because here's a guy tested pretty well. When I watch him play the football, Brett like there is no panic. He does get you know, he's had a few flags here and there, but like the length he shows at the catch point that the lack of panic and the way
he locates the football. I'm watching this guy thinking like he might be ready to go from day one.
Yeah, he's got some of the best feet and hips in this class right in terms of his ability to stay balanced and controlled in his pedal and again just put one foot in the ground and go so he can drive on things underneath. It's actually a lot harder to play off corner than it is to play press corners in a lot of ways because the margin for error is so much shorter. Right, You're not forcing a guy into the sideline, You're not disrupting him at the
release like they all have free releases. You're playing a two way go offense base and if your feet and
hips are not perfect, you're done. And so the fact that he can do that because his feet and hips are so good and he's so bursty out of transitions, like his first five seven yards coming out of transitions as special, I have very similar feelings about him, ironically that I had about Javon when Jevan was coming out who played corner well now and I had javonn is like one of my top safeties in that class.
That is the way that is.
I think, I truly think this if Cam would be a great corner, if you put him at post safety, with how smooth and explosive he is and the ball skills, he could be Earl Thomas. He's straight up told me they don't need him there because they have Javon, But like he could be Earl Thomas in safety. He's a very special talent, very special mover. And again fifty one, I mean, I'm like, come on, like he shouldn't be there. He shouldn't be there, but he was.
I tweeted about him today and watching the exact same thing you're talking about the way he processes from those off coverage looks, it reminded me of a safety who I love coming out. You mentioned Javon Holland, which obviously we love that name drop here, but I go back to Jesse Bates at Wake Forest and the way he had that like Baseball Center Phil experience where he was diagnosing and you know, running off flag routes and post routes before the quarterback even like saw it develop the
way he did. I saw the same thing on tape there, and it has me thinking about you know, you mentioned Javon like, obviously to me, one of the best ballhawks in the NFL.
E Xaving Howard's been out for a long time.
Jalan Ramsey, I'm curious about how you think the Dolphins can generate more takeaways because this Vic Fangio defense over the years has average, going back to his time with the Niners, twenty four takeaways per year. Last year, Miami had a dip in that production, and that's a stat that fluctuates, so it's understandable from twenty twenty twenty twenty one one. They got tons of takeaways last year, not
as many, just fourteen was thirtieth in the NFL. How do you see this Dolphins defense going back to what Vic Fangio typically prioritizes and generating more takeaways.
So, I mean, especially within this defense, right takeaway startup front, quarterbacks tend to make more miss When you got Jalen Phillips bringing down his neck or Bradley Chubb or you know, insert one of nine different Dolphins pass rushers that are good. Because they have so many of those, it's really going to start with pressure, right. The coverages are not going to be that complicated, and Fangio coverages typically are not that complicated. It's just his defense works because everybody is
very disciplined and the assignments are executed. It's it's a very detail oriented defense, not a complicated defense, and those are two very different things, and I think that helps players play fast. And when everybody's as good as they are on the Dolphins depth chart, you don't really have to do anything fancy. You don't have to throw out all these AMEBA fronts, and be like, oh, we're going
to trick you. They can line up and say, yeah, we know that, you know what we're in and we're better than you, like' that's the whole that's the whole
goal here, right, And they can do that. That being said, there are some tricky things that VIC does, but it's less about pre snap alignment and more so about post snap rotations and in terms of well Dave Randa calls him creepers vehicle callm like bonus fire zones and stuff like that, in terms of dropping guys that you think are rushing, and rushing guys that you think are dropping. You know that that type of stuff that all happens
post snap, and that's that's going to be. You know, sometimes if you get like Van ginggle is a hook dropper and you don't expect it and all of a sudden he's taken it back for six like, those are gonna be the calls to get that a few times, but generally most of their turnover turnovers are going to come from we are better upfront than you. We are getting pressure that you can't stop. Our dbs are better than your receivers. Go ahead and throw it up and
see what happens. That's gonna be the Dolphins defense this year. And that's why I think they're going to be good because they don't have to fool people. They're just better.
