What is up Dolphins and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, you guys know what time it is. We are still rolling through the free agency class. Here. We have two more players to analyze, two more interviews to get to, and some additional activity over the end of the week and the weekend to cover. Here from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
This is the Draft Time Podcast.
We'll get to my chats with Nick Westbrook, Akine and Ashton Davis here in just one second, as well as the breakdowns for kJ Britt and Alexander Madison. But first, the news that Shent shockwaves down at Dolphins Twitter on Thursday night. The Dolphins brought back Liam Eichenberg to round out some depth on the offensive line. Just a couple of things here, real quick. Trust me, I get it.
I've seen the reps that make everyone lose their minds, the reps that are out and out losses that result in big hits on the quarterback, negative runs, all that stuff. I think that the outrage that you are experiencing and expressing, which I see all of it. If we go into week one, and Liam is the starter. I think all of that would be justified, every single ounce of it, but I highly, highly, highly highly doubt that's the case.
I think that this is like your eighth or ninth offensive lineman, And if the Dolphins signed a player who was a lesser player than Liam and had a different name,
I think Dolphins fans would have an opposite reaction. So I understand the PTSD attached to it there, and I thought that alf Artiega from the Three Yards per Carry podcast really put it well that Liam's not about like volume losses, it's when he does lose it tends to have a major impact on the game, can almost wreck the game because some of those losses can be so bad, where James Daniels is a guy that when he loses his reps, it's like, rather than an eight yard run,
a three yard run. I thought that was a very apt comparison there. So yeah, frustration understood, but maybe a little bit strong here in the month of March, but I do totally understand it. I think that I also get the sense, like Dolphins fans or on Twitter at least, kind of feel like the order of how you sign guys is like means anything like as if you know we can't sign someone better because we just went down the pecking order. I don't know, that's kind of the
sense that I get, so Liam Mikenberg. We also I had to come in here and redo this because the Dolphins also on Friday it was reported agreed to a contract with tight end Pharaoh Brown, who just off the top before I get into analysis there. To me, I think is probably competition for Julian Hill as kind of that why tight end or number two possibly number three tight end. So Leam Mikenberg and Faraoh Brown. Let's go ahead now and get to my chat with new Dolphins
wide receiver Nick Westbrook. Akine, It's Dolphins and welcome back into another edition of the Draft Time podcast. Free agency addition, I'm joined by new Dolphins wide receiver Nick Westbrook a keyne Nick, Welcome in, man, how.
You doing doing well? Doing well? Thank you?
I get the name right, last name right?
Yeah, got it right? Yeah, you got.
I watched some Titans radio broadcast to hear them say your name after touchdowns, and so I really focused on that to get that in and then really hammer in on the pronunciation on your last Yeah.
Put in the work. I love it.
A little preparation you a little bit something about that as well. So first off, welcome home, man. I know Lake Mary is what about a four hour drive from here?
Yeah? Yeah.
Have you spent any time in South Florida in your life besides you know right now?
Yeah, a little bit.
We were actually just down here a couple of weeks ago, which is cool. Took the bright Line down. He came in early, saw my family and then took the bright Light down. That was awesome. That was pretty cool experience. Yeah, I love it, love it.
My neighbor is like a big manager at bright Lines. I'll be happy to hear that is that we get a lot of use out of that train system there. What do you think is the biggest difference between South Florida and northern slash at Central?
I mean, for me, it's the beaches right there. In Central Florida, you gotta go a little bit to get to the beach, but you know, down here, the beach.
Is right there. So yeah, it's it's different.
Probably a little bit hotter, maybe we'll see, but I'm excited to be here.
Yeah. The humidity definitely creeped up on you.
Down here, especially on training camp time for sure, so it is definitely toasty. So going back to the football here, getting to the football, I should say, watching you on tape, man, like your route running is really pure and clean and smooth and fun to watch to me. And so I was curious if you could just kind of take us through the progression of learning to become a great route runner, which is obviously one of the biggest things that the
receiver can do in the league. And if you thought about, like when you came into the NFL, like what would twenty twenty five Nick tell twenty nineteen Nick at Indiana about the progression of six years of learning how to run routes.
It's a process. Trust the process.
Yeah, I feel like to me, it's just about like being as efficient as you can, you know, explosion and all that.
That really is really helpful.
But when you can take out the the things that are gonna, you know, get in the way of you being efficient, I feel like that's what helps out the most. So yeah, a lot of credit to you know, my receiver coaches over the years, Rob Moore, Tyke this past year, they really you know, helped me out and work with me put in that work.
A lot of that duance to your game too, like where you kind of head g nob like peak one way, break off the other way, Like that was a big part of what helped you get open with the Titans.
Yeah, yeah, one hundred percent and stuff like that. That's the stuff that I learned kind of as as I went along and I was watching guys, watching you know, teammates of mine, and what they use, the tricks they use, and I feel like that's you know, one thing I try to do is just be a sponge trying to absorb as much knowledge as I can from the game because there's so many great guys that I played with.
Well that will fit in well here.
