Drive Time: Skill Players Draft Preview with Matt Waldman

with Travis Winfield begins. Now let me check your pulse if you're not furt of what is up? Dolphins and welcome to the Drivetime 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, draft Prep begin here on the Drivetime Podcast, We're gonna welcome in Matt Waldman of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio,

one of the best in the business. He does skill players on offense, so we're talking all things wide receivers, tight ends, and running backs on this edition of the podcast. From somewhere in South Florida, This is the Drivetime Podcast maya Gaffe Fish. The calendar has turned to April. The masters is this weekend. Baseball has opened up much of the chagrin of a one in three start for the Ciallo Manors, but hey, Julio Rodriguez is off to a

hot start. But it also means the most important thing on the calendar the NFL Draft coming up in just a few weeks. The defense have a couple of picks

on Day two, couple of picks on Day three. We will go ahead and jump into what that might look like, but more importantly, just talk about this class and get you guys educated on what's potentially there, the strongest points in terms of position groups in those class, and where Miami could be looking with each potential pick at those spot in terms of strength, team fit, all that fun stuff. And we're gonna have a slew of expert guests on here to help us get familiar with the twenty twenty

three NFL Draft class. And we're gonna start today with someone that I'm pretty pumped up to have. I haven't had him on my podcast before. He did do our Twitter Spaces show last spring. A guys, I've been reading for over a decade now, which he'll hear in the interview Matt Waldman of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio. He is a refreshing draft mind in the industry that sometimes to me can get a little bit bogged down with cookie cutter type of regurgitation, I think is the way I

put that. So Matt Waldman does not do that. He gave us great insight last year on Skylar Thompson before he was drafted, which was really cool to hear, great insight on eric As Zuokama. He just knows all the players from rounds one through seven and even Udfa, So I thought, what a valuable resource to get on the podcast here Miami. Going into this draft, we brought the

entire running back room back. We have the receiver room which looks pretty good, but there's a spot or two that for a guy that could be drafted, and then of course a tight end position. As we talk on this podcast, just three players in the roster had five on opening day last year. So some potential options I think at those positions to add in this year's draft class,

as there is every year at every position. But without further ado, why don't we go ahead and welcome in the expert on all those things, all things skill players, Matt Waldman. And I'm thrilled to be joined today by someone who's work that I have followed for quite some time. He is Matt Waldman, the creator of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio.

He focuses on the skill players. That's the offensive side of the football, and that's the side of the ball we're doing today regarding the twenty twenty three NFL Draft. So Matt, welcome in, sir, Hey Travis, it's always a pleasure.

Thanks for having me. I let him with that intro, Matt, because I first found your work, believe it or not, back in twenty twelve, and I remember it being so much different than what I would consider at the time cookie cutter draft content that I think, you know, most people had to sift through back at that time because draft Twitter and the draft coverage hadn't exploded the way I think it has in the last decade at that time, and it's even more so the case nowadays. But we'll

get into that here in a moment. But it was a twenty twenty twelve draft. The Dolphins needed a quarterback. The quarterback market was bustling that year, both in free agency and the draft. You had Peyton Manning and Matt Flynn was a big ticket at him before he assigned the contract in Seattle, and then you had Andrew Luck RG three, Ryan Tannehill, Brandon Whedon, Russell Wilson, and who could forget the Super Bowl MVP of that group, Nick Foles.

But anyway, you broke down tannehills game in a way that was so different to me at the time, and everybody wanted to say that this guy needs reps. He was a converted wide receiver, which wasn't the case he was. You know, that's a different topic, different day. But you went more in depth and showed us how he won from the pocket, how he anticipated, and how he was absolutely worthy of being not just the top ten pick,

but the eighth pick in the draft that year. So it's a very long way to lead into asking you about the genesis of the rookie scouting portfolio. Did it come to be and how did it, I guess, get

to where it is today. Well, sure, I was an operations manager and a quality director for about a ten thousand, ten thousand employee company and really what I had specialized in was training people and working with others in a way where that we could take a system and evaluate individuals on criteria that isn't necessarily objective, but to try and make it as objective as possible so that you could get people to be more productive and understand these things.

