Field Yates on Dolphins' Direction and Team Building

We're gonna break down Miami's free agency from the talent added, the contract value, and how Brian Flora's and Chris Career are doing on the team building side of things. All of that and more on this Wednesday, March edition of the Drivetime Podcast Mimi Dolphins. Let's not waste any time off the top of the show here and get right to my interview with ESPN's Field Yates and joining the Drivetime Podcast now is espn NFL insider Field Yates. Field.

Thanks for joining me today, man, I appreciate you, Travis, and I don't know if I'm the first welcome, but allow me to be amongst the initial wave of welcome with you and the new gig. Looking forward to following along as I'm sure you do great coverage covering the team this upcoming year. It's greatly appreciated. Field, And we talked a little bit off air about my Washington phone number not quite down to South Florida yet because I can't relocate right now because of all the stuff going on.

So I wanted to ask you a similar question. How you're holding up right now? Man, Like this is a time of year where your job does not allow you to hunker down. How are you and yours doing? Yeah, well, I appreciate you saying that. Maybe the better person to ask me. My wife, we're sitting here in a small apartments uh probably built for more like one and a quarter people, enough people, enough room for us to uh

share time, um normally after work. But you know, we're getting in utilization of every square inch of our podcast, of our of our apartment now this week, whether it's doing podcasts or her doing her work from her mobile set up, you name it. We're figuring out ways to

get through. But obviously keep in mind all the people more adversely affected by what's taking place with this global pandemic right now, and discovering new areas of your home probably the way we all are right now being stuck inside, and it's obviously impact of the way you've conducted your business. But what about teams in the National Football League right now? With these restrictions and free agents not being able to

come down and meet their new teammates. How are teams getting all this crucial work that has to be done this time of year without the normal amenities they normally have. Yeah, well, let's trace back to when the NFL made a decision to power through with free agency at the normal time.

The NFL thinking was sort of two fold. One was that this is largely an event that takes place remotely as it is now, not that it's the same this year, but a lot of times as general managers and head coaches communicating from their own facilities to agents of perspective, free agents and sometimes the players as well. So that

was part of it. And the second part of it was that you know this right at the time that the NFL made a decision, You know, we knew a little bit about how this pandemic was going to impact us. But who's to say that a week from now, which would actually still not be the Yes, just about a week in the two weeks in the free agency. Who knows where we will be. It could be that we're pushing our timeline back further and further and further, and

we shall see. So I would just say that teams were largely prepared for free agency until about a week before free agency. It does impact their ability to conduct medical evaluations and certainly impacts the ability to have players in for visits, and we can get sort of specific on some of the players that I believe it has impacted. But for the most part, we've seen if you were to go to anybody's top one free agents list that you know, somewhere between eighty and eighty five of them

have come off the board. So things have largely gone on as expected. And nobody was more active in free agency than the Miami Dolphins. And we'll get to that here in just a second field. But first I want to go back to your time with the Patriots organization because there was some overlap there with new Dolphins head coach Brian Flores. And from that, Lens, what can you

tell us about Miami's second year head coach. Yeah, well, it's crazy, it's crazy to think this, but my first summer spending some time with the Patriots was actually right when Brian b Flow had gotten hired into the Patriots personnel departments. And I'm sure Dolphins fans are well aware of the fact that he hasn't just coached on defense, He's also coached on offense, has contributed on special teams,

He's works on the scouting department. So really the beginning of checking off all the boxes that make him really well equipped to becoming an NFL head coach. And Brian had played obviously collegiately at Boston College and that happens to be the area where I am from, so I have a little bit of a background on him as a player. Um, And you know what immediately stands out about the Flow is, certainly he's determined. Certainly he is humble. UM. I think anytime you are new, and I was the

same way myself. Somewhere you have, you know, a somewhat of a you know, you might have a more reserved quality about you. But it doesn't take long for someone to clearly understand that Flow was the kind of person that's not only did others gravitate towards, but you could see real leadership qualities in him. And there are a lot of different forms of leadership and some of that

is how you work. And I think it was apparently it was apparent right away that, um, it was gonna be hard to outwork him, it was going to be hard to outstudy him and sort of see things in the way that he did because he had such a unique background of having played the game at a high level, uh and you know, nearly having an NFL career on his own and then coming into the scouting world and quickly becoming uh, you know, pretty adept in that regard

before he eventually became an assistant coach on the Patriots staff, which led to his rather meteoric rise. And we've we've talked a lot about Brian Floores on this podcast, especially with all the new free agents and doing interviews with those guys. A lot of them to a man pointed to the fact that Brian Flores and what he did last year with his Dolphins team was a big selling

