Training Camp Preview 2021 Tight Ends

of the training camp preview series. As we wrap up the quote unquote skill players, every player at this level is a skill player. We're talking Dolphins tight ends, the unique facts about this group, the individual skill sets, Coach god sees, influence, and a whole lot more. Plus, we continue our NFL season preview with Part six Are you keeping those tallies on the parts of these series will take a look at the a f C North, which features one team that Miami will see this season in

the Baltimore Ravens. All of that and a heck of a lot more on this edition of the Drive Time Podcast. So we jumped into the tight end position here for the fourth part of our preview series. We have already covered the receivers, running backs, and quarterbacks, and now we get to the guys that play really in all three phases of the offensive part side of the game, with

past protection, route running, and in the running game. And this rate here, I mean these podcasts, these episodes, this time of year, this is really my wheelhouse, my bread and butter, if you will, because I love the draft, Don't get me wrong, It's probably the best part of the year outside of the actual NFL or the NFL season. I'm also a big fan of free agency and watching the tape to see how new parts kind of factor in. But with the season on the horizon, I can feel

the football coming down the pike. And this prep work it does wonders for your season knowledge heading into the upcoming season. It gives me a chance to sharpen up on some of the numbers I may have missed from the previous season, plugging in the all twenty two to get your final work from the previous year's tape done, and then working to memorize the jersey numbers, because nothing is more important for training camp than memorizing everybody's numbers.

You have to know the numbers if you want to have any chance of getting quality constructive notes on a snap by snap basis because it happens so fast out there on the practice field with ninety one guys given the Dolphins exemption with derv All Cires netto players on their nine roster. So we roll on here on part four, and I find this group of Dolphins tight ends interesting

for a few reasons. And this is basically the entire roster, so you know, I'm not trying to just say it to hype up every episode, but genuinely, I think each group has a lot of intrigue to it. And with this one, first they set the franchise record and then they weren't complacent as are as numbers go in past catching. I love the way the position was invested in, like we talked about with the receiver position, in terms of giving yourself a myriad of options, not just for one

but beyond that as well. Because you draft Mike get Sicky and Derham Smith in the same class, that obviously means they come up as far as their contracts go in the same year. This season is the last of their rookie four year contracts, and so while not losing any of the four incumbents on the roster, the Dolphins went out and made additions in three completely different avenues, three different pipelines as far as bringing talent into the building.

Number one Seethan Carter the free agent route, a pretty common route and accomplished player with regards to special teams and as a blocker in the running game. He has some receptions too, but it hasn't been the bread and butter of his career so far. You spend a premium resource, I think eighty first pick in the draft as a premium resource, what would you say that cut off of his I'm gonna say top one hundred picks are where

the premium cut off is. Either way, you get Hunter Long at pick one, and man, he has been high functioning in both the run and the past game in college at Boston College. Then you give yourself something of a low risk, potentially high reward with the U d f A and Jibrey Blunt. IM not sure that you can expect a basketball player to pick it up right away in year one, but that's a nice project to work on. A guy that can work on developing his game and getting used to the game of football because

he was a basketball player in college. Especially when you consider the track record of Hooper's turned into not just you know, good players in the league, but some some of the star tight ends in the Hall of Fame. Tight ends in this league started their career that way on the basketball court. And Jibrey is pliable, athletic as hell and has all the length in the world, and they slid two forty five pound frames, so he's intriguing that way from the on paper look with that player. Finally,

you look at the ages of these players. Hunter Long is the newcomer who turns twenty three prior to opening day, Jimbrey Blunt is twenty four, then everybody else is basically the same age and the range with birthdays that come close to each other. All of those guys either twenty

five or twenty six years old. So in total, all seven guys in this room would be in a hypothetical high school at the same time between proverbial seniors and Adam Shaheen and Durham Smith and Sethan Carter, with Hunter Long as the freshman at twenty three years old, and then Gisicky and Maya Rick are both twenty five years old, I guess they would be your juniors on this four year analogy, with Blunt as the sophomore, so to speak. So Tree twenty six, all these guys in that same

age range. And additionally, we talked about this in the receiver's Preview, how Mike Gisicky has the alignment, the snaps and the production of a good slot receiver in the National Football League. Now, he can play anywhere, and he has out wide, in the slot or in line. And I remember the twenty nineteen Jets game when they flexed him out because the Jets were insistent on covering him with linebackers throughout the course of that game game and

