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Dolphins? And welcome to the Draft 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, we're gonna take a look at week number four, fourteen that kicks off tonight. Can you believe that we're already just five weeks left in the NFL season? Well for some teams, not for us. My goodness. We'll pick all the games. But first, the Austin Jackson
extension is official. We'll go in depth on his breakout season. Here from the head coach on what makes Austin the perfect right tackle for this football team. Plus I'll give you a little bit of an off season primer and looking at some of the potential contracts coming up for this Miami Dolphins team. We'll also hear from ESPN's to Ron Davenport. It talks some Titans, and of course more commentary from Mike McDaniel from the Baptist Health Studios inside
the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drive Time Podcast.
Maye gaff.
News to start the show, Austin jackson brand new contract. The reported figures are three for thirty six. Of course, that can always be give or take on either side of the deal, which, if you're keeping track at home, is less than the twenty two twenty four cost of what Austin Jackson's fifth year option would have been at fourteen point two million, So your apy is lower on
the extension. Chris Greene, you've done it once again. You lock down one of the most critical positions, and you did it for way lower than what market value dictates, because if you take all tackles into account, and I was looking at this thinking like, well, yeah, but right tackle money is less than left tackle, and it is, but both tackles are pretty.
Much the same in today's NFL.
Especially especially when you have a left handed quarterback, that right tackle pretty important. Right, So he is actually the thirtieth highest paid apy tackle in the NFL. What he's eleventh among right tackles. You know, I mentioned this as a possibility somewhere back along the line that you might get in Austin Jackson DeVante Parker level hometown discount after what was a tough start to the career and then a promising breakout season.
Only it happened.
But I can tell you from a sustainability standpoint, I think Austin's is sustainable because of the way he studies, the way he.
Understands the game.
I had a podcast with him this summer where he talked about how he woke up every single day this offseason and plugged on tape, and he said the mental, the mind was the most important, and next is the physical.
He said he would stretch and do cardio and try and improve his flexibility and that shows up and of course his mindset pops off the tape every single week with some bullyball man night and day difference there between the guy I mentioned with the hometown discount contract extension, I think this guy's a lot more sustainable in that regard, and if he hit the open market, I think it would have been a lot more expensive for somebody else to bring this guy in the eighteenth pick in the
draft in twenty twenty, the fifth offensive tackle off the board that year. Gives Chris Career and this front office yet another feather in the cap. From the exercise we did back during the bye a week or was it in the offseason, I can't remember, but I went through every team and determined draft hits and misses based on second contracts, Pro Bowls, various accolades the determined hits and misses, and Miami since Chris Greer took over in twenty sixteen,
was third in that exercise. And of course, you know the ultimate rebuild that went underwent in twenty nineteen post that the Dolphins have the third most wins in the National Football League. So you know, like every way you slice this, this GM is one of the top five executives in the NFL, him and his staff putting together a roster and they've shown you that with right now what me looks like the best roster in the AFC and the prohibitive favorite in the conference to advance to
the big game in February. So fun stuff, you know what it was coming into the year because I remember Austin being in my we don't know yet category TBD category, and there's no way I would have had him there at the bye week because he's been shut down all year long. In fact, let's go ahead and look at some of the guys he's faced this year. Week one, Khalil Mackenjoey Bosta both took shots at him off the right side of the offensive line. Combined thirty four pass
blocks naps against those two guys. Two pressures allowed. By the way, Khalil Mack has fifteen and a half sacks this year. Week two, Matt Judon for f team pass blocking snaps. I think he got hurt in that game. Zero pressures allowed. Week three, no pressures against Randy Gregor or Nick Potonio. Week four, Leonard Floyd did get him for two pressures on twenty eight pass rush snaps. Week five,
Cavon Tibodeau blanked. Week six, Brian Burns got one pressure on him on twenty one pass rush snaps Hassan Reddick in week seven. These are like the top of the top of the food chain of pass rushers besides Parsons and Garrett. Burn Reddit got two on him on twenty seven pass rush attempts. Week eight, no pressures from the Patriots, but no Matt judon clean sheet week nine. George Karloftis got him for two pressures on twenty seven dropbacks.
Week eleven.
Max Crosby he's probably the next guy between Parsons and Miles Garrett. He had two on thirty seven pass rush attempts, and then Bryce Huffe thought had the best game against him. He got two on nineteen, but there was a sack in there as well, and then week thirteen, last week clean sheet against the Commandos. He's always been he's always had this talent inside and he's also the exact type
of person that you want to build around. I love, love, love an Austin Jackson press conference because we get something informative about offensive line play every time he's measured. He approaches the game like a ten year pro and he just gets it. He's smart as hell, he's tough, he's physical, he's violent, downright nasty. There are clips of him playing through the echo of the whistle and just burying people six feet from the edge, no, six feet under the turf.