point on them coming to Miami. But Chris Greer, though he himself, was always going to call this more of a collaborative effort and not accept the praise but rather deflect the praise to his staff that he has around them throughout the front office, but at the end of the day, he is the GM. So what do you field make of Greer's ability to acquire all this capital and then ultimately spend it as the Dolphins have so

far through one week of free agency. Yeah, and I'll get to Chris Greer in a second, but just to close the circle on on Brian Flores, I just think he'd be hard pressed to find a person with higher character than him UH coach the NFL ranks right now, and having seen him somewhat recently, I think what's what's really neat and a parent is that the same person that was humble and hungry as an entry level UH member of the Patriot Scouting Department is the same person

that you see now who's one of thirty two head coaches and quickly emerging is someone that people realize is going to be a star in this league, a family man, a true friend, and somebody that I think Dolphins fans already appreciate, but they'll even appreciate more and more going forward. So they're in great hands there. And I think I feel the same way about Chris career. And one thing that I and I don't have a personal relationship with Chris in the way that I did spend time with

Brian Flores. But I think what's the parents is that in the NFL, and it's not always obvious, but I would say that one of the roles that I have in my job is to try to do my best job of assessing plans and what teams intend to do now now that they owe it to us to explain every single decision. But it became clear quickly last year what the Dolphins plan was going to be, and it was going to be about program fits. It was going

to be about collecting future capital. It was going to be about taking a bunch of swings on either low cost or low risk players last year and hoping that some of those players could become foundation pieces for the

roster going forward. And I think Chris Career was really shrewd and smart last year in acquiring a ton of players not just through the waiver system, but also players through practice squads of other teams, and you know, practice squad players although they are not on the active roster, and a lot of cases they're guys that just get buried for one reason or another, whether it's a logjam at the position, whether it's just a simple numbers game,

whether it's an injury and training camp that sets them back a little bit. There are a lot of reasons, and I thought it was really impressive to see a bunch of players that were acquired that either made meaningful contributions last year or you can tell will eventually make meaningful contributions for the Dolphins, and now to spend things forward to free agencies that you know, this is sort of wave two. If last year was waved one, wave two is all right, we've cleared the decks, We've basically

read ourselves of every onerous contract on the books. We enter free agency with as much cap space as we could need, some clear and obvious um positions of need, and then you just sort of look at how they attacked those. You know, they certainly spent big on Byron Jones, who's a player who fits I mean really every roster, but certainly fits their roster um and and need in

a major, major way. Um. But besides that, all the deals, now, certainly there were a lot of money spent, but three to four years in length for a lot of them. And I thought that there was a common thread of players with excellent leadership production. I thought character was an obvious priority for the Dolphins, and guys that you know, um, I think they still have prime football years ahead of them. I think a lot of these guys are ascending young player.

Shack Lawson could be a guy it could become an even better player. Eric Flowers had a renaissance season last year. Kyle van Noy will know the defense as well as anybody right away. So a lot of players that I think are borderline seamless fits for the Dolphins, which is important during what figures to be a I mean, it

already is an unprecedented off season calendar. We've got filled Yates here of ESPN on the Drivetime Podcast with Travis Wingfield, part of the Miami Dolphins official podcast network, and Field we talk about the free agency lore the Dolphins have here with Brian Flores and the success they had last season, and certainly Chris Greer was able to kind of create the space to make that happen in free agency, and then in Florence was the one that attracted the players.

But then Greer is the one that helped acquire this draft capital. You talk about market opportunities, you know, getting two first round picks in the Tunzel trade and a second round draft pick. I mean, that's what quarterbacks go for on the league most of the time. You get a pick from the Pittsburgh Steelers from Innca fitzpatrick. At the time, they were oh and three without their starting quarterback, so that looked like maybe it could have been a top ten pick. So you have to give him credit

for the idea of taking advantage of market opportunities. And that's kind of the approach of the Dolphins off season. But I want to get kind of a holistic view of this team right now because you mentioned the contract structures. The Byron Jones is the primary big deal the Dolphins have, but we also have all these players that are twenty nine and younger. Eight of the ten signings that Dolphins

made this offseason, we're twenty seven years and younger. So what do you say about the idea that these second year of the second contracts rather for players where sometimes maybe free agency can be can be a bit of a fool's gold. What do you make of the Dolphins approach and being so aggressive and attacking that young nucleus in free agency? Yeah, I mean certainly, um, you know let's be honest, their school's goals. Free agency every year

and sometimes for every team. So I don't want to say that every move that I like this offseason is going to wind out wind up working exactly as it was intended to at least or how I thought it would. But I would just say that I'm a very much process driven person um in our evaluation and to your points, all of these contracts are guys that you know. There's a golden rule of scouting that applies to free agency as well is you cannot pay players for prior performance.

