To on the move, going deep speedways, Peace do peas.
From the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
This is Drivetime with Travis Wingfield.
He's my ad hands in the playoffs. What is up, Dolphans and welcome to the Draft Time Podcast. I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, I would say we are due for a roster reset.
Aren't we.
Let's go ahead and make it a two parter offense today, defense Monday. I was gonna say tomorrow, Tomorrow's Saturday. We'll take a look at each position group, the newcomers, the losses, the balance of the room, the questions I have, the potential camp battles, all of that, and a heck of a lot more. From the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Draft Time Podcast.
Ye Daffy First, Very very soon we are going to have Dolphin's practice to talk about, which also means hearing from more players from coaches. We'll have the full UDFA media day that goes along with Roocky Minni Caamp. Also of course going to have Emory Hunt on the show. Tell Us which UDFA is are going to make the team, which is basically written in stone at this point how
accurate he's been with those predictions over the years. But before we get into all that, what a perfect time to transition to that stage here with a roster reset.
We usually do these podcasts.
Four or five times a year, at the end of the season, maybe heading into freegency after freegency has calmed down a little bit now, and then usually again right before the season starts, after training camp and all the fun stuff that has occurred from July August and into September. But I wanted to start here before we go into each individual room and talk about the construction of those rooms, and with that in mind, I want to be as
thorough as possible. So maybe maybe instead of a roster reset, maybe it's more of just in case you're a bear and you went into hibernation, or maybe you just didn't want to see the lot of day after the Kansas
City loss, or maybe you fell into a coma. We're going to find a way to get you caught up on the last five months in just a matter of two thirty five minute or so episodes here of Drive Time starring me Travis Wingfield does in case you were in a coma addition of drive time have the same ring. I guess it doesn't, so roster reset it is. I tweeted about this on Thursday a tweet from Lewis Riddick, friend of the show Done the Show Always Cool Bill
say that ESPN's Lewis Riddick. He said, team building and
talent collection are two different things. They don't remotely resemble one another end quote, and that got me thinking, you know, I lost track how many times we've heard from press conferences from coach McDaniel, especially with all the end season moves that were required the last two years, with all the injury, how he would describe the delicate nature of injecting a new piece into the ecosystem that is an NFL locker room, the Miami Dolphins locker room, and how
much he values the voices inside that sacred place and listens to what his guys have to say. You guys, recall the Hard Knocks episode when McDaniel had all the Pro bowlers up to his office. That's like a a weekly counsel meeting they have where they discuss what's going on. Be my ears and eyes in the locker room, be the voice of the player, because McDaniel's the ultimate player's coach.
And that got me thinking about well, the Patrick Paul story bugging his agent to get drafted by the Miami Dolphins, the Jalen Wright story saying this is where I wanted to be. It was not even close with the other visits I had across the National Football League. Maleague Washington saying I'm not going to tell you details, but just know the meeting with the Dolphins went very very good. Free agents joining uside the exact same thing the NFLPA survey.
It's all there.
The proof is in the pudding, right, and the roster will tell you what's important to the decision makers. What Chris Greer likes, which to me has always been his coach wants, which to me is the best trait of a GM listened to the chef cooking the meal, right, but high character, love of the game, dedication to the craft, And like, yeah, I know you're thinking Travis Tyreek Hills in this football team. He doesn't fit the first bill there.
But who works harder than him, who brings a temperament like him and changes the temperature of your locker room more than Tyreek Hill by setting an example that first year of practices here. And it wasn't the same way last year. It won't be the same way this year. But that first year when he almost had like something to prove it practice, the way he came out and set the tone like that was different than anything I've
ever seen on a football field. And I'm starting to get there to the point where I've done this for a few years now, which I put value in that compared to someone who's been for twenty years who doesn't know what they're watching. Also, how about Jalen Ramsey, someone like him, what does he do? So beyond that, And not that it's not important, it is, but I think the next part is even more critical. I look at
the Dolphins twenty twenty four roster construction like this. They have a house, a really damn nice house, and a very nice block in city right, and then one of the nice neighborhoods in the entire city the NFL, you know, compared to comparing to other sports leagues, there just so happens to be thirty two houses on this block for the argument's sake, and I think we have one of the ten nicest houses I would push towards top five, but that's a debate for another day. And what did
we do with our disposable income this year? To continue with the analogy, we used it to modify and renovate our house. We added a bonus room. We gave the game room a full golf simulator with a chipping and putting area off to the side. We added a wet bar and projector. For all the games we intend to host people for for March Madness, for the Masters, for the World Series, for major NFL and college football primetime games.
