Miami Dolphins 2021 NFL Draft Night 1 Recap, Jaylen Waddle and Jaelan Phillips Breakdowns, Day 2 Preview

the books. I am your host, Travis Wingfield, And on tonight show, we're gonna talk about those two draft picks, Jalen Waddle, the wide receiver out of Alabama at pick number six, and defensive end Jalen Phillips out of the University of Miami, your two Dolphins first round draft picks. We're gonna talk about those players in depth. We're gonna hear from Tyler Martin from Bama Central. We're gonna hear from Brett Coleman talking about Jalen Phillips and his game.

We're gonna break down these players, the stats, the data, the film, all that fun stuff. We're gonna talk about the draft party at Hard Rocks ADM preview Day two and all of that and a whole lot more on this night one recap edition of the Drive Time Podcast. And so we kick things off with the first pick of the Dolphins in this first round of NFL Draft, and the draft goes kind of chalky to start things off with Trevor Lawrence and Zack Wilson. Bit of a

curveball there with Trey Lance at number three. Will cover that here in just a moment, and then Kyle Pitts goes number four and Jamaar Chase goes number five, and that gives you the option of the top of the offensive line class with Pena Seul and Rashawn Slater. Sewell would go one pick after Miami, so I think it's safe to assume that he was the number one tackle in this class. I thought he was as well. Jamaar

Chase came off the board number five. There was some groaning when Kyle Pitts came off the board number four. But I can finally say on the podcast now that I just didn't see the fit for Jamaar Chase in Miami as far as what they have on the roster currently and what they need to infuse into the offense and with what fits with quarterback to a tongue by Loa.

So the smile on my face on up on that stage, and as the entire six thousand people at hard Rock Stadium or whatever it was was looking on the smile on my face as I got to break down that pick of Jalen Waddle and you guys heard this on the preview podcast with Kyle Krabs and how he can impact this offense. It was such a fun, fun night,

a fun thing to be a part of. Jeff Darlington tweeted out after the fact that the Dolphins had Jillen Waddle as their top receiver all along, and that kind of makes some more sense into the trade process for going from three to twelve and then back up to six. I told you guys this, I think I mentioned it on Zaslow on the radio on Thursday afternoon. The Dolphins would not put themselves in a position where they're gonna have a potential doomsday scenario. So getting from twelve to six, Yeah,

identify Jillian Waddle. You identify that he fits with your quarterback and fits the competitive toughness this team wants to play around and and build their team around. He checks all those boxes. Let's go ahead and jump right now into my breakdown of Jalen Waddle, the player in the prospect and so as far as the player and the prospect goes Jalen Waddle, we talk about electricity, being added

to this offense. This guy's start stop acceleration ability, whether it's vertical, whether it's horizontal, whether it's with the ball in his hands, is a punt returner or in the open field, off screens or on deep passes he catches, or if it's coming off a line of scrimmage without the football working in motion. His ability to make things happen in a hurry creates instant conflict and creates decision

time for defensive backs. We talked about the yak ability open field, very Tyreek Hill esque, and the way he creates forced miss tackles and just turns twelve yard gains into eight yard touchdowns on the regular His deep ball tracking, the way he kind of has a center field over the shoulder look for the football, and his ability to both go up and get the football and come down and control it and hang onto the ball and survive contact of the ground or a defensive back raking the football.

He is just an alpha when it comes to that's my ball, I'm gonna go get it. I'm gonna go make a play. Twenty one of twenty six passes to this guy of twenty or more yards in the air, he caught. That's like a screen percentage there. Twenty one twenty six unreal production on deep throws to Jillen Waddle his entire career. The way he pairs up with Will Fuller.

We'll talk about this more in a minute, but the vertical and horizontal theme, stretching the defense and creating space in this kind of ideally, what does to a do best? He works in space, makes quick decisions, takes advantages of matchups. Jalen Waddle creates so much conflict for the matchup aspect, but it also helps keep two safeties away from the box to help kind of jive with the r p

O games. Now you have to defend vertically, you have to defend horizontally, and now you have a big, heavy offensive lineman coming downhill on r p O as well. The spacing that he creates in the offense, again because of pre snap motion can help you identify pre snap the way to a can decipher what the defense is doing. From a coverage standpoint as well. We have to find out, you know, we have respect Jalen Waddles speed from the slot,

Will Fuller speed outsider in the slot. You're gonna find out so much more information because of the playmakers that have to be accounted for on the offense with this new edition in Jalen Waddle. The competitiveness of this kid is unmatched. We'll talk about some of that here more

than just a second. And the teammate that he is again just Nick Saban said that the last two years, this team has lost their top locker room guy in two a Tongue of Yaloa in twenty nineteen and then Jalen Waddle in He said that those were the two most important guys as far as their locker room and teammates go. They lost both those guys in back to

back years. So very high praise there from Nick Saban, And we heard this from the Around the NFL podcast and Chase Goodbread who said that as far as return men go, the minute Jalen Waddle suits up, he is Dante hall Level formerly of the Kansas City Chiefs, one of the greatest return men in the history of the National Football Leagues. So that's the skinny on what Jalen Waddle does best as a player, his fit in this offense.

