Drive Time: Chris Grier Presser and Dolphins 2024 Cornerback Draft Preview with Jon Ledyard

Miami Dolphins ahead of next week's draft. Plus the great John Ledyard joins me to break down this year's crop of cornerbacks, talk about the Dolphins secondary, and a whole heck of a lot more from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.

the case right. And number three, we just learned a lot about draft strategy and focus and positional battles and just how you kind of stack things from a GM's perspective, but also some information on the Dolphins' current roster, like, for instance, the defensive tackle group. And Barry Jackson, who always asks the most thorough and best questions to get you good detailed answers back in return, asked about the thinking behind the defensive tackle position, adding that many players,

what was the focus with that many players? Are you trying to get a defensive tackle with your first pick in the draft? All kinds of questions, and Chris Greer had a really good answer that kind of covered what Anthony Weaver and Austin Clark are looking at. And I'll give you some more feedback on it after the answer, but let's go ahead and roll the audio here from Chris Greer on basically, do you need a starting defensive tackle alongside Zach Seeler.

really like their potential and what they can be. So we feel good about the group these guys, if we were talking about them today, they've been in working hard already and it's a really good group and trying to starting to see that bond come together with that group, and they're all competing hard, and so any of the roster, it's it's not a priority, but it's obviously any player that we can add that helps our roster is a good impact player will take it doesn't matter what position.

come together yet. And I think about Neville Gallimore, you heard him talk about the potential of the guys, but also how they all wanted to play for coach Weaver and coach Clark. Now Gallimore and Clark go way back, and so That's one of those things where if coach Clark rubber stamps it and signs off like I'm all the way good. That guy has gotten production out of Zach, out of Christian, out of Rake One, out of DeShawn Hand. He just gets production out of all the guys that he coaches.

assess the defensive tackle position. Let's go ahead and move now to a question I posted to Chris Greer about the versatility you have on the roster with guys that can play inside, outside, post or box and the like. Does that help your draft strategy come draft night.

your roster. So for us, it's you know, we'll always keep looking for players that can do more.

the podcast all off season. Miami's issue the last two years was health, an attrition at key spots, and not being going to sustain a really NFL level roster at some key spots. I mean two years ago, look nothing personal. There was some like CFL level defensive backfields that started on game days, right and last year you're outside pass rushers.

just love the approach there. I think it makes you more flexible on Draft night, and as Chris Career said, it's a big focus for this team going forward. I'm not going to play the audio on this for you guys, but I thought it was worth telling you. He was asked straight up, will you take a look at a quarterback in the first round, and he pretty much just said no, we will not say that you never close the door on possibilities. But this is like one that you can because we like to one where he's at

more onto a in just a second. Next question here for Chris Greer. He was asked about the approach of best player available, about filling team needs. When do you fill team needs? This is a two part question and answer from Chris Perkins, who actually had a great question here for Chris Chris Greer. Chris Perkins, so you'll hear his voice in the middle, but talking about when do

you prioritize your team needs versus getting the best player? Well, never fill out team needs in the first couple rounds of the draft, right should should be one on one, But here's Chris Greer setting the record strait on that one.

your roster. But for the most part, I think most teams would be early in the draft are always going to take the best player available for the first couple of rounds because that's where you probably have the most control of how your board looks in terms of how you've spent all the off season, ranking, in terms of all your time with the coaching staff and scouts to build.

to compete, you go, we'll draft that. If we have, you know, like the traits in that player, we'll draft them and add them to that to the roster then. But it is it's always interesting the end of the draft process when you get to it because you're looking at your boards and it's usually picked apart and no one as players left, and then it's really just looking at the depth there of where it is and where you need to fill, and then you make your decisions there.