Pull up the commander's tape. You think the defense wanted any part of that Mike White led offensive drive for nine straight runs into the end zone. No, the Dolphins broke their will, and it's because of people like Austin Jackson who play every single snap like it's the most important snap of their life, pushing you around and physically beating you up for fifty snaps. That's why he's getting second and third level pancakes in the fourth quarter of
a game that winning by thirty points. He's passing off games where he shoves the looper and knocks him to his butt like Robin Connor are like, all right, I guess I'm just chilling this rat because the guy that was supposed to peel back across is on the floor chilling. Then he heils back wide and picks up the exterior looper. I think that's where you see how his fundamentals have
really clicked in this offense. The way he transfers his weight, which, by the way, I've seen this guy every August for the last four years, he never looked better than he did. This August looks slimmer in the face, just slimmer all around, a better physical composition. He can work inside to the right guard and initiate that type of force that sends somebody to the turf and then get back wide on those heels and slide the feet and get vertical depth.
That is tough, tough to do for a three hundred and ten three hundred and twenty pounds man. You see so many offensive linemen out over their skis. He used to be one of them, losing momentum to make those types of sudden movements. He used to be one of them.
But Austin has captured the balance he needs to throw around his weight and capitalize on the very rare athletic traits that he features, which if you go back to the combine, eighty ninth percent tile in the forty yard dash, ninety second percent tile in the twenty split, ninety fourth percent tile in the tense, and you see that across the entire roster ten split very important. It's a good
measure of speed. Also, ninety seventh percent tile in broad jump, which is in the same category as the ten split. The two best testing metrics that you can get in terms of how you come out of your stance and how you fire off the football. Eighty eighth percent TILE in the vertical jump eighty second percent TILE in the composite size heightened weight combination, which is as impressive as hell.
When you factor in all these ninetieth percent testing metrics at that size and also eighty third bench press, you know he's strong. He's playing the smartest football of his career. You see it on games with how he IED's blitzes, squeezes that B gap first before getting back wide, because inside out is the way you want to protect things. His ability to attach, engage, detach, and climb on doubles has been.
Chef's kiss choice.
There were like five reps against Bryce Huff where I thought he didn't look super comfortable, but other than that, it's been set and forget at right tackle. I don't even think about the position during games now because as I know we're straight there, we're good to go. Let's go ahead and hear from head coach Mike McDaniel on what Austin Jackson's development and sticking at the right tackle position has meant for him in this offense.
All I took from my interaction with him is a very ambitious, goal oriented, driven professional athlete.
It's great to be picked in the first round as a twenty year old.
There's also a lot of burden with that, and so then you know, you look at the film, you match it with the person that you're meeting. And I think it's important to treat every individual with full trust because I'm tough enough. If they break trust, you treat them with full trust and see, you.
Know, give them the opportunity.
Don't harbor past things against people that have nothing to do with those things.
And to me, there's like this, this guy.
Is playing multiple positions and he started doing it before he legally could drink alcohol. It's a ton of weight. And then you have a lot of people talking. You know, it's you know, heavy as the crown, as they say, and you just have a lot of people interjecting on what you are. And I don't know about you, guys, but or you a finished product at twenty years old, meeting him, understanding where his motivation was.
And the yearning to have just to be coached.
You know, who am I to put a ceiling on that or to say he is this, that or the other. So you keep an open mind and let people, you know, take it upon themselves to to dictate what the narrative is or what what they can be. And you know, I think I think this year in particular, like he had, he had a strong off season, We felt good about him.
In twenty twenty two.
You have an injury right when you're feeling like, hey, I can prove a lot of these people wrong. Then you just got to sit and listen more. And what you're seeing now is I mean, it is the reason why you do it, to see those type of journeys. It's much much much like you know, the ones we
talk about with two all the time. There's there's plenty of the journeys like that, and it's really awesome to see someone someone take the reins of deciding who they are and not listening to other people along the way. You know, that's and I think it's very very hard to do. It's awesome for me to say I believe in you, Austin, But when when he you know, this is just my opinion, when he really believed it was
probably after the second week of Phase two. In twenty twenty two, Tron Armstead, a guy that has done it at the highest level for.
Literally half of his life.