And I got certified in a lot of techniques in terms of how to create evaluation systems, how to implement them,

how to continuously improve them. And I was always a big football fan, and I had done some freelance writing in my life over the years, and I just thought one day reading Gil Brandt talk about a running back who was five nine two oh five and if he were a couple inches taller ten pounds, he would have been a top five overall pick, And as someone who worked in corporate America, it all kind of clicked to go, I get it. What draft capital is isn't necessarily all

about talent. It's about what's safe sometimes, because at five nine, two hundred and five pound back had two ACL tears, couldn't got his scholarship dropped at FSU, went to Villanova, and then wound up being with the Philadelphia Eagles and being an All Pro and Brian Westboro. You know, so I got really interested in all that and started implementing what I did for my living with creating a draft guide.

And you know, it's been eighteen years now. This is my full time job now doing it, and in the RSP is now one of the two most purchased independent draft guides by scouts and personnel people in the NFL, according to people like Alex Brown, who's the director of recruiting for SMU and has worked at RICE as well as at Houston with Tom Herman and folks like that, and he deals with people every week who come in so that he could talk about the pros Bexany, sees

what they're looking at, ask what they're looking at, and you know, and that's the that's the source who's told me that information. So it's been a fun journey, and you know, I take people through my process with the RSP, so it's really in depth, but I try to do it in an entertaining way, in an easy way to

see everything. And because I've been running about fantasy football as well, I dovetail that in so it's kind of like I give separate like fantasy recommendations, but also show like real football, and so it's kind of captured an audience where I've got scouts who read the book and use it for cross checking, but I also have media and fantasy people who like it because I work at football guys dot Com as a senior staff writer, so they know that I can kind of switch between worlds.

Did you know at the time that you were essentially creating a cross platform product that would basically hit and all the major all the major you know, players in this world, because it sounds like you really kind of hit the funnel perfectly with all of that. I was hoping, but at the same time, you know, it was the

vision and then executing the reality were much different. I turned down a lot of opportunities early on to do some things where I could write for somebody else's draft guide, and they were at three letter or four letter networks, and then I was sitting in an empty house, you know, watching TV and seeing people I was going to be working with their working for that. I turned down doing national gigs and I thought, well, this better work. So it was you know, it's worked out very well for me,

and I'm very very, very fortunate. And I was hoping that I could do something that was heavy on content, light on the bells and whistles, and it's worked out that way. But I, you know, I was hopeful, but I didn't think it would work out as smoothly as it has. That's why I love talking about these stories

because it was it was somewhat similar for me. I mean, it sounds like you took, you know, what you learn from your professional life and then took what you were curious and interested in and kind of combined the two and made, you know, made a job out of it. And that's essentially what what I did in a lot of ways with the birth of NFL Game Pass. And I was so fascinated by the idea of going back and trying to kind of reconfigure the idea of how

we view quarterback play. And I did so many projects I thought were bad after the fact, but also had some stuff that was pretty good that got me in a position where I started to understand tap more and things like that. So it's it always fascinates me. I think the audience that I have here is fascinated by it too, because you know, podcasting it's about the content is certainly, but also the person that's behind the microphone, and I think it's a big part of the intimacy

you build on a podcast. But before we get into this class here, I wanted to ask you this last thing about the scouting you know, the scouting world as it is currently and kind of how you view it, because, like you said, you know, you're you're on the radar of not just fantasy fans, but you know, people in the league and people are on the you know, the

scouting cogniscente as it were. But I'm curious because we get this, this this new wave of I guess social media that produces draft takes, and that wasn't always the case because the draft used to be this really niche, you know, thing that people covered and if you wanted to find out about it, you had to kind of dig into the animals of the uh of the animals of the internet and or the other sometimes, you know, when it comes to some of these social media outlets. Right, yeah,