they just couldn't do it. So the Dolphins put him out wide and he took advantage of those matchups and had the biggest day of his career to that point in twenty nineteen. So you can capitalize on his abilities as an outside receiver when the situation calls for it. But I love the red the way the rest of this room really compliments what Mike does well. And he was the most accomplished player on the roster last year

at the position. You look at the workloads of Shaheen and Smythe they have accomplished pass and run blocking numbers and resumes in this league, not from college in the National Football League. So, for instance, when you go to tight ends, which is your twelve personnel set, or it could be two personnel, the second number and the two number phrase for personnel is your tight ends. It goes

running backs then tight ends. So when you do go twelve personnel, two tight ends, you can call on one of those guys to stay in for more of a max protection type of look while you let Mike a sicky. When typically you go match protect, it's two routes, but you can use Mike as either one of the two. You can use them for a third player in the route. Either way, it helps give you my Gisiki's route running ability and the past blocking ability of those other two

tight ends with how they complement one another. Now Hunter Long can do that too, but also has the receiving resume coming in out of college and we'll see if he can continue that as a pro. But his last year at Boston College led college football or tight ends and all of college football and receptions. Last year he

was the focal point of the offense. You saw it when they played good team or bad team, whatever it was, the offense ran through Hunter Long at BC in the passing game when he was prior to that mostly an inline blocking tight ends. So all that being said, we should remember this with Ghisicky and Smith too. Learning tight end is a tough task in this league, all three phases of offense with a past game, the running game as well as past protection. But Hunter is a sharp kid.

You know about the fact that he builds computers and can solve a rubricks cube and like the snap of a finger, he's a sharp kid that has done it all. So hopefully that process for him because of the intel, the intellect or intelligence what do you want to say there? Because of that, maybe he can be a bit accelerated in his process. Then again to mention the development opportunity for a guy like Blunt, Carter's ability to play the up back, an h back, in line and on special teams.

And then maya Rick is definitely in that mold of a dirty work type of tight end. He did his entire career at Temple. So we mentioned the additions to the to the tight end room. Nobody left Sethan Carter, Hunter Long and Jibbrey Blunt are the additions. Nobody out the door on the other side and coaching these guys up is George Godzy, Miami's tight ends coach last year, has been promoted to co offensive coordinator and under his watch last year, collective receptions and one thousand and sixty

one yards spread among the Dolphins tight ends. Both of those were franchise records among Dolphins tight ends, and eleven touchdowns tied the franchise mark. So what a great year for George Godzie's position room. And this will be Godzie's third year with Miami, and you look at his track record across a couple of decades of coaching football. He's coached every position on offense besides the offensive line, receivers, tight ends, running backs, quarterbacks. He was even the contingency

planned quarterback last year. We heard coach Flora's talk about this, all the contingencies of Dolphins team had in the COVID protocol year and what a weird, weird year that was. And we saw a coach Godz get some I guess double duty there to get elevated to quarterbacks coach when

Robbie Brown was not available. And the first game that he was available as the quarterbacks coach, George Gotzi was the Arizona game went two or three for over three hundred yards and the offense was clicking big time in that game. So we talked this. We've talked about this on every podcast so far, and it's going to be a theme on the defensive positions as well. This Dolphins coaching staff, these guys, it's it's not like I talked about on the podcast with the receivers. It's not just

the players on the field. The entire organization under Brian Flores calls for versatility and wearing multiple hats, the more you can do in this league. And coach Godzi he was even a defensive assistant and slash special projects with the lines. He was the tight ends coach back for the Patriots in the early odds back when they had the Gronkowski Hernandez dual threat there, which was, you know, kind of revolutionary at the time in the NFL. So all this is to say that god Sees resume his

track record, his experience. It all lends itself to the idea why he would get this promotion and be in a position to be an offensive coordinator co offensive coordinator. And if you if you've heard George talk at all on the press conferences, we had him bi weekly last year. I believe it was he just goes so in depth and talks about the differences between how you attack certain alignments,

certain personnel packages, certain route concepts. He just is very good at communicating what he what's in his head and getting on a paper and teaching it that way. He taught me as much as any coach last year in those press conferences, So you can see kind of why he has earned curried favor here in Miami. We talked about the group already, the seven guys all kind of