That's something that Mike McDaniel mentioned last year with the offense, Like the whole idea of you know, concealing.
What you're doing is is important.
But at the end of the day, like if we want to be what we want to be, we can line up and you know what coming and we can still beat you. I think if you have that temperament on both sides of the football, and this roster, I mean, I'll argue to on blue in the face, it looks like a top five roster on paper right now, might even be you know, higher than that top top you know,
better than five. I'm not going to put a number on it right now, because you know, I don't want to get too hyped here in the month of May. I want to go ahead and take our first break right there and come back and continue that discussion about the defensive backfield and this defense in general. I have a couple more questions for you on that before we turn it to the offensive picks. Three straight picks on offense,
devon a Chain, Elijah Higgins and Ryan Hayes. We talk about all that next here on the Draft Time podcast. Your host Travis Wingfield, My guest today Brett Coleman, brought to you by Auto Nation.
Okay, Brett, we.
Left off the previous segment talking a little bit about the Dolphins secondary and this defense and line up and just go beat them boys.
And you know, I keep looking at the upgrades.
Of this defense and I want to go back to Jilen Ramsey here eventually and just get more from you on him, because what a great addition that was to this defense.
But I look at the way the.
Dolphins kind of approached this offseason with knowing what they have on offense, the sixth ranked offense last year, despite the fact that the quarterback missed a handful of games, despite the fact that the offensive tackle position had the exact same attrition we talked about at the cornerback spot, still the number six offense, eleventh and scoring.
I think there's room to grow on that.
I think incumbents getting more comfortable in year two of the offense.
We'll talk about that here in just a second. But on the defensive side man.
They went out and just went heavy at really all three levels of the defense. Getting you know, Bradley Chubb last year for your pass rush was a big acquisition and he's going to, you know, hopefully have a bigger role this year. David Long in the second level, you know,
Cam Smith and Jaylen Ramsey on the back end. I'm just curious about how you feel the Dolphins approached this offseason with the idea of really fixing what went wrong last year and expecting a kind of I suppose at least equal footing of the things you did well, maybe even better than what it was a year ago.
Yeah, and again, as somebody who watched the Dolphins in the first five or six games on offense very intently before injuries started, you know, mounting up and everything like that, nobody could stop them. Offense was not the problem last year. You know, injuries were the problem last year, particularly on offense, and they were what on track to be the one or two seed a third of the way into the season and then things kind of fell off the rails.
But they're really good and they're still really good. And this is a scheme that has been very popular in the NFL for a long time, and still nobody can figure out how to stop it because Mike Daniel's so good at calling it and it's more about you know, angles and timing again than it is about you know, deception. And so when you have that type of of mastermind at the top of it, there's not a whole lot that defenses can do. Like they just got to sit
there and take their medicine. And so if everybody stays healthy this year, two is back. Obviously two was executing executing this passing game at a historic level in the first third of the season. You still got the receivers, you got even more speed at running back bringing in a Chaine, And I also think a Chane could also be a slot weapon too, just because right he's not just a running back. I like their tight end room a lot, Like they have everything. They just need to
stay healthy. And so I think that's why they hit defense so heavy this offseason is they're like, we're gonna score points. If we need to get to thirty, we can get to thirty. The hard part is stopping the Bills from getting to thirty, the Jets from getting to thirty, the Bengals, the Chargers, everybody in the AFC, right, And so they're like, we were, fine, we're gonna score. We just need to make sure that every game is in
the track meet. And I think that they've they've executed that strategy as well as they possibly could have.
Yeah, finding multiple ways to be able to win a game on a given Sunday, Right, maybe your offense isn't clicking the way you want to go win a game on defense and vice versa. And you know, I was doing some I'm looking at kind of into summer projects right now and taking a look at every roster and kind of give evaluating what each team has each position group. And you mentioned the teams in the AFC, just going down the list of quarterbacks in general, the ross was
in the AFC. The balance is so crazy this year, man, It is really one sided with a couple of teams in the NFC that kind of hold the candle there to the rest of the AFC. But you have seven, eight to nine teams that are just stacked up and down the board, and hopefully Miami is one of those teams right in that mix, near the top of that list.
