Free Agency Signing Analysis, Week 2 Preview and Roster Reset

roster activity. We're gonna take a look at the remaining free agent board heading into week two of free agency, Reset the roster and you guessed it, breakdown all the signings and roster moves with tape study, roster impact scheme fits all of that, and a whole bunch more on this Friday, March the nineteenth edition of the Drive Time Podcast.

And if you have not listen to the Wednesday edition of the Drive Time Podcast, or if you're new here to the Miami Dolphins podcast network, go back to the Wednesday show and get the breakdowns on Bernardrick McKinney, Isaiah Wilson,

Michael Pollardi, and Seethan Carter. And go ahead and hit that subscribe button because we're gonna be bringing you, guys interviews with each of the new acquisitions here with the Miami Dolphins as the new league year is here and we are talking free agency and new roster moves and how they might fit into the roster. And you know, we'd covered the day one aspect of free agency and played some audio there from coach Flora's about how maybe you can't always get what you want in free agency.

Well that played out kind of like he said it would on that podcast or on that interview in that press conference. And today we're gonna dive into the additions that really began to trickle in from reports late on Tuesday evening from those around the league, the Tom Pellacero's, the Ian Rapp Reports, the Adam Schefter is all the heavy hitters in the league, and then into Sdnesday morning,

a couple more additions to the roster. We're gonna go in chronological order, so we start here with the first one that came across that we did not cover on Wednesday, and that was Malcolm Brown, the running back formerly of the Los Angeles Rams now you're Miami Dolphins, an undrafted free agent out of Texas and of the St. Louis Rams, who of course moved to Los Angeles in two thousand sixteen.

But he spent all six of his years there in the NFL with the Rams average four yards per carry over his career one thousand, one hundred and eighty eight yards on the ground. He's two and twenty pounds and man watching this guy on tape, he packs a punch, an absolute hammer in short yard of situations, and he's got a nose for picking out blitzers in the passing game to really help buy his quarterback that extra half second.

When you watch a running back work through their past protection responsibilities inside out, you want to get the immediate pressure off the quarterback, whether it's the nose tackle a linebacker coming up the a gap, and then you work to the outside because it's a longer path of the quarterback, so take away the immediate pressure. And you see the way he processes that in the film. It seems to

really really click for this guy in past protection. So three down back that can stay on the football field. And the thing I like about his running style his legs never go dead upon contact. He squeezes every possible inch out of each run that he has, and he's kind of a build up speed type of guy that then seeks collisions in that second level You're gonna have fun watching this guy run the football. He's a smart runner with patients vision and a knack for finding lanes

in the passing game on screens, swings and flares. The Rams used him in every asset imaginable or every aspect of the game imaginable. So you think that that flexibility here has to have attracted him to the Miami Dolphins brass and the fit. You know, talking about the system

that he was in with the Rams. We all know Sean McVeigh runs one of the more popular schemes in the NFL in terms of the adaptations of it with Kyle Shanahan and San Francisco and Matt Lafleur with the Green Bay Packers and now Mike Lafleur up with the Jets. Any of that system in the NFL? And what's that system based upon wide zone runs that helps set up to play action bootleg to get the quarterback naked on

the backside and make throws that way. And as a result, two hundred and ten of Brown's three D and seven career attempts, so about two ten to ninety seven. Actually it's exactly two ten to ninety seven in terms of runs from gap scheme versus zone scheme, and it looked like to me he was best when he could get north and south and dropped that shoulder and inflict punishment that way. Looking at some of the stats we talked about past protection. One forty career pass protection snapped for

this guy. Zero sacks allowed, three hits, allowed, eleven pressures in his career, so he's really really adept in past protection. In fact, Jordan rod Riecke of The Athletic for Los Angeles RAMS said that he was both a great mentor to young backs fantastic and fantastic and pass protection, and that bears out here with the statistics and you know, keeping the quarterback upright nineties seven point nine percent of