in that same age range. Mike at Sicky up top with finishing the top ten among tight ends and catches and touchdowns and and yardage seven hundred and three yards six touchdowns. Last year, Smith had career highs and all three categories as well, twenty six to awight and two and Shaheen matched his reception in touchdown total twelve and three and his one and twenty seven yards was a career high. And then Chris Myerick made his NFL debut last year, appearing in three games as a practice squad

call up. And then of course the newcomers, as Sethan Carter was a special teams captain with the Bengals Jibri Blow We talked about his length and athletic ability and Hunter long among the most productive tight ends in all of college football last season. As far as some more in depth talk on these individuals, we start here going in order of the jersey number. Adam Shaheen's up first. He wears number eighty. He's got four years NFL experience

out of Ashland. You might recall he got a contract extension last year so he doesn't have to deal with going into free agency twenty six years old on Opening Day, and remember he was acquired not on the eve of training camp, but a couple of weeks before training camp

kicked off down here in Miami. And he made it a point talking to us in the media about some of his career goals and personal goals, and one of the things that he wanted to do was to stay healthy because it was a problem for him in Chicago where he'd only get a few games and every season he'd have to go to the injured reserve or injured list, whatever it might be, and he wasn't available for the

Bears in those games. So he made a point of emphasis to make sure that he worked on his body to get himself ready for a season, and he wound up playing all sixteen games last season, again matching career best and touchdown and receptions, and that forty three yard catching run in Week six against the Jets, and that shutout victory was the longest of his career, and I thought was really the moment that kind of turned that

game because it was ugly early on. The Dolphins defense was getting after it, but they also were having problems putting points on the board offensively, and then Adam Schaheen hits a big run down the middle, down into the five yard line. Dolphins punched in and from that point you kind of felt like with the way the defense was playing, the Jets had their backup quarterback in, you felt like the game was kind of not locked away, but you felt good about it at that point. So

a big play there from Adam Schaheim. He also allowed just one quarterback pressure on thirty nine hass blocking reps, and he also cleared the land some big runs from Miami, particularly off the edge as the end man on the line of scrimmage. I love the way he runs the football after he catches it. He was a nominee for Kyle Brandt on Good Morning Football his Angry Runs segment, he drops the shoulder and has enough juice to win the edge on those flat routes where it's a race

between a tight end and a linebacker. He's got the juice to win that edge, turn that thing up and turn a five or six yard game into a twelve or thirteen yard game. And he also with the way he's used so much in the blocking game and kind of ceiling and cracking down, that creates opportunities to throw

to guys like him as well as Dirham Smith. We'll talk about here in just one second, to throw to those guys on kind of some tendency breakers down around the red zone and they can catch the football and put that thing away and put six points on the board. Speaking of Drham Smith, number one three years NFL experience out of Notre Dame, he too will be twenty six

years old come opening Day. In addition to setting career best in the major receiving categories, he has been a core special teams ACE from Miami since his rookie sees and playing better than two hundred snaps every single year so far of his career two hundred twenty four snaps last year on Danny Croftsman's special teams unit and played a key part in a unit the ranks number three on Football Outsiders in terms of special teams overall rankings.

He did not allow a single hit on his quarterback in sixty six pass protection reps and was on the field for two hundred thirty one run blocking plays. And when you watch him in the running game, he functions in multiple capacities as a blocker, whether he's climbing to the second level, hitting that second level block on a linebacker, ceiling off the edge for a c gap run or an outside run even or coming across the formation to dig out the backside defender. That's my favorite thing that

Durham does so well. That there was a play against the Patriots in eighteen. Yeah, it was the miracle game when Brandon Bolden had a long touchdown run for Miami the one year Bolden was here in Miami, And if you look at that play, Durham Smith had the key

block in the hole coming across the formation. So I like watching him get that work done again, the dirty work that no one really appreciates as far as the You know, watching the game on Sundays on your big screen TV, you kind of have to go back through the film to really appreciate what Durham does so well.