So will your run blocking real, which, again on the tape I had, I was like fist pumping watching you block some guys down the field, some combination blocks like hitting the edge and then climbing to the linebackers and getting those guys like, this guy's gonna fit in well. Because we have a bit of a saying here, at least I've heard it a few times, no block, no rock, Right, So I'm curious, what do you think makes a really
good blocking wide receiver position? Where sometimes maybe guys turn that that part of the job down and choose to kind of, you know, maybe take those plays off a little bit.
I just gotta be willing to do it. I feel like that's what it is.
I mean, I pride myself in the dirty work, and I feel like, you know, you do it enough and it's not as dirty. You know, you realize there's an art to it. So yeah, you just gotta be willing to do it.
Yeah, it's it's it's awesome to watch Man's that part of your game, the route running. And then also you play all over the formation, right. I think I saw a stat that you were in the slot like forty percent of the time with the Titans, so good inside outside game. Was that something you've always done, going back to Indiana High school playing all over the formation?
Yeah, a little bit. You know.
I feel like I just try to get a full grasp of a game plan, the playbook so that I can be plug in whatever I need to need to be.
That's kind of how I.
Earned just to be able to carve out a role early on in my career was just being able to know every position and go in and play. But that's really helped me because then I get a full grasp of, you know, the plays that we do have, knowing where I fit in it, or knowing where I fit in the progression and just kind of just you know, thinking about it from a bird's eye view.
Yeah, the more you can do, right, undrafted guy kind of had to learn that probably right away that the more you can do is the best chance to make a football team and make a career and be here for your second contract with the Dolphins, right exactly. Yeah, So how valuable is that though? Like the ability to play multiple positions across the offense. I'm sure they've told you that that's a pretty big part of the offense down here.
Yeah, it's huge.
I think it's a huge, huge, just to be able to, like I said before, like be plug and play and you know, if a guy goes down, because.
That's unfortunately the nature of the business, and sometimes.
Guys go down and you need to be able to have a guy that you knows what to do. So, yeah, just being versatile, reliable, that's what I try to hang my hat on.
So you're a six foot two receiver. We have a bunch of guys that are very good receivers down here. They're all very fast, but we don't have anybody of that size. What do you think that your size brings to the Dolphins wide receive her room.
Yeah, I mean it's a god given thing. I can't you can't coach it, you can't, you can't create it. I mean, you can get a surgery, but I feel like, you know, you can't play football if you get.
A heighth extension surgery. Yeah.
So yeah, it's just trying to use the gifts that he gave me, and yeah, I try to, you know, maximize it as best as I can.
I mean, nine touchdowns on thirty two catches last year, right, It sounds like that's probably a pretty big part of your game is going up and catching the football and down the red zone.
Yeah. Yeah, I definitely love the red zone. Yeah, I love the red zone.
We can always use it, always can use guys that can score touchdowns down the red zone. So went to Indiana.
You're a Hoosier for for five years, correct, got your business marketing degree there. What was that like and how do you plan to maybe use that down the road at some point?
Yeah, we'll see, hopefully not any time soon. But but we'll see. It was great. Kelly School of Business is a really good business school up there in Indiana.
Met my wife down or up there, and that's, you know, blessing in itself. I love her so much and she's honestly a huge reason of just me even being in this right now talking to you. So yeah, we'll see what it takes or where it takes me that degree, but hopefully.
Don't use it soon.
Yeah, maybe like ten twenty years down the road.
Yeah, maybe something like golf related. Really into golf, so we'll see.
All right, So just stop the whole in you because now you're talking. I mean I was just watching the players before I came down to talk to you, so, like, I love golf. Have you looked into the region at all about what's out there? Because there is golf everywhere you go down here in South FORTHA.
Yeah, that was that was something I realized, you know, once sign and I was like, there's golf year round, there's no off season. Yeah, so I'm excited for that.
Yeah, it's really cool.
Man.
What's the handicaff You'm me asking?
I mean, so I just had a nine month old son, so I haven't played in probably like a year, like maybe once or twice. So we're definitely in the team's probably somewhere right now.
Okay, we'll get you dialed in here real quickly. You mentioned the son, so nine month old. You mentioned you said it's a little boy, little.
Girl, So yeah, son boy.
Okay, cool.
So what's what's been the I guess the biggest learning, the biggest thing you've taken away from being a father for nine months?
Yeah, it goes fast.
I mean he's already nine months and I'm just like, I missed the times and I could just fit him right here in my forearm. Yeah, I just I love him so much, it's awesome.
He's really such a gift.
Yeah, so there really hasn't been learning other than just like patience and really I feel like I'm learning sacrifice for the first time and really understanding. You know, I understand it for myself, but sacrifice for someone else is definitely different.
Definitely sacrifice and sleep. I'm sure here and there. Just wait, take a little bit older. They try to take the food off your plate like my kids are. I was like, can I have it? I'm like, yeah, I guess you can, because you're up next. So you're always always trying to take something from you and you give him back all the love and return. Man, that's great to hear. So
you also have a little dog named Winston. And I was kind of reading about your background in Indiana and how you download this app called Rover where you can babysit dogs, and you were like very into that.
Can you tell us about that a little bit?
Yeah, I mean I grew up always having dogs, love dogs. When I was in Indiana, I was like, I would love to have a dog, but didn't make sense.
With schedule and all that. So in the off.
Season I would do Rover and I would dog sit for people and you know, there was one dog I remember, I took him into the facility with me, had to run around, run around for me, stuff like that, and the owners just loved it.
