To on the move, going deep speeds peas Dolls from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Help Training Complex.
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
He's got my hands in the playoffs.
What is up, Dolphins? And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, we are going to pivot into some more college We're going to talk some draft prospects.
But first, before.
Any of that, I have some thoughts on the extension for Raheem Moster, I have some thoughts on the quarterback scouting industry as it were. And we're also going to talk about the great article from Jordan rod Reek and again finish up with some prospects I have not yet touched on. All of that and more from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drivetime Podcast. Today's show, we are going to get
deep into the weeds. It might read a little bit like an All twenty two Tuesday episode from in season Drive Time because full transparency, my boy little Camboy had the flu this past week and I was confined to working from home at the end of last week, so all I really got to do was just watch tape. And I know, I know what was me. You watch football for a living. But I wanted to go take a look at Johnny Smith because I had a chance
to get to more of his tape here. But also with regards to the college prospects, I have told you guys about some of the same players, and that kind of was because I was put on pause when freegency came up for the last month and a half or so, and now I want to pivot and get into more prospects we haven't looked at just yet, because I found some guys here that, gosh, I think there's a lot of a lot of great fits for the Miami Dolphins.
In fact, at pick twenty one and fifty five as it were right now, I would say there's probably four players at three different positions at each of those two draft pick spots that I like. And that's probably before I've eve ben done half the class so far. So
I want to dive into that. But I want to start here with our own a guy that I am absolutely fired up about, running back Raheem Moster, agreeing to a two year extension that puts some guarantees in his contract that guarantees he will be here this year and most likely in twenty twenty five. You never know what could happen the National Football League, but he has the contract extension and what a weekend it must have been
for Raheem. And I'm sure you guys saw the photos on social of him with his family, and to me, those photos just kind of speak to who Raheem mostert is. Always has a smile on his face, always always has time for you. I'll never forget walking across the locker room this past season and just like you know, chopping it up with him and he has time to stop
and talk to you. Or after all of those running back rumors this summer about Miami being in tow to acquiring whoever it might have been, right, Jonathan Taylor's the name that comes to mind the most, but he answered questions and was just upfront and how to smile on his face the entire time. But mostly it's because he embodies what it is to be a family man as a father of two. Myself, I thought it was just awesome to see his gorgeous family all here to celebrate
the extension with the Dolphins. And in South Florida, because again, what a weekend that must be. You come on Saturday morning, you sign your contract, and then you go home and it's like, oh, we just booked a bank a whole bunch more cash. These next couple of years must be a good time to be a moster right now. But
of course, how about the football man? Like I tweeted out the numbers from Pro Football Focus, three point three five yards after initial contact was second among running backs who had at least two hundred carries this past season. It was six among backs with one hundred carries. And I think those thresholds should tell you something, because go look at the list. There's just not that many running backs getting over two hundred carries anymore, especially with their
involvement in the passing game. But raheem on the other side of age thirty, which runs and corners, right, they tend to fall off a cliff at that age, He's become the most durable on top of by far the most productive version of himself. It's been one of the more fascinating things to watch unfold the last few years here with the Miami Dolphins. What else is nice about that is we know we have in Devon hn Right, there is the cat is out of the bag on this young man from Texas A and M. He only
played in earnest ten games last year. Did play an eleventh, but that was the Week two game against the Patriots where he had two touches on six snaps. I don't really count that as a full game played. I mean, you know, with the rotation we want because whoever, just whatever you want to run works for me, because whoever's getting the football there, it works like keep it as is, I don't care have Devon return kickoffs to kind of make up for the workload there. Maybe maybe you make
it more fifty to fifty among those two. Maybe it's a sixty forty split for Devon and Raheem moster, there isn't to me a bad option. And continuing on the stats, he forced fifty three miss tackles last year. That was eighth most among running backs. He was fifth most in runs of ten plus in the National Football League. But I also mentioned this and wanted to save this detail for the podcast. There's not a more complex creative running
game in the football world, college, pro or otherwise. You know, Andy Reid and Kyle Shanahan. I will hear your arguments, Big Red and Kyle I'm a nickname for Kyle Shanahan. But that's where the competition ends, right. The run game changes every single week, and you can watch it. If you're part of the media and you know what you're looking for, you can come out here and watch the
pre practice handoff routines because it changes. There's layers on layers that ties into the passing game, with the misdirection, with the play action game obviously, and you've heard players talk about this very candidly to coaches on video after the game. Max Crosby on Hard Knocks telling Mike McDaniel preparing for your offense was exhausting, bro, Max Crosby, probably the best pass rush of the National Football League last year. And who someone said something later on in the year two.