Is this analogy still working? I think what we did was take what we do well and we got even better at it. Because when I watched the tape of this rookie class, all the players on offense make so much damn sense in that they have tangible proof of doing stuff that we do here. What exactly would you
say it is you do here, Bob? Yeah, albeit not at the professional level of some of these guys, but it's about as translatable of a rookie class as I've seen here in terms of here's what we do, Here's how these guys help us do that very very precise route running, spacing, timing, pacing with vertical, explosive tackle breaking skills at the wide receiver position where two Washington's drafted earlier or I should say last month, it's now May a slashing runner with home run showing your tail light
speed and the bulk to contribute on third down. In Jalen Wright. I mean, those three guys I don't think have I don't think there's a major learning curve aside from going from being an amateur to a pro, although those guys aren't amateurs anymore, but because I think what we do in terms of just the pure football stuff is a lot of what they were asked to do at Virginia, at Tennessee, at USC respectively. Patrick Paul has
elite athletic ability getting off the football. We know about all that, and speaking of that, I mean, isn't is there isn't a more athletic center in the league than Aaron Brewer. He's here now We needed a physical presence from inline positions in John new Smith.
He's now here.
A guy that keeps us flexible across all types of personnel groupings. Defensively, I watched the Ravens tape and I'll see odafe Oway or Jadavian Clowney or some of these twitchy ass edge players who are also rocked up and built from Clay mug Up in the A gaps and get their quick get off against these poor, unassuming centers and guards, which creates one on ones on the perimeter. And there was nobody in college football better at that than Chop Robinson, and nobody better at winning one on
ones from wide alignments than Mohammed Kamara. In free agency, Kendall Fuller helps you get some of the ravens archetype from defensive back flexibility and their desire to be able to have position fluidity and match up on anybody they want to at any given time. Jordan Poyer as a player who's played in the box and in the post and rotates so frequently into the correct position and winds up kind of freelancing his way in some play. Sometimes one of the smartest players on the field type of guys.
I mean, every damn move you can track a why behind this? Why did we do this? Like I think back to Mike Tannenbaum. His entire thing was, Oh, Andrea Branch had nine sacks, let's get him. How does he fit in the defense. I don't give a damn. I'm just gonna bring him in anyways. TJ McDonald, that was a cool tackle he made on Saturday night in the August preseason game. Yeah, he's suspended for eight games. Go
ahead and give him a four year contract extension. Oh, he plays the same spot as for Shad Jones, who cares like there was no thinking or rhyme behind the reason there. It's completely different now and the answer is obvious really with all these moves. So I see an alignment of vision. I see an execution of that vision, and I cannot wait to see what it looks like in September or July for that matter, or let's be totally honest, later this month at OTA's for that matter.
Let's go ahead and do our first room before we take our our first break on the podcast. And where else would you start besides the quarterbacks? And just a quick reminder, the UDFA signings are not yet official, so they're gonna be talked about on a reported by basis. Well, we'll go ahead and talk about the guys that we have been linked to, but they're not officially announced yet, so I am not going to talk about them as such.
I will tell you some of the guys I like in that regard, but just want to go ahead and get that caveat out there clearly and quickly for y'all. So the quarterback position, nothing's changed, Tua White, Thompson, and there is a UDFA here named Gavin Hardison. But the coaches Darryl Bevill Chandler Henley. Let's go ahead and add Frank Smith in here. Oc all back for year three, guys, we haven't had that. When was the last time we
had that? Did Joe Filben have? Was like Zach Taylor, Mike Sherman, No, Bill Laser, Soperano changed oces?
Was it Wanstead and Chan?
We haven't had the same nucleus of coaches for three consecutive years since freaking Don Shulab probably like it's Ben's forever departures didn't have one. All the guys are back, the arrivals. Gavin Hardison is the only arrival to the quarterback room. He's kind of this year's James Blackman. The room at a glance, probably the room we can get through the quickest, although it didn't turn out that way.