And Kyle Crabb mentioned this on the preview podcast The Strides that Jalen Waddle was supposed to take or was taking this year before the injury, as this guy that was kind of buried on the depth chart there in Alabama under Judy and Rugs and Smith for a few years, and he played that satellite slash slot roll slash guy that moved around r P O s and and spacing on screens and jet sweeps and the influence of the eye candy, he began to really increase that role as

a full time move around the formation type of player, and he was doing it to the tune of like twenty four yards per catch, five hundred and something yards on like forty targets, so just completely completely destroying the competition. The year, the opportunity he had to truly break out, big play after big play, that ninety yard touchdown catch where he throws a little subtle double move in the middle of the field and just blows by the defensive back.

Then the balls underthrown by Mac Jones a little bit, he comes back, slows down, catches it, the dB catches up, and then Jillen Walla, with forty more yards of field to work with, takes off and creates another five yards of separation with the ball in his hands because he is so damn fast. You just speed doesn't slump. And we saw that all year, or at least for four games for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Not to mention how valuable that skill set for being that satellite guy is

in this offense. Inside as a slot receiver, we think that's probably the position right now with DeVante Parker and will Fuller on the outside. Preston Williams plays outside as well. You've got some chances with Albert Wilson coming back after the opt out Jachem Grant maybe inside on the slot, but Jalen Waddle comes in right away and to me, gives you so much life and juice and the upgrade on that inside position. But also you can pitch him the ball in the backfield, you can flex him out wide,

You can do so many things. Here is what Daniel Jeremiah had to say about Jalen Waddle and his top fifty big Board extraordinary speed and playmaking ability. He has the ability to line up inside or outside. His acceleration in his release is elite. He destroys the cushions he receives from defenders and a hiccup and can find a second and third gear once the ball is in the air. He's at his best on runaway routes, but he flashes the ability to efficiently gear down and work back downhill.

I thought his hands were improved this fall. He's one of the most talented kickoff and punt returners to enter the NFL in the last decade, and he references a return he had against Auburn in twenty nine team But you heard him talk there about the acceleration once the balls in the air. It's that alpha mentality though, I'm gonna go get the football, and I have the physical skill sets to make it happen. It is a true,

truly unique and scary and dangerous proposition. A great pairing for this Dolphins team, but a scary proposition for defenses to have to compete against the guy who has that competitiveness, who has that speed, who has the production, who has the relationship with two a tongue of voloa, And that's gonna pay off right away because you go back to

the Tennessee game. I believe I clipped this off on Twitter a couple of months ago to a throwing a perfectly placed ball on an over route where Jalen waddle catches it and takes off and leaves the defense in his wake. It was all about timing, precision landmarks. Jalen knows where two allects to put the football to. A knows where Jalen likes to run his routes, and where

he's gonna wind up on those deep post routes. You know this hash mark, that hash mark the numbers wherever the football has to be, I'm gonna put it in that spot. That comes inherently, as does their timing, so like a speed out to it has seen Jalen running speed out a thousand times in his life. He's seen him run those slant routes. He knows where his feet wind up, he knows where the target winds up. He

knows how he stacks defensive backs. It comes in inherently ingrained with these two guys and the anticipation that to truly thrives on and that's part of why they were so dangerous there Alabama. To us, anticipatory throwing is so elite at finding out, Okay, this cornerback is putting his weight on that left leg, so he can't quite drive

in that direction. Right now, Jalen's got himsel up perfectly to kind of snap this route off in his face and get to that spot before he even has a chance to So I'm gonna throw the ball in that spot and trust that Jalen is gonna be there. And you see that weekly on the Alabama type. It was a good part of two wars rookie season here in Miami with receivers he had, but I think a guy like Jillen Waddle takes it to another level. Here's some

intel from Bruce Feldman pre draft of the Athletic. He said, or this is from coaches and scouts around the league quote. I thought he was the most dangerous of those four receivers they had in twenty nineteen. You just can't tackle him. His ability to separate from guys is just different. His change of direction is ridiculous. He's not quite as fast as Henry Ruggs, but he's quicker. He's lethal in the return game, and you like how he responds in tough games.

He ate up Georgia and Texas A and M before getting hurt, and made a bunch of big plays at Auburn last year and made a great punt return against l s U. Another coach or scout here. I don't know if I've ever seen a guy who gets open so much like he does. Separation the name of the game. Right in their Missouri game, they could have thrown to him every single play like they threw it on some place to other open guys. But then you look at him and he was open to that was like every play.