I forget who it was or what game, but just basically said, like, you guys suck to get ready for This is a lot of work for us. But it's all that eye candy for defensive lineman, for linebackers, and again how that marries up with emotions and the play action game. To me, I just love what we're gonna get here. From a continuity standpoint, like we see this all the time. A guy plays, has a bad season, maybe plays a bad game. You start thinking about that's
the spot they have to replace next year. We can get better at that spot because he played a bad game or had a bad couple of games. Like, I get the desire to look at it that way and to approach it that way, But typically speaking, the best improvement you can get is from your own guys improving for the most part, right Like, don't get me wrong, getting Tyreek hill Is does not count towards that equation,
nor does Aglen Ramsey for that matter. But like an Austin Jackson to Toungo Bai Lowa, these are big time, you know, draft prospects that saw their game grow and get better. And that's why this offense was still dan good the last two years because your quarterback got really good all of a sudden. I mean, he wasn't bad and twenty two one, but it just got a lot better than twenty twenty two. So I love the idea that you have this continuity and every year you spend together it's gonna get better.
Full transparency.
I just had my year review on the podcast and was told this was the best year you had yet.
Why is that?
Because I've learned a lot about this job, how to cover the team in the role that I have, and my own perfection of my own craft.
Like, I totally agree with that.
So I think you can apply that in your profession, in your life as a parent, as a father, or a as a spouse, like whatever the case may be. You can find improvement as you go along with stuff. And that's no different in the game of football. So I just love the fact that it's the same play caller, quarterback, running back, And do not forget this often forgotten, but
such an integral part of the team. The fullback alec Ingold is Raheem's eyes to the whole, he said as much an interview as I talked about him with that and that second year of continuity last year with alec Ingold, he talked about how important that was to have that continuity with Ingold in front of him where he mostered. So year three for those guys, second year for Devon, Savon Akman been here since I've been here. Year five now Chris Brooks is back. Hefe heading into year three like.
That's a big deal.
There's not a lot of offensive turnover here besides some parts of the offensive line where it got a little bit too expensive, but you get the whole concept. In those spots we can This is a different debate for a different day, but those are spots that in the past in this offense have not required massive investments, which makes sense at tracks right. Those investments go to your quarterback, your playmakers, and maybe the tackle spot, but then on defense as well.
So again, big congrats to Raheem Moster.
Twenty one touchdowns a year ago, twenty one times hitting the waves in the end zone, a franchise record, And just real quick, I do have a small grievance to get off my chest because I saw Jason Sarney, a Dolphins fan of some fame, on social media comparing this backfield to the backfield of the nineteen seventies and getting some flack in return for that comment. Normally I'm one to say, let's not be a prisoner of the moment, but I've noticed this a lot with Tua. Also, the
excusing of these gaudy statistics. Twenty one touchdowns that happened. That's a lot of touchdowns. That's more than one touchdown per game. That is a franchise record that is not quite on the fringe, but it's approaching Ladinion, Tomlinson and Shawn Alexanderan's territory. That's ridiculous. And all Sarny was saying is that they have been more productive and you can't
argue with that. And someone mentioned this to me on Twitter today, like I want to see the Dolphins run the ball thirty five forty times a game, Like that's not that's not plausible, that's not feasible at all, because, first of all, if you're in the ball forty times a game, you would have had one hundred and forty more rushing attempts than what Baltimore did at five point forty one, which was most in the National Football League. And do you think you get a top five success
right rush in the football? Do you think you get the six most rushing yards in the National Football League? Do you think you have the number one yards per carry in the NFL? If you don't have the balance that you have achieved under Mike McDaniel. It's one of my biggest gripes is this whole run the ball more concept, like we throw the because we have Tyreek khiljilnwaddle and to a tonguea bai loa. It's not a bad option to go towards those guys that win the majority of
their reps. It's okay to acknowledge that this running game is awesome. The Raheem Mostert last year was awesome, and that it compares to some of the grandpas that your grandpa used to watch. Okay, it's okay to acknowledge that sorny tip of the cap to you for going there and fighting the good fight there. Speaking of fighting the good fight, we'll go ahead and close up segment one with this discussion. Do you guys want to talk about
TUA and some fighting back against the industry? If you will, well, I do it like once a month. I know you guys like the rant on here, let's go ahead and fired up. Do I have a song? No, I don't have a song for it yet. Maybe it's time to get a song for the rants. So this we're going to talk about some college prospects on this show today. And in doing this and watching some tape, I'm starting
to watch some more quarterbacks. And here I'll lay it out this way for you guys, there is not a tape of a prospect this year.
