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Dolphins? And welcome to the Drive Time podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins podcast Network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it going everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, it's Roster reset time, the last time we're going to do this before the twenty twenty three season. We're talking defense today with Daniel Ojafusi of the Miami Herald. Will also get his mini camp takeaways
from this June's practices the spring program. Now a rap heading into the summer from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Draft time.
Party, Elly CAF.
I think this is the third edition this year of the roster reset, if I'm not mistaken, might be the fourth pre free agency, post free agency and post draft and now post mini camp. I think was the schedule I laid out. I just think it's important to get a look at the roster in terms of how you can approach the offseason, what you're looking forward to going into training camp, into the regular season, and all the above.
So I think that's a good time to go ahead and do that now that we've had all the spring practices, and the next time we talk to you guys will be or not the next time I talk to you guys, but the next time we talk about Dolphins practice and Dolphins football, you know specifically in general, will be those training camp practices, I should say, with a fresh retake on updated information. We will have the training camp Preview
series along with the summer NFL Preview series. Those are going to go together over the next month and a half or so, taking us right in the training camp. Before all that, let's go ahead and recap OTAs and get a look at this defensive roster in its entirety, with Daniel Oyafuzi of the Miami Herald and joining us today is my guest from the Miami Herald, Daniel Oyafusi. Daniel, I believe your second drive time appearance too few and
far between. Man, We'll have to get you back on some more here, but I'm happy to have you on today. How you living, sir, How you enjoying your first day here? I guess of the off season, Oh man, thanks.
For having me, and yeah, I mean it was a long season, long off season, so definitely excited to get some rest of relaxation for a couple of.
Months, yourself, myself, the players, the coaches of VIC Fangio talking about going on vacation for the next couple of weeks here and as they should. Man, the grind from August all the way through hopefully into January, maybe even in February is a long one, So get that rest while you can right now, because it's going to be full here once we get to late July. And speaking of vic Fangio and that side of the football, you're kind of my one of my defensive consigli area, sir.
I love I love talking about defensive structures and schemes and game plans and personnel when it comes to training camp and watching those practices together. So I wanted to go ahead and start here before we previewer. I guess, just take a look at the roster in general on that side of the football. Start with OTA takeaways because you and I taping again one day after OTAs wrapped. This is gonna air next week or you know when they hear the podcast will be today for you guys,
but just your you're fresh off the presses. You said you just filed your final story for OTAs. What's your defensive takeaways from this mini camp?
Well, I think that early on we were saying that Vic Vanger was.
Certainly leaving his imprint as you know, really the pre eminent defensive mind of the NFL. Obviously, you know you're using a lot of the veterans, accomplished players into team
drills and team activities. If you have a lot of young guys that have really stepped up, some some rising players who were really rising stars, and Jalen Phillips and Javon Holland who have really really had really strong offseason workout programs, you have some udfas like Mitchell and Goudi, Garrett Nelson who have stepped up, and it's really interesting overall just to hear about the philosophy, you know, from
Jalen Ramsey. Obviously he's had a lot of experience in this scheme with this time with the Los Angeles rams and you really spoke to how this defense LEDs itself to versatility and how the versatility of not only him, but a lot of other players are going to allow the Dolphins to to do a lot of unique things.
So you know, Banjio comes with this specific reputation.
And maybe being a zone heavy guy, cover four, cover two heavy guy, but Ramsey kind of costs and saying, hey, we can do a little bit of everything because the guys that we have on the defense are just that good.
That was one of all the hill sticking points, as well as the ability to be multiple and how you have to be able to attack offenses in that way because of how you know, it seems like McDaniel would be one of the top guys I would mention in this category is they know how to find match and how to exploit them, especially when you have the personnel that some of these teams do, especially in this damn conference. Man, like the Bengals, the Bills, the Chiefs, these teams that
just have matchup problem after matchup problem. You kind of have to be able to dictate that now on the defensive side of the football as well, And I think the Dolphins are in position to go ahead and do that, or at least they are in position to have the opportunity, I should say, to do that Before we get into the position by position specifics here, I kind of want to follow up with you there because you mentioned it, and I know you're again a big fan of selling
these defensive schemes. When they first hired Vic Fangio and you knew there would be a bit of a schematic change here, How did you think the Dolphins current personnel fit with what he wants to do and what he might do going forward? Because this defense is pretty much the pre eminent system ran in the NFL, but Fanjos had a year off to cook up some new stuff. I'm curious what you think of the personnel match with this coach.
