Emptying the Football Notebook

be back in the saddle once again. And on today's show, we're not gonna have any planned segments or really any order to the show. It's been a wild two weeks for me, adjusting to fatherhood and balancing my schedule in between feedings, diaper changes, and just general sleep deprivation. I've been studying up on some football, so I'll unload the notebook I've packed full of thoughts and we'll play some sound from some interviews I did for the draft for

the Miami Dolphins Virtual Draft Party. All of that and more on this Monday, June eight edition of the Drivetime Podcast. So for new listeners to the program here that aren't on Twitter or following me at Wingfield NFL, and if you're wondering where the show has been, the Dolphins were kind enough to give me as much time as I

needed before jumping back on the microphone. And of course, with things being a little bit upside down right now, not a whole lot of football to talk about, I took some time away and in that time I learned a lot, mostly about fatherhood. More on that in just one moment, but man, I learned just how much this podcast, how much this sport and this team really are my personal identity. I talked with my wife all the time about the possibility of her making a career change or

maybe even becoming a stay at home mom. She's been a teacher for about a decade now, and I'm not just saying the because she's my wife, but she is like the Dan Marino of teachers. She's flat out elite and she loves to do it. I tweeted about it once.

I love listening to her take these zoom calls from her students because right now she has a couple of hours every day where she's required to make herself available in case the kids her students have questions about the homework packet that they collectively send out as a grade and they rarely ever call in, but when they do, it puts her right in her element and the kids love her. It reminds me of that Brian Flores to player relationship, where he and she are demanding but definitely

have that love from their players and or students. In case of my wife, it absolutely warms my heart to watch that. So when we talk about a career change for her, she talks about how teaching really became her identity over the last ten years. And I think that's okay to feel that way. You want to love your work, right, well, man, you're not going to find a human being on this

earth that loves their work more than I do. And now as I'm living to serve my beautiful new daughter, there's a bit of an identity loss when it comes to the individual there. So I can't tell you how great it feels to be back in the saddle, to be back behind the microphone recording the Drivetime podcast once again. The notes I have for my episodes are usually bullet points. I've got some research facts in there. I'll go back over tweets and then I just kind of do my thing.

But this thing has pages of notes because for the last couple of weeks, I've been preparing for this show. In particular, even when I'm not working, I'm usually watching game pass or college tape or something that teaches me anything about football. I just love it. I love this job,

I love this team. I love all of you, and especially I love little Caroline Faye Winkfield and a little bit of a snap foo on social media when she was born, and I guess a little bit of a peek behind the curtain, a laville magnifico, if you will. I posted on social media that her middle name, Faye was spelled f A y e be because that's my wife's middle name. But I messed that up. There's no e on the end of it. But Caroline Faye Wingfield

was born May one at seven thirty two pm. She measured in at seven pounds eight ounce is long, and I think she clocked a four five five in the forty yard dash, so not the time that we were looking for, but she did pick it up on the explosive measurements in the broad and vertical jumps, so I think that probably solidifies her day two stock for us. It was three days at the hospital, me glued to the dad couch. Really not a whole lot for me

to do. You've got doctors and nurses pouring in constantly, no visitors allowed because of COVID, and that was tough, especially for my wife. I don't have a big family, so it doesn't really bother me that much, but she does, and so I'm just kind of sitting there without much to do most of the time. And since we had popped into the hospital a day earlier and were sent home because she just wasn't ready to go into labor yet, I decided I need something to do, so why not

rewatch twenty nineteen Dolphins season. I never rewatched any of those September games for obvious reasons outside of my All twenty two breakdowns, but I wanted to experience the entire season again from the broadcast version, and we know the season gets better as it goes along, and it kind of reminds me of you know when you have a song where you love like a solo or maybe this bridge part at the very end of the song, but it only slaps the same way when you listen to

the song all the way through it. It was kind of like that so I wanted to appreciate the first part of the season. Right now, I'm about nine games into the season and I have a ton to talk about. We'll get to that football stuff here in just one second, but back real quick to fatherhood. Man. Everyone tells you how much it's going to change you, how special it's going to feel, and all the things that experienced Dad's

understand and otherwise you don't understand. And I'll say this, they were right, every single one of them, and in every single way. Dude, I was a freaking water works right after she was born. I couldn't handle it. I could not keep those motions and check the whole first week. She'd be awake or even sleeping, it didn't matter, and I would just hold her and feel so much pride and so much joy that I just couldn't contain it. Man, Like those pregnancy hormones must have been transferred from my

wife to me. I was just a wreck. Like every couple of hours it seemed like I would break down. But that has faded a little bit now. I'm just overly infatuated with that little girl. Yeah, it's frustrating at times, especially at two am when the only goal I have in life at that moment is keeping the baby somewhat silent so my wife can get some much needed and much deserved shut eye, and then she's just crying relentlessly. That part is tough, but the tradeoff is insanely worth it.

