This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield. What is up Dolphins and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, we are right back at it part three of our summer preview series. We're going to take a look at the Jags, Colts, Titans, and Texans in the AFC South. But first my chat with impressive Dolphins rookie Dante Trader Junior. All of that ahead from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health
Training Complex. Er writ from the Wingfield household here in Miramar, Florida.
This is the Draft Time Podcast, Daffy.
Joining us today on the Draft Time Podcast is new Dolphins safety rookie Dante Trader Junior.
Dante, what's up man?
How you doing doing?
I'm good, I'm not doing too bad. It's been a fun morning so far.
Getting to tell you guys a little bit, and you know I mentioned to you you listen to the Coach Loxley podcast. He had some some high praise for you there. Can you just start the show off here by kind of telling us about what your time at Maryland with Coach Locksley did to prepare you for the NFL.
Yeah, so even before when he you know, talked to me and my coaches at mcdone school about the plan, the four year plan about you know, changing a young puck into it. Man, it's just more you know, and dive down over the years. When I came in freshman year, you got to restart and improve yourself. So he gave me the tools and necessarily the small divits of encouragement and motivation and hard coaching throughout my years and just let me know, you're.
Gonna be a young leader.
You've got to be ready to go when you know it's your time. So by my second year, which was my first year starting, I was thrown into a leadership role and having the ability to be in the leadership meets with old veteran guys, four year, five year guys.
And I've been there for two years. But it was a great journey, especially as me and coach actually built a relationship over the years and most of us built on you know, my mental the mental side of the game as a safety and just being out there and you know, not over analyze and just playing freely and just being distinctual.
What would you attribute that to, like the leadership qualities that you drew from that put you in that position because to your point, like that's an honor usually held for you know, seniors, right, and you're in there your second year, what would you say contribute to your ability to be in that position.
I think it started when I was young.
I always had a like deep down care for my teammates and wanted to give share what I knew, my experience and what I went through with all my teammates and help them out because I was always one of the top players or better players. So you know, to get to those spots, you got to have some skill at one and then too, you have to have some
experience behind you. So every level I went, I just naturally felt myself pulling a young guy, pulling older guy, getting some things off of them that I didn't know or know, and just sharing and just being that light. And it was just natural to me. I didn't, you know, wake up and say I would be a leader. It just naturally came to me and just how I go about things from school and everyone, you know, how you
do anything, so I do everything. So when I came into college, they've seen it in me from you know, the workouts and with the freshman guy.
So when I came in, I was the one.
Lead and bringing the energy, being consistent and everything I did so and then people naturally gravitated towards me, so I had the ability.
He was like, hey, this leadership thing is good.
So yeah, it works pretty good. It probably across multiple sports too, obviously lacrosse. But did you play other sports as well as a kid.
Yeah, I played basketball. Basketball was my first sport.
Same thing there, but I kind of dropped that sport once I got off into high school.
Did you be Were you one of those football players who kind of played football in the basketball court or were you Were you pretty skilled basketball player?
I mean, as you see, I don't play anymore, so I can't say I was a pretty skilled basketball player, but I was pretty good when I was younger. Picked it back up later and I was like, it's not the same, So I just, you know, continued to just play two sports.
We had the skid in our team football player and basketball player. But he wasn't very good at hoop and he would like, if you stole the ball from me, would like full on tackle. You'm like, dude, you're not playing safety right now?
Brother? Like you're trying to like put the ball in the hole.
Yeah, I can't say that.
I wouldn't grab you, but especially if we're on a fast break I had lost position, I might pull jersey.
You can always tell the football players man in the high school basketball courts. Hilarious to me. So something else coach Locksley really praised was was your ability to prepare and get yourself ready for a game and be kind of that signal call on the back end. What does a week of preparation look like for you? And I don't want you to, like, you know, tell me your breakfast routine and like you know, but like when you try to get ready for a game, like, what's that look like for you?
Yeah, I mean it's going to be different now that I'm in the league, it's different. I have to figure that process out. Everywhere you go, you got to figure out the process. But work for me was I would come in Sundays and watch raw tape of the teams put two or three games. You can tell a lot about offensive coordinators, players quarterbacks by watching the raw tape.
So I would come in, I would get my most like that Sunday would be the most instinctial part of my like, you know, week everything else is more robotic because you get a feeling of okay, just running back a jump cut guy is who my run pass?
Key? Of the left tackle? Has he been like? Who's my guy?
It's quarterback, a half field readers, it's crunch time. Who's the quarterback going to after interception, after a turnover, after a big player? What's the offensive coordinator doing? So you can kind of fill out that get candacens. But Monday through Thursday really is just you know, every what everybody does. The short yard is first and second down runs and passes. You got third downs on Wednesday and Thursday situational things.
But where I get different is on Fridays. I usually take that day is make a cutup of the one hitters, the one hitters that coaches are like, don't worry about that, they're not gonna run them, just so I can be prepared when that formation comes out, so I can be you know, not panicking to be out there. But you know this, the preparation, it starts early in the morning and then with the coaches, that's that's you know, that's mandatory.
If you're not doing hours after so I would be in there, especially with me and Jordan, will be there till eleven, sometimes at night and just getting the film out, writing notes, and then I would send it to my teammates.