That you're just getting the best fifty three possible pieces of clay, if you will, and then you work on kind of truing that thing down and shaping it to the actual sculpture that you want as your final fifty three man roster. And when you have an Odell Beckham or a Carl Lawson and for a pre draft visit, that puts them on the radar, It puts their medicals in your system, puts their agent in touch with you. So after the draft completes, you can say, hey, we

didn't get the receiver we were hoping to get. We need Odell Beckham. Ou let's go ahead and get those negotiations back open again. So I love the process of kind of thinking two or three steps ahead and making sure that come September tenth, whatever, the first game is, you have the best possible roster. And you did it because you were very meticulous about each stone you turned

over in both the draft and freegency. Next question here for Chris Career, are you more inclined to move back in the draft without a third and fourth round draft pick? Here is Chris Career on the Dolphins draft strategy, which he's not going to tell you, but interesting answer.

and still possibly get them? So so you always weigh those factors of you know, yeah, it's great to pick up an extra third, but if that second round player someone we really believe in, and it's you know, like a Javon Holland or Jarvis Landry in the second round, then you know you'll take the player.

of that draft, and that's a good draft class. But when you look at it this way, it reminds me of twenty twelve when you traded back and wind up getting Jared Odrick and COAMSI, when you could have had Earl Thomas, Like which one would you rather have? Sometimes it's better to stick and pick if the best player is there. And with that in mind, he did talk about the twenty first pick, and I thought this answer was very very interesting. Do you feel that you'll stay

at pick twenty one? Are there guys that you like? How many players do you like at that spot? Here is Chris Career on the idea of picking at twenty one or possibly going back in a trade down situation.

But I thought it was a very interesting answer there, And I think based upon the mock draft scenarios I've gone down and just kind of taking a look at what's what the general consensus is out there, which is never one hundred percent accurate, It does feel like the premium spots that you would be interested in taking at that spot could have a name or two trickle down to you. So I thought there was some gamesmanship and some truth there, just some good, some good answers there

from Chris career. He talked talked about Javon Holland and the interest in a extension for him, A big piece of what we do here, he said, a big important player in the Miami Dolphins defense, and without the fifth year option, he is due for an extension next offseason. He did say they'll be talking about that down the road in the future. He also said the Dolphins will will exercise the fifth year options on both the twenty twenty one first round draft picks.

and play extension. So there are a couple of things, and I'm sure he brought to the Dolphins in terms of things he wants to improve upon, not really breaking news right, things that he struggled with a year ago playing about fifteen pounds over what he's at right now in terms of trying to add weight to make himself more durable for the season, and in doing so, the Dolphins or too, I should say, kind of realized that

the extra weight wasn't keeping him healthy. It was the jiu jitsu in the falling the correct way, so down weight faster with the injury protection. That's the kind of ceiling I think you hope for in terms of twos game.

In fact, we're going to hear from Chris Career on this next answer about during down the weight and getting to a certain weight they want him to be at, and he talked about how there's still more room for two or to grow and that line should just make you so excited about the future, because if two can get better than what he already is, we're talking about a top five quarterback in the National Football League.

in Anthony Weaver's defense. And I want to play this audio because Chris Wereer talks about we were being so prepared with the visuals that he wants to display to the coaching staff in the front office, as in, here's what I'm looking for at these certain spots, and I think that that's going to parlay nicely with the podcast we have for you here in a second, and tomorrow the discuss is what exactly that might look like under Anthony Weaver, using Baltimore Raven's defenses as kind of the

jumping off point, and how he could tailor from there to his own personal defensive structure. Here's Chris Career on the value of having Anthony Weaver in the building.

the past helps. But I think a lot of it goes to the coach, Like Anthony deserves a lot of credit for coming in here, being so prepared and having everything ready with visuals and everything for us to go through, so that he made that transition a lot easier for everyone.

as helpful as we think it is. I think people fall so in love with the draft process that they forget that there is actual work to this, you know what I mean, Like you have to be able to be critical enough to figure out what players don't work, otherwise you end up draft you end up missing on the few that do. And so figuring out what's valuable enough at each position to be able to prioritize it

is really essential. And I think the league has actually moved in a better direction overall in this, Like I think more players find roles on teams than they used to before. It was like, if you're not exactly what our expectations, where there's no usage for you, we run out of options for you. And teams have become more adaptable to players' skill sets and shortcomings and so on and so forth. But I still think there are just

very few players. I mean to come into a draft and say, oh, we have thirty some first round grades, to come into a draft and say that, and then look at how many players each year, draft after draft after draft fit that criteria and the likelihood that you're going to do that with the thirty some you've named is just very very unlikely. So I think you're much better off being more critical than less critical during a process that sees as few positive results as the NFL Draft.

hit their peak as players. And it's fascinating, man, And talking about you know, the idea of I guess flexibility or having options to move guys around this position group we're going to talk about today is one of the better ones for that.