his reps and pass for detection. He also converted six out of eight short yardage runs last year on third or fourth down that's third or fourth down with less than three yards to gain. He picked up six of

those eight attempts. He also forced seventeen miss tackles on one hundred and ten attempts last year, So he's gonna make guys miss, which really is the running backs job is to make the first tackler miss right he's so good at doing that, so you see the fit there as well, and the rams more than doubled his career passed targets in he caught twenty five or thirty four passes seventy five point three percent reception rate for one

hundred and seventy five yards. And I mentioned that he was good at picking up little little holes in the screen game. One hundred ninety four of those one d seventy five receiving yards came after the catch, so he caught the ball behind the line and gain yards that way. He fits into this backfield with Miles Gascon and Savan akh Met, a pair of sub two hundred pound backs,

the guys that had the most work last season. So he provides some balance in terms of that bigger back, short yardage prowess, a guy that can play on the field all three downs. Like we mentioned at not to leave out Patrick Lair, Jordan Scarlett, and Sethan Carter off this list, just talking about last year's top two production

running backs on the roster. He offers some juxtaposition to those guys, So you get some depth here, you get a three down back, and I don't think this prevents the Dolphins from continuing to address the running back position as we head towards the draft. More on that here in just one second at the end of this podcast.

But the number one takeaway for him is that I think that he ran so much outside zone with the Rams, and I think that kind of the inside runs inside zone or gap scheme or duo, some things he can do inside might be better for his skill set as far as a match for Malcolm Brown. So that signing came in on or the announcement of that signing came in on Tuesday night, the rumors from I believe it

was Tom Pellaicero. We also got another addition to the backfield or reports of that addition to the backfield on Tuesday night, with quarterback Jacoby Brissette. And the note that I put down here with Brissette is the juxtaposition from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Jacoby Brissette as your backup orderback you want to talk about risk adverse. His one point three percent interception rate is the lowest in NFL history among all quarterbacks with at least nine pass attempts. He's not

going to put the ball in harm's way. So if he comes off the bench in relief of ta If Tua gets injured and has to come out of the game, this guy is gonna come in, protect the football, manage the game, and keep you in the game and let

your run game and defense take advantage that way. He also, you want to talk about a prime mentor a guy that is beloved by his teammates, Go check out any time he gets on the field for the Colts, and he did a lot last year because they would use him on sneaks and hell Mary throws and stuff like that at the end of football games in place of Philip Rivers trying to protect the now retired quarterback, and Bursett would get mugged by his teammates every single time

that he was able to convert a first down or make a big play for his offense. Absolutely beloved by his teammates. They're in Indianapolis. He started thirty games in his career. Began his career back in team with the Patriots, then much traded to the to the Colts, where he spent the next four years of his career. Six ft four two d thirty eight pounds, A big, big body back there, big stature in the pocket. He's tough to bring down, and he's got some some subtle little instincts

and nuance and movement in the pocket. He's not gonna Lamar Jackson youa and take a zone read off the edge and run for eighty yards. Doesn't have that kind of long speed or athletic ability, but when the pocket crumbles, he can slide around and show you that pocket mobility and find a new platform to throw the football from. Or he can scramble. He had two hundred to scramble yards in that per Pro Football Focus, so he can make plays off script. He also averages two point nine

four seconds from snap to throw. His last year in Indianapolis, there was a starter nineteen. So he's more of a traditional drop back thrower with a big strong arm that kind of lets things develop and sees the thing that the route concepts developed down the football field. Has a big, big strong arm. He can stretch the field both vertically

and horizontally. Because of that, so thirteen interceptions in his career on n three pass attempts, one point three pick percentage, and again, although not an open open field burner, his pocket mobility allows him to make big plays down the field. As for the fit here in Miami. You know, we talk all the time about the Dolphins desire to be this team that can adapt according to what the defense or the offense on the other side of the football

