Drive Time: Minicamp 2025 Day 2 Report

get there. From the Baptist Hell Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Draft Time Podcast day. So yesterday's show was one of those ones where all the stars kind of aligned for me. And what I mean by that is the narratives that I was tracking throughout the day and getting quotes from also played out on the field and it just kind of aim together into this perfect goulage, if you will. Today is not the same, and there's a decent amount of residual content

that kind of carries over from yesterday. And I queue it up this way because I want to start to talk about Storm Duck and Isaiah Johnson, who we talked about on the podcast yesterday, as well as cater Coho and bj Adams and Already Burns, these cornerbacks that are taking this aggressive play style and getting production from it on the back end. And with every practice I just continue to see more of the same from that group.

They're showing this aptitude for aggression and being very productive with what they're doing at the line of scrimmage in disruption, whether it's a dummy press or an actual press. But then they can carry that physicality down the stem and challenge the catch point on a pretty damn good group of wide receivers, right Like I talked about Storm matching up on Tanner Connor and winning a rep against him yesterday, and that's a guy that he has a size mismatch

or disadvantage against. And then today I saw him win an outbreaker where he was able to get underneath Jalen Waddle, who has torched just about anybody that's come across him in this entire you know, spring portion and drive on that throw to get a breakup on the coveted Tua to Wattle connections so far this spring. Isaiah Johnson will play a sound clip from him on this in just

one second. He talked about the coaches that challenged him to take a step after a productive spring, and that was meant to say to go make a play, go go get a turnover because and you know, I'll admit this to kind of take it back before I go forward again. I think cornerback is one of the toughest positions to evaluate, especially in a live setting, because oftentimes the best corners they don't have the stats or even the tangible reps in terms of the ones where they

give their best stuff. Like I think about Richard Sherman. For years after he got a bunch of picks, early teams were they wised up and they're like, we're not going to go after that guy anymore because he's going to take away more balls and he's going to allow receptions.

best cover corners in the entire NFL. Teams just don't want to try the guys that can get their hands on footballs and take it away because you know, typically a great rep from a cornerback means there's no target, right like, if they pick off the pass, they've either done a great job of baiting the quarterback into a bad throw or they gave the quarterbacks some indication, some semblance that that was the best place to go with the football. And when they completely dominate a rep, a

quarterback's going to say, yeah, I'm good. I'm not gonna I'm not going to go that way because there is number, you know whatever, the cornerback's number thirty seven for Isia Johnson. He's all over him, So why am I going to test him that way? And I think, you know, unless you're watching that individual matchup, when they have those dominant reps,

it's kind of tough to see. So it's difficult to absorb a bunch of reps from guys that way because I'd have to basically take my attention off the rest of practice. And I've made no secret about this fact that cornerback. Among all the years of doing you know, draft preview and giving you my thoughts on prospects what they could be the next level. I think the lowest batting average I have in terms of a position group

is cornerbacks. And I say all of that because once the playmaking comes in, that's when guys tend to get noticed. But I can't help but really glom onto this idea of a second year within the defense, a defense that really showed case. It's stuff from a zone coverage perspective, and you take those clues in those data points to extrapolate what it might be the next season. Right, And we have numbers on coverage splits in terms of you know, shell structure man versus zone press versus off.

all of that. Because I'll tell you what if a reporter came out here and watched practice and was able to give me man versus zone splits. I would say you're the Hall of Fame of training camp watchers, because that would be quite impressive. And you guys know how I feel about taking stats like quarterback stats in practice. I don't see the value in that, but this would have quite a lot of value. But I'm not saying

we're doing that. I'm just I'm communicating how tough it is to evaluate those players in those positions because of all these variables. And I say all this because I felt last year's calling card on the defense was the string of zone coverages that really played off each other. When you design plays in football, you have to every single rule or assignment has to have a description as to why or how the offense or defense might react

to that particular move or rule or player. And you have to be able to unfurl a you know what happens if ABC occurs, and you structure your plays in a way that it all makes sense and tethers together. That's that's what play scripting and play calling is all about. It's not just like hey call the Madden four verts versus a you know, half back slam, whatever the hell the Madden plays are, it's it's a lot more than

that simplicity of a Madden game. And for the defense, it was this creative you know structure in terms of how those structures aligned and presented rules in a very easily digestible way to the defensive backs and the entire defense.

half the time. But that structure last year, the kind of you know, three quarters of the time zone one quarter of the time man coverage was effective and it worked really well with our rush games, our sim pressure package for sure, and our blitzes in the entire package

of that year one of the defense. But now in year two, as we've discussed at length, at this point of June, you expand that menu becomes more expansive, and we've been over that, and I think we're seeing that play out here in the month of June on the practice field. And when I look at it, I think about it twofold number one, the pass rush personnel, it's just flat out better. I mean, you return Jalen Phillips and Bradley Chubb. That alone takes care of that for me.

