Drive Time: Jets Perspective with Caroline Hendershot

the Dolphins can make it a December to remember. But today is going to be the Hide episode where we take some look at some ugly truths about where the Dolphins are today and how we got to this point. We'll talk about where the fixes are and we'll just kind of give you guys a bridge into what to look forward to when this season eventually does go belly up. From the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.

they got him for three years. They got him for relatively cheap. He was an upgrade on Connor Williams. The snapping issue has been resolved, his ability to get out in space has been phenomenal. He's been good in pass pro. He's a good unicator and leader. That is a five

star home run acquisition in Aaron Brewer. I would put John Smith in the exact same category because of the way he has maximized what this team wants to create with all the space with Waddle and Tyreek, and his ability to catch the ball, get upfield and be a difficult tackle is exactly what Miami needed at that F position. Now the tight end the Y position, they need something

more there we'll get to that one second. Kalaias Campbell, especially when you factor in the savings at the position and who they had to replace there, I don't think there's been much of a drop off. There's a definite snapcount drop off going from Christian Wilkins to Kalaias Campbell, but in terms of the production, at one twentieth of the cost has been a home run signing. He's still a great player even at fifty sixty percent of the

snaps in a given game. I think Jordan Brooks is going to fit the mold of we're going to talk about later on the show in Temperature Changers.

it for a long time. Because of his position flexibility, and then Chop Robinson's the one draft pick right now that looks like a surefire home run in that first round. I know the sack production hasn't been great, but he's been building, he's getting better, he has the right makeup, he's leaning on veterans and coaches. I think you're gonna see a big, a big second year from Chop Robinson, even if he doesn't finish up strong this year, which I think he'll do that as well. And then we'll

see on Jalen Wright and Lake Washington. But I do feel very good about those guys, especially the former In Jalen Wright. You had two massive misses, and they were two spots where you kind of had to get better at. And it's Jordan Poyer and Odell Beckham Junior who I think it's safe to take the L there. I think I'm gonna have to be the one that eats that L because I was telling you guys how great of a pickup he was going to be and turn out

to be. John Smith was the guy that kind of gave us what I was looking for from Odell Beckham in terms of that next option. Beckham was supposed to be the other guy that could stretch the field. He has not been that for the Dolphins this year. And the effort, the complaining, the body language, lack of celebrations after big plays from his teammates, all of that just don't love it. And I don't have to tell you guys about Jordan Poyer because you've seen it on film

every single week. I think you have a bunch of future core pieces here at primary positions. Your quarterback is locked in. In my opinion, I think Waddle is going to be a Dolphin for life. I hope Devon a Chan's in that group. He has shown you some bell calibility despite some I think lapses in vision this year that has cost him some potential big runs and even

some grinded out yards. I would like to see him be more of a quasi receiver and running back with a lesser role in the core concept of your running game and get more from that from Jalen Wright next year. But we'll see how that plays out. And then I put Johnny in the category. Even at his age, I think he can play for two or three more years as a core piece here. Brewers obviously in there. I think Austin Jackson has shown you what his absence has

meant at the right tackle position. I put one player in here that doesn't match the rest of the players because he's only played like fifty snaps in his career, and as Patrick Paul, simply because he has to be. You can ask to Ron Armstead back next year, but you know what you're signing up for with that, so we'll see what happens. But I think Patrick Paul has to be part of that Zach Steeler, even at his age, I consider him to be a guy that can do this for a long long time. I mean guys like

Brett Keesol and Cameron Hayward. Why not only talking about Steelers here, but those guys played deep into their thirties and at that position and played a really, really good football for that long. Jordan Brooks talked about him Jalen Phillips despite the injuries, which I understand you can't count on that going forward because of two major season ending surgeries the last two years, but I still think he's a guy that can come back and be what he

was before. I have Chopp in this category as well. At defensive back, I have Jalen Ramsey, and I think that he can be at Charles Woodson down the stretch of his career. Now will he want to endure what I'm going to propose here in one second? We will see. But I do think he's part of that core. And then I have cater Co who is part of that, and I Kendall Fuller, I don't. I think the cliff is closer for him than it is for Jalen Ramsey. So I did not include him in that position there.