My notes here because I always tend to write more about to than other players in the roster, because the quarterback is the most important and in this market by far, the most debated player in the entire market. So highly efficient quarterback play for the second straight year started all eighteen games, first time we've had that since Danny was kicking around here. But a similar late season decline in terms of production. How do you get that fixed? We're
gonna have to find out. We look at two going out on his own and finding his own quarterback coach to work with, dropping a little bit of weight, because they determined that the weight wasn't what kept him healthy. It was the movement and the ability to fall properly.
So let's go ahead and shed that extra ten or fifteen pounds and get quicker and work on the movement and the explosiveivity from the waist below in terms of how quick you get off the spot, but also compacting his stride and stroke and making everything a little bit more fine tuned. They're just taking the car right now, and they're fine tuned in that thing. I've always appreciated to his mechanics. With that labor of love, I think you can always drill. I compare it to a golf swing.
I know too, it would appreciate that analogy because he has a good golf swing and a great stroke off that left hand when it comes throwing a football. I think those areas of focus are the steps that he can take a little bit more creativity when he tucks it and has to get to a new spot.
Now, he does have good pocket.
Mobility, kind of like I'm not going to compare him to Brady or Marino, but finding the little opening valves where you can say I can get to that spot and then stead up and make my you know, my throwing mechanics from that spot. But how about just a little bit more explosivity in terms of getting off the spot quickly, getting around rushers, evading those tackles, and making some big explosive plays down the field. But I think most of all, it's just further mastery of an offense
that he's already gotten down pretty damn well. Right. But I've always said, you know two, his skills are those that get better with age. He's not going to Russell Wilson, who falls off a cliff when the physical skills deteriorate. You think Lamar Jackson's gonna play at a high level into his age thirty four season.
I would really doubt that.
So I just expect him like a Drew Brees did, Like you know, Ben Roethlisberger made a lot of plays physically physically, but as he got older there was more like intuitive quarterback play there and that's when I thought he was at his best. So a guy like Tua, I just think he's gonna get better, you know, Philip Rivers, I mean, there's so many examples of this, and frankly, I think Tua was a little bit vultured by the run game last year. Twenty seven rushing touchdowns versus twenty
nine passing for Tua. Of course Mike White had one as well, right, But I mean Tua easily could have had forty touchdowns last year. I wonder all the time, what would that like if they just turned some of those two yard rushing touchdowns into two yard passing touchdowns, and let's say TWA had forty touchdowns compared to the fourteen picks? Would the what would the consensus in terms
of the social media discourse be about that? About this somehow polarizing player, a guy that does everything right, who is as nice and polite as can be. He asks you how your day is going, and also dominates in the football field, but somehow is hated. I digress, but I wonder if forty verses fourteen would have made a
difference to twenty nine versus fourteen. You're even thirty five to fourteen, Like the Dolphins were so productive, he just didn't have the touchdown number to match how productive the offense was because our running game was so damn good. So that just makes me just kind of a random, not important thought at all, but something I thought I put out there because I would have thought that two years of dominance would have done that for him. But I digress. So the next part for him is to
just keep getting better. If he does that this year, we're going to be just fine, and then he's going to be judged by our ability as a team to win in January. And that's just how it goes. That's fine, but make no mistake about it. This offense thrives because of Tua. We saw the same roster building principles in San Francisco, and like, look, they're not neglecting the offensive
line by any stretch of the imagination. They signed to Ron armstead of the biggest left tackle contract three years ago. Connor Williams is a big time interior lineman. Signing Isaiah Winn was a guy they plucked in his back after a very strong plus games.
But he does have the injury history.
That is obviously the one reason with this guy that you can't really depend on him as a long term starter. Aaron Brewer, Jack Driscoll, you're second of the top the only two top one fifty picks. You had this entire class before you made the trade for Jalen Wright. But I digress in Patrick Paul. But all of this is to say you do get right. You get the tight ends of vere agency, you get the wide receivers in
the draft. This offense needs playmakers more than anything else besides the quarterback, which we have to make it go. And Tua is probably the most offensive line friendliest quarterback in the whole damn game. You know Mahomes and Josh Allen's ability to create with the pressure in their face, that's a different story. But who masks offensive line deficiencies or pass protection deficiencies better than tu a.
Tongue Bai Loa.