And you had kind of alluded to this next portion of the podcast and your previous answer talking about Devon Hchang, you talked about his ability to play multiple positions in the offense and another guy that you text me right after we took him and just like wow, that really you got that speed at that position in this offense, Like have mercy at this point, right, But I want to talk about Devon Chang.
The speed is obvious. I want to hear in your perspective.
What that speed does from his position standpoint, but also what else he offers, not just in terms of his foot speed.
You know, I think it's it's obvious that they want to create space, right. This is a very space oriented offense, and I mentioned in the in the last question about how it's really more about angles and timing and everything like that than it is about deception, and space is a big part of that. The faster an offense is in terms of their skill positions, the quicker a defense has to react or they're going to get dusted. And so you can kind of create linebackers taking false steps.
You can force safeties to take bad angles. You can force guys to jump things earlier than they otherwise would have because they're terrified of that speed, and if you have four guys might be five now that I think about it, that run four three or who's the slowest guy four three five? Like if you third. But if you have that many guys on the field that run that fast, it creates space because defenses are panicking. If you have a guy, you know, like Raheem where it's like,
I'm worried about that. If he hits front side and outside zone, he could take it seventy for a touchdown. But Devon's on the backside running bubble. If he gets that, he could take a seventy for a touchdown. Oh by the way, Tyreek is also, oh god, what do we do about Jalen? Like it's so much space created by panic, and that's what's valuable in addition to you know, everything else he brings us a player. But I think coach McDaniels made it clear that he wants to be faster
than every defense ever. Uh And I think when you have that speed advantage, it allows you to do things that other teams just can't get away with. So I'm fascinated to see how this goes. I I have to imagine they have some sort of plan for the most diabolical two BAC set of all time with Raheem and Devon and I really can't wait. I want to come down to Miami again watch it in person. You know,
maybe not September when it's boiling on the field. They go, wait till November, but uh yeah, it's I really can't wait.
Maybe even give me the full house package there and put alec Ingold back there so cano and knock some heads as well, and you like, oh yeah, by the way, when you're oh yeah, by the way, options Tyreek Hill, I feel pretty good about that. And you mentioned, you know, the the stress the running game and the speed and the running game can put on that second level of
the defense. You know, I go back to last year, like I think there's two games that if you're a Dolphins fan or even a coach, whatever, you want to look at for how can we make the offense better? You go back to the plans the Niners and Chargers had against you, and how the offense kind of I guess hit its lole at that point, but then picked it right back up the next couple of games, the
Buffalo and Green Bay. You know, before before halftime in that Green Bay game, but they were right back to their old ways, you know, big chunks of yardage, high point totals, high voltage, eighty four yard touchdown passage Ealen Waddell.
But I'm curious because those two.
Games just didn't look like the rest of the Dolphins offense. But we heard from Fred Warner, who, for my money, probably yours two is the best you know, off ball linebacker the game has to offer. He talked about it about how you kind of have to pick your poison whether you want to you know, sell out and stop the run, but also if you get depth in that passing game, that's how they were able to kind of thwart where the Dolphins were so dominant all year in that you know, intermediate middle.
Of the field passing game.
I want to hear your perspective on that, because this all pro linebacker basically said you had to pick one or the other, and they essentially played softer against the run in that game. Are the Dolphins now equipped to make them pay for that decision to play further off the ball and protect that ten to fifteen yard passing range.
