Drive Time: Dolphins Bucs Preview, Training Camp Final Takeaways

on today's show, training Camp is a rap. That's five for me with the team six in total in the books, and I'll come away from this one with five over arching themes to take away from training Camp, my standout players and award an orange jersey to one player on all three phases of the game offense, defense, and special teams. Plus our last preseason game preview takes a look at some of the matchups that could inform us tomorrow night in Tampa Bay. From Tampa Bay, This is the Drivetime Podcast.

Ye Caffie, So, I had this realization last time I was by the bay eating some clay we just may in twenty twenty two, and not being a Florida man until twenty twenty and not really leaving South Florida until that twenty twenty two trip outside of one trip to Fort Myers where I learned that they are not fans of people from South Florida. And I learned that by wearing a Dolphins hat in new publics and being told to go back to Miami, which was an interesting welcome

to southwest Florida. But did you non Florida folks know that Tampa is the name of one city in the region of Tampa Bay. Who the hell knew that? I didn't until a couple of years ago, and it threw me off again this time. I always thought Tampa Bay and Saint Pete were kind of like Minneapolis and Saint Paul. But you've got clear Water in there as well, so it's like the Tri Cities, which is a town that I grew up in Washington, the Tri Cities. Have I lost you guys yet this and I'm sticking to this

all camp long. I have not been able to keep the podcast short unless we have a walkthrough day, I'm going over thirty sometimes a lot more than that. But this show is going to be shorter than that. I promise you guys that we're going to do five quick, overarching big picture takeaways from training camp so far. We'll do the offense and defensive previews for the game and segment two, and I'll give you my players of practice of camp I should say on offense, defense, and special teams.

And I'm sorry if some of these are tad redundant to what you've heard on this podcast or even the last one of these we did back when we had the day off between the last practice the practice week of Game one with the Falcons. But to me, there's value and repetition here for the simple fact that you're getting further confirmation. If I said that two weeks ago and I say it here, that means the last two weeks have only solidified that point for me. So here

we go. Number one, we have footage of it now. Previously it was only me relaying what my eyes had seen in practice. But I think Tua is a better quarterback than he was last year in just about every single way. I think the ball jumps off his hand with more gumption. I think he's moving within and outside of the pocket better important to differentiate those two. But

the feet are just overall quicker, They're choppier. There's a better understanding of the relationship of all the parts that operate in tandem from a mechanic standpoint, which go figure. You get a quarterback coach, and you kind of work those things out in terms of the physical aspects of a quarterbacks coach, whereas the quarterback coach you work for and the team is going to be more scheme and play but between the ears centric and focused than the

mechanical aspect of things. Like the easy example is the way that he moves to his right. You guys saw in the game. It's just different. I know, I wrote down I think, but I know he's a more confident player. He's a more confident leader. I think the team follows him even more than they already did, and I think

his headspace is as good as it could be. And overall, just how lucky he is as a man with a beautiful wife and beautiful kids, and the way his teammates believe in him, the affirmation from the players and the team or the players in the NFL, I should say to vote him umber thirty six overall in the NFL. And of course the obvious one, Hey, being a two

hundred million dollar player should give you some confidence. I think this beautiful collection of things you heard him say it took two years to undo some of the negativity that he felt previously. It reminds me of Miked Up in twenty twenty two when he had been pulled one of the many times that he was yanked from blowout victories, where coach McDaniel was telling him how high level he was playing, and you could almost sense a resistance to

that intua his voice, to accepting that high praise. But then you see him talk now and it's total command of every room that he's in. It's tangible, and man with the quarterback position gets better. There's no better path for improvement for an offense, especially when that quarterback has already been pacing the NFL in stats the last two years. My second big picture takeaway is the added weapons on offense will make defense need answers beyond ten, seventeen, thirty

one and for that matter, twenty eight as well. Like you already have four stars and you've got more now you can break the offense down from last year. I think this will always you know, bar repeating the number one offense in football into four parts, and you can do that in two separate parts. So first ten and seventeen they are the guys, right, And it was a