there we go. I almost just let it go and and didn't know and didn't come back to it. But we're gonna make sure that kid's taken out there. But um no, so I just you know, you didn't have a chance to really to get everyone's opinion on the stuff. And I feel like now it's it's almost become inundated with this, like, oh, I saw two clips of a guy on Twitter, so I have a take and if you if you draft that guy, I'm gonna be mad about it. Do you notice that and does it does

it ever bother you? Or how do you kind of try to combat I guess what has become modern? I guess amateur scouting a lot of ways, even though you're in the professional ranks of it, Like how do you how do you kind of navigate those waters? Well, it's always going to be frustrating when you see something on a day to day basis, but at the same time, you get you developed the perspective to understand this is

that what are you trying to be? You know, if you're trying to be popular, then these types of things can be really frustrating, but you're but that's part of the popularity thing, is that you're trying to entertain more than you're trying to deliver long term, actionable, evergreen content.

And when you're trying to but if you're trying to do that, then popularity is seen in a different light, and what you're trying to do is to be able to formulate things where I guess the younger folks call it receipts, but like the true meaning of receipts, where you know, you can go onto your Twitter page and when everyone says that you were an idiot for ranking Nick Chubb above, say Quon Barkley, or that Justin Jefferson should be you should just wait for him instead of

Jerry Judy and Ceedee Lamb and Denzel Mims or Patrick Mahomes actually is a far smarter quarterback than some of

the ways people are saying that he is. And when you have things like that, you have complete scouting reports that you are able to put up there, it stands the test of time, and you get the perspective of that the type of people who are going to gravitate toward that aren't the type of people who are going to gravitate towards the I saw two plays and therefore you know, I stayed at the holiday and express and

now I know everything you know type of thing. So it's it's just patience and putting out good work and having the perspective to know that the type of audience that's going to be gravitated to you, to you to your work. Is the type of audience you want to have. And if it means you have, you know, two thousand raving followers as opposed to two hundred thousand, then that's that's all the better because you know you're going to have a much better experience interacting with people as a whole.

And that's kind of the perspective I take. Yeah, it's the perspective like that, Matt, that I think produces the good content. And I really appreciate that. And you know, I always see like the idea of branding or doing certain things for a certain reason. It's like, no, if you just if you just beat yourself and make good content, people tend to gravitate towards that. And I think that's

probably what you found with you know, the RISP. It's it's like you said, it's spread really really wide at this point, very successful, and people like me sure love to get our hands on that. And that's why I wanted to have you on today and kind of start

here with the skill groups. And I was thinking about how to best guide this in the Dolphins direction, and I think we'll start at the tight end position, just because if you look at the numbers of the roster, and this is like another trope, like you know, you have certain things you think you need and don't need, but teams don't typically draft that way. They usually take

good players. That's the best way to draft, well, I think, but I think if you just look at the numbers on the Dolphins roster, they have three right now tight ends compared to five on opening day last year. We did get a Drham Smith extension earlier this week, but also I just keep hearing about how great this tight end class is best in the last decade. So I

wanted to start there, Matt. And you know, we've seen tight end utilize and what has kind of become known as the Shanahan offense right at the Shanahan tree and all the branches off at offense. And we have one of those branches and the very bright Mike McDaniel down here, and perhaps no one was greater in that role than

currently with George Kittle and San Francisco. And I was curious to first kind of get your take on the impact of a dual purpose tight end in this offense because Kittle, I think in a lot of ways makes that Niners offense go, do you agree? And how important is it to have a piece like that to maximize what this offense is at his core? I agree that it is. You know that Kittle was the guy to

make that go. And you know, tight end as a whole, when we think of the all around play both in line and split outside and be a receiving threat type of tight end, they're very rare. I mean you basically

