Rookie Minicamp Recap, Twitter Mailbag and 2021 Schedule Notes

of this year's schedule for the Miami Dolphins. We're gonna get to rookie Minicamp, play some audio from the media press conferences over the weekend, and we're gonna get to your questions on the Twitter mailbag. All of that and a whole bunch more on this edition of the Drive Time Podcasts. And we covered the schedule very in depth and broke down every single matchup on this year's schedule last week on the Wednesday Night slash Thursday Morning podcast.

You can go back and check that out right now on Spotify, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast from. But that show, if you couldn't tell, was pre recorded with the Dolphins schedule and the placing of the games and the breakdowns all ready for you guys right at eight o'clock when the schedule came out, so I didn't have a chance to go look at buys beforehand, or

long weeks or short weeks, or potential trap scenarios. So I want to go ahead and do that here on this podcast real quick to start things off, and then we'll get into rookie mini camp and then your questions on the mailbag early on. There's not much by way of potential look ahead games. I like to look at possible national television games before the are the opponents, before they play Miami, and after Miami for potential look ahead scenarios or let down hangover type games, but that's usually

more of a in season type of situation. There are some things you can look at in the off season and have a bit of an idea, like, for instance, the first one I think that really stands out here is that the Buccaneers game that in week number five. They are at the Patriots the week before on Sunday Night Football and then have a short week after the game at home against Miami with the Eagles on Thursday

Night Football. So you come from pretty much the Marquee game on their schedule they know Brady back to Foxborough ahead of time. A week later Miami, and then four days later a short week, And if you guys recall on the podcast on Thursday, I talked about how the game before a short week typically doesn't go well for the team that has the four day rest because for whatever reason, that's just how the numbers work out. So that's the first one that releasted out to me on

the schedule. The Jaguars have a bye after they play Miami, of course, because of the London game. The Falcons have a bye before they play Miami, and so do the Bills in that Halloween game. And beyond that, there's really not much to look at. There's a few instances where the team that is playing against Miami in that particular year the week the previous week is coming off a divisional game, which I guess can have some of that

hangover potential. But of course that works both ways. With the Dolphins in their post Buffalo New England or Jet games the following week, the Colts in Week four play

the Titans. Prior to that, in week number three, the Jags have the Titans as well before the London trip when they come to play Miami, and then you also have the Giants facing the Eagles before the game in Miami, and the Saints have a Dolphins game sandwich between the Bucks and Panthers two divisional games, so not really that much. It's crazy. We covered most of the quirks in the

Thursday podcast last week. I want to go ahead and mentioned here that I like the way the schedule starts off early with games against the Colts and Raiders because both those teams have significant turnover, so do the Patriots. Now that said, last year, in the Week one game, the Patriots unveiled that run centric offense with wrinkles off.

The wrinkles off, the wrinkles and you kind of have to just adjust on the fly a post a week fift team when you had tape of their offense a little bit easier when you have an idea of what that team is gonna roll, especially with that coaching staff. So some mixed reviews here and there in the first part of the schedule, I think I just absolutely love that chunk in the middle there in terms of home games and that stretch of not leaving Miami but one time to go to New York to play the jets

between Halloween and Christmas. That is a very fortuitous middle part of the schedule. And then, of course I think this Brian Flores team always gets better as the season goes along, so a chance to make a nice run in December after that stretch of games in November, largely at home. We'll see how this team performs if they can get off to a faster start. I think that's important this year. If you get to the Bucks game at two and two or three and one, man, we

could be cooking with gas at that point. But again, every game is its own independent events, so we're gonna see and we'll have to wait to get to that. But we don't have to wait to get to is Rookie Minicamp which occurred over the weekend, and I took

down a few notes. We also had media availability for some of the players that were out there on the practice field, namely the draft picks and undrafted free agents in this year's class, and just based on the videos shared on social as well as the b role that I tweeted out on Friday after practice, they got up close look at some of the players, namely the draft picks for your Miami Dolphins. I think the first thing that we all saw that stood out in the Friday

practice video was Jalen Waddle. And you know, I'm gonna talk about this this technique here a lot on this podcast or with another player to hunter along the rookie tight End about stemming, and what stemming is is when the defensive back is in off coverage, the receiver wants to attack directly at the defensive back so that he has the least amount of time possible to make a decision which way to flip his hips and which way that route is gonna break off the top of the stem.