Yeah, Well, the one thing about it is that on the surface, it was such a wholesale change, like a one to eighty from what we've gone accustom to. You know, over the past couple of years, you've seen them go man heavy, blitz heavy schemes, and like I said before, Vangiel has a reputation of being I don't want to say conservative, but prioritize, prioritizing you know, the secondary in terms of the coverage schemes and whatnot.
But I thought early on, you know, like.
The pieces were in place for to really you know, hit the ground running in year one, Like I said before, with Jalen Phillips, sproutle each old that duo. You know, Javon Holland in the back end. Obviously we've known him to be a lockdown man and man corner. But I thought that, you know, his ability to read coverage concepts and whatnot. I thought that it really this scheme was really going to lend itself to X having a really
big season in twenty twenty three. And then obviously you add Jalen Ramsey, who, as I said before, has the familiarity and start in this uh this scheme no pun intended.
You know, you add David Long and others. So again the pieces are in place for them to not only do what Evangio has been known for over the past few years, but to also again be versatile and to you know, switch up their game plan to face the various unique offenses across the NFL, and like you said, NBAFC, which is very, very loaded with offensive talent.
It's the balance right now, is so I ou to whack, in my opinion, across how just the powerhouses in this conference. It almost seems unfair a little bit, but hey, that's that's the hand you Delton, go out and beat those teams and prove yourself anyway. So you know that's that's We'll talk about Xavier and Howard here in the defensive back portion. But I want to start. I don't know
how you do it, Daniel. Like whenever I do NFL previews, I always go AFC East, north, southwest, that same rotation, and then NFC obviously, and then when it comes to the position groups, I always start defensive line linebackers and the defensive back, so it goes like front to back. I suppose that's where we're gonna start here, is with this defensive line. Just gonna read off the roster here
for you real quick. Randy Charlton, Emmanuel Ogba, Zach Seeler, Anthony Montalvo, Christian Wilkins, Josiah Bronson, Jalen Twyman, and ray Kwon Davis. And when you go through that list, you have a decent mix of like guys that are at
different stages of their career. Obviously for very accomplished pro so far at this stage of their career with ogbab Wilkins, Seeler, and Davis, and then some unproven guys, some guys that are either rookies or in their you know, second or third year trying to make a name for themselves here. I'm curious what about that group stands out to you just kind of your I guess bird's eye view of this Dolphins defensive front.
Well, say, it was good to see Emanuel Agba out there. Obviously, you know, missing a good port person port excuse me, a portion of the season with the tristeps injury. He obviously said that he had been making clear, so it's good to see him get active and team drills and we saw him in on a couple of couple of pressures and you know, kind of doing a lot of the things that we've seen the passional two seasons. Where he led the team in sacks. Obviously Christian he's everywhere
on the field. You hear him, you see him, he's raising twenty yards the field. He's his usual Christian Wilk himself, Raykwon Davis as well, you know, taking that next step adding more to his past orsus Arsenal.
That was good to see.
But again, you have some some young defensive linemen who you know, less throuded, but they you know, had some flashes as well. Desire Bronson, Jail and Twinement, both of them spent time on a practice squad last year. But I think that they showed some really good things in terms of not only the rushing the passer which you know I'm holding, you know, gap integrity and you know obviously it's no pads, but you know, looking like they have pretty good reps, pretty good run stuff in reps.
So again, I mean, you see you look at that defensive line and you know the starting group is very very strong, but the depth there as well is looking like it could be something that's really uh, you know, a boom for the Dolphins.
That's a question I was going to ask you here next because you know you mentioned Bronson and Twinement like you and I sitting next to each other, like the ninety five make another players there, Yeah, she sure did. And I think it's it's that's the fun part about these practices this time of year to me is like, you know, I'm not going to go crazy about what Tua or you know, Tyreek Hill does this time of year, because I know what those guys are at the stage
of their career. But as trying to find these guys that you don't know much about and seeing how many plays they can make and how consistently they can fl and like McDaniel says, again, give themselves the opportunity to come back into training camp and earn more reps, which then gives you a chance to earn playing time in the preseason and then of course into the regular season.
It's a fun progression for me. Is it's so cool being on the team, you know, all all year long to see that progression play out and eventually get the end product in September. But I do want to start there because I have a couple of questions for you about this group in general. Is that John Jenkins role that you know. I think when you went into the offseason you thought they might either bring Jenkins back or
find someone to kind of fulfill that. And it's not like a significant role in terms of the snap counts. He played what two three hundred snaps last year, But right now, Raykwon Davis is the only you know, three hundred and thirty pound plus guy that you can probably line up over the nose tackle and say, hey, you're the zero technique. You can play this role and go stack up some bodies in the front and help our
linebackers stake clear on that back end. And you know, Wilkins and Seedler can play any damn position across the front, so I don't short change them in that regard, but I am curious what you think about who might fit that back up role to Rayquon Davis on the interior on this roster right now.