Maybe they'll get better. They probably will.
There's not a single tape of a guy who's on the same planet right now as to a tongue by Lowa.
It's not close and you're gonna say, well, try it.
He's in year five versus a Rockie quarterback. Yeah, but go back to two. Was Alabama tape and there's flashes of what he does now on that tape. More than flashes. That's who he's been his whole career. I always I talked about this a million times. There was a rep against LSU the year before the Borough game, so it was the prior year. Both teams were top five, top rinked,
top five, and I think Alabama shut them out. But there was like a five yard speed out against against press coverage and a third and four and Tua like does all these pre snap checks at Lanska image and finds a boundary receiver with a speed out against the one guy in off coverage and he just hits the back foot in rhythm on time, puts this ball on the outside shoulder located up around the face mask, away from the defender, and it converts Like that's the kind
of layup gimme that he gets to and find and can exploit with his precision and accuracy and timing and footwork and all the stuff that combines his game what makes him great. In that one rep, and I watched it a million times. I loved how the hip turn was, how the drive and the like everything about that rep. I was like, this, dude is a freaking quarterback. He's not a throw over the football. He's a freaking quarterback.
And you like, Tua had that pro polish in his quarterback tape, And maybe this is an indictment on where college football is, where prospects are in terms of all these seven on seven camps and you know, playing against routes on air whatever it may be.
Watch the tape of.
These guys if you know how to watch tape, which that's you know, a tall order.
I understand that, But.
Dude, nobody, nobody is close to the prism that Tua is operating with him right now in terms of anticipation, attacking the middle of the field and exploiting saft spots and coverage with leverage and the anticipation. These guys are point and shoot throw to the perimeter. Let's go ahead and utilize this high end arm talent we do have. And that's where you know TUA doesn't have this big rocket arm to the perimeter. Can acknowledge that all day long. But I don't want that in lieu of the other
stuff that matters way more. Go watch, for instance, Michael Pennix. Have you guys actually watched his tape?
Now?
I like Michael Penix, probably more than most Kyle crabs can tell you don't like him at all, But go watch Michael Pennock's tape. There is not a single anticipation throw over the middle of the field. It is taking advantage of one on one mismatches on the perimeter and throwing the ball vertical. There's no real feel for pressure at the middle. There's no real ability step into pressure and take a hit and throw accurate football on mesh Like. I saw this route that Kyle sent me where he's
running meshiganst. Texas and he steps up out into a clean pocket and just sails this five yard drag route like over the top of his head. It is consistent misses with this whole entire class. Go watch JJ McCarthy and the timing on his routes and the rhythm that he plays with and these you know, big time arm throws of the perimeter. He can't make those either. But show me some anticipation in the middle of the field, show me understanding of coverage and how it bends and
how it moves. And there's just none of that. And I see this on Twitter, and this is for you know, amateurs and fans that reply on Twitter, this isn't for them. This is not for those people, because I saw the reply of like you know, they were getting after jtos Sullivan for going on the Bootleg Football podcast with bretton ne J. The best content in the world. Will always stand by that with bretton ne J and jtos Sullivan, who does the best quarterback content?
From my mind?
And people are like saying, well, look at his draft, his his draft rankings record in his history, Like okay, dude, you can separate the polish and the end result from the content itself and find out what JT's teaching you from the quarterback position, or you can just say he got that wrong, don't listen to him next, Like you're not gonna learn if you do that, And so you go back and watch that and he talks about this with Caleb Williams, like, yeah, there's these decorated splash plays
down the field.
Or rather it was Drake May. I apologize, it was all about Drake May.
Every game he makes these polished downfield throws that are like, Wow, that's big time football, and I love that.
Who doesn't love that?
That's why I loved about Jordan Love and Josh Allen when he came out.
But then he talks about.
How there are these egregious layup misses where he's not seeing, he's not processing, he's not timing, he's not in rhythm every single quarter of every single game. It's it's just not like a first round prospect there. And the repliers are like, he's just this guy's don't understand projecting scouts
or projecting players their highest level. It's like, because you have to see them play quarterback on tape to be able to think they can play quarterback on tape, Like you're taking a total gamble if you haven't seen that before. And there was that with Jordan Love, and there was that with Josh Allen. You just didn't watch the tape the right way. Because there was like a lot of turnovers right like or the wiving offense didn't score enough points,
Like you're not looking in the right places. And so when I think about how quarterbacks are evaluated and how they're viewed upon by the COGNESCENTI like the fan.
I get it.
There's the whole concept of like big arm throwball far, but where it really bothers me because like you know, the ringer, Steve Reese whatever his name is, like I get, I get his shortcut because to actually learn football requires a lot of work opposed to big arm throw far.