And Waddle had a rap against the coach, of course of all people. But he was in off coverage but to the sideline, which is usually the sign for a zone turn in some type of zone coverage. And we're gonna talk about this on the podcast on Friday, about how speed can impact the offense. You saw it on

this one rep. He runs even against the coach because he runs a little curl route coming back to the quarterback and man, he gets up to the top of the stem very quickly and then it's ankle breaking from there, pivoting in that grass and grass kicking up under his feet. But my goodness, he snapped that thing off and shows you the suddenness, shows you the class leading GPS metrics for Jalen Waddle, and my goodness, he looks healthy. He looks ready to go. I can't wait to watch that

guy play football games for your Miami Dolphins. Jalen Phillips punching the bag from the knee position. We're gonna play his audio on that just one second. But getting out of that on your knees position and upward thrusting into the bag. Man, he explodes through that thing. Strong lower half, strong upper half. He is physically physically gifted. I also liked watching a little video clip of him playing both going forwards and backwards and coverage as well, so they'll

have a variety of roles on this defense. I do believe I talked about stemming and hunter long running routes in this camp. There was a great video where he did exactly what I talked about on his BC film where he stems the cornerback, gets into his hip pocket, forces that late decision, and then throws an arm over move which helps him gain leverage and get up field and then stack the defensive back. From that point, he's a very crafty, nuance route runner already at this early age.

Then we get a look at Javon Holland on the Saturday podcast or Saturday video clip, I should say, where he's down in doing the hand fighting drills up against the bag and really putting in the effort to really showcase his ability as a possible run fitter. A guy that comes down in the box and makes some noise down there and hand fights with tight ends and gets into the mix and plays those sea gaps off either the strong side or weak side. I think that's a

big important deal for defensive backs in this defense. And I think he showed you the willingness just in those videos alone, again taking kind of a reach here to talk about this and break it down, but it's football and we're excited to talk about it. I also just watked there was a close up of him showing him kind of pick through his progressions in the defense. In

terms of how he reads things active eyes. He's very studious and keeps his eyes, you know, moving around the formation trying to find out what's going on as he processes information. And I think you saw that in his college tape with the smarts and the instincts that he played with. So just a few notes there on the

videos we saw. Let's go ahead and play some media from rookie Camp weekend here as the guys met with the media for the second time now and some of these undrafted free agents for the very first time, and before we get to the individual comments, and we'll roll through these things pretty quickly because there's a lot of it, and you guys can find all of these videos in their entirety up on the Miami Dolphins YouTube channel. There was obviously a theme here with the rookies team first mindset.

They're here to absorb as much knowledge as they can as they kind of go through fundamentals and technique and how to practice, how to walk through how to be a Miami Dolphin under Brian Flora's vision, and of course, how do they help the team win a lot of questions about which position are you gonna play, what weight should you be at, what do you like in terms of this technique or this style, and the answers were

always about helping the team win football games. Now, there were some good hidden gens in there, and those are the ones we're gonna get to. I had a chance to ask a lot of these guys about on field drills and how they apply to actual game day situations. I thought I got some great answers there, and the final takeaway is that these guys they're definitely very, very coachable. We'll go ahead and start here with Jalen Waddle, Dolphins, first pick in this year's draft, and first before we

do that, we do have official contracts signings. Jalen Waddle the first in the top ten to sign his rookie contract. We also had Larnel Coleman and Jared Oakes agreed to terms with the Miami Dolphins over the weekend, and four undrafted players Jerome Johnson, Carl Tucker as well as Robert Jones and Jaitlyn ask you the dB out of Georgia Tech.

Let's go ahead and get nowt to Waddles presser, and the first question I wanted to cover was one that I asked him about what he learned under Steve star Keys and in terms of his final year at Alabama as he kind of extended his route tree and became responsible for more in that Bama offense those first four games as he was producing at an unreal clip, and he said he thought that a showcase a lot of ability that maybe wasn't question coming into his last season

there at Alabama. He thought he showcased his route running ability as well as showcasing his talent. He also talked about first impressions of his teammates and how every but he had the same team first mentality and team first goal, and how he likes that everybody in the organization is real personal. I said, you can go up and talk to coaches and they're willing to coach you. All the things you look for in a good organization, a good club,

it's pretty much here, he said. He was asked about quarterback to a Tongue Baloa, his former teammate at Alabama and now current teammate again in Miami as this year's first round pick out of Alabama to Miami. Was asked about last year's first round pick and the leadership of to a Tongue Baloha and natural born leader's confident. Um know, if us all do a very smart everything you look for in the leader, um, I feel like to you know,

showcase and presents. So that was the question about the quarterback. He was also asked about his mindset growing up and how it produced this ultimately very humble kid who has produced big time at the biggest stages of college football. But you won't hear him chirping, you won't hear him talking. You don't see a diva in this receiver. Here is Jalen talking about how he developed that mindset and that attitude.