Yeah, I mean, just look at what happened against Buffalo. I think it was December when they went up to Buffalo, right and it was snowing, you know, a little bit of payback for that heater of a game in September, and it was just outside zone and outside zone and outside zone. Here's a little counter for you. Outside zone. They were absolutely beaten up at all over upfront. I
almost felt bad for him, like it was rough. I think their average depth of tackle on outside zone runs was five point four yards in that game, just the depth of the tackle, not the depth of the game. So they can do that if they want. They didn't
typically have to this year. But it's funny because that game and I predicted the Dolphins to win that game too, and I was going into it because I was like, I don't know, if you look at the Bills interior defensive line, I don't think this is a good matchup for them. And everybody thought it was crazy. And then all of a sudden, they're running like a gazillion times for how many of her yards it was, and I'm like, see, they didn't need to throw the ball. They can still
run it. So, you know, I think people get lost in the flash sometimes and they forget that there is a physical element to this team. It's not just fancy and shiny right like, there is some muscle there, and I think that's kind of an advantage is everybody does get so distracted by the receivers that they forget that this team doesn't have to throw if they don't want to.
I do want to come back and talk more about the additions on the offense on the other side of the break here, as well as kind of get your general devon a champion scouting reports. We talked about, you know, what the speed does for the offense and just kind of his general skill set. But I want to go more into that. We'll do that next here on the other side of the break. Travis Wingfield, your host the Draft Time Podcast. My guest today is Brett Coleman. We
are brought to you by Auto Nation. So we are into segment number three here, Brett, and we're only through one and a half of the four draft picks. That's why I wanted to have you on for a second episode, which we are tracking to do that here on the Draft Time Podcast Friday episode here with Brett Coleman. Will have him back on Monday to get to the rest of the episode. But let's go back to the running back the Dolphins selected in the third round of the draft.
We all saw Mike McDaniel pump his fist. We heard Chris Greer after the draft talk about this is a guy we've been looking at for two years, which to me made sense because I was touchingly big Isaiah Spiller fan at A and M. But when they went to a Chain like there wasn't really a drop off, I'm like, who is this kid that can also you know scot a little bit. So the Dolphins get their guy in
the third round. Just give us your, I guess, non Dolphin centric, your general report on Devon a Chain and what he brings to an offense.
You know, I'm sure everybody's said this at this point. Maybe it's boring, but he brings speed, he brings you know, home run potential, and I think in the AFC you kind of need that, right there are games that's going to happen against KC or Buffalo or LA or whoever where it's like, we got two minutes, we got to get down the field. We need a forty yard chunk. He's one of the guys that can get that for you. I don't necessarily think that you know, in low red
zone situations or short yard of situations. I don't think you're calling his number, But I think the role that he fills as a space weapon, both as a receiver and as a running back is still incredibly valuable. And they have other guys that can convert within the five yard line. They have other guys that on third and
one they can move the chains. What they really wanted was another guy that, Hey, if we're in the middle of the field and we have to get to the red zone in one play, can we dial this up for you. He can do that, and there was not many other running backs in this class that could. Right, Gibbs, I have to assume was on the radar, but he went in the top twelve and Dolphins didn't have a pick for quite a while after that, so they still needed to get legitimate four, two, fourth, three speet out
of the backfield. He was one of the few options in this class to do that, and for an offense that prides itself on being able to get chunks whenever and wherever they need to. I think he was, you know, a perfect fit for that, Yeah.
A perfect fit for the Dolphins running game. That again was you know, I think twenty fourth in the NFL last year, so had to get better from that perspective. Raheem Mostert talked about this earlier in his press conference this week about how the chemistry in that running back room was so good they wanted to bring it back and recreate it. And from all accounts and purposes, you know, I heard Jimbo Fisher talking about Devon Han and the
type of character he was. Obviously a guy that didn't have to come back for that season finale against LSU, but said that he wanted to come back because he owed it to his teammates. I'm glad he thought that way, but honestly, Devon, you didn't owe anybody anything at that point.
Go get ready for the draft.
But all he did was come back and run for over two hundred yards in that game and broke like six team tackles.
Just a really unreal type of performance.
But you know, I'm curious because you mentioned it earlier about the potential of him as a pass receiver. And I think last year, if there was one element of the Dolphins offense that I thought would do more but they didn't, was the running backs in the passing game and Obviously, Chase Edmonds gets traded, you know, for Bradley Chubb.
The Broncos want him as part of that deal.