You lose several hours in the day just basically doing mundane stuff like eating lunch and halfing to take a break in between that because well, she needs a diaper change or she's crying. It's just stuff that you learn to appreciate, the small moments of quiet, the small moments of individuality. I think that's part of having a kid. And I definitely have a new appreciation for people that do have kids and when they show up to places late, because I already understand how difficult it is to have

to get someone else ready. In addition to yourself, the benefit one of the benefits is the excuses you have to tell people. Now you can just tell them no, because if you have somewhere they want you to be and you have a kid, you can just say, hey, we're on parent duty, we're out. It's a beautiful thing. Already used that once or twice. The first couple of days were brutal. Then we had some easy ones, and that roller coaster has pretty much continued on that track

as I talked to you. Now, I'm waiting any moment for her to wake up and possibly have to go take care of her, so we might have a pause in the middle of this podcast. But all things told, it's amazing. I feel so lucky to be in this position. I am so thrilled and excited to raise her in a place like South Florida, where diversity is both rich and celebrated, and give her a better life than the

one that I had. It truly does change you. It has changed me, and part of that change has been the challenge of finding time to work when you do work from home. Last week I had a chance to write a story about the Miami Dolphins food relief program and chip in my contribution. They're really cool thing that Mr Ross, Tom Garfinkel, Jason Jenkins, all those guys are getting done right now. Ross donated two million dollars and will match up to another million of our contributions, so

make sure you check that out. The donations come with gifts depending on the amount you want to give, So let's do our part to help those at need right now in our own backyard, as we will provide at least one thousand meals per day for the next year plus, which is just awesome, because, as Garfinkel said, this isn't a problem that's just gonna go away. We got to continue to lend that helping hand. So I wrote the

story about that. I was there for Flores as presser on Thursday, which was a nice surprise as he filled in for the originally scheduled Ted Harriss and Christian Wilkins, and he opened up by saying he thought it was important to be the first one to talk about the current climate, and since football wasn't really on people's minds at the time, I just thought that was a really cool move by an excellent leader in coach Flores. As for the presser, I stand with coach there and echo

his thoughts. So I put together a little note packet on one of the guys that was supposed to talk on Thursday and was going to be part of a coinciding podcast, but those plans obviously changed, and that was last year's first round pick in twenty nineteen, Christian Wilkins. And that's where we're gonna start with the football notebook today. And I think this quote is so important from Brian Flores.

It was last December after the win over the Bengals, and Flores was asked what it is about Wilkins that he's always the first one to run down and celebrate with his teammates, whether it's a touchdown and interception, whatever it is, he's the first guy out there to celebrate a positive play. This is coaches quote quote. It just says he's a team guy, which we knew when we drafted him. He's selfless. He understands the different roles and

how important each guy's role is. Again, says he's selfless. He's a team guy. And I think we have a lot of guys like that on the team who really appreciate the horror work that everybody in that locker room puts in each week, into each practice, into each meeting. And I think he should celebrate. I tell those guys all the time, we work hard. When we make a good play, we should celebrate it. Nothing crazy, but as long as we don't get a penalty, I'm good. We

should celebrate good plays. And quote and put aside Wilkins on field production just for a moment, because I think that was obviously the feather you want in his cap from last year, a good rookie season on the field. But remember this was the first draft pick of the Brian Flores Chris career marriage, the regime of the two of those two men, It's set the precedent and the message for who they want to be in this football team in multiple ways. You heard it in that quote.

You've heard it countless times from Brian Flores teammates, guys that are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to be great. And I don't think that's lost on anybody. Go back to when Christian was drafted. I was with Locked on Sports at the time, and I did my huge deep dive on both the player and the person and learned that Wilkins was the substitute teacher during his time at Clemson, and he referenced his ability to make an impact on

the lives of young people. He specifically referenced the importance of a role model for those children that was a person of color, and damn it, he's right. I got a chance to ask me about that job when I interviewed him back in early March. Actually, my first Dolphins player I interviewed here on the Drivetime podcast really resonated with the fact that you did a substitute teaching spot or some substitute teaching jobs back in your time at Clemson.

What can you tell us about teaching and what it taught you about kind of being a professional in that regard. Well, yeah, first of all, um, you're you're right on point. Like, I'm just so blessed to be able to play this game. I mean, it's literally a kid's game when I get to play it as a job, and it's something I love and I'm so passionate about and I'm just straining

best to be able to play the game. Um. But it was awesome when I was at Clemson to be able to teach, Uh, you know, I was able to be the substitute teacher pretty much the home spring of my senior senior seeing the senior year. Um, and it was just it's just it was it was actually pretty cool to see how many of the things I learned

in football I translated to the professional world. Uh, you know, that was pretty cool to see, just like time, menationment, being organized, having a plan, having a routines that come up there and just you know, just trying to be your best because other people are counting on you. So that's that was kind of like what was pretty cool. But I I thought it was important for me uh to be a substitute teacher when I was at Colluption just because one of it was it was my senior year.

