Miami Dolphins 2021 NFL Draft Night 2 Recap, Jevon Holland, Liam Eichenberg and Hunter Long Breakdowns, Day 3 Preview

The Dolphins add tight end Hunter Long, offensive tackle Liam Eichenberg, and safety Javon Holland We're gonna break down the games of all of those guys, tell you how they fit in their respective position groups and what it means for the rest of the roster. We're also going to get to the Night one media with Chris Greer and Brian Flora's and Jalen Waddle and Jalen Phillips, and we'll go ahead and take a look at the best remaining on Day three, with the Dolphins having three more picks to

go in this year's draft. All of that and more on the special night to NFL Draft edition of the Drive Time Podcast. And we're gonna get to the player selected tonight by the Miami Dolphins here in just one moment. But first I want to go back and cover the media availabilities from Chris Greer and Brian Flores, but also Jalen Waddle and Jalen Phillips from night one. Some really cool comments in there from both the players as well as the head coach and the general manager, Chris Greer.

And we're gonna go ahead and get to the very first question post of these two men on Thursday night talking about Jalen Waddle. Let's go ahead and hear the audio here from Chris Greer on what they saw in Jalen Waddle. We've watched him over the years. He's been

a dynamic, explosive player. Even from his you know, freshman year there he just flash, he's all stuff and and I think this season demonstrating the type of player and even last year he's he's contributed there every year he's um without his athletic ability, he's run after catch obviously the speed, but it's also as toughness. He's a very competitive kid. He loves ball. It's important to him. I

think you guys see how he plays. He plays with passion and energy and so as Brian and I and the coaches and scouts were going through it, um, this guy has been someone that's called our right and it's not just this year. Is someone that we've had had our eye on for the last couple of years, just watching. And so that was the general manager Chris. We were talking about the addition of Gillan Waddle. Let's go ahead and go next here to Brian Floor as Miami Dolphins

head coach. Uh. You know obviously watched a lot of Two last year. In doing that, you know, we we saw, you know, really all the players at Alabama and you know, a lotle with somebody who definitely stood out um as a receiver, as a returner, UM, just a really good player.

And then getting on him was that that kind of I would say, confirmed a lot of the things we had heard, and then you just think he's a very very very good player, good person, and somebody are I really liked that bit there, especially from both coach and Chris about how they had been watching two for a

couple of years and doing so. Jalen Waddle kind of catches your eye because when I watched tape, a lot of the times, the players that I fall in love with the most are guys that happened to come by accident. Like my favorite one of all time was watching Zach Cunningham from Vanderbilt a few years back and Alvin Camara just going Ham on that Vanderbilt defense at Tennessee like it. That's That's a great sign of a player stands out when you're watching somebody else. They touch on that there.

I also they were asked later on in the press conference a similar question regarding both Pits and Chase being off the board, and they mentioned they had been watching Waddle for a couple of years and really being on

him and honing in on him. There was a follow up question to this first one here about Jillen Waddle asking about how much it meant to them as an organization that Waddle came back to the National Championship Game this year after breaking his ankle in Week five for the Crimson Tide and coming back in the same season to play in that game, even though as you saw in that game, he was not but he came back

and played with his teammates. Here's what coach and Chris had to say about Waddles toughness and what that meant to them in that game. I think it's Yeah, it just again shows the character and how important football is to him. You know, like you said, a lot of players would have opted not to play and this injury, but he wanted to deal with his teammates and worked hard to have to get back and be out there and contribute. And so for us, it just as we got to know him with Brian said, it just kind

of completed the picture. Even really it's not to get before even really knew him, just to say like, this is the type of kid that loves ball and within our culture, and we're gonna be able to further prove that here later on we get when we hear from Jalen Waddle at his media availability up next for Chris career. Here he was asked about Jalen Phillips's love for the game and what attracted the Dolphins to that player at

number eighteen. Well, you know, Brian, myself, the coaches, the scouts, we spent a lot of time do the pre draft process getting to know him. And I think the one thing when you watch him play, you would never question his passion and effort and stuff, because he plays a hundred miles an hour and uh, he's got a tremendous motor and effort and you can tell football is very

important to him. And I think like any person when you're that young, going into college and doing stuff, and you know, maybe you know a little bit of adversity there, I think it's just maturing and growing and you know, and so I think, you know, watching him over his career, you know, he's a you know, one of the top players in the country in high school and and just watching his growth over the last few years and he got to know him, he felt very comfortable with it.