But like, man, there was a throw that with Spencer Ratler on like a little naked bootleg, a little play action naked boot down on the goal line and the flat the curl flat receiver puts himself on the goal line with five yards of separation, and Rattler's mechanics are all funky. The ball goes to the back shoulder and it leads him into a tackle and it should have been a walk in, walk in touchdown and it turns
into a one yard gain for a second goal. Play Like if you miss that throw, I can't, I can't. I just can't do it with you you can't play the position. We have to be on target in rhythm on these layups, and these quarterbacks are not that.
Bro.
I don't care about the big splash plays if you can't fundamentally execute a layup and go play defense on the other side, Like, we have to have these things non negotiables. And so I just get so tired of the quarterback industry raving about these big arms, these highlight throws and just completely ignoring the mundane that wins.
The mundane that is.
What you occupy yourself with eighty five percent of your dropbacks. And so the whole conversation I wanted to get to was like, I go back to Nate Tice, a great, great football mind who works for The Athletic and Yahoo Do is a great podcast with Robert Mays and the Athletic. He's talked about this, how well, the thing that makes Caleb Williams win is not all the off schedule razzle dazzle. It's the winning in the middle of the field in anticipation.
He's got all that. That's what Nate Tye says, and then he says, by I love Drake May because big arm, throw ball far and it's like, did you ignore all the other stuff we just talked about, because you should know this, you know what wins the guy hates on Tua all the time. I just think it's like been embedded with this and Nate not even younger than me, but this like younger crowd of football. You know, air quote analysts. I use that for Steve Reese.
Not for Nate Tys.
Nate Tys knows what the hell he's talking about, but it just it drives me crazy because we have a league where, you know, Michael Pennox can take these vertical shots against single high coverage in college football because they still run that shell or that coverage, I should say, But in the NFL, when they play these three high shells or you know, two deep coverages or two man coverages, like you have to win in the middle of the field because teams will take away all the other stuff
and force you to do that. And that's why Tua led the damn league in passing yards. Let the damn they can pass a rating two years ago. It's because the league favors that type of production these days, because they refuse to get beat deep by all these aliens like Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. So if you don't got that in your bag, you can't play. Two was
the probably the best in the NFL. At that maybe middle of the pack in terms of physical traits and talents, but give me that all day long over these quarterbacks who I've never ever seen play with what wins in the National Football League. And I'm gonna tell you right now, two is gonna have a better career than all the quarterbacks in this class.
Let's go ahead and end this segment.
Comeback on the other side, I want to talk about the great Jordan rod Reege article from The Athletic last week. We'll alt's talk about some college prospects. All of that and more next year on the Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. Well, wee leaving off with some heat on the back side of this segment, or the first segment I should say here on today's podcast. I want to go ahead and pick it up here in segment number two talking about
a great article that came out on The Athletic. I think it was last week for the great Jordan Rodrieg who's been on the episode several times. A recurring guest, super knowledgeable, tape Dogger has a vocabulary that makes you think I no longer have the best words.
She makes me like google stuff all the time. She's smarter than me.
She wrote a brilliant piece on the short motion concept, which is actually called sharp motion. How good is that that Mike McDaniel and company brought to the league last year and was soon replicated throughout the entire National Football League? First by the same tree of coaches that Mike came from. And she writes that Miami led the NFL last year
in motion rate at eighty two point eight percent. Tua had the fastest time to throw in the NFL per Next Gen stats at two point three six seconds per rip, but still had a staggering eight point three yards per attempt. This is me talking now. I just wish people appreciated how damn special that is. That's so special, and we don't even realize it, we don't even talk about it.
To further contextualize the motion rate, the Eagles ran the least amount of motion in the NFL last year at twenty five point seven percent, while the Buffalo Bills were the median at fifth deep point one percent.
That is for posterity's sake.
Back to the idea of appreciating and the questions about calling plays and whether or not the offense is good enough. I mean, maybe this is a case of just being online too much. But then again, I've heard this damn question, asked it multiple press conferences about Mike McDaniel relinquishing play calling duties several times, so it's not just an online thing, right. I can't imagine a play caller of the top offense in the damn League being asked that, But yet here
we are. And so I wanted to pull this quote from the story to give a more accurate reflection of Mike McDaniel as a play caller, a play designer, and how he's viewed a post to what you might read online. This is how his peers view him, compared to what Steve two three, five, seven nine five six five five on Twitter wants to talk about. This is from I don't know Mike Lafleur, Sorry, Matt Lafleur, the Packers head coach. Mike was the brother of Mike, of Matt and the
OC for the Jets couple of years ago. Matt Lafluur, what Mike McDaid daniel has been doing in Miami. Everybody is copying it what the Rams are doing with guys like Poka Nakua. They're essentially getting him in a position that he becomes a fullback, yet he might run a deep over on you. It definitely has changed the game substantially in my opinion.