So that's part of the leadership role as well. You mentioned I have two fall ups, though the one hitters. Is that like the one hitch like ball out type of stuff.
No, it's more of like the trick plays, the formations that are specifically for a certain team. It's like, hey, this defense plays a lot of this, We're gonna make a trick play or this one off formation that you never see against them. So I go right down, down, put them in the put them in the thing, because it's like, Okay, if our defense is similar, they're can
tact us the same way. And it paid off in college because I was a bit had the ability to get us in some checks and where my teammates are looking at me like what the heck is that formation or what is this We can get off the down and not give up explosives because that's the name of the game.
Yeah, super valuable from that spot obviously. Another question was you mentioned the raw tape. I was just watching the game front to back.
Right, Yeah, it's just like the TV copies where you can hear, you hear the reps, you can hear, you can hear all that.
Like I want to hear.
I want the raw game, no cutups, nothing, I just want to hear to see the flow the game, because you can get a filling of the flow when you're watching cutups, Like you can't get a feeling of the flow the game and how it goes. So you can
pick up tennessees very well, like I said, instinctial. So like when I'm out there on now Sundays or Thursdays or month different days, you say, okay, when they get backed up, I know this coordinator is more aggressive, okay, because you can see that by the raw tape games. You can't see that when in the cutups. So that's why you got to go hand in hand with the cutups and raw tape like the TV copies.
That makes a lot of sense. Really good stuff to talk about there, And how how would you say? Obviously that stuff was great for college ball, But now you mentioned having to re kind of prove yourself here in the league. What have you learned so far? I mean, obviously all of that preparation and film setting. A lot of stuff can take you so far, and I know you'll bring that with you to the NFL. But it's been two months here since you got drafted. Now to
you know, mandatory mini camp. What have you learned and how has that stuff kind of helped you maybe ease learning curve a little bit?
I would say, I mean there was a slight learning curve for me.
I feel like my superpower was ability to learn playbook and the exits and those of the game, because that's kind of what I came into college.
I had the same thing, you know, playing to shoot sports.
Learning different systems and schemes is my my superpower, so I kind of played to it. It took me like a week or two to really get majority of the playbook. Obviously you got the things that you need to go out there and do and mess up. I feel pretty comfortable, but just going over we have a lot of resources here with the virtual reality, the mad and wall Like, I just go out there and do my checks and
calls from virtual reality. So that's a big aspect I never had the ability to do, but it worked wonders for me. So now I can go out there a lot of bullets. I've seen that over one hundred times and I'm making.
Checks to it.
So it has my ability to go out there and slow the game down because I remember when I came out there the first week we were here, I was like, the speed of the game is different, and I was one hundred percent right. Just listen to the vets. This game is about lowest margin of air. So if I take one wrong step, that's the difference from a catch, a explosive or interception, you know what I'm saying. So and I had to learn not even learning curves, like
more pains of going through that myself. It's like, oh, man, if I didn't we an extra inch off this, I could have made this pick or this thing.
But it's been fun.
That's how you can shave those down, right, those VR reps, those ten thousand hours worth of reps, you're kind of stack them up there and make yourself a true professional in that way. I'll end with this. So you mentioned Jordan Phillips. He kind of talked about the way you guys worked at Marlin really cool stuff, and I think that's probably a big reason when the Dolphins were attracted
to both you guys. But you mentioned, you know, getting those reps and this defense and Anthony Weavers, a guy that you know, Dolphins fans are crazy about because he's been so awesome for the first year. Here, What is it about this scheme with coach Weaver that you think really fits your game or makes you the most excited about playing in this defense?
Because we do it all.
They asked the safeties to do a lot communication wise and different schemes and play a lot. You got to be a versatile switch army knife in the system. But I would say more people want to look at the X and those I look at the mentality being on this team, being with the defense, the leaders like Chubb and Brooks and t DoD and you know you Cater. You got a lot of guys up front, even Steelers.
So it's like, yo, it's a mindset thing. More than Weaver can make the call, but it's about the players executing, Like we can wind up in anything and go get a play master you and go get it done. But it's more mindset like are you gonna come off the ball hard, You're gonna spend your knees, You're gonna do the small things that allow you to be a great football player and run to the ball. Bring the standard
of getting a punch at the ball. Everybody collectively leven hands the ball, and that's more of the mindset that helps him be a great defense.
Allow defense is a great defense.
So they all, especially Coach Duke and Coach we were like Trader, we need demonstrative communication everywhere we go. Your safety, we're gonna line up. Same thing with the backers. But I would say it's more mindset than the scheme and anything like that. With Coach Weaver, like he go out there and play. There ain't no hesitation, there's no shoot shoot the gun, shoot the bullets. You know what I'm saying, Ain't we ain't leaving this field with a full clip.
Man. I think fans are gonna love this podcast and love hearing you talk just real quick, just kind of shift gears because you're seems like you're all bust all time, and I really appreciate that about you. But is there something in South Flord that you've you've done or want to do this offseason that you're looking forward to and maybe just kind of enjoy put your feet in the sand for a minute. Yeah.
Man, A lot of people, well people that know me. I like to fish and hunt. From being a small town Delaware kid, I like to be outdoors. So if anybody you don't want to, let me on a boat or we can go, you know, somewhere Everglaze Orerever on the water.