Yeah, that's a really good question, and I know that in the media, that's that's the spot that you know a lot of people have kind of kind of earmarked, you know, the Dolphins addressing over the next few months, whether that's at some point in training camp before the season starts. You know, Brandon Peely has the body type they undrafted uh roogably from USC that they signed. He has kind of a body type to take on that role, but obviously it means to be.
Seen who exactly would back up Rakwon.
One thing that has been coming to mind as we've you know, progressed through off the workouts is just, you know, just the various defensive fronts that Vanjol will use, and and I do wonder, you know, obviously Rayqwan plays a big role in this defense in terms of taking on multiple defenders and opening up things for the linebackers of the second level, but I do wonder like if maybe, you know, there are some unique defensive fronts that Vanjol could use that you know, kind of a allow them
to maybe skate by and not necessarily need like a prototypical, you know, zero taking type of guy. But you know, again there is a possibility, and that is kind of open that backup spot next to Ray Kwon.
I appreciate you mentioning Brandon peelely because I blew by his name on the run down there and forgot to put him in the list there. So my apologies to Brandon Peeley and the Dolphins defensive line group there. He's in the list. He's on the groups in the roster.
I did not mention him off the top there, and you kind of took me into my last question here about this group before we take our first break in this In this defensive line position, is those various fronts that you can run And we've known, you know, I've had you know, Sean Sayet was a great guest on the podcast while back breaking down the Vic Fangio scheme, and everyone I talked to talks about in the past he's ran lighter box fronts and had more you know,
back seven players on the field to round out his personnel groupings. And you mentioned it there, and I keep thinking about Emmanuel Ogbas kind of one of one on the roster in terms of a guy that's really more of a true hand in the dirt defensive end, but also can condense inside you know, six foot four, two hundred and seventy five pounds, give or take, and really
one of those true even front, even front ends. And then you have guys like Wilkins and Seeler again like I mentioned, who've played primarily in odd front in their career.
But we've also seen, you know, Wilkins played that even front look at back at Clemson, so I'm just I don't really know the question here exactly, Daniel, But I'm looking at this group and wondering, like maybe they just have eleven guys they want to put on the field at once, and you just kind of pick and choose your players because you do have so many guys here
that can fulfill multiple roles. Maybe you don't have to look elsewhere for that, you know, like you mentioned that zero technique position.
Yeah, I mean for all the versatility and talent we talked about in the second area. I mean, you look at Aga and you look at the defensive line, and.
You can do a lot of really interesting things there.
Agua, when we spoke to him a couple of weeks back early in the offseason workout program, he said himself, and he expects to play across the offensive line.
So again, you can do hand in the dirt.
You can you know, move a little outside to maybe seven technique, maybe even move into three technique. Like you can do a lot of things. Just gives that body type and that skill set. And again with him Christian Steeler Ray Kwon and then even like we're gonna get into the edge guys, the out our linebackers to like Radley Chubb, Jalen Phillips.
I mean, those guys can move in sometimes as well.
So it's like it's really like you might just kind of deploy whatever combination you want and then let them go to work.
You know. The versatility is one thing we're gonna hear about that. A lot of versatility, versatility, versatility.
The Dolphins can do a lot of things just because of the skill set of the guys they have in house.
Right now.
I think that that comment right there is what benefits the Dolphins maybe more than anything else, is the fact that we just don't really know what it might look like. And of course you'll get tape, you know, come Week one of what this defense looks like, but maybe it's it's completely different in Week two, and that could play the Dolphins advantage here early in the season, especially in
a tough schedule to open the year. You know, Chargers, Patriots, you got Buffalo on there, and who I'm missing in Week three the Broncos in there. I mean, it's a tough it's a tough road offensively as far as the opposite side of the field going up against the Dolphins team early on. So maybe that kind of you know, obscurity and not knowing what's going to happen, there is a benefit to the Dolphins. So you also mentioned the edge group and kind of linebackers in general. We'll hit
that next or on the other side. Take our first break right here and come back with my guest from the Miami Herald, Daniel Ojafusi Drive Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation, picking it back up on the roster reset middle of the month of June edition here. This is the fourth time I've done this this season, Daniel. I think it's good to take a look at the roster at various points of
the off season. Here and now we head into the actual off season where there's almost no football news going on. So we're going to keep you guys informed here talking about this Dolphins ross. We're talking about the NFL as we head, you know, into training camp, which you'll be here before you know it, so enjoy your vacations, enjoy your time off. But I want to talk about the
linebacker group here. You mentioned it a little bit on the previous side, you know, the edge position with guys like the first two guys in the list here, Bradley Chubb and Jalen Phillips and what they can kind of offer you in terms of their versatility. You mentioned Emmanuel Ogba play in that three technique position at times, and he condesce in there some times last year and did some stuff where he's sett in the pick on pick stunts and just being multiple and versatile. Jalen Phillips does
that too. You know, Bradley Chubb as at versaal as they come as well. So those are the top two guys here on the linebacker list in terms of the jersey numbers, number two, number fifteen. Then we go to Channing Tandall, Andrew, Ben Ginkle, Duke Riley, Malik, Creed, Mitchell, Agude, David Long Junior, Aubrey Miller, Cameron Good, Jerome Baker, Garrett Nelson, and Zeke Vanderberg. So I know it's kind of putting edge and off ball together here in that group, Daniel,
But I'll ask you the same question. Ask on the defensive line, your bird's eye view of this group and how they operate in this defense.