they are unicorns. The past two are Rob Gronkowski and George Kittle, and both of them have dealt with injuries throughout because it's a practically impossible position to play in that way in today's NFL, even you know, because even in the past when you had Kellen Winslow or Ozzie News some those were receivers who were basically given a minimal amount of responsibility at the line. So for the Miami Dolphins, it would be ideal if they could find

a player like that. And I think that there is maybe one who could possibly get to that level, maybe two or three that that'll get close. And but again we're talking about unicorn status. And then there's about seven or eight other players who if you use them more as h backs or you know exactly how you want

to use them as blockers or as receivers. It might work well enough in McDaniel's offense, because in McDaniel's offense, the fact that they have the personnel that they do with, you know, with those two great receivers on the outside, is it necessary that they need him to be a man match up problem along the lines of Kittle or Kelsey, And I would argue that you don't need it to

be quite that level. It would be nice, but maybe the priority is is you need a guy who can block, who can at least be someone who can do double teams on the front side or backside, be able to work across the formation and pull do some pulling blocks as well as doing some wine back blocks. And there are a number of guys in this class who can do that and also threaten the seam up the middle, off play action, run some over routes or crossing routes. And then it just depends on the flavor what you

want there, you know. I mean, it's like there's maybe three different variations of chocolate type of flavors here that you might look at and go, do you want the guy who can stretch the seam win one on one on the outside, Or are you okay with the guy who's a little better of a blocker, but he's not going to beat cornerbacks, you know, detached outside on a regular basis. He's probably better off facing up linebackers in

the occasional safety. Well, I think I think it's nice to have options and different flavors that you prefer in as class. And you've queued me up there for a perfect teaser. We're gonna go ahead and take our first break right here and come back on the other side. And I want to ask Matt, who is that one or two potential unicorns in this year's tight end class. That's next Draft Time podcast, Your host Travis Wingfield, my guest today, Matt Waldman, brought to you by Auto Nation.

Back here on a Wednesday edition of the Draft Time Podcast. You heard Matt kind of lead into a potential not a secret. But I'm really dying to hear your answer on this. Who are those unicorns you're talking about in this tight end class? I have an idea who they might be, but I want to hear what your perspective is and then also tell me are they going to be gone by pick fifty one? How high do the tight ends going this year's class? Yeah, that's the big question.

And for me, I'm much more of a how do they look and how would I grade them as opposed to where they I think they're gonna go. But I'll give my best shot on that the guy who fits that bill. He may not be the best tight end in this class ingrades for how I look at it,

but he's close. And that's Luke's Schoonmacher. The tight end for Michigan maybe not getting as much love as some of the other players, but if you're looking for a guy who might be the best all around tight end, you know, he's an excellent inline blocker who can do all the work that you're looking for in the run game in terms of you know what he can do with different types of blocks. He can win with finesse, he can win with technique, he can win with power.

He's someone that can deliver a punch, he can delivers a good strike, he gets good position, he moves his feet well. He can control all three levels of defenders with a variety of blocks, and you would expect that from a good Michigan tight end anyway, if you're even gonna go to the logo scouting kind of thing, but

that's the receiving game. That's interesting because you can use him on a lot of a lot of the routes that you saw Jesseki used on the outlet plays over routes, seems up the zone against the safety or a linebacker, play action drag routes. He's certainly mobile enough to do that. He has the speed to stretch the seam, he has the acceleration to get early separation. And then what I liked about him most is he has all the elements to become a top route runner in the league. He

can use stems to set up breaks. He has good hip flip for speed breaks. He often can get drop his weight into short stop routes. What we haven't seen him do is beat cornerbacks and safeties one on one. But at Michigan they really didn't employ him in that way, especially as good of a blocker as he was. But I think he has the athletic ability to do that, and if he does, you might be looking at the best tight end in this class. A certainly high praise.