might do. To you from their game plan standpoint, how to attack their weaknesses, how to be a week to

week game plan team. And to me, Brissette's experience in so many different schemes and under so many different coaches and different systems really gives you that flexibility at the backup quarterback spot, because one of the backup quarterback's main jobs is to help prepare your starting quarterback, whether it's going through the third down reel of the opposing defense or their blitz reel, picking things up, showing him, hey, here's a couple of weaknesses I saw in their scheme

where you can attack when they do X, Y and Z. And you know, his rookie season with the Patriots, he oversaw what was a run heavy attack when he came into the game after Brady was suspended and Garoppolo was injured. He played for two and a half games. Actually his first game was against our Miami Dolphins, and he saw this run heavy attack basically a Cam Newton style offense where they just ran, ran, ran, quarterback lead a lot

of that with him at the controls. He then served as Brady's backup for the twelve games remaining that season in seen, and that, of course we know is a complex rhythm based timing scheme with countless site adjustments for the receiver, so you have to be sharp and precise

in that regard. Then seen with the Colts Rob chad Zinski, who if you go to this article on Indianapolis Colts dot com, he talks about that week to week adaptability and he's been all over college in pro football too, So some more nuance in the system verbi agent understanding of multiple schemes for for Jacoby Brissette, and then from he plays under the uber aggressive Frank Reich and now Nick Sirianni the head coach with the with the Eagles

and played in their offensive system which was down field, four verts, attack, attack attacks, So multiple schemes for Jacoby Brissette. And you know I talked about him coming onto the field for Philip rivers in rushing situations or sneak situations. Seventeen rushes last year only average one point one yards per carry, which is a great stat but he converted twelve of those seventeen rushes into touchdowns or first downs three touchdowns and nine first down so he can he

can push the pile. And he started fifteen games back in twenty nine team for Andrew Luck passed for just under three thousand yards, eighteen touchdowns and six picks with the passer rating of eighty eight point oh that year, play action seven touchdowns, one interception, under pressure, four touchdowns, one interception, and deep passing twenty yards or more down the field, he was twelve for forty three eight yards, two touchdowns and a pick and a passer rating a

fifty one point one. So Jacoby Brissett steps into the roster as a backup quarterback, and again, not only does he provide that veteran experience that veterans sound board for the twenty three year old to a tongue of byaloa, he can come in and manage the offense to victory in the event that the starting quarterback goes down. So those guys came in. The news came in late on Tuesday, Wednesday morning, We wake up out here on the West coast,

were recorded the podcast. Right now, we got news about two defensive additions, and before we jump into Justin Coleman, just a general note on the defensive editions so far. I mean, they haven't been the Markee type of signings that's gonna make the entire COGNIZENTI as it were, really lose their collective minds. But you look at how each

of these pieces might plug into this defense. That reminder was number one and third down defense last year and number one and takeaways, two very very important traits of playing effective defense. I think they got better in both

of those areas. Let's go ahead and start here with Justin Coleman and my notes on him after you know, going back over his Seahawks tape, because this is a guy whose career began with the Patriots and Brian Flores as well as Josh Boyer up in New England and he played there for a couple of seasons before winding up with the Sea Hawks for two years and then

spent his last two years with the Lions. And he came into the league as an undrafted free agent with the Vikings, but then signed with the Patriots before camp got going or before the season got going, and played his ball there. But you look at his skill set, it's painfully easy to see why the Dolphins would have

interest in Justin Coleman sticky, aggressive corner. It's got inside outside flexibility and the familiarity he has with the system, again coming from the New England you know system a few years back, but he still played in it, and more of his snaps are on the slot than on the perimeter. But he has shown the ability to cover from that position. Sometimes referred to as the toughest job on defense. Gerald Alexander actually called the nickel spot the

toughest spot on defense last season. And Coleman can handle the responsibilities of kind of funneling and bracketing and doubling in that spot. But he can do more than that. He can handle it by himself without that safety help.