down year for Wallawst. Injuries still surpassed one thousand yards, but twenty eight hundred and thirteen yards and seventeen tds for those two players last year, the rest of the Dolphins receiving corps or the rest of their offense, I should say, eighteen hundred and eighty five yards with thirteen touchdowns, and if you include thirty one and twenty eight, they gave us three hundred and seventy two yards in the air and six touchdowns, so the touchdown split was twenty

three to seven. And in the run game, Raheem and Devon combined for eighteen hundred and twelve yards and twenty six rushing touchdowns. Those numbers are great, but one area you can explore adding more, and that's what they did. And you know what with John new Smith, with OBJ, with Jalen Wright, with Malik Washington, we know what these

guys offer. But as we've covered at length in the podcast, and as we've heard from Coach from TUA, from Austin Jackson, from alec Ingole, from Frank Smith, really all the guys, we know they have schematics to maximize that aspect as well.

It was my hypothesis going into camp, and the hypothesis to this point, to me, has held Drue more options in the short intermediate game, more vertical field stretchers from multiple positions outside of Reek and Waddle another very talented back that I think affords Devon the opportunity to be more versatile. It's all there, and I'm very, very excited about that. The third overarching theme is that they fit their pieces on defense to match what the defensive coordinator wants.

First things first, here, adding players is not as easy as you think it might be, or as Madden might have taught us as kids who remembers negotiating free agent contracts, and when you submit the contract and Madden, the prompt just comes back, Reggie Wayne has rejected your offer. Then all you do is bump the salary up, maybe you add another year, and what ah, Reggie Wayne is now yours. He was always my freeging target those early Madden years.

I wanted to pair him with Chris Chambers and Ricky Williams. That was my dream offense back then. But that's not how it works. Obviously, you need mutual interest to make things happen. Did you guys watch the Giants hard knocks? You don't get everyone that you want to get there's a reason they run through scenario's ABCD all the way down to scenario T or whatever you want to call it. My point is that the Dolphins are a destination. Part of that is Miami. Part of that is the tax

free nature of our estate income tax here. Part of that is playing with this head coach. Part of that is the belief in this team's potential. Kalaias Campbell said that he took a lot less to be with Miami and his contract is very cheap. Jordan Poyer has said that, OBJ has said that it's been a theme down here. So for them to create that, you know what it allows you to do. It allows you to not adjust

your scheme to the player. It allows you to find the player that bets best fits your ideal scheme and real quick back to those guys that I mentioned there, I see this theme that develops when guys have like a down year or maybe even a couple of down years, like John new Smith, for instance, in New England, goes to Atlanta last year, has a good year, and there's a sentiment that, like, ah, he's a mid player, he can play anymore, like good players are always good players.

It's about how they get maximized and utilized. And all the guys I just mentioned are really good football players, and when they come into a program that's already established and good and has stars around them, they're going to provide. They're going to give you production. They're going to be good players. So just put that little feather in your cap and think about that as we go forward. Because I saw I heard some stuff about Johnny Smith on

the Heat the Call podcast, which I love. By the way, they're back and they're better than ever, but they were calling Joony Smith a mid tight and I'm like, bro, you don't even you don't know, You just don't know

what you're talking about. So for those guys to create that and allows you to get the players that fits your scheme ideally, Jordan Poyer's presence, interchangeability and like minded wavelength as Javon Holland from a mental standpoint, not to mention Marcus May, I think both Poe and May really unlocked Javon to be more flexible, just like how Kendall Fuller's ability to play inside Unlockshalen Ramsey to do more as well. And the secondary as a whole, they can

go corner heavy and sub. It can go safety heavy and sub. And this is all by design and though we haven't seen it to full effect in a game, you see it in practice. I mentioned Kaleius Campbell, the way that he and seeler massive long, powerful, smart defensive tackles.

