Intriguing Camp Competitions

I am your host, Travis Wingfield, And on today's show, we're gonna get you caught up on the latest from around the web regarding your Miami Dolphins, will preview the NFC South, a division the Dolphins played this season as we resume the NFL preview series for this season, and we'll get into my favorite camp battles coming up next

month in Miami Gardens. All of that and a whole bunch more on this edition of the Drive Time Podcasts, and the opening segment during the summer shows is turning a bit into the TV talk of the podcast and real quick, my wife and I started a show together this last week, which is a bit of a rare occurrence since we have almost polar opposite tastes when it comes to well everything pop culture. But the morning show on Apple TV is pretty gripping and Jennifer Aniston is

an absolute monster in it. And I don't mean like a bad character or anything. She just dominated the performance as an actor all the way through, and season two just came out, so we're about halfway through season one. I would highly recommend that for individual watch or for a couple's watch. It's a good kind of back and forth men and women type of thing, and just a really good show with some star studied characters in the

cast as well. Alright, So the theme of this offseason for the Miami Dolphins, and really the goal anytime, according to head coach Brian Flores and GM Chris Career, is to create competition. And the team feels good about out their ability to do just that this offseason, as we have heard repeatedly in media availabilities. So I wanted to take a look at some of the battles that are going to ensue next month that I'm most intrigued to

watch play out in late July and into August. With camp in the preseason, and I've mentioned this on the pot a few times, but this team will have some really tough decisions to make it come cut down day. But that's where you want to be better than the opposite. So let's go ahead and take a look at my top camp battles. And I want to preface this by saying you know, no jobs are going to be given. All of this is I think the word is presumptive based upon what we know or what we've seen so far.

But in the NFL, every day, the information can change, so any assumptions are just that, they're assumptions. And so in no particular order. Well, actually there is a bit of an order here. It's the order by which I always go down the roster, which is quarterback, running back, receiver, tight end, offensive line, defensive line, linebacker, and we finished in the defensive backfield. And for our specialist. Uh, there

are four specialists on the roster. Two of those guys are long snappers, so I guess Blake Ferguson and Rex Sunahara battling it out there for that job. And then All Pro place kicker Jason Sanders returns as the only kicker on the roster, and Michael Pollardi currently the only punter on the roster, So that would be our specialist on the end of that list there. But up first on our list is the number two running back role.

And even that feels like it might be a bit of a stretch because we know this position across the league has really become more committee than any other position group, and the Dolphins will certainly alter their plan based upon the opponent that given week. And that's another disclaimer we

should probably disclose here. Gone are the days of projecting a whole season's worth of playing time or depth charts or plans for a particular season, because really, when you preview the season, you're kind of previewing week one, because again, information changes all the damn time, and maybe for a handful of other teams, it's not like we talked about with the Miami Dolphins, where you change a base upon

your opponent that week. And I don't know that maybe a handful of teams to operate in that sense that this is my outside linebacker and he's playing at outside linebacker unless he's able to go. You might recall we had Dick Anderson on the podcast last year and he talked about this how in his day, if you were the starting defensive end or the starting free safety or whatever it might have been, you played every snap. Your backup only came into the game if you were injured.

It's just crazy to think about how much the game has changed. Anyway, we are off the frigging rails already, I talked about committee, but when Myles Gaskin was available last season, it really wasn't much of a committee. And that was entering the season where he was again the presumptive, again the key word here, but among the national presumptive perspective.

He was the number three back heading into track any camp with the additions of Jordan Howard and Matt Brita in the backfield, respectively, but from Game one he was the dude, playing of the offensive snaps in that opener up in Foxborough, only to see that number increase the next two weeks up to sixty five and then seventy

percent in the Week three win at Jacksonville. He was then sixty sixty three, seventy, and then eight eight percent in the Rams game to round out the first half of the season before he missed the next four games. He came back to play the Bengals and was in their first seventy one percent of the offensive snaps, missed two more games, and then finished the season playing seventy percent of the reps in Vegas and sixty one up in Buffalo. But he's not the only back on the

roster that can play. You've got a nice variety of skill sets in that room, aside from what Miles brings which jives with the weekly game plan idea. Malcolm Brown and Savan Akhmed have the most pelts on the wall in terms of their NFL production, especially with regards to last season. Patrick Laird settled into a nice special team's role last year and had a key a crucial third down conversion in the Patriots game in the second half

at the tailback position. And then we've got rookie Jared Oaks, who is an absolute maven and past protection in college. Jordan's Scarlett, who coached Flores, has mentioned they're a fan of what he brings this offseason a few times. And a former fifth round draft pick who's actually the highest drafted player in the entire running back room. And Carl Tucker is in the room too, but he's a fullback, so not really part of this conversation for the point