And and I'm filmed. There's no doubt that this guy loves football, and so we're very excited to add him. I love hearing Chris talk there about the motor that stands out on his tape and how if you watch his tape, you never questioned his love for the game,

and that's spot on. Because there's a clip I'm going to share in the written piece on Jayalen Phillips upon Miami Dolphins dot Com here in a couple of days or I'm not sure when it's gonna you, but it'll be out there soon where he chases down Trevor Lawrence from behind and we've seen Lawrence run away from safety's before you know, in that big playoff game a couple of years ago, like a fifty yard touchdown run whatever it might have been, but Phillips ran him down from

the backside. He retraces so well and has that relentless motor that way. So I love that comment there from Chris Queer. And we're gonna jump ahead here in the press conference and go back to the Dolphins first pick on Thursday night, number six overall, Jalen Waddle. They were asked about why they would take Waddle over Davonte Smith, former or fellow Alabama receiver, and they talked about the

explosive misplaymaking ability and much more. But there was one other point here I wanted to point to hear the Dolphins or Chris Career talks about with the decision to draft DeLand Waddle and the response from people around the league. At the end of the day, they're both really good

players and really good kids, um, and very competitive. Uh. Just you know, as we went through it, it's the explosiveness, um, that you know Waddle gives you as well as the return game, UM, Ryan and for us just that dynamic trait and UM, you can only imagine the texts Brian and I got from people talking about we're a great pig and explosive and how this guy's you know, you guys saw all the comparisons, But for us, it was getting to know the kid um and we were really

really happy and knowing how competitive and tough. But it's just they're both really good players. A device is going to be a really good player in this league. For us, it was the explosive playmaking ability and the return ability force that we we like. As we have talked about many many times on this podcast, the four down player of Jalen Waddle, the electricity he brings to an offense, the chance to cut some of those twelve plage drives

and turn them into five or six play drives. All about explositivity and speed, and Drillian Waddle has both of those in spades. Up next to a really great question I thought from Omar Kelly of the Sun Sentinel, South Florida Sun Sentinel talking about positional value and going edge at number eighteen with running backs on the board and

how the Dolphins valued that. Here's Chris. We are talking about making the decision between Jalen Phillips and the running back class because a certain player number eighteen Daylan Phillips was he number one player on the Dolphins board. Yeah, you know, Brian I and the coaches and scouts. Again, we do a lot of work pree draft, a lot of calls, information and mock drafts, going through our own stuff looking at it, and yeah, we were we thought

that could happen. But you know, for us, Daylan was, you know, the best player on our board at that point. And so as Brian said, you can never have enough pass rush and we all felt that way. Um, So for us, um, we're tremendously excited that Janeen was there and we didn't think he would be there, and uh, we're happy to get him number one player on the board.

Didn't think he would be there. That would explain why the Dolphins ran the card up there, And big kudos to Chris Graher and Brian Flores forgetting those cars turned in quickly and making the night go by faster. That's like the biggest low key winning this whole thing is quick turning of the card and speed up this draft process a little bit so we're not out there for five hours watching this thing. So really cool to see that that was the case as well with Jalen Waddle

when they turned the cargain very quickly. So both these players they obviously had conviction in and of course, as you heard Chris Career there say Brian Flores had earlier in response to a question you can never have enough pass rushers. We have two more here, one talking about Jalen Waddle and its potential role. Here's Brian Flores talking about what role the number six pick in the draft, Jalen Waddle could have on this Dolphins offense this season.

I mean, his his role is gonna be what he makes it based off of all the film we've seen, and um, you know, we think he'll he'll fit inside or outside. UM, I think be a lot of speed element. Um and obviously he asked some some value and return games, so I think I think, you know, his versatility is a big, big part of this. His ability to play inside, to play in the slot, to play on phim's playing

a return game. You know we we uh again, we were very very excited to have him or both Jalen's be honest with you and um and uh, I'm excited. Talked a lot about speed there and that answer, and of course again for the eight millionth time. That is what Jalen Waddle brings in spades. But he also brings the element of being a great teammate. There's some great stories I covered on the podcast on Thursday night talking about the level of teammate and competitive that he is.

And here is Coach talking about how important it is to be a great teammate and what they saw from Jalen Waddle in that department. I would say, the talent is the first thing we're looking at, and I think that's that stood out. But you know, for sure, I mean, he talked about you being a teammate now important that was um. He talked about the camaraderie that that um he and both Jalen and John Phillips and j Will both talked about the camaraderie and how important that is.

So obviously that's important to us, and but you know, as players and these guys, that's what stood out first. And I really wanted to play that last clip there from Coach because you're gonna hear from Jillian Waddle here at the end of his press of friends, and you're gonna see genuine joy and excitement for the level of pride he feels for being a great teammate with his

Alabama teammates. Let's go ahead and get nowt to Jillan Waddle and his press conference from Thursday night, and speaking of love of the game, Waddle was asked about how important it was to him to try to showcase his toughness and ability to come back from the injury and and what the game meant to him in that National Championship game. But for him, it was all about just playing football. Well, honestly, I just paid because I'd love to play the game. Um, So I wasn't really kinking

on how I came off to anyone anything like that. Um, they never really spoke about it or anything like that. How about the chemistry he had with two a tongue of by loa and how that might carry over into his rookie season here with his former quarterback and now his new teammate and quarterback here in Miami. I mean he's there for sure. He's definitely h needs to improve and something that we're gonna try to improve on. So, um,