Saying, no, dude, you can be different. That's what you're feeling amongst the team is there's a bunch of shared journeys. A lot of people feel a part of that, a lot of people are proud of that. He's probably got the least exuberance of everybody today about it, because that's not how he got it. He's thinking about Wednesday, technique, fundamentals, assignments, Tennessee Titans.
And by the way, you can send Austin Jackson and the rest of your Miami Dolphins of the Pro Bowl right now. Online balloting is available now on Miami Dolphins and NFL dot Com, and then starting Monday, December eleventh, you can cast votes via social media. Just tweet the first and last name of the player, use the player's handle, or create a hashtag with the players first and last name, and the post must include hashtag Pro Bowl Vote.
Congrats Austin. I'm super proud of that guy.
Have a pretty good relationship with him, and I really like talking football in life with him. He also has told me several times that Martin Stadium was the toughest to play in the former Pac twelve for a road team. It's gone now though, Before we get to my guest today, I was kicking this idea around for a Thursday topic, and I think now is the time to do it as we get into extension season, right with Austin Jackson
getting the contract extension. Because you've been told a million times by the same folks that told you this was the same team from last year. Ten wins, ceiling, maybe maybe one and done in the playoffs. They also told you the Dolphins have to get it done this year because it's Super Bowl or bust.
The window is now.
They can't possibly be a competitive team next year. Right, wrong, wrong, It never made sense. Never Mind the June one options you have at like left tackle, defensive end, cornerback, you know, seventy two, ninety one, twenty five. Never Mind that you can save upwards of fifteen million dollars at the quarterback position for next season when you give to his extension.
That is inevitable at this point to me. Never Mind that you can structure things, move money around that allows you to take on what looks like a lot of cash commitments next year, which is a good problem to have, right too many mouths to feed to hopefully reset your draft success to kind of push those numbers into the future when you're paying more young, productive rookies as you have draft success. So that's going to be a critical
part of this next stage of this build. So going into the season, I would have told you you're crazy to let Christian Wilkins leave because he's the top priority. And I still kind of feel that way. And it sucks that the original deal couldn't get done because of a few million apart negotiations, right reportedly that's what we heard.
But back to but to.
Christian's credit, like he's played to that level, so he's earned it. He's the only one that I look gap as a potential fly in the ointment in terms of getting the band back together because you've now locked down your right tackle at well below market value.
His tape is top five.
Right tackle, no question, and your he's and your fifth highest paid right tackle in the NFL is Braden Smith from Indianapolis, who's getting seventeen point five apy. It's literally five and a half million less per year. That's a that's a starter that's a starting guard. To be fair, when you drop down to ten, it goes to eleven point five, So he's right in that range, like eleven
was the overall APY. But I promise you had this guy hit the market with this tape playing out for the rest of the year, you're looking at a lot closer to seventeen, eighteen, nineteen million per year. But gun Austin's representation to recognize what this system does for his game and his skill set, because it's better to play you know where you're going to be productive, and you're gonna be a free agent again at age twenty eight.
If his tape is just played for the next three years, go ahead and double that APY in twenty twenty six. So to me, the next priority is right next to him, both Connor Williams and Robert Hunt. As much as I love Austin, the truth is we actually have four offensive tackles in the top thirty of the pass block Efficiency score, which I think is really really translates to effective pass blocking.
Keon Smith and Tron Armstead are both just as smidge below one hundred, which is impressive as hell for Tron because he's one hundred and seventy nine pass block snaps doesn't qualify for the rankings. That's a lot of snaps to be almost perfect in pass pro, and that's been the last couple of weeks where he's been a little bit shaky, right, and then Keon at one hundred with less than thirty snaps Lamb is thirty second among all tackles.
But again we've seen what difference it can be made when you don't have Connor Williams compared to not having those tackles, right, So he is my top priority. This is just me, not the team talking me. Then Robert Hunt and I have this approach because I'd rather pay for offense in twenty twenty three, especially in this offense with this quarterback and this team, like the Chiefs, scaled back their cost at wide receiver and built up the offensive line and look at their offense right now.
It's been good, but it's not great anymore.
For us. We know this quarterback can mitigate some of the offensive line stuff, and we have the stud receivers already, so I think you can go cheaper there, which is why I think you could make a case that Keon Smith and Liam Eichenberg are your left tackle left guard combination for next season. But I have to have Connor Williams and Rob Hunt is just such a damn good
fit for what we do. And when you pair him in Austin together and actually a factor in Connor from a center to right tackle, there's not a more devastating run blocking right side of the offensive line in the National Football League. I love Isaiah Win, but he's ended two fourths of his season two out of four seasons in his career on IR could be three out of five if he goes this year, so that's got to be cheap.
Two.