They got it. They got a big kick out of it.
So yeah, that was that was my fix because I couldn't have a dog.
And you did some work with the Tennessee Humane Society is where the National Humane Society as well, right, correct?
What was that like?
That was cool? It was?
It was really awesome that you know, there was a dog I was able to go take on a walk and kind of just create some awareness for a pet adoption week and then ended up getting adopted, So it was it was really cool.
Yeah, that's a really cool part thing to be a part of. You also won the ed Block Courage Award back in twenty twenty twenty one with the Titans.
Can you tell us about that a little bit.
Yeah, I had an injury at the very end. It was almost like basically the last play. It was the last play for me. We had the wild card game against the Ravens and it was two minute drive and got tackled and you know, had an injury with my ankle, and yeah, it was tough, especially right at the end of the season, was you know, finishing up my rookie year. I feel like it was a high note to end
it like that was tough. But yeah, it was just put in the work and just was in there all the time, getting rehab, doing everything I could I could do to get back, and came back next year and had an even better year than the year before and.
Just kind of kept it going from there.
Now with the Miami Dolphins, I wasn't going to close with what are you most excited about to be in South Florida for but it sounds like maybe that might be golf.
But maybe football first, but outside of football golf.
Yeah, okay, So the way I will ask you the final question is if you could just tell Dolphins fans what are they going to get? What can they expect to see on Sundays with Nick Westbrook It.
Yeah, I'm gonna work my tail off.
I feel like that's what I've done since I've been in the league is just try to find a way. First it was finding a way onto a team, and then once I was there, I don't want to leave, and so just kept working, kept working. And I feel like that that in itself too is a gift that God has given me, just to just work hard and just put my head down and grind it out and see how see how it ends up.
With that there great stuff, New Dolphins wide is here.
Nick Westbrook a kin, thank you for your time today and we'll see you out there on Sundays. Man, Thank you, and off he goes. Let's go ahead and pause for our first break right there. Come back on the other side and hear from new Dolphins safety Ashton Davis. That's next Draft Time Podcast. Your host Travis Wingfield brought to you by AutoNation. What's Up, Dolphins? Welcome back into an edition of the Draft Time podcast Freeency edition, And my guest today is new Dolphins safety Ashton Davis.
Ashen, what's up and how you doing?
Doing well?
Happy to be here, Excited.
You came over to the good side. Check rivalry.
I guess that got you down here. Now, what do you remember most about playing those games?
Uh? Shoot, the warm weather when we were down here?
Sure, yeah, at that stadium and you know it always you guys are always sitting in the shade and we're sitting there cooking in the sun.
That's a that's the most memorable thing I think.
But now you are you guys?
Now, now I am you are one of us, But you've also got a few picks off of us. I think I've mistaken two or three. So yeah, four actually quarterbacks down four?
Who's counting?
Yeah, I guess you are. I mean it makes sense. Yeah, I remember being like, yop, there's Ashton David's another pick for the Dolphins. You Ashton, And then like I think Brandon Eckles got a few times too. Yeah, so he also signed somewhere else as well. So making the Dolphins better and maybe the Jets a little bit worse too. So welcome in man. How's how's it treating you so far? The building there, that's great.
Flew in this morning, kind of just getting the lay of the land. Still introduced a lot of names, Probably going to have to have some reintroductions, but it's been great so far.
Santa Cruz Kid, right.
Santa Cruz Kid.
So, beach is probably calling your name a little bit.
Beach is calling my name. Yeah, I actually don't surf at all.
The really never been.
I'd surprised me. I would have thought maybe that's like a part of the world where everyone yeah, yeah, absolutely no doubt. So when you think about going back to like your days at Cal track team walked onto the foot ball team, right, when you think about going into your sixth year in the NFL after being a walk on in college and obviously a third round pick, so like you weren't like slept on at that point, but a walk on is usually doesn't usually make it to
this level. When you reflect upon all that, what comes to mind?
Do you?
I think the biggest moment that comes to mind is I actually walked on for a track too, and that after my freshman year of track, they offered me a full right scholarship, but with the condition that I couldn't play football, and thankfully my parents where you know, I had to ask them first if that was okay, and they let me chase my dream of football and ended
up working out. So I think that was the most memorable you know decision or like, you know, they were willing to take out a loan to help me pursue my dream and I was able to do something with it.
So that was the biggest thing I remember from college.
Go from walk on to conference champion in track, walk on to a third round draft pick, and like maybe could have gone even higher, Like you were really good football player and college. That's like beating the odds in a lot of ways, right, Like that's pretty impressive.
It's yeah, it's kind of been the theme of my of my life and.
Ready to do it again.
Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. So I know this is probably like agent history, but and doing some work up on you and some research for this interview, Like you didn't test after your last year in college, right, you were injured for the combine, so you didn't run, did that bum?
You out because like, yeah, I will.
So Combine came up and was still kind of doing rehab and stuff for that, and then we were supposed to have pro days, but then the world ended in twenty twenty, so that all the pro days were canceled and I didn't get to run, which sucked. But you know, whatever, everything happens for a reason, I guess, and I ultimately let me hear, so I think it was.
It was, it was what had to happen.
Did you ever run a forty at any point?