He never got covered or stayed covered even when they didn't throw it to him. He's so elusive, so sudden, so quick, and is able to shift his weight so he doesn't tip his hand on a lot of things. He's a very natural route runner end quote. And that goes back to the anticipation throws from two of that I talked about before. That the fact that you can trust that he's gonna get to a spot, but not

just get to a spot. Because of his deep speed, the defensive back is not gonna be able to squat and drive, So you open up that that half of a second, two tenths of a second, whatever it is that creates space for this precision type quarterback into a tongue by loa to match up. I think these guys drive together so very well. Now, Jillen did not run or test at any pro days or of course, there

was no combine this year. But Daniel Jeremiah had this to say quote and talking to some teams around the league, Waddle had the fastest GPS of any receiver in the country. Your eyes are not deceiving you when you watch him.

He's freaky fast end quote. As far as the pro football focused data, prior to the ankle injury that costs Waddle eight games this year and all but the opening kickoff of a ninth game against the Tennessee Volunteers, he was matching teammate and eventual Heisman Trophy winner Davante Smith

in the ridiculous statistics category. Waddles five hundred and fifty seven receiving yards were seventy four yards more than Smith's four game total through the first quarter of the Crimson Tide schedule, and he did it with eighteen fewer targets. Waddle was averaging twenty two point three yards per reception compared to Smith's twelve point seven and a ludicrous nineteen point two yards per target. Will four led the NFL last year at ten point seven yards per target. He

had nineteen point two yards per target. Smith was at ten point eight in college football. A true four down player, his dynamic threat extends the special teams average nineteen point three yards per punt return with two career touchdowns on thirty eight opportunities. He also scored a kickoff return touchdown an average twenty three point eight yards on nine kick returns, so we average the most twenty yards per punt return. Waddle split his time between wide splits and inside of

the slot. He played two hundred forty two with a hundred and forty seven of those snaps coming from inside alignment, and that jives with wattle skill set. He scored a sixty two point five percent success rate versus press coverage.

That mark per Harmon falls in the percentile among all prospects in the reception perception history, but pressing receivers in the slot, especially receivers who timed a sub four four forty and perhaps even quicker game speed, it's kind of an enter act your own risk proposition for opposing cornerbacks. You can create ways to get him releases in the slot on motion, return motion, whatever it might be, you

can find creative ways. He gained four hundred and ninety five yards from the slot which rings in college football. Despite playing just four games, mind you, and his slot yards per game one three point eight was far and away the top in the not in the n C double A, I should say Matt Harmon again reception perception. He scored Wattle with success rate on post routes, seventy three point seven percent on takeoff routes and eighty seven point five percent on digs. He feaceed on inbreaking routes,

including an eight percent success rate on slants. That's where two really shines in the middle of the field. So again, the matchup, the pairing there is perfect. His eighty point three success percent success rate against man coverage ranked in the percent tile in all of college football. So if you want to play man coverage, he can beat you vertically, he can beat you horizontally. Think about drag routes and

over routes and putting defense and conflict. Like, if you want to play man coverage against a team that has Jalen Waddle and Will Fuller, that's a tall order for those cornerbacks to turn and run with those guys on every single play. How about some more quoture from Matt Harmon. It's difficult to remember a recent prospect who is so who can so easily flip the field, control their speed, and devastate with a stop start move, all while doing

the little things that Waddle does so effortlessly. Overall, Waddle is an excellent separator. His eighty point three percent success rate verse man coverage is not just the best in one class, it's one of the top scores among all prospects charted in reception perception history. And this is end quote here. Waddle finished tied for six in the country with an average of ten point one yards after the catch.

He also generated the twenty six most deep yards passes thrown twenty or more yards, with three nine yards on just seven passes in that criteria. Most guys are getting thirty five passes in that criteria. He also turned seven catches on screen passes into sixty five yards. That's nine point to nine yards per screen reception. Just throw it to him, I'll get your first down. And the conflict Waddles and Flute confusion into the offense places on opposing

defense is enough to make opposing defensive coordinator sweat. Especially paired with Will Fuller, you just cannot keep You can't play single high defense against this offense anymore, you have to have two guys up top. Because again, his twenty point nine three yards per route run on balls thrown twenty plus yards or more downfield was second among all qualifying receivers with at least one target per game this year.

So both these guys have unreal take the top off the defense type of speed and then petitiveness and the ball tracking and the hands to make the play. So it's a legitimate threat as far as Dolphins receiving depth chart. Now, there are third teen receivers on the roster, so you'll have some chiseling away at the group to do between now an opening day, but there is really competition at

every spot. Nobody on the roster is really like Jalen, but he does figure into the competition for full time inside guy from the jump, with the likes of Albert Wilson, Lynn Bowden Jr. Alan Hearns, and to a lesser extent, Jachim Grant, who I think plays better on the outside but with waddle though at the very least he's a special package guy and return man from day one, but I think he comes in and earned significant work right

away in your base primary offense. The conflict he creates with the speed inside can just open up single opportunities on the perimeter for Parker and Williams and Gisiki. Do you really want to bracket the slot receiver and bring it tight or a safety down on top of him to cap him, because that gives you one on one matchups on the outside If you do that, I think you look at the lineup of Fuller, Parker, and Waddle in a love personnel. You've got a little bit of everything.