But I like to do a lot of things.
I bowl a bowl and then I got into golf and so people can help me with a.
Little golf swing.
That's my game.
Yeah.
I like to be out I like to connect with the community. So anybody want to, you.
Know, maybe let's go. Let's go and have some fun on the water. Do anything.
Good stuff.
Dante Trader Junior, New Dolphin Safety. Love it good stuff and welcome to South for appreciate you the way he goes. And away we go for our first break right there. Come back on the other side, we'll do the Texans and Colts, take another break, and then finish up with the Jags and the Titans. That's all next Draft Time
podcast brought to you by AutoNation. It is time to crank up the NFL because in preview content once again, as we're going to be rolling through the AFC South, NFC South, both North divisions and both East divisions here over the next couple of weeks before we get you guys ready for training camp with a full fledged roster and camp preview. But let's go ahead and jump into
today's topic, the AFC South. The Dolphins will see one team from this division on their schedule this year, the Indianapolis Colts, but we kick it off with the Houston Texans and the changes in personnel. Continuity on the defensive staff is intact there, but there's some significant changes to the offensive side of the football. Bobby Slowik is now with the Miami Dolphins and in his place at OC is Nick Kayley. Tamiko rans is telling you the type of system that he wants to run though going from
one Shanahan Shree coach to another. Kaylee was with the Rams, but only for two years. His eight previous years prior to that were in New England, and they retained a decent chunk of the offensive staff actually, and had similar turnover on the defensive staff under Matt Burk. So they're kind of retooling things to find the perfect combination, or at least in search of the perfect combination. And surely you guys remember Matt Burrs bag will cover more of
him in the film section. Larry My Tunzel, Stefon Digg, Shaq, Mason, Kenyan, Green, Eric Murray all out. But that's about where it ends. It presents an interesting debate because the offensive line was their biggest issue in twenty twenty four, but they lost three of the four best players. Is that a good thing or is it a bad thing? We're gonna find
out this season. But also I mean offloading Tunzel's contract with the quarterback on a rookie contract who's produced at a high level, it allowed them to ink some key parts to their team for the long term future. Daniel Hunter, Derek Stingley, Nico Collins, I'm sure Stroud and Tank Dell and Jalen Petray all going to be on that list here soon. In the meantime, just like last offseason, they continued to import big parts to their roster. They signed
Trent Brown, Cam Robinson, Lake and Tomlinson. They trade for Ed Ingram and look that's what they're doing. They swapped out basically a line change for their offensive line. Tomlinson was not good with the Jets after a good career at the Niners. Trent Brown has a bit, but I
thought not really a scheme fit there. Robinson I don't think is a perfect match for the scheme, but he's also missed a lot of games and not been like a star level talent, so I don't think it's an upgrade over Larmie Tunzel by any stretch of the imagination. So the line is different, But is it better? We'll find out. I mean, ask a Vikings fan about ed Ingram, go look up his name on Twitter, and they were not very kind to him. But I guess that's how
fans are on Twitter. So I just think it's worth examining that just because you make changes doesn't mean necessarily better. They trade for Christian Kirk, they add Jayden Higgins in the second round. I'm sure that's kind of a reaction to possibly not having Tank Dell this season, who had a serious leg injury last January in the playoffs, because they weren't done there, because two rounds later they take Jalen Knowle, who I thought was the better Iowa State
Hawkey than Jayden Higgins was. So they're deep, especially when Dell returns. And they also just added Nick Chubb to Joe Mixon in the backfield. The only projected starter added this offseason on the defense was Chauncey Gardner Johnson. Now, he's a great mercenary, a guy that you get for one year, plays good football, and then by year two he's kind of a problem. And that's why he's been
on six teams now. But the next big signings for them were Sheldon Rankins and Daryl Taylor, both figured to be number three on the interior and edge groups there. As far as the film the calling card, I admire the changes they made to attempt to jump start things. It's like we talked about the Dolphins all offseason. You have certain issues, make moves to attack those issues, and
I think both those teams did that this offseason. But just in general, I like how they had, you know, things that didn't work, and they went hard after those things in the offseason. I think that quote unquote whatever it takes approach is a good one and will work for Damiko Ryan's long term. As for this year, it's
all going to be projection. Stroud was saying that he watched a lot of Tom Brady this offseason when in a different which is a different variation of the quick game principles you see here so that kind of tells me with the side adjustments in the passing offense and what makes Stroud special his ability to do that, and I think with Christian Kirk there like to me that all adds up to intentionality about how to get this offense fixed and have more quick answers of post to
just the you know, deep developing downfield routes, attack the intermedia and deep portions of the field, and with those offensive line moves they don't necessarily follow the same track. So the concept of borrowing from the old Patriots offense, which in those days was gap and power, it's changed now with the rams influence from Kaylee they got the past couple of years. I imagine it's a strong outside zone game with some pivoting to more inside zone and duo.
But I think this is all great in theory, but sometimes it doesn't gel right away, right like it's not a sure thing or even ever. So this feels like a team I'd project for maybe a slow start offensively, but could see them finding their groove. Maybe I'm wrong all around, but that's kind of how I see it playing out. The personnel is really good, Stroud mixing and Chubb we didn't even talk about Dalton Slton, Cage Stover
and Brevin Jordan tight end. Yet we did cover Collins and Kirk and Higgins and Noel and Justin Watson, with Tank Dell maybe coming back for the playoffs.