I was running a little bit in training?
What did your clock on that?
Before I was done with my rehab, I was running high four threes.
Okay, that's what that's about.
Where thought you'd be below the four fours because like I said, one hundred time meter, like I.
Think I had there was some more meat on the boat and then I was still, you know, eight weeks out of rehab or something. So but yeah, I think I would have ran.
Well, you can kind of use that when you're playing twenty yards off the ball, playing that deep umbrella coverage.
Right over the tape.
Yeah, absolutely, Yeah.
Do you kind of like look forward to the chances to actually get a run long distance.
Yeah, yeah, meet somebody in the in the alley, you know.
Yeah, absolutely absolutely, So in this defense, you'll have all kinds of opportunities to play all over the field. You've obviously played in the slot a little bit, all the safety positions, some quasi linebacker roles. Have you had a chance to meet with coach Weaver yet, I have the defense at all?
I tell us about that.
We've talked about it.
I was able to get get my iPad today so I can start, you know, getting into the film and stuff like that, diving in learning the verbiage and stuff. But yeah, we talked about a lot of stuff. I'm excited to get to work, excited to see what he has. We both seem to think it's going to be a good fit. So I'm just I'm looking forward to it.
It's a pretty in vogue defense across the NFL. Right, there's a bunch of coaches off that Ravens Tree. We've been one of them that has called this defense. Do you kind of have a chance to have seen this defense really permeate throughout the league to know it very well?
Yeah?
Absolutely, I mean you see it on tape from other teams all the time as a as a defensive guy, you're not studying other people's defense, but you study players and you study, at least myself, I study other players. And a lot of the times you're you're watching tape on offense as you know who you're playing that week or whatever. But there's been there's been times where I've you know, sat back and watched a little bit of the Miami tape and I like what I see.
So you talk about watching obviously, when you watch tape, you watch our offense. We talked about playing here a little bit, but when you watch the Dolphins offense, what's to you on tape?
Speed?
Yeah?
Yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah, I know. That's that's the main thing. You know, you everyone talks about it in the league, and you know, you get a whole track team over there and a lot of guys, a lot of super talented guys, and you know, who do you who do you lean to and coverage when you got guys that can do what you know they can do. So it's a it's an explosive offense. It's a dangerous offense. And I'm glad to be a part of it now.
Yes, yeah, against me in practice and that kind of That's a good segue to my next question because you know you've experienced this as a player over your five years, Like the league has really changed in terms of how defenses are structured, and I think Waddle and Tyreek are probably a big reason for that with having teams play a lot too high and you know, even three high coverages. When you think about how the league has changed that,
how is that shift? I guess maybe your job as a player that you know, maybe you cover less ground back there, but you're not playing in the box as much.
Have you had that experience or yeah, it's it's.
Uh, I think it's all game plan stuff. You know.
You you go against the guys like that, you obviously you're thinking about the bomb and not don't give up the bomb.
But yeah, I think I think anytime you.
Got guys like that on the other side of the field, you've got to you got to know where they're at and you've got to be aware of, you know, how they can hurt you. And that dictates you know a lot of the coverages that you'll be in and things like that. And like you said before, glad to be on this on the same team as those guys.
Now, yeah, definitely, let's talk a little bit about some non football stuff when you think about or not think about, but just like yourself as a person, what's some of your the best things that you're into off the field that you can get into done here.
I'm just competitive.
I think something I really took up was was pickleball? Really something where you know, like a low impact thing where I can I can still compete in something you know, it's not I used to play a lot of basketball, and obviously that's a little bit more high impact. So I took a pickleball just anything outside really. I used to be a big gamer in twenty twenty back when the world ended, but I haven't played a ton since.
Yeah, I really I'll compete in anything. I'll play.
I'll play in chess like I just I just like competing and think competing in st guys.
Yeah, pickleball, I think you're I think Florida's like the country's capital for pickleball.
I means it's got to be Florida, California, right, Yeah.
Yeah, warm Weather, A little bit of golf. Playing in golf.
I'm terrible at golf, but I play. I play, but I'm terrible.
I feel like players are more and more certain and say they're getting into golf these days.
So yeah, maybe you can fall suit there. How about just let's talk impactful football.
You good with that? I mean, you played at Cal, I went to Washington State. Gokug's.
Everyone knows that I asked you this question off the air, but I want to have you repeat it again. I've asked every player that's come through here for the Pac twelve, what was the toughest environment to play in college?
In that conference?
I thought it was it's got to be between Otson or in Washington. We played in Otson in Oregon when they were ranked and they were you know, they had like a lot of big name guys, and I remember that stadium was rocking. But I only played there one time. And I remember Washington was always always jumping, no matter what year was, if they were, you know, ranked or not, that stadium was rocking.
So it's got to be one of those two.
The only stay in that you can really yacht gate they call it. You can tailgate on yachts Washington stay in there Ralph Lake, Washington. So that's a pretty cool environment. And that was that must have been the Justin Herbert at Oregon when you played there, right, yep, so that must have.
Been a pretty fun game to play in.
Absolutely.
What are your thoughts on what's happened in the Pac twelve man? Like it breaks my heart?
Yeah, I'm it's crazy. I never saw that coming.
You know.
We got two schools in Stanford and Cal that now play primarily East Coast games, and it's weird.