You have to pay them for future production. UM. And yes, prior performance helps us establish a market for these players, but this can't be, you know, basically a reward system. It can't be a ribbon that these players where Hey, four years and a reported fifty one million dollars for Kyle van no no It's all right going forward. Do you believe that Kyle van Noi is gonna be a guy in the course of a game. It's going to be able to rush the pastor set the edges are run,

defender dropped in coverage, be a stand up linebacker. He's gonna be able to communicate, he could be a captain of your team. He could play on special teams if you need him to. Is he gonna be good with the ball in his hands at the other scoops and scoops up a fumble, picks off the past. All of

those things are clear and apparent. So um, I think the Dolphins were wise in the investment strategy and guys that I think they will age well, and the contracts accordingly will age well, especially as we know that the you know, the the CALP is going to go up year over year. And when you look across the league field, you can kind of notice that certain teams put a

certain amount of resources. Like I've always heard from the Move the Sticks podcast, for instance, a team is going to tell you what's important to them based upon where they allocate their resources. And the Dolphins now have the richest defensive back room in the entire National Football League. And you look at like the Chiefs, for instance, the highest paid wide receiver corps there to supplement their m

v P quarterback. We saw the Raiders last year make big improvements on the offensive side of the ball and the running game and past protection by solidifying the offensive line with the highest paid line in football, and you mentioned Byron Jones. I want to kind of circle back to that. The highest paid defensive back room in football, Byron Jones xaviing Howard eric Road got a contract extension

last year. What do you make of the Dolphins practice there and the fact that they play more man coverage than just about any team in the league fourth last year in the NFL. Yeah, so certainly you gotta have cover cornerbacks that you can trever, you can charge trust excuse me, in the man demand coverage. And Byron Jones was one of the most sought after players in free agency. Doesn't surprise me that he got the money that he got.

So let's just establish a couple of things from Byron Jones and I think are important for fans that may not be as familiar with his career. He's got two interceptions in five seasons, and you know matter, I get it. It's not Yes, there are other players that have had plenty more UH interceptions, but started out contexts are not useful stats whatsoever. If you go back and look at some seasons, there were seasons where Darrell Rivas, who for my money, was as dominant a player as you've probably

seen in a lot of years. There was a season where he went without his single interception. I mean he was a single interception in a Pro Bowl level years. So you gotta look at whether teams are daring to test a player at the cornerback spot. So I think the Byron Jones checks a lot of the right boxes for man to man coverage ability, a guy that's certainly um is um you know again, high character, a player that's incredibly athletic. We all remember his combined performance for

how to yukon uh five or so years ago. He was terrific at the time and it may still stand the he said the prod the broad jump records. So the Dolphins have invested a lot of money in the cornerback spots. And you know, the best way to help your pass rushes to have a great secondary. The best way to help your secondary is to have a great pass rush. So I think the Dolphins have sort of

worked in tandem this offseason. If your best pass rushers now look more like potentially Kyle van Noy and also Shack Lawson with Byron Jones and Xavian Howard in the back end, I think that both units have a chance to be improved relative to where they were last season.

And how do you kind of how do you compartmentalize what the Dolphins did in that front seven in terms of the players they got in the scheme fits they have for those players, because we look at Shack Laws and Emmanuel ogg Ball seven of the Dolphins ten offseason acquisitions so far, we're in the trenches up front, and of those seven, five on the defensive side of the football. But I want to get your opinion because Brian Flora

is what he calls his positionless defense. Like we had Patrick Graham here last year mentioned that he stopped using uh position distinctions when he drew up plays in the white board and just went with X and ohs because guys don't have nailed down positions. So with that in mind, and how they want to create this pass rush through you know, the radar look or various looks up front with even fronts and odd fronts, multiple looks, how do Van Noy and loss in an odd and these guys

fit into a defensive scheme that Brian Flores wants to run. Yeah, certainly in a lot of ways. I think what you said is pretty much right on the money, because if you look at the way that the NFL changes year over year, I mean, this past season, during the regular season, the most unstoppable offense was led by a quarterback in Lamar Jackson became the first ever to throw for a thousand yards and also, excuse me, throw for three thousand yards and run for one thousand plus yards, uh in

the same season. And if you've got guys who are two down linebackers and um, you know, guys that are more along as you know, players that are more thumpers, you know, it's it's gonna be hard to keep up with these leite electric athletes. You need guys that can

kind of be a little bit of everything. So I think it's a smart way of distinguishing things is that you know, ultimately, secondary players are gonna have to coverage, are gonna have to cover excuse me, They're also gonna have to be willing tacklers are gonna have to be uh, you know, able and and and and smart enough to make coverage adjustments, whether it's switching, whether it's concepts high low, inside outside, there's a lot of intelligence required. So um,