Just know where I came from. Um, you know my mom, my parents, teammates and everyone to help me get to this point. Um, really just keep keep me humbled in everything that I had to, you know, do to get to this point. No tim to you know, be you know, complacent or no time to be complacent, is right? The right mindset as he comes into the NFL is the sixth pick in the draft, but he's not anywhere close

to being done yet. Let's pick this up with tight end Hunter Long, who answered the same question I asked him on draft not about playing in two different offenses, a run heavy offense and a past heavy offense in Boston College with coaching changes against the same thing, talking about how he got the best of both worlds, working both in the run game in the passing game. But then we jumped ahead to a question I asked him about one are you still wearing hoodies in South Florida?

But also what did you learn this weekend in your first rookie mini camp getting to know the guys and the jump from college academia when it comes to football to what you have to learn in the classroom at the National Football League level. To answer your first question, I did not learn honestly traveling down here. It was like forty degrees when I left Boston, and I didn't learn.

I started threating instantly. Uh. And then to answer your second question, I'm just trying to put in putting as much time as I can to the playbook and taking as much information as I can and uh, kind of catch up to the older guys as best as possible. So just as much time as possible I I can

put into the playbook, I'm gonna do. And like I mentioned, that was kind of the theme of the day for the rookies, talking about putting their nose down, keeping their head in the playbook, and just keep into the grindstone. Let's go ahead and jump out to an undrafted free

agent in fullback Carl Tucker out of Alabama. He played some tight end, some h backs, from fullback, also played receiver, he told us initially in college he was a fun interview, and he was first asked about the move from North Carolina to Alabama where he came to you and c as a receiver, and then Obama took him from the tight end position that he moved to from receiver and made him more of a fullback h back tight end, but talked about his versatility and the role he played

there in Tuscaloosa. They told me exactly what I was gonna do. UM, I had plans on you know, being there extra blocker, being the extra fullback. UM, And I just I took that chance because I knew that would better my opportunity and that would um bring growth to my versatility. So that's the reason I wanted to play. That was because that last sentence that where he talked about the opportunity of growing his versatility, which of course gave him a better chance at the National Football League.

So I came back and asked him a couple of questions later about kind of the mindset of going from receiver to playing inside and being a blocker. Because you see this guy on tape at Alabama. He's throwing people to the ground. He's playing physical, violent, aggressive football. So I asked him about that and all the takedown See hadd and tape. Here's Carl Tucker talking about the mindset of moving inside as a former receiver who now plays tight end slash fullback, slash h back. It absolutely grew

on me. Starting off at Chapel Hill came in as a received her. Uh well, I was. I played receiver in high school and I came in playing tight end. Um at that point, I've never played tight end in my life. Um So. I was coached by one of the hardest coaches probably at the time, was coach ceth Let Traill. Um. He was a fullback at Oklahoma, and uh he was a hard nose, uh heavy, heavy, hidden guy.

So he would definitely get on your ass if if you weren't, you know, doing what you're supposed to do, if you weren't physical enough, he definitely called you out in front of everybody. And I remember just the day that changed. It was when he just got on me the whole meeting. Um So, I just told myself I'd never be soft ever again. And you heard me laugh there at the end of the conversation there with with

Carl Tucker. He was a great interview. Like I mentioned, let's go ahead and jump ahead now to Laurnel Coleman, Dolphin seventh round draft pick, who was asked about the expectation Brian Floras relayed to the rookies this weekend as they get their first taste of professional football. He told

us that, like this is a real earning weekend. You know, make sure you know you're really in your playbook in especially getting used to the weather down here and everything, you know, is making sure that you know we come out of this weekend healthy and that we come out better in terms of you know, just are no one the playbook and everything. So really it was. So those are the Friday interviews we had with Larnel Coleman, Jillan Waddle,

Hunter Long, and Carl Tucker. I did not play any sound from Jared Oakes or from Jitaln ask you on this podcast, but if you guys want to check that out on YouTube and go find those. We'll go ahead and finish up today with Jalen Phillips as well as Javon Holland and Liam Eichenberg, who along with Robert Jones

and Jerome Johnson met with the media on Saturday. Let's go ahead and start here with Jalen Phillips and the question I had for Jalen regarding that great video social media put up of him work in the bag, exploding from the knees and kind of getting that hip drive in the mid section and the arms and the shoulders, all of it working in one on those pads. I asked him to go ahead and tell us about the translation of that drill into game day. Here's Phillips's answer

on my question. That's that's the six point drill, and that's just kind of like the perennial d line, you know, like that's explosion out of your hips, uh, and really focusing on quick hands and just like Hans where you're looking and just like I said, just getting explosive and that's kind of just the base of every movement when

you're a d linement. So and then I came back a few questions later and asked you, then the difference between playing with your hand in the dirt and a three point stands firstus a two point stance, Because you watch his tape at Miami does a little bit of both of those. Here's Jalen talking about the differences and a three point stance and a two point stance off