of this podcast. So Brown the hammer, the guy that can drop those two and twenty two pounds and forced defensive backs into business decisions. A guy that can catch the football out of the backfield. He can also get out wide on stretch runs too, even at that size, and that stature a guy that can push a pile forward in short yardage, the thunder to the lightning that has savan Akhmed who have we seen turn on the

jets on those afore mentioned outside runs. And also I don't believe his forty yard dash time that is reported across when he ran in a a pro day back at you Dub, because there's a story on online about how he packed on some weight and his run up to the draft and ran a little bit slower than he expected. But on that thirty one yard run in that same win over New England in week fifteen, that was not four point six speed, not even close. He can burn much faster trails than that. So I don't think we

have a clear cut winner here. I think it's game plan specific, and I know camp and preseason will be great competition for reps, and I think all of these guys are in the mix to earn some of them, and running back is one of the possessions that I value the experience of watching the most in the preseason from my own personal evaluation, because you can get a

sense of how hard a guy runs. I think that always translates and carries over into the season and it feels like every single August, and you know, last year didn't count because of course there was no preseason. But I think you'd be hard pressed to imagine James Robinson and Jacksonville, the undrafted free agent who went for over

a thousand yards in his rookie season. I would probably venture to guess he would have had a dominant August last year if there were preseason games, and especially in the modern training camp era where there's not as much contact and tackling to the ground, I think those preseason games are really really valuable to get a look at

what your running back room can do. So I'm taking a close look at that running back room, not just in practice, but in this year's preseason games to see how they round out the rotation with Miles Gaskin, Malcolm Brown, Savan Akhmed Patrick Lair, Jordan's Scarlett and Jared Oakes the

rookie running back there out of Cincinnati. At the receiver room, that's where we go next, and it's the entire room, because I think we've still got to sort out the players you want as your primary snaptakers up top, and then of course you have specific package deployments. Do you go big and personnel. When you're in, for instance, your twelve personnel package, do you go with speed merchants in that package? You have stions that you can decide throughout

the course of training camp. And I do think it's pretty safe to say that Will Fuller, Davante Parker, and Jalen Waddle are going to get some playing time. And coach mentioned that camp will be the time where they kind of sorted out and find out the best five, six or seven guys to keep on this receiver roster. And the room is so deep that it might well force Miami into keeping seven guys, like coach mentioned as a possibility, and that would be akin to what some

of these college programs have been doing these days. And I heard this mentioned on the Move the Sticks podcast on NFL Media podcast, and Daniel Jeremiah mentioned that he was at a passing camp and the camp had something like a hundred forty campers listed as receivers and there were only nine defensive backs on the field, nine of them against the one forty. That's insane. Like, you go out there as a receiver, you might get two reps

where dbs are getting fifty sixty reps. Because they have to go through all these receivers, and so with all these receivers kind of growing on trees these days, with all the passing camps and all the emphasis on explosive offensive football, colleges can kind of run these line changes of sorts to borrow a hockey term and just try to stay fresh. Now, I don't think that is quite how it's gonna work in the NFL going forward, as we've seen the college game kind of milled into the

pro game more and more the last few years. But you can be five or six or seven deep, like coach mentioned, because there are so many good ones out there, and we've got our hands on several of them down

here in South Florida. Preston Williams mentioned it Tuesday. An accomplished player when he's healthy, can really sink his hips in the top of his routes, which push the dB on their heels at the top of the stem, and that pairs so well with his size and his vertical arsenal that produced some damn fine catches down the field in practice, in preseason and eventually on Sunday. So far in his two years as a pro out of Colorado State, Lynn Bowden Jr. We saw his role last year elevate

as the year went along. A dual functionality player who can work as a ball carrier, wildcat trigger man in addition to his work as a receiver. And just look at what he did in the SEC as a receiver converted to quarterback to make up for the injuries Kentucky had when he was there. He goes out and sets SEC records for most rushing yards by a quarterback in a game and plenty of other just astronomical accolades he

accomplished there at Kentucky. He's the ultimate competitor, a tough guy, a rack guy in an offense that showed some rhythm and the short passing game and how he can create off of those kind of layup type of throws you want to build into the passing game to get your quarterback confidence, get completions going shorten the sticks, you break one tackle, you get a first down. There you go, baby, there's your drive starter. And that's what Lynn Lynn Bowden Jr.