All three guys can play all three positions, and I'll be damned if it's not suddenly one of the most dangerous arsenals of weapons in the entire National Football League. The competition in the receiver room this summer is going to be a ton of fun. Go ahead and finish up here with some quotes from some scouts and experts and coaches. He's one of the most talented kickoff and punt returners to enter the NFL over the last decade.

That's Daniel Jeremiah of the NFL Network. Nick Saban had this to say, this is two years in a row we lost a player who was probably the most popular player on the team in terms of being a good teammate and being liked by his teammates to a tongue of vlow was last year and Jalen's that way this year, and you just hate it for him because they're such great competitors and they mean so much to their team

and their teammates. And he also finished up by saying that as far as competitors go, he compared Jalen Waddle's competitiveness to that of Michael Jordan's and Kobe Bryant. So, I mean, we'll be talking about here, this guy is ultra competitive. And go ahead and finish up here with Eli drink Witch, the head coach at Missouri. Heading into that game, drink Witz thought their plan was a slow

down Jalen Waddle. That plan centered around keeping the ball out of the hands of Jalen Waddle, who was coming off a twenty nineteen season where he averaged seventeen yards per catch and totaled six touchdowns while the focal point of opposing defenses. He said this, I was like, hey, guys, look, Jalen Waddle is what makes them go, all right, So we got double Jalen and make Davante Smith beat us. Okay, He's kind of a nice piece out there. But man,

we gotta take Jillen Waddle away. End quote, And that to me speaks volumes. He is the primary focus of the defense. It changes the way defense plays you both pre snap and post nap. It creates spacing, It creates a vertical element. It allows you to possibly get away from the ten twelve play drives, allows you to score on possible five six play drives and be explosive and

pick up chunk games. Jalen Waddle your newest Miami Dolphin and you can find a write up story a profile on Waddle in the coming days on Miami Dolphins dot com. So that's my report. And before the draft occurred, I had some interviews with some beat writers at some of the most prominent SCC schools that covered the top skill players in this draft, and Kyle Pitts, Jamaar Chase, Jalen Waddle, and Davonte Smith because I had a feeling we'd be using one of those sound bites on this podcast, and

sure enough we are. Let's go ahead and welcome and Tyler Martin from BAMA Central to talk about Jalen Waddle and joining us now is Tyler Martin. He covers the Crimson type beat on Bama Central dot Com. Tyler, welcome in and thanks for joining us. Man. What's up, Travis. I'm glad to be on here. Love this time of year. Man NFL drafted, you know, it's it really doesn't get much better than this right here. Man, it doesn't think the intersection of pro and college football for a big

football fan just you can't top that. I think no other sport replicates the way football does. And we got to see that beautiful intersection between players graduating from college and going on to the next step in the National Football League with a player from the school you cover there at Alabama and Jalen Waddle, who now reunites with two Watunga Voloa. And let's go ahead and start there. What's the relationship like between these two guys. Are they're

pretty tight? Are they brothers off the field? Like, tell us about two and Jalen together? Yeah, they they're super tight, man, Um, And I think to once you really saw in and really just Jalen Waddles freshman season, I'll start with him. Um. That was the year two of became the full time starter. Was Waddles freshman year. Um, and they just kind of blossom, right,

even in that first game together, they blossom together. And and that's just that it helps the quarterbacks confidence and it allows the play calling to get better too, right. I mean they know when they're breaking out of their routs, they know when they're doing certain things on the football field because they played three or four years together. Um, So I think that's that's unquestionable. How important that is.

I tend to agree. I think it's very important. We came into the off season with really a couple of really focused points that you really want to attack, and that was getting two of the weapons and making him comfortable, making the job as easy on him as you possibly can, but also adding electricity to the offense, explosive plays, the opportunity to score from anywhere on the field, to cut those drives from ten to twelve place down to five or six plays. And we talk about Jalen Waddle speed,

We know that's that's his game. First of all, he caught twenty one out of twenty six passes in his career over twenty yards of a of air yards Like what that is so crazy? But I'm curious what would he run in a forty yard dash, they do you think he would crack four or three? I think maybe close to Henry Ruggs limit. So it's funny. So two seasons are going in the twenty nineteen, m Alabama normally

has like this is before COVID. Obviously, they normally have like a fan day in the media day where you can go on the field, you can talk to the players, you can interview them, and then you go watch the practice and all the fans runn the field, goographer. So beforehand, um, I was actually talking to to Henry Uh, this was his final season, and you're just talking about, you know, who would win in the foot race? You were you're Jalen Waddle and Uh And you know they I mean,

he was very complimentary of his speed. He said, he said it could be end up being a tie. You know, he didn't really want to say who was faster or not. And and Waddle is the same way. I mean, they're they're both, you know, very humble guys. But but I'm looking at it and you look at the straight line speed, I think I think a Waddle is as close to four two nine as it gets. I think he's a guy who who would definitely be anywhere from four to eight,

four to nine to about four three three. That's what I kind of put him out because I think Hm and Henry Rogue speed are very very comparable, very comparable. And I just think, you know, with with Waddle, I mean, he was averaging the foward games he before he got hurt in the open kick off consintency, he was averaging a hundred and thirty yards eight game. Now there's a lot of questions of what Davante still won the Heisman.