And here's the reason why I think he can. He's very, very patient at the line of scrimmage, whether he's up and press, whether he wants to throw a jam or just mirror and react that way, or when he's off kind of in that five yard range, you'll see guys try to close the space between he and the line of scrimmage, and he just patiently sits there and waits and reacts to the movement of the receiver, and this

helps him drive on the ball. He's got forty one career pass breakups, a couple of picks, and two touchdowns, and that's that's how he gets there. Because he's so patient, he's so studied. He drives out of that not even really a drop, just out of his initial alignment and makes plays in the football. And I think the reason he can get away with that because again, in that slot position, there are two way goes. You can be

beat outside inside and on the outside. It's tougher because sometimes the progression of the route you have to win. Inside it you're only option. But in the slot you've always got that two way go inside outside. And the reason I think that he's so adept at handling this is because he has exceptionally quick feet and change of direction skills. You go back to his measurements at the combine and the player profile dot Com track some fantasy stats,

but it also measures the player's explosivity rankings. From an analytical standpoint, he is in the percentile for his agility score, which covers three cone ten yards split. Some of the other metrics that measure how quick a guy can get in and out of breaks and change directions, and man, he is fun to watch in that regard because this

guy is uber athletic. He was a high school track star, ran eleven second one, also finished second in his class in four a Georgia for the three hurdles, So a super super athlete, which is so necessary at that spot for a Brian Floores and Josh Boyer in Miami Dolphins coach defense, they love to have guys with ball skills, long speed guys that can play man coverage and track the football in the air. And they've got a bunch

of these guys now. And Justin Coleman joins that group in a group where you can never have enough good cornerbacks in this league. And I believe Justin Coleman, after a dip in production the last two seasons with the Lions, I think this guy is a very very good football player. I think you're gonna have a better chance to have him get back to his Seahawks form because of the system, because of the scheme, because of the fit here in Miami.

And speaking of the fit in Miami, one of the interesting aspects of this addition, as I was looking at the Dolphins roster, Coleman is the sixth player in the Dolphins secondary who has at least five years of NFL experience, and I thought that seems like a lot because this is such a young roster. So I went back and looked. The receivers have three players with five or more years of experience in Devonte Parker, Alan Hearns and Albert Wilson.

The offensive line has two with Eric Flowers and Jesse Davis. And by the way, Ted carrossiwn at the Patriots now, so he is no longer on the roster, but they had two guys on the offensive line and no other position group had multiple players with five or more years

of experience. So I thought about that and how in Ted role it is to have guys on that back end that can communicate that don't have the breakdowns because, as once again G. A. Gerald Alexander said, last season, big plays come through communication breakdowns in the defensive backfield. And we saw Bobby Kine, Eric Roe just like a foodsball tables what I always call it. The way they moved was in tandem. There was never like guys turning around putting their palms up to the air. Like I

thought you had him this time. That just didn't happen this season because for me, because of the veteran experience and communication on that back end with McCain, row Xavien Howard, Byron Jones, and then of course Brandon Jones and Nick Needing, a couple of young players sprinkled in there. But now you get Justin Coleman, a veteran, experienced player back there that can just continue to help that and help you

excel in that. I also think he gives you a great matchup opportunity when teams roll out those four receiver sets or even three receiver sets if he plays the nickel, because who led the league last year and ten personnel sets the Buffalo Bills, and they just destroyed teams with four receiver sets, And so you kind of combat that

by ushering extra defensive backs onto the field. And remember Miami with formations with six or more defensive backs were seventh most in the NFL last season, So they use a lot of defensive backs in the defense to help combat the modern day passing attacks of opposing offenses. And again back to Coleman in that sticky man coverage, I just think this gives you another guy that can help you play that cover zero look, can help you press man, can help really just lock up the first two seconds

of the route while the pass rush gets home. I think it's a great fit, a great match. Some of his stats. This guy has a nose for the football to career touchdowns, four force fumbles, four more recovered fumbles, and has logged a total of forty one passes defense in his career. And here's a stat for you. Opposing quarterbacks when targeting Coleman in the slot position over his career have a passer rating of just eighties six point one.