There are some other names where a cray Crafts have on Ahmed, but that's not going to break the bank, right And then on defense again, Christian the big one. I'm just not quite sure yet. There the way I look at it, letting him walk or a tag in trade to get you a first all all the Niners via you know, DeForest Buckner. You could take care of pretty much everyone else if you just do this. Of course, it's a big piece of lop off, but it is kind of the solution that.
Would make the most sense, I think.
But he's also everything you want in a player, so it's so difficult. I don't want to lose him at all, but just understand the business side of what it could mean for the rest of the football team if you have to, and then to further break your guys' heart, because I'm already doing that right now with Christian Wilkins. I think there's one very obvious he's gonna walk that could keep you flexible in your cap and that's mister Wang.
Look.
I only say this because I think someone is going to make Hugh Hwang very very well compensated next year, and since you're paying Chubb, and since I think Jalen Phillips is going to become the highest paid defender in NFL history when he comes up for a contract, because that's where the top edge will do on the market. Right, it's probably not good asset allocation to have three players
paid that well at that position. We'll see, but those are the two that I kind of look at and say they might be able to go get their bag somewhere else. And that's how it works, like sometimes you have say goodbye to superstar talent like that. And Van Ginkle's playing himself into a big contract, so we'll see.
That's not a given.
That's a given, but not so much on Wilkins in terms of him and Van Ginkle.
I'd also get to Sean Elliott back.
He's a big priority to me because it's a little bit cheaper for a safety, and he's been so critical in terms of how he pairs with Javon Holland. And then you're kind of done, like there's some cheaper targets Kendall Lamb. I'd look at Braxon, Barrios, Nick Needum. I think you can certainly make market value offers and get those guys back. But to conclude this, I think in terms of generalities is that word.
I think this is the.
Off season to restock your draft capital. You need to start getting back to finding three or four hits every April like we did from twenty sixteen through twenty twenty one sans twenty seventeen. I love the aggressive approach, like with Tyreek and Chubb and you know all these guys they traded for Ramsey. But the only way you can maintain this star talent is to start hitting on depth picks. Of course, the first round or next year probably needs to be a key starter early on for the way
this is gonna work out. But if you sit out a free agency and then you swap Wilkins for a one and Van Ginkle walks and gets twelve million ap y somewhere else, you probably get a fourth round comp pick back. Now, all of a sudden, you've retained pretty much the same roster sans Van Ginkel and sans Christian Wilkins, which that opens a huge hole defensive tackle. I'm very well aware of that. But now you've got two ones, A two, a four, a five, two six, and a seven.
It's a good start to getting back to good, cheap young talent to round out the superstar high top market value players you do have like a Tyreek Hill like.
At John Ramsey and on and on and on. So that's kind of how I view the off season.
Let's go ahead and take a quick break rate here, because we have more important things to talk about, like football this season. But I thought it was critical or paramount to get that conversation started here as we get, you know, close now closer to the off season. Let's go ahead and get back to end season mode though, and welcome in my guest next to Arn Davenport from ESPN. My guest today is ESPN NFL Nation reporter covering this
week's upon the Tennessee Titans. Taran Davenport Ron, Welcome in, my friend.
Hey, I appreciate you having me. Travis is definitely a long time coming.
Yeah, it is.
We communicate over the summer about a potential David Long episode. Didn't happen. But I've been looking forward to this week to get you back on for that very reason. And I won't start with the linebacker possessions because I always start with these podcasts the QB position. And you know, watching Will Levis's tape for me was a lot like you know, was a lot like most highly drafted rookies, some serious flashes of upside, but also the difficulty of getting acclimated to the NFL game speed.
But what say you, like you've been around this.
Guy, what's the thought of Levis from the organization, from the fan base, from your own eyes, what's the thought about him six games into it now?
Yeah, I think there's a lot of confidence in his ability. A lot of us have seen the way he pushes the ball down the field. His natural arm strength is something that has jumped out tremendously. There are some things that he has to work on as far as not trying to be overconfident with where he puts the football. He understands he has supreme Marnin strengths, so sometimes he'll fit into spots where it's like, yeah, you might not
want to do that. But for the most part, from a leadership perspective, the operation side of things, he's been golden on that. That operation is something he wanted to improve upon, getting in and out of the huddle a little bit quicker, to get the line of scrimmage, survey everything, hey, selling fifty ones that mic you know, and sliding, change
in the protection and all that stuff. So overall, it's definitely been a positive from him, and again there's some things to improve, but six games in, I'm pretty sure that he's the quarterback of the future.
That's how I feel too watching him.