I would say that you know that pairing of Chubb and Jalen Phillips is going to be one to watch. You know, obviously teammatee the mid season trade for Chubb, and you know they spoke glowingly about his impact and what he did opening up stuff for others. And then you have Jalen Phillips, who Mikey Daniel said his practice
at a level that he's never seen. So you know, you look at previous banjail stops, he has done some really really special stuff with his outside linebacker, edge defender, you past rushers, you know, whether it's Audum Smith or Khalils Mack or Von Miller. So you know, if you just look at his track record, you know you're your reason to be excited if you're a Miami Dolphins fan. And I think that you know, and what we saw
especially from Jalen Phil really good. His usual stuff, you know, just that mixed of power and speed and that you know makes life terrible for offensive lineman. I will say, one of the ud f A edge guys who really sped out to me. And I'm sure you agree as Mitchell and Goudey, who is similar to Phillips and his his road to Miami, you know, starting at u c l A and then going to University of Miami and
now he's in Miami Gardens. You know, he's following up similar career art right now, and I thought he's he was off to a great start.
And office's in workouts, you know, Jalen said.
That he's a really twitchy athletic guy and he saw that in the where he can kind of knife through, knife through into the backfield and whatnot.
So we had a great size six and forty two. He really stood out to me as well.
So that's another interesting group because you have the the past rushing duo of Jalen Phillips and Bradley Chubb. J also have Andrew bank Geko. We have the ability ability to play multiple spots. You have Malik Reid who spent time in Denver as well, you know, and Mitchell Guide is kind of one of those guys making his claim to you know, you know, be part of that that position group.
It's tough to sort this group because I look at it as one of the best, you know, edge groups in the entire national football Like I think the Dolphins are really well set there and at the wide receiver position, two spots that are pretty important today's NFL. And man, I just I'm wondering how the snap counts are going to play out, and that's obviously for the coaches to decide come training camp. But you mentioned they're Chubb and Phillips.
I mean Phillips last year. Let's go ahead and start with him, because he's a guy that you know, had good sack production, had good pressure numbers, had good run
defense numbers. But I felt like there was so much more for him to get there, almost in the way that I kind of talked about Jalen Wattles rookie season on the offensive side of the football, saying like, yeah, he caught a hunter balls, but I'm telling you there was so much more yards for him to get just based upon where he was open in the progression of the offense and looked like he was, you know, creating separation consistently, not just in the short area, but down
the field. I'm watching Jalen Phillips tape here, thinking like, he's got potential for a lot more sack production, and he had some taking off the board last year as well, so I'm I'm hopeful to see him kind of take that jump in that category because typically pressures and QB hits convert to sacks at a higher rate than he had the last couple of years. So maybe this year can kind of you know, even out a little bit
more in that regard. But you kind of see him as a potential breakout player here of this defense because he's got all the tools in the bag.
Man. No, almost definitely.
You know, the first season, his first season was that was a great rookie year. And you know, you know, obviously in his second year, maybe not having the sack totals, like the raw stats that.
Maybe didn't show how much of an impact he made.
You know, he spoke about after his looking see them, wanting to be more of every down player, better against the run, you know, really earning the right to you know, to play third down, as you hear a lot of coaches and players talk about.
And I think he took those shrives.
So the next next step is like being a guy who can is dominant and is making an impact every play. And again I'll caution and say that's not just like racking up doubles sacks or leading the team in sacks. It's about the impact. It's about Pressures are really important as well. Maybe they don't result in a sack, disrupting the timing of the offense being somebody that the offense has to devote, you know, multiple blockers and attention to all of that.