End quote.
Don't you want a play caller, a designer of offense to be cutting edge, to be innovative, to change the game. Some of you guys are brand new to my content. Some of you guys have been with me since episode one of the Crappy Fanalysis podcast back in twenty sixteen. From the name, to the music, to the production to the content, it all sucked. You get better as you go along, you eight year ride or dies know how
long I've been clambering for offense in South Florida. I've been a guy that designs offenses on Madden since you know, friggin' two thousand and four. I don't know when it was as long time ago, but when McDaniel arrived, we all saw the graphic on ESPN right, twenty five years without a top ten offense.
We got that in back to back years. We got the top spot.
In year number two four hundred yards per game. Only one other team had over four hundred yards per game. But just beyond the four hundre yards per game in thirty points per game. You'd think that would change enough, right, or that would be enough?
I should say?
How about that quote from Lafleur again, innovative, cutting edge changing the way the game has played. I mean, what the hell is the play designer and play caller for if not exactly that. Yes, there are several other factors that make up a great head coach, and I don't even think the first one is a prerequisite, do I do? I prefer it my personal opinion, Yeah, of course I do. But there's a guy in Pittsburgh who didn't have any of that in his career, and he's one of the
best coaches in the last two decades. I'm talking, of course, about Mike Tomlin. Now this is way off track from the original point, but watch a drive time interview with a new player self promotion aside. You see those guys' faces light up when I asked them about their first impression of coach McDaniel. He just connects with players on a granular level. That resonates.
I don't know.
Again, in this role, I see more talk or criticism and hyperli like than the average person. So maybe I'm arguing in the echo chamber here with that thought. But back to the article, Jordan details when Danny McManus, a Canadian Football League Hall of Famer and current executive, was down here for a practice admiring what he saw, saying that looks familiar to what I saw up in Canada, and he told a Dolphin scout that who said, yeah, McDaniel has been brushing up on his CFL work, And
that's the main headline for the article. For me, coach is in a unique industry, right only a handful of jobs. You relocate just about every single year for the first several years of your career, and then you can do it again when coaches get fired, like if not every other year, you're moving to a new town. And there can be a great deal of ego and stubbornness involved in that world. And I can think of I can't
think of two traits that McDaniel exhibits less. I mean, Andy Reid pulls up places from nineteen twenty seven Rose Bull, for Christ's sakes, Those who can set aside their ego and damn it if they haven't earned one. To have to be one of the best thirty two people in your entire profession globally is an insane accomplishment, and yet they're always searching for more, the next cutting edge thing. Who else can I pull from that has done this?
So Jordan continues to detail the Week one Chargers tape getting ctriculated throughout the entire National Football League on that Sunday night of Week one because the NFL film software, once the game is complete, they upload it into the software and then the tape then gets categorized into certain buckets, and one of those buckets is explosive plays across the entire National Football League, which the Dolphins are littered all over that because they led the NFL in explosive plays
last year. Right, She notes that Mike White, what's up, Mike McMahon, I love Mike White would run scout team for the opposing offenses, and by November when he would get his play cards of what the opposition was expected to run against our defense, he was getting stuff that looked like his own playbook copycat league.
Here's his quote.
I'm sure that will be everybody's off season project will have to adjust somehow. Every time someone has success, that's everyone else's off seas and project. I'm going to figure out how to stop that end quote and that, regardless of who is on the field opening day, gives me so much confidence because remember last year we could not win a game against the Chargers without tront Armstead. Right scored thirty six dam points and two or three for four hundred and sixty six yards.
We were okay that day.
No matter what happens personnel wise, we're gonna go into a year and we're gonna have something new for you and it's gonna be fun to watch. Teams are prepared to defend that motion and you can count on McDaniel Frank Smith in the entire operation with the Dolphins getting the next copycat concept out there. The stories on the Athletic it's called how one motion play swept through the NFL in twenty twenty three.
Check it out.
Let's go ahead and take our last break and come back and talk some college prospects. That's next Draft Time podcast to your host, Travis Wingfield, brought to you by AutoNation. Segment number three on the podcast here for this Monday, April First. By the way, April Fool sucks, man. This is the worst holiday of all time. Like, I got an email from a restaurant that I eat at frequently and they were like, we have one dollar bulls today, and that was the email headline.