I don't think there's anybody out there that does it better than he does, and I just don't want that fact to go by the wayside, super underrated element of his game. Otherwise, I think White in year two is a very good backup to call upon who can kind of catch fire off the bench in a pinch, and hopefully we don't need him for more than that. Even if that at all, I think Skyler needs to continue his development and I'm glad we didn't see him get
any action last year. I thought you could tell as a rookie his head was absolutely swimming with all the information he had. So a third year in the offense, maybe he can see it better. I'm not going to bet on it, but I think that's kind of what you're looking at there. And you add him in competition with a very toolsy kid in Hardison the UDFA, so it should be a fun summer there. Again, don't think you can overstate the importance of McDaniel smith, Bevill Henley too.
Was Skyler all here for their third year and a second year for Mike White? The questions you have for this room, because we're going to be comprehensive on this podcast. I've pushed back on this narrative for so long, but it's the biggest question winning the big game, right. It's not just a quarterback deal, but he's got a big part of that, and he hasn't played well in those games. So playing better in these spots is certainly something I
want to see this year. If we get ourselves into a twenty twenty at Buffalo situation, a twenty twenty one at Tennessee situation. I don't count twenty twenty two when he was injured and we did get in that year, or really any of the three final games this year, or even the KC game we couldn't get that last drive executed. I want to see wins and big plays in those games, and it really only takes one big performance to squash all that.
That's what I want to see. That's my question.
Play a game where the loser goes home outplay the other quarterback. Will your team to victory? That's the last thing I need to see from this guy. Competitions or battles. Every spot is always a competition, right, Well, I mean not really because Tua is your starter, so spoiler there.
I think Mike White, your backup in Skyler, is your three. But if I had to pick the hottest, closest battle.
I would say it's Skyler versus Hardesin And what a tall order that is for the rookie to come in and try to beat out a guy who's heading into his third year in the system. With these coaches that said Hardison has some pop. But I'm almost certain we're going to see some takes from you know who, the guys that come to practice and tape the whole damn thing, which shouldn't do that. They're gonna come out and say Harrison is the best quarterback on the roster, right, like whatever.
And the last thing I want to say here is if you don't add competition to a great quarterback like I keep seeing this. The Dolphins didn't add competition to Ryan Tannehill, which he was nowhere, Nears goes Tod did he need to add competition to a tongue bai LOA. No, you don't, No, you don't. That's wasting resources. If your starting quarterback goes down and he's one of the best, your season's probably a ft for more than a couple of games. But Mike White can hold the fort for
a couple of games. That's why he's here. But the idea of going out and pulling a falcons. Look at them, they're getting laughed at right now. You don't have to add competition to a quarterback position when you have the guy. Okay, understood, capiche cool? All right, let's go ahead and take our first break right there. Come back on the other side. Do the rest of these running back, wide receiver, tight end, offensive line, all of that. Next Draft Time podcast, your
host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. So I just dropped my wife off at the airport last night, and I have the two kids to myself, and my four year old is an absolute angel who will just truck on and get by on her own. My one year old is an absolute maniac who gets hurt every ten seconds.
So teas and peas for me please this weekend. I need them. It's going to be a long weekend for you. Boy. Let's pick it back up with the running Backs.
Week on, the quarterbacks talked about the team building philosophy. The running backs are glorious. Here's the cast where he moster Devon ah Chan, alec Ingold, Jalen Wright, Jeff Wilson, Savon Auchman, and Chris Brooks. Your coach is Eric Studis Phil who's been here since year one of Brian Flores. He's one of what three guys, Austin Clark and Coach Crossman, Right, they can say that, uh no, was Crossman added in twenty twenty. I forget departures, only Darrington Evans and your
only arrival is Jalen Wright. The room at a glance largely running it back. But you just go ahead like that one meme. But the guy drops the what he drops something into the pot and it explodes like you added one of the most dynamic players you possibly could have, rookie or otherwise to this room. This time last year, we didn't know what Devon a Chan was gonna be. And if he's an eight yards per carry guy again,
I mean, good night, nurse. The only question at that point is how many touches can we give this guy? Because I think that this could easily I don't say this lightly. This could be the best back in the National Football League. He reminds me of Chris Johnson Man.
He's that good. I think he's that good.
Durability wise, we'll find out, but I think we're just beginning to scratch the surface on what Devon ah Chan can do, particularly in the run game in the past game, Well, that's what he does, Travis. Then you've got the record breaker, Raheem Moster, who set the franchise record for touchdowns, Who's been durable, He's been a leader, been a city presidence, productive as hell. Everything we could have asked for him
when we got him, he's been that. He's the one that just gives me so much confidence in this room. It's like we're on a road trip and you have some youngsters and some wild cards in the back of the van.