And it's the same deal as Shaheen where you talk about his usage can create chances down in the red zone because he's such a good blocker that a lot of times down there in those thirteen personnel packages with heavy offensive line, you expect a running play, You pull that thing back out of the belly and you toss it to a wide open tight end. Just see Durham's touchdown against the Chargers where there was nobody within you know, they were over in in in Broward County and we

were down on Dade County at hard Rock Stadium. So that's what both those guys can do for you in the red zone. Seethan Carter the next guy up on our list here, number eighty two, four years experience all with the Bengals. He played in Nebraska at college twenty six years old on opening day and again operated in a multiple roles for the Bengals the last three years. He missed eighteen, so he's played three seasons, has been

in the pros for four years. But he aligns all over the offensive formation, but use largely in a blocking role, and you really love the way he wins with technique but also also effort, and that was evident on a sixty two yards screen pass to Joe Mixon. And this is going way back. I went and watched a lot of his tape when we first signed him in seventeen where Carter sprints twenty five yards down the field for a key block on a huge screen pass for the

Bengals on that particular game. He also finished top fifty in the NFL. All three years that he has played in special teams tackles, he had twenty four tackles on eight hundred ninety six career special teams reps while earning a career best grade last year from Pro Football Focus at eighty two point one. So captain in Cincinnati on special teams, he can get the job done that way. Hunter Long our next player up here at the rookie number eighty four out of Boston College, twenty three years

old on opening day. The fifty seven catches he made lad all college tight ends and again, just another one of these well rounded guys you add to the room. And he talked about this. With the first couple of years of his career, they were a sixty six to thirty three run heavy team Merry call A J. Dillon and those Boston College games like he would get thirty forty Kerry and they would win games seventeen to thirteen.

And Hunter Long was a big part of that as the end men on the line of scrimmage, getting the dirty work done as a run blocker. But then this last year they became a passing team and it was more fifty five in favor of the past and Hunter said this. I asked him about that after he was drafted him he said, I always say that I feel like I got the best of both worlds at BC with both offenses. Obviously it was more run heavy offense, and then this past year we really opened up the

past game. I think it allowed me to become a well rounded tight end and work at all aspects of the position. And as a catching tight end. He caught sixty seven percent of his passes an average fourteen points six yards per catch. It's a big figure for a

tight end might get sick. He had thirteen point three this year and he was in the top ten in the National Football League and the fourteen point six yards per catch came along with nine touchdown catches at BC for Hunter Long And when I watched his tape in college, I like the way he understands the nuance of route running in terms of how you attack defenders to put them at a disadvantage because he has that big frame, that big body, and when you use the body to

accomplish creating that leverage on the defender, you really have to use your hands away from the frame to kind of catch the football, and he can do that. But he also has the ability to kind of explode off the top of that route with some quickness at the top of the route, and with a big catch radius and those trusty hands, you create another, you know, half yard of separation in that particular arena that could make

all the difference in the world. Throwing the ball to his direction, but he uses his arms his hands to create windows for his quarterback and to to get the defender kind of off balance as they try to shoot to jam him or press him or to reroute him. He's really good at just kind of staying within his framework and staying consistent and staying on track on speed off the stem of his route to get to the top of the route before he breaks that thing off.

So I really enjoyed watching him play. We saw that at rookie mini camp into O T A S and we'll get a chance to see that here at training camp coming up in just a couple of weeks. Chris Myrick, number eighty five, two years with the Dolphins, mostly on the practice squad out of Temple, years old on opening Day, made his debut last year, played in three games, played just fifteen snaps, with seven of those on special teams,

eight on offense. He's six ft five to sixty one, so the biggest dude in the room in terms of his weight, and he came to the pros with an established college resume once again as a run blocker. A lot of these guys can play that extra man on the end line to help the running game, but on the practice squall the last two years. But you watch him develop his game. He gets better every single year, every single month. And again, I'm a big Temple tough guy.

I love watching Temple, especially back in the Matt Rule days. Big fan of his training camp in twenty nineteen. I'm really curious to get a look at him this year early on in the preseason games. Man, I'm so excited

for preseason football. You probably think I'm crazy. Mike Kasicki number eighty eight, three years out of Penn State, twenty five years old on Opening Day and one of my favorite parts of last season was having Rondo gats down the podcast before the Bengals game and talking about that famous catch that he had or a couple of the famous catches he had, and then Mike Asiki goes out and does the exact same thing almost on the same part of the field that Gadsden did. That that was