It's really important.
Freeing up your teammates to get pressures in sacks all that that's really important. And I think that we saw Jalen take those steps in year two Phillips in year two. The year three is about really putting it all together and like being that that constant every down player at the defense are shooting that the offense has to come for.
It's funny you mentioned Mitchell a good and his you know, his route following Phillips, and I'm looking at his potential route to playing time this year, and like I said, it's a deep group, so finding snaps is going to be difficult for anybody in that group, just because you have so many guys that you know you're gonna count on for big snap totals this year and hopefully big production. But you know, looking you mentioned Andrew van Ginkle was a guy that I think has had such a good,
just solid, seady career so far. Going into your number twenty, you're number five for him as a Miami Dolphin. Here, Malik reed to a guy that I don't think has gotten enough publicity here as a guy that can make an impact on this defense. Because you know, we saw in last year we saw guys that played kind of
a part time role have a big impact. I think Malik Reed has an opportunity to be that guy because this is a dude that was undrafted to Vic Fangio's Broncos defenses back in you know his time there, and all he did was lead the team in sacks his first two years combined there. So do you think that Malik reads a guy that maybe we're sleeping on too much? Yeah?
I mean so, so you know, Jalen and Browley aren't going to play every single day. They're gonna they're gonna need to get spelled every once in a while. And I think that especially with Malik having somebody who has the familiarity in this game.
My same as a guy that can do a little bit of everything.
You know that maybe he's not dominant in one specific role, but you can do a little bit of everything. Set the edge, he can rush the passers, he can drop back and cover it into into you know those zone drops and whatnot. So yeah, I mean, and again, you know, maybe they play on the field at the same time, because you know, Jalen and Bradley can move in a little bit, and then Molak and Andrew and Gingkle can play you know, those those.
True edge spots. So again, a lot of different combinations, like you can.
You can really just throw eleven guys out there and kind of make it work, uh, you know, obviously with some tinkering here and there. But yeah, I think that Molie Read and Andrew Bangingkle will play big roles in this offense. And you know, the rotation and stepping in when those guys need to breather.
It kind of reminds me like a basketball rotation where you're like, obviously, you can't have you know, Jimmy Butler on the floor for forty eight minutes every night and you have to find, you know, minutes elsewhere for that position. I look at the Dolphins eleven man combinations and think like they've got you know, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen up to twelve guys. Maybe they feel like they can feel comfortable rolling out there in different sets and different looks, and
it's just it's a really deep defense right now. And I think that's true at our next position group here talking about more of the linebackers, but the guys that typically play off the football, and we've seen obviously Jerome Baker's been here for a long time doing you know, doing good stuff for a long time as a member of the Miami Dolphins. Duke Riley's a guy that's great on special teams, really good and sub packages and played some some starting roles last year for you as well.
David Long, though, is the guy that I want to start with here because he's he's kind of the big acquisition here in terms of the front seven that Dolphins defense made this offseason, and I thought it was such a such a key acquisition as far as a guy that plays with such good instincts, can beat blocks and really give you that guy that can scrape off of those you know, your great defensive linemen that stack up so well with Christian and Zach and Rakwan Davis and
just creating space for him to you know, react and flow to the football and make big plays. So I'm curious how you think David Long fits into this defense and and how big of an acquisition that was for the Dolphins this offseason.
Yeah, I think that the David Long signing kind of was like put on the back burner a little bit just because everyone was so focused on the Jalen Ramsey trade and what that was gonna be for the defense, and obviously that's gonna have, you know, massive have a massive.
Impact on the defense.
But David Long was you know, quietly, he's quietly been to one of the you know, most consistent linebackers you know in the NFL the past couple of years. Obviously maybe some and some in and out of the lineup with some injury stuff, and you know, he was limited with what McDaniel said was kind of a minor tweak.
But yeah, he is a guy who he can do it all.
I mean, he can you know, you know, he's five eleven, but he doesn't play like he's five eleven. He plays like he's kind of a six or four kind of throw but throwback guy in terms of like you said, scraping, you know, uh, sliding past offensive lineman and you know, pursuing the ball pass coverage. He has the athleticism to again execute those zone drops and whatnot, and then he
has the speed to split. So I think that with him with Jeron Baker, we have a a lot of speed on you know, that second level of the defense and again with those with those lighter boxes that Dan jel is known to use. Guy you need guys. And on the second level at inside linebacker, who going to fly to the ball? That's gonna be really interesting linebacker duo to watch for as we get in training camp and in the regular season.