And you think about Chop Robinson coming into year two. I asked James Daniels today about the Dolphins front and unprompted, the first thing he said was something to the effect of like forty four or is really good. He's been impressive. Then you add, you know Kenneth Grant and what I've talked about with him, We heard from coach McDaniel on him earlier today.

with their rush profiles, over their careers. So if the personnel is better and the menu is deeper, then you can probably count on more pressure, more one on one wins, absence the need to blitz right, and that creates more seven man coverage plays, and then you get into these cool mixes of hybrid zone versus man coverage where we can play that press aggressive style with everybody on one rep, we can even zero you and bring everybody down into the fit and go man across the board, and then

on another play we can show that same presentation. And now you've got a half field hybrid coverage with a manager where he goes concept like you can get so deep into the menu, into the weeds, and the opposing quarterback better match that in the way he prepares the entire week. If I've lost you, let's boil it down to this, the second aspect of my two fold here.

If I can count on more one on one rush wins, or I just have a deeper compliment to rush the way I did last year, which was through rush games, right, that's slants and twists and pick stunts and things like that. It can just be more effective of what I already did. And from all that then I can gamble more, And by gamble that might be the wrong word, because that insinuates that you're like trying to, you know, trade off

big plays for big plays. But when you play aggressive, you're the one forcing the issue, You're dictating the terms. It's like being a strike thrower in baseball. I'm coming after you. And maybe that increases your odds of me leaving one fat over the plate and squaring up off the barrel for a four hundred and fifty foot home run.

And you know that's the worst case scenario, but it also increases my chances of getting swings and misses or perhaps even more apt week contact and you put the ball on the ground to the shortstop for a tailor made six, four to three, and we're out of the inning when it looked like we were in trouble with runners on the base pass. So if I'm confident in the rush getting home fast, I have a quarterback on the opposite side that just saw three different zone presentations.

He gets what he thinks is that same presentation once again, but then it becomes this reroute man call with safety spamming the hot outlets within that blitz package, and they're jumping stuff because we have confidence that we're going to get home in two two and a half seconds. That's a lot for the quarterback to contend with, and more

than what they had last year. And I go back to that Rams game, like, Matthew Stafford is a borderline Hall of Fame quarterback, and maybe if he wins in their championship he is one.

next against these good level quarterbacks. The Texans game was the same way the Niners game down late in the year was the same way.

we do those things. And I think there's no mistake or coincidence about how it was built from the front seven perspective, with your first round pick being a defensive tackle with three additions alongside Jordan Brooks and Willie Gay, Tyrel Dodson and kJ Britt, with the return of those guys off the edge, adding a first round pick last year off the edge when the expectation was at some point you would have fifteen and two back in the fold.

They've really gone after those position groups, I mean beyond KG Jordan Phillips and Zeke Biggers, and they go get Malcolm Butler as well. But my goodness, man, those are a lot of guys to contend with. And I think what I see, I think is a front seven that you expect to be really good, and then a defensive backfield that the way it's called and coached, with the skills of the personnel matches what you expect to have in that front seven. Perhaps I'm wrong, and I'm just

speculating out my backside here, and I'm completely wrong. But that's that's what I think it think it is and what it could look like. So with all that in mind, after another really good practice from Storm Duck and Isaiah Johnson, and it's kind of the same name for me here multiple days in a row.

that track that this all fits together. And with the way I've seen Storm and Isaiah take to the scheme and the guys I talked about, it just kind of clicks for me. So I wanted to ask those two guys about some of that stuff. And I don't really

even have a particular tie in here. I just kind of wanted to play some Isaiah Johnson's sound bites because listen to the way this guy talks about outside perspective and motivation and social media, which he told us he doesn't even have social media, and for him at that age, like, I'm already impressed by that by itself. Let's hear about Isaiah Johnson on the outside noise with this cornerback group and how he contends with that.