Can bring to an offense. And he also showed a real chemistry late in the season. I thought with two a tongo byloa and speaking of rack guys. Albert Wilson is now two and a half years removed from that hip injury in ten and he looks like it. He

can also carry the football, mentioning Boden. As you might recall, he rushed for two first downs another one in nineteen on top of thirty three receiving first downs those two years combined, and his yards per reception figure I thought I found very interesting over the course of his career, sixteen point three as a rookie, twelve point nine the following season, then a dip to nine point oh, then it comes back up to thirteen point two, and way back up to fifteen point oh in his first in Miami,

and then it goes down to eight point two en, So he can really to me, that tells me that he can run routes at all three levels of the field, the short, the intermediate, and the deep. But he's really a difficult tackle in space, especially when you get in the fourth quarter down here in South Florida, as the teen Chicago Bears learned quickly in that game where Bert just caught footballs and wouldn't be tackled in that game, I think that provides real, real value. Again with this

quarterback and what he excels at. You know who else is dangerous with the ball in their hands, well, Jachim Grant. In fact, he led the NFL and missed tackles forced on punt returns in twenty that's per next Gen stats. We've seen the vertical threat and flashes. We've seen the dominance as a punt returner, and we recently saw the ability to take the top off the defense and that mini camp video on the long reception off the hand

of Tongue Bailoa. And one of my favorite things to watch every single training camp is the suddenness with which Jachem Grant practices with. He is a practice pro out there and he creates a ton of separation and I see no reason to expect that to change this August. So that's seven. But we aren't even close to being done yet. This is again no particular order here. Mac Hollins is one of the best special teams aces in

the league. He's also one hell of a blocker in the run game, which, for my money, is the single most overlooked element all of football receivers who can block down the field. You see a big writing play, you're gonna see a receiver blocking someone yards down the field. He also made two huge, huge catches last year, the game tying touchdown in Arizona and the fits Mary. I don't know what we're calling it, but the miracle in Las Vegas. Fantastic body control and field awareness to stay

and bounce on that catch in the Honey Hoole. But wait, there's more. I'm a big Malcolm Perry fan. When I had coach ken Niya mant Lolo of Navy on the podcast last summer, he said Malcolm was the best runner with the ball he's ever coached. And remember how many great runners Navy has had under his watch there in that triple option offense. What about Robert Foster who had one of the best mini camps at the position in

my opinion, and he's fast as all get out. He can play special teams, and if you recall those early Sean McDermott Buffalo Bills, Robert Foster was one of the most productive receivers on that team and one of the most productive rookies in the league in that class. He had five d forty one yards and three touchdowns and average an absurd twelve point three yards perk. Target. That's

a crazy number. Alan Hurds made some tough catches, important catches in enough so that he earned a contract extension that year and the average eight point nine yards per target that season, and made a bunch of really tough

catches contested catches between the numbers. Kirk Merritt, like Foster, had an excellent many camp and another one of those physical freaks with the build and like so many of his teammates on that four three four four range of forty yard dash times and the infusion of speed on this team this offseason, it sure was something, wasn't it?

And I know Kirk was last offseason, but he's just another one of these guys that can flat out fly and last but not least, Kai Locksley an interesting skill set as a former dual threat quarterback who posted eight hundred and seventy five rushing yards and eleven touchdowns on the ground in two years at you TEP after transferring

from Texas. So I look at this group and at the battle for I don't know, two three four, maybe even five spots, and I think you have such tough decisions to make, but you can also make them based upon what you think the needs of the roster are at that point, right because you've literally got everything from speed, size, power, running after the catchability, special teams, prowess, it's all there

in that unit and staying with the past catchers. Let's go ahead and stop by the tight end room real quick. We talked about Mike Asiki's ascension to one of the top ten producing tight ends in the NFL the last two seasons, but what about what's with him in that tight end room? How will the pecking order shake out in that role that kind of pairs well with Mike and his ability as a receiver. If Mike is your fine red wine, who's gonna be the steak to go

with the sizzle? There? And his best buddy Durham Smith is the king of dirty work, blocking special teams, the occasional touchdown catch and I thought he and Adam Shaheen kind of rotated in that role last year very very well. Of course, that produced a franchise record eleven touchdowns from the tight end position last season. But then you've now an added Hunter Long who gives you kind of the best of both worlds, and that he has an accomplished

past receiving resume. Just go check out Boston College tape last year. They looked to him first and foremost in that offense, and when he was bracketed or doubled or just kind of covered in general, that offense really struggled to move the football. And that's coming off a couple of seasons where he and the Eagles were a downhill run first throwbacks. Wad and Hunter did a ton of inline blocking for those teams. He did last year too.