Who who knows what they could pull? Right?
They could pull Charlie Kelly and throw a tank of gas at the back of the car wild card.
I'm not gonna say what he said after that.
But we know that Raheem is behind the wheel and is going to get us to our destination. He is dad in the situation, him and Alec making their first Pro Bowl together.
Love seeing that. Love what the best fullback in football does.
Kyle Yustchek eat your heart out from a flexibility standpoint, and that's where I just love the Jalen Wright selection, which, by the way, are you guys old enough to remember when Twitter was mad that Chris Greer did not a vest enough in the running back position, and now we're mad because he used two third round picks on right and the same he's spent on eight chm. But that crowd's going to complain no matter what. So, like Chappelle said, f them kids, his ability rights to get us to
different looks, different groupings. The options you have now for your fast twenty one personnel grouping that is two running backs, one tight end, but no fullback, so it's either most or chan h Chan and right right and moster are you have a lot of flexibility and options there. Now, I think this room has everything. We have three home run hitters to bat three, four and five in the lineup. We have backs who can catch, they can pass protect.
There's return game value here. There's the best fullback in the damn league. Each your heart out, Patrick Ricard. They're special team value in depth, their scheme fits. I think it's one of the best rooms in the entire game across the running back landscape. The questions you have, I mean, what are you concerned about here? I'll listen, Go ahead, tell me what's your concerns because the questions I have are what is how long does it take or Jealen Wright to get a role in the offense. I don't
think long at all. How much does Rahem Moster have left in the tank? I think plenty because his age would suggest not much, but his tapes as the complete opposite. He's been more productive and healthier here than he's been anywhere else on the wrong side of thirty. These aren't even really questions or concerns. I should say they're just curiosities. They're real questions to me are in the battles, like assuming it's most are in a chan, but I wouldn't
even go that far. The battle for the third spot is it's intense. Right. I think Right has the goods to come in and be productive right away. We saw hefe pump out some critical third downs in that Dallas game. But I tend to think that his skill set's the one that kind of get left in the chopping block.
We'll see about that.
I'll do a full fifty three man roster prediction on the show on Monday. I think Brooks he has some stake to the sizzle of the room. With a nice compliment, I love what he did in the Jets sweep game last year as both a runner and a lead blocker, and he's got that power to kind of push piles, but drafting right makes you think he has an uphill climb. Now, like this is just good on good iron, sharpening iron,
and think about how far this run, this room has come. Man, Remember like Duke Washing and DeAndre Washington were the one and two backs a while ago, like you had your your leading rusher was a guy you brought in around Halloween and that was like to compliment Myles Gaskin. We've come a long long way since then, just like we have at the wide receiver spot when you had Lynn Bowden and Mack Hollins. As you're one and two, we've come a long way since then because wide receiver Tyreek Hill,
Jalen Wattle, Eric Azukama, Braxton Burials. We have a great craft. Anthony Schwartz, Braylan Sanders, Matthew Sexton, Malik Washington, Taj Washington, and Jakwan Burton was a UDFA acquisition. The coach here is Wes Welker, who I think is basically the perfect coach for Malik Washington. More on that a moment departures Cedric Wilson, who cares Chase Claypool cares chosen Freddie Swain
arrivals Malik Washington, Taj Washington, and Jaquan Burton. Room at a glance, it's the best one two punch in the game. They lift space off the top of the defense. They can take a slant or a screen to the crib, or catch the ball vertically and go seventy five yards. That just gives you so much to do as a play caller. And you can run route concepts that nobody those in the National Football League can run, which two
US sees so well. Some of those deep, those late breaking crossing routes, or some of those deep comebacks where he just lets it flow out there for a little bit and Tyreek or Waddle runs to the spot and boom, bing bang, it's a twenty five yard play. We found out last year what happens when you're without one of these dudes. Twenty twenty two didn't have that issue, right, three thousand yards among them, nearly twenty touchdowns. Wattle last year fights injuries, going back to like the first week
of camp where he missed almost all of camp. Reek gets banged up on the dreadful Monday night game against the Titans and self admits that he didn't work the way he should have down the stretch, which, hey, don't do that again, okay, And then from there we couldn't
find enough wins elsewhere. I go back to that Buffalo game in Week eighteen, so many critical moments where we just needed one win, one win, one person to win on a two way or three way go even against man coverage against like Buffalo's fourth best corner, and we couldn't do it, even with Tyreek on two key plays that he had resulted in drops on third down and a potential touchdown on the drive before the pick to through going to Claypool.