I think it's fair. I mean, listen, I don't think you can totally do do away with position in the sense that you know, it's not like Byron Jones is gonna bean a three points stand much next year. Never. But uh, certainly it's important that you have versatile players that kind of get um that you know, we're regardless of what their position is on the roster, the official

team website roster. If they can't be counted on to do a little bit of everything a weekend and week out, it's kind of not really what the coaches staff can count on weekend and week out, or can can count on on a play by play basis. Phil Yates here on the Drivetime podcast from ESPN. He also co hosts

the Fantasy Focus Football podcast. You guys can find that where we get your podcast from and on that vein talking about fantasy football, I would be remiss if we didn't talk about some running back action here because the Dolphins also acquired former Eagles and Bears running back Orton Howard, and I watched this guy run field behind a zone blocking scheme for the most part, and that symbiotic relationship that he has with his offensive line and the smarts

and the intelligence to know when to ben bang or bounce it. I'm curious to get your thought for his fit and what Chan Gaily what might want to do on offense this year for the Dolphins. Yeah, you know, I would just say that it's hard to actually just spend some time with Chan in Kansas City. It was a very brief time um together. But you know, got the no Chan and such a nice, thoughtful person. Didn't have any time with him. He was he was just

there during the off season when I was there. But a guy that certainly has accomplished a lot in this league, been around for a long time, both as a head coach and a coordinator as well. So I'll speak more to what I think Jordan's value is as opposed to how I know specifically will all come together with this scheme.

I mean, there's still a lot of moving parts here is you know, last year, as I'm sure as well documented or well known by your listeners, you know, to see led the team in rushing and that's rare for a quarterback to lead a team in rushing, and that was the case, and it was only two forty three yards. You bring in somebody like Jordan Howard and not that

the team can't keep adding more players. I figure they will um at the running back spot, but certainly feels like Jordan Howard is in a prime spot to make a huge leap this year for the Dolphins, just because of the workshare, right, I mean, as of right now, he looks like he's in line for close to twenty touches per game and certainly a guy uh that in the past has been able to handle a large load and been productive with multiple thousand yards seasons and a

good landing spot for him in Miami and with covering the offense and defense here on this podcast so far, Afield. The Dolphins also made a couple of acquisitions and former Special teams captains and Clayton Federalum and Camu Grugier Hill. I'm I'm working on that one still, but they got these two special teams captains that have come to Miami. What can that type of leadership in terms of the team captain and third team proud to do for a roster,

an entire football team. Yeah, I'm glad you brought those guys, Uh, Clayton and Commu special teams guys that have been you know they and by the way, they you know, commonly played some defense for for the for the Eagles as well, but some familiarity they're having begun his career in New England. But let's start here. Um. Leadership comes in a lot

of different forms. The difference between the star players on offense and defense and the star players on special teams is that special team star players are closer to the bubble than offensive or defensive players are year inting, year out. And that is not to say that Commu or Clayton or any threat of not making the roster. Of course they are. They're gonna be a big part of what

the Dolphins do this season. But leadership for special teams guys is really special because players that actually are on the bubble, whether it's a fifth cornerback or a sixth linebacker or a backup defensive lineman or you name it, those players are gonna look to those guys who are, you know, life and limb every single day and doing whatever it takes to continue to secure their roster spot. And guys that are willing to do some of the

toughest assignments in football. I mean, you play only a mile and a million miles an hour on special teams and certainly you are it's some of the players or some of the highest contact in the sport. It's a very selfless rule to take on. So I think both Clayton and Common We're gonna be big parts of what the Dolphins do in the kicking game. And those are the kind of guys you can never have enough, odd enough of on your roster because you know you're going

to get their very best every single play. Yeah, you plug their tape on and they are a hundred miles an hour all the time, defense or special teams. It's a lot of fun to watch. And those are the back end of the free agency signings that we talked about, and with free agency winding down and the draft just a month away, it's coming. Miami have fourteen draft picks and I've really opened up the flexibility options for where

they can go on those picks. So from a league perspective, field, how how kind of envious would the league be of being in a position like that where you have so many draft picks in a way that you can kind of control the draft with those four team picks. Yeah. Well, I don't want to say it gives you the right to do whatever you want to do, but it puts you in a really good spot. Basically, take any approach

that you do want. And you know, I think the first overall pick and Joe Burrow is off the table. I think that Cincinnati is committed to that pick and I would be very, very surprised if it wasn't Joe.