it's good to, you know, be familiar with him. But I'm I'm coming to work and I know he is too. So just getting it down and just going by having and having at it um day by day, just trying to build it and build it more. I love how he talked about It's definitely they're acknowledged the fact that the chemistry is there, but we have to work and get better. That's the message of this team. Jalen Waddle

already has that down. And those workout videos you see from two on Instagram or Twitter, whatever it is, you're gonna be seeing plenty of those with these two guys. I'm sure they're gonna get to work probably tomorrow. They'll probably be out there throwing the football around tomorrow. One more thank here for Jillan Waddle. I talked about it with Brian Flores and the mention of how good, how good of a teammate he is, and how important it

is to him. Here he is talking about his Alabama teammates. One of the reporters broke the news to him that uh Davante Smith had gotten number ten to the Philadelphia Eagles and his Here is Jillen reacting and talking about his teammates. He teared up a little bit, man. So it's just, you know, there's a lot of emotion. I almost seeming like tear up and it's me not like a real emotional guy. So he's like a special moment. You just share it with your budd uh pat Um,

Smitty mac ball more. It's something special issues make the moment even more specially even more emotionally. I thought that was a great answer, the best answer of the entire night. I love when these guys show emotion. Let's go ahead and kick this thing off for Jalen Phillips before we get to the picks from Friday evening for the Miami Dolphins. Here's Phillips his first question, talking about the experience of coming back to Miami and how it feels. Man words

canna even describe office right now. I mean, it's literally like a outer body experience. Um. But you know, I'm just so grateful for Miami as a city. You know, they embraced me when I came into the U and they've supported me for the last two years of my journey. And so there's no place I'd rather be. Man bastually three or five. This is crazy. And of course, Jillen Phillips's career was nearly cut short by a retirement with

some concussion problems he had in college. He addressed that on the press conference here, and you're gonna hear him talk about how crazy it is coming back to Miami quite a bit. But here he is talking about what drove him to get back onto the football field and into this position, a first round draft pick in the NFL. Man, all I can say about that is superiance. Man. You know, there was there was good days, there was bad days.

But at the end of the day, Man, I kept my faith, I stayed humble, and I worked hard, uh, And I had great people around me to support me and carried me through this process. So it's been surreal. I mean, these these last two years in my life, like so much has changed, and I'm just so blessed to be in this position that I am right now, uh, and so thankful for everybody was helping me along the way.

There was a question here in the middle of this between this one and the next one We're gonna play for you guys, where he was asked about his relationship and meeting coach Flores and and what he thought about coach Flora's and he said, he seems like a very genuine guy. And the reason I wanted to mention that was because We've heard that so many times. So for him to say that after his initial meeting with Coach Florida, I thought that really just carried a bunch of weight

and was very interesting. He also talked about how he just moved all of his stuff from Coral Gables here in Florida back to l A and now he's got to move back to the South Florida area. But he also had this great quote that he mentions. He tweets a lot about kind of the journey he's taken the circuitest route now to the NFL, about how Los Angeles made him but the three or five here in Miami saved him. Yeah. I've never made it out to a Dolphins game, but you know I've said it before in

a tweet. Man like Los Angeles Mami, but Miami saved me. And so I really I owe a lot to this city. Uh. And I'm so excited to be able to come back and be able to play here for you know, as long as I can. I talked about Coach Flow getting that genuine moniker and how accurate and how that's kind of played out over the course of his time here. Uh. Jalen was asked about what he can bring to the Dolphins, what he's gonna be to this Miami Dolphins football team.

And he talked a lot of these same kind of phrases that coach Flora speaks and talking about his servitude to the football team. Oh man, my tenacity and my hard work, that's something I can really hate my head on. Man. I'm gonna come in day one and just like do the most that I can for the team. Man. Just come in, you know, be a humble servant. I really come in just ready to soak up everything, be a sponge, and just put my head down to work. Man. I want to earn the respect to my teammates and my

coaches first and foremost. So I'm just excited for this opportunity. It's crazy. It sounds like a Miami Dolphin already. And you heard him there again at the very ends here, that's crazy. And then he knowledge the fact that he said it's crazy several times. Very excited to be here. Let's go ahead and finish up here before we get to our player breakdowns from night two, rounds two and three, your next newest Miami Dolphins. He talked about going from