So what do we do to solve that?
Well, all the space that Reek and Waddle generate on the perimeter, but also the ability to condense inside can be dangerous from any alignment, any grouping. That's all nice, but gosh, turn on the Buffalo game.
Man.
Even without Wattle in that game, we had some third down ops inside with those three way gos and just could not get wins where they would body up bractionon or body up Cedric and we couldn't get separation and couldn't give us our quarterback a target to throw to. And look, we never wanted to count our chickens before they hatch or whatever that's freaking saying is with rookies.
But that's literally the game of Blake Washington.
Bro. Like, I think that he's that guy already. We didn't eve see him practice yet. I believe he's gonna be that guy. And toay, some ofuld agree with Tosh Washington as well. So these are near exclusive slot players,
excellent with the football after the catch. Malik truly has that oj McDuffie dog mindset man, and that's maybe where I'm most excited because at four four or five, I think everything you've added to the skill positions this off season is designed to a exploit the areas of the field we didn't get to enough last year and be compliment Reek and Waddle and give two a quick options elsewhere so he can identify, Hey, they're taking this away pre snap, this should be here. I can trust that
guy to go win a one on one. I don't think he had that last year outside of ten and seventeen. I also think that Azukama can play. I think he can everything I just said about Malik and Taj was true of Azakama as a rookie, and there's a lesson there too. This is a tough position to play. Right might be one of the most demanding spots in the league wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins in Wes Wilker. It was that way in San Francisco. It's here too.
There's a lot of different side adjustments, route variations, depth and timing of the route. It's all difficult and they need the depth. They rotate ten and seventeen out of the game and keep those guys fresh. They have different
groupings for different situations. We saw red zone snaps where it's like Craycraft and Cedric Wilson last year, right or Claypool even It's a big reason why I think Craycraft maintains value here is his flexibility to do all the little things that you have to do in this group. So let's not go into this just expecting two rookies to have it down from day one, but from that same mindset, hopefully back healthy three years in the offense. I think as Zukama could carve out a nice role
among the receivers this season. The questions your depth the ability of your youngsters to immediately contribute and get the offense down and play multiple positions in the offense. Eric Azukama getting his first serious run of his career and we saw a small role carved out in two games last year. Then he's hurt for the rest of the season. Do we have the horses should something happen to Reek and Wild? Do we have enough perimeter firepower beyond those
two guys? Think about that. It's probably the room among the three we've done so far that has the most questions, And those questions are steeped in is it good enough once you get past two top ten wide receivers, Like it's crazy to think about. I keep thinking about Twitter beefs and arguments and bitching, and it's like, y'all wouldn't survive the Chad Henny days. Man, y'all wouldn't survive the Klei Lemon or the John Beck or the Joey Harrington or the Gus Farat days or the aj Feely days.
Like there was days where we had to hold teams to thirteen points to win games. About the number one offense in the NFL, I digress the battles here wide Receiver three is the most anticipated battle of camp right now. Unless you sign Odell Beckham, that probably changes the entire idea there, But I don't think you necessarily have to think about it like who is receiver three and who
is receiver four? Because the variety of skills these guys offer, and how you can create and cater to different roles and skills of these guys for the receivers beyond Reac and Waddle, like the whole thinking should be to service, to serve those guys, Like how can we best benefit at Reacan, Wattle rotate, get the best at each of those guys. Maybe in one grouping it's it's Erica Azukama. Maybe the other grouping it's Malik Washington. Maybe there's a
package where river crepecraft makes the most sense. Either way, it's gonna be a fun camp battle. Receiver three is a fun one to watch and just to put a bow on all that's where we go ahead and take our last break rate there. Jarvis Landry got a rookie mini camp invite. That was what Quincy Wilson got with us last year, a former second round draft pick who just never made it in the league. Rookie mini camp invite. Some people wanted him to be signed as our tried
and true number receiver. Be careful, he listened to for advice on on football opinions because some guys wanted that guy's a third receiver. Let's take our last break rate there, come back on the other side and do tight end and offensive line. That's next Draft Time podcast, your host, Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. Oh no way, breaking news. Brent Grimes was invited to camp with the Saskatchewan rough Fires in the CFL.