Yeah, it's weird. I can I don't know. I don't know.
It's it sounds like an interesting situation for those guys, but.
I don't know.
I'm interested to see how it how it progresses moving forward.
Yeah, falls because Miami had that game in Cal last year was like eleven o'clock and that was like us too late.
We were I was, you know, I was going to plan on watching it, but we played last year. We played in London during that so it started at four am. I think, yeah, no, no.
More important fish to fry at that point.
We'll close with this action if you can tell the Dolphins fans what are they going to get? And you, as a player on the field, like where are they getting an Ashton Davis competitor?
You know, effort technique violence. That's that's kind of my brand of football. And I'm going to give you everything that I got and try to make the other people better around me.
So I look forward to it. Can't wait. Good stuff, man.
I appreciate your time in nice to meet you. Thank you, Thank you. Dolphins safety Ashon Davis. There you go, one last break, come back on the other side and break down the tape of kJ Britt and Alexander Madison. That's next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation and henceforwarth The Dolphins have signed running back Alexander Madison. Every time I hear his name, all I can think of is the founding Fathers, but
he does not come equipped with a powdered wig. He was a third round draft pick by the Vikings back in twenty nineteen out of Boise State the Blue Turf Monsters. He spent five years with the Vikings from nineteen to twenty three, one year last year with the Las Vegas Raiders. He's five eleven, two hundred and twenty pounds and he turns twenty seven years old in June. He's only missed
five games over the last four years. Had a couple of injury plagued first two seasons in the NFL, after never missing a game at Boise State once in his career. There now the statistical profile, it's not very good. A career success rate of forty two point two percent. That compares to Devon eight Chan at fifty percent, where heem moster was fifty two percent in his time with the
Miami Dolphins. Eighty nine games, seven hundred and sixteen carries, twenty seven one hundred and ninety rushing yards, fifteen touchdowns on the ground. He added seven more through the air, so twenty two touchdowns over his five year his six years, I should say, one hundred and thirty six grabs one thousand receiving yards, and he has six fumbles over six seasons and an average yards per carry of three point nine.
He was pretty consistent in his production with the Vikings, an offense akin to the one that he'll play in here for the Miami Dolphins. But last year with the Raiders he produced one of the lowest success rates in
the NFL individually and their team success rate. And you guys that heard the Raiders preview podcast will recall this that was legitimately from like dva epa success rate was literally one of the worst rushing attacks in the history of the National Football League, and as a result of that, I felt his production plummeted.
Accordingly.
Averaged around two point one to two point three yards before contact year over year with the Vikings, but last year with Vegas that fell to one point six yards. So you know, think about getting blown up in the backfield, like the stuff that he can't control, right, I get the football, there's a tackler in my face after one point six yards on average, compared to a half yard more on average with the Vikings. And he had similar yards after contact production last season to what he had
with the Vikings. It was right around one point seven per year the last few years with Minnesota and with the Raiders. His athletic testing nothing to write home about. A four to six seven forty yard dash that's obviously thirty four percent tile among running backs or obviously not very high. I should say a ten to oh seven broad jump was in the ninety fifth percent tile, And to me, that really at tracks with his play style. Not going to be a breakaway speed guy by any
stretch of the imagination. He's not going to hit home runs ever, but he does have some juice in some tight spaces.
He's just not a very athletic back.
His game is more get to top speed off the edge, make a move and then get forward behind the pads and keep the feet turning and basically survive contact for a couple extra yards. That's kind of what you're looking forward to here, Layah Right. Linear yardage accumulation was the
Mike McDaniel phrase with Raheem moster. I would say he is like a poor man's version of that from what Raheem offered, even at a bigger composition in terms of his running style and his his body size, his bodies composition. So I think it's a downgrade at the third running back if you consider Right as the number two, which I would would push the chips towards middle of the table saying that Right's going to get a bigger workload
this year. As far as his contract, that's not yet known, A lot of these contracts we haven't quite covered on the podcast are going to be very very like minimal. I mean, I can't imagine it's more than you know, a million or two bucks. So the verdict let's go ahead and get to the verdict. Almost forgot my sound drop. What I knew about Alexander Madison was that he had experience in a similar run scheme to the one that he'll enter here in Miami and had some productive years
as the backup to Dalvin Cook with the Vikings. When he got to Vegas, the entire run game just didn't work and his production suffered as a result of that. He was a very productive back at Boise State, a good finisher, big with enough juice to get it wide in an outside zone scheme. And I liked him in Minnesota and even suggested him as a like I want to say I had him as my number three back or a guy that could compete for the number two
job back when it was who was it? I mean, it might have been Mostert and trying to round out that group like savon akbed Miles gascon days. But I remember seeing him that year after I had suggested that when he re up with the Vikings and thinking like, oh no, he lost a step he had, like I think he had famously had no touchdowns on a year where he had like two hundred, which was a pretty
crazy happenstance, the big runs are just not there. I thought he lacked the natural receiving ability on that tape, but the more I watched it, I kind of changed my mind on that. But I thought, maybe this would be an option as a pile pusher slash pass protector on third down, especially if you can be a viable receiver, because when you can catch the football, push the pile and be a good pass protector, you can play on third downs. And his reception numbers over the last couple
of years would would be conducive to that. But then you look at the drops. He had seven drops in twenty twenty three as a full time rotational back, and then he had more of a kind of satellite role last year where he was in and out and up and down, and he had two drops in that role. And that does not scream smooth receiver to me. Because throws to the running backs are the easiest footballs to catch.