I mean, it's one of those groups where you go into the draft saying like, Miami's probably not going to go in that route. But I always say, if you make assumptions in this time of year, in this in this for the draft, you're probably gonna be wrong. So I do want to start with a question more so to kind of link the Dolphins to this class on the back end defensively. I know you say the entire NFL and have some of a two part question here

for you. Number one is, I'm not sure if there are more versatile cornerbacks in the game than Jalen Ramsey and Kendall Fuller, and they're both here in Javon Holland you can say the same thing about his game at safety in terms of post and box and slot and all that stuff that he does. I'm curious to first how that's beneficial to a secondary and then second with

how you've watched the Ravens evolve over the years. And Anthony and we were coming from Baltimore with Kyle Hamilton, Gino Stone, Marcus Williams, Brandon Stevens, Arthur Mallette, Marlin Humphrey, The list goes on and on. Am I accurate in saying I see some similarities in the makeup of that Baltimore secondary as you have here in Miami now.

group than what they had in Baltimore. He has actual and we'll see what the health of these guys are. But if they're healthy, when Miami's healthy, at least he's got like some legit one v one pass rushers. And so perhaps it's not setting up to be as scheme oriented as a pressure package plan as what you saw in Baltimore when they would move people around and they would you know, everybody's a lot of scrimmage, who's coming,

who's going. It's all simulated pressures and things of that nature, and then you're bailing guys and some guys getting a free run. And that's kind of what you're relying on defensively in order to have success more than just these forty nine ers style defenses. Even Philly and the four down and go, we've got better rushers than you do. We're gonna beat you one v one when it matters. Our games are too tough for you to handle because we've got four athletes on the front line and you

can't block us consistently throughout the game. And the money downs and so on and so forth. So just different philosophies. They're both have been pretty successful, and so it'll be very curious to see which one or if it different. You know, hybrid of those schemes kind of is what Anthony Weaver ends up coming with up with in Miami. But I think, yeah, just secondary wise, the versatility of players is important. I think because you have different ways

to match up. That's probably the number one thing. Different ways to match up throughout the game you can call. You can be more multiple in your coverage schemes than ask players to do certain more certain things. If you've played a lot in the slot before, as Kenda Fuller has Javon Holland obviously did in college a good bit. Obviously cater Co who is is going to be the slot heading into the year, You'd assume Kaylan Ramsey's played

in the slot before. You can follow number ones to the slot, which lots of teams are trying to do that. You can follow number one in the slot depending on body type, with a lot of different players. If there's two number ones and Ramsey matches up better with an outside guy, you could trust that you have a bunch of different guys to play in the slot against another really quality receiver if you need to. So that versatility.

Offenses rely on it to be able to implement their game plans, and the amount of different routes that you can get to from the slot and defense is now spe Specifically, Miami's will be able to also CounterPunch by being able to match up with those with a lot of their personnel. So I think already they're set up honestly pretty well in the secondary. The additions of Fuller, I think it's just been an underrated solid player for

a long time now. I don't know what Poyer has left in the tank, but if he's got anything left in the tank. He is definitely a good helpful player. With Holland, I don't think you'll need quite as much

from him. Of course, we don't know exactly what Anthony Weaver is going to do, but Holland's ability to play single high free safety and do with a lot of the hard stuff as needed is certainly a part of this factor and how Poyer is going to be used to and it may be time for him to transition more to a down low roll and replace someone where Brandon Jones did for Miami. So I'm fascinated to see

how it goes. I'm very excited to see Anthony Weaver as a defensive coordinator calling you shots, doing his own thing, and I'm excited to see if we see an evolution and a continued move of more Mike McDonald's style defenses coming across the or if he comes up with something new entirely Allah, you know, an old Miami name, and Brian Flores is doing his own complete thing. You know that's outside the norm of everybody else and not the

first time he's done that. So it'll be fascinating to watch Weaver this season.