Not a name that you've seen. That's that's why I like your work, Matt, because it's not a name that you see, you know, plastered across everyone's top five, everyone's mock drafts in the first round. Just not someone that you're you're really getting with that type of content. So really cool to hear that. And then was there another one you potentially wanted to touch on? A potential unicorn

that you might might think there is. I think that I think that the another potential unicorn in that is probably you know, there's two guys, but the guy that's the best is probably Dalton Kincaid. I mean Kincaid right now is more of an h back at two forty six. There's a lot that people say, well, he doesn't block well in line just yet, but you see the elements there with a punch, I think he's going to be able to add more weight to his frame and become, you know, to provide a little bit of a more

solid anchor. But he's actually a much better blocker than people give credit for in certain situations where you can use him, and I think those situations where that will work out for him are really where he can lead on counter plays, where he can be a wind back blocker, quick hitting hook. He has, you know, a lot of elements like I said, to be to develop a wide stance and anchor just needs to get a little bit bigger.

But he's a good stock blocker already. He's mobile, he's quick, and then when you add to the fact that he's simply one of the one of the two to three best receivers in this class, very dynamic with the ball above the rim, and not only is he good above the rim, but after the catch, he has a skill for being able to either make the first man miss or break the first tackle. And you don't see that a lot with a lot of tight ends, and he

has that skill. He's much more in that hopeful to be around Travis Kelsey type of player that you can pull up to. And then Luke Musgrave. I'm not a huge fan of his receiving game, but he's good enough as a receiver with his speed to stretch the field. His blocking is very strong, he has a good punch, and he has good weight placement to really be able to anchor. And I think that there's enough there that he could possibly develop into a more all around tight end.

But I need to see more with his routes for him to develop into that kind of matchup problem. But the speed is there, the hands are pretty much there. So he's an intriguing guy that I think might be there at pick fifty one, and I wouldn't be surprised if Michael Mayer falls a little bit. If he does fall to the second round, maybe the Dolphins are willing to trade up to get him if he's not quite at pick fifty one for them. But he may not be that high end route runner who can win matchups.

But I think he's a better blocker than Jessecki turned into. I think he'll turn into a better blocker than that. And he's good one on one in zone or excuse me, in the red zone. And he's also good in zone coverage on contested plays where you can throw him open. He's just not a matchup guy like Alow the top guys are, but you know, would fit very well within

what the Dolphins do. This is why it's so fascinating me because the question that comes to my mind instantly when we talk about all those different varieties and styles and and really skill sets, is that is there's so many good tight ends and different types that you might have the class kind of cannibalize itself in the sense that maybe guys don't come off the boars early because you're thinking, well, I like this tight end here at the back around one, but the gap there between him

and tight end, you know, four whatever, Maybe isn't that stark whereas you know, an offensive tackle or whatever the case may be, for whatever team, do they maybe kind of cannibalize itself that way? And then the other question I had is kind of like a follow up to just the class in general and maybe kind of an off the you know, off the wall type of idea is you know, I was watching some Sam Laporta, the

Iowa tight end, and so glad you mentioned him. I want to hear your take on him, rope, but I just want to kind of tell you my thought because it bleeds into the next thing I want to talk to you about with Eric Azukama, because I see, you know, the Texas Tech tape with Azukama and they threw him all these slip screens, a little bubbles and tunnels and just get the ball in his hands and guys bounce off of him as tacklers, right, and he runs for

a bunch of yards after the catch. I see that in Sam Laporta's game, too, Like, is there a way to possibly use a player like that to, you know, get not just tight end production, but also a receiver production. So I gave you like eight questions there, Matt, I apologize,

but I know that you can handle it well. First of all, I do think there's a chance that was certain there's going to be certain players that stand out, Like if you want a blocker, if you're looking for a blocker who can also catch and do the traditional tight end things, and Scoot Mocker may go a little earlier. It's just a certain team that really likes him. But then if you're looking at guys like you know and