He's one of the main guys for me to watch this training camp because we know that tight end is traditionally one of the tougher spots to come in and learn and produce right away. You have to learn the passing game and the route concepts, the past protection concepts as well, or the protection scheme in general, and also run blocking, all three things kind of like a quarterback in terms of knowing the entire playbook. So it's a

bit of a crash course for a young player. But Hunter is a very smart guy that builds computers and can put together rubricks cubes and like twenty nine seconds. So that's why I'm so intrigued to see what he offers as a rookie and if he can be that guy that kind of keeps the offensive personnel flexible when he's on the field, Like we come out with two tight ends and the defense says, well, they might flex out that tight end, they might put that receivering tight

end in the backfield. You can do multiple things with guys like that. And speaking of that, you've got Sethan Carter who can play some h back and some fullback and as another one of these guys who is a special teams Mayven and Chris Myrick has been on the practice sq of the last two years, but he earned his first NFL action last season as well. And then Jimbrey Blunt will look to make the conversion from the hardwood to the gridiron. That tight end position is suddenly

full of intrigue this offseason. Rounding out the offense is the offensive line. I feel pretty good about putting Jackson and Hunt into two of those roles, and we know coach has emphasized the best five are gonna play, and since there are so many guys that can play multiple spots, we're gonna have to see how things play out in camp.

And not to mention that where Robert Hunt plays could shake things up based upon how you want to throw out the roster around that, because he can really play any spot, or at least he has played four of the five spots going back to his time in college. And then Solomon Kinley's best tape at college came from left guard, but he also had some great tape at

right guard last year too. Jesse Davis has played both spots, and he offers that invaluable experience on a young offensive line where you can post him between a pair of young players and he helps you get the calls communicated out to the tackles from that guard position, or maybe

he does play tackle too. Either way, if I've got one of these two guys and Kinley and Davis coming off the bench, then I feel really damn good about my offensive line depth, especially when you factor in d J. Fluker, another guy who has accomplished resume as a guard in

this NFL with tackle experience too. And then there's rookie Liam Eichenberg, who, if you go back to our draft podcasts, the notes from nearly unanimously every single scouting report I read on him, was it the highest floor tackle in the entire class, Like you can expect this out of leam Eikenberg at minimum a technician who just gets the job done. And if you have five of those guys on your offensive line, that's more than satisfactory. But we're

not done there yet. I thought Adam Pinky had a good training camp last year and earned some reps and heavy personnel and came in when injuries kind of began to mount towards the end of the season, as they do in this war of attrition. Then you've got Larnel Coleman, and through our social team, there was a cool video of his draft moment, the call as it were, where the brass talked about how they're excited to work with him and the potential he shows in developing that guy.

A hat tip to the Developmental Podcast on Tuesday with three Guards to Laurnel Coleman. And where do Michael Dieter and Cameron Tom fit in? We know about Dieter in

his two years here. Meanwhile, Tom has two years of development with the Saints and coming out of Southern miss He scored an eight point nine three on the Relative Athletics scorecard courtesy of Kent Lee Platt at math Bomb on Twitter with elite level testing scores and all of the movement and agility drills like the three con the shuttle, the broaden vertical jumps, the forty yard dash, and the

twenty and ten yards splits. In fact, he ranked out of two hundred and forty two qualifying centers at the time of his combined workout, and he also has thirty three and three quarter inch arms. That's length for a center in the middle of your offensive line. And then, of course there's the free agent signing and Matt Skura, who has some really impressive tape the last couple of years with Baltimore. In twenty nineteen, he was playing his way towards a possible Pro Bowl nod before an injury

cut that season short. And the veteran acquisitions in the room continue with the newest of the newcomers in Jermaine Iluminoire, who, like Flucker, has accomplished resumes as a garden tackle in this league. And then you've got Tyler Gothier, derv All Kiras Netto, and Jonathan Hubbard, who have been working here with coach Lemiel John Pierre the last couple of years

on the practice squad. These next few are more just about how they're gonna issue snap counts because there's so many good players and so much depth, it's really just to work through the sheer volume of productive players each of these spots, Like the interior defensive line rotation. We've talked about this in the podcast all off season. How do those snaps get divvied up among the mainstays like Christian Wilkins and Zach Seiler and Adam Butler and ray

Kwon Davis. Where does Jonathan does John Jenkins factor into the mix? Is Benito Jones ready to make a year to jump after some impressive work as a rookie and limited playing time. How about the linebacker rotation? We know Jerome Baker and Bernardrick McKinney are accomplished three down players in this league. We talked about Van Ginkl's emergence the last two seasons, specifically his performance in two games where he saw snap count l of aation in place of

an injured Shack Lawson. And he certainly looks the part there and there might not be a better run defender on the roster than he Landed Roberts a captain of the defense last year. Where does he factor in? And Duke Riley comes in? With a nice resume from a coverage standpoint, and especially on special teams where he arrived mid season to Philadelphia and then still earned Special Teams captain honors there. Which sub packages he getting on on defense?