I'm just joking. I'm I'm joking. I'm joking.
That's a low blow there, but also kind of fun. Let's go ahead and continue the offensive line roster reset. May the third edition of the Draft Time Podcast. Here F one is here and I hate how busy the campus says right now, but that doesn't matter to you. We're gonna go ahead talk about tight ends an offensive line here. To close up this podcast on Monday, we'll come back into the defensive side of the football. But tight end's here. The cast, Smith and Smith haven't really
though about that yet. Jonah Smith and Durham Smyth the top two guys with Julian Hill, Jody Fortson, Tanner Connor and how about Hayden Rucci roucchie Udfa from Wisconsin the coach. And here is John Embry, he's back for his third straight year as well. Tyler Croft and Nick Bowers. Are your departures and your arrivals are John, U, Jody and Hayden. That sounds like a I don't know what that sounds like. That's not really a boy band, right, I don't know.
Maybe it is the room at a glance here, this room needed a remake since well, probably year two of Gasicki, Shaheen and Smyth fell flat on its face. That was twenty twenty one, right, Gasiki is good at like one thing, and I don't know why people thought it'd be different with the Patriots, but I digress. Shaheen was a ding dong to the nth degree. And I actually think Durham has completely remade his game into an asset. I didn't
always feel that way. In fact, twenty twenty one, I was probably saying Durham way too much, But now I feel like he's got a real role in this offense. I like him as tied down three quite personally, and that's where I think he slots in this year. I think Jody Fortson as a player like Gosh. I like him a lot, but he has a lot of injury concerns. Quite frankly, I'd probably prefer to see less tight end playing time this year, given all we have at receiver
and running back. Just reduce those packages. Use some alec ingold and some tight end type of role, some h back stuff. The only one I really care to see out there with regularity is John Us Smith. I think the fact that fortsn can be like a forty percent player who gives you something you don't have in the room, so they've remade it and all of a sudden I have a lot of intrigue here at the tight end spot. My questions for the room. How does John hus smith
audition change Durham Smyth's role. We have some dynamic parts here. Can Jody Fortson be that vertical stretch option? Is it Tanner Connor? Because we saw what he can do in terms of some special teams work in the rookie season, preseason that he had. How many different groups can we form groupings? I should say, can we form from this group of players like Durham and Hill are good blockers,
Smith and Fortson are good receivers. Makes me wonder how many options they've got baked up for this tight end group. I do think you are a john Us Smith injury away from this room looking totally oblique again, so just keep that in mind. That's probably one of the questions you have battles. We know pretty well what Johnny and Durham can do, but then what Fortson, Hill, Connor and the UDFA Roucie. How does the competition shake out there?
And how does the fact that Durham is a core special team player change what you look for in a possible tight end three. We're gonna cut some good players this year. Man, this roster is pretty nice. Let's go ahead and conclude here with probably the biggest question mark on the offense, not probably definitely is the offensive line. The cast going tackle to guard Armstead, Jackson, lamb Keon, Smith,
Ryan Hayes, Patrick Paul and Bayron Matos the UDFA. The guards are win guards and centers Win Brewer, Eikenberg, Driscoll, Rob Jones, Lester Cotton, Chason Hines. Matthew Jones is the UDFA and so was Andrew Mayer and Butcher Berry's your coach, Leiel John Pierre is the assistant O line coach. Your departures probably the biggest departures here on the entire roster. Two starters in Hunt and Williams, but then also Jonathan
Harriston and Matt Siker. Of the guy as it were street free agents because we couldn't stay healthy last year. Arrivals are Brewer, Driscoll, Paul and the udfas are Matost, Jones and Mayer. The rum at a glance I mentioned it off the top. This is a spot where you've got you've sort of gone cheap, and even then I
don't like that terminology. But this is a staff that knows how to balance their resources on offense, and frankly, when you look at what the open free agent market has produced on the offensive line, Kyle Krabs locked on Dolphins, had a fantastic study on this a while back. If you're curious, ask him about it. I'm sure he'll put in his discorder on his podcast. But the offensive line free agent market has been like selling your used games
back to game stop. You buy a game for sixty bucks and twenty fourteen you get some good run out of it, it's worth it. But then in twenty sixteen you go back and sell the game back to them like best I can do two bucks. That's more true at tackle than it is on the interior. But the point stands like the free agent market has not been
good on the offensive line. Look at Mike McGlinchey last year disaster for the Broncos, and he got a massive, like sixteen million dollars per year contract from them.