Then you click on the email, it's like just kidding, No, we don't.
It's like, what the hell kind of marketing campaign is that. I freaking hate April Fools day?
Man.
What's not April fools is a Dolphin signed John hu Smith this offseason and he's a stud. And I've talked about tape on here a lot, and I didn't have a chance to go back to John who because he was signed before the new league year, because he was a release player who was eligible to sign before the new league year. So I didn't have a chance to really break his tape down here. But I go back and again I referenced Twitter way too much on here, but I mentioned a certain account that said, like, this
guy is a great inline blocker. Like, first of all, if that's what you see, you're not watching him. It's not Lee Smith Man. You guys, remember Lee Smith the Oakland Raiders third tight end who was basically an extra
offensive line of for like ten years for them. Hill a line there, John who will and he's got plenty of blocking chops to attach and balanced twelve personnel, which is a tight end on either side of the tackle, Like the Falcons ran that look all the time last year with Drake London, Mac Hollins, Kyle Pitts, John hu Smith, then Bijon or Tyler Algier or whoever the case may be. In the backfield, like they would run that package all the time and he would go down block and seal
a backside linebacker effectively. But it's just not something you asked him to do that often, or at least his teams that he's been on have not done that. One hundred and thirty three of his snaps or sorry, two hundred and thirty three of his snaps last year were in line. That means a true attached tight end right next to your tackle, and that's an offense that probably wants to use twelve personnel more than anybody else in
the National Football League. One back, two tight ends, John Who had forty four snaps as a pass blocker last year. That was six point seven percent of his workload two hundred and thirteen snaps is a run blocker. That's thirty two point six percent of his workload and the other sixty point seven percent was out in the pattern and usually from detached alignments h back, nasty alignment, slot out wide, all the stuff that's not actually attached to your tackle.
He had two hundred and sixty nine slot snaps in the slot, eighty out wide, and then the two thirty three in line that leads us with twenty nine snaps in the backfield for a sixty five to thirty five split of detached versus inline to the formation. As for his game, like man, you can see what the Dolphins look for on route running by Reek Waddle, John Neu Smith Asukama for that for that matter, like guys they've brought in that were you know, not just like veteran
minimums type of acquisitions. They all run routes that don't require shortcuts or don't take short cuts. If he needs to occupy a space, he'll get there. Even if the off coverage says like, hey, turn to the quarterback right now, you can catch the hookup route like He'll still run to his landmark and to what that does is it stretches the defensive cocording because every single route and a concept is supposed to do a certain thing to move
coverage right. So he's veteran in that sense, he's trustworthy in that sense. I thought he did most of his damage from nasty alignments, which is again it's it's almost attached, but it's kind of like an offset part of the formation that creates a bigger gap for the rusher. Allows you to get you know, a wider look at a wide nine technique, or maybe get out wider in the wide running game, or just get into your pattern quicker because you're not chipping on the defensive end, or you
can chip him. But he does have that chip release ability and then to go beat a hookbacker one on one because it becomes so declared once you do that, and it kind of delays his route and allows the timing of the vertical routes to be first, and then he's kind of got this delayed release route.
It's just a.
Good, like synchronized type of concept that he can understand and execute for you. And I think that his game just really lends itself to what we needed offensively this year. Towards the end of the year when things kind of bogged down for the Dolphins offense. So big, big fan of John new Smith. I'm a big fan of some more college prospects I've been watching here lately as well.
I want to go ahead and pivot to this group here and just kind of give you guys a rundown on what to expect this month from a content standpoint, because you know, I've been kind of on the same guys the whole cycle. That's because I kind of pause there for the freegency run. But I want to go back and watch more of the guys I haven't talked
about on the podcast. And I know you have your options for college scouting, like Kyle Kraus, for instance, Locked on Dolphins is a phenomenal job every year with this stuff, but your boy knows some college prospects as well. And we'll have Kyle on the podcast the week of the draft to do our full annual Dolphins Draft preview episodes. But let's go ahead and talk about some of the guys I haven't watched that closely yet.
Quarterbacks.
I want to watch more of those guys, but just get into that tape to begin with I'm telling you, guys, it's not that great of a class.
It really is.
I'd be surprised if more than one of these guys winds up being a long term, viable starter in the National Football League. Probably goes number one overall after that, I have no faith or confidence in anybody else to play at a two level or even close to that. But we'll watch more of those guys we go along here.