Does he continue his role as that core special teamer as he has done every stop along the way since leaving l s U in college. Vince Beagle was back among this group. What's his role coming off the Achilles injury last season? He led the team and quarterback pressures in twenty nineteen. How about Brendan Scarlett another new guy here that can wipe out the edge in the running game, but we also saw him drop into coverage and pick

off a pass in the hook zone during minicamp. Sam ega Von has special teams pelts on the wall and has played well in sub packages as a fill in on defense last season as well. Then you've also got Tyshan Render and kyl And Johnson who got some valuable experience on the practice squad last year, and Render got the call for a couple of games to make his NFL debut last season two. So both those two groups have tons of depth. Just gonna see how it all

works out in camp. Then finally, in the defensive backfield, that slot cornerback position. And this might be my favorite one of all because we've heard about Noah Igbonogady getting more work inside. We've covered Nick Needham's success in that new role last season. Justin Coleman was one of the very best slot cornerbacks in the game when he was with the Seahawks. Brandon Jones and Javon Holland have college

tape as slot cornerbacks as well. Options a plenty. And speaking of those last two, how do the safety rotations work? We know that Holland can play all of the defense, Jones can too, Eric Rowe is an established safety at this point of his career, and Jason mccordy has experienced all over the defensive backfield as a corner, as a safety everywhere. Also, I mean, I need a couple more sets of eyeballs to track all the stuff at training camp because I just can't wait to see it all

play out. It's gonna be so competitive and iron only serves to sharpen iron. We are one month away, all right, Let's go around the web here with regard to the NFL and Dolphins news before we cap this podcast. With our NFC South preview. Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated had some great detail in his latest mm QB column before he headed off to summer break, and speaking of Peter King is already on his break on Football Morning in America.

Two of the weekly pieces I read every single week, and I'd highly recommend reading his first guest writer who stepped in his absence, Will Leach. I was glued to that piece, particularly his ten Things I Think I Think, which is a format I used to kind of copies my own when I wrote for Dolphins message boards, like fifteen years ago. I was a Sunday night recap columnist for a message board, and I would write ten Things I Think I Think based upon Peter King, one of

my what are those inspirations I should say? From my football media career, but from Brier story, sources tell Albert that two teams as of June sevent had crossed the much talked about eighty five percent threshold for player vaccinations, fully vaccinated or in the proce of being vaccinated. Those two are the Dolphins and the Saints. He then sent a follow up tweet after that first one, and he covered the whole league scope and this m m QB piece go check it out if you haven't done so already.

But the follow up said, the league has hosted educational calls with the purpose of teaching teams and staffs all they can to allow them to properly educate their players and giving them an opportunity to make an informed decision on the vaccine, and that Brian Floor has participated in all of those NFL calls. And I think the only appropriate reaction to that news is to go to Jesse Pinkman,

Yes Science. And we turned now to this piece from my close personal friend Kyle Crabs of Locked on Dolphins and at the Dolphins Wire, where he wrote about the Dolphins ranking twelve in three year salary cap forecast per Pro Football Focus, which Kyle sites here and his piece, and that three year window just happens to coincide with the young quarterback to a Tunge Viola was rookie deal prior to the option to exercise a fifth year option

on the back end of that contract. And we've talked about the depth of this roster paired with blue chip pieces and countless players that have performed quantifiably, as well as from my own personal tape study as better than average players at their position, i e. A very valuable commodity in the National Football League, and that coincides with

an abundance of draft capital in the coming years. To boot, the same piece from Pro Football Focus valued Miami's draft capital as the tenth most in the league over those three years. Miami was also twelfth and effective cap space and ninth in Pro rated money. To finish out their study, So you've got talent, you've got depth, you have your young quarterback, you're rich with draft picks, and you have cap space to either import more talent, extend your own,

or a combination of both. That's around the web. Let's finish up this podcast with our NFC South preview, a division the Dolphins will see this year in their schedule, and the first game is the Buck in week number five at Tampa Bay at one o'clock. I think the biggest news here is Tom Brady. We got to see this guy again. The last time we saw Tom Brady twenty nineteen, we were victorious in the final minutes in that Foxborough victory, A very fun game for Dolphins fans everywhere.