It goes back to the matchup idea we discussed in the first segment with you know, the offense being able to dictate the terms. These two guys are going to help you really, I think matchup on backs and tight ends and coverage because they've both have done at a high level so far at this stage of their career. And I feel like Daniel I kind of committed a radio or podcasting sin one on one here by not playing the hits first. You've mentioned it a few times,
Jalen Ramsey and this defensive backfield. We're gonna get to that next and the final segment here of this edition of the Draft Time Podcast Defensive Roster Reset. My guest is ay Daniel Oya Fussi on the Draft Time Podcast brought to you by Auto Nation. Back here for a third segment with my guest today from the Miami Hero, Daniel Ojafusi taking in all these Dolphins practices, about to
hit vacation here in just a couple of hours. I think Daniel is your last assignment here for OTA coverage, and we're gonna end it here talking about the defensive back group. And again, it's kind of the same story across this entire defense here, where you have guys that can play multiple roles inside, outside, safety, corner like it doesn't really matter for a lot of these guys. Eyes in the quarterback taking the football away. Let's go down
the roster here real quick. Cater Kohu, Jalen Ramsey, Trull Williams, a guy that you know we talked about a lot last camp who got that unfortunate injury. Returning back from that injury, Javon Holland, Noah Igbinoghany, Justin Bethel, Toshaun Elliott, Elijah Campbell, cam Smith, Xavi and Howard Keyon Crossing. Brandon Jones also coming back off the injury, Roan McKinley, the Third, Tino Ellis, Bennett Williams, Kedrin Smith, Ethan Bonner, Nick Needham
also coming back off injury and Bryce Thompson. So, man, just I'm laughing as I read that list, because what a roster of names, man, Like, you have so many guys that I think would play a lot of snaps on a lot of different teams across the National Football League. What's your kind of bird's eye view of this defensive back group, because man, I'm looking at it. It looks good up top, it looks deep, it looks takeaway friendly, all the above.
Man.
Yeah, my has been in trying to figure out where to start with the secondary group.
I really really like it.
I'll start with the cornerbacks, where you know, a couple of weeks ago, I just was kind of doing the roster breackdown by position, and you know, if you look back to kind of the state of the cornerback room and the myriad injuries that they had last season, you have to be really happy with the way it is right now, because I mean, truthfully, you have you have several I mean truthfully, you have too many, almost like too many.
They are not enough roster spots for the talent. Yeah, you know.
I think that you have obviously the two headlining guys, Xavien Howard and Jalen Ramsey. We know about them. They're they're the bets in the business at what they do. And then you have kind of a lot of intrigue with the third spot because you have Kid Kohu who was really a.
Revelation as an undrafted rookie.
You have second round pick Cam Smith, who has you know, all the talent to be an impact guy or you know, in due time. And then after that, you know, you do have some kind of questions about, you know, who's kind of gonna fill out the bottom end of the overall rotation. Like we said before, Nick Needham has played a big role in this defense of a versatile role against versatility being the keyword.
Is not only an outside guy corner, but a nickelback and even at Tom you know, playing a little bit of safety.
You mentioned Sure Williams, who was looking really really good this time last year and then unfortunately had his knee injury and a preseason opener no egg Monogay who you know, I know, you know, you know, Commany's you know, taken a while to come along in you know, the first couple of years. But I thought that he looked solid and Vic Vangel spoke about how he thinks that this
scheme will be good for him. And then you have you have even some veteran guys are like, you know, some real elder statesman so to speak, you know, and Justin Bethel, who has you know, kind of been a special team sace over his career.
But I just wrote about him. I thought that he had a really really.
Strong ot a OTAs and manatory mini camp and it was kind of reminiscent of last year when he was pressed in their duties, just volding his own, yeah, against the receivers. Yeah, just volding his own against the receivers
in the offense. So you know, when I remember when Chris Breer spoke about the decision of Pitt camp Smith and it was kind of lead with a luxury pick because they had all that talent and depth that cornerback, and you know, was very very honest about you know, we saw how the depth and the cupboard kind of
became very very very quickly. So we you know, you can never have too many cornerbacks, So I know, I just said that it's almost like the Dolf with that too many cornerbacks, but they don't have too many cornerbacks. But it's a. It's a very talented group, and you know, the various kind of battles to you know, for playing time in roster spots on this one, that's going to be very very interesting because frankly, truthfully, they probably don't have enough spots for all the guys who are roster.
Yeah.