Not good.
And the Niners, going back to McDaniel's past, built their offensive line with developmental names and guys you haven't heard a ton about for years. I've done that now. Now all that said, Brewer is clearly a targeted fit and I think maybe the best scheme fit for any player we brought in the entire offseason. I think Driscoll didn't love his Eagles tape, but I can see maybe maybebe.
You like him at right guard.
I think his versatility is attractive, but the tape wasn't good last year and when played the if he played the entire season last year, are we having any of these conversations about the left guard position, because through six games, I think he was the best interior offensive line on the team. Now that's a loaded question because his injury history suggests that's not a one off and that's who he is. But gosh, I would have loved to have
gotten seventeen games from him. Imagine getting seventeen games from t Said and Isaiah Win. That would kind of change the landscape of this team, wouldn't it. But I look at the makeup. Everyone is sort of from the same school of thought now, like a college coach meeting a few years ago prior to the nil days to get his own guys in his program, right, I think the offensive line finally reflects what McDaniel would prefer. I think Brewer was a slam dunk we get when back at
the same level as last year. That would be phenomenal. I think Austin's going to only get better at right tackle, and then I love our tackle depth beyond he Stead, who is still one of the best when he is out there despite a down year in twenty twenty three. Kendall Lamb also can he play inside. I would be very interested in moving Kenda Lamb inside because we're pretty good at tackle right now. I think key On Smith
has a future there. I could have seen a world where Keon Smith was your swing tackle, and then of course Patrick Paul like where does he factor into all this? I do think you'll see some heavy packages, some six offensive line packages that will get him some run while developing his skill set this season. Speaking of all that, I feel like we have so many irons in the fire that could become cheap starting talent in a year or two, like a key On Smith for instance. Some questions,
can that hold up against power? Can they get pushed inside against shortyard situations? How will attrition impact our ability to do complex stuff in the running game. This is one of the most complex schematic running games in the National Football League, and that tends to deteriorate as you deal with injuries. I felt there were a lot of big run opportunities last year negated by one lost block to Lester Cotton block, for instance.
And that's going to happen.
When you're on your third right guard in as many weeks where you have you're on your interior O line four, five and six for the year.
You know the battles. I think we know about the tackles.
He'd be surprised if besides Brewer at center so you know Testad Brewer and Jackson. I would be very surprised if Isaiah Win does not get first crack at left guard, So who the hell's the right guard? Like? Look Liam's tape last year before he moved back to center, I thought was the best of his career. I remember texting with Kyle Krabs again when you know what if Liam clicks and now we have a rookie contract starter at a key spot, what a boom that would be? Right?
And if we get that from Austin Jackson and Liam Eichenberg and back to back years. Think about how the twenty twenty and twenty twenty one draft classes all of a sudden like elite top of the line draft classes, and how it would make us feel about Butcher and Frank and Mike and their ability to develop offensive I'm in going forward right, still feels like you can maybe add a veteran here down the line. But we heard both Mike and Chris talk about discussions with Connor Williams.
I'm happy to hear those communication Therey because I think that he could be a guy that you call in October when things maybe get murky. Got like a Brandon Shell for instance a couple of years ago and say hey, you're healthy.
Cool, come on down. Lots of two on here.
The offensive assistance we didn't talk about yet, Parks Fraser, Jonathan Kraus, Max McCaffrey, yes he's related to the Christian and Ed McCaffrey tree there. Roman Sapolo and Rob Everett are some assistants on the staff. Before we get out of here, I want to go ahead and tell you guys, my favorite part of the job is being around the players themselves, and you can to. Finn's Weekend returns May
thirty first through June first and Coconut Grove. Join Dolphins players, coaches, alumni, and more for a one of a kind offshore fishing competition and an evening of celebration with food, drinks, and great music. Register your boat or purchase party tickets on Finnswekend dot com. All proceeds from Finn's Weekend will benefit the Baptist Health Foundation. Monday, we'll do the defense. Until then, you all please be sure to subscribe, rate review of
the podcast. Go ahead and follow me on social at Wrinkled NFL for all the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the Fish Tank podcast my guys Seth and Juice. Check out the YouTube channel for media availabilities, Dolphins Today, Draft time interviews, and so much more, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time, bins up Carolina, Cameron Daddy, He's coming home.