Will this dude ever slow down? Well? Right, now the answer looks like no, because he's still at the top of his game seventh Super Bowl last season, and he's got an arsenal weapons to work with with Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Rob Gronkowski, Scotty Miller, Tyler Johnson. It just keeps on going and going. And then they go out and ad Giovanni Bernard, who to me is a great compliment to playoff Lenny Leonard Fournette, and oh, by the way, they have probably the best offensive line in the NFC,

if not the entire NFL. Tristan worse his sheer size and just athletic ability, the way he powers that he is a dominant, dominant player. Ryan Jensen one of the nastiest centers in the National Football League, Ali Marpett possibly the best offensive guard, and Alex Cappa isn't too far behind him either, another one of these small school standouts at the scene your Bowl. Both Kappa and mar Pett, who made a name for themselves in Mobile and have

turned in great NFL career so far. And then Donovan Smith, who's been doing it forever, is kind of the veteran old hat on that offensive line and on defense, they have an embarrassment of riches too. And it's not just about Vita Villa and real quick, can I brag about my scouting report on vite Via that year. He has turned into one of the best defensive tackles in all of the National Football League. It's not just about veia Or and Dominican Sue or Shack Barrett or Jason Pierre Paul.

There's depth there with Nunez Roaches, with Steve McClendon, with Jeremiah lead Better, with William Golston, and that extends into the second and third level of the defense because Lavonte David is a future Hall of Fame linebacker and Devin White might be even better. And they still have also behind those guys, Kevin Minter in the fold. I love Carlton Davis and their secondary. Sean Murphy Bunting was an awesome playoff cornerback last year, getting takeaways at a high rate.

I love Jamil Dean out of Auburn. Two those guys were all really, really good players. And you know how much I loved watching Antoine Winfield at Minnesota. He was as advertised as a rookie. They're only real big additions in the off season where Kyle Trask, Geo Bernard, and they add Joe try On who just signed his rookie contract with the Bucks. The big storyline there is getting the band back together to try to run it back. How will that work? It's always tough to do a

second year. You're gonna get everyone's best shot. But they did so good to bring these guys back. They give Lavonte David the bag, Brady got extended, God Woind got franchise shot, got extended, Brown for net, Donovan smith sue. They even brought back last year's third stream quarterback and their backup and Ryan Griffin and playing Gabbert. Will they start slow this year because last rear they did a little bit, but now they have a full year of

of work and experience in the offense. I can't imagine those offensive struggles continue like they did at the start of last year. When they finally hit their stride at the end of the season. I assume that's the Bucks team will get early on. I just wonder if maybe they have a little bit of the same or if it's guns blazing right away from the jump in training camp.

Definitely a tough matchup on this Dolphin schedule, and then two games later we see another team from the NFC South, the Atlanta Falcons, a home game in Week seven, a one o'clock kickoff. Is Matt Ryan still the guy that's gonna be a big storyline for so many teams this year in terms of the guys that passed on possible quarterbacks justin fields most notably among that group, But as Matt Ryan still the guy, I believe he's one of the more underrated quarterbacks of the last decade or so

in the National Football League. Just a high, high level thinker, a guy that has done so much for that team to keep that team competitive when their defense wasn't always the best and kind of a I suppose a curious move to pair the decision to trade Julio but also to bring in Kyle Pitts, because you kind of want to see those two guys together in that offense. Now. I know there was a bit of swirling rumors about the Julio trade this whole entire offseason and what that

eventually became as he goes to the Titans. But now they get to elevate Calvin Ridley too, who is one of the again, like Matt Ryan, one of the more underrated players in this league. I am curious see how that offense works, especially with the addition of Arthur Smith. But man I wanted to see Julio, Calvin Ridley and

Kyle Pitts altogether and their backfield. It's there's no notable names in the backfield that you would say, oh, yeah, I know who that guy is or a possible fantasy draft, So it might be a committee by option, an option by committee. Back there and then on the offensive line has been kind of a rough go for them in recent years as Matt Ryan's gotten kind of beat up

behind the offensive line. Gotta find out what you have in Caleb McGary there and Jake Matthews has been steady on that offensive line, and they also have to find out what they have in Matt Hennessy, the center out of Temple from a couple of years back. Defensively, Grady Jarrett is an absolute monster, one of the best pass rushers on the interior. They go out and add Dante Fowler to give them more edge rush. They've kind of been lacking in that area since Jonathan Abram left Atlanta.

Marlon Davidson played a hundred and thirty two snaps as a rookie. I am curious to get a look at him this season. Depth is a bit of an issue there. It's the same deal. Linebacker Dion Jones is the one name on the mark he that really stands out, But they kind of have some work to cultivate and find out which of the guys in the back end of

that roster can step up and beat productive players. And then it's a big year in the secondary for a couple of guys Isaiah Oliver, who really turned it on in some areas last year like tackles and pressures and was used up close to the line of scrimmage more. It's also a big, big year for a J two Rill.