The quarterback typically doesn't put a lot of juice on that football and it's usually a pretty tight spiral that kind of takes you into your run like it's the one of the easiest catches on swing routes and screens and it's the softest football you're gonna get from the quarterback. So what I wanted to see was how effective was he on short yardage? How much of his production drop should we excuse? And what does he look like as
a pass catcher. And what I learned from watching his reel of ten plus yard runs this year, his reel of runs against stacked boxes, which was also basically his short yards reel, that's what I wanted to get a look at, and his receiving reel, and on the ten plus yard run reel, most of those runs with the Raiders where it was him pushing piles over the threshold or dropping a shoulder onto a safety, then getting some daylight and finding that space. But he wasn't exactly running
through the greenest of pastures. I mean again, they just didn't open up space last year on the Raiders offense. He has a pretty good amount of power when it comes down to like a one on one moment in space, like if there's a safety in the sea gap and he's got a good block, otherwise he probably runs that player over. He's pretty effective when it comes to burrowing in behind the line to push for extra yardage, which is the opposite right of what Devon Ahchan did last year.
The best way I can describe it is he is good at getting the most out of blocks that are stalemates. Like you have the blocks that you win where you get pushed back and create space for a couple of yards. You have your losses where there's penetration that you know surrounds you and you can't do much about that. But when it's stacked up and there's not really a clear winner, he can stay on his feet and kind of help create that knock back at the point of attack himself
by kind of burrowing into the offensive line. I also again pull up that reel against stacked boxes, and I think you can really see the ability to get the most out of what's there in those situations and thinking about getting behind some bigger linemen trying to grind out, you know, certain yards in certain situations or close games in the fourth quarter, trying to you know, put the
nail on the coffin. I think that, paired with enough speed to get to the perimeter, could keep him around as the number three or four back on the roster, but I'm hesitant to commit to that idea. I think he'll get competition from at least one rookie. I'd be surprised if you don't see like a back taken sometime in one of those seventh round picks feels like a great time to get a running back and then also probably an additional UDFA. I just don't think he's explosive enough,
like at all. He is patient, but I don't confuse that for quick on the track in terms of his outside zone track, and I'm not sure it pays to have him out there getting carries over guys that are that or to remove a chan or right on passing downs,
even if he is a pretty good pass protector. I think the short yard's prowess, paired with the ability to kind of locate and block blitzers and pass rushers, is the best part of his game that allows him to be on the field for those types of situations while keeping the defense from getting a read or a tell on you right. The last thing that this offense wants to do. In an any coach, but especially Mike McDaniel, they do not want to have personnel the tips their hands.
It's a very big, very big core philosophy around here. And I don't think he's going to be like Devon h Cham running eighteen yard digs like a receiver anytime soon. But I do like the way that he scans through his protection assignment and then leaks out into the pattern after he's kind of figured out that we have the pass blocking figured out. And he's not an easy tackle when you get him on swings in space and one
on ones. Go back to opening day last year, he broke two tackles and had like a thirty three yard touchdown catch and run against the Chargers, and I would imagine that he'd see quite a bit of that down here, given the pieces defenses have to worry about, right, I mean, you're not going to cover Alexander Madison with more than one player with more than like one curl flat linebacker when you have to contend with Johnny Smith and Tyreek Hill and Devon ah Chan and Gilian Waddle.
Where he helps.
I was happier with the tape than I thought he would than I thought it would be because my experience was that Vikings year. But I thought there was some more juice on that Raiders tape than I thought going in. I think he's a good piece for a young player to compete with that number three job. He plays a decent amount on special team, so there's some value there to address him, or maybe there wasn't in the past. I think he's a smoother receiver than Jeff Wilson was.
I think he's better in pass pro and in short yardage, and that's where like to me, Wilson's a better running back, a better runner. But that was always the problem, right, he didn't specialize enough in those things that our other backs lacked. And I think that if you want to see the vision with Alexander Madison, it's that he can give you the things that Devon h Chian does not.
But why he was available, We've talked about this a few times, Right, players like this don't really require this assessment. It's because these guys become available. They're not They don't move the needle. Okay, it's like a number three, number four back. It's why he's available. I have him as a replacement level player classification, which again, if you can
find a good rookie, he can replace them. So thet you go Alexander Madison New Dolphins running back up next in our free agent analysis is linebacker kJ Britt, who was a fifth round draft pick by the Buccaneers in twenty twenty one out of Auburn. He's spent all four years of his pro career to date in Tampa Bay. Six foot tall, two hundred and thirty five pounds, he
turns twenty six years old in June. Our mission for Kyle Krabs and myself to get a bunch of twenty five year olds fresh off the rookie contracts is playing out that way. He does have a slight injury history. He missed three games last year with an ankle injury. That same ankle caused him to miss five games in twenty twenty two. He missed a single game in twenty twenty three with a calf injury, and he played his entire rookie year back in twenty one fifty nine career
games fifteen starts. Eleven of those starts came last year for the Buccaneers defense, a playoff defense, mind you. He had four starts in twenty twenty three, and until the last two years he was more of a fixed year on special teams. In fact, his snap counts in total win eight forty six on defense cumulatively over four years
and nine hundred and fifty five on special teams. He went from being a guy that played between sixty five to eighty percent of the snaps on special teams his first three season down to just thirty percent last year. So he kind of earned his way into a starting gig.