But I think for the room right now, it's just everybody's trying to earn their stripes and everybody's trying to get on that field and play ball.

that I was able to make the most of it. Really, that one was all about knowledge, knowing, knowing the formation, and being able to have some expectations of what the play is coming your way, and then at the end of the day, being physical and attacking at attacking the ball at the end of the play and go on and grab it.

here from Dolphins cornerback Storm Duck. Let's go ahead and kick it off with him answering a similar question for Isaiah Johnson about the value the impact of rerouting guys at the land of scrimmage getting hands on players.

get us better, we get them better. So you know, it's a lot of back and forth. But in the day we're having fun with it.

that way, shame on you, right. So it generates this this urgency to be on top of the playbook, and you get that sense from talking to these players.

you will make a mistake at Tom's. But what we're taught here is like every.

of inside baseball on what happened today. I was leaning towards Willie Gay as my Player of the day after he made two plays in coverage and one against the run, and I was like, this guy's all over the field showing those chops in coverage, and this is something I have, you know, long wondered and perhaps can ask down the road. But we look, you know, we know in these camps that you can sometimes get guys that cheat the play, right, they know the offense, the offense knows the defense and

what you want to do. I used to ask Oj McDuffie all the time about this, and Oj would every single time, Man, they cheat every play. He thought, every dB cheats every rep. And I'm sure a cornerback would say the same thing about a receiver across the ball. But anyway, Willie, he had this rep and you know, football boiled down to its core element.

vacancy there. But Willy is able to put his foot in the ground, flip his hip, get back vertical into the passing lane and prevent another to a Chan completion early in practice. Quick aside here h Chan and Wattle eight again today a Chan. If you removed the number off his jersey and the name on the back, I would say, who's that receiver oute there that's looking like

the best player on the damn team. He looks that good as a receiver, like running routes and just smooth out of breaks, the way he catches the ball and doesn't fight it with his hands. I've just been loving what I'm seeing from him every single day. And we talked about the elevation on the touchdown catch yesterday, the way I saw him snatch throws directly over the ball

in traffic over the middle of the field. Today, I think twenty eight is the biggest problem for defenses that we've seen, you know, in three years from his own perspective, and this is a guy that has twenty five hundred scrimmage yards in twenty eight career games like it's rare production, and to me, what I'm seeing right now in June looks like the best version of himself. And then with Wattle, cut and paste it from every other day. There are so many plays where the other nine guys on the

field it just doesn't matter. And what I mean by that is that Tua and Waddle are so on the same page, and the ball is out so fast the other routes the pass protection, it's irrelevant because even if you beat your guy, the ball's already gone, doesn't matter. That's trust from Tua that Waddle is going to be exactly where he's supposed to be, and it's Waddle knowing where Tua likes him to be and getting there on

time every single time. I saw a completion today where waddal did the exact same thing I talked about for months now. The outside leverage cornerback who's designed to take away the outbreaking route and he can take that inside release and get back outside for the completion. It's all over his tape. Saw it again today in practice. It's so impressive and such an underrated aspect of Wattle's game.

He also caught a quick hitter over the middle where the ball was on top of his helmet, and he snatched that thing clean, got the ball back down to protect himself. Not going to take a hit in practice, but practice how you play right. Another great practice from him, and he and Tua connected a whole bunch today. Tua did have a pick today, the first one we've seen

so far in spring ball. I think he must have expected the route depth to be further than it was because he overthrew the thing by a lot and we just never ever see that from QB one. I'm speculating there, But Dante Trader is the officiary of this. He reels this pick in and yeah, I'm telling you this because

these dudes run to the football, it's non negotiable. And Trader is often the guy on the scene there back to the linebackers and Willie so he has that coverage, you know, feel and flip the hips and run down the field rep on a cham where I'm like, all right,

that'll freaking play from a linebacker. Then they throw this quick hitter to Azukama and Willy at this point is just gliding along the tips of the blades of grass and he's there in Azu Kama's face the minute the ball is caught, and if we are live, it would have been a collision that would have made highlights.

But the quarterback had to get off that read because Brooks was in good coverage for too long. So that's a big time win there for a linebacker who can also come downhill and impact your run game of blitz the quarterback. That's a three down player and a star linebacker that you have there. He also had a play where he came from the backside and then wrapped the playside edge for a run stuff. He looks ready to

rock and roll right now. Tyrell Dotson had an excellent chase and tackle or a tag off we're not hitting in practice late in the day. And kJ Britt had one of those reps we saw on his Tampa tape where he read his keys, fired his gun and just beat everybody off the snap to get into the backfield for a tackle for lost. Those linebackers, man, they are impressive.