Coral Gables back to Los Angeles. Here he is talking about being familiar with South Florida and where he's looking around this time. I mean, I definitely want to be close to facilities. So you know, the hard rock facilities are gonna be open pretty soon, so you know, anywhere I can be close up in North Miami, so you know, West End, Davy before Lauderdown maybe just you know, I know my way around there a little big and I

spent some time about North. You know, I was down in Coral Gables for the most point, but I definitely spent some time up north. So you know, wherever the team recommends that, you know, I should stay and really just kind of being close to facility, being able to get that vibe and really kind of act with me. Yeah, what a perfect answer. That was once again talking about being in a possession where he can just work his

hardest and work his best and become his best. Great media there from your Newest Miami Dolphins and Brian Floors and Chris Career, we're gonna break down the newest players here for your Miami Dolphins. Starting off first here with the dolphins first pick on Friday and and with a thirty six pick in the draft, the Dolphins select Javon Holland safety slash nickel cornerback out of Oregon, and I was a little bit bummed at first because it picked

thirty five. My guy, Javonte Williams came off the board, but I was quickly revived after that because you guys know, I'm a Pac twelve fan of Washington State alumni, watched a lot of Oregan football games out there and really had this guy in my cross Harris. As far as the safety position, we teased it in the Thursday Night Slash Friday Morning podcast how this guy was one of the top safeties on the board. Javon Holland can flat

out play some ball, man. He is actually the first, or I should say the highest drafted ever Canadian born player. He found his way down to Oakland in the East Bay area and played his high school ball there. But he was a Canadian born athlete, highest ever drafted, beating out Chase Claypool from a last season. But his strength, that's the biggest strength in this guy's game. Just such an instinctive player and that's that's my jam at safety. Man. It's so in line with what Brandon Joe owns does.

And that's my favorite thing to watch, the instincts to recognize some of the keys or the tells before the snap of what the offensive lines doing or the motion and what that means, or how the alignment of the receivers and tight ends or stacked or bunched, or how they're spaced out. This guy sees it and hits it and comes downhill flying like a bat out of hell. And you really see him react and anticipate as well as anybody in this class and maybe even the most.

And when he pulls that trigger and gets going downhill in a hurry, there is some violent, violent collisions that he hits as a result. There was a quote available on him where they asked him about his nine career interceptions there at ore agaon more on that here in just a moment, and he said, that's what everyone wants to talk about, but he wants to talk about tackling. And he squares it up, wraps it up, and he

drives ball carriers to the turf. And speaking of those nine interceptions, how about the ball skills, his ball tracking and his instincts to get over the top. He looks like a center filler sometimes in baseball. He's rangey, and he plays faster than his four or four six forty time because of the instinct innks. He finds the football

as well as anybody in this class. In twenty seven career games, nine interceptions, ten more passes defense, so nine team plays on the football in twenty seven games at a position where you're not getting targeted nearly as much as an outside cornerback does probably three or four game tops, and one of those balls he's getting a hand on or intercepting, and an even better fashion. So this guy

finds the football. And Chris Greer and Brian Flora's both talked about adding playmakers at their initial press or background Senior Bowl time, maybe in February, I forget when it was, but they talked about adding playmakers on the offensive and defensive side. And this Dolphins team led the National Football League last year and takeaways, and they just got another one of the best players in that category in this entire draft. And I think that's really what Holland is.

A playmaker, a ball hawk, an instinctive player that works hard and can fly all over the football field because of his preparation skills. Daniel Jeremiah called him an immediate starter. But you've got Bobby McCain, Eric Row, and Brandon Jones, who are all really good players. That saved position. Don't get me wrong. I have raved about those three guys for the better part of over a year now, but

just three interceptions among them last year. Holland gives you a ball hawk of the first degree, and Mario Cristo Ball, the head coach out there at Oregon, actually said that he thought Holland was a better receiver, which speaks to his ball skills. I asked you Von about this in his press conference. We'll hear about that on tomorrow's Drivetime podcast, and he said, Yeah, he was a high school receiver and a punt returner who did all that stuff too.

So a playmaker with the ball in his hands, and he gets it in his hands a whole heck of a lot. I mentioned the sound tackling man. He can really break down in space and work both shifty and big backs to the ground in that space, and he will miss a few here and there because he goes in for the kill shop. But he also registered some of the biggest, most violent hits you'll see at the

college level, and the versatility. He offers over eight hundred snaps in the slot, three hundreds of free safety and three hundred more inside the box. Will also come down and blitz off the edge. Remember Rashad Jones blitzing that strong side sea gap off the edge or coming down off the weak side edge to hit the back before he gets to the line of scrimmage in those short

yardage situations. That's what Holland does. He's also speaking of Rashaan Jones very much an alpha type, a temperature changer. You guys heard me talk about James Derwin in this sense, in this category a couple of years ago, and I absolutely fell in love with his game. That's kind of what Holland is in terms of the way you watch him play, the temperature or the just the fire that he brings in, the energy he brings to a defense. He's an outspoken leader who's a traffic cop and not

afraid to speak his mind. I think this kid has future captain potential in the way he communicates, in the way that he just conducts himself. We know how important that Social Impact Committee has been for this organization, and so many of the players that are part of it. Here in Miami. Holland is on record is speaking out against social injustices as well, And of course I always support and appreciate athletes that use their platform for positive change,

so he fits in that way culturally as well. The kid works as butt off. As a great story about him, I believe it was seven dot com him when he first got signed to Oregon, and he talked about as a child, he didn't understand that other kids and other you know, middle schoolers and high schools didn't have to

do a hundred push ups every day. They had rules in their house about get your school work done and get your workouts and those are the most important things that we and get your chores in around the house to those are the most important temples growing up. I asked him about that. He just said, yeah, that that work ethic really kind of helped get me to this position and the sacrifices I made as a young person.