But I think that cater if you can get him on a cheap contract, is really good as number three four cornerback on your roster to be part of that core. So there's a lot there to work with. I mean I talked about quarterback, receiver, tackle. I mean there's two tackles in that list. I talked about two edge rushers

to two corners in that group. So we're talking about some of the premier positions in the league that cost the most, and you're well set up in those spots despite the fact that you kind of have to pay for a lot of those because you're already paying for Tua and waddle John who's got his contract, and you know Phillip is going to have to get a contract chopped down the road in four years. Ramsey has his money, but you're pretty well set in terms of the players you have at those core positions.

You can withstand a poor performance from your quarterback or from your defense, and you can win football games when not all of your core pieces are working because you're so deep and so well built.

in the year. I think you can get back to that with a soft rebuild, and let's go ahead and put a pin in that and come right back to that, because look, you know, time for like a Meya Kolpa kind of fall on my sword here a little bit. I've been the biggest proponent of this is a good roster. They built it properly. Then I thought things kind of took a turn in basically twenty twenty two. And it coincides with getting aggressive when they were on the cusp.

You look at a team that last year was nine to three with a two touchdown lead with three and a half minutes to go against the Titans and games coming up against the Jets and Cowboys at home with one more win or two more wins from that position from being yea, one more win from being division champions, and you could say, like it was perfect. You were in the position that you wanted to be in to be a deep, you know, contender down the stretch into

late January. But then we blow that game, we lose waddle. A couple of weeks later with an already banged up Tyreek, we lose Connor Williams, Rob Hunt's not been right the entire year. Then Bradley Chubb goes down, then Andrew van Ginkel on top of losing Jalen Phillips a few weeks earlier. This is where the thread was lost, and it goes back to the twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three offseasons where you didn't re you know, you basically did

not refill the hopper with quality, perspective talent. And while yes, I agree that getting proven talent is great, especially for a team that has some of the best drafts in the league in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty one and had a quarterback rookie contract, I think that was a good approach. But then you stopped refilling the cupboard and you missed basically on the entire draft in twenty

twenty two. At this point, I don't I'm not so sure that we obviously Tendall and Azukama where big misses and you know, haven't been part of this team for three years now, and then it's getting that way with Cam Smith, where in twenty twenty three you didn't get much outside devon a chance. So where it was good to be aggressive, it was probably too aggressive. And it's only too aggressive if you also miss on your picks.

Like that's where things kind of get wonky, and where it worked for the Rams in the f M picks model because they kept getting contributors on day two and three of the draft, and that just hasn't happened enough here to refill that hopper with prospective talent like the great Kyle Krabs made a really good point to me in one of our private text messages about how the Vikings had that fugaisey of a thirteen and four year right that was not a true thirteen win team, and

we learned that by them getting beat by freaking Daniel Jones on the wildcard round and rather than pushing it with a roster that was kind of lucky to get there and try to go the Mike tannenbaumb route and just fill holes with names on a free agent list. I think that's where we got off the rails a little bit, because the push of the accelerator was the move when it was probably time to kind of pull it back a little bit and go status quo and

refill the depth and youth of the roster. And I'll tell you this, losing a first round and third round draft pick sure as hell didn't help in that pursuit. So the question is, now, what do you do? Travis. It's back to what I think they can do to make this all work. And I think about the options, and the other one that makes the most sense to me is a soft rebuild, and it pairs with the

philosophy shift and it's centered around the quarterback. And you might say, well, Travis, he's four and three this year, and so what good is that going to do us.