I don't know if that's in line.
I haven't even looked at his I just know he's gonna be on pup just right the year, but we'll see what happens come Thanksgiving. I guess I didn't even mention John Metchi, who I love his game, but he's had his own health, his own health issues. But those three moves for the two rookies and Watson, they are clearly interested in a big body difference maker. I like the selection of Ursery their their third round draft pick for a swing tackle, potential outside zone guy that could
start down the road. They kicked Titus Howard inside. I am dubious on that because he was very good at right tackle, and to me, a good right tackle offers a lot more value than a good right guard, where I think he can play there as well. And our lads has a starking combination of Cam Robinson, Lake and Tomlinson, Jarrett Patterson, Titus Howard and Blake Fisher with Trent Brown, Arianti Ercery and Ed Ingram next.
It's a pretty deep group of names.
If Ingram like your eighth guy, it kind of reminds me of like Liam here if you have him in that position. The defense is one of the best coach units in all of football. They can change like a chameleon. They built out these basic core concepts under Ryan's and
then get into so much variation. I'm looking at a thread here where they had five different pressure packages from a double mug look where you have two mugged up players, think about the Brian flore Regier's You bring those those middle linebackers and Sam Eguavan and Jerome Baker down over the football and you sometimes come on the blitz, sometimes
you back out in the coverage. We saw them nail their pattern match zone concepts against US last December to kind of end our season, so to speak to the tune of four turnovers in that big whim. They have smart safeties who cross off the mental checklist very quickly,
and that's kind of how Ryan's coaches things. To have a smart middle linebacker a ziz Al Shi, Here's that guy for him, and then two smart safeties, and they certainly have that to really buzz the middle of the field behind a pass rush that forces quarterbacks to speed
up their mental clock. In all honesty, like, thinking back to that game last December, with the combination of Patrick Paul in a rookie season at one tackle spot in Jackson Carmon at the other, with those safeties and with our offense, like, it makes sense why we struggled that
day against Daneil Hunter and Will Anderson. Their personnel is just sick Man Anderson, Denico Auxrey Fat Too, Fatakassi, Daniel Hunter, the linebackers, Christian Harris as He's al Shayir, Henry to Oto, Derek Stingley, Kamario Lassiter was a great rookie last year for them, Chauncy Gardner, Johnson's the hell of a player, Jalen Peatree is a Pro Bowl player, and I thought Cayden Bullock was one of the best rookies in the
Damn League last year. Then they've got Tim Settle, a nose tackle who can do multiple things in the rotational department. Mario Edwards and Darryl Taylor are good pass rush situation guys. So is Derek Barnett, E J. Speed's got a lot of speed. Thatt linebacker for a backup position. Jimmy Ward is projected to be a backup safety. Now, I think it's the best defense in football. The questions here, will the scheme and the offensive line shift offensively be enough
to get Stroud back to his rookie four. If he does that, they're going to be a contender for the Super Bowl this year. I have almost no questions about the defense or the skill groups on offense, and I love this quarterback. I was a little bit lower on the Texans last year than most. I tend to do that when everybody insists a team will make a big year or two jump, but then I tend to buy the dip in year three. And they don't get me wrong.
I mean they want a bad division. That's the only reason I went to the playoffs, right, They wouldn't have probably gone to the playoffs in any of the division. But they did win a playoff game over the Chargers and got back to the divisional round, which was the same place they exited a year ago. So by that theory, they made an improvement. But I don't think they made the jump that they would have wanted to in terms
of just how the quality of football was. I think this is the year that they'll do that the miscellaneous factors, you know, especially in this division, as far as like making a deep run. To me, there's a sizable gap between the Texans roster and the other three in the division. I just really trust Ryan's to make good decisions, and that makes me think that Kaylee's going to be a good hire, and the near over investment on the offensive line will allow them to shake there to find some
acorns from that group. I just think they're so deep, and that to me is a sign of a smart front office. Anytime you have a good quarterback on a rookie contract, you basically have house money to do what you want. So let's just build a ridiculously deep team and maybe don't do what a lot of teams have done in terms of spending all your money on these high priced out you know, imports from other teams. And they did that to a very effective degree last year.
But now it kind of seems like they've refocused their attention on depth and extending their own guys and getting the program, you know, back on track to where it was two years ago.
Down the stretch.
I think they're in the worst division in the AFC, but they get the AFC West and NFC West in terms of their schedule, two of the best, and a first place schedule against Baltimore and Buffalo. But to me, that's going to just battle test them for the playoffs. I think the Texans season starts on wild card weekend. I think the trapdoor scenario here is the offensive lines
moves blow up in their face. CJ remains uncomfortable behind that pocket, and the concepts don't connect because every week is such a slog and you can't count your protection. That could have it a diminishing effect on a good defense. It happens all the time. My conclusion here, I'm not sure there are many teams in the AFC I like more than this one great coach. I think a great quarterback of very deep roster probably the best defense in the conference, if not in.
Football loaded skill groups.