So he's played so well in that position. And two years with Flores em Bowyer back in fifteen and sixteen, thirty nine receptions on seventy eight targets. That's fifty completion for four hundred and sixty seven yards at five point nine nine yards per target, so under six yards per target. What an early career he had there with the Patriots and the Seahawks. Bit of a lull death of Lions. We'll see if he can kind of rebound and get

back to his old ways. I think he can here in this system, joining that that secondary full of established veterans, ball hawks, guys that play tight, sticky man coverage, and I just think he fits the bill athletically mentally with a smart, tough, physical, smart player. I'm very excited about this. Justin Coleman signing, and speaking of signings, I am excited about. Let's go ahead and finish up the Wednesday activity with Adam Butler, who I was pretty pumped on Bernardrick McKinney.

Adam Butler can play football, man. This guy is a football player through and through all four seasons so far in his career up there with the Patriots. And you want to talk about consistency for an undrafted free agent comes in and plays the highest snap workload of his career that rookie year five hundred twenty four snaps and the rest of his time four eight four four eight

one snaps. He's played forty seven or forty eight possible games, consistently plays the same amount of reps every single season. His QB pressures and twenty eight. He just consistently does the same stuff year in and year out, the same deal on the run stop side of things. And when you look at his body composition and the tape six ft five three pounds thirty three inch arms, and that pairs well with a one oh one inch broad jump

and nearly thirty inches on the vertical leap. Tells you about his lower body explosive explosiveness, and it gives him a very quick get off. He is scary quick out of his stance. He can shoot gaps and penetrate upfield as a one gapper, or he can park the bus and play strength and more of a read and react to gap style of defensive tackle man. He uses that weight to lean on opposing centers and guards and that

forces them into this retreat position. We're from there. He can then use that lateral quickness and his active hands to help him kind of create momentum, get those guys off balance and then eventually earn the leverage and beat them and both pass rush and run situations. And talking about lateral agility, where do you need that the most? That's right when you execute games slants, twist stunts, and the Dolphins called those things so often. He is a

perfect fit for that job. And though most of his third down work comes pretty much nose up over the over the center and that nose tackle position or with a shade one technique off either shoulder of that center. He is capable of playing multiple positions. On early downs, he would kick outside to a three technique or sometimes a two or two I, which the three technique is

the outside shoulder of the guard. The two technique is head up over that guard, and just again execute a variety of of calls one gap to gap, twist, stunts, slants, whatever it might be. And he comes to Miami to fortify a defensive line that had plenty of success in

two thousand twenty. The Dolphins are strengthening a strength on the roster right here by getting Adam Butler involved his production, but also his selflessness to help create chances for his teammates, because this guy will set picks and create lanes for pass rushers. I just pictured Jerome Baker and Bernardrick McKinney mugged up in a gaps with Adam Butler on either side, and all three of those guys have extremely explosive first step quickness. And you've got the power of McKinney, the

agility of Baker and Butler. With a little bit of both of those two things, you can drop any of them un coverage because Adam Butler has fallen back into that hook zone, kind of like Christian Wilkins last year, getting that big I n T. You can confuse pass protection schemes. You can beat them immediately with one of those first step quicknesses off the snap. I mean, these guys they meshed together and pair together so well from

that one formation that perspective, I love the fit. Butler has fifteen career sacks nineties, six total tackles, nine career passes defense he's forced to fumble and again, like I mentioned, played in forty seven out of forty eight possible games twenty run stops back in nineteen. That was a career high. Had fourteen last year as well. So he helps the interior defensive line kind of to me toss their hat in the ring for the best position group on the team.