And speaking of linebackers of the outside variety, we had Bradley Chubb and Jaln Phillips available for media and Bradley Chubb in the Orange Jersey, and I just want to play some soundbites from these guys because they're just so their introspective like knowledge of where they've been and I

suppose outlook on life. You know, for one guy that's what eight years younger than me, however old Bradley is, or and Jalen who's like fifteen years younger than me, like I learned from these guys because they're wise beyond their years. I want to go ahead and just play some sound here from Jalen Phillips when I asked him, you know, you're so good at finding silver linings, and these last two years must have been so tough on you, Like what was the silver lining for you in these

last two years? And I just love the way his brain works. Let's go ahead and throw it to JP.

lot other different silver linings. You know, I was able to graduate different things like that. I mean even with the ACL, I was able to do a fellowship for profit and community, was interning for real estate company, so doing some different things, allowing myself to kind of expare myself outside of the field. But yeah, I mean silver lining is in general, like I'm gonna be fine, Like it's not really anything long term that's gonna bother me. So it hasn't been that bad, to be honest.

can do that the best. Let's go ahead and throw to coach McDaniel right here.

He was in the Orange Jersey today, so that kind of tells you about the spring he's had and how excited he's to get back on the field the team is to have him back. So I wanted to play this SoundBite because we heard coach talk about it on Tuesday morning about like the way he sets a tone and basically like, hey, if you're gonna come out here and be like, oh practice, Like look at Bradley Chubb who just had to miss a whole year worth of

practice and he's itching to get back out there. Here's Bradley Chubb and how pumpedy is we back on the field and the meaning it is it has for him.

good job. I'm about to go do the same thing like that. That just brings a different energy, a different tone. And that's what I try to do this year, man, this whole offseason. Just let guys know that this is not promised, you know what I mean, and each and every day you got to earn it. God is fortunate enough to put us in this position, man, so we just got to take advantage of it.

down like that. But he also had a couple of runs where he where Jonah and or rather with the offense, had some runs where Jonah and Pat were driving the driving force of opening lanes and Jalen Wright continues to

find those cutback lanes. I love when he runs to one direction and then presses the backside and has that jump cut that springs him through, like on this particular run with Jonah and Pat washed down that backside and puts Jalen in a one on one position against the safety twenty yards downfield to decide whether or not it's going to be a twenty yard run or a fifty yard touchdown.

every single day. So for him to go up against those guys and score his wins, I thought that was really impressive. I think Larry Boram had a really nice week. H Chan found some room off his side and he's able to seal that forced defender around the edge.

day has a really impressive work rerouting. He got to this little flare on the outside to a running back and made out a tight window and the ball went incomplete as a result, Elijah Campbell, And this is kind of a general safety's note, but just watching the way these safeties can kind of creep down and get themselves into positions where I don't know if the quarterbacks aren't seeing them, and that's part of the design of the defense.

But he just continues to find his way. All these guys mc morris, Campbell, ify Trader, these guys keep finding their ways to impact throws over the middle of the field.

It kind of reminds me of how the Texans played us last year with bringing those safeties and you know, challenging some of those middle of the field throws and really forcing offenses to say, hey, if you don't have the time to get vertical on us, which we just had a whole segment about how the concept of this pass rush and aggressive band coverage can force the issue on that and utilize your safeties to come down and

be the enforcers in that second level. And I saw Elijah Campbell do that for closing down on a swing route for nothing. These safeties have consistently been in position against those passes in the middle of the field, and it really encourages me for what's to come this season. What else we got here. Let's play some more audio to close things up here about thirty one minutes into the podcast so far, y'all, I want to play two sound bites here from coach McDaniel. One on Nick Westbrook Akine.

But first let's go ahead and play this SoundBite on Kenneth Grant.

the team. He came in with a veteran like understanding of needing to be one hundred percent on what he's asked to do, his technique in fundamentals, and he works endlessly, So you're you're hitting a home run with the team when a first round draft pick comes in with that mindset, So we can work with that, and veterans know you can count on that.

each and every day. You've also seen him express some mental fortitude as he's you know, working working with a new team and also managing some stuff that doesn't keep He was wasn't on the field every day, which ended up being something that was obvious to everybody around that this dude is locked in because he gains in his game, you know, while managing an injury and being on the field and then being off, and then somebody on the day he's off makes a mistake and he he uh

utilizes their mistake and applies it to his game and does it correctly. So those types of things. His growth at his line of scrimmage game has been super encouraging from from our camp and uh, you know, just really uh finding a guy that I think the core of the room can depend on that is really going after it and the appropriate fashion invaluable to the team and to the young guys and how to be a professional football and make a living in this.