Lost ake here for the Houston Texans, and then we go to the rest of the division and we'll pick it up here with the Indianapolis Colts and their changes. From a personnel perspective, the offensive staff remains unchanged and they hired perhaps my favorite DC that was available this offseason, outside of the Robert salap Higher that I praised last week. I think the Bengals are going to really miss Lou
and Aarumo. Yes, that Sincy defense was like historically bad last season, but I thought there was a lot more about having a bunch of young players that couldn't really fill the shoes of all the proven vets they have lost over the years and quite frankly didn't replace. I mean, you know, you don't let a guy like Jesse Bates when you're somewhat penny pinching organization. We've seen that play out here with you know, Shamar Stewart and Trey Hendrickson
situation in Cincinnati. But like when you go from Bates and von Bell to rookie safeties in a defense that is absolutely imperative that you get like quality safety, communication and recognition skills, what did you think was going to happen?
Right?
But back to the Colts, that's where their big moves were made. As they are the beneficiary of the Lou and a Rumo firing. They go after Charvarius Ward and cam Binam. They drafted JT to Moolalu I butchered that and in the second round and Justin Wally in the third round. Offensively, Daniel Jones was brought in as the
biggest veteran move there. Outside of that and Tyler Warren at picked fourteen, they're kind of running it back from the roster last year outside of two major losses on the offense, and they're going with incumbent replacement players to Will Fries and Ryan Kelly, both who went to the Vikings on big deals, with Tanner Bordolini and Matt Conclaves, who both played well last year the film The I think the best way to describe their offense is an
efficient operation when it comes to attacking the three levels, your deep, your intermedia, and short zones. I think in theory the addition of Tyler Warren was sort of a processing eraser for Anthony Richardson on the reps where he didn't see it clearly right, just find forty four in the quick game and let him go run over tacklers in the process. But now that might be Daniel Jones's job. Given the injury to ar and his shoulder this offseason, I'm dealing with two screaming kids. Right now, So I
apologize for the edits here. But Zach Keefer went on the Heat the Call podcast this offseason and said, the expectation was that Daniel Jones starts in Week one. So if that's the case, I suppose you reduce the quarterback run stuff. And we detailed this in the run up to the game last year. I wanted Joe Flacco out there because of what Ar brought to the run game, and in particular in the red zone, and he produced a touchdown down in that area as a result in
a game that we lost by one possession. Their best run game scheme, however, has been split zone. All that is is zone action with a tight end coming across the formation to split the zone and kick out that backside defender, and that also has a lot of pass
game wrinkles off of it you can incorporate. And I keep thinking about how Ar was a threat in terms of the quarterback run game and how deadly that can be with the misdirection that you get from split zone, as you can then kind of run backside flood concepts off of all of that. But his injuries, his inconsistencies,
they've sort of halted all of that thought. So now with Jones, I imagine the thinking is that he can play pass off that scheme better and excel in the quick game better, and that pairs with the run game approach. Plus he's not a big play threat, but he can run a little bit, kind of like Tannehill was down here, straight lines and don't have to change directions too often. And this is an offense that wants to get to RPO,
kind of like Hurtz in Philadelphia Richardson here. That's where Shane Stike can cut his teeth as a no. C. But also the wham action and traps where you can kind of play off that split zone and peel guys back and get some crack blocks on the interior and the edges and all that lends itself to what I think Tyler Warren does best, where he can sift across the formation and find blocks in that split zone game, but also find outlets in the passing game to make himself a run after catch threat.
It's an interesting offense.
I mean, those offensive line losses and replacements will determine a lot. The three parts remaining on the offensive line are.
All really really good players.
In Bernard Raymond Quenton Nelson and Braden Smith, their skill players Michael Pittman, Alec Pierce, Ashton Downs or no sorry, Josh Downs, and Ashton Doolan with the Donne Mitchell is a solid deep group. If there's not a top tier
number one in there, that would be the knock. And then they kind of go as Jonathan Taylor goes in the backfield defensively, minimal, blitzing, aggressive, with the good amount of man coverage, but also man presentations that turn into soft spots or drops zones, I should say, and soft zones. Ana Rumo cut his teeth in the defensive backfield and puts a ton of responsibility on those guys's plates in
terms of rules and side adjustments. That's where it went wrong with the Bengals, and I think why they went after Charvarius Ward and cam by them for that reason. I'm glad we get them early and not later, because I think they could click and jail by the end of the season. And the personnel is good, maybe not great. Quitty pay Grover Stewart to Forrest Buckner. Latu Latu's a nice piece there up front, with some good depth in Tuyamalu.
The second round pick Neville Gallimore and Samson Ebukom at the second level, Jalen Corley's and Zaier Franklin with Ward Jalen Jones and then Kenny Moore my favorite players in the entire league in the slot back there with cam bydam and Nick Cross in the defensive backfield. The question here is it's kind of vast. I mean, the fourth pick in the draft, who had just a handful of starts has only fifteen starts in two years as a pro. He figures to miss part of the season, if not
a big chunk of it. Two key cogs on the offensive line are gone, There's a new defensive coordinator with new parts in a complex scheme, good but not great weapons. To me, this is much bigger than just this season. We got to get more information on Anthony Richardson. He just needs to play. That's the biggest thing for me for the Colts this year, to find out what the
hell we have there. He always needed more reps and if we come out of this season where he gets just three hundred four hundred more snaps, then we're no further along the miscellaneous factors here, the gelling and getting better, the better nature of this defense is the real upshot. But I'll bring it back to the quarterback position. We just need information and this is a total unknown. But losing Jim Mersey like he was mister Indy, is it a distraction like a bad thing or is it a
rally cry? And it could be nothing, but I think it's probably gonna be one of those two things. The trapdoor scenario. Daniel Jones has an injury history of his own, and let's say Ar's shoulder is not right, and maybe Jones takes a shot from Chop on opening Day, and that's how you would That's how close you are to getting you know, Riley Leonard, who I thought was, you know, a tough prospect for his first year here in the NFL, to being your like sixteen game or seventeen game starter.