He still hasn't had the signature win in his career, and that's where I'd start to push back, because I mean, I've been on this crusade for a while now, but you know, to his maturity into the position where even two years ago I didn't know he was capable of this, the way he's taken ownership and the way he is the one that gets everybody wrong in the right direction. He is the type of quarterback that I think you can oversee bringing in younger parts of the roster, the

two can get in line. He can be kind of the de facto principle of the group there with obviously the head coach being the superintendent, but you have to have that at the quarterback position. And I think it's what can allow teams to go soft rebuild opposed to full rebuild. But you can also back to the four and three record point. You can point to three losses and just say like, well, yeah, the quarterback was gone. Then you get him back, and there's two more losses

you know we took because of the defense. And like in the Cardinals and Bills losses, if we have you know, Jalen Phillips and Bradley Chubb and Zach Seeler, those games are different dynamics and you know, oh weird they get up on teams and can't close them out late. I wonder, I wonder how losing three of your best pass rushers will do that. And I think that was my biggest personal heir in assessing the roster this offseason was I thought the edge group would be okay, but they haven't been.

They've they've been depleted by injury, right, But that also doesn't take into account you know, Jordan Poyer hacking away at JP's knees. Even just having him would be a game changer. You know, I thought we'd have Chubb by the bye week. That obviously did not happen. I was counting on Shaq Barrett, who had really good tap with

the Bucks last year. But all of that's gone, and then you add a poke in the eye of your best interior defensive linemen in practice to miss the two most important games of the year at that point, Like, I'm convinced we win those games with just Zack Seeler. Imagine having JP and Chubb and Shaq Barrett like that would have helped you close those games out.

Kalaeis Campbell, like these guys have been hits. Chop Robinson's been a hit, so I think that his input's quality and valuable. But here's what I really want to talk about is the offensive shift that I'm kind of pining for, and about how the Chiefs a couple of years ago, after winning championship, right, they moved on from Tyreek And you always look back at that and say, well, of course he had two seventeen hune yard seasons. He's been a big part of what this team has accomplished the

last couple of years. But an organization like the Chiefs, you know, Brian Winhors, why would they do that? Why

would they move off Tyreek Hill? And this is where it goes back to the quarterback position, because I think what the Chiefs noticed in twenty twenty two was this new trend of defenses refusing to give up the vertical passing game, defenses inviting more of the run game ie Isaiah Pacheco, and of course the investment in the Clyde Edwards lair that did not work out, and rounding out that receiving corps with more ancillary short options and using

the resources you got from your game breaking receiver to fill out the defense and the offensive line with draft picks and the money you saved from that position, because teams are going to stay in those two high coverages regardless of who you have these days. So I would follow that mold, and I would move off the superstar receiver and replace him with the rookie contract and spend your new resources on a couple of things. I would

categorize it this way. Athletes guys that move different than other people, especially on the defense side of the football, where I feel like the Dolphins lack big time explosive athletes, and then temperature changers on defense. Your Derwin James types, your Brian Branches, you'r Roquan Smith, you're Max Crosby's. You're guys that don't take no ish off of nobody, like the Jamaican Bob sled team on Cool Runnings. Right the bathroom scene, like when he wants to punk the guy

in the bar. I see a bad mother effort who don't take nothing off nobody. Let's adjust the offense though, to more suit the style. Play off the quarterback, because what I look at here is a league trending in the direction with all these two high shelves and all these different coverage looks that can you know, force teams. I would throw in the deep ball and it's all gonna be played within ten yards of line of scrimmage

these days. Well, to me, like Tua's game translates to the future of the league in that way more than just about anybody, because he's so sharp at hitting those small, fine windows in the short passing game. So if I can have a rookie, you know, I think like a Tae Kwon Thornton from a couple of years ago, who's been nothing in paige in New England, but a player that has straight line speed, it can get vertical. Maybe

Xavier Worthy is a better choice for that. But if I can replace the thirty million dollars a year guy with that for three million bucks a year, that can get the same impact, and I can round out the rest of the roster as a result and really lean into my quarterback strengths where maybe it is time to go run game, short passing game, offensive line protection, because Tua does mitigate offensive line play in a lot of ways.