What pairs well behind that? Well, what are the nineties and early two thousands Dolphins have but Timbow and Zach It's the same thinking, instinctive, fast key reading, explosive smart backers behind physically imposing tackles that can eat up blocks in spades, and the rotation guys off of that all feature something a little bit different. You pair that with edges who have insane zero to sixty f one Grand Prix getoffs, and how that pairs with your size on

the interior and backers that can rush. To me, it was a clear plan. I think they executed that plan in the offseason, and I think we've seen it bear fruit so far here through the month of August. Let's go a little bit faster here takeaway number four, as I am really excited to see what coach Crossman's does, especially with this new dynamic kickoff. I think we have the return options to really exploit any of the early mistakes you might see in the beginning parts of the

season with this new concept. I also think we're just better equipped this year. You know, God for babe. We have a decent season with injury luck right, but Saran, Elijah Alec, Duke Durham to name a few, that's a really nice special team's cores and the battery is all the same, which you hope breeds even better results through continuity. I'm excited about the Special Teams unit for the first

time in a while. And finally, big picture item number five, the rookie class looks really nice and would go a long way towards really extending this window or team cycle down the road. You have to win as a GM in the margins if you are to sustain success and keeps things rolling for years and years. Is as the victorious status quo as it were, and we've seen the

stars get paid. I'm sure there are more to come with guys like JP and Javon Holland entering year four, and then with twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three and limited picks and unknown nature of those classes as a whole, the returns you've gotten so far on this class are exactly what you'd hoped for. They've done that while also stocking the cupboard of picks next year nicely as well. So that's a good way to find rookie contract production to balance all the star talent you've acquired

and compensated. And I want to go ahead and add a sixth the big picture item, a bonus item for you guys here, because I'm all positive to the first five and I do believe this team is gonna win a lot of football games this year, twelve maybe even thirteen games, and some playoff games as well. But how about the concerns? I have a few of them. Short yarde offense, How short yardage offense? How will this team perform when they have to move the chains on third

and two or less? Injuries It's been a problem in the last two years, and there have been a bunch of them so far in camp so far, nothing major, but hopefully that continues with a better injury luck just general roll out this entire season. And then the depth of the run defense, I mean, the short yarge offense goes back to an offensive line I don't think has a lot of depth on it. But that's literally it.

From a depth perspective. You know, every team has these trap doors, and for me, you know, we have a couple. I look at the defensive back depth. We have too many guys to keep. We have too many tight ends to keep. We have too many running backs to keep. When the receivers get back, we have too many of those guys to keep as well. We have too many linebackers to keep, too many edge guys to keep. Like, every group is loaded. But if you lose ninety two

or even you know Campbell's that's tough. If we lose twenty or eleven at linebacker, I think that makes it a little bit tougher to give you that same run game production. I just think the alternatives we've seen in those spots give me a little bit of pause. So that's my one collection of concerns here as we move forward. I don't think that the cold weather, all that stuff, I think is overblown, So I'm not going to include

that here. My training camp Orange jerseys are as follows for eighteen practices that we saw as media members and fans alike. For special teams, it was Elijah Campbell. I thought he was so impressive with everything he did, and

his defensive performance was really really strong as well. But how he just blew up anyone trying to jam him as a gunner, the way he got down there on game tapes or in the games, and how I saw it on tape, with how proficient he was, and how he maximized the you know, the punts of Jake Bailey to get the most out of those with minimal returns. Elijah Campbell was the best player on special teams for me, all camplong. He gets the orange jersey for special teams.

On defense, I'm going with Jordan Brooks. He missed a little bit of time in the middle of the camp, but I think that his tone, setting, his leadership, his flexibility, I think that he has a very good chance to have a ro Kwan Smith type of year in this Anthony Weaver defense. Is he has to have a player as ro Qwan Smith. I don't think so. But I think that he's very, very good. He's pro Bowl good and he is a perfect fit for this defense. He's a perfect fit for David Long. He's a perfect fit

behind Campbell and Steeler. He is my defensive orange jersey and on offense, who is it going to be to a tongue Bai Lowe. I mean, he just was so so good all camp long. The explosive plays, the checkdowns, took care of the football, scrambled, made some plays, completed five passes on all five of us attempts in the preseason game for a touchdown, taking the second team offense essentially down the field for six So Tua, Jordan Brooks,

Elijah Campbell. Where my hits my top guys on either side of the ball in training camp in twenty twenty four. First break right there, come back on the other side. Break down this game tomorrow night, the last one of the exhibition season. That's next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. One more preseason game and then the Jaguars come to town on September the eighth to face the Dolphins at hard Rock Stadium.