I wanted a little extra money, so I was able to do that at a job here, So that was cool. And I felt like those also something I'd be good at. Two and the book was cool for me. Uh And when I thought the cool the kids, that was pretty cool was that, um, when you're when you're a young kid, you are just throughout your school career in general, you don't typically uh get to have a male teacher a

lot of time as females. So I thought that was cool and not only to be mail, but to be a black male teachering and stuff and being and being trying to be a positive role model on positive figure for a lot of us, because that was that was an awesome experience for me and I I learned so much from the kids, just as much as even more than I was going to teach them. So a look, none of us know how the on field product is going to turn out. That is the beauty of sports.

And you know, I'm as bullish on this team and their ability to win games as anybody out there, and I've laid out those reasons countless times. But beyond that, you just have to be proud of the organization for who we are, both in the words of leadership and the actions of those same leaders. It's so inspiring. It makes me very prideful. As far as on the field, Christian Wilkins, this from Pro Football Focus, actually had the second most pressures with thirty by a rookie interior defensive

lineman since two thousand sixteen, per Pro Football Focus. And I took that tweet from them and took the opportunity to post some clips of Christian Wilkins. And one of the things I think is so important with Christian and from that podcast back in March, he even mentions it about the more things you can do, the better chances

you have of sticking around this league longer. And I think above his ability to lead and have that infectious personality and the ruboff that work ethic has onto other guys, is who he is on the football field. And if you go back to Clemson's tape, you're gonna see him winning a lot with quickness, and that's certainly an element of his game. There's very much there as a professional.

But where I was so impressed was his ability to hold the point and play with power and to really read and react accordingly, because that is too gapping, right, And we know there's more of that from last year's defense, and you saw a lot of it. Duo is a blocking scheme that's very common a run play where you basically get to double teams on the interior trying to wipe out the beef of the defensive line. Then the running back can make linebackers in the second level miss

on his own right. So you'll see some reps where Wilkins has to absorb a double team and the primary goal is just to park his butt in that gap. They want to move you out of that gap, you have to stop them from doing so. And my goodness, he's so strong in the way he can just anchor on one foot, doesn't need both of them, just one ft power foot, lock it out, stop the momentum, and that's when the hand fight really begins. And he's so

crafty that way. So if you have a game plan that calls for a lot of two gapping, he can do that. If you want to penetrate upfield and one gap, yep, he can do that too. And part of the idea we want to be able to be flexible in our game plan week to week depending on the opponent. Right,

that's the plan. That's what he fits very well. But even further, his position versatility helps Brian Flores do the other thing that he's just as known for multiple fronts, and that's something I recognized in the rewatch and going back to camp and even preseason. There was a lot more variety early on, but I think as the year goes along, for whatever reason, be at injuries, maybe the flexible personnel you need for it is just not quite

there yet. A lot of the stuff kind of went by the wayside, and we saw a lot more bear fronts, for instance, And that's how you wound up with both he and Devon god Shaw alternating so much between big end where they're playing that four technique head up over the offensive tackle and every position from that spot all the way inside, all the way to the zero technique head up over the nose tackle over the offensive center,

and this is true really for the entire defense. Are you guys as familiar with my white board I have in my office locked on listeners? Certainly are, But if you're new, I maintain my own white board here for the Dolphins. It's a cheat sheet. It's got every player of their number. I try to color coordinated based on how I think snap counts might go for that season.

And I used to do it with the following distinctions on defense line, linebackers, corners, and safety, but we now know that's not going to give you an accurate depiction of this defense. So now I've got down lineman, edge off ball backers, and defensive backs. Because let's face it, if you're a dB in this defense, you can probably

come down and play some true cover corner as well. McCain, row and rookie Brandon Jones all have done that as recently as last year with their exceptional cover skills, but are also safeties on the roster. But in this exercise, I really had a hell of a time figuring out where I had to put guys. Jason Strowbridge and Curtis Weaver I think are good examples two rookies in the

fifth round. You'll read some tweets or whatever out there that say so and so is a five technique, But that's really selling a player short, especially these two guys. Strode Bridge played a little bit of everything up front at North Carolina, and then he gets the Senior Bowl and they talk about maybe playing him more off the end position because he played a little more inside at North Carolina, probably needing a few more pounds to stock up and play a true nose tackle or defensive tackle.