And I think that the Chris career comment goes a long way because it's not just about building for you know,
twenty twenty three, but also into the future. And that's where you kind of look at you know, ex and Jalen Ramsey, I think are still you still expect high and production out of those guys, but you have to be realistic that they are, you know, approaching you know, their age thirty seasons coming up here in a year or two for both those guys, and so to have the foresight with Okay, we know we have cater Cooho who's been really good for his rookie season, to go
get a guy like Cam Smith if he hits all of a sudden, you've got two really good young players on those rookie contracts. You know you mentioned no Egnogny if he can kind of you know, get his footing in this system, you just keep going down the list here, I mean Nick Needum coming back from the injury. It's it's a roster full of guys that have proven, you know,
NFL careers at this stage. And I love the point about you know, it seemed like in years past and different spots of the roster as well, where it was like, yeah, you're competing with guys that we don't really know about, you know, trying to figure out who's going to carve
out roles as you're two, three and four. But like you mentioned, now, it's like trying to carve out the role for your seven, eight nine guys, Like you're so deep that you're just trying to find out who's going to be the insurance policies behind these top bench starters here.
And I think your comment there about the cornerback position and with Jalen Ramsey, which we haven't got a chance to see much of how he'll be deployed so far, and we wouldn't talk about it anyway in the podcast because that's not in the reporting rules here, but I think that he is such an intriguing, you know, chess piece in this defense and Daniel, I had Jordan Rodrieg on the podcast and we acquired Jalen Ramsey and she was talking about how the Rams kind of utilized him
as a guy that forced the offense to choose matchups going into him and allowed the defense to be the one that dictates the terms. And I look at this group, like, you know, X is such a good perimeter cornerback cater co who can play both inside outside, same story for Nick Needham. You know Cam Smith, I think you feel good about his ability both inside outside and what he
did in college. If he can make that translation quickly here as a pro, it almost he's up Ramsey to kind of be the guy that that does that the plays, you know, press off the ball, that star position, cover a safety or rather i'm sorry, cover a tight end, cover a running back. Like I think he might be your kind of matchup eraser on that defensive end if if everything goes right.
Yeah.
One of the more intriguing things that that Jalen did say when he spoke to a couple of days ago is that the way that Big Vangel sets up this defense as for certain players to be featured and to showcase that versatility, and he's you know the prime example of that, Like you said, you know, he spent his first couple of years with the Jacksonville Jaguars where he
was primarily and you know, outside lockdown corner. And then you know, as teams, you know, saw how good he was, they stopped throwing to him.
So what do the Rams do?
They moved to the star spot where he can kind of be more active and run defense. And again, you know a lot of the better receivers in the NFL are playing that slot position, you know, like you know, Jailesuado, Tyreee, Justin Jefferson, jamar Cha. These guys are really lining up a lot and Deonte Adams, these guys are lining up in the flots.
So you know, what do you do?
You move your best cornerback inside so that that versatility and that kind of quote unquote chess piece allows you to, you know, build your entire defense around his skill sets. So it's gonna be interesting to see what the Dolphins have in store for him. Jalen Ramsey, you know, he said it a lot. He's like, I'm not a cornerback, I'm a defensive back. And yeah, you know, he probably thinks he can play, you know, quarterback. If you know
he's called upon to do that. So it's his versatility again, that key word, that buzzword, is going to do wonders for this defense.
Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, he if he wanted to play some buck line back on those sub packages where you kind of have that unique you know, like like I mentioned, tight end running back coverage type of responsibility. I just wouldn't put it pas him to be able to do whatever you ask him to do because he's that kind of player. And speaking of that kind of player, I think there's another one of those guys on the back end here in the safety group.
And you look at the balance of this roster, it's it does seem to be like there are more corners than safeties, and that's kind of where I can think you get the idea of just versatility and matchup specific But this safety group led by a guy that everyone's super high on right now, Javon Holland, including Vic Fangio, who said there's nothing I don't like about the guy. I think that bodes pretty well for him. And we've seen what Vic Fangio has done with you know, star
safeties in the past. Going back to his time with Denver, San Francisco and Chicago as well, just kind of getting production from that group in general. But then that kind of I think it's where you kind of get some interesting, you know, conversation pieces with Brandon Jones, who we know is a really good player, but coming back off the injury to Sean Elliott's a guy. That man. He plays one hundred miles an hour at all times, and I
thought he was impressive out here at OTAs. And then from there you kind of look at who Mike carve out a role from between Veron McKinley, a couple of rookies and the guy like Bennett Williams out there curious what you think about this group, and from Javon Holland up top as a guy that you know is going to play a lot to the rest of the group, and how it kind of rounds out the depth was.
Yeah, we have a common thing.