And I can't stress enough for fans or people that are interested in getting to know more about the game just how hard it is for a rookie to make that jump and all the additional things on your plate as a quarterback, mike points and slide protections, all that stuff is. It is a lot, and of course it's always helpful to have a big time back alongside your
quarterback when he's growing up into the league. And for the better part of a decade, this offense has funneled through one of the greatest running backs in the history of the league. But I noticed that the yards per carry are the same, but the volume is down this year for Derek in terms of the last couple of years of the yards per carry is similar, but the volume is down from like twenty five rushes a game
to like sixteen per game. I'm curious how you see in this offense evolve with Henry's usage, but also has it been impacted by the quarterback switch from Tannehill to Will Levis just kind of tell us about the Titans running game and where it's, where it's been, and where it's gone like today.
Yeah, so before the quarterback switched, there was a little variance there as far as away from that twenty five to thirty carry game that Henry would consistently get.
That's because ty J.
Spears is a guy that they drafted in the third round and I don't call him running back.
I just call him a weapon. You know.
They'll use him actually on that cheap motion a lot, like what the Dolphins do with Tyreek Hill. Obviously different results, but still they use him in that way. His touches have kind of cut into Henry's a bit. But then you mentioned that the shift right the from Tannehill to Levis, And there's one thing I saw. So in six of Levis's starts, he has attempted thirty nine passes or more. Wow, it's at least twice. It might be three times. I think it's twice.
Now.
I went back and looked at tan Hill's game logs dating back to twenty twenty one. From twenty twenty one until Week six of this year, Tannehill attempted three thirty nine or more passes three times. So there is a subtle difference there, a shift. That's something I'm going to ask to oc about next week. I want to see what happens in this game, get just a better picture before I ask him about that. But we've seen it, so I think that's a big thing as far as
how the offense has changed. And you know, they get away from the run, whereas it used to be like under Arthur Smith, especially like they would just keep running the ball, running the ball and trusting that. Okay, Yeah, It may be one yard here, two yards there, but guess what it's going to get blocked up, right, He's
going to hit that hole. He has speed like a literal deer, so he's going to be able to pull away from everybody and then that three carries for seven yards will turn into four carries for eighty, you know.
And that's how I've always compared Derek Henry to I don't know if you played Mario Kart when you were younger, but like Bounser, the character took a while to get up to full speed. Once he did, you weren't going to catch him. That was Derek Henry for so many years there and probably still is. I'm glad you mentioned Taj Spears because I had three backs this draft that I was absolutely in love with, Jamiir Gibbs, Devon a Chan and Taj Spears, and so I'm glad to see
he's having success. Not a surprise to me at all that he is. But there is another position on this team that has gone a complete overhaul on the offensive line over the last couple of years, And I go back to the twenty twenty one game when the Titans took care of the Dolphins in pretty handily fashion, and that offensive line was full of star talent. But there's been changes in the last couple of years. What about the changes we've seen in season here, like the change
from Dillard to Duncan at left tackle. How have you seen that group progress to where they are right now?
Well, you know, the thing is both Dillard and Orodre Dillon and Jalen Duncan, they were both pretty solid run blocking, but the pass pro is it's been an issue.
For Dillard.
It was mainly he was catching instead of bringing the punch to the defensive lineman, and it just wasn't working.
And it's I don't know, man, Like.
Some guys, they just don't seem to have that inner killer in them, you know what I mean. And I'm not trying to question his character, his toughness, but it doesn't seem like that's there, at least with Duncan.
You know you're seeing some things.
He and Scorrosky the eleventh pick overall, those two on the left side run block and wise. I posted a clip on Twitter of those two together and they were killing it. But past pro has been a little bit of an issue. Apucom God Ebenezerpucom as well as Quitty paid last week. They gave him all types of fits with speed off the edge and just a cold bull rush, and that's something that has.
To be fixed.
But you know, Aaron Brewer is a Christian Wilkins, he probably will be able to do some things this week just because of his brute strength. Brewer is not the biggest center. They like to get him on the move and run blocking and things like that, but dropping the anchor and taking on that bull rush a lot of times, I wouldn't be surprised if you see Wilkins lined up right over top of them like they're going to probably cover up the center.
You see that a lot.
And then you look at the right guard, Daniel Brown School it's been solid for them.
He's dealt with an ankle, so it's been up and down.
Dylan Raidings was a second round pick a couple of years ago and he's at right tackle now and it's just kind of like by default, Chris Hubbard had the job. They signed him during the just before camp and he came in and kind of took over the job there. But he has a shoulder entry and he's out for the year. So now it's deal in ratings, and you know he's had some solid games.