And we'll get into the tape here in one second, but one of the things that I think I'm most excited about with Kaj Britt is his proximity to Levonte David because when I watched him on tape spoiler, like the processing and the instincts and the clear work that he does Wednesday through Friday. I'm imagining that Leavonte David rubbed off on him in some ways. And I think we already will have the James Daniels interview post and
by the time you guys hear this analysis. But one of the things James talked about was his proximity to Charles Leno in Chicago and kind of saying like, I don't think I'd be where I am today without having Charles Lenot next to me. I think kJ Britt maybe he was this way before, but watching him with the Buccaneers, like both of the linebackers there played without false steps and with like really good instincts and intention behind what they did and understanding of the roles of every single
job they had within different concepts. Defense, he has one hundred and twenty six total tackles, just four for loss. He's not an explosive player. He does hit. He's a big physical player, but he's not explosive in terms of like I'm gonna fire the trigger, get downhill, go make a play four yards behind the line of scrimmage. Just a half a sack, three passes defense, two quarterback hits. The stats that we have here are for coverage and rushing, and that's two parts of his game that just aren't
part of his game he had. He's a base down run defender. According to Pro Football Reference, he had seven missed tackles last year, but only two in his career prior to that, so nine in total. It's a six percent miss tackle rate with thirty one inch arms too, because usually arm length kind of tends to lead to more miss tackles if you don't have it. But if he hits you, he pretty much gets you down. And
again we'll get to the tape. But he is a very sure tackler, especially when working downhill in short spaces. Twenty two stops on two hundred and forty one rundown reps over his career, just the seven pressures on fifty four pass rush reps. But that's not how he was used because again that's not his game. He played only on the line of scrimmage like mugged up right as a blitzer, where you'll see Jordan Brooks spend like half of his time just eight times this season and fourteen
times over a four year career. Nine hundred and eleven of his nine hundred and sixty career snaps have come in an off ball linebacker position, so he doesn't go out and cover receivers or running backs on the edge, doesn't do that, doesn't come down and rush the quarterback. He is a B gap to B gap off ball linebacker between the two tackles. His athletic testing profile bears that out because the only metric that he was good
in was the bench press. Twenty four reps was good for the eighty first percent tile of combine linebackers that year. He also ran a four to seven five forty it's not very fast thirty two and a half inch vertical. Now, the nine foot ten broad was in the seventieth percent tile, but the vert was forty ninth percent. And his forty yard dash was fifty second percent, twenty eight percent three cone, forty five percent short shuttle. He's just not a plus athlete.
I do not have contract details of this moment, but I can guarantee you. I won't say guarantee, but I'm ninety nine percent sure it's going to be what Anthony Walker got last year or less. It's going to be in that in that ballpark. Now, let's go ahead and get to the verdict. What I knew about kJ Britt was very little, So this is all pretty much new
film study. But watching or reading around, you know, from some of the Bucks beat writers and just going off of the internet, I saw that he was a base down thumper who played with the real attitude and physicality. It sounds again a lot like Anthony Walker, who provided that for US last season when he was available, but he missed some time with injuries, and that compounded David Long not being the same player that he was back
in twenty twenty three. And so I think you look at kJ Britt as a possible number three linebacker who can be behind Jordan Brooks, who is your like all pro caliber player in my opinion, and then Tyrrell Dotson who signed here for money that does institute second linebacker work and his tape last year would indicate the exact same thing. So I think you can probably put Brooks at the one in penn Dotson at the two in pencil, and then I would say kJ Britt with the current construction,
we'll see what happens in the draft. A pretty safe bet that he's going to be your base down third linebacker, your three backer packages or goal line packages and just go knock heads between the two b gaps. It also continues this theme this offseason of bringing in tough dudes that really embrace the physical aspect of the game. He is an absolute hitter, a striker, and if you don't have your head on a swivel, he's going to put you on his highlight reel with some hit sticks. Here's
what watching him more in depth topt me. You're going to see this comparison a lot by the fan base, and it is because it's applicable. But I couldn't help but see a land in Roberts. When I watched his play style, the way he attacks the run downhill, you're going to have to really bring it if you want to dish out the greater force in the collision. Usually
he's playing under you and through your face mask. That's how he beats blocks with brute physicality, and he plays with very good leverage because of his power and the low center of gravity at just six feet tall. He plays under guy so well that he can lay the lumber on tight ends or guards that are you know, six four sixty five coming across the formation, trying to lead up the back into the B gap. He's a
collision maker. He causes pile ups. Just an ass kicker man, Like if we're playing the game twenty five years ago, he'd have the neck role, the twelve inch high shoulder pads, and a breathe right strip across his nose. He's a total throwback of a player. He does not rush almost ever. He did have fifty four pass rushes last year, eighty six in his four year career, and just twelve pressures in his career.
We talked about.