And as much as I love Captain Leu and Arumo, DC's come up short on getting that synergy between scheme and player all the time. It happens every year, and if that happens here, I'm not sure what your calling card would be. The conclusion, it's no secret that this is kind of a hot seat season for a lot of folks there in Indianapolis. But it feels like that first month is going to be paramount for the future
of the football team. If they can get back to their run game with the addition of Warren and Richardson, comes back and finds some confidence, and that defense clicks under new direction, could be a fun team. That's a lot of ifs. Interesting year ahead here in India. Le's go ahead and take our last break right there, come back into the Titans and Jags and the division of superlatives. That's next Draft Time podcast, brought to you by Auto Nation.
I find it fascinating that so many massive, massive butterfly effect changes occur over the span of what's largely irrelevant
late season games. As we kick off the Titans personnel changes here because they flipped a script on the Patriots and Giants in the final two games of the season, where the Giants won that game that we all watched against the Colts and the Patriots won that game against the Bills without Josh Allen to launch the Titans into the first pick of the draft, where otherwise they probably
weren't getting their franchise quarterback. It reminds me of twenty nineteen, the game against the Bengals, we won an overtime thriller, and Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for over four hundred yards. If Andy Dalton, who tried his damage to pull that win off, doesn't if he gets that win, then Joe Burrow probably is not a Bengal is to a dolphin.
Who the hell knows what it looks like.
But I bring this up because I'm of the belief the Titans losing their final two games was the difference in them sputtering around in the NFL's middle class or maybe even worse, and eventually becoming a powerhouse. Now the latter might take some time because this roster has a way to go, But cam Ward is going to be a problem. And that's the biggest change here. I think he's going to be the next one quote unquote. That's
where the changes were on the roster. The staff is back after a four win season, Brian Callahan, Nickols and Denard Wilson, and Wilson has that defense playing above board, and that's where I'm most intrigued by this team outside of the quarterback. More changes cam is in Van Jefferson. They signed Dan Moore to a massive contract to be a starting tackle when he was a swing guy in Pittsburgh at best. Kevin Zeitler on the last kind of couple of holes of his career. Here, he's going to
get one more go with the Titans. Tyler Lockett, similar story, Draymont Jones, kind of similar, Cody Barton, Xavier Woods, Amani or a Ruie. I get that wrong every time. And then rookies Ola Feme Ladejo, Kevin Winston, the Penn State safety who I loved, and the receiver from Stanford, Elick Almanor.
I was a big fan of his game on the way out, Nick Westbrook, Akine Mason, Rudolph, Daniel Brunskilled, Dylan Raidens, who was a high pick of them a couple of years ago, Nick Venette, Jerome Baker, Harold Landry, and Ryan Stonehouse the punter here for the Miami Dolphins. Two players in that list now Miami Dolphins. The film for the Titans,
and they're calling cards. Strangely enough, the offense that Callahan and Holtz installed was akin to what made the Titans a fixture in the AFC for a few years under Ryan Tannehill. Twelve personnel, heavy under center, back to the defense, play action off a strong running game, but they didn't have Derrick Henry and they didn't have Ryan Tannehill. Now they have a quarterback who I think is a much
better player than Tannehill. If you couldn't figure that out already, and a much different style of player, I cannot imagine there's not some form of adaptation to what suits Cam, which is a spread things out, give him indicators to just pick apart the defense and do what he does best, dissecting with split quick decisions based upon presentation and the
rotation after the snap. If they can marry those two things together with Tony Pollard and Taj Spears and an offensive line that has plenty of investment into it, you might get this power spread attack akin to what the Oregon Ducks have run for years. And that's what I would go after if I was putting that offense together. So interestingly, I think Cam's traits are comparable to Burrow, so Callahan could look back to his old Bengals notebooks
for some ideas there. This feels like a lock of a team to make a big receiver splash in twenty twenty six. It happens every year, right, big name wide receivers move. I feel like that'll happen next year because this group, while solid kind of like the Colts, lacks a true number one difference maker. Calvin Ridley was supposed to be that, but that hasn't happened yet. Tyler Lockett aged out of that role years ago. Van Jefferson has
been a rotational X at best in his career. Perhaps my favorite one on the roster is the fourth round pick e look Ao Minor.
I love his game.