But as we sit here right now, and this is a Tuesday March conversation, I think a lot of people understand that, um, the next wave of quarterbacks includes two a Tugo Viloa and Justine Herbert George Love as well, and if the Dolphins are in the market for a quarterback that can maybe be their guy as soon as this year, but perhaps at the very least at the start of one. And those are some of the names you got to keep an eye on. And you just

look at the quarterback landscape right now. Teams that might be ahead of them in the draft, uh, or that that might be at least targeting a quarterback, Well, the answer is nobody. It's more of the threat from the team behind them, the Los Angeles Chargers, and the possibility of them trying to move up in this draft to take a quarterback that could be a future you know,

ten year starter. So I would say that the Dolphins have the ammo to move up in the order, and then you can always find ways stations that you can always But um, I think it's a lot less sexy to move down in the draft order, right, I mean, um, you move down and acquire extra picks, certainly that gives you even more flexibility. But um, you know, I think moving up is tends that tends to be the more

audacious move that people fixate on. So um, I think that the Dolphins want to be aggressive and move up the spot two or slot three, then they at least have the capital and make a formidable offer to any teams that negotiate with So if that were to happen, if the Dolphins were to make an aggressive move to go up the draft board, this is a kind of conversation that changes every year in terms of the value because we've seen a variety of compensation for those move

was up the board, whether it was the Bears going up one spot for Trabski, which isn't a whole lot, but Sam Donald in the Jets trade of the Colts three second round picks to go up three spots. You go back to two thousand twelve, the RG three trade that was a bounty of draft picks. How do teams try to figure out what the fair value is and how do you work that value when you're when you're maybe bargaining against someone else, like a team picking right

behind you, for instance. Yeah, I think really you made them. I think all the examples you gave UM remind us that it's impossible to say what the compensation will be, right. We just don't know. I mean, if the let's just say they negotiate with the Redskins that picked two, because the Redskins and I think personally this is unlikely, but they're toying with the idea of taking a quarterback, Well

then it might cost the steeper price. Or maybe they're the only ones talking to the red Skins, Well then it might not cost this tief of a price. But if you've got multiple teams that are um competing for one draft slot, then it's just a little bit different. So I don't know that I can say in a vacuum and it would cost more how much I expected to cost. There's a lot of variables, and we're still

thirty days away from the draft. But you know, I just would say that it just takes a little bit of logic to understand that your radar should be up on the possibility of the Dolphins making a trade and if it is in fact a quarterback the Dolphins select with their first pick in this year's draft, first of

fourteen draft picks they do currently possess. We had some offensive skill players with some breakout seasons last year from Devonte Parker over yards, Mica Sicky scored a bunch of touchdowns down the stretch, and Preston Williams was really getting

things going before his injury. And since you do host a fantasy football podcast, Field, what do you make of this Dolphins skill possessions out wide from that fantasy perspective, Yeah, DeVante Parker was awesome and he'll be drafted as such this upcoming year with a little bit more stability and his spots and certainly all of his production this past season was so so good and certainly a guy that you know, fulfilled the potential that they saw on him

when they took him, I believe fourteenth overall when he initially came out of Louis Vale. He will be drafted accordingly, And I think Mica Sink you will be a player that will also be drafted, uh, you know, as a starter at his position in fantasy football this year, and then you know, I think beyond that still an evolving picture. You know, Preston Williams was really really promising last year before his injury, but there are a lot of questions to answer there to see if he's fully up to

speed because of that injury issue last year. He is the ESPN insider and co host of the Fantasy Focus football podcast Field Yates. You can find him on Twitter at field Yates. Really appreciate your time today, man, all right, thanks so much for having me on. Good luck and looking forward catching up and give at some point soon those Field dates of ESPN. What a great interview that was.

That's a good spot to go ahead and button up this podcast with a reminder to subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast from. Go ahead and leave us a rating, leave us a review, and follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL. Follow the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins, check out the fish Tank and Audible podcast, and of course my Ammi Dolphins dot com. Until next time finds up, Time finds up. Time finds up