So one week he does one thing, the next he might do another. And the same is true of Curtis Weaver, but probably working inside out compared to the converse with strode Bridge going outside in. And what I mean by that is strode Bridge probably plays the five technique, maybe the wide five and condensed his inside, whereas Weaver starts at the five technique and works outside to the edge position and maybe more of a stand up on ball type of linebacker. And that really is true of the

entire roster. Where do I put loss in an og ball? The two free agents they can offer the same flexibility. How the hell do I classify Vince Beagle and Andrew Van Ginkle? These are good questions to have to find solutions for because the more guys you have, the better, right, So if you have to figure it out, then what do you think the opponent has to do? They have to spend their week figuring out what you want to

do as well. And so because of that, I think you're gonna see the kitchen sinc this year from Flores in every look he has in his playbook and adventure to guess that playbook is the size of a phone book, is on the table, odd front, even front, under bear, marble, Amba, radar. I can rattle off all these different names for you, and I'm sure they're probably in the thought process of being in that playbook and that man, that fact I am very excited about. In all right, what else here? Okay? Yeah?

I tweeted yesterday about the NFL network re airing the a f C Championship Game and the Super Bowl Patriots and Chiefs and Patriots and Rams. Those games played in twenty nineteen, but for the season where Flores called the plays against the Chiefs and Rams and really did a hell of a job limiting two of the best offenses in football that year, save one half where Mahomes got

loose because well, that's what he does. He's Patrick Mahomes fifty touchdown passes and VP that year, but he was under fifty complete in that first half, and they shut the Chief's offense out and just generally had the Chief's offense off balance with the contained rush scheme and good coverage on the back end. And I see the parts

we have here in Miami. Guys that can occupy blockers, execute games up front with stunts and pick stunts, twists, maintain their particular gap to help free up rushers to delay blitz maybe just to hem the quarterback inside the pocket so he has to stand stationary and make a play from that spot, opposed to breaking the pocket and getting outside, which then causes the coverage to really spread out and basically become impossible to defend, especially when you've

got Tyreek Hill and Nicole Hardman, Sammy Watkins all of that absurd speed the quarterback gets outside, all of a sudden, you're in chase and catch up mode. And then in the Super Bowl, just putting the absolute clamps on what was the highest scoring offense and football that year. Nobody had figured out the Rams offense that season until that game.

So that's I think what I'm most excited about for camp this season just to see the variety of looks we get and who is playing which spot in each of those different packages, and who's playing a multitude of roles across several different packages. This is the kind of stuff, man, that gets me excited. It is in the weeds of football, and this team gives us a good chance to take a look at that. And you know what, this is true on offense as well. It's not just a defensive thing.

I think we get a little bit narrow with our focus in regards to who plays where on the offensive side of the ball. And it helps that both Parker and Williams looked like straight up problems for defenses last year on the outside. But both those guys can play inside too, and you look at their frames and think maybe the shiftiness required to play inside might be a problem,

but that's where looks are deceiving. Williams can absolutely sink his hips, drop his pads and get in and out of breaks, and Parker can flat out bully the opposition with his size and power. And that was my favorite part about watching him this year was the way he really used that frame as a blockout mechanism and those long arms to attack the football and make hands catches. That's all I should say. Secondary to the way he would drop his shoulder and run through tackles on defensive

backs last year. I love watching that. So both of those guys can play inside. I tweeted out a photo on Saturday from the Buffalo game where the Dolphins are in a two back twenty one personnel set. That's Chandler Cox is the fullback, and I think it was Drake

at running back with Kasiki the tight end. They flex the fullback out to a plus split as the one, and so are you're talking about offensive formations, your widest split receiver is the one, next guy insides two, the next guy inside that is your three, and so forth and so on. So they had Cox out wide as the one, then Williams inside as the two, and Parker the furthest inside as the three. And what that does is creates a void in the middle of the field

because you have to send a linebacker or somebody. In this case, it was a linebacker because Buffalo wasn't a four three look. You have to send them out wide to account for Chandler Cox. Because You can't just leave that guy alone. Somebody has to go at least for him up in man coverage, so he gets all the

way out there, lines up across from Cox. Then you get inside access on a slant route with no one there to challenge it or to reroute, and you have a natural rub route from Devonte Parker and they do a little switch release where you just cross at the line of scrimmage and that does the trick. It's easy schematics to get a guy open in the football game. We saw it last year with those guys because of their flexibility on offense, and that's what this offense can

be just based on those parts alone. You can put the defense in a package that does not match up well because they have to pick one idea and defend that, and then from there you can check to something completely different within that same personnel grouping. I think that's where Gaily can really show his salt by having an easily communicatable system that can be so adaptable on the fly. And it's not just Williams and Parker. Albert Wilson can