But you can also maybe say that like his ability to play this way and get through progressions, you can add to that by getting more upfront. I still think that I would take the resource that you get from that and put it on defense and still continue the

way you do with the offensive line. In some sense, I wouldn't neglect it entirely, but I think that you don't go Chiefs level investment or our bucks level investment on the offensive line because of what tua strengths are, and you should lean into the fact that he can help you mitigate some of that, not all of it, but some of that. So adjust the offense to this current model. And people always ask him why is they're

not more short routes for wreaking Wadle. It's because they want those guys running the intermediate and vertical stuff and not put them in those shorter routes. And I think you can get that from other guys as well, and maybe you do have an adjustment where it's like, hey, we are going to run stick with tyreek er or waddle here and get more completions to those guys in short areas. Build them into the game plan and get them more confidence and get their stats going and all

that stuff that breeds more production from those guys. So adjust the offense to suit the modern style of football, especially with how it coincides with the strength of your quarterback. And invest in the running game, because when this offense is really cranking, it's the running game. And the tackle position has been a big fall off at right tackle and the tight end position. We have to find our Darnell Washington. Gosh, he was on the board for US

back in twenty twenty two. I wanted that or twenty twenty three. I wanted that guy so freaking bad. So invest in the running game with an actual, y, classic tight end, with maybe a little bit better investment in the offensive line, maybe one more bigger type of back that can run those cold weather days. And I think Jalen Wright probably is that guy. In exchange a week

for a deeper, younger, cheaper slew of wide receivers. Does that work for you, guys, Let's go ahead and take a break right there, come back and I have more to get to on the other side, including my chat with Caroline Hendershoot Hendershot rather from the Jets. That's next Drive time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you

by Auto Nation. So that's the plan laid out, and I want to just continue the same exact topic a full two segment segment here in one segment and or one segment in two segments.

see people suggesting blowing this whole thing up and offloading Tua. Like, guys, if you're out there, well, first of all, we know that you're not older than eighteen years old, because anybody who's watched the Dolphins for a decade or more knows how long we waited for just competence at the quarterback position, because without that, you are a non starter in terms of competing in important football games, like we've had important football games last five years because we've had a good

quarterback play.

And that's how I kind of think this team is outside of everybody except for number one, is what I was told, And it reminds me of the story about Somebody, Anybody, everybody and nobody. Do you guys remember that postgame after the rams Ta mention that this he said, I would say for us, it's sort of the it's not your job mentality. I don't know if you guys have heard the story about of the four people Everybody, anybody, somebody and nobody, And he says, well, I can't tell the stories.

I don't have the exact quote, but sort of it's the mentality of it's not your job, and so let's go ahead and cut off to us quote there, and I'll read you guys the exact story.

nobody did what anybody could have. I think that's kind of what you have here in terms of how this whole thing shakes down. And look the injuries for Tua, I get it.

think he'd agree with me. There's more of a clear pivot you can make this offseason in the way McVeigh did with the Rams to kind of load up in those areas and be less concerned about the deep vertical passing game. You can maintain your core offense and you can add to it to get potentially some addition by

subtraction in the locker room. Now you might have to do it without the highest paid receiver in football and just have one of those guys, and you will have to hit on a cheap receiver who provides more value.

lean into to his new skill set. Replace Reek with a less polished burner, make Wallle the centerpiece of the entire offense, keep pounding it with eight Chan and John Hui Smith, and use those Reek resources to give you a jolt on the defensive side. Of the football, further develop Jylan Wright and Malik Washington a new number two receiver.

I want a true why. I think you get that in the draft and invest in some mid round capital on the offensive line, across the interior, do that with the returning players and who help you with that continuity and let's get that pipeline turning. And then defensively, just I want temperature changers dogs. When I look at free agency and I see Buddha Baker available, a guy like that, a Derwin James type of personality who comes in and just rises all tides. What what do they do when

the pile gets stacked up on defense? How do they arrive to piles? What motivates them? Do they run through it and make the tackle or do they just kind of patty cake it on the back end? Is there an edge to the player if emby When Trevor Lawrence said that he doesn't really need football.