then Kinkaid will probably go off the board early. But after that you're looking at players who are essentially you know Laporta, Darnell Washington, Elijah Higgins if he's going to be a I end, the Stanford wide receiver, Luke Musgrave, you know, Tucker Craft. These are all guys who can do the screen game. You dump the ball off, you get them out in space, and they're going to be

able to make plays for you. And then you're using them selectively as blockers, and a couple of them will grow, And of course mayor mayor fits in that kind of that schoon mucker type of deal. So I think there's I wouldn't be surprised if there's eight players at the tight end position who go between rounds one and four during the first four rounds. I think that can happen. I think though, that there are other players who are intriguing enough that you'll see a ton of them taken

in the back half. The Porter, to me is a player I love, and he's he's actually my third on my board right now overall, and that's mainly because I value receiving a little bit more than blocking in terms of how I wait it, because I try to follow that Bill Belichick school. If you can find a blocker later, unless he's just a rare bird of a blocker who can also be competent in the receiving game. Laporta isn't a great blocker for what you would expect out of

an Iowa tight end these days. But I look at it this way. The simplest way to say it is that if Evan Ingram didn't have the history of flaws, he did as a pass catcher and had a little about five more pounds on his frame. Sam Laporta is

basically that guy. He's a better version of Evan Ingram coming out and he's the bet, to me, the better version of that of a guy who never made it because he had so many off field issues, but he was catching passes from Justin Herbert early in his career as coult Liarla, who was a fantastic prospect on the field. Off the field, different story. Sam Laporta is a really good pass catcher with riffic quickness. He's one of those make you miss break the tackle in the open field.

Just smooth, smart, consistent hands, solid blocker. If you use him on the wing or use him as that second tight end on the backside, and you're not trying to feature him against players one on one where he's just not going to have a chance. But as a receiver, I would not be shocked at all if he turns into a Pro Bowl caliber receiver if he finds the right landing spot. I'm really intrigued by it all, and the fact that you talk about the different elements you

can get late in the draft is certainly intriguing. As well. But those ball skills do seem to come off the board earlier and early. That's why receivers go so early, and we see some many receivers you know, have such good early parts of their NFL career. I want to come back on the other side of our last break here and talk to you about Dolphins wide receiver eric As Yukama and talk about this year's draft as well. Let's next Draft Time podcast. Your host Travis Wingfield, my

guest Matt Wallman, brought you by Auto Nation. We left off segment number two on the podcast talking about wide receivers and tight ends and Matt, we saw Trent Sherfield exit via free agency. He was the third most targeted wide receiver on the team last year from Miami. So it's a role that has, I guess opened up a little bit beyond you know, the top two guys that get a lot of targets. And I was curious to ask you about Azzukama's opportunity to potentially fulfill that role.

A guy that you were a big fan of last year coming out of the draft. What do you think about his game and how it translates into your number two here for the Miami Dolphins. Yeah, I think it's I think it has a good chance to take another significant step forward in a similar way that I think where Chargers fans were excited about Josh Balmer. I think that a Zukama can be you know, the type of player that the Chargers hoping Palmer can become, you know,

physical player. He had a more limited route tree entering the league, but he has all the tools you want to develop into high end contributors just a matter of you know, he has the bend you're looking for. He's good at being able to track the ball, he uses contests that he's good at position himself in contested situations. He's got the power you're you're looking at. It's just about being on the same page where you can read the zone coverages or the different hybrid coverages in the

same manner that your quarterback can. And as long as you know, as long as he can have some continuity with the same quarterback and to a tonguele can stay healthy, then you're going to have an opportunity for him to

grow into a bigger role. And I think it also just depends on, like you said earlier in our previous segment, whether or not as Zukanma as a blocker, and I think he can be physical enough whether they like him enough that he can play on the wing and do some work as kind of that H back unofficial type of H back, or a a player who's tight in the slot that can work and do some do some double teams, or do a little bit of blocking on safeties and outside linebackers in the league, or they decide