I think we're gonna get two wins in four days. I can't wait for that. But in the meantime, let's go this one. It's tough. But the one thing I miss about the four game preseason is the old rhythm of it, Like you knew for the most part what you were gonna get in terms of playing time, It's impossible. Now every team has a different approach. We've developed a little bit of a rhythm the last two years here with how we do it, but I think more continuity

could change that. I don't think we'll see a lot of guys in the game tomorrow. In fact, McDaniel mentioned you'll see some starters. To me, that's like Rob Jones and Leah Mikenberg maybe, Or do you not want to put those guys out there because you don't have depth behind them. Is it more of like a Julian Hill? Is it more of like a Jordan Poyer who hasn't played much in camp? Like I don't know, I don't cater coo who, Like I don't know who it's gonna be. But I don't think it'll be a lot of guys.

We'll find out come game time. But like, for instance, look at Buffalo, they ran their stars out there in week one and then don't do it in week two. What I'm saying is I just have no idea who the hell we're going to get. Even with coach McDaniel's words, I guess I'm operating under the assumption we don't see guys like Mike Evans or Vida Veya, but who the hell knows disclaimer over bucks offense. You know about Baker, Kyle Trask, and John Wolford. Well, John Wolford's hurt, so

Kyle Trask gonna go the distance. This is typically where I look at safeties, but when you're in the preseason defense mode, it's a little bit different because it's vanilla. You know, more disclaimers. But I do want to go through this expeditiously, so I guess I want to see if we get Jordan Poyer, how he reached things out, how his running mate plays it, be a lot Campbell

or Javon Holland. Those are the guys that are on the roster right then the younger guys Patrick McMorris, who I don't think is going to play in the game because he exited practice and I don't think it was great. They have a pretty good run game and pocket quarterbacks, so I'm excited to see how he plays the combination of both of those, or any of the safeties really for that matter. You know, keep fitting the run, keep

playing sound coverage, go make the football team right. For a guy like mc morris, if he gets in the game. Running backs for Shad White, Bucky Irvin, Chase Edmonds, and I put tight ends in here too because linebackers and coverage kind of track here. But Katet and koe Keief. I think you could include Chang Tyndall with the quarterbacks as well, because I think he's gonna rush a lot.

Let's go with these running backs, and Edmonds, as we know as a receiving threat, didn't really work out here as a receiver, but he does have that in his bag. Irving has a lot of pop, and White is kind of a one cut slasher. I think all three offer

unique challenges for one another here at this group. And let's include a guy like Curtis Bolton, who I think has played really well since arriving mid camp, and those guys have a chance to go make a final statement here against a very good mix of Bucks running backs. Those tight ends are also a good test for block deconstruction for a guy like Quintin Bell, for instance, for a guy like Mohammed Kamara and Chop Robinson to try to get some added work in their game before the

real Bowl. It starts to fly receivers. Jalen McMillan is trolling Shepherd, the one guys I wrote down because I don't think Evans or God wouldn't go. But if they do, obviously a great test for anybody. I just don't expect to see it. McMillan is a nice route runner if that provides some really good one on one opportunities, which is what camp in preseason is really all about. Right for us in the younger guys in particular, I'm looking at Duck and Matrie and Johnson here, and then whoever

draws Shepherd. That's a great slot matchup for anybody, not just for the guys trying to make the final case, but guy like Cater Kohu, any of the safeties who come down play on the slot, but yeah, like Cater Shepherd, that's kind of a marquee matchup for me, provided both those guys go in this exhibition game. On the interior

offensive line, Graham Barton, Cody Mack Ben brettisim. I think I called Graham Barton Cody Barton yesterday, whoops one of the larger, most physical offensive lines, especially on the interior in the NFL. I'm curious to see how some of our more slashing players attack them like a Neville Gallimore. Can he keep it rolling with his good pass rush? Isaiah Max had a decent little camp. Can he keep

things going? And maybe you know, carve out a spot on the practice squad and then when it's good on good with power on power, Jonathan Harris, can you just go beat someone that plays a power like you do? I want to see that in this game at tackle Luke Goodeki and Justin Skuel. I like the bucks starters, but it gets pretty thin after that at some spots, and this is one of those spots. To be Frank, I have no idea what to expect from Goodecci or after a Goodeki, I should say in Tristan Wurfs, does