And they talked about how he would choose, you know, staying home to to work or to do whatever, rather than going out and partying, and he said that contributed big way to this position or big time and to getting him into this position that he's in now. So a really cool a cool kid that has, you know, breaming potential, and you're talking about the fit in this defense. I mean, how many times have we talked about the

importance of defensive backs in this defense? I mean, only six teams in the NFL last year ran more six defensive backpackages or six or more so six, seven or eight dbs in the field. Only six teams ran that more than my Miami. So you really need nine or ten active defensive backs every Sunday, and you can expect at least six or seven and that's probably on the low end, probably more seven or eight that are going to give you significant reps between defense and special teams

in Holland. You know, if you're looking for a what's what's the word here? Satellite from New England, the kind of replication of what they had with Flora's up there in New England, Patrick Chung comes to mind, so smart, so instinctive, middle of the field traffic cop type. And again to pair that with Brandon Jones, Miami is set up well here both for the interim and the long term at that position, a very important position in this defense.

With both McCain and row still in the group, and he can also come down and play in the slot and coverage just like the other guys in this group.

So Miami is really loaded here to match up with all different types of receivers on a game to game basis, you have to imagine Flora's and Boyer look at those Weeks seventeen results last year and even what Buffalo did in Week two on offense in Miami as well in that game, and think, we just have to be able to to be deep, to have the horses to keep up with all those weapons those guys have, our division rival, and defending a f C East champion. You have to be able to beat those guys to get to the

top of the mountains. So kind of matching what they have offensively, they run twelve personnel packages. That's four receivers more than anybody else in the National Football League. So again let's go Buffalo bringing on. So I look at the roster and think about the insane competition about to happen inside a slot. Justin Coleman, Nick need Um, Noah Igmanogamy Jones can play there, and now Javon Holland what

a loaded secondary Flores has put together. And before you worry about potential fits and who might get the playing time. Can't we just trust what this team has done defensively under Brian Flores to go from the thirty second ranked scoring defense at the number six ranked defense, and really they dropped five spots in the final week of the season.

A man, that one games with this Dolphins team because of strong defensive efforts, because of the vision of driving the defensive back or the defensive backs being the driving force of your scheme. I mean, we've seen at work here time and time again with this Dolphins defense last year. That's all I'm saying. Just put the faith in Javon Holland and this Dolphins defensive back room because they drive this defense and they are great. They're deep, they're loaded,

they're talented. Six ft two seven pounds, one of only four players with nine or more picks in those two seasons and eighteen and nineteen in all of college football. The run stops cranked way up when he started playing more inside the box. In twenty nineteen, twenty four run stops compared to six as a freshman. He had five pressures on just fourteen pass rush rips. And we mentioned the ball skills just three touchdowns allowed compared to nine interceptions.

The four four six forty yard dash. Most safeties run in the four five range, but he was sub four or five that comes into the eighties percent tile. He has a very good bench press profile strong kid nineteen bench press rips that was nine percent tile vertical, and a nice four point one four shuttle run. Daniel Jeremiah had this to say, Javon Holland has an ideal blend of size, fluidity and ball skills. He has the athleticism to range over the top, but he is at his

best when patrolling underneath. He has the agility to mirror in the slot or match up with tight ends. He is quick to the alley and has some snap as a tackler. He has excellent ball awareness and dependable hands. Overall, Holland has the skills had to fit in any scheme and should be an immediate starter. So an instinctive player at age twenty one. He just turned twenty one last month. Another very young, talented, high upside kid here with the

Miami Dolphins with great great instincts. The Dolphins were not done quickly after that at all. Six picks later, Miami comes back up, and they traded up with the New York Giants at pick forty two to select offensive tackle out of Notre Dame Liam Eichenberg. The Dolphins sent their own third round draft pick in two to go up from fifty to forty two. So consider what Chris Career did with the third pick in the draft this year.

And I know Miami got back the Niners compensatory pick, which will be in the one hundreds next year compared to a third round pick. It probably figures to come in around the nineties somewhere. I mean, I think that's gonna be a really good football team next year, so I would project that pick is going to be late in that playoff Roune, playoff lounge, playoff range. I meant to say, but the Dolphins went up from forty two or from fifty rather to forty two and exchange for

that future third round draft picks. So Miami from the third pick in this year's draft wind up getting Jalen Waddle, Liam Eichenberg, and a first round draft pick ine. So not bad, not bad at all. That's what Chris Greer has made of the third pick in this draft. As the sun never sets on the Larry muetunseil trade. As

far as Liam Eichenberg's game. The very first strength you notice in Eichenberg's game, and it stands out right away the technique he started getting into his punch, his technique getting into vertical sets and all that fun football jargon that you know I love in his first press conference with the South Florida media, so I'll certainly enjoy that