play inside, obviously, he can also play the backfield. He can aligns a h back, he can take wildcat snaps. He can operate as the jet sweep guy. Sam is true of Jachem Grant backfield wildcat jet sweep slot. And I still think he's the best when he's outside where he can really stretch the defense with that vertical speed. And I know you've seen Jachim's workout videos he's been posting on Instagram and Twitter. This dude's looking sharp, he's

looking fresh, he's looking healthy this offseason. Here's a fun tidbit you won't get anywhere else. We talked for about twenty minutes Jachim and I for the Virtual Draft Party interview, and one of the questions I asked him was about when he was on the NFL Network show titled Undrafted, and he talked a lot about how challenging it was to film that stuff because his kids were obviously in the house, and it made that show and doing that

show a little bit harder for mom and dad. And he also talked about how parents sometimes just gotta bite the bullet and eat whatever the kids are gonna be eating themselves, so chicken nuggets and mac and cheese, all that processed food. But he's making better nutrition choices and the best part was how he told me he stays in shape. I asked him about a second sport he might play, because most guys talk about basketball, and I bet each and every one of you will never guess.

I'll give you five seconds. What was Jachem Grant's second sport? Um, I don't know if you're a sport. But before I started doing, before I started playing football, I was speed skater. Which is it like in line speed skates. I actually got my own, uh inline speed skates and I usually go out and work out in those actually, like go for miles and with my little brother and we just skater escape for miles and miles and miles. So speed skating.

Did anybody have that? No? I bet you didn't imagine that guy, that aerodynamic, that fast, just ripping up the track. I feel like he's got to be a gold medal contender if he did speed skating full time. But back to the football field man, he was deadly in camp last year. The way press role works at the Dolphins practice facility is it's tucked away up in the upper corner and that's usually where the receivers do their one

on one drills in the pre practice portion. Quarterbacks are another spot of the field offensive lines on the other side, down in the corner by the TNT wall. And at one point I was keeping track of how many times the crowd would oh and awe when something happened, but I lost track because Jachim was such a damn jitterbug off the line. The guys simply could not get a press, could not jam him off the line. So he uncovers quickly, and he does it by a wide margin, a good

chunk of separation. I am pumped to see that guy healthy and ready to roll again. Isaiah Ford, he too plays inside and outside. Alan Hearns does as well. How about the running backs, Jordan Howard, you talk about scheme diverse players, He's as scheme diverse as they come. Matt Brita did a whole bunch of different things, and that wide Kyle Shanahan offense, flexing out as a receiver, as a slot, a flanker, getting outside zone, stretch zone, split zone.

In San Francisco, Malcolm Perry does everything under the sun. Calin Blass was the Wildcat trigger man at times. Patrick Laird caught a million balls in college and showed his skills there last year as well, Miles Gascon a production machine through his vision, patients and his own versatility. Then there's height end, where Mike Gassicki might just be the best slot receiver on the entire team. Man. He showed major strides last year playing in line, getting off press,

getting into the route. And then there's that gorgeous body control and ability to make plays vertically for Mike Gasicki. So back to the idea of playing the slot position, Let's just go ahead and check the numbers from Pro Football Focus. Devonte Parker plays one nine out of nine five snaps in the slot. Jachem Grant plays ninety six out of to eighteen one thirteen out wide, so he split almost evenly with one thirteen out wide in the slot.

Albert Wilson plays three thirty two out of his four thirty nine in the slot position, so his primary spot is in fact, slot fifteen in the backfield one at

quarterback as a wildcat trigger man. Preston Williams just eighteen out of four oh four, the smallest amount, but I'm curious to know how they count that in twin formations, when you have two receivers to one side and twelve personnel, you put double wise to one side, double tight ends to one side, two receivers to the other, so you have a split receiver out wide and one in the slot.

Mike Gasicki four sixty one out of seven oh one one of us were in line as a true tight end, seventy eight all the way out wide as a plus souped up receiver, and four in the backfield. Alan Hearns had two fifty four with two fifty nine out wide, and Isaiah Ford played sixty eight in the slot and one fifty two out wide. So when you ask who's playing the slot, the answer is everybody. All of them

do it. And so while Williams has the fewest reps, he was among the most active when playing in the slot. He was targeted twenty six point seven percent of the time according to PFF, and that was the highest on the team over Albert Wilson's nineteen point four percent. A small sample size, but you move him in there when the matchup calls for it and take advantage. He also had one point six yards per route rund from the slot, that was best on the team, ahead of Davante Parkers