the edge. UM, It's that's really like, you know, sometimes when you're standing up, it's more advantageous being able to see everything like contact, a snapshot of what's going on. And then when you're in the three point obviously you're having more leverage because you're coming low to high. UM. But yeah, having played both, definitely comfortable doing whatever I

need to do. UM. But that's yeah, that's just kind of the basics of you know, football one on one and if you can't tell a theme and my questions for these guys, I was really trying to utilize the advantage we have of watching them go through drills and kind of educate us on football, because I want to learn from these guys what these drills me and how

they translate to game day situations. So I asked ja Von Hall in the exact same thing, because defensive backs and especially safeties and this defense have to get up on the line of scrimmage and they have to get physical and they have to get engaged with bigger offensive lineman and so Javon Holland. I asked him about the hand fighting drill because there was a clip on social

of him doing that. Here he is talking about doing that, but just being a well rounded defensive back who's going to do what the coaches ask of him, no questions asked. I think it's important to be as well rounded as possible, uh, and absorbed as much knowledge as possible, like I've previously said in the previous questions, of course, but just trying to get um, you know, as wide as perspective as possible as a player, you know, new to a team, uh,

finally trying to find my role. So I'm really trying to absorb everything like I said previously, and um really

just helped the team in anywhere. And so we come back with a similar question here with for Liam Eichenberg, who had mentioned in his post draft pressor that he worked with coach Lemille Jean Pierre, new Dolphins offensive line coach back at the Senior Bowl and some of the workout stuff they're up at New Ord Dames Pro Day, and I asked him about the difference between working out with coach then versus working out with him now that

he has the aquand Orange. John and first I had to ask him because he showed up at a press conference with a fresh new buzz cut, and he said that's something he does every year in football, kind of a fresh restart. And then he was asked later in a follow up question about it. He points his head down and goes, I also do it because if he can't notice, I'm going bald, which was a fun moment of the press are good and lighthearted. And then we got back to the football and that question about coach

Lamil John Pierre. I mean, it's he's he's a very consistent coach. So I mean everything he preaches a protey he preaches. Now it's not like he showed up at protey and did something different. Um, you know, it's about getting your hands inside, you know, setting to your position, being in a good position, and you know, kind of using his technique to you know, win every single run.

And I want to go ahead and finish up here with undrafted rookie along the offensive line out of Middle Tennessee State, Robert Jones, because he was asked about the decision to sign with Miami as a U d f A after the draft, kind of getting over the initial disappointment of not being drafted and why he chose Miami. I thought his answer was very interesting about the Dolphins

coaching staff and their investment in making these players better. Um, you know, I wasn't disappointed at the end of the day. I just wanted to know, opportunity to get to this level and just play football. You know, it was blessed opportunity,

you know, come here and compete. And you know, I told the Dolphins just because you know, I just feel like, you know, the coaching staff, because I did work with him a single I just feel like that coaching staff, you know, wants the best out of every player, even even if they was going to different teams or not. So I thought they had my best interests at hard.

So he talked a little bit about that and about the mode of practice and working with the Dolphins at the Senior Bowl and how much he kind of was attracted to the culture and the fit and the philosophy here in Miami. So good stuff. All of these pressers again available up on our YouTube channel, Miami Dolphins YouTube channel. O to the videos link and you'll find all of these. For some of the questions we didn't cover here and some of the players pressers we didn't cover as well.

A couple of undrafted guys we didn't get to their media availabilities, but you can find those up on YouTube. All right, let's go ahead and pivot now to the Twitter mail bag. You guys know the drill by now I put the call out on Twitter four Your questions, you give me answers. We talk about anything and everything, from football, to pop culture, to life to being a father, whatever it is you want to know, I've got answers.

We've got forty six questions here in the mailbag. Gonna do my best to get to as many of them as we can, and I'm gonna go ahead and take a sacrifice bunt on the first question here from Joe Barrett, who's at Joe Barrett fourteen on Twitter. Appreciate the question, Joe. He asks, who do I think will be the opening day offensive line? From left to right? The starters up front. We're gonna cover that on the podcast on Wednesday with Rashad Butler. We talk all things offensive line with a

former eight year NFL VET at the position. So go ahead and tune in Wednesday. Joe, I don't want to spoil it and give it away just yet. Next question here from at ram fin eight three one on Twitter. It's officially week one. What do you think the game plan is going to be for the Patriots with their

new weapons? The key, to me is going to be handling the wrinkles of the Patriots run game, especially with the quarterback stuff, with the quarterback power, quarterback lead, quarterback draw, whatever it was last year, Cam Newton to me was the biggest problem. And then the runs they had off of that with Sony Michelle or James wid Er, Damian Harris, whoever it might have been. They gave themselves short down in distance. They shortened the game and eight into our

possessions on the offensive side of the ball. And then if you go back to the game in week fifteen, you notice that the Patriots are in more third and long situations and the Dolphins then are able to get to their pressure packages. Heat up Cam Newton and you saw some inaccurate throws or some mistiming or some miscalculations in terms of the footwork where the route was supposed

to be, the site adjustments, all that fun stuff. So to me, the game plan is to kind of load up early and trust your man, demand coverage on the back end. Trust that you can win with xaviing Howard on Kendrick Boorne or Byron Jones on Nelson Aguilar, whoever it might be. Get your one on one matchups, load up the box, stop that run game, keep him in

third long, and get those pressure packages going. Once you do that, if you can take away the Patriots early down run success, I like your chances at that point.