they want to go with a tight end or draft two tight ends and do that, or they take a tight end like a Laporta and say, you know what, with Duram smythe we feel like we're okay with him in line, we can use Laporta outside. We can also then split them out and he could be kind of that player that ends up taking over for as Ukonoma. So I think the draft is going to be a big tell as to how likely as Zuconma gets that

opportunity to take that next step without an injury. Absolutely, I think that's you know, for both him and Channing Tendal, I would expect bigger roles and you're number two after kind of what was I wouldn't say a red shirt season. They both got some action but didn't play a whole

lot last year. And two position groups that really for the Dolphins were pretty deep and had some good snap counts out of you know, Jerome Baker, Lyndon Roberts, Duke Riley, and then on offense, you know about the wide receivers and Matt We could. The truth is we could do you know, five of these podcasts, one for each position group really that you talk about primarily, but we're all

I doing about thirty minutes or so today. I want to go ahead and spin it four and talk about the running back position because you know, you talk about the Dolphins draft strategy here, it seems like they really could go anywhere. It just mostly seems to be like rounding out some spots because you have so many foundations in place now with where this roster is in its current cycle. And one of the more interesting groups on the team to me is the running back position because

they brought everybody back. I don't think that most fans expected that, you know, with all four Miles Gaskin, Savan Akhmed, and then Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson. A foursome that has two pairings in it, there're two really good buddies from previous stops before the Dolphins, which is kind of cool, I guess, but we know what the Dolphins offense wants to be. From a running perspective, there is a lot of variety, but the staples and principles or some outside zone.

We saw what the Niners could do with getting Christian McCaffrey and the receiving game in this type of offense. Who are some guys that you would like to combine in this Dolphins room that could go into a game tomorrow if they had to. But who's somebody you think you could PLoP in there and get that running back

room humming on another level in this year's draft. Yeah, I think it's a great question, because again you're looking at players who may not necessarily have to play this year, but in a year or two you want them to take over from an aging Mostard or with Wilson, and you can feel like Wilson can be that compliment. You know, someone off the bat who maybe if you go on the early side of the draft is Kendre Miller out

of TCU. He's smooth, he's sudden. He reminds me of another former Dolphin and a former fellow alum in Lamar Miller with you know, both the University Miami and with the Miami Dolphins, very smooth. Quick has an opportunity to become a good receiver and a good blocker. The elements are there, just a matter of refining some techniques. Another player who can fit that Sean Tucker. People seem to be a little bit down on him, but he's a

guy that can run gap and outside zone. He's a game breaker of all the receipt of all the runners that I've seen this year. I know that there are other players who have maybe better acceleration, but when it shows up on the on tape, Sean Tucker's acceleration shows up on tape better than just about anybody on that level. And I think he's a player that can turn into a lead back and give you that explosive element that

they like to have. You know, another one who can probably be that type of player who you can get later on and as kind of a not people not many people are talking about his tie On Evans out of Louisville. He's a five nine, two twenty five pound running back. First played at Hutchinson Community College. Then Tennessee for a season, transferred to Louisville. He's got that four or five to speed. He is someone that can run or through you. He can run around you, past you.

Some skills as a receiver, some developing skills as a blocker. He kind of reminds me of physically as a mix somewhere between Ray Rice and Travis Henry in terms of body type, how he moves, what he can do well. You know, Chase Brown. I'm not as big of a fan of Chase Brown as some others, but he has a little bit of that Khalil Herbert Duke Johnson vibe where you can run him on outside zone. You know.