Christian Wilkins, Zack Seeler, Ray Kwon Davis, and Benito Jones is there as well, where each significant contributors in playing a variety of roles and producing against both the run and the past. And we talked about this as far as how the flexibility of these Dolphins players and a positionless defense can help you have that flexibility now with these four defensive tackles, you can really kind of use them for defensive end snaps. You can use them for

defensive tackle snaps. I think it all just comes together very well at that position. And in addition to really piling up hurries, hits and sacks, this guy just he is such a team friendly pass rusher who will stay true to his gap and rush and set picks and just blow up blockers and create lanes for his guy.

So I am super excited about this position and again to fortify that third down defense man with the pass rush, the ability to put quarterbacks at kind of some unease in the middle of the formation staring down Baker McKinley

or McKinney rather and Adam Butler. And I think you've got your penetrator with Adam Butler, your blitzer with Bernardic McKinney, and now a new slot that can help you rotate where the double teams go and confuse the quarterback that way because they might not know where the brackets gonna come from, and give me that good aggressive man coverage

across the board. The Dolphins third down defense was the best in the National Football League last year, and I think it got better and back on the offensive side of the football, the Dolphins at a receiver and Robert Foster, who was undrafted in out of Alabama. He signed with the Buffalo Bills and had a nice rookie season twenty seven catches, five d forty one yards for an average

of twenty yards per catch. He scored three touchdowns, catching sixty one percent of his passes for twelve point three yards per target. And I had Joe Marino, the host of Lockdown Bills, on an episode of the Lockdown Dolphins podcast a couple of years ago, and he had Foster pegged for a breakthrough candidate in twenty nineteen. It didn't happen that way. He caught three passes that year and then moved on to Washington last season, where he caught

two passes for thirty seven yards. But he's a four three three forty yard dash guy, explosive as all get out, six foot too, just as Smidge under two hundred pounds, he can flat burn. He'll have a chance to kind of get back to that form here with the Miami

Dolphins this season. All right, there's a good little gap to go ahead and add any additional free agents that do sign with Miami over the next couple of days, and as we head into the weekend, and speaking of that happy March Madness, y'all, I mean, how bad did you miss having that tournament last year? March Madness has to me always been the bridge between the Super Bowl and baseball season that helps complete that lull in the sports calendar. And I will say, I am finding myself

getting more and more into the Miami Heat. I've tried for a long time. Dwayne Wade really helped, and he first came into the league back in two thousand four three. But the super team that won two titles definitely helped as well. But you just can't force love. And my heart still belonged to the Seattle Super so US for over a decade after they left town here. But I find myself checking Heat scores and air dropping the games onto my TV from my phone. So let's go Heat, baby.

But still I'm excited that we get Marsh Madness this year. Let's go ahead and pick this thing back up with the free agent board what it still has to offer. And again, we might have to edit this thing a bit before publishing as we try to make the podcast as up to date as we possibly can be. Just bear with me. If we don't get to something on this podcast, we'll get to you on the next podcast. So just well, we'll get it all. We'll get it all in trust me. That's what drive time does here.

We're comprehensive. We include everything. And speaking of that, we're going to exclude the quarterback and running back possession here and the free agent look ahead because of Burssette and Brown into and start with what has been the most interesting position so far in free agency. The wide receivers Corey Davis, Nelson, agil Or Kendrick born A, J. Green go off the board Marvin Jones early in the week.