Next question here from Justin Oldfield at j d o F s you on Twitter with the recent news that the Dolphins were next in line for carry On Johnson, if phillied enough with the claiman who do you expect or want the Dolphins to fill out there or to target to fill out the running back room, As he mentions, he doesn't believe the Dolphins will go into the season

with what they currently have in house. If that's the case, and you know, going back to the Peter King article twenty eight trades and twenty eight months, we've also seen this Dolphins team be very very active around cut down day. Now, obviously twenty nineteen that was kind of a given base upon the construction of the roster. Last year, they were still very active as well picking up guys bringing in

pieces that contributed. Now you go back to think about Vince Bagel, who was picked up at that time of the year, and he came in and made a big contribution in twenty nineteen. I could definitely see Miami scouring the averwire. That's just what they do. I can see them scouring the trade market and finding out what of those maybe future mid round extra draft picks they might have to give up if they are so inclined to

find a tellback they think fits in that way. But I also wouldn't rule out the possibility of it being Gaskin, Akmed and Malcolm Brown with Jared Oakes and the rest of the guys having a chance to compete for time as well because of what we talked about, you know, throughout Twitter, and I'll have it on this podcast later this week as well, I believe on Friday's episode talking about the speed breakdown of the offense and how that creates space because in the NFL today, you are more

worried about forty yard completions that go for touchdowns over the top of your head than you are four yard runs that you know they are. They can wear you down but they're not gonna beat you in the moments, So teams are going to be more willing to defend the deep part of the field. Brian Flores and Chris

Careery have talked about that plenty. And because of the Adam speed on offense and the construction of the offense in terms of the spacing and stretching out both vertically and horizontally, that could conceivably keep two safeties out of the box too high safety looks. And then from there, the running game is all about numbers. Man, if you get the running numbers advantage and your count, you switch to that run, you block them up, head up, and

you get your yards they're gonna give you. Otherwise, you know, you check it back and you go to a past because that's more open and more free to make things happen. So I think the expectation that the Dolphins are better on the offensive line, they're better at the perimeter positions, and they should get better quarterback player this year, you think, and year number two of two a tongue of Byaloa. I think all of those things cumulatively make for a

better running game. I think Brian Floores and Chris Career think similarly. But I also don't count them out from going out and looking and scouring to see what's out there, because they are going to do everything they can to improve this roster every single day. How about this one from Patrick Perkins at five one eight Perkins Travis, would you rather be the smartest Morty or the dumbest Rick? For you that are not familiar, Rick and Morty is a great animated show, a comedy and and really just

genius type of show on cartoon Network Adult Swim. I would go with the dumbest Rick because the dumbest Rick was the one that was hanging out with Jerry and that one episode. And I mean he was dumb, but he was a good guy to hang out with. He was nice. He made Jerry phil special, which nobody else in the show does. So at least the dumbest Rick, although he's not very bright, is very compassionate and a good guy, whereas the smartest Morty was evil Morty who

wanted to take over the citadel of Ricks. So give me the compassionate, kind likable person more so than the evil Morty. Next question here from at riqueo one on Twitter. What is the official word on how the O C job will work with the co offensive coordinators and Studentsville and god See, and what do you think are some alternatives on how it will work including play calling responsibilities.

Thank you well, thank you for the question. As far as the split responsibilities, like the number one thing here I'd answer is that both god See and Studentsville have been in the National Football League for like two decades, so I don't think you have to worry about ego or position or you know, status and that type of thing. I think this was all conceived with the idea that collaboration was always going to be the philosophy and the approach.

And also just remember this, like every team, at least most teams and especially in college that split their co their coordinators and to most teams in the NFL have run game coordinators and pass game coordinators, and that's what those guys as jobs were last year. So they still coach their same rooms. God See the tight ends room. He also was the passing game coordinator, and then students Fille has the running backs room and is the running

games coordinator. So really essentially those guys file reports to Chan Gaily last year and they collaboratively come up with the offense this year, you just cut out that middleman and now those two guys will collaborate together with Brian Flores and the entire offensive staff. So I think that titles and the concern about you know, who might have play call and responsibilities, Like they're gonna hash this stuff out, They're gonna collaborate, They're gonna come with their best plan.