really cool to see you. But this guy has been the most productive Dolphins tight end since Randy McMichael, and Gassicki's career trajectory continues to climb. He's gotten better on every category every year so far, improving really his entire game every season. That's exactly what Brian Flores has talked about with this team, like get better than you were in the previous day, the previous week, the previous month,

and so on and so forth. With this guy is becoming not just a big time, you know, highlight reel catching tight end, but the big play tight end as well. He averaged eleven point six a dot average depth of target last year, and that was second in the National Football League behind just Rob Groundkowski of the Buccaneers, and as a result, Gisicky tied for fourth among tight ends with a third team point three yards per reception figure

last year. That long catching run against the forty, I think we all remember that seventies something yards on that catch and run. He also caught seventeen of twenty nine contested catches in he averaged eight point five seven yards per target, a real nice figure there, and one point

six yards per out run. All of these numbers career best last year from Mike Gazicki, and his seven and three receiving yards was fourth most and his six touchdowns tied for eighth among all tight ends in the National Football League. So every stat across the board, this guy

was in the top ten at the position group. And I talked about the improvements he made statistically for me, the contact balance, and there's a there's a great play against the Jets last year, his touchdown catch where he post a rised the Jets defender after he beat him off the snap and fitched through a nice kind of backpile on ball, but he had to come back and get over the top of the defender. But on that play you watch the safety basically he's on his toes

playing forward. So and I asked Mike about this post game about how what do you see was as far as how you get around that guy or how do you manage to improve what you have to do to get to the point of the route you have to get to when a defender is trying to reroute you. He talked about how reading the leverage of the defensive back and knowing that he wants to get hands, so you make yourself harder to hit by kind of showing some wiggle but also some strength to absorb that contact

and stay on your line, stay on your route. And doing that and also learning how to kind of stay on his feet and maintain that speed and acceleration through contact has been a big boon from Mike Gasicki as far as I'm concerned. When I watched the tape, He's been really good in that area, a big area of growth from his rookie season. And plus for a quarterback like to who really shines with the anticipatory throws and

kind of throwing the ball to a location. His ability to go up and haul down those contested catches that goes a long way with the skill set that to has. So looking forward to a nice year here from Mike Gasicki, and we finish out this this position group with Jibrey Blunt, number eighty nine, the rookie out of North Carolina Central,

twenty four years old opening day. I don't have any football stats for you, but I can tell you between Cleveland State and North Carolina Central, he played college hoops for five years. He stands six ft five ways two pounds. He had nineteen point one points per game last year and nine point three boards per game. I was really curious see his rebound total while also leading the conference, and this kind of speaks to his length because stealing

is all about getting your hands in passing lanes. He led the conference and steals en route to his MEAC Player of the Year honors. In If his name sounds familiar, it's because his father is Mel Blunt, the legendary NFL Hall of Famer. A cool story I read about Jibria is that once when he was in the third grade, he took his dad's two super Bowl rings that he had at the time he would go on to win four.

He took two of them to school as a third grader without mel knowing, and I'm sure that that was a bit of a heartache for mail that at that moment, but once he got them back, I'm sure it was all a great story. As we tell it here on the podcast, that's your tight end room. Again. We've done

the quarterbacks, running backs, and receivers. We're gonna continue on this podcast talking about our sixth of the eight divisional previews, the a f C North, and we're gonna see one team from this division this year on Thursday Night Football Week ten at hard Rock Stadium for an eight twenty pm Eastern kick on November eleven against the Baltimore Ravens.

Go ahead and start there with the dreaded Ravens. I mean, how many times in your lifetime as a Dolphins fan, and this is a team that came into the league in the late nineties, so it's not like they've been around forever, But how often does this team seem to serve as a roadblock for the Dolphins and crucial seasons going back to two thousand one playoffs when they eliminated Miami a pro player stadium, or the two thousand eight

playoffs to the exact same thing. Once again. There was a big game in twenties six team when we went to Baltimore, and that game did not fare very well. Thursday Night Football four and two go into Baltimore. They're banged up, still can't get that w. So this is a team that Dolphins fans maybe don't look upon so finally, and that's out of respect because of such a good football team. But the biggest win the Dolphins seemed to have notched over Baltimore this century was the two thousand

seven grade cam Ario moment. But all of that has me excited for this one because how can we defend Lamar and that run game. I view the Ravens as a measuring stick, a litmus test of sorts, because of how good they are in that regard, a team that so different than what the rest of the league has kind of trended towards in the passing game. First, they're offseason. I loved it personally, Sammy Watkins and Rashad Bateman and

Thyland Wallace to the receiver corps. I think all three of those guys mixed well with Lamar Jackson, Kevin Zeitler, and Michael Schofield Alejandra Villaneueva. On the offensive line, does he step in and replace Orlando Brown? It's a big loss on the offensive line. He was a monster of a player on that offensive line. Juwan James signs with Baltimore. Now.