WARF's play Probably not? So maybe this is a good opportunity for Quentin Bell to kind of punctuate his big camp. And how about guys, you know that the Rooks keep giving giving fits to you know, Chop and Mow. Either of those guys can they can they get wins on these veteran tackles That will get me very very fired up if they do. Or how about you know, all of them, both of them both beat those tackles double fired up. All right, this podcast is already off the rails.

Let's go ahead and take our last break. Gonna be short. I told you we'll do the Dolphins offense next to the other side. Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Autoonation Bucks Defense, features some fun matchup pieces along the defensive line. I hope that Vida Veya plays. I doubt he will. Why would he? He's an all pro great. Gains and Elijah Canty, though, offer something unique as well. You know, if Veya go is just getting a win on him from anybody is a

win because he doesn't get moved. He's like one of the best literally of all time with the nose tackle position. He's just absolutely unreal with good balance of flexibility, he is so so good. I like the balance though that Gains and Cancy feature because they really offer something unique from one another. Gaines is probably the player in the league who provides the best balance of low pad level and sheer mass. A total wrecking ball. He came in

like a wrecking ball. Miley Cyrus another UDUB product that just Rex shop down in the muck and Meyer can we get displacement on him? Can we move him? Can Liam Mikenberg get off the snap and move him in a game I would love to see that. Can Rob Jones cross face and get him off of his spot? That would likely be a first unit. So from last game, you know Rob, Liam, Lester, cotton Jack Triscoll. Maybe I

do want Driscoll pretty fire about his game. I think that he's been the best of really all those guys. And to that point, Kansei is a freaky, freaky athlete, man, So can we hit our angles and ride him out of the gap because he wants to get up field and kind of one gap penetrate? And how does Andrew Meyer continue his progress against a good deep unit here on the Bucks defensive line at the edge. William Golston has been in the league for a million years, so

I don't think he'll play, but you never know. Logan Hall, Chris Braswell enjoy try on Shayanka Butcher that he's a U dubbed guy. I know that name. These guys add names on late and I don't know how to pronounce him on the outside. I'm looking at Patrick Paul. If he gets a guy like William Goldstin, what a great test that would be Again I doubt he plays, but I want to see Patrick Paul go up against a real technician that can kind of flash a game plan

at him throughout the course of the night. I think that would probably look bad in terms of the results, but I want to see it on tape so Paul can have something to work on and what figures to be probably his last reps in a while. Right, he's gonna probably get some red shirt time on the bench. Tryon Shoyenka Godly is another athletic Marvel can Ryan Hayes

get some wins there if he sees him. Actually probably Austin Jackson, because if we get starters, it would be probably more of those two guys going against each other. At linebacker. There's no way Levante David plays right, kJ Britt and then the safeties Antoine Winfield and Jordan Whitehead. David is the ultimate test, but in a Vanilla preseason game plan, I don't see what he has to gain, so you know, who knows what we get from him.

But with kJ Britt and then two safeties, how our backs measure up in both pass pro and as pass catchers. I definitely want to see that Britton Whitehead make for a fun physical matchup, and it could be fun to see Jalen Wright get some action there as well if he's good to go. And then Antoine Winfield, who I

think is the best safety in the game. His kids were playing on the practice field after practice on Wednesday, and it was kind of cute because one of them ran in a touchdown and then got pummeled by the other one and fumbled the ball, and the younger one who scored the touchdown was like touchdown, Kansas City Chiefs. His brothers like, no, you fumbled, dude. They're probably gonna be players in the NFL in twenty years because the Winfield bloodline is strong there. But he's a great test

for any quarterback. So if he goes out there, how the first quarterback Skyler or Mike plays is you know to look at the guy pre snack. You got to try to move him. He's basically as beneficial as seeing Jalen Petrie last year in Houston. Just a guy you have to make a plan for every single snap at cornerback. Jamiale Dean Bryce Hall's I on McCollum, I mean, again,