We don't know this right, but there it is. It is what it is, and it happened if the ankle injury happened. But when he was in there, man, I mean, and and and it also helps when you have a deep ball thrower of Matt Jones and how precise and accurate he is. But even when two was there, right, I mean, you go look at what what what two it did with him um in eighteen and the beginning

of twenty nineteen. It's it was phenomenal. But I think in terms of the straight line speed, I'm I'm saying there's no way he's less than a four three three. For Jalen Waddle, it's beautiful. That's that's what we want to hear. Speed kills, man, I've been harping the speed train all offseason longs. Tyler Martin Bama Central dot com. Can you tell us anywhere else we can find your work? What's your work going on? Any other podcast or radio? Like?

Where can we find your work? Tyler? Yeah? So, Um at Bama Central on Twitter, at Steven Tyler stev and Tyler Underscore fifteen on Twitter is my personal account. Um. We have a podcast, All Things Man where we have former coaches from the players come on there. We we chat with them just about their time in Alabama. Um. You can find us on Spotify, Apple, Podcast, Google, wherever you get your podcast, but Bama Central on Twitter and then at Steven Tyler Underscore fifteen on there as well.

Tyler Martin, appreciate your time today, man, Thanks a lot, and and be safe out there, man. Yeah, thank you so much, Travis. I appreciate it. A big thank you to Tyler Martin for come on the podcast and talking about Jalen Waddle. Let's go ahead and flip this thing over here and get to the Dolphins pick in the middle of the first round, number eighteen overall Jalen Phillips, And let's go ahead and start with a video from Brett Coleman of the Bootleg Football podcast in the NFL

film Roosh channel on YouTube. He does a great work. He's been on the podcast multiple times before, does great video breakdowns, and knows a ton about the game. Let's go ahead and here from his video he titled this offseason This Draft run Up. Jalen Phillips is a terrifying hybrid of the Watt brothers. Here's Brett Coleman, Because the more I watch Jalen Phillips from Miami, the more I think he's not just the best pass rusher in this class.

I think he stacks up well against all of the other alpha pass rushers that have come out in the last six or seven years. In fact, I would go so far as to say that my closest comparison to Jalen Phillips on tape are two of the best pass rushers in the entire league right now that both happen to be All pros, and they both happen to be

in the same family, J. J. Watt and T J. Watt. Now, those comps can be a little bit tricky for some people because Jalen is obviously not as big as j J. He's about twenty pounds shy of that, and he's significantly bigger than t J. So he's somewhere in between both of them. But stylistically speaking, in terms of how he uses all of his incredible physical gifts like burst, bend length, and strength, the way he uses those tool is very

similar to both of the Watts. In particular, there are three things that I really noticed when watching him that just scream I am a Watt brother. Number one, his aggressive penetrating style of playing against the run. Number two, his versatility as a pass rusher and how he sets up tackles with certain moves that then open up opportunities to counter off of those moves later in the game.

And number three, how he adapts his technique against tackles that kind of have his number so that he can have more and more success against them as the game goes on. And so you heard Brett talk about it there, six ft five sixty pounds, heavy hands, and you go back to the clips I would talk about all summer with Shack Lawson and Emmanuel Ogbab working on their one on one technique and one on one drills where he would say, Shaq would say, Emmanuel, you've got some heavy

f and hands, bro. And we heard coach Marion Hobby, the former defensive line coach, talk about that plenty in this defense and how important that I was in this defense. This dude has heavy hands and he can play the run on the way to the past, and you can see more of that in Brett's breakdown. He does a great job showing both his pass rush and run defense ability. But this guy will anticipate blocking schemes and shoot gaps.

But he has the size, the heavy hands, and the athletic profile to correct when maybe he guesses wrong, maybe he winds up in the wrong position. He is one of the best at working back to get his way back into his gap and disrupt the play as he was supposed to it just it leads to some monster monster splash plays, tackles for losses, and sacks in the backfield. I love his arsenal of pass rush moves. He has a devashitting cross chop move and an inside counter move.

This guy can do multiple things off that outside edge. You go back to the Emmanuel Ogba podcast, I did a couple of months back, and he talked about how important it was to be able to use that the cross chop and use those hands and to be able to rush and dip that corner. We'll touch more on that here in just a second, but I also love the fact that he's very multiple. He can stand up in a two point stance and play off that kind of outside linebacker edge and a wide nine type of alignment.