one point four seven and just for comparison's sake. For my money, the best slot receiver in football is Keenan Allen from the charger, and he had a average of one point nine one yards per route run and the slot. Last year, Tyreek Hill was just ahead of him at one point nine three. So you get a feeling for these guys stack up against the best in the league. Then you've got Mike Asiki and check out this production

from the slot. Kasicki among tight ends, was fourth in yards behind only Mark Andrews, Jared Cook, and Travis Kelsey. He was second in receptions behind just Mark Andrews, and third in touchdowns behind only Andrews and Cook. So consistently top four in the three major categories. So while the words versatility, flexibility, the more a guy can do all of it might sound cliche, it might act as lip service sometimes across the league, but here in Miami it's

what they do and the numbers back that up. Alright, what else we got here? One more from the defensive backfield. This tweet resurfaced over the weekend taking a look at Byron Jones against top receivers in the NFL the last two years. Up against Michael Thomas two catches for twenty one yards. There from last year's leading receip eiver in the NFL in terms of catches, Alshon Jeffrey got blanked zero for zero. Stefon Diggs had one catch for eleven

yards on Byron Jones. John Brown from Buffalo had one catch for six yards. Robert Woods and Brandon Cooks in Los Angeles back in ten had two catches total for nineteen yards total. Also in Odell Beckham for the Giants at the time went zero for zero, got blanked out by Byron Jones. Julio Jones had one catch for nineteen yards. Michael Thomas another time here zero for zero he gets blanked, and t Y Hilton of the Colts one catch for twenty three yards. So Jones gets himself a lot of

big wins against a lot of big receivers. Cannot wait to watch what he can do. And two more guys in that backfield that I noticed that I also think really exemplify what this defense does on the back end, because Jones can play safety, can play slot, can play outside, he does everything are Eric Row and Bobby McCain. Let's start with Roe, who I had tweeted out a week or two ago that we just don't talk enough about

how productive he was season. His pick six in Week seven team was pretty much the difference in that game, at least on the scoreboard, those seven points with the difference and winning and losing for that big w But from the time he moved into more of a safety role,

his impact was more immediate. And I don't want to say he was just a safety again because he does so much, but from Week six on, when he began covering up more tight ends, more running backs, playing more in the box, he allowed just twenty four catches on forty five targets. That's complete for two hundred and seventy seven yards. That's five point oh four yards per target.

And for reference, Davante Parker's yards per target last year was nine point four and at tight end, Travis Kelsey, the best in the league was at nine point oh top tight end who has wide receiver stats was almost double what Eric Row allowed covering primarily tight ends. But that's not to say he's just doing that. I tweeted out two clips. One was against Paul Richardson and Washington

and the other against Dawson Knox and Buffalo. One a receiver won a tight end, and the beauty of this was there the same type of plays a mesh concept, and all of meshes as two receivers crossing trying to create confusion for the hook defender, the linebacker, the safety whoever happens to be covering that spot on the defense.

And so Rowe has to fight through a pick, and he was more than capable of working through that traffic and showing the closing speed, not to mention the ball skills to get his hand in there and poke it away. You can find those clips on my Twitter at Winkfield, NFL under the media tab. And oh yeah, he's also a really damn good tackler and one of the favorite defensive looks. Will often bring the safety down inside your

overhang linebacker. You've seen Patrick Chung do it in New England for years, and Rowe did a bunch of it last year to the tune of nineteen run stops over the final twelve games since that switch. Those are tackles within two yards of the line of scrimmage and Bobby mccame he acts similar in a lot of ways by how he's able to come down and cover up close. I mean we knew that from his time at Memphis and into the NFL early on in his career, earning

that extension primarily as a slot guy. But he wasn't exclusive to the slot in those days either. He played wide, he played some safety, and now he does a lot of the same thing. Tons of range and instincts on the back end to fly around from that single high look. But I just love how you can bring him down to the point over trips. He can help redirect, he can match up, he can defend the run, he can

blitz the quarterback. Bobby has a real knack for knifing his way through the inside as a blitzer and a quick aside, Real quick, I have two more players I want to talk about on this Dolphins defense. Speaking of instincts and knifing through. We'll get back to the DBS here in just one second. But man, you watch Ray Kawa McMillan diagnosed and trigger. My goodness, he can get where he needs to go in an absolute hurry and

he arrives with force. That was one of the things I really had kind of forgotten about prior to this rewatch project. I'm doing just how well he played against the run last year. He keeps pulling guards where the fullback is in formation, and he's so quick to diagnose and hit his run. Fit one of my favorites on

the team to watch in that regard. And then also a linebacker, you have his college teammate and NFL teammate in Jerome Baker, and he can flat out explode from zero to sixty when he's pursuing downhill when he's blitz in the quarterback. I saw him put Josh Allen down on a blitz last year where he arrived almost instantly at the snap. In the radar package, you got guys

standing up all over the place. They picked their gaps at the snap, and I think this defense, with the size they now have upfront, particularly off the edge, and the rush contained scheme that creates avenues for those linebackers to really find and exploit, are really going to serve Jerome Baker and his speed and his explosiveness very very well.