And those guys all ranked in that you know, fifty to fifty range of those top PFF, NFL dot com whatever list you looked at, those guys would off the board first. And how weird is that it's almost always top of the market first, reset, reassess, and then the second wave goes off. But these guys go first, while some guys that were top ten, top twenty on the free agent list for PFF guys like Kenny Golladay, Juju Smith, Schuster, it'll be interesting to see what type of deals these

guys get if they can be in Miami's plans. As the Dolphins continue to add value buys to bolster rotations in depth and create more flexibility for one and two, and not just with the cap, but they're giving themselves draft flexibility, which me to me allows you to stick to your price points because you can just say to his prospective free agent, hey, we have four picks in the top fifty. We can address those positions and any

four of those spots and be totally okay. But as far as the free agent board goes, I'm still intrigued by those names by t Y Hilton, will Fuller, and Demere Bird, who all remain unsigned. On the offensive line, Ted Carris, we mentioned this earlier, signed with the Patriots, and that gives us Michael Dieter with some college experience and he played some there in the preseason back in two thousand and nineteen, and Jesse Davis who played there in camp last year a little bit but not much,

and also Cameron tom who's on a futures contract. As your centers under contract right now, So let's get a look at this class. And I think David Andrews probably tops the market currently, the guy that Ted Carriss is going to New England to supposedly replaced, which is funny because they were both on that roster together for a few years and Carriss was his backup and a guard backup as well, the swing interior guy. But David Andrews has been a very good player for a long time.

To me, he's the top center on the market. Will see what happens with him and where he winds up, but that's I guess. Besides that, it's the center market in free agency is always pretty thin. This year. I also like Nick Martin from Houston. He's a good player, but other than that, seems like he's a little bit The market's a little bit thin at that center spot. Now where else the market is thin is at the edge position because so many players have signed from that

position group, whether it's outside linebackers or defensive ends. And we covered this with the Adam Butler signing giving Miami for damn good defensive tackles that maybe you can kind of adjust the scheme and just have your Emmanuel Ogbas and you're Andrew Van Geinkles and and possibly some work from Jason Strowbridge as well as the draft and whatever

that brings you. But currently, I think right now there's one bell of the ball at the edge position, and that of course is Jadeveon Clowney, who has been connected to the Dolphins a couple of times in the past, but he is a free agent right now. He remains unsigned and truthfully probably is the only guy out there on the market that you can expect to sign, plug him in and get eight hundred plus snaps out of currently. Of course, again, the draft might offer you some options

that way as well. So we look at the rest of the group. On defense, I think defensive back, you know, you could have some more bargain possible shops back there, as you can never have enough defensive backs and good cover corners, and that linebacker. We'll see what happens there as well. But Bonargac McKinney and Jerome Baker, those are two guys that rarely leave the field, So anybody coming into that group is gonna have to either beat them out or serve as backup roles behind those guys. So

we'll cover more of this as it goes along. Here. I want to go ahead and finish up this edition of the Drive Time podcast kind of a week one recap, take a look at the roster and way where the needs still exists, where the opportunities are, where we might go in the draft. Let's go ahead and start at the quarterback position and do sort of a rapid fire edition, and starting with those qbs. Obviously to a tongue, by lower your starter, you'r your player you're hoping to develop

and and turn into a long term answer. Here at the quarterback spot with Jacoby Brissette as your backup, I think you have to look at those top two guys and feel pretty good about your ability to both win games and develop that young guys the starter. And then if he goes down in the game and you need snaps or throws from your backup quarterback, you can do a lot worse than Jacoby Brissette at that backup quarterback spot. And then read Senet on a futures contract will compete

and develop as well at the running back spot. We talked about this pretty in depth gascon acmed Laird and Malcolm Brown with Jordan's Scarlett on a futures contract. I think there's an area of opportunity there whether it's in the draft, in free agency, and come back and add another body to that room, maybe a guy that's that fits this mold of three down backs and a guy

that can play of your workload on Sundays. We know by now about the top three guys in that first tier with Travis E, t n Nag Harris, and Javonte Williams. Benjamin Saliac broke that down on the podcast for US last week. I think if you if you want to go that route, to me, all three of those guys could go in the first round, and to me, all three of them will be off the board by pick thirty six, So you could see some maneuvering if that's

where you want to go. You could make a pick at eighteen there if you want to go that route. But there are multiple options and multiple scenigos for the Dolphins should they choose to go out and acquire another running back and continue to attack that position at receiver.