I think that he definitely has explosion, but he I don't like backs that turn their back into the defense at the end of plays, and there's a little bit too much of that going on with his game that I have a little bit of questions about with him. But those are guys that I think from like who are going to be second, third, fourth, fifth round picks. These are those are some of the guys that I

would really highlight that I feel strongly about. Devin Chain to me, is interesting, but he's on the lighter side, and I think that if you're looking for someone to succeed most in this offense, you want somebody who's a little bit on the bigger end of the spectrum, and

those are the guys that probably fit best. That's why I touched an everything position group for this team because in a lot of ways, like you could really take your choose whatever you prefer in terms of long term immediate impact bruiser, speed guy like it's all on the table, I think for the Dolphins this year, and you gave us a great list of names there, like you talk about Devin ah Chain. He makes the podcast a lot

because I'm obsessed with speed at that position. I like home run hitters that can score from seventy five yards away at the running back spot. But no, those are some guys that I'm curious see what happens because Miami's in this weird situation where they have, you know, a second and third round picks and not again till late

on day three. I am curious if they find a way to kind of bridge the gap and get some more picks in the middle, maybe stools guys you talked about, Can I add one more to you because he will probably fall because he transferred schools. He had this He was a five star prospect who had a lot of who had this quixonic recruiting journey where he started at Georgia getting going there and then he wound up at TCU. And that's Jack Evans who went to and then wound

up an old miss. And there's a lot of questions about him character wise, but he's actually a great student. The founding paternal figure in his family the year before he got recruited passed away, so he really didn't have any support. He did it on his own. He made some immature decisions about his recruiting, but as a as a student, as an athlete, as a running back, there

aren't many better. I think he's I think we could look back and go Zach Evans was highway robbery for a team because there's a lot of Clinton Portis to his game. He's someone who can run for power. He's got speed, terrific vision, pass protects extraordinarily well. At this point in his game. He was more refined last year as a runner between the tackles than what I saw out of Bejean Robinson, more refined in terms of being a decision maker knowing how to hug blocks the issue.

Robinson got better and improved, but Evans is not as far away from the top. You know, two to three backs in this class, then I think a lot of people will have him. And if the Dolphins can get him later, let him sit and kind of watch and get a little bit of work and you know, just feel like that he's they feel confident about what he is off the field, and I think it'll be less of an issue than it is in the media. You're going to get one of the best backs in a

very strong class. Well, my ears parked up when he said he was first recruited of Georgia, because those guys don't mess around with that recruits, especially at that position. What they produce every single year from the bulldog. So great stuff there and that scouting background, by the way, the kind of detail you can expect on the rookie scouting portfolio. He is Matt Waldman. The twenty twenty three edition is out now. You can follow him on Twitter

at Matt Waldman. Matt, is there anything else we can promote for you? Here? Maybe the exact web address to go find the RSP The sure Matt Waldman dot com twenty one ninety five. You get a pre draft and postdraft. Postdraft will come out week after the NFL Draft. I'll email it to you or I'll email you a linkum notice that you can access it, and you know. Part of the proceeds go to an organization known as Darkness

to Light dtwol dot org. They're an organization to help teach people about the awareness of how to be aware of grooming behaviors, of sexual abuse of children and how to prevent that from happening, as well as how to address situations when sexual abuse happens so that they don't compound the damage so they're protecting children. It's a great organization and we've raised over fifty five thousand dollars to that organization since two thousand and twelve. That's awesome, Matt.

That's really cool to hear man. Thank you so much for your time today and we'll talk to you soon. Sarah sound good, Thanks so much, and there he goes Matt Waldman from the RSP. Great stuff there. As always, you'll always get good insight from Matt Waldman. Go ahead and check out his stuff on Twitter at Matt Waldman dot com. Everywhere you can find football content, you'll find his stuff. Draft Guide definitely check that out as well.

All Right, it's gonna be my time. You go ahead, and 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 Lingfold NFL, follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank Podcast with Seth and Juice. Check out our YouTube channel for Dolphins Today, media availabilities, and much more, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, finds up Caroline and Camera and Daddy's coming back upstairs.