He got injured this offseason. There was a big deal with he and the and the Broncos and the p A about his injury being uh at the team facility or away from the team facility. But either way he winds up here with Baltimore and the Ravens. He'll be back probably next season. And then in the draft Odafe oh Way, you might have remember him as Jason away from Penn State. He changed his name. Good for him be who we are. Uh. He's one of the freakiest

pass rushers in this entire draft class. Dalen Hayes Geno Stone, the veteran safety they add him, and then Sean Wade out of Ohio State, another guy like they got him in the seventh round of this year's draft. I don't really think there's a storyline here with the quarterback position, despite the fact that everybody seemingly wants to make one out of it. Lamar Jacksons in elite quarterback. It's all

there is to it. I mean, he threatens the defense in multiple ways and he is the ultimate creator of conflict, our favorite word on this podcast this summer, I've seen the idea that so many of these Ravens running backs are big time players. But you know what the one constant is with all those running backs is lit Lamar

Jackson's there. He makes the running game go. How about that Browns game last year, the Monday Night Football Classic, Remember how things were looking kind of dark there for the Ravens and really great for the Dolphins because if Baltimore loses that game, if Lamar Jackson stays in the locker room for one more play on that fourth down and they lose that game, the Dolphins are in the

playoffs at ten wins. So he pinched it off, came back in and got the Ravens into the winner circle and that crazy, exhilarating, fun game, but ultimately the worst game of the year on the calendar for Miami. But either way, Lamar Jackson, you saw the difference that he brought to the offense when he was out of the lineup and then back in the lineup for that Ravens team. Even his rookie season, they were like three and three

and he comes in. They win almost every game the rest of the way, get into the playoffs, and then have the great season in twenty nineteen and last year have another good run towards the end of the year to make a push all the way into Divisional round of the playoffs. Speaking of the running backs, I love J. K. Dobbins, I always have. I think he's the most talented guy that they have or that they've given Lamar Jackson so far. To pair in that backfield, and they're gonna be a problem.

They both have so much speed and breakaway ability, and the storyline with this offense is his emergence coupled with the added weapons they have, and Rashad Bateman is a perfect addition for them to play that RPO kind of the exposition, quick hit when with physicality type of receiver. But he's more than just physicality. He can also create

separation with his rouse. He compliments the track team they have with Hollywood Brown and Devin Duvernet, plus going out and getting Samuye Watkins and they add Thayland Wallace, who can do a little bit of everything to really talking myself into this offense as we go along here, not to mention one of the best tight end rooms in

the league, led by Mark Andrews. They get Ronnie Stanley back up front on the offensive line, one of the biggest losses in the NFL last season, and they did what we talked about with multiple resources invested to attempt to fill a vacancy left there by Orlando Brown, with Juwan James, with Villanueva and Tyree Phillips also developing their in year number two and at some point losing on the other side of the ball, losing all these stud

pass rushers, you would think has to catch up to them, right, because it seems like every year a big time name goes out the door. This year it's Matt Judon who goes to the Patriots. They do bring back Parnell McFee, who continues to just kill it in that scheme. He was back last year with the team after going to

Chicago from Baltimore originally. But they also add Adope o A who I have little doubt will be a hit for this team because that's what they do with the draft guys and they turn into stars on that defense. But then you look at the secondary after, you know, talking about maybe some question marks up front. Secondary is one of the few in the league that I think I would measure up to what Miami has on their roster. Marlon Humphrey elite, elite cornerback. Marcus Peters is a takeaway machine.