So we lose a good pass catching back who had some drops before that, but still think he was a good pass catching back. I'm curious how a chain factors in, but also maybe just how year two in the system can maybe increase the screen game or increase the options the Dolphins having in the passing game. Because Brett Tua was number one last year, Mariota and I think it was Trubisky had a higher average depth of target. Tua was the main starting quarterback that had the highest depth
of target. And I don't feel like that was because they were trying to do that, just because maybe their best options were Tyreek and Jill in fifteen twenty yards down the field. But I'm curious how they can become more well rounded by taking short passes to guys like to a guy like maybe Elijah Higgins, the rookie tight end we'll talk about in the next podcast, to a Braxim Barrios, to an Eric Sobert, all these additions to
possibly improve the short passing game. That's kind of been one of my theories I wanted to test on you. Do you see that from the same perspective of we have all these guys that strutch the field, now we have more sure handed guys in a short area passing game.
Yeah. And what I really find fascinating about the speed discussion is there's there's more ways that speed impacts an offense and just going deep. You know, if you want to maximize your speed advantage, how a lot of offenses do that is they call mesh right, they call you know, shallow crossing routes that are five yards from line of scrimmage.
But speed works laterally just like it works vertically. Right, Like if you're if you're getting a man look and you're calling MESH and let's say, you know, you're in a two back look and all of a sudden, we shift and we get angled as the protector and then Devon's going out in the slot and we're calling MESH. Or even better, if we're calling like a car wash screen is what they call it, where you got two rubs both over and under the receiver and Devon's coming
out clean on the back side. He's got all that speed and we're in a man call, you know, receivers or defenders four yards behind him. Yeah, it might be seven yards in a line of scrimmage, but the defender's four yards behind him and he runs four or three like he's not gonna catch him, right. It just completely erases all those angles. So there's more ways to use speed than just sending it deep. And I think the
smartest offenses, Miami included, will use that speed laterally. So I would expect to see I would expect to see a lot of the MASH. I would expect to see a lot of drive concepts. I would expect to see, you know, obviously the screen game, but not just like
bubble screens. I'm talking like tunnel screens, because you can you know, they just took the Hayes kid, who I project him more at guard, but he had like a ridiculous three cone like he can get out in space too, right, So I would expect the short passing game is going to be more involved this year, or maybe to the level of involvement that we expected last year, in addition to having the ability to go deep if they want to.
That's exactly what I was hoping to hear from you, because we also, you know, Raheem most Or again, going back to his press conference earlier in the week, he mentioned that in his exit interview with Mike McDaniel, Mike was like, I wanted to run the ball more. We just kind of got away from it there at certain points in the season. But I wonder if, like, maybe
that's not such a bad thing. Maybe you can recreate some of that short yardage, you know, conversion opportunities in the passing game and the running game combined, and just give the defense more to think about. And Brett, I told you I only have an hour for you here. We're coming up on a half hour already, so I want to go ahead and close the first episode with this question. We'll come back and talk about the six
and seventh round draft picks. You ted it there a little bit with Ryan hay Selection on the next episode. But I want to ask you about the second year in this offense because I did the deep dive. It's what I do here in the podcast. I mean, you guys do it league wide. I don't know how you do for thirty two teams. I focus on one team and it's a lot of work. But I went back and looked at every stop that McDaniel and Shanahan had together and every single stop.
Year two in the offense had a real.
Big, you know, increase in production, a really good trajectory for improvement. I'm curious how you see that playing out here because there's not a lot of room to go up. I mean, you can gain more yards and you can score more points, but as far as the rankings, those were already pretty high. I'm curious about that. And also kind of your perspective on two. A toungo by Lowa who had a breakout year last year, but there's no possible way that was his ceiling right because it was
the first year in a new system. I want to hear your take on the offense and two in year two.