The main thing with them penalties, too many false starts.
You know they're getting legal man downfield an Lgimire receiver, but it's a lot of false starts with those guys.
It speaks to how tough it is to build an offensive line, especially when you have to kind of restart the Titans have with all those you know, older guys that moved on to either retirement or different teams in free agency. It's so tough to I mean, there's there's not thirty two good offensive lines. There's probably not fifteen good offensive lines in the NFL with now just you know, that's probably one of the positions that has the least amount of overall talent in the league. So it's tough
to get that continuity built up. And we've enjoyed it down here, even though we've had multiple line combinations this year. But it seems like having that continuity, the same system back to back years and those guys being together has made a big difference for Miami. So I think I see it kind of coming together there for the Titans.
But like you mentioned, it's a new grouping this year man, So it's kind of tough to get things all on the same page there on the other side of the football, this is a team that has always been good at defense under Mike Rabel. But I'm curious to get your take here on the Kevin Bayer trade or at the deadline, because it seems to me like that was kind of the glue piece in the back end. How have things changed without their longtime start there on the back end.
Yeah, Well, if you watch the first drive by the Coats last week, it's a good example. There was a miscommunication. Kevon Wallace had a tackle and then he got flagged for personal foul for taunting. They took him out, and then Elijah Molden came in. Now, this is his first transition to safety. He played it some at Washington and he did at times, but a consistent transition.
He's a safety now, not a cornerback. He's a safety.
So he came in and there was a miscommunication between he in the corner. I think it was Christian Fulton and Alex Pearce just got opened on the post thirty six yard touchdown. I don't think that happens with Kevin Barron, it's not likely to so you're losing that, you're losing a bit of leadership. He's a playmaker too. Byron is still a playmaker. So it was the deal that they
had to make. Though as far as from their perspective, getting additional draft picks, the fifth and sixth round pick, and it allows them to save about six men in the salary cap space. I don't know that that Barr would have been back here really, like I think he might have been one of those posts June first releases or something along those lines. So that's really what has happened. But the secondary they definitely they.
Yeah, it's been I mean, to your point though, it's kind of a win win trade because the Eagles get a good player and like you said, the Titans get draft capital for a player like.
You mentioned, probably isn't coming back anyways.
And we have a guy here, Javon Holland, who to me was like the biggest shift in how this communicates. He's a phenomenal player and you just don't see busts in this defense. I think that he's a big part of that. Like Bayern was there in Tennessee for so many years. My penultimate question. Here goes back to the front of the defensive line and a guy who's not gonna be in there. I'm just curious how you think
this defense looks without Jeffrey Simmons. Because toront this is one of the best players at any position in the National Football League. He's so much fun to watch. He recks offensive lines every single week. How do they adjust to not having him out there?
Yeah, Walter Peyton Manner a year nominee for for the Titans, and he's a guy he's good in the community, but he's not nice to the terry offensive line. I'll tell you that much like I've seen him like fold guys backwards say, man, he's a playmaker. You know, he's something he gets into the backfield. He you know on running plays.
You know there's a if you go back and watch the Jaguars game, he got in the backfield and he just popped Travis ettin and I'm talking about one of those hits where it was it's comical going back and watching that.
Not having them is going to hurt them a lot.
You know, obviously the pass rush and I said the run defense, but he's also someone that consistently gets his hands up, matches hands with the quarterback. They practice that so much, you know, throughout the week, and match hands get the tip pass and it's supposed to lead to interceptions.
But it hasn't always done that.
And then he'll also get you to strip sacks too, So he's just a phenomenal player. He used the heartbeat of the defense. But you know there are some other good players, like the Nico Artry. He leads the team in sacks. He actually became only the second Titans Titans only player when I'm talking about you know, the oilers, because the guy behind me did it a couple of times. But Titans wise, he's the only the second one to have eight or more sacks in three seasons.
And he is just.
One of those players that no flash, there's no he just consistently just comes and comes and combs and comes, and he's somebody that on inside and outside, you got him. Tier Tart is really good against the run. You'll see him, you know. He actually he has a because Christian Wilkins uses a swim move a lot too, and he has a swim move just like that where they get in that backfield quickly and they tackle the running back so those are the main ones.
You know, Ardie Key and Howrold Landry.
They're bringing pressure from time to time, but not having Simmons it hurts it all because he gets double team so much.