He can squeeze down to a tight five. He can even kick inside as a three technique at time. He plays all over really really bookends and manual og ball well. In my opinion, his ability to turn the corner, this is what Cam Wake was elite, and I think it was Channing Crowder that made the comparison at the draft party. More on that just a moment, but Jalen cannot just get under your pads and completely shocked the opposing right tackle or left tackle with the initial pop, which is

staggering most of the time. But he can really corner around that outside edge where he uses the lean and the weight of the opposing offensive lineman against him, and he's got the grip strength as well to use that player's momentum and the leverage against them to slingshot himself around the quarterback. And again the Manual Ball podcast talks a lot about that. That's where I think you see

a lot of Jyllan Phillips game in the past. Rush, the crafty arsenal and the polish he has at that position. And he also sets an extremely hard edge off the outside again too, and during the sixty pounds long arms, heavy handed, it helps him stay in position to play the run on the way to the quarterback. The way he fits in this defense. We know about this by now, multiple fronts, whether you're in an even front and odd front,

three down, four down, whatever it might be. We talked about this in the top his versatility and this team needed a replacement for Shack Lawson, and you got it in a big way right here. Some folks say, and I agree with this, that Phillips had the best tape of any defensive player in college football. And that's saying a lot of pick number eight team. He's a guy that has immediate polish and fits a need on this roster.

I think he can give you a bunch of snaps early on, but also his long term profile, his projection, his upside, is also there, so you get the high floor and the high ceiling. Also the Amiba package this defense runs with, and we talked about the versatility of the different positions that he plays. It's really incredible what it can do to the defense. You can line guys up in those A gaps, mug up your linebackers. You can condense Augba and Phillips inside, or you can kick

him outside. It helps create that Meba package, the confusion for the opposing quarterback, who's coming, which guy's gonna come on this blitz and try to get pressure in my face. The Dolphins can now expand that package even further with Jalen Phillips. Now, I love covering these players stories and their their backgrounds and their paths here to the National Football League. And this is a great little blur but

I learned about from Pro Football Focus. His path to a monster season, they write is straight out of Hollywood. He was hit by a car while riding a scooter at U C, L, A and T and suffered risk and head injuries. Phillips then retired later that year after suffering another concussion. He returned to the game, though this time at Miami, where he was arguably the best defensive

end of the entire country. Over the second half of the season, racked up nine sacks and thirty six total pressures in his final seven games, so five hundred forty two snaps last year two d eighty six of those as a pass rusher. He gave them the eight sacks, the four hits, the twenty nine hurries checked that five hits, that's forty two pressures on those two eighty six pass snaps.

That's a pressure every six point eight pass rush snaps, so give or take you know, twenty five a game, four or five pressures again, that puts you out there in the Emmanuel Ogba territory. He was doing that last year in college. He also had eighteen run stops on the two forty one run defense downs. That's one every third teen point four snaps, so four or five pressures a game, two or three run stops. Again, that's some

great production there out of the defensive end. He measured at the seventy five percent tile or better in every metric. PFF does pass rush grade, run stop grade, true pass rush grade, which is evaluating how many sacks the player actually earned compared to clean up sacks and that type of thing. Pass rush win rate and one and run stop win rate, those are hard to say. His pass rush win rate of twenty point three percent is in the ninety percent tile in college football. So there's the

pass rush Foyd you've been thinking about all offseason. Jayleen Phillips comes in a big way. Eight sacks last year, six passes defense, forty five tackles, and fifteen and a half of those were for a loss. We talked about

the versatility. He had eight career snaps as an off ball player and four total snaps as a one technique, three snaps in the B gap is a three and two tech, and one snap head over the tackle as a four technique, but the rest of them came all six D and fifty eight of his snaps in the career came as an outside true defensive end. So I think this this guy joins the defensive line room with a real shot to be the second highest snaptaker in

the group. I mentioned how pro ready his game is his ability to play both the run and the past and not run by the quarterback or get himself into a dangerous position where he can become a liability against the run. He just doesn't do that. He's in the

right position most of the time. And how about his workout metrics percentile or better in his forty yard dash, his shuttle run, and his broad jump inches on the broad jump four point one three shuttle and a four point five six forty yard dash again six ft five two and sixty pounds four point five six forty yard dash. He is explosive as hell. He also checked in with a thirty six inch vert that was eight first percent tile and in the eightie percent tile with a seven

point oh one three cone times. So the lateral agility, the loose hips a pair with that heavy power and bend man, this guy can do it all. Six ft sixty pounds, thirty three and a quarter inch arms with nine point seven five inch hands. He's body beautiful, he's twitchy,

and he's athletic. Now, I've been talking about this Bruce Feldman mock draft a lot lately where he got intel from scouts and coaches around the league about a month ago before the draft actually occurred, and he had these two quotes from anonymous coaches and scouts in the National Football League about Phillips. Phillips has a chance to be really special. He's explosive and really smooth. He's athletic enough to be a three or four outside linebacker. He can bend,

he's versatile, he's strong. I think he should run in the four sixes or maybe the four fives. And of course he did check in with that four or five six the second anonymous quote here. As big a year as Miami's Greg Rousseau had in twenty nineteen, phillips performance was even more impressive. He's more stout than Rosso at the point, and the level of tenacity he plays with is ridiculous. His motor never stopped. He's such a freak athlete in the way he can move and how explosive

he is. But he's really completely reworked his body. He's extremely powerful. End quote and from Dane Bruglers, the beast on the athletic Check out that draft guy if you have not done so yet. He was a former Titan in high school who flipped to defense as a sophomore.