The line has really struggled over the last couple of years, but I think they're onto something with this group. I don't understand the Dan Moore move, but other than that, I think JC Latham is a monster. Pete Scaronsky is a good player. Lloyd Cushionberry also very established on the interior. I think you can get the last of Kevin Zeidler in his career. I also liked fifth round pick Jackson Slater, and then defensively, you know the drill Mike McDonald tree,
Denard Wilson. I thought had a really thin group playing above board last year with the same principles you've seen here pre snap presentations, with a myriad of front and coverage pairings that the defense can get too from any grouping, any personnel alignment, any look, a lot of zones and sim pressures. They added three starters this season after dropping in another dominant force alongside Jeff Simmons last year. That was Tovandre Sweat. They also have Sebastian, Joseph Day and
Draymont Jones. A very nice front line there. They got to get a little bit deeper, but they've also got to get more out of Lugerious Sneed. That's playing and simple. They made a big move to get him last year, and if they do that, if he goes back to his Chiefs gaze Man, Jarvis Brownlee Junior and Roger McCreary is a really nice trio. McCurry is a slot guy that I like his game quite a lot. Amani Hooker's a beast. Xavier Woods is a nice player, so a pretty good safety tandem.
The questions here.
The defensive depth is razor thin, but that's typically what happens in the early stages of a rebuild. Same is true across the offensive line and the weapons on all. It's just a deep, a thin roster right now. Because they're in the beginning process of this, I'm not sure where the edge rush comes from either, but I do want to emphasize how good their interior pressure is, and I also think their off ball linebackers are precarious at best.
I also don't think they have I think that they're probably going to see a staff change unless they win a lot more games than they're supposed to do this year. The miscellaneous factors here. I worry about programs like this off of a rocky start in their first year to get a fresh start at the most important position, because if they start slow, that's when heads begin to roll. It's a good way for finger pointing to happen. We saw it with the Bears last year, where you get
these scapegoats. After scapegoats would go oh see you go DC. Then eventually the head coach falls and then maybe the joe manager doesn't happened the next year. Usually that's kind of the order of operations. But the Titans open at Denver, a historically difficult place to win in September because the altitude adjustment there. Then the home openers the Rams. I don't think they'll beat that team. It's a really good
football team. If those games go as forecasted, that would mean a week three game against the Colts, a damn near must win with a trip to Houston on deck, and you could be staring at zero to four if they can just get to one and three and cam settles in. They then go to Arizona, the Raiders, the Patriots, the Colts at home, and then the Chargers. The schedule isn't that brutal, Jags twice, Browns and Saints all in there.
As well.
As far as the trapdoor scenario, I think you skip that for a team who's projected win totals five and a half games. Just kind of counterintuitives will skip that. The conclusion here, to me, everything they do this year is about cam Ward and pretty much everything else to me is irrelevant. It's not that uncommon to uncover a star quarterback amidst a losing season, but I think that
could be the case here. If the offense stays healthy, with Thenard Wilson coaching up that defense, they could surprise and get to seven or eight wins. We finish up with a team that was a big disappointment last year, the Jacksonville Jaguars. The changes in personnel, it's a fresh start for a team that kind of felt like it was dying to get to the finish line last December.
It's all new Liam Cohen, Duvoh Grant and a familiar face and Anthony Campanell he coached in that defense, all be rooting for him as much as anybody this year in the league. And with that typically comes personnel upheaval. And they kicked off the new regime with the youngest GM in the sport, James Gladstone going from five to two to select Travis Hunter, and he needs to kind of change the face of that organization. He's the first
one I put on the end list. Diami Brown, Patrick McCay, Robert Hainsey, Fred Johnson, Johnny Munt, Nick Mullins, Eric Murray, Jordan Lewis, Dwayne Smoot, Emmanuel Ogba. They lost Christian Kirk to the Texans, as we mentioned previously, Cam Robinson also goes off to the Houston Texans, so plenty of change here for this Jacksonville side. They also lost Andre Cisco to the Jets. The calling card for the offense, Liam Cohen was a man possessed for the Bucks last year.
He incorporated this vertical passing element to a power run game that utilized all the options at Baker Mayfield's disposal. I think the best part of his design is the play sequencing. They build a concept and then unfurl layers off of it, and it made life easy on Baker, especially with that run game. That's what's probably most intriguing to me about the Jaguars here, Travis Etn, Tank Bigsby and Bishell toot in the running back that I loved
in the draft process. If he can fix his fumble issues, he'll be a beast in this league with their run scheme that I think could unlock the downfill passing game between Travis Hunter and Brian Thomas, who has a chance to become one of the dudes in the league if he's not there already. And that's going to have to be enough to finally unlock the best of Trevor Lawrence, because let's be real, a few quarterbacks have been as disappointing as Trevor Lawrence and you just don't see that
killer instinct in his game. There's the article that came out a few years ago about how he didn't really need football, but he plays it because he wants to, like just kind of came off the wrong way right, and that production hasn't followed either. He had the comeback over the Chargers in the playoffs, but outside of that, there's no real signature moments since he got hurt when they were eight and three and twenty twenty three, it's
been a slog. But all that said, I thought the coaching job was pretty tough last year and see Cohen getting that year one bump from Lawrence and this Jags team, it all comes down to the quarterback. Though they've got the pass catchers, a deep backfield, they have the offensive line depth. It's not a star shutted cast, but between mcarry Hainesy Andton Harrison, Walker, little Ezra Cleveland, I think
there's a good enough group there with formidable depth. With Campanelli, I feel like I have a good idea of what that's gonna look like. Heavy fronts, you know, nose tackles, bear fronts, tight fronts, plenty of man coverage, maybe some more Cover one and Cover three principles over the modern you know Evans coverage that you know, the too high, the cover two, the two man, the quarters, all that.