He fought to u Melafonmu having like a fifty eight percent pressure rate, Like this is a player that has, you know, like a ten percent pressure rate. In fact, most of the pressures he has that I saw. That's not good math twenty percent, I don't know, but when you're blitzing at supposed to be higher, So disregard all
of that. But when I watched him on tape, the pass rushes were basically like green dog looks where you're assigned to a tight end or a running and coverage and they stay in and pass protection, so you convert to a rusher then, or you know just like, oh, the play's kind of over or there's a lot of good coverage down the field, so I can just go ahead and go get the quarterback, Like he's not going to walk up on the line of scrimmage and mug up the a gaps because he's usually playing off the
football and then using pretty good pre snap indicators and instincts to get himself heading in the right direction of the play at the snap, Like I saw the screen pass against the Commanders where you see his head swivel to the outside right at the snap and he sees the receivers like one's blocking and ones running back towards the quarterback which says, hey, tunnel screen right, So the preparation was very apparent, like he doesn't really he doesn't
take the cheese. I guess you don't see any false steps in his game, which says that he's there's not guesswork happening. He's paying attention during installs and he's getting the most out of the work week from Wednesday through
Friday when they're putting the game plans in. And there was another snap against the Commanders where they have Brian Robinson as the wildcat quarterback and Jaden Daniels is offset as the running back, and they try to sell this action to the left and he never moves that way. He sees a guard pulling from that backside and he just follows the guard right to the gap and wouldn't know it. That's where the ball comes behind that guard.
Zero fallse steps whacks the ball carrier after beating the tight end the tight ends block and makes the play. Now again positively, zero pass rush to this fellow's game. If he runs into a pressure, it's because of a bust in protection or a good coverage wrapped down the field. He's not going to beat you with a pass rush move he's not going to overset you and then cross face and win back inside. He's not going to run the arc and dip and rip and bend that thing back to the quarterback.
It's just not his game.
And he's not going to drop big into the hook zone and be a quality cover guy. He's not going to cover guy's man up. He's downhill sidelined to sideline, and he actually has pretty good speed that way. But don't expect him to drop camp process and be a viable zone cover guy or man cover guy. And he can get himself into good spots because he's such a heady player that understands the concepts and can anticipate accordingly.
But having him in the game really hurts your ability to walk up and mug up your linebackers and disguise your intentions because if he's on the line of scrimmage, you are going to be very vulnerable in the hook's own drop that you try to deploy him in.
Again, it's just not his game.
So if you have him out there, I hope you have Jordan Brooks and Tyrel Dotson on the field to kind of mitigate the coverage aspect and pass rush aspect. And I just continue to go back to being a fan of the way he sees the game. You guys, remember when I talked about tyreek Hills route run when he got here, about how he doesn't shortchange the process, Like you can see a window open up and you
can expedite your route running to exploit that window. But Tyreek always committed to the full footwork of the route to maximize the spacing or the windows within the concept. To me, it's the exact same thing on tape for kJ Britt and how he fits the run. He does not get over his skis and try to cheat the scheme and go make a play outside of his normal responsibility. He's patient until there's a blocker in his face. Then he triggers that aggression and goes and wax him in
the face. And he plays really, really damn well through contact. I saw him stack up some blocks at the second level and run it out to the sideline, get off the block and make the play. He also has a couple of tackles against the Eagles on the Brotherly Shoves, so there's value in that too. Very physical player with good instincts and football acumen, just based upon the tape. I can tell he's an absolute student of the game.
He is just extremely limited athletically. Where he helps you got to have bangers on base downs and that's what he brings. If they bring two tight ends out, you
have to match you with the third linebacker. But the part that worries me is if you get a team like the Raiders, who have you know, Michael Mayer and freaking brock Bauers, Like they can go twelve personnel and have you know they used to have Josh Jacobs but go power in the running game, and then all of a sudden, like they can run tight end routes behind him. That would make me concerned if you do that in
the game. It's what teams did to landon Roberts when he was here, So you have to be wary of that. Why he was available well because he was a role player. He's relatively one dimensional. Those are the kind of guys that stay, don't stay in the same spot forever.
Right.
I will tell you this.
I think he's a major upgrade over Duke Riley both on defense and on special Team's big upgrade there, and with that he gets a purple designation with quality depth and a special team's ace. I think if he's your third linebacker, you're doing all right. If he's your fourth linebacker, you're in a really good spot. So that is linebacker kJ Britt, new Dolphins free agent acquisition here in twenty twenty five.
All right, So we're doing.
Just three episodes a week here, but we're giving you basically two podcast episodes per episode, so it's really more like six per week. On Wednesday, I believe the plan right now is to have I don't even know Ifatu melafon Wu and Zach Wilson's interviews I think, but what that's always flexible, and of course this could change in terms of what we have with new signings and re signings and all that fun stuff as we put this
podcast out there, things always change. But we'll be back on Wednesday with a couple more interviews for you guys and have those for the rest of the week week do more analysis on new signings in the meantime. You all please be sure subscribe, rate, review, follow me on social. Check out the YouTube channel for Dolphins HQ and all the video versions of these interviews. Check out the fish Tank podcast with Seth and Juice and last but not least Miami Dolphins dot Com until next time.
Fins up, Carolin and Cameron Daddy just come on home.