Well, first things first, there's always room to go up. You know, even if you're first, you can just be first by more right, And historically, yes, this offense does take two years to kind of get going in Shanahan when he was in Atlanta, right, it wasn't until twenty sixteen, which was the second year coordinator, when everything really took off and Matt Ryan became MVP and then went to
the Super Bowl. You know, again, as as somebody who grew up watching the Texans in Kobiac and Mike where they and Kyle was there, And it took a little while to get going, but once it did, especially in the mid too, you know, two thousands, early twenty tens, it was rocket ship, right Like they got Matt Schaub to lead the league in passing. So it's it's definitely
a system that takes time. And the reason why it takes time is because there's so much And I have three different copies of multiple years of this playbook on my laptop that I'm talking you from right now. The route tree section alone is like a novel, you know, in terms of all the different ways that routes can convert against certain looks, you know, middlefield, closed, middlefield, open, press coverage looks, how things like you know, a hitch and when it converts to a fade or a fade
and when it converts to a comeback. And every single route has adjustment after adjustment after adjustment based on coverages, and everybody has to know that the quarterback and the receivers in addition to all the little rules they have in the run game of like hey, how's this block changing against a nose shade, a cock nose versus two I versus head up G versus three technique. You know, when are we flipping things like no Huddle in terms of how they're no Huddle works. And again, I'm not
gonna spoil state secrets here, but it's a lot. It's a lot to learn, and the fact that they were so good so early is impressive, and I think that speaks to Too's ability to absorb information. Right that was insane year two when everybody's already on the same page, everybody already knows what's going on, and they can just install whatever they want this summer because everybody already has that baseline. So Coach McDaniel can be a mad scientist and be like, yeah, here's how we did it before.
Let's add in x xx y, y y and zzz depending on if we get this look, that look, and that look, and we'll just throw that in on top. It's going to be really hard to stop, really hard to stop, because this offense has answers for everything, and they're just going to add to that. Summer.
You're getting me way too excited here in the month of May of Brett, Like I already can't wait for this season. And the route Tree portion of the playbook makes total sense when you think about the great Andrew Hawkins story from his time with the Browns when Mike was his receivers coach there in Cleveland and he talked about how you're not going to get pressed one time this year, and they never did because of, you know, Mike's approach to coach in that position and how to
do releases and all that fun stuff. So man, it all tracks, It all makes sense. Brett, you've killed it here on the podcast. I want to get a tease for the next episode coming right back on Monday for you guys, but for me and Brett it's in two minutes.
I want to talk about the trait of anticipation.
You talked about two of our a little bit, and we talked about Cam Smith at the top of the episode and how those traits really make both those players' games go. I want to talk about that on the next podcast. We'll also pick it up with the six and seventh round draft picks and just more general Dolphins discussion with my guest today, Brett Coleman of the Film
Room YouTube channel, the Bootleg Football podcast La Chargers. NFL Media does so much content around the globe, around the league, and Brett, we're so appreciated to have you on.
Thanks again, man, thank you.
And off he goes Man. That was a lot of fun talking with Brett. We did it earlier in the week and did two episodes, so you have another one of those episodes coming your way on Monday, just more in depth talk like that based around the draft prospects, also around the Dolphins offseason, but with some general football talking there as well. Like it went exactly how I hoped it would, and that's what Brett does. He delivers and just want to promote their content for you guys
one more time here. I did it on the Monday episode you'll hear as well. But the YouTube channel of the NFL Film Room, the Bootleg Football podcast and all the content they create there, they are if you want to become a smarter football fan. Check out the work that Brett Coleman and E. J. Snider from the Bootleg Football podcast too. It is high, high level stuff and I know if you like this podcast, you'll like that one as well, So check them out for your NFL coverage in the meantime.
That's going to be my time.
I am home with the kids this weekend, all by myself, So think about me, keep me your t's and p's, as they say, because first time mom has been away from Cameron. She's going on girls trip for her birthday. For her birthday, which she's very much earned to deserve, So I'm looking forward to her getting some free time. But I'm gonna be in the trenches taking bullets. Think about me over the weekend, and we'll come back on
Monday with the next episode with Brett Coleman. In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts.
Leave us a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me on.
Twitter at Wingfold NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank podcast with Seth and Juice, get up to the YouTube channel for Dolphins Today, media availabilities, drive time and fish Tank content, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com.
Until next time, fins up Carolina and Cameron. Daddy's coming Over