Your Denico Autry scouting report reminds me so much of Zack Sealer, who you guys will see excuse me on Monday night in that game. And also, man you mentioned like Jeffrey Simmons and Christian Wilkins. That twenty nineteen defensive tackle class is outrageous. Quinn Williams and there as well at all over part of that class too, Like what a great class that was? Yeah, Mark, Yeah, how do I forget Him's probably the best one of them all? Good stuff there. It's a crazy class in twenty nineteen
for defensive tackles. My last question I asked us to every guest I have every week, the Titans will win this game if and then you get a fill in the blink, Yeah.
I mean the Titans will win this game if Jesus is with him, I'll see No, I mean they could win the game if they if they run the football I successfully and consistently.
And work some play action off of that. That's really the main thing.
They'll have to get a turnover as well, So there's a lot that this is a game if they were to win, you know, it's going to have to be in the margins.
You know, the field position, the turnovers and those things.
Maybe work a big play action pass or off of that, so that would be the way. But you know, I'm just smiling and excited because I can't wait to see David Long Jr. He's one of my favorite players and I love watching him play.
Man. He plays literally like he is on fire.
We never get tired of having guests in the podcast who had the first reaction you did when I asked you the Dolphin or the Titans win this game if because we've had a lot this year. So I appreciate that it brings some revy to the show and we always enjoy So Tarn Davenport, Titans, ESPN, ESPN Radio at t Davenport Underscore NFL Tron, You're the man.
I appreciate our time today. We'll see you on Monday night.
All I appreciate you, man, see you Monday, and.
Off he goes our last break right here, we'll come back on the other side and here from head coach Mike McDaniel and make the week fourteen picks. That's next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by I Don't need you little end show evaluation of the show itself. I think those first two segments were pretty freaking awesome, wouldn't you agree. Let's go ahead and keep this thing rolling. Here, I have two soundbites from
Coach McDaniel. We're going back to Austin Jackson. But I took it out of the Austin Jackson segment because I
think it relates more to the football team. And it was a question that I intended to ask Mike, And kind of the framing behind my question was, how would you measure the residual effects of the rest of the roster seeing a player like Austin Jackson and all the turmoil he's gone through to come out on the other side, you know, one of the top paid tackles in the National Football League and investment into his future here with the Miami Dolphins.
What are the.
Residuals of that impact? And so that wasn't the question that got asked to coach, but he got there on a question that was posed in the sense of do you view this as a check off season checklist that you've hit one of your check marks on by getting Austin Jackson done. Here's coach talking about that and the residual impact of a player like Austin going through the turmoil and coming out on the other side like Andy Duframe.
You're defining your team real time by those type of investments. And if you want, if you want people to come to work every day and decide their own level of happiness because of their accountability to themselves and their teammates and a complete devotion to what the responsibility is, then you should reward that. And you know, there's you wish there wasn't a salary cap, and there's a lot of there. There's a lot of guys in the locker room. That's
what's really cool about what's going on. There's a lot of guys that have It's hard to be an NFL player and not have in the back of your mind, you know, like like it's all like, you know, I I need to earn a living h and at my dream. But with the way business works and how important these investments are and the way negotiations go, they don't all happen at once, and I don't think I haven't felt
a single person feel anything but just complete. I don't know, satisfaction, pride just pumped up that because they've seen it every day. This This is a guy that fully commits, that decided on his own to be all in, to believe in, you know, everything we're doing here, and then to believe in butching Lemon, Mike Judge. And it's cool when people are teammates. The coaches give him the right information, gives them the tools, and he takes those tools and helps him fulfill his dream.
So there you have the head football coach of your Miami Dolphins. Let's go ahead and wrap up the Thursday show as we do every single week here on Drag Time with the game picks a fruitful week for your boy. Last week I did miss the Monday night football game, but we'll take that one and stride because it was helpful and beneficial to your Miami Dolphins. My other loss was Pittsburgh and Arizona, Like, come on, now, who saw that coming. I know Pittsburgh's terrible, but Cardinals have been
much much more terleribleler this year. As we go, so eleven and two last week. That brings us to one hundred and forty and fifty seven. Nailed the Packers upset for the second straight week as six plus point dogs. It brings us to a seventy point eight percent winning percentage. Can't we get to the all time undefeated seventy two mark?
That's the goal? Actually, seventy really was the goal. I digress.
Let's go ahead and pick these games, and it starts tonight with a game that I have no idea who the hell to pick, because I think we're gonna see a game that winds up about eight to seven, maybe seven to six, something like that. I am taking the Patriots if Mac Jones starts, but I don't think he is.
I think they've actually announced Zappi.
I don't know why, but they have, so if it's Zappi, I'm taking the Pittsburgh Steelers and Mitchell Trubisky, who I think in an upgraded quarterback over.