It's not gonna be we get to Sunday and just wing it and say, all right, here we go, who has the best play caller? I didn't agree with coach students Phille, so I'm gonna call this instead like it's gonna be everybody on the same page. I mean, just again, like Coach Flores and this operation, do you think they would really put something in place that was like so detrimentally obviously going to fail, Like just consider the fact that that's kind of what they've done all on collaboration,

the same thing going forward. Here's a question from Eduardo Rivera at e Underscore Rivera Peffen, Oh, PFN, Sorry, what do you think are chances the chances that DVP or Preston Williams are let go or traded due to all the bodies at the receiver position well, definitely the deepest

position on the roster right now after the offseason. In my opinion, what I like about the composition of the receiver room is that you are like too deep in every skill set you have, right so like the explosive, twitchy four three speed vertical guy Will Fuller and Jalen Waddle. Obviously you want both those guys ideally together, but if one goes down, you still have the other one to

fulfill that role. Davante Parker and Preston Williams both kind of similar in terms of their stature and their ability to make contest and catches to go back shoulder, but also have some vertical fifty fifty ball skills as well, So too deep in that regard. Lynn Bowed and Albert Wilson kind of that twitchy not the long speed but more in phone booth type of make you miss big, big, thick lower half in terms of the way they're built and how they break tackles. Too deep in that way,

so I think you have so many options. I'm so intrigued to see what happens at the position because I don't know. Like Davante Parker, he's his contract right now is so team friendly that you're just not going to sign a in my opinion, a top level number two receiver like DVP can be in and it has been, You're not gonna get a receiver of that caliber on that contract. So to me, he's way more valuable in Miami than like a third or fourth round draft pick.

Preston Williams, obviously cheap on the undrafted rookie contract, hasn't been able to finish the season his first two seasons. So maybe if you can offer, you consider it. But I think I look at the receiver position as ultimately so deep that you're not going to run into what you had last year, where you're down to guys that are primarily special teamers having to step in and give

you thirty or forty snaps a game. I like being too deep and all my skill sets at all my positions, and I kind of feel like Miami's roster across the board is kind of like that. Next question here from Jay Soto at Dolphin Underscore for Life, what do you missed most about the West Coast? Um? I liked watching the Mariners at seven pm at night. I also, here's a good one for you. So I think I was kind of in denial for a long time about the heat humidity of South Florida, and I was trying to

convince my wife, it's not that bad. You'll be fine. It sucks like the June, July, August months. Even right now it's May. It's hot, man, Like I want to go get a coffee today from Starbucks, and like you sweat in your car like when you're starting it and stuff. I don't love that. I missed the cooler weather, although it does get hot back where I'm from in the summer time because I live in the desert in eastern Washington, But I do miss that. I missed the timing of

like sporting events and stuff like that as well. I also just missed the people that I'm used to, like my friends that I grew up with my whole life. The area I lived in was so kind of clicky and and small that you basically had your one group of friends. You didn't venture outside of that, so I built lifelong relationships. I missed those. I missed my brother and his kids, my my nephew and my niece as well. So just some of the things that you know you

can't bring with you. I missed those things the most and definitely go into marriage games too. I really want to getut to safe Go Field here t Mobile Park sometime this summer. Next question here, Actually let's go two questions because this one comes in from at M D by Water. He asked, I buy you a pint in London. One. I really hope that we get to be a part of the travel crew this year and I get to come out and meet Dolphins fans like I can't wait

to see every Dolphins fan in every city across the globes. Absolutely, and I'll buy the second round. Tyler Woodward at the underscore Best Underscore, Tyler, if you could pick one Dolphins home game in one road game to go to this year, which games would you pick? And why? Well? All seventeen, Tyler, That's what I want to go to. But the one home game I would have to say, I think that Buffalo Week too game because I just want to see how Miami has reshaped this roster to go ahead and

attack the division. The reigning division champion here in the a f C East, we know Josh Allen. The offense they produce is just it's difficult to stop I want to see how close Miami has closed that gap in terms of week to live this year in weeks sevent team last year. So give me a Buffalo at home with Baltimore close. Second. I want to see t NF Thursday Night Football National TV against a tough, tough Baltimore team.