will we will have this. This episode will be paired with the safety class as well as Simon Clancy from the Three Arts per Carry podcast here on drive time, so I'll talk to him a little bit about the idea of potentially you know that because you mentioned a bunch of guys that can play that slot position, but so many safety is like a big nickel role, right Like, I'm thinking about the Miami's potential to maybe go and add a safety in this year's class that might complete

that entire backside of that room. So we'll talk about that with Simon here in just one second. But I want to go back to the cornerback group here, because I mean, you nailed John, like Jalen Ramsey is Jalen Ramsey. I'm such a huge fan of Kendall Fuller's tape after watching him this offseason. You mentioned Katerkohu, but we also have you know Cam Smith is a second round draft pick. Lasher did you so, I'm sure you have an evaluation

on camps with why don't we go ahead and start there? Actually, what was your tape great on Camp Smith last year and kind of your thoughts about a player that didn't really get any playing time in year one and how he could maybe make some more of his time here in his second season with Miami.

In the twenty twenty two I didn't see him play with the same level anticipation from off coverage that he once did. I did think he was a pretty good tackler overall. I had high marks on him for his ball skills as well. Thought there was a chance for him to be like, even if he was going to give up some plays, to be like a playmaker type when they put him in press, which was not very

often that felt last year at South Carolina. I thought there were some real tools there to work with, that he had the right tenacity and mindset there, but he seemed like a player who didn't have quite the measurables to be like an unbelievable elite player that I know. Some people talked about him as, Oh, he's first round caliber corner you're gonna get later in the draft. I never saw him quite that way, but I didn't see him as some I thought. I think he's somebody who

could be a contributor to your secondary. Obviously their their position to be able to not need to rely on him, I think right now. But if he blossomed, it would be huge for that secondary, adding another piece in there, especially because you consider how often if Weaver's gonna follow the McDonald role, they like to play lots of defensive backs on the field, and one of the keys is going to be how well do they play the run?

How well do they tackle? And I thought he was definitely solid in both of those regards when he was at South Carolina. So his development just in terms of giving them depth in another playable option, even if he's not. He doesn't have to be a lead shutdown guy, right.

He just just to look at Kansas City, right, they're four or five deep a corner every year and making these runs and they don't need They've had certainly some really good corners, but they don't need like every single guy on their team to be like a star, especially when you have a Ramsey. He needs to be able to play like a Joshua Williams role jats, like those guys with the Chiefs, and I think if he can do that, they can give them that this season. They'll

feel great. If they trust that, they may not even take a corner in those drafts if they trust that. It's just I'm not sure how much they're going to trust that given out Small's role as last year.

to be a special teamers here that first year. Then last season, Ramsey misses half the year, Howard misses some games. It was just a lot, and so you need to depth at that cornerback room, like you mentioned there.

long term perimeter option. But he can also play some big nickel early on in his career, I believe.

could play in that role. There's also that possibility of like him potentially being a safety, which could be something that Miami ends up needing depending on what Poyter has left in the tank or eventually needing anyway, if player's kind of getting near the end here and so that could be an option. Mitchell played QUINYA. Mitchell from Toledo played mostly in his own scheme in college, but showed at the Senior Bowl that he can match up in man. I think he's going to love a player like that.

I don't know that they're going to take a corner in the first round, But I just I think in terms of just the appeal to what Miami's trying to be defensively, he certainly fits a lot of those criteria. And I don't know that he'll be there because it seems like the rumors are he'll be the first corner off the board. But Terry and Arnold from Alabama played inside and outside there definitely a little bit of a late bloomer, but really came on this past year. I

think he has wonderful press man skills. His off coverage stuff is fine in terms of his ability to close on the ball and all of that, he will get turned around and off coverage he's a little aggressive, and sometimes that can work against him, and that he gets caught on double moves and guys get behind him. And he does not have that great makeup speed. So his high end plays have distracted people a little bit from what I think are some weaknesses he probably won't be