in the future. But this guy is just so well coached at that obviously prestigious offensive line program there and run game and everything they do on the offensive line at Notre Dame. He's so sound and the way he times his strike and doesn't really take the cheese with all the noise pass rushers throw you with the hands and with the bluffs and all that fun stuff. They want to draw that hunch out of you so they

can get you leaning out over your skis. He is so disciplined to not throw that punch until he's technically sound and has his feet underneath him. And that's really in line with his mechanical makeup as well. The synergy between his feet and the rest of his body. It's

it's there for him. You watch him drop that anchor and widen the base upon contact as he kind of squares up and gets himself in the best position to establish leverage and win the rep that way and thwart those power moves the run game and angles and zone prowess. We saw that throughout his career at Notre Dame. I think he's pretty scheme diverse, but when you watch him work to the second level, he's often in prime position to wall off and hit those blocks that can turn

those six yard runs into thirty yard runs. Explosive plays at that second level, or at least produce the opportunity for the back to make someone miss in that second level, very potential, big gainer his durability. Guy played all thirty eight games of his career at left tackle for the Fighting Irish, a program that has produced quality NFL offensive

lineman year in and year route. He's not athletically the same as a Ronnie Stanley or a Zach Martin, but he's a tough dude that fits in line with the toughness, the smart, competitive type of player that Brian Floraes loves here in Miami. His football i Q and you'll hear this again on the UH Day three Recap edition of the Drivetime podcast here that the draft focus as we

carry on here into the weekend Huns Drive Time. But you'll hear this at his media press conference availability, the first one he did with the Miami Dolphins, where he credited having a mobile quarterback and ian book as the reason he didn't allow a sack in two years they're at Notre Dame. You heard that right, No sacks in two years at Notre Dame. Thirty three straight games going back to his freshman year in college without allowing a

sack on his quarterback. You know how that happens, besides a couple of other factors, obviously, but effectively communicating and

passing off games up front, stunts, twists and slants. He's so sharp and finding work and recognizing those slants and where the possible scraper or looper might come off the backside, because you're gonna have a defensive end crash inside and then you have the interior linebacker or defensive tackle loop around the outside and try to fool the offensive tackle to get a soft edge and run that route to the quarterback. He finds those and punishes those guys so often.

And speaking of punishing, I clipped off so many cool reps last year of Solomon Kinley punishing jumpers, where guys trying to jump up and back the football down at the line where you then put them on their back and finish them with that mean streak. He fits in that way big, big time. Speaking of fit, that will be interesting to see what the coaching staff wants to do. But Liam actually mentioned this as well at his presser.

He worked out with Lemiel John Pierre, new Dolphins offensive line coach at his pro day and mentioned there was some good rapport there. But now with d J. Fluker and Robert Hunt coming back is an incumbent, and Jesse Davis as well, and now the newcomer and Liam Eichenberg, there's some really good competition this year on the offensive line. I always say that Austin Jackson and Solomon Kinley are

pretty safe bets. On the left side of the offensive line, I'd say that Matt Skura is the center right now at least, and Robert Hunt will have a spot along the four along the front five, But I'm not ready to commit to where that might be so because no one knows, I mean, coach coach will tell us in August, right who cares. We'll find out in August when they

put the football team together. So you really have three or four really really capable lineman competing for one spot on the offensive line there, and coach Flora has mentioned this so many times before that the offensive line, it's

not about five individuals, it's about one cohesive unit. And did you guys see that tweet I sent out earlier this week regarding Daniel Jeremiah's take on offensive line play, where he said that around the league, the feeling is becoming that your worst player on the offensive line is more important than your best player on the offensive line

because more sacks are surrendered than are actually earned. And I think that you look at what Liam Eichenberg, everything I'm reading about this guy online as far as the expert says that he's a high floor player. Will come back to that here in just one second. But let's go ahead and continue this schematically. I don't know what that looks like right now. Again, like I don't know who the starters are, but this is a bit of a curve ball from the prototype ampoint because he's not

the plus plus athlete like in Austin Jackson. He's a little bit light compared to what they've done as far as Solomon Kinley and Robert Hunting d J. Fluker obviously, but how can you do anything but defer to the experts with regards of the scheme. So I'm not going to discuss that. I imagine they'll remain versatile and that Eichenberg is equipped to play in any scheme on an offensive line of plug employed day one type of guy.

Speaking of that, the stats the thirty eight straight starts there at Notre Dame a team captain obviously allowed no sacks in two seasons and just four QB hits over that same time span, and only forty one career pressures allowed on two thousand, six hundred and eighteen snaps all at left tackle, every single snap of every single game. A ton of experience. This guy offers percentile or better and run block and pass block grades on PFF and also in the eighties percentile or better in both zone

and gap grade and run blocking. His measurements thirty three bench press reps that was his best trade that was in the percentile among offensive tackles. He also had a four point five eight shuttle time that was in the eight second percentile. So showing off some of the ankle flection and some of the pop in the hips to make those quick turns around those cones in that drill

around the shuttle. In that drill, his three cone time, speaking of the cones was in the seventy percent tile at seven point five three seconds, So again there's some pop and some explosiveness there. Daniel Jeremiah Pro Football Focus, every publication I read, Dame Brugler has this guy's the highest floor player in the draft. PFF called him a well oiled machine with his technique, ready to contribute on day one, and his feet and pass sets are as

crisp as you'll find in college football. A couple more notes from his pressor that he did on Friday night. There's a story about him getting his eye hit inside the face mask ring a game and his eye actually swelled up shut in a game and he played the rest of the game with just one I. I asked him about that in his press conference and he said I had to help the team win, That's all there is to it, and just basically moved on from there.