We we were saying, like, oh, Vick of angel as a track record of disposition in that position.
It's like it's the same for safety.
It's like he just have an over he just has an overall track record like being good for all players and I'm just good.
Yeah, yeah, safety is one of those positions.
Like you said, justin Simmons, it was an All Pro Pro Bowl player under Vic vangel and I see that as kind of like a template for what Jamon Holland could do in this defense. You know, not just playing you know, kind of a center field type of safety role, but going into those you know, split looks, being close to the line of screammage, maybe more blitzing, taking on tight ends and coverage and whatnot.
So the again, the skill set allows itself to do a lot of things.
You know, the spot, the safety spot next to him is interesting because you know, the first kind of inclination when they signed Deshaun Elliott was oh, you know, competition for that spot. But you know they they there may be, but I would say, I mean, I think that the skill set allows them to play with each other, you know, you know, be on the field at the same time.
You know, I know Deshaun from my time covering the Ravens, you know, a couple of years back, and you know he he you know, did a lot of multiple things. You know, he not on he did the free safety center field role, but he was you know, very effective in there the line of scrimmage, especially blitzing in and right and run run defense. You know, I think there's a kind of like a viral clip of him just like taking Derrick Henry head on and he like held his own and he won, he won the battle there.
So he yeah, he's a he's a heavy hitter. Brandon Jones is obviously one of the best blitzing safeties in the NFL. So again, you know, there's gonna be great competition, and you know, like Mike McDaniels said, a lot, you know, a lot of a lot of positive competition. It's like a competitive combinerie, like everyone pushing each other to get better. But again, I mean you could see maybe some sub packages. I mean it's kind of a guess you could maybe see that where you have you know, maybe Jamon and
Deshaun dropping into you know, split looks or whatever. But you also have a guy who can you know, in Brandon Jones, who can play close to the line of scrimmage and do a lot of different things. So again, this is all part of it, you know, I asked Vick, you know, like, are you kind of are you spending this va care? Are you spending this time off you know, kind of going back to the drawing board and advising stuff, and he's like, now I'm on vacation.
But I think I do. I do think that, you know, a couple of times you might bring up the dry erase.
Board and kind of start Johns some things down because there's just so many different things you can do.
I mean, he's a guy that his year away, he couldn't get away from it for more than you know. Every day he was talking about watching film and cooking up some new coverages. So I think that that's kind of how you make it in this business, man, just because you're thinking about it all the time. And I'm sure coaches is doing the same thing. Although that rests and relaxation certainly play a big part and making sure
you're refreshing ready to go for a training camp. But Daniel, you said, all man, that big Nickel package, you know, that's that's a pretty prominent one in the NFL these days. But a those three guys I think really round out a good trio of safeties with erstattle skill sets and compliment each other very well. Though. But man, you covered it all in depth here. We got about thirty some
minutes around the podcast. Why don't you go ahead and close up here by telling us where people can find your work, where they can find you on social and what you're working on here the next coming weeks.
No, most definitely, so you can find me on social media.
Usually put most of my Dolphin's updates on Twitter at Daniel o yaf we see last name o ye at USI and then obviously you can read all my work at my mirror, at my mayor at newspaper.
All right, sounds good man, thanks a lot, Dan, I appreciate your time today.
Man aainy time man talk to later.
And there he goes, it is possible I pulled an old man move there and didn't have my zoom setting set to my microphone plug in, So I apologize. If that audio was rough, there's just no way to recover that. So if it sounded bad, I do apologize. I hope it was okay and good enough for you guys, Digest, because I thought the content from Daniel was really, really good. All right, that's my time. We're gonna come back on Thursday, and here from Marcel Louis Jalk about this Dolphins offense.
Do the exact same thing with him, fun conversation with these two guys. Man Like, these guys know their ball, they know their stuff, They're they're easy to talk to, which makes it, you know, a podcast fun. I've always thought that just football analysts with nothing else offer no value. If you've got the football analyst and you've also got some personality to you, that's my kind of guess I want to have here on the show. So I think we accomplished that with both Daniel and Marcel. All Right,
so Marcelle come up on Thursday. In the meantime, it's gonna be my time. You all. Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast. Leave us a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me on Twitter at Wingfold NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out The Fish Tank with Seth and Juice the Jeff Wilson episode. I finally got around to it this weekend. One of their best men, Jeff is the man, Seth was rolling. OJ was absolutely killing it as always, and
just I thought one of their best episodes. Go check it out. Also check out the YouTube channel for some Fish Tank and Drive Time content, media availabilities, Dolphins Day, much much more, and last but not least Miami Dolphins dot Com until next time.
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