able to get away from in the NFL. But his high end stuff is so good, like his ball skills, his ability to close on things in front of him. I missed the tackling the run defense. He's going to emphatically check all those boxes. So I still think he could be the best corner in this draft. I haven't quite finished all my emails by the end of this week. I hope to a corner, but he's definitely gonna be very high for me. I just think you have to be careful if you take him because there is some

stuff in off coverage that it's fixable. But I think that if he doesn't fix it, he does not have that elite level speed because I think he's a four to five guy, which is fine if as long as he's able to keep things in front of him and not be too aggressive, because he's not going to be able to save himself the way hed in college. At times in the NFL, everybody's speed is just going to be too great, and quarterbacks can make those throws regularly.

So there may be some bumps in the road early on, more than people anticipate, but I think his high end plays will eventually make up for it.

get drafted high. I don't know that. I think that could be his undoing in the NFL, to be honest with you, But in terms of fit, I definitely think there's a lot of there with him. His physicality as well. He's somebody who will come downhill and absolutely hammer people. So that part of his game I think will really appeal to a lot of teams. But we just haven't seen many corners that ran that slow workout in the NFL,

and so that will be a big question mark. He does play fast moving forward, but when he has to turn and run, I think there are some issues that could be his undoing. And then I mean there's a lot honestly, this draft. Once you get past the first wave, the depth at corner is pretty remarkable in terms of guys who just like had pretty good college tape and their athleticism seems to check the box that they can

at least play in the league. Now fit and coach, abillity and character, all that mentality that's probably going to decide who out of like the Nax melt and Andrew Phillips, Ronardo Green, Jerry Jones, Jarvis Brown. The people love Kayln Carson's picking up steam, Connor Rodgers my boy. He loves Kamal Hayden, who I think from Tennessee who is probably going to go later in the draft. There's some people

that love DJ James from Auburn. Like, there's just so many corners that are probably going to go in the second to fourth round range that can actually play. Ronardo Green, I think is probably one of the most interesting from Florida State, just because when you're taking a corner later in the draft, you want to know that they compete and you want them to and you'd love to know that they have the upside to maybe make a lot of plays in the ball. He forced sixteen incompletions last year,

tied for sixth most in the country. He is not the biggest in terms of just his overall like. He's fine height wise. I think he hit six foot, but

he's not like the thickest corner like. Strength could be an issue you could see at times, but just a guy that can has the instincts and the ball skills to be I would have forced that many incompletions to play as well as he played in man coverage this past season when he was in man coverage, sixty targets a lot of just thirty one catches throughout his college career.

Has been a great competitor and all that time, I think he could be probably underdrafted because he may not be like, oh, it's unbelievable measurables testing guy or anything like that. But when you look at the tape, there's not been many corners in this class that have played better than him and gotten better for every single year they've been in college too. So it's if the Dolphins do want to draft a corner, there's absolutely no onus to do that in the first round. This is a

very very deep cornerback draft. I think that's getting lost on which we talk about wide receiver and tackle, the cornerbacks buzz. But the corner draft and the interior defensive line after two position gerps are just like as I watch them, there are just so many guys who can play. I don't know if they're all going to be stars or anything, but there's just so many guys who can play. And when you're Miami and you're probably looking for a corner that can play more than you are, like, we

need a top flight number one. We're rebuilding the whole thing. We want a cornerstone piece to build around. They're probably more in the camp of mid rounds. We're looking for another guy and can play if we don't, you know, trust camp Smith or you know, there's questions about some of the other guys in the roster with Fuller getting up there at age two, Like, if that's the route they're going, I think there's gonna be tons of options. They don't have to spend a high end resource to do that.

year's cornerback class. Going back to the depth of this class that you mentioned in the previous segment talking about rounds two and four and like, yeah, Miami has a pick at fifty five, but they don't pick again until pick one fifty eight in that fifth round, and so it kind of seems like when you mentioned that, the first thing that comes to my mind is, well, typically when you have a glut like that and a bunch of guys that can play, somebody's gonna fall out the

back end and wind up late in day three. So my question for you is, who are some guys you think could make it to pick one fifty eight. It would be of interest to the Dolphins at the cornerback spot.