Same due with running back. I just I don't think I'm gonna drafted running back and not in the first two rounds, especially because we're just kind of deep there and haven't got a chance to get around to that tight ends. Kind of the same story. Cornerback I put to the bottom the list when they signed Kendall Fuller. And then off ball linebacker like Jordan Brooks has never leaving the field. What a freaking stud he is. I watched more of his tape this weekend. More on that
on Wednesday, and then Anthony Walker with David Long. I just don't see a linebacker early in the cards for us. We'll see he never know, but that's kind of my thought process there. Let's go ahead, though, and talk about some more of the two sessions. I've talked about a lot because I think there's still two of the biggest needs in the team, and I think there's two of the best groups this entire class has to offer, and I need to.
I need to ask for a Maya.
Kolpa on Xavier Legette, the South Carolina receiver, because I had him on my Senior Bowl watch list, because I knew that he was explosive as hell and he was rocked up and he was physical and after the catch. Then I hated, hated, absolutely hated his Senior Bowl tape. The work at the Senior Bowl. I thought the routes were elongated. There was not good weight transfer, no good leverage attacking, just things I thought would translate to bad tape. And then I went back and watched the actual tape,
not just broadcast versions, and oh, contrere, mon frere. This dude is a baller six foot one, two hundred and twenty five pounds, twenty two mile GPS tracking high point skills, forty inch vertical, and he averaged four yards per route, ran against man coverage like That's why we couldn't beat Buffalo last year, because no one could separate outside of Tyrek in that game, like we have one more guy, Lagette probably win that game, and I think we need
someone that can consistently beat that man coverage, who can run after the catch, who can beat press and make contested catches. Welp ding, ding, ding, and one more ding for those in the back ding. This guy's got it all man. He might be a first round pick. Javon Baker from UCF is a guy that I watched over the weekend as well. I use time speeds a lot on here, but sometimes you just have to watch the tape and this dude makes every route look the exact same.
He sinks his hips and can pop right back out of the sunken place as I call it, which is when you're getting into your break. And he has some Chris Chambers like ball skills and body control. He's an absolute magician when he can torts his body and makes those contested catches and always finds the green grass when work in the sidelines. He has a lot of gas
from the slot. He's like a four or five guy, but I think that he ran a lot faster than that on tape, at least in my opinion, and has a really good Arsenal pitches to win on the outside, a good fit for I think this receiver room does need down here in Miami. I also watched a few guys that I don't I'm not a big fan of aDNA Mitchell from Texas. To me, he's the antithesis of
what we need. Another Tedrick Wilson, if you will, can't beat man coverage one point eight yards per route ran was the lowest, the lowest of anyone drafted in the top one hundred since twenty eighteen. Also averages three point two yards per catch after the run or run after the catch. I should say that's Derham's Mike numbers. He's
off the project for me. Brian Thomas, heavy footed, doesn't change directions particularly well ate up the space that was afforded him with the long speed in the LSU offense. Because of the space that neighbors creates. I don't think is a fit for what you need here either. Ricky Piersoll, I think it's kind of overrated. Sorry Florida fans, If I'm being honest. He kind of reminds me of Bracks and Barrows as a receiver, which we have that already.
I like Laddi McConkie's game a lot better.
And then Troy Franklin is way too lean and not explosive enough for that frame to just you got one or the other bigger fasting. He's in neither of those two things, So I'm out on that one as well. I was supposed to mention the ones that already talked about that was Roman Wilson, Malachai Corley, Xavier Worthy, Laddi, mcconkeye, Keon Coleman. I don't like his game at all. I still want to watch Malik Washington, just haven't gotten to
him yet. But those are the guys I've been talking about previously, So if you haven't, if you're new to the podcast, go ahead and go back and you'll find a lot of content on Roman Wilson, Kai Corleaux, I you're Worthy, Lad McConkey. Offensive line. We've gone on and on and on about Troy Fatanu, who I think is offensive tackle won for me. Now, he's gonna be the best in the class, might but he's elite. I think
he's worth trading up for it. I would entertain that if I'm the Miami Dolphins, I kind of have the Miama Dolphins. He's not gonna be there at twenty one. Of course, Fuaga alt Fashanu all gonna be gone. We talked about Amarrius Mims, who's the biggest boom or bus prospect in the entire classroom made because he has so few reps. But gosh, they don't make him like that outside of a lab like he's built so differently. I've
still got a lot more work to do here. But two guys we haven't talked about since the Senior Bowl that I've watched taped on our Chris Jones from Texas.
I think he.
Goes somewhere late day two, early day three. I think he's has the athleticism, the movement, the reaction skills to develop into a starter at some point.
He's just so smooth with the feet.