Their injured starter.
And can you pick it?
Give me Houston over the Jets, duh.
Give me the Ravens over the Rams, although that's what I'm hoping I lose this week, and they're going out to the East.
Right, It's it's in Baltimore.
Yeah, I don't like the Ravens or the Rams chances and make that Trek, especially facing that defense with.
That offensive line. I think it's supposed to be like rainy and userble in Baltimore this weekend too.
So give me the Ravens to maintain their position with the Miami Dolphins. Take the Saints over the Panthers. I will not pick the Panthers the rest of the year. Give me the Bengals over the Colts. And this is like one of the most important games of the year in terms of who might get those last positions for the wild Card round.
And I think it's very important for Dolphins.
Fans to track because of the potential of us seeing one of those teams. I do think Miami gets the one seed, but if you get the two seed, I hope that seventh seed is Indeed or Sincy, Cleveland or Pittsburgh. And so in this game, I'm taking the Bengals because I have been very hard on Jake Browning back to his U dub days.
He was one of those guys that ran away.
From the line scrimmage when pressure arrived and not never ever works. See Zach Wilson with the Jets, but he played really well against the Jaguars, and Zach Taylor.
Had a great game plan for his quarterback in that game.
And because the Colts are coming off of thrilling overtime victory, the Bengals are too. I'm going to take the Bengals to win this one. Both teams are on Saturday Football next week. They both need wins to kind of put themselves in position to strike for that seventh seed. I'll take the Bengals because I like their opportunistic defense against Gardner Minshew, who can be a little bit reckless at times.
Go Koogs.
Let me go ahead and get the Bucks over the Falcons.
Like, who cares. Someone's gonna win that division. It's gonna be those two teams or the Saints.
They're gonna get bounced by the Cowboys in the first round by a billion points. But give me the Bucks to win this one, just because they lost last week and the Falcons won last week, So swap those around Cleveland over Jacksonville. I will not pick CJ.
Bethard, even though it might be Joe Flacco, I'm still not picking CJ. Beththard.
Give me the Bears over the Lions at Soldier Field. Goff and that Lions offense GoF has never traveled well, especially in inclement weather. I think they have kind of hit their peak this year. I think the Bears could win some games here late with Justin Fields getting on track and they play in some inclement weather for a bad Lions road team. Give me the Niners big over the Seahawks. Give me the Raiders over the Vikings. Almost in the Vikings are with Raiders, but I like the
Raiders to win an ugly, ugly football game. They're just better at winning those games. And the Josh Dobbs experience, it's gone back to where it was before the couple of games he had this year.
Right Chargers over the Broncos.
We'll flip that pick when the game goes back to Denver, But because it's in so Fi, give me the home team.
I'm taking the Bills over the Chiefs. The hardest pick of the week to meet. I think Buffalo is gonna get really hot.
I know you guys don't want to hear this, but I think they could potentially rattle off their next four wins and come into the game against US looking for a potential division championship. But luckily we'll have taken care of business by then. But give me Buffalo to give us a lot of breathing room over the Chiefs. He give us a game of error over the Chiefs the rest of the way if Buffalo can steal this victory and Casey plays nobody else the rest of the way.
So root for Buffalo in this one. Give me Philly over Dallas. I have to see the Cowboys beat Philly before I pick them to win. That kind of like us in Buffalo. Give me the Packers over the Giants because duh, and you already heard Dolphins over Titans on Monday Night Football.
That's my time.
Let's get out of here because long podcast tomorrow. I'm gonna have a fun chat with some of the guys about the My Cause, My Cleats initiative this weekend. Very excited to get to know those guys a little bit more and what's important to them and bring it to you here on the podcast. Plus the Great, the Great I cannot wait for the Great Lewis Riddick on the podcast. He joins me on Friday to breakdown all things Miami Dolphins ahead of his call on Monday Night Football of
Dolphins and Titans, and no Kyle Krabs this week. We'll be back next week with us to do a more general scouting look at this Dolphins team in NFL Draft. In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe, rate, review the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, tuned in Google wherever get your podcast from. Go ahead and give us some love there. Also follow me on social at Wingfold NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out my guys in the fish Tank podcast Seth and Juice. We do
the pregame show and postgame show together as well. You can find that on the iHeart app and one O six five FM and nine forty AM as well. Done here in South Florida. Also the YouTube channel Media Availabilities Dolphins Today, I have a Jalen Ramsey YouTube film breakdown. You're not gonna want to miss check that out when it comes out. And last, but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com until next time. Finns Up, Caroline Cameron, Daddy.
Just coming Home.
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