The road game i'd want to see is either going to be Nashville with the Titans or New Orleans with the Saints, because I think both those games are going to have playoff implications on both sides of the Ledger. And of course the Big Easy is a cool town. I've heard Nashville you can't talk that either. I've never been to either of those cities, so I wouldn't mind checking those out and seeing the super Dome, seeing that good Saints team, and seeing Ryan Tannehill on the road

against these Miami Dolphins. Next question here from Seawan at jay z U c f O three on Twitter. Who do you think returns punts and kicks this season? I'm gonna go with Jalen Waddle because I think he's just the best on the roster at it. Obviously, Jachem Grant was a second team All Pro last year. I believe in that position, but I think that waddles a lura. Part of that is that he is a four down player and just instant electricity, instant offense and very sure

hands back there as a return man. Matt Randolph at O l Rando forty two on Twitter wants to know what's the deal with Leadbetter at defensive end. I remember he had a pretty good camp two years ago, then got hurt early thought he retired. Any story or update on him, he is still on the roster. He had a medical I believe was I are that first year, and then something similar happened last year if I recall correctly, But he is currently on the roster. I agree with you.

He started that opening game against Baltimore. I know it wasn't a good one, but I thought he had some good tape where he was controlling the edge and playing the run and getting after the quarterback. I think he even kind of sack in that game. Coming off of a very good camp like you had mentioned, So I think he fits the prototype for that position here in Miami. Just gotta find out if he's healthy, he could get back on the field and see what he can do.

But yeah, he's still here. Next question here from Chris Lrondo at Extortion on Twitter, longtime fan of the podcast. Chris, what's up man? Thank you so much for your support. You may not know this, but any word about training camp allowing fans, I'll probably try to visit my mom down there, so wondering if I can double dip either way, wouldn't mind linking up for a bang energy drink or a beer. I am on coffee now too, so I'm

kind of doing the whole gamut with the caffeine. But I do believe that is the plan, at least initially, and I'm you know, the great news across the league of the day was that they're no longer requiring players that I've had vaccines or coaches that have had vaccines to wear masks in the facility. So hopefully that's a good sign going forward. Just continue to be vigilant and kick this virus. As asked, let's get on the other side of that thing so we can all come together

and watch the Dolphins practice in August. I missed it so bad last year. I hope Chris that's the case this year, but not pcent sure on that. Just yet another question, kind of familiar to that one. David Ingleston at David Underscore Ingleston. Do you have any update as to when the new facility will be fully operational. I think it's supposed to be by training camp at the latest, so I believe that's the plan so far. But that's as much update as I have for you right now, David.

Next question here from Jack Dixon at j c C Dixon thirty three on Twitter. What will this team's identity be? Are we recreating the Alabama offense? Can you give comparables to offense and defense? Well, defensively, it's difficult to to really compare anybody. Obviously, you go back to the ah Rios when Coach Flow was there and the defenses they put together. But they do also, you know, have a lot of variations based upon their personnel, and that's what

the identity is. Like. I know, you don't want to hear this kind of tired cliche of they're gonna adapt to their strengths and they're gonna play to their team strengths and they're gonna attack the opposing teams weaknesses and adapt every single week. But it's it's genuinely true here, man. That's why so many of these guys have different positions. That's why I never call anybody a cornerback or a safety, or a tackle or a guard, or a defensive tackle

or a defensive ent. You're just D L, D B and O L because you're gonna play in multiple spots. You're gonna cross train, You're gonna be versatile so that we can be flexible and how we attack opposing offenses and defenses. With regards to the offense, I think they're gonna pull from multiple concepts. They're gonna definitely try to get some of the R P O game going, Definitely get some of the vertical passing game going. Maybe four vertes.

I think it was either Lane Kiffin or Steve shar Kyson who said that to a tongue of blow is one of the best four verts quarterbacks that he's ever seen. So that definitely bodes well. Definitely want to establish that

running game mentality. We'll see if the fullback Carl Tucker makes the roster, if a fullbacks on the roster in general, because we know the coach Flores believes that defending a fullback is a difficult aspect of the running game, and we know he wants to run the ball, so tough, smart, physical team first, adaptable each and every week. That's kind

of the mindset this team wants to be. And I think when it comes to playing sturdy defense that creates turnovers and plays more of a bend but don't break, but a capitalize on mistakes, and then offensively be an explosive offense that's balanced both in the run game and the passing game, with far more opportunities and ability to get vertical this season. Next question from Shorty at Fins or Die. Do you put ketchup on your cheese steaks? No? I do not, which is I guess kind of an

outlier for me because I am a ketchup fiend. Now I don't put it on steak. I'm not crazy. I don't even add to like mac and cheese, but when it comes to burgers or French fries or hot dogs, even give me all the catchup, man. I have a motto in life that French fries are just shovels for ketchup, but keep it away from the cheese steake, No way, ma'am. Next one here from Aquaman, seventy one at Greg Queen, and then a bunch of numbers, How do I break

into writing for the Dolphins with any media outlet. Number one tip I would tell you is to write every single day, whether it's getting published, whether you're the only one that sees it right, every day because the only way you improve your craft is to do it, and to do it with a purpose in terms of I'm going to improve and get better at this. Like when I started writing out man, I was terrible. I was