Let's take our last break rate there, come back on the other side and talk to Caroline Hendershot from Jets dot com. That's next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Autoation. Welcome back into the Baptist Hell Studios as we get ready for another Dolphins game with the New York Jets in town. Time to go across enemy lines here and welcome in Jets reporter Caroline Hendershot.

my eye. It was one of those rare Sundays where you don't have your team playing, so you get to watch the rest of the league. And it seemed like every time I looked up at that you know, off off screen Jets Seahawks game, when I looked up, something crazy was happening. Can you tell me what it was like to watch that roller coaster ryde go through those highs and lows there at MetLife Stadium on Sunday?

off with that ninety nine yard kick return touchdown. And special teams as a whole, I feel like had one of their best games of the season.

shown that time. So I guess my question is, Caroline, from a ten thousand foot view, how would you describe what happened and the difference between the expectations, you know, a popular preseason Super Bowl pick to the reality of three and nine. What's been the disconnect between those two things being what was supposed to happen or you know, predicted to happen versus what has happened.

Colts game. There are there's one play in each of those games you can point to and say, if that had just gone the other way, Dolphins have three more wins right now, But that's not the reality of it. At five and seven, trying to keep their playoff hopes alive with the win over the Jets on Sunday. My

guest is Caroline Hendershot from the Jets reporter. I should say, and I talked to coach McDaniel this week about the connection between Rogers and DeVante Adams because they've he's you know, coached in San Francisco for so long, he saw those guys in the playoffs pretty much every single year, and he really described kind of the chemistry between those two.

But as you talk about those little moments, I'm wondering, like, how far along has Rogers and Adams in the Jets chapter of their story careers together come along Because as much as they have that you know, built in synchronicity, I kind of feel like, as you get there for the trade deadline and you know, mid season, it's probably tough to pick that up right away. How have you

noticed those guys this connection together and how? And then I guess the follow up to that would be, how does Garrett Wilson factor into, you know, the receiving pecking order with DeVante Adams arriving there in October, right, I.

of that connection. I think the beauty of it is that Garrett Wilson, the way that now you have to view it as a defender is, Okay, we can't double team both of them, so you kind of have to pick your poison when you have both of them on the field at the same time.

the edge and run the ball very successfully. And then I got more intrigued by the matchup of this system versus that defensive system. And I went back this year and looked in the Niners and Texans, which is Kyle Shanahan and Bobby Slowick two of the Shanahan offshoots or one as the originator, and they had the two highest

rushing tolls against the Jets this year as well. So I'm curious, how have you kind of taken or I guess evaluated the Jets run defense this year, and how is it preparing to stop this Dolphins run game that hasn't been great the last couple of weeks, but in history has gotten lost success against the Jets run defense.

that's because CJ. Moseley isn't in there the linebacker and a captain for the Jets, but Jamie and Sherwood has really come into his own this year.

in Miami. But can you preview this Reek and Wattle versus Sauce and Reed and Michael Carter matchup because I'm curious. I know that for Tyreek and Wattle, they look forward to the challenge, you know, every year against these guys. It's gotta be the same way for the Jess cornerbacks against the Dolphins receivers.

I feel like has been really aggressive this year. They I think will be the first ones too to tell you like, there's been some plays where maybe the communication wasn't up to their standard, or things got away from them, or there have been some penalties, but that doesn't mean that they're not holding themselves to the high standard continuously.

didn't work out that way. One team gonna play out the string, the Dolphins hanging on to playoff hope still with with you know, the last five games to go and hopefully trying to find a way to win all those games. But the Jets can put us off to that right here with this game on Sunday. How do you think that the Jets can come up with a victory on Sunday over the Dolphins, Caroline.

and do all that stuff. I thought you guys deserved a little taste of it right there on today's episode. So yesterday optimist, today pessimist. But in the end, it's all gonna be okay, was the general message of these two podcasts. In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe, rate, review the podcast, Go ahead and follow me on social at Wingfield NFL.