then then go for it, you know. I mean. Tackles just an interesting discussion for them in general, just because Armstead's health last couple of years and I know he's bringing it back for another year, but you got to think they're getting to the point where they may want to consider a future there and moving down from where they are in the first round, if you can go down from twenty one a couple of spots, there still should be probably tackles on the board that you could

potentially develop there. So anyway you can pick up an extra pick, I do think in this draft you're going to be able to do that. So that's just something to keep in mind. I'm sure you guys have talked

about that a lot on shows as well. But I say, in the fifth round, it's always really difficult to tell who's gonna be on the board at that point in time, I think, just because it does fluctuate, so the player I might be highest on like the league, ends up being super highed and they end up taking them high but I think Kalen Carson has been one of the more interesting players in this year's class, like because there

there's been like basically no buzz about him. But he's played outside corner and he played a little bit in the slot this past season. I felt like, I mean, although there are plays where he does get beat, and we're talking about remember fifth round, so we're just talking about who can we find that might be available there that can actually play. He's a guy that will play the run defense. Absolutely, he will come downhill, he will

make tackles. He isn't gonna get his hands on a ton of balls, but in general, you can play him. I think he's pretty scheme versatile. He's not gonna kill you. In terms of his size, there's measurable So you're looking at a guy who I think like he's not going to be the fastest. He's probably gonna have to play

in more of his zone system to a degree. But he's done a good bit of stuff his career, and he's played over two thousand snaps too, so he's a little more ready, and he's physical and at the very least, right if you're getting nothing else out of him, you're getting a special teams player, and I think that that's really really important. So a lot of the things of Miami values I think will value in their corners corner

room he brings to the table. I don't know whether we'll ever bring any of that stuff at a high enough level, just because nothing is elite about his game

early other than his physicality. But I think even if he doesn't bring it a high enough level to be a starter in the NFL, somebody that could become a competent backup and could be a great special team or because of his physicality, I think that he would be worth an investment somewhere in that range of the draft if he's still there in the fifth round.

of wake Forest. By the way, they're Kaylyn Carson, I'm trying to do a better job.

I love this year's class. There's a guy from Washington State who'm been a big fan of there, but I won't mention his name unless you want to. Who are your favorite slot cornerbacks in this year's class? Loot get you out of here.

ultimately be his undoing. How his body holds up with how physical he plays is going to be a real question mark because in the NFL, like he will just absolutely hammer people. I mean he did it several times last year, and I just don't know, like how his body type is gonna hold up, because I think he's he's very l liked. I don't know what his weight. He tried to bulk up I think a little bit, but his weight I think could be an issue for

him at the next level. But yeah, he's definitely one that I think could play inside in the NFL and played there in Michigan. I'm trying to think of others that might be able to play at that spot. I haven't seen Smith Wade, who was probably who you're an alert a little. I have not seen him yet, so he is on my list to watch. He's an inside guy that he can play there.

the group as well. So I mean Jerry and Jones was a slot in college from Florida State, and so perhaps he's another one that will play there in the NFL that you can get in the middle rounds. Probably isn't on the board in the fifth and maybe two early in the seconds, so he'd be one if you pick up another pick, perhaps he's going to be the guy, but you have good run defender. When they asked him to play in man even as a slot guy, which means I think he I mean, he didn't play outside

in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty one. He's been a good man coverage corner as well, but this past year playing in the slot, he kind of went from being off the radar a little bit to being very on the radar for NFL teams. And so he'd be another one that I think could be like the physical and mental traits to play slot because slots of communication position right, like, you have to be able to tackle, you have to be able to play lots of different

types of coverage. You don't have to be as great in man coverage, you don't necessarily have to be as great at press or things like that. You don't have to be as fast, probably because you're not going to take his ready routes vertical from that position most of

the time. But you have to be able to tackle, to be able to recognize things very quickly, to be able to play a lot of different coverages, to be able to communicate to the rest of the defense, to be able to set the edge of times in the run game, things like that, and I think he can do all of those things. So Jarring Jones is probably another name to be able to keep in.

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