We've talked about this market at length. I think the way that the free agent market develops will be highly intriguing and couldn't provide Miami with veteran options and maybe this deep draft classes helping kind of whole things up there at the top as teams look to possibly get a game breaker on night one, and maybe even valuable contributors even as rookies in year one on day two and in the early day three even but with Parker, Williams, Bowden Grant, Perry Hearns and Wilson and Kirk Merat on

a futures contract, there is talent in the room. But as Brian Flores and Chris Career mentioned in their joint press conference a couple of months back, adding playmakers is a priority, and there are between free agency and the draft a ton of playmakers to be had at that spot. At tight end, I think you feel pretty good about the position. We've discussed my affinity for Kyle Pitts, and I don't really classify him as a tight end. I think you just drop him into your offense and worry

about descriptions for him later. But you add this h back type and Seethan Carter to the dangerous Mike Ga Sicky and the rock solid good inline blockers and Durham Smith and Adam Shaheen, with Chris Meyer still developing, you feel pretty good about that group there. Now we mentioned Ted Harris and David Andrews at center position that right now appears to be one spot you might need to add a body to be able to line up on Sundays.

And before I continue that thought, I am interested to see where Michael Dieter is at this point in his development. Year three out of out of the third round back in twenty nine team. But if they want to make a splash there, David Andrews is a damn good player. And then Creed Humphrey and Landon Dickerson to me are around one plug and play. You hand them their draft cap. You also hand the starting position night one or the draft if you make that move. Those are the three

guys that are kind of in my cross hairs. I'm also interested in tackle depth in this draft because I think they're going to be some really good players that get pushed down because of how good this class is. A guy like Samuel cos Me out of Texas comes to mind as a bruising right tackle type. On defense, I waxed poetic about the interior defensive line, so I'll mostly be good there at that spot unless it's like

a Day three space eater type. But the edge, I think there are all kinds of options there if you want more of a Shack loss In type replacement. Carlos Basham from Wake Forest, a guy I've talked about on this podcast a lot. If you're looking for a Kyle van Nois replacement, and that's not McKinney, guys completely different players.

If you're looking for a van Nois replacement, I think you might look at Texas as Joseph Aside, because like Van Noy, he was an off ball guy that moved to edge, and this last season at Texas was the only tape he had there and showed a lot of bite despite only having one condensed season of tape at that position. And he was even a little bit unrefined at that spot, still getting production as he learned the position.

So I picture him with coaching from a Flora as in a Boy or Austin Clark and Robbie Leonard, and I like his chances there in that spot as well. Zaven Collins another big time prospect at first round type prospect and attractive option we've covered on this podcast as well. Linebacker again, just I think we're pretty much good there unless they want to add depth. I think corner is pretty well taken care of as well with Justin Coleman, especially with Noah Ignagny still in tow and developing. I

have very high expectations for him as well. And then it's safety again. I think you exclusively look to the rookies like a Tyree Gillespie from Missouri. He is my guy. Outstanding instincts and play speed, a guy that I would be thrilled to get. Maybe late day too, early day three.

So with week one of free agency about to wrap, receiver, draft and or free agency, running back probably through the draft, center, draft or free agency, tackle depth in the draft, edge through the draft, and maybe a safety through the draft as well. That's my take. That's my time. That's the week here on this edition of Drive Time. A reminder we're gonna have exclusive interviews with the new acquisitions here on the Drivetime podcast. We'll start start rolling those out

sometime next week. In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe, rate, review the podcast on Apple podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast from. Keep your eye out for us on YouTube. We're coming your way on YouTube here soon. Follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL. Follow the team at my end Dolphins. Check out the Fish Tank and the Audible podcast, and of course Miami Dolphins

dot com. We're gonna have scheme fit film study stats posted too Miami dolphins dot com with all of these players breaking them down here as they become official. Until next time, fins Up.