They need him to get good now. And then they also added plenty of bodies and names to that secondary with Richie Grant, Dron Harmon, one of my favorite safeties for a long time now with the Patriots is now in Atlanta, and Eric Harris their off season in general, A J. Mccaren camp comes in to back up Matt Ryan. They add Mike Davis is kind of their top back

on that depth chart. Lee Smith, the blocking tight end of the Bills, comes down Jalen Mayfield can compete with some of those guys in the offensive low me mentioned. They get Brandon Copeland and Barkibious Mingo off the edge. Fabian Moreau also added to that defensive secondary, and then grant her Her Harmon and Eric Harris in that defensive backfield.

They signed twenty undrafted free agents and had to trade Julio because the cap situation was not great, So kind of taking some of that medicine now with also the hope to win now as you kind of rebuild and try to win in the immediate interim under Arthur Smith, who I have so much love for him, keeping Matt Ryan and going with a possibly potential heavy twelve personnel offense with the likes of Lee Smith and Kyle Pitts because those guys can be a little bit uh yin

and yang and how they play the game. And then you get Calvin Realley on some option routes. Let him be that blazer that A. J. Brown was on those deep over routes in those two man route combinations, working

off of play action. Like Ryan Tannehill did so well with the Titans under Arthur Smith, Matt Ryan can do the same in my opinion, I'm just curious see how it all works without Derrick Henry, with Mike Davis as the current most accomplished running back in that backfield, and defensively, they had to have a remake with Dan Quinn now out there. But Dean ps has coached a punch of great defenses for a long long time and he's back.

I'm curious to see how they shift that thing from more of his classic varied fronts with big bodies that can stack and create lanes opposed to the one gap scheme and speed the Falcons played with us for so long, and really we're kind of up and down with our success on that defense on that side of the ball. Then week twelve, the Carolina Panthers are coming to Miami for a one o'clock kickoff. It starts at the quarterback position. Will Sam Donald have that? I wouldn't call it resurgence?

Will he find his groove in the NFL? Really, for the first time, they passed on Justin Fields, just like the Falcons did, to stick with Donald, and it was reported that was their guyal along. They were really attracted to the idea of Sam Donald them Denver, Detroit Atlanta could be tied to that possible passing on fields for years to come. I cannot wait to see how that plays out. The depth behind the quarterback who has missed at least three starts every year of his career are

p J. Walker and Will Greer. That Bode's watching. Losing Curtis Samuel I think hurts. He was one of my is one of my favorite players in the entire National Football League. He's versatile. I think has a bunch of potential to really break out in the coming years. Robby Anderson and d J. Chark are a nice pair, though, but the depth behind those guys is a little bit. You know. Depth is becoming more and more common places. We discussed at the receiver position in the National Football League,

but it's just not there for this team. They're tight end depth is great, however, with Ian Thomas dan Arnold and the rookie they drafted, Tommy Tremble out of Notre Dame. So how about Christian McCaffrey. An important year for him because he is one of the most electric players in the National Football League, but he struggled to stay healthy, kind of like say Kwon Barkley over with the Giants.

They invested heavily into the offensive line that finished twentieth last year and pressures allowed per Pro Football Focus, so that should have a positive impact. Brian Burns is one of the best pass rushers in the NFL. Can't wait to get a look at him up close and in person. It's your gross Mottos and Morgan Fox. Can those guys kind of carry the load because the depth behind those guys. This is a team that underwent a rebuild last year and they're still in it and Matt Rules doing a

great job with it. It's gonna take some time to get some of that talent that he wants on his roster there at the linebacker position. I love the addition of Denzel Perriman as well as Hassan Reddick, who goes with shaff Thompson as a nice second level and in the secondary. I just wrote about Jeremy Chen He is an absolute monster. Isaiah Simmons light in that second round

and he played better than Simmons as a rookie. So their offseason was Chuba Hubbard, Terrence Marshall, and Shy Smith three rookies that I really like out of the SEC as well as Hubbard from the Big twelve in Oklahoma State, David Moore they signed from Seattle. We talked about Dan Arnold. There was a great video of the negotiation between the Panthers and the Arnold's agent on Twitter. Tommy Tremble. We talked about him and what he brings to the passing offense.

Talked about the offensive line overhaul, Pat Elflyne, cam Irving, Brady Christensen from b y U. I love his tape. He should get a chance to play early. Then they get Davey on Nixon the defensive tackle. Talked about Morgan Fox, Hassan Reddick, Denzel Perriman, and then J. C. Horne to the defensive backfield. My favorite corner in this entire class.

He is a straight ball hawk. The big storyline for the Panthers for me all defensive draft picks last season, and the wheels kind of came off in the second part of the season as they are just thin at those areas except for a linebacker and they're asking a rookie cornerback and J. C. Horne to come in to really be their best guy. And we talked about this overbal times in the podcast. How tough it is for a rookie cornerback to come in and have success because

they're gonna go after you. Can you handle it as a rookie, It's tough to do. The depth in general, I think playing them late in the season, we'll see what kind of team we get. With Carolina, you never know. It's twelve weeks into the year, so it's just a complete mystery as to what this team will be. And then again the Donald and Fields gamble. I cannot wait to watch that as well as how Christian McCaffrey bounces back because their biggest storylines for the Panthers this season.