do we see these guys? I saw a Bryce Hall get beat a couple times a day by Eric Azukama or Wednesday, I should say McCollum was a studd in practice, but like the interior defensive line, this is a spectacular mix of skills. Dean is pressed length in your face. So how does some Lake Washington get off that? Or brether Than Sanders for that matter. And how about the speed of Zion McCollum, Like, can someone run past him? Maybe Eric Azukama if he plays and you know, make

another play in the vertical passing game. Bryce Hall a solid technician who can be physical too, So a good test across the board for those guys. Ultimately, I just can't wait to prove the next game, but we have some time here before that happens. Just want to go ahead and go down the list here of Dolphins players I thought were really shy because like maybe the Orange jerseys. But let's go ahead and talk about the guys that was most impressed with all Camplong Zach Seeler. You can

set your watch to him. He is so reliable and dependable. I thought Kalays Campbell limited action showed you exactly what you're gonna get from him. I'm very surprised by Jaylen Phillips quick assent. I think he's going to be playing before before we notice or before we know. I should say the two linebackers, Brooks and Long were awesome. I thought Ogba had a pretty strong camp, Ramsey and Floyd

didn't you know? Fuller had a good camp at Ramsey didn't play enough to really put him in this category. I thought that see cater Coo, who had had probably his best camp so far of the three years combined that he put together. Brandon Peeley really showed me some pop in this training camp. Let's see Chop and Mohammed Kamara were both fantastic. Ethan Bonner was really really good all trading camp long. I was so impressed by Marcus May.

I think that his veteran presence in the back end and the sub packages you can get to with him were very impressive. Neville Gallimore was a really good pass rusher all camp Long and Leonard Payne kind of had some pops in that regard as well, and then Patrick McMorris. Those three undrafted rookie cornerbacks. Very impressed by Johnson Matrie and Storm Duck. I think one of those guys makes the team. I think Storm Duck makes the team. I

think the other two come back on the practice squad offensively. Tyreek. So Tyreek got on me today. I'm recording on Wednesday. If you can't tell Tyreek got on me because he said, you know, tryvis. My dad always sends me to your practice tweets and I've never end them. And I said, Chitah, like I already told the people on the podcast, like, I don't got to talk about Cheetah because you already know what he's doing. If he's on the field, he's scoring.

And then I went and showed him the tweet where I said to through an F and dime to Tyreek Hill, and he goes, that's what's up. That's what's up. He was very happy about that. So Tyreek Hill, here's your shout out, man, you're the best freaking player on the planet. There you go, man, like, that's that's that's truth, that's fact. There's no need to even go further than that. I thought Robert Jones had a good podcast. It's Late Man had a good training camp. When Aaron Brewer was out there,

he was looking very sharp and very solid. I thought Jack Driscoll was fantastic. Very impressed by Andrew Meyer all camp along. I think that he has a future in this league. Devon ah Chan I mean in the passing game, Wow, he looks like an absolute star in the in the in the making. I can't wait to watch him this year. Tua was nails. Obviously. Jalen Waddle when he was playing, was very, very, very good. I thought Patrick Paul had a great camp and got a lot better throughout the

course of training camp. I thought that Jalen Wright one of the true stars of camp and I can't wait to watch him play more as we go forward. Craig Craft and Aszukama both had good camps. Although craig Craft earlier was so reliable, as Zukama came on late. And then Julian Hill one of the best camps of anybody out. He was pretty close to my Orange Jersey. I thought he was one of the best players all camplong. I liked Chris Brooks and what he brought to the table.

Those are some of the guys I thought had the best training camps for your Miami Dolphins. And that is the last time we're gonna talk about it. Game tomorrow night in the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, tuned in, wherever you get your podcast from. Go ahead, leave us a rating and leave us a review. You can follow me on social at winkfle NFL and the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank Podcast with Seth

and Juice. Check out the YouTube channel for media availabilities and drive time content, and last button not leads to Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, fins up Colin and Cameron Daddy coming Home