He also was asked about if he knew some or he he mentioned it at the opening the pressor that he knew some Miami Dolphins, so somebody fall it up and asked him obviously Durham Smith Notre Dame, but also said that he met Austin Jackson when they worked out in Phoenix. I believe. I don't know when that was, but they worked out in Phoenix previously, where Austin Jackson's from.

And he talked about how he has learned about the Dolphins culture from those guys, and how everybody on the team is just concerned with helping the team win football games, like he mentioned in the I Swollen Shut story there, so he fits right in line as far as he only cares about what the team wants. He even said in the press conference, I'll play center if they want me to play center. I don't care where they want to put me. I'll play anywhere. So of course somebody

followed up and said, have you played center? And he said no, I never have, so no experience there. But I think he's virtual enough to do whatever the hell he wants. Pro Football Focus also said he might be more of a guard, so he can play guard or tackle. We'll find out what his prognosis is as far as position come August. Brian Kelly said that he was a

at the right tackle position. You can plug and play him and play right away in the NFL because of his consistency and because he's going to be out there every single day as he was at Notre Dame. So Liam Eichenberg offensive tackles slash offensive guard, slash offensive lineman.

The pick at number forty two, So Eikenberg and Javon Holland here on night two to go with Jalen Waddle and along there with Jalen Phillips on the first night Brett Coleman, who did that great Jalen Phillips breakdown the other night, uh or that shared on on Twitter from YouTube, he said, after the Javan Holland draft pick, the Dolphins are absolutely killing it. Have a draft Chris career with those picks, and now Eikenberg de solidify the offensive line.

And now you've got probably seven or eight guys competing for the offensive line spot up front. So Miami top four players are and let's go ahead and get now to our fifth player of the night. In the third round, pick number eighty one, your Miami Dolphins select Hunter long tight end out of Boston College. We just finished up his media before I recorded this, and he told us about how he builds computers in his spare time, has a computer science degree and also can solve a Rubricks

cube in forty seven seconds. So interesting dude. As far as his on field product goes, obviously Boston college product that Brian Flores was pretty pretty complementary about in his post draft presser on Friday evening, kind of joking about

the qualities of a Boston college player. But as far as his on field product, height, weight, speed, combos his first strength, I wrote down here he's a fluid athlete that can stay on balance through contact and reroutes and get through those jams with a smooth break at the top of his rouch. Really a fluid athlete that way, and runner that way. It's got very very strong and

reliable hands. He catches the football away from his frame, and he maintains those solid hands from all different types of ball tracking or platform or contact with the ground or the defender, and he tends to give the quarterback a nice window to work with With that radius and size combination that he features there at six ft five fifty three pounds, He's got multiple uses in the running game as well. I like that for a strength for him.

He's a try hard blocker who can operate and function from H H back position in line as a fullback all over the formation, lead up in there and get some blocks. That way seal the edge for you as well. And that versatility was kind of bread into him because he went from Steve A. Dozzio's power on game. You might recall a J. Dillon there at Boston College about a four pound running back and all muscle, and they just ran the ball over everybody and down their throat.

Then he goes this year to Frank Signetti to a more open passing style attack where he lines up inline and detached as well. And the final strength that I wrote down here is his intelligence that comes from Dane Brugler just talking to the guy right now. I kind of feel the same way builds computers, Rubrick's Cuban just the way he he conducts himself. But Dame Brugler said that his intelligence and strong football character will go a

long way with clubs. We know how important is to Brian Flores and Chris career here in Miami as far as his fit. Both Adam Shaheen Durham, Smythe and actually might get sick for that matter. You know, he's more of He's more in the mold of a Shaheen and Smythe as far as an inline classic tight end, Inline Classic y tight end and Gassicki for that matter as well. All three of those players have expiring contracts at the end of the season, so Hunter long gives you some

long term assurance at the position now. As far as how he fits, I think he immediately challenges for work in thirteen personnel packages when you pull thirteen or three tight ends on to the field, not thirteen. That wouldn't work. You'd get flagged for that, and even some twelve personnel packages as well. I think he's the second most polished pass catcher in the room now and doesn't lose a whole lot of ground as a blocker compared to Smith,

Smith and Shaheen. So again, six ft five, two hundred and fifty three pounds, he led all FBS tight ends with fifty seven catches last year, caught eighty nine balls for one thousand, two hundred ninety seven yards and nine career touchdowns, and he averaged fourteen point six yards per catch,