He won a state championship in football. He won California Defensive Player of the Year in and also had a twenty two point nine time and a fifty one ft shot put, So he ran track super athlete number one ranked defensive end prospect out of high school and ranked narrowly ahead of both Nagy Harris and Cam Acres as the number one overall player coming out of high school. This kid really looks like the part at the defensive end position in this defense. The motor of the physicality,

the tenacity, the motions he plays with. He fits right into the culture here, both from his play style in the front seven and also with his temperament and his mentality. I want to go ahead and close up with this on Jay in Phillips as our player breakdowns kind of conclude here. At his post draft presser, he had made a great comment talking about how south southern California made him,

but Miami saved him. Again, going back to that story about transferring from u c l A out to Miami after being a call or a California kid, his whole life comes out to Miami kind of revitalizes his football career and now he's thrilled to be in the three

oh five. I was thinking about pulling some audio from the Floras and Career press conference on late Friday night, but we're already recording this podcast in the early morning hours of Friday morning, So I'm gonna go ahead and save that for the Day three recap podcasts, we kind of take a look at the draft holistically. We'll go ahead and hear from Coach and Chris on that press conference. I want to finish out the podcast with a couple of things here because we have some more to get to.

First off, the draft storylines, how about San Francisco going with Trey Lance at pick number three. I was convinced all along that their misdirect or that their comments about it's either Mac Jones or Trey Lance. I thought it was misdirection, but it wasn't Trey Lance, and good for them. I was really really not buying the idea that it was Mac Jones. The Falcons take uh Kyle Pitts. I think that was a little bit of a surprise, just based upon things that have occurred over the last couple

of months. But Pit's obviously got more runaway heading up into the draft and more high heading into the draft, So I think that that's a great fit for them with Arthur Smith and Matt Ryan in that offense. But you know, we're maybe hoping he might fall to number six, but he didn't we wind up with Jalen Waddle, and that's a great, great prize at that spot as well. I thought I was interesting that all three Dolphins, Chargers, and Bengals teams that drafted quarterbacks in the first round

last year, got tools to help their rookie quarterback. Justin Herbert gets Rashawn Slater, Joe Burrow gets Jamaar Chase to a tongue of Bloa, gets Jalen Waddles to some help there for those young quarterbacks. Justin Fields to the Bears. I was fist pumping at that one because I don't really get invested in other teams like this, but if the Bears are going to be shoved down my throat in primetime five times, at least give me a quarterback I love, and I love Justin Fields. I love that fit.

They're happy for Bears fans that are one of the blue bloods of this league and they deserve to have a good quarterback for the first time, really since Jim mcmannon. I guess it's been a long time. Jets going up for an offensive lineman. I thought that was strange because it's a very deep offensive line class. You could have stayed put and got Tevin Jenkins and maybe Christian Derris saw on that spot, so they trade up for an

offensive lineman. Thought that was strange. Mac Jones and the Patriots. I'll just go ahead and say this, we saw what happened to Jimmy Garoppolo or Jared Goff or any of the other stationary quarterbacks. Joe Flacco, Sam I guess Sam Donalds not stationary, but you get the idea. These quarterbacks that don't move as plus athletes, they didn't farewell against this Dolphins team, so let's go bring it on, Patriots. I like that a lot. Alex Letherwood was the Draft

Networks number seventy two overall player. Raiders take him in the first round. Thought that was certainly interesting. Caleb Farley in the first round after the injury. Is very happy for him. He deserves it because he's a great kid. He's a great talent. Just sucks to have a guy with back injuries going into the draft, but he got saved off the board in the first round. Jaguars get E t n to go with James Robinson and Trevor Lawrence. Wow, what a backfield that is. And Nag Harris goes off

the board to the Steelers. Dolphins fans were pumped about kim Bocamper hyping up the crowd for taking Naji Harris number eighteen. So I know Dolphins fans are going to be bummed there. But we're gonna get to the draft preview here or the Day two preview here in just one second, and there's still a player on the board.

That's my RB one. We'll talk about that. I want to cover the live show, hosting it at hard Rock Stadium, most five I've had in a long time, probably a top five night for fun for me of all time. I absolutely loved it, being on the stage, being in that atmosphere, perfect night, perfect weather, little breeze, no rain. Fans were there. It was great to see life getting back to normal and being up on stage, being on television.