Tavon Young and Jimmy Smith are at worst number two cornerbacks on at least half the rosters in the National Football League. They're probably were three and four corners and this on this uh particular club, Emon Marshall, Anthony Aver. Then they get Seaan Wade, who had a tough season Ohio stay after being a possible top pick in twenty nineteen. He goes back and his stock suffers a little bit. That way, you add Geno Stone to go with Chuck Clark and de Shawn Elliott and Anthony Levine. The names

just keep coming on that Baltimore defense. This is the most difficult team in the NFL to come from behind on because they can take the air out of the football and play such good takeaway defense, and if you put the ball up in the air, fifty times. They're gonna take it away a couple so they're really tough out. I cannot wait for that game in November. Also in the a f C North, the Pittsburgh Steelers. What a team and transition here for Pittsburgh. The offensive lines the

big story here for me, David decash Row's out. Trey Turner is in and it was tough sledding last year and now pounced he is retired. You'll lose Matt Feeler to the Chargers. And then with Big Ben at this stage of his career, what is he going to be?

The offense really struggled late in the year. They had no ability whatsoever to push the ball vertically down the field and had no running games, so teams were just squatting on their short intermediate passing game and it did not work at all for Pittsburgh after the eleven and oh start, did they do enough to score enough points in one? We know their defense dazzles, but what about on offense. I mean, it's basically Ben or bust at this point. He and he's missed games pretty much every

year of his career for a decade now. And if he's ineffective again, do you go back to Mason Rudolph. I mean, we'll see those were actually I guess kind of the stories of the off season was the losses this team took. Mike Hilton was a big player for them in the secondary. Now it's going to be you know, justin lane or camera in Sutton stepping up into that possible second cornerback. You have to play over one thousand

snaps if you play every snap at that position. And the top guy, Joe Hayden, I mean, he's been a good player for a long long time, but how much longer can he do it for? So the question on this team is probably in the secondary and the offensive line, but the rest of that defense is low it up man up front, they are as good as anyone with Cameron Heyward, Steffontua and t J. Watt. How do they replace Bud Dupree. We'll find out about that. But back

to the offense here real quick? Can they find a running game in a division that has two of the top three or four running teams in all of football? Chase Claypool and ju Jue Smith shooter was a nice duo with Deonte Johnson might even be one of the better of the three showing his medal as a route runner and big play guy. Last season had some drop seas, but you watch him create space and create separation. That's a big part of his game. Speaking of big plays,

James Washington and Ray Ray McLeod. Mcloud's more of a return man, but they have weapons and again are the complimentary parts going to make it all function as well as you'd like it to. In Pittsburgh for the Steelers, they're off season. Naj Harris, we know all about his college accomplishments. Pat friar Muth. Their first two picks on offense, not on the offensive line, was an interesting way to go after it. But they did get two good players there.

Trey Turner in for de Castro. They get Joe hag on the offensive line as well, Isaiah loud Milk and Tyson Alu. Alu add to the defensive line with Chris Warmly, and they go out and they get Quincy Rochet out of the University of Miami. The Cleveland Browns. I kind of want to put this team as the a f C North champion. We'll talk about that here in just one second, but they're offseason. Malik Jackson, Tommy Togi. A couple of nice defensive tackles Jadeveon Clowney and Tack McKinley

get added on the edge. Jeremiah Woosue Coramoa. Can he be that Joe Schobert replacement because they've really missed Schobert. Anthony Walker another one of these good athletic linebackers. Troy Hill add to the defensive secondary from the Rams. Greg Knewsome their first round draftic out of Northwestern and then John Johnson the do it all safety slash slot there

from the Rams. Troy Hill and John Johnson were two of the best, one of the best pairings of auditions any team made in the National Football League this offseason. They also go out and get Richard LeCount the safety from Georgia this past draft as well, So that right there is your storyline. They injected talent into the defense. Every name I just gave you was on defense because they just didn't really have a hole to fill on

offense after season. But the big additions in the secondary from the Rams is what you point to here to go along with Denzel Award, and then we'll see if Grant Delpitt and Greedy Williams can find their college form, delput coming off an injury, and with Greg Newsom into if they get one of del Pitt or Williams to hit, that's the five solid guys you need out there in that secondary. Plus you added Clowney to compliment Miles Garrett,

who's the best player in the damn division. For my money, off the edge, I mean, good luck running the football there. And if Garrett is, you know, the best outside rusher in football, that just gives him even more opportunities out on that other edge. So a big place seems like a guarantee on this defense. You also got a lot faster in the second level with a USA Coramoa and Anthony Walker. Offensively, Baker Mayfield just has to play point

guard and distribute the football to play winning football. I think he's not one of these quarterbacks that kind of catches a bad rap. He gets through his progressions quickly, and he had that same kind of feet hip quick action that I love, the way he manipulates defense with his physical action opposed to just the eyes that I've raped about in Two's game, A lot of that that

was there in Baker's game as well. He just needs to not play hero ball and they'll be fine because they have the best running back tandem with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. I like Jarvis and O'Dell. I don't think either one's an elite player, but they're both very good players. And then a good combo and perhaps the most underappreciated player and the entire team is Richard Higgins.