So a big playmaker. They're the tight end position. Just four drop passes on one hundred one catchable targets over the last two seasons one thousand, four hundred and thirty three career snaps and one thousand, one hundred and fourteen of those came in line. That's seventy eight percent working in line. So I remember Mike Gasicki plays in line less than twenty percent of the time. So again Smith and Shaheen mold is where this guy is more more in that mold, but he also offers a little more

as a pass catcher, I think so. His receiving grade and yards per route run on Pro Football Focus, we're both in the eightie percentile or better. Last year in college football among tight ends, one point seven four yards per route run and had an eighty three point to pass receiving grade. He caught nineteen of twenty seven passes in that intermediate range the ten to nineteen yard range with a pair of touchdowns, a nice red zone option from that position in line at tight end for this

Dolphins offense. He had the thirty one longest depth of target among tight ends and the twenty one most deep yards on passes thrown twenty or more yards down the field, and he tied for eleventh in the country and contested or tied for third rather in the country and contested catches with eleven of those. He ran a four six three forty that was eighty first percentile, one twenty two

inch broad jump eighty seven percentile. So he's got some explosiveness in those legs thirty three and three quarter inch arms. I found that interesting. That's closer to a tackle length at that position. And Pro Football Focus wrote, there's very few holes in his game. They mentioned not a not a ton of athletic upside, but they mentioned a high floor player here, and Dane Bruwery wrote functional blocker and smooth pass catcher and compared him to Austin Hooper. So

that's your day two. We away with a tight end Hunter long, a safety and Javon Holland and a tackle in Liam Eichenberg. And to close out flores and careers pressed.

At the end of the night, we got you know, he joked about the Golden Eagle thing and the tough, smart, physical team first players, and that was kind of pre alluding to a a fun back and forth where he was mentioned by soft Adana the South Florida Sun Sentinel, who complimented his drip from night one the suit game and coach jokingly told Softa to set up the Fashion Show runway walk off, So I guess we all have

that to look forward to. All right, Let's do a quick speed round here and get through my favorite players remaining on Day three, the final day of the draft, always a bit of a somber one as Saturday brings the month of April to a close and basically the end of the roster building portion of the calendar. My favorite running backs on the board. Michael Carter out of u NC still out there. This guy average eight yards

per carry last year. Love his game. Kenneth Gainwell talked about him on the podcast yesterday, as well as Kylan Hill, Mndre Stevenson, that big bruising back. He was with the Dolphins at the Sea Year Bowl, as was Khalil Herbert and then also Jama Jefferson out of Oregon State. Big time, big time rusher out here in the pack twelve with over two d yards and a couple of games. Thayland

Wallace receivers out of Oklahoma State. Love his game, big yacht guy, good contested catch guy, Amir Smith Marsette and josh imotor Baby a couple of big ten receivers. They're like their games and athletic profiles. On the offensive line, Tray Smith out of Tennessee some of the best offensive line tape in twenty nine. Team has some medical concerns though. Deonte Brown about a seven thousand pound man, he's actually three sixty five I think out of Alabama. And Darius

Hutcherson out of South Carolina. Joe Marino told us about him back on the Offensive Line Preview podcast. Interior defensive line, Tyler Shelvon out of l s U at the edge, Dalen Hayes out of Notre Dame, and Jonathan Cooper out of Ohio State. Love his game. He was great in the playoff run for the buck Eys. William Bradley King

and Tehron Jackson round out my defensive end names. At linebacker, Dylan Moses was one of those guys that had the A C. L. Tarren came back and didn't have the same explosiveness, but he could be, you know, two years removed from that injury. Maybe a good fifth round flyer there. Monty Rice out of Georgia. He's a speed, hit run linebacker as well. At cornerback, Trey Brown out of Oklahoma and Keith Taylor Jr. Out of You dub We're two of the big stars of the Senior Bowl week. And

at safety, I love, love, love Tyree Gillispie. I like Jama Johnson as well as Damar Hamlin out of Pittsburgh too. So those are your names for Day three. I'm sure I'm gonna whiff on all those. Three more picks to come in the fifth and two more in the seventh. And so with that, that concludes our Day two coverage here of the NFL Draft. In one, your Miami Dolphins have added five players to the roster. We're gonna come

back and do it all over again tomorrow. One pick in the fifth round, two picks in the seventh round. We'll go ahead and cover today's media on that podcast as well, and then cover up the entire prob the entire draft in that third day podcast and get you guys all the latest and greatest updates on this Dolphins football team and the roster as we head in to the summer months. And that's that's about it for the the off season there so the roster building portion of

the season just about over. Mini camps and training camp coming up here shortly. Schedule released next month. All exciting times as the season moves closer and closer. As for this edition of the Drivetime Podcast, that's gonna be my time you all, please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast. Leave us a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL. You can follow the team at Miami Dolphins and check out the Audible and the Fish Tank podcast as well

as Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, fins Up