We finish up with a Week six team game at the Saints Monday night football Bump Bump Bump Bomb eight fifteen kickoff there in New Orleans. Drew Brees and the replacement at the quarterback position. Will it be Taysom Hill? Will it be Jamis Winston? They won games with Hill and Bridgewater over the last two seasons, but that was a ball control offense with a stout defense. Does Jamis

fall into that category that bears watching. Alvin Camara is the best back in the entire league for my money, and adding t J. Montgomery is a good addition to kind of to not offset but to compliment Camara rather and then Lotavius Murray is important for what could probably become a real run centric football team, especially if Taysom Hill is the guy that wins the starting quarterback job. I'm not a fan of losing Emmanuel Sanders. I love

his game and Jared Cook. They didn't really have really replacements for those guys in terms of what they brought in in the weapons department. But you do get Michael Thomas back, but man, that offense was one dimensional without him, and if you lose him for even a game now without Cook and Sanders, that could be a challenge. The personnel has kind of always matched a defense slash ball

control team. They just happened to have an all Pro quarterback to boot, which is why they were essentially one of three or four teams with annual Super Bowl contention in their back pocket for three or four years there. But look at the offensive line with with Tehron Armstead Ryan Ramcheck, that's probably the best tackle combo in the league. Caesar Louise and Eric McCoy are both awesome players on the interior, Andrew's Pete still kills it and they have

depth there too. Kamarrow might be the click to pick and fancy this season. Some additions they made Nick Vannette the tight end to know Passengo the pass rusher. They also go out and get Peyton Turner in the first round, a couple of nice book and asitions. To help offset

the loss of Trey Hendrickson. They get Pete Warner, the linebacker out of Ohio State in the middle round, Paulson Adebo cornerback from Stanford, and Ian Book, the Notre Dame quarterback, is also a draft pick of the Saints, and that's pretty much it. They tagged Marcus Williams, who has been so so good, but he has the unfortunate, the unfortunate one rep there to be the soul in the vicinity of the play in the Minneapolis Miracle. So I feel like he gets a bad rap from fans because of that,

but he is a great player. They said goodbye to Sanders and Genera's Jenkins and Kwai Alexander and Cook as well. Cooking Sanders are the ones that I'm really kind of concerned about. They traded Malcolm Brown to Jacksonville and of course lost Trey Hendrickson. To Cincinnati, so you can see where Passengo and Turner editions come into play there. They attacked the edge and the past rusher position after Hendrickson just basically played himself into a massive money deal with

the Bengals. I also like Carl Granderson is the type of player that can kind of be Hendrickson light early in his career, situational pass rusher with some production in that role. And I would be totally remissed if I didn't mention David Anya Model one of the most underrated interior defensive lineman in the National Football League. He led the NFL and pressures from the one tech position last

year at linebacker to Mario Davis. The same is true of him at linebacker in terms of his ultimate dominance at that position. Now they're thin here, but I'm curious see what is Zack Bond from Wisconsin, a first round draft pick last year, does in year two he played just one hundred snaps as a rookie in and then the secondary. I love C J. Gardner Johnson, and of course Marshawn Lattimore is a hell of a player, and

Malcolm Jenkins as well as the aforementioned Marcus Williams. That is a fantastic top four in your defensive back They're gonna be a tough out even without Drew Brees. That roster is deep and it is good the division winners. For me, the best player is Alvin Kamara. The best quarterback to me is Tom Brady. It's always Tom. I'll take him office. Let's when he retires, because trying to predict when his play might actually decline is the most

impossible thing to do in sports. Again, the best non quarterback besides Kamara is either there's so many options here, Christian McCaffrey if he's healthy. Ryan Ramcheck is just really dang good, Michael Thomas, what about Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. I'll go with ram Check. He's a safe bet. He's been sturdy and dependable and reliable on the offensive line.

To me, the best defender is Lavonte David, although Devon White is coming in hot, and then Antoine Winfield of Marcus Lattimore deserves to mention their Marshall Lattimore, I should say. The best coaches Sean Payton. The most intriguing team to me is the Saints, and my division champion again will be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Actually they didn't win the division last year. They were a wild card team, all

given the NFC South this season. All right, that's gonna be it for this lengthy edition of the Drive Time Podcast. You all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, tuned in Google Play, wherever your your podcast from. Follow me on Twitter at Winkol NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins, check out the Fish Tank and the Audible podcast, and of course Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, Fens