Former soccer player, and it looks like it skinny as hell in the ankles, but I don't worry about that. He can bend those ankles pretty good. I think maybe one more year in an NFL weight program can get into where he needs to be in the running game, maybe have a shot at becoming a starter in twenty
twenty five. But gosh, the feet and the quickness are so so good one seven to seven, ten split, five oh four to forty yard dash, eighty second percent talent everything speed related from the ten to twenty and forty
yard dashes. Patrick Paul at Houston is like Jones and that he has some of the same quick, smooth feet, but on an even more attractive build like He scored nine to seven to five on the Relative Athletic scorecard with ninetieth percent tile or better in height, weight bench press plus eighty second percent tallet or better than the running times. He also had some elite pass pro tape with that kickslide redirectability. But man, I think he can lean on people in the running game the right way
as well. I think he could be a Day two pick and a potential starter in twenty twenty four. These are guys that if you get an extra draft pick, you trade down, you draft him. At some point they can be your swing tackle. They can be a guy that starts at left tackle in twenty twenty five. Perhaps, like there's options there. Then on the inside, we've talked about Jackson powers Johnson a lot. I like his game quite a bit. That has not changed at all. But
Graham Barton from Duke. I finally watched him. Maybe should have been the guy we were talking about all along. First, he hit the sub four four to seven short shuttle threshold, which if you haven't heard me talk about that yet, there have basically been like twenty eight guys drafted since twenty ten who ran a sub four four to seven short shuttle, and eighty four percent of those guys were long term starters in the National Football League.
It's a pretty good deal there.
He also worked out at center his pro day, played guard and tackle in games. He plays with the physicality and temperament I just did not know he had in addition to the athletic ability. I think he's in play at twenty one and he's a for sure first round draft pick. Zach Frazer from Western Virginia. West Virginia is also a guy that I think goes round two, probably one of those guys that goes round to starts opening day, then you play a decade and he never misses a
game for you. Like elite tape, elite finisher, elite toughness, elite just football guy. He finishes all of his blocks, has great feel for leverage, where to strike the hands, how to recover. I think he's a fringe round one guy who probably goes round two just because of positional value. Have you guys watched Christian Haynes from Yukon yet he him and Graham Barton might be right there for me, especially with the fit for Miami. Have Mercy Dude forty
twenty ten vert squatty body six to zero. He's a six foot two and a half inch three hundred and seventeen pound guy who plays ruthlessly. There's a clip of him at the Senior Bowl where it's one on one Pitt drills trying to get pass rush on him and he just anchors and this guy tries to redirect and read position in the hands and he just locks him down. And then dude starts. He pulls off Christian Haynes's helmet, swings it almost like Miles Garrett style at him, and
he just like doesn't lose his cool. He says, in fact, if you're scared, go to church, That's what Christian Haynes told him, and just dominates him and then has the restraint to not go after all. The extracurricular just really impressive, and he plug on his tape he's doing that in the box in the phone booth, but he's also putting people on their ass outside the numbers. In terms of his athletic ability, he might be. It's basically him, Barton and JPG for me. Those guys are all first round
level good picks for me. And then I want to finish up here with Dominic Puny from Kansas because he has some Aaron Brewer in him and how he can execute a clean snap and then pop into place and beat the one shade, the one technique off of his shoulder to the spot even when he's outflanked by that one technique. And the most impressive part about that was he didn't even play center in college. He was a tackle and guard combination who plays in at the Senior Bowl.
But whoever gets their first probably wins, and he often does that. Jim Naggy raved about him at the Senior Bowl. His tape is full of athletic movement that just shouldn't be possible for a six foot five, three hundred and
ten pounds man. And that checked out with a four to four shuttle well below the four to seven threshold right a nine four to four three cone that's ninety fifth percent tile and then he was eighty fifth and eighty second percent tile in the vert end broad jump elite athlete who's played four spots five if you count the Senior Bowl. There's still so many guys. I have to watch Mason McCormick. If I can find South Dakota
State tape, I'm gonna get that plugged in. But we've shown up proclivity towards what he exhibits in the quickness, the ten split, the explosiveness. I want to watch Zach Zinder from Michigan, Cooper b B at Kansas State. We have a lot of work to do, basically, when trying to tell you, guys, just within these two position groups alone, you have so many routes you can take for pick twenty one, fifty five, wherever the case may be. I can't wait to get to all that for you guys
here this month on the Draft Time Podcast. In the meantime, let's skid Daddle. You'd please be sure to subscribe, rate review, follow on social the Dolphins me at week for the NFL, check out the Fish Tank podcast, and my guys Seth and Juice check out the YouTube channel for all the chats the Freegans I had media availabilities Dolphins Day in so much more and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com until next time. Finn's Up, Caroline and Cameron Daddy just coming home.