Stuff, the Cover sixes. But that's just his influence.
You'll always get variation of those influences with every single coach, but he's never coached under an even front zone based scheme, so I imagine pressure will be key, especially with a pretty athletic group of linebackers there. And they have the pass rush, I mean Trayvon Walker and Josh Hines. Allen's a good mix with Dwayne Smoot and Emmanuel Ogbas the depth there, especially when you figure Eric Armstead can play that Zach stealer role both inside an outside, with the Von Hamilton
and Mason Smith providing depth on the interior. Those backers I think are a great fit for coach camp David Devin, Lloyd foyesad Olacon and Chad Muma.
They can all run.
They added one of their best slots in the game this year in Jordan Lewis to go along with Tyson Campbell. But that other cornerback spot's going to be a big battle. Is it going to be Travis Hunter somebody else?
Maybe?
And then Darnel Savage and Eric Murray's a solid safety combo. The question is the quarterback right. I feel like Lawrence has been fine, but you don't pay for fine when you use the number one pick on a player, especially when he has a profile that was you know, Andrew luck esque, so to speak.
He has the pieces.
I think he has the scheme that's a pretty good defense in plays as well, but he has to take ownership over the entire operation and just kind of like turn that, you know, that to a sniper mode on that we've heard to Ron Armstead talk about. Otherwise, to me would be the offensive line and defensive depth, the miscellaneous factors here. I'm leaning towards picking them as a surprise playoff team today. We'll see how I feel come September.
But I think it's a really sound roster and an approach for how they're going to attack it, and a schedule that I think does them some favors. It starts out tough, but they can weather a Panthers, Bengals, Texans, Niners, Chiefs, Seahawks, Rams start. If they can just be like four and six after ten games, they would then finish Cardinals, Titans, Colts, Jets, Broncos, Colts, Titans. I think you could win six of those games and get yourself in the playoff mix there. But there's pressure.
This year, there's gonna be there. Rather, there's gonna be less pressure. I think this year because I think that this new coaching staff, the move for Travis Hunter. I think that with a quarterback on a massive contract, there's always pressure. But I feel like it's gonna be ran back next year regardless of what happens, unless it's like, really really bad. The trapdoor scenarios gotta be the offensive
line and the pass catcher group not being deep. You'll lose one or two pieces for a couple of games. You could really be getting into like we don't have a lot of you know, options in the passing game. I guess you could say the same about the secondary. That's pretty common across the NFL today. I suppose a slow start and then unfortunate injuries could make that margin
for air super thin. My conclusion, I think they've got a great mix offensively that could maximize Lawrence's skills, and a defense that plays plays enough teams with uncertainty at quarterback, with a good coach and good personnel to really get a big jump defensively. I think they'll win like five of those last seven games. It just depends how the first ten go. My division superlatives in the AFC South, my winner is the Texans by a long shot. My
quarterback is Stroud by a long shot. My non offensive quarterback Nico Collins, Brian Thomas, and Quintin Nelson. I'm gonna go with Nico Collins, but that's the three that I was thinking about. My best defensive player is there's like four Texans in line, then somebody else. Derek Stingling's my top choice there, but Hunter and Anderson right there as well.
The best coach is also Ryan's.
The best rookie is the Titans quarterback cam Ward and then my most under the radar stub was either Grover Stewart for the Colts defensive tackle or Caden Bullock, the Texans safety, who's an absolute stud.
So there you go.
Another podcast down will be back on Tuesday, June the thirtieth for an all interview edition of the Drive Time Podcast. Maleak Washington, Allie Gordon, and Jason Marshall Junior join me, and then we'll pivot back to the division previous for the NFC South on Thursday, July third. I'm not gonna do a podcast on the fourth, but I go ahead and change that in my notes Thursday. Let's make it the third, all right, So that's the podcast for now.
In the meantime, you all please be sure subscribe, rate review, follow me on social at winkfle NFL, the team at Miami Dolphins YouTube channel for drivetime content, Dolphins hqu mediavailabilities MiamiDolphins dot com.
And it is the most wonderful time of year.
That's right, Miami Dolphins training camp right around the corner and you can reserve your tickets right now. The Dolphins are back on the field for Back Together Weekend on July twenty sixth, a Saturday first Dolphins practice open to the fans in the public. The Dolphins will take Sunday off and be back on the field for a Monday practice on the twenty eighth, as well as the twenty
ninth and thirtieth, all open to the fans. After a Thursday day off on the thirty first, Miami's right back to work for the first second and third of August, all those practices open to fans as well. The next practice available to the fans August the sixth, and then a pretty good gap there with the joint practices up
in Detroit and Chicago. Miami's back for three more practices in front of the fans here at the Baptist Hill Training Complex August eighteenth, August twentieth, and August twenty first. That twenty first date is a joint practice against the Jacksonville Jaguars. So July twenty sixth, July twenty eighth, twenty ninth, thirtieth, August first, second and third, August sixth, August nineteenth, August twentieth, and August twenty first against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Book your
tickets now on Miami Dolphins dot com. In the meantime, Finns up Carolina, Cameron Daddy, He's coming, hoped