It felt natural for me. You guys can grab my performance if you saw it and and think I didn't do great, But I thought I did great. I thought we all great as a team. There was never any awkward silences. We got all these Dolphins legends that I was getting to yuck it up with Dwight Stevenson, Kimbo Camper, obviously Channing Crier there on set with me, Terry Kerbert Kirby, and Lorenzo Hamptons, so plenty of great stuff. It was great to see O. J McDuffie there who did the

pre show show. Ruthie Polinski from NBC, she was there as well. Great to see her. And always great to see John con Jemmy. He was a phenomenal host at the at the draft party on Thursday night. I love sitting with John talking ball. He's the best. Great to see him and just just a dream come true. Man. Unreal,

the sites, the fans back to normal. I talked about that, But there have been some tent pole moments for me in this journey personally, and this was totally the biggest tent pole moment being there at hard Rock Stadium watching the Draft with crazy Dolphins fans and breaking things down. I just it's kind of a lot of taking right now. Like I I'm pretty beside myself. I'm pretty you four because I talked to you guys at one o'clock in

the morning here on Friday morning. Other topics in this area in this draft to visional fows, we talked about Mac Jones. They're going to the Patriots. The Buffalo Bills wind up getting Greg Russo the defensive end out of Miami. There he is a big, long, strong, physical defensive end prospect that we're gonna have to get blocked up in those a f C East game. And the Jets was

Zack Wilson. You know, I didn't talk much about quarterbacks, but I always thought Justin Fields and Trey Lance were superior prospects, And as far as I considered it, I think Zack Wilson makes a lot of those fun throws and can throw the ball over the yard, But I really question a lot of the parts of his game as far as you know, one hit wonder for his processing speed and trying to stay on schedule and make plays on script opposed to being the off script quarterback.

We'll see him twice a year now going forward, Let's go ahead and close up this podcast with a day to preview. I wrote down some names here that I think are really in play for the Dolphins and really some really talented players available. There are two players on the board right now that I would go up to thirty three and get if if I could. They are Tevin Jenkins and Javonte Williams. Tevin Jenkins would really round

out that right side of the offensive line. If you want to kick Robert Hunt inside, you can do that. If you don't, you don't have to do it either. But Tevin Jenkins has a physical temperament and absolute maller tenacity he plays with. I thought he was a top fifteen pick. The fact that he's still there, to me, I would I would make a move for him if

I could. Javonte Williams is the other guy. I think he's running back one as well, so o T two and running back one on the board for me personally right here, three down player, former linebacker that can pass protect like an absolute maven, catch the football, and not to mention his running ability four point five nine yards per carry after initial contact. Like I'm not talking average carry after someone hits him. He's still averaged four and

a half yards per carry after initial contact. Those two guys are the biggest ones that stick out to me on this board. Jeremiah wosu Coamo, the linebacker out of Notre Dame. He's more of a safety linebacker hybrid prospect in this defense. But the fact that he's still there, I thought he'd be a first rounder. Baron Browning the outside linebacker Ohio State. He can really play. Kyle Krabs talked him up big time as well, so he's an option there at thirty six. I think back to the

offensive line. Dylan Raddon's out of North Dakota State. Love his game, he can play multiple positions. I think along the offensive line would like to get a crack at him. I like Jackson Carmen out of Clemson, but he might be more of a Saturday pick back to the running back position if it's not ja Ane Williams. I like Kenneth Gainwill out of Memphis. There's a lot of variety to his game as far as a pass catcher and pass protector and also carrying the football, explosive player. I

also like Kylan Hill out of Mississippi State. He could be a possible option at pick number eighty one in that third round. Maybe in the fourth round if you trade back a little bit. Trayvon Moore the top safety on the board. He and Javon Holland are still there, and you know, I actually have Tyree Gillespie ahead of both of them, But so really three good safety prospects there.

Maybe you wait around a little bit on Tyree Gillespie along the offensive line, Landon Dickerson, Creed Humphrey, and Quinn Miners are all still there. Love all three of these players. I think Minors fits the profile really perfectly as far as his explosiveness, his size on the interior, and the way he works. He's a really bright kid, a hard working kid at safety again defensive bat. Kind of round this thing out. Love Jamar Johnson out of Indiana and

Asante Samuel out of Florida State. This guy can really play as a ball hawk of course, son of former Patriots corner Asante Samuel Senior. So he and Jamar Johnson round out my my list of players I'm keeping an eye on on Day number two. We're gonna do it all over again tomorrow night. Recap Day two. Get just some press conference audio break down, some stuff as far as the players fit and their their film and the

scheme and all that fun stuff. We're also gonna have a deep dive on Saturday after the draft concludes, taking a look at the entire roster, reset that thing. We'll get the press conferences for coach and Chris on there as well, and the players. We're gonna cover this thing for you guys comprehensively. I don't want to jam it all into one episode. I think we gave you plenty here on this Friday morning edition of the Drivetime Podcast. But as from my time, that's gonna be my time.

Dolphins get Jalen Waddle number six, Jalen Phillips number eighteen, big boon to the receiving room, and a big run to the past rush there. In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Leave us a rating, to leave us a review, give me a follow on Twitter. It's at winkld 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 finds up