So back to the defensive backs watching the game against Washington, Bobby McCain has a really nice pass breakup in the end zone that forces a field goal in that game and help the Dolphins get back into that game late.

He was outflanked pre snap and Chris Thompson, one of the better receiving backs in the NFL going back several years, has a little option where he fakes the block and then leaks out into the pattern and case Keenem tries to get the ball to him, and McCain, because of his priest nap alignment, is already out of position on the matchup, but he fights like hell to get back into good shape and plays the ball to force the PBu.

You just love to see that effort, and you know that's what you're always going to get from Bobby in fact, in that game, and this is the reason I like to rewatch the broadcast version so much. You get so many tidbits from the broadcast crew that you otherwise wouldn't get from the all twenty two version. They asked Bobby in the production meeting before the game how he gathered the defense and talked about how this early season struggle

it just wasn't gonna fly under his watch. He exudes that leadership that goes so far in that locker room, and in fact, you guessed it. We have a clip from Dolphins safety Bobby McCain about how important his leadership role is on this Dolphins defense. When you have when when you got goals in mind, when you got a team that wants to win, Uh, somebody I gotta step up with somebody, I say something regardless if you're eight

year ved can be a rock, you know. And I feel like just with the guy with the guys, we just we picked up a lot of good free agents, got the draft coming up. We are, you know, and there's still a lot of good guys, good players on the team. And uh, but just knowing everybody, getting to know everybody, get to be around everyone. That's how you figure out personalities, and that's how you figure out who can who can, who can be talked to like you can't.

You might not be able to talk to Xavian Howard the same way you can talk to Byron Jones, Like it just may not be able to happen ma talking. And you gotta learn that it takes time and takes the industry, and it takes just um just competing and being together. I think those are the tangible or intangible things rather you don't often think about as a football fan, how important us to find ways to lead in the proper way to lead each player, and Bobby understands that.

I think that goes a long long way on a football team, especially a young team like the Dolphins. Alright, one more name I have here on my list stays in the defensive backfield. He is the second year cornerback out of you tep Nick need him and he didn't start getting considerable work until about mid season last year,

and he really showed some skill there. I talked about Noah Ignogamy, this year's first round draft pick, number thirty overall, and his ability to change direction and the athletic ability with those sweet feet we call him, and man that too is Nick need Um. I had a tweet clip of Igbo a while back against Kyle Pitts and the Florida tight end. He's the early favorite for tight end one in draft class. Where Igbo back pedals, pivots, and drives off the same foot all in one fluid motion.

There's a rap against Buffalo the first game in Buffalo at the end of the first quarter where Needham does pretty much the exact same thing going up against John Brown. You love to see that because it translates really well to those quick hit or routes ones you primarily see more inside. He was more exclusive last year on the outside Needham was. But I don't think it's out of the realm of possibilities to line him up to cover

pretty much anywhere. Super active feet, smooth hips, and the kid can flat out compete and hold his own salt. I think that's why we saw him earning so much time last year with the first team early in camp. He just works the right way. So when I think about this defense in total man they can all cover.

They built the front seven in a way that can really capitalize on how the on how they want to rush the quarterback, and they can disguise the rushers and most of all, they can disguise who might be covering who, whether you play man zero, one, two three, it's all fluid within this defense because of that flexibility. And that's it from my notebook. I have a couple more things I do want to touch on before we get out of here on a longer edition of the Drive Time podcast.

A couple other notes from the Brian Flores presser on Thursday, talked about how the coaches could return to the facility on Friday, June the five, as things start to open up a little bit more slowly. By slowly, the Dolphins will flesh out the plan for how to get people back in the building under Brian Flores call. There the Dolphins can return their coaching staff to the facility now

as allowed by the National Football League. And also in that press conference, another question that really provides a good segue and for the off season program being virtual and how much coach wants to get his hands on the players. A member of the media asked about the development of quarterback to a tongue of byloa, how that's gone remotely, and coach said, quote the rookies in general, I think they've all based on what we can do. They've all

done a good job. They're all in meetings, they're all learning, they're all doing everything they possibly can do to pick up the information to train. Quite honestly, it's hard not to have your hands on them. Specific to Touh, he's working hard, he's picking up the information, but you want to get your hands on them. Quite honestly, I think they're all doing a great job. I think they all

have a long way to go. And so you can hear it in Flora's his tone when he speaks about it and just the text there that I read back to you. This guy is a football coach man. He wants to be out there teaching guys day in and day out, coaching them up, seeing little things in their game, helping them get things corrected, get things fixed, teaching them new things about their position, about the defense. That's just