He's a big play waiting to happen. On top of that, you probably have the best offensive line of football with Jack Conklin, Wyatt Teller, j C. Treader, Joel Betonio, and Jedrick Wills. And oh yeah, three good tight hands in Austin Hooper, David Njoku and Austin Bryant. We finish up in the state of Ohio almost at the city with the Cincinnati Bengals. Their offseason was Jamaar Chase, Riley Reef and Jackson Carmen with Larry Oak and job always good

to get a division rivals player away from them. From the Browns, Tyler Shelbon, the l s U rookie Trey Hendrickson the big offseason addition, Cameron Sample, Joseph Assi love his game, Cheeto Wosier from the Cowboys, and Mike Hilton of the Steelers, another theft from the division and the big story for me with the Bengals suddenly becoming spenders like Hilton and a luge just one year after they signed Trey Waynes and Mackenzie Alexander, as well as Von

bellat safety. A total remake without going heavy at the rookie position in the draft. If they can get those guys playing at their peak and they get them communicating early on, always tough to get guys to kind of come together and get the communication right away, they could really turn around that defensive production. Are they going to be better on the offensive line, because burrow season ending injury just kind of seemed imminent last year when you

watched them every week. He was getting hit so much, so frequently, and they always looked so bad and then finally he does take a bad hit and it cost him his season. Also, it's weird that you look at the deep passing charts and the numbers bear out that they just could not hit vertical deep passes. One year after l s U was kind of going back and forth with Tua and Bama as the most prolific vertical passing games and the history of college football, and all

of a sudden they can't do it. So it's a volatile stat but it was weird to see that Burrow off the a c L with an offensive line that really only added the Reef and Jackson Carmen. That's a big storyline. Now what he does have is a nice arsenal of offensive weapons. I wasn't as high on Higgins and Chase as somewhere, but I do think Tyler Boyd is among the best slot receivers in the NFL. The

three of them together is a very nice trio. And I also liked their collection of tight ends with c j Uzama and Drew sample from you dub gokugs on that tight end position, and then in the backfield of Joe Mixing can stay healthy, he's one of the very best pure winners in the game. But they do lose Geo Bernard's so the depth there has taken a hit.

If Mixing gets banged up again, I'll be curious to see how swapping out Carl Lawson for Trey Hendrickson works and if year two will kind of have that remade linebacker corps come together better than it did last season. It was a challenge, but getting injected speed at the position with Marcus Bailey and a Keem Davis Gaither was a big boon for that Bengals defense. So for the NFC North, the best player for me is Myles Gaskin. The best quarterback is Lamar Jackson by a long shot.

For my money. Most might not think, so what I do. The best defender in the division, it's gotta be Garrett, Right, We'll go with t J Wat to kind of balance it out there. The best rookie I think will be Nag Harris. The best coach is Jim Harbaugh with the Ravens. The most intriguing team to me is the Bengals. How does Burrow come back off the A c L? Can they protect him? Can that defense get better? And the champion? I had the Browns written down, but I'm gonna go

with the Ravens. I'm taking the Ravens because I just trust the quarterback, I trust the head coach, and their defense always finds a way and I like the additions they have made on the offensive firepower position of the team. All Right, that's gonna be it for this week of podcast. It was great to be back with you all. Here on Drive Time. We're gonna pick it right back up

on Monday with the offensive line. Finish out the position previews as well as the NFL divisional previews, and that includes our a FC East preview coming your way next week as well. You don't want to miss that Until next time. 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, Follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL, Follow the team at Miami Dolphins, check out the Fish Tank and the Olivele pod Cast,

and of course Miami Dolphins dot com. Each of these podcasts are accompanied by a written piece up on the website giving you all the stats, facts and details you want to know about each of these players, and go check us out there as well. Until next time finds up