a horrible writer. And even now, like going back to things I wrote two years ago, I look at that like I did that. So just do it every day to improve and publish it on your own blog site or whatever it might be. And the better you get, the more recognition you'll get, and then you'll have a chance to maybe make a move to a outlet and then continue to climb the ranks that way, just work your ass off, man, that's the best way you can do it. This next one here from at two a

tow waddle three or five. That's a great handle. What player do you think is going to have his breakout season? Well, I think the obvious answer there is too much by loa, So I'll go ahead and go away from that and I'm going to predict. I'm gonna say Will Fuller. I guess he had his breakout last year, which was interrupted

by the suspension that he endured. But when I watch him on ape, I think this guy has every bit the making of a true number one receiver in terms of he can get open on third down, in the red zone, double coverage, has the full rout tree, can get vertical. I think this guy is about to just explode in this system, in this offense, with this quarterback,

with his mindset, with his work habits. You go on Instagram watch all his workout stuff, like he's put in the work to make sure his body is right physically. Did it last year, if you can do it this year, I expect him to have a monster season with big yards, big touchdowns, and big receptions. He's a good, good football player who I think is being overlooked a little bit. Next question here from at ground Works with a Z on Twitter, what's your way too early prediction for the

forty Niners record. Well, there's a couple of things that work for us, you know, rooting against the Niners because we have their next first round draft picks in each of the two next two seasons. The couple of things is that Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch had that one great run that one season, and that was their only winning record. I mean, they've had injury problems that have just plagued that team for years. They play in a very difficult division, the best in the NFL in my opinion,

in the NFC West. So there's six games right there at the Rams, Cardinals, and Seahawks that really they're gonna have to fight in claw to win. There's like no cupcakes in that division. The NFC I think is pretty deep as well, So you know, I would probably say nine or ten wins right now, just because of the tough division, the tough schedule. Hopefully that keeps him out of the playoffs and keeps Miami in the top twenty with that draft pick. But I think there's just so

much talent there. They're so well coached, and if they get Tray Lance up to speed quickly, I mean they could go as far as the Super Bowl. So I'm gonna say right now, ten and seven is my way to earlier Niner's prediction. Next question here from Luke at

Luke Underscore Cheney four. What's your favorite struggle meal. Well, the one thing I treat myself with at the end of days, and I'm kind of the type of person that, like, you know, you put in all the work and you work out, you go through everything that gets you up from eight am all the way until six or seven pm when you're finally done for the night. Is my Dairy Queen Blizzards the chocolate brownie extreme. I could eat one of those every single day and be okay, I

absolutely love it. I'm a sucker for it. As far as like actual meal meal, give me Chick fil A door dash, come to the door, drop it on my doorstep, and let me just put down the deluxe sandwich with no tomatoes, no pickles, Give me the waffle fries and give me the three piece meal with some diet coke to go with that. Plenty of catchup for the fries, plenty of barbecue sauce for the uh the tenders, and

the Chick fil A sauce for the sandwich. Next question here from at Finn's Man coverage, what's your favorite Quentin Tarantino movie. Give me Django Unchained. I absolutely love that movie. From Christopher Waltz to Jamie Fox, who was, in my opinion, like the most talented man on the face of the earth, and of course Leonardo DiCaprio, some of the great jips and memes that have come out of that Missy L. Candy,

I love that film. What a great movie. But Tarantino is just the best, and John makes so many good movies. In Glorious Bastards a close runner up to Django Unchained. All right, I think that's a good spot to go ahead and button up this podcast. If I did not get to your question, please put it in the next mail bag that we do so I can go ahead and get to it. And if you want to get a direct line to the mail bag, we're gonna do

more of these questions going forward. If you want to get answered, put it in the reviews on Apple iTunes. Give us a five star rating. Put your question in there, and I'll go ahead and answer on the podcast as we go along. We don't have to have it specifically on the mail bag podcast, but if you give us that review, I will make sure to go through and answer those questions on the podcast no matter what it is,

So please do that for us. Check out the fish Tank and the Audible podcast Follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Subscribe, rate, review the podcast, check out Miami Dolphins dot com. All the rookie profiles still up on the website up there. We're gonna have Rashad Butler on the podcast on Wednesday breaking down all things Dolphins offensive line, and then Henry

Hodgson from NFL. He's gonna join us on Friday talking about the London trip, best places to stay in London, the tailgate, the pregame, all that fun stuff, and we're gonna talk some Dolphins football too. From a die hard, diehard Dolphins fan. Plenty of great content coming your way this offseason, this summer, covering this team leading right up into training camp, into the preseason and into the season. As from my time, that is going to be my time until next time. Fins Up.