what a football coach wants to do. So I'm sure all these guys can't wait to get back out there and get their hands on the players and work with them up close and personal and get to get back on the football field and do some live in person coaching as all these guys I'm sure cannot wait to

execute and get done. And on the topic of the rookies trying to get onto the football field as pros for the first time, one of these segments I wanted to cover on a podcast that came out right before my wife went into labor and we had to put

a scrap on all. That was Ryan Fitzpatrick on the Eric Would What's Next podcast and that was back in I believe May seventeenth was the date on the episode, and Eric Would asked Ryan Fitzpatrick about his approach to his role in Miami and what he can offer with so much experience at the position. And I just thought his answer was so great and so intuitive and so just valuable for the Dolphins to have as an organization that I wanted to play it for you guys here

on the podcast. When asked about his role in Miami and what they see in Ryan Fitzpatrick, well, I I think part of it is they have to take the back seat and have to watch. They had to watch how I operate. Not to say that what I do is perfect, but there are gonna be a lot of things that they can pull for me that they like, and there's gonna be some things they can pull for me that they don't like, and they don't want that.

But I think I have enough qualities that Miami has seen that they like and they would like another quarterback to have in them. Um. The other thing and bringing a new guy in that I always try to impress right away on these guys is like I am here again, zero ego, Like I have so much knowledge. I've made so many mistakes in this league in terms of the term decisions and throws, and I've learned how to prepare. I've learned so much about offenses and defenses and the

way that guys operate. They ask questions like I'm an open book, ask me whatever you want. And so sometimes it's up to the younger guy to encourage might not be the right word, but have the courage to come up and ask questions and do not feel like he's a bother or a pain in the butt. And I just try to be open and honest with everything that they want to talk to me about, because I talked

to my wife about this all the time. When I'm done playing football, Like, if I exit that world and don't either do what you're doing or transition into another role around football, I have so much knowledge in my mind that I've built up that like then just goes to waste, you know. So I want to pass on all these experiences and lessons and things that I've learned two younger guys, because when I came in, I had the same thing. I had guys that taught and showed

me the way. So, um, I'm really excited. I'm excited that they drafted him, Like I'm excited because in Washington played Alabama, Like he looks like he's a pretty dynamic talent just in medium um a few times. Like he seems like an unbelievable kid, great head on his shoulders, like says the right things, wants to do the right things.

So like, for me, I'm his biggest cheerleader right now, but I also want to be out there to play, and you know, I also want to be on the field, And that's kind of why I'm still doing it, because I still enjoy playing the game. UM, So hopefully some of the lessons I'm able to teach him or him watching me play. But if it's the other way around, you know, I'm going to do my best to help him succeed in the best way that he can. Yeah.

I don't think there's any comment that needs to be made on that comment, because he hit it out of the park, an absolute grand slam of a comment. He then went on the Dolphins media or South Florida media availability later that week. It was actually the day my daughter was born, so I was not available for it, but he had a similar question where he basically said, So for me, I've been in this situation before a little bit. I just try to go in every day

and be myself, even in the Zoom meetings. Right now, I just be myself. I'm an open book, and I try to make sure that they know and are comfortable with coming with to me with questions. I'm also going to express my opinions and thoughts on plays that we are watching in two minute drives. We're gonna be going over some stuff and my mind and the process and how I think through it right or wrong, just to provide some perspective. I'm excited for him to be here.

I love watching him play in college. I think he's going to be an awesome addition to the team for a long time. So just just an ideal set up there for Ryan Fitzpatrick, the exact right guy you want to have at the top of the quarterback room for a young player like two a tongue of vloa for Josh Rosen and Jake Rudoc in that quarterback room. Alright, So there you have it. That is the long extended edition here of the Monday, June eighth podcast Back on

Drive Time. We are back and ready to full go ahead. This week, we're gonna have a Malcolm Perry deep dive character profile. Talk to Malcolm himself and three of his coaches there at Navy. That should be up tomorrow, I believe, if not sometime this week, we're gonna get to Know the Enemy series, gonna invite some of my friends from different media outlets around the country from the Dolphins thirteen opponents this year, we're gonna have I believe, the Patriots

and Bills on this week. We'll do some positional previews heading up to training camp and how much I love writing those things up, getting to know each and every player on the roster. Plenty of content to come here on the Drivetime podcast. I am back as for this episode of Drive Time, that's gonna be my time. You all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on

Apple podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast from. Go ahead and leave us a rating, leave us a review that helps the podcast out, Give me a follow on Twitter. It's at Wingfield, NFL fallow the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank and the Audible podcast, and of course Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time finds up