Welcome to Miami | Jordan Howard

terrific financial shape going forward. What's up, Dolphins, Travis wingfold with you here for a special series of the Drive Time Podcast, part of the official podcast network of your Miami Dolphins. We aren't making these shows with specific dates, but we are rolling out a new episode per player signing, and we'll start with the details of the player's career, taking a look at their counting stats, advanced metrics, film study,

character testimonies, and a whole lot more. All of that before we hear from the newest Miami Dolphins and exclusive interviews with the Drivetime Podcast. So without any further ado, let's get in to the free agency series here on the Drivetime Podcastphins and on a future edition of the Drivetime Podcast. We're gonna get into the cumulative approach of the Dolphins this offseason, this free agency period, the impact these signings have had on the draft, their capt position,

and financial commitments. All of that on a future episode sometime probably next week, but for now, we're talking about the individual parts, the major additions the Dolphins made to the roster over the last course of a couple of days.

And Jordan Howard is up today. He agreed to a two year contract with the Miami Dolphins after making stops in Chicago and Philadelphia in his career, and he comes into the league as a fifth round pick back in and he exploded onto the scene with a one thousand, three d thirteen yards season en route to a probe selection and the rookie year. Following up his dominant rookie season, he posted his second consecutive thousand yards season with even

undred and twenty two rushing yards that year. Howard combined for fifteen rushing touchdowns between the two seasons, and since two thousand six team when he came into the league, Howard has the third most rushing yards and seventh most touchdowns on the ground. That stat provided by ESPN S Cameron Wolf, and Howard's consistent touchdown production makes him one of just five players to rush for at least six scores in each of the past four seasons. His climb

from humble football beginnings makes his career production even more impressive. Originally, he was at U A B the University of Alabama Birmingham, but they shut their program down after season, so Howard transferred to Indiana, and scouts were quite fond of Howard's game coming out of college, both at Indiana and at U A B. This from NFL dot COM's Lance zerline quote showed the ability to step his game up against top competition at both U A B and Indiana rush

for at least one hundred and forty five yards and every full game that he played. Natural runner who combines tempo with a special feel for spatial relationships. Pro ready vision gives him outstanding field for run lane developments at the line of scrimmage and onto the second level. Consistently chooses best angles, increases for optimal yardage for a big back. Can make himself skinny through tight quarters, decisive and punishing drops pads, and accelerates into contact of better would be

tacklers on the second and third levels. Drives legs through arm tackles, and goes about his work hard, charging when it's third or fourth and short, showed potential in the screen game as a receiver, and even better praise came from an anonymous a f C running backs coach at the time in the same report, quote, He's the best pier running back in the draft. I've coached some good ones, and he's what you look for. End quote. And Howard goes and even six ft tall, two hundred and thirty pounds.

He posted thirty four inches on his vertical jump and one two inches on the broad jump back at the scouting combine, and indeed, his best forty time was at his pro day at Indiana, he ran a four point five nine forty yard dash. And his targets in the passing game have decreased every year since his rookie season.

In the last three years, however, he's caught a total of seventy three point six percent of his targets for an average of seven point eight eight yards per catch, and moving the change has been his calling card since he got to the league. In addition to thirty rushing touchdowns, he's rushed for two hundred and twenty one career first downs between twenty eighteen, Howard ranked third, third, and ninth

in the NFL in rushing first downs. He moves the chains and a step further, one of the more critical elements of playing running back. Howard's short yardage conversion rate is absolutely superb. On fifty career carries on third or fourth and short three yards or less, Howard has converted thirty seven of those fifty carries into first downs. That's a seventy four percent conversion rate. Howard has two thousand, one hundred and fifty six snapps on his NFL resume.

That's an average of five thirty nine per year. His pass blocking grades, courtesy of Pro Football Focus, have consistently measured near the top of his position. His lowest grade as a pass blocker is a tie between the twenty nineteen and twenty seventeen seasons, and that was seventy five point six, and that grade is in the green category,

which is above average. On P five, his eighty six point three pass blocking grade on ninety two reps in eighteen was the best in the NFL among all backs that had thirty two pass blocking reps or two reps per game. On two hundred and fifty five career pass blocking reps, Howard has allowed nine quarterback pressures and seven of those were hurries, so only two times the quarterback got hit by Jordan Howard's man On two hundred and fifty five pass blocking reps. Howard has made a habit

out of creating yardage after initial contact. His career marks hours, follows and yards after contact on average last year two point nine three after initial contact two point seven four to five two and twenty seventeen, and his rookie year the career high at two point nine eight. And despite earning a Pro Bowl nod his rookie season, Howard hasn't even more impressive accolade attached to his name. For that Steen season, Howard was named the Bears Brian Piccolo Award

winner along with teammate Josh Bellamy. The Piccolo Awards are voted on annually by Bears players and given to the teammates who show great dedication, loyalty, teamwork, and a commitment to excellence and a sense of humor. Howard's former offensive coordinator and former Dolphins offensive coordinator Dal Loggins raved about Jordan Howard's character quote he displays what humility looks like he had a great year and went to the Pro Bowl, but he's the same kid every day. The success to

this point has not changed him. We expect that to be the same way this year. End quote. Let's go ahead now and get to our interview with new Dolphins running back Jordan Howard. And joining me now on this edition of the Drive Time podcast, part of the official Miami Dolphins podcast network, is new running back Jordan Howard. Jordan, thanks for doing this, man, thank you for having Yeah, it's no problem. And now you've got a new deal, a new team. How are you feeling about everything heading

into your your new contract here with the Dolphins. I'm pretty great, excited they took a chance on me. Just glad on part of the team. Absolutely. And I gotta ask you, Jordan, You've got some free agent suitors out there. I think you were the first back to come off the board, so to speak. Why would you choose Miami? Um, it just feel like the best fair for me, the best self for the next the best place for the

next step of my career. I want to get back on track, and it's a place, Uh there's another time of team. I want to help be a part of that. And obviously you haven't had a chance to come to Miami yet because of the you know, travel bands and all the restrictions currently going on in our world. But I was curious to get your sense, at least in phone conversations and otherwise, what's your sense of the culture the Dolphins have built here and what you're stepping into

with the Dolphins. Um. Just for some of the people I talked today say he's great, They love it, in love with h the program that coach Florida is building and stuff like that. So they said it's gonna be a great it's gonna be a great time with enjoy it. But I feel like it's just an uppaving team or work hard, but we're gonna have to fund at same time.

And one of the most respected coaches on the Dolphin staff is your running backs coach Eric Studsville, And I'm curious to get your take if you've if you've had a conversation with him, and what your initial impressions is of Coach Studsville. No, I haven't had uh a chance to talk to him. Yeah, but other people have told me great things about him. Um, So they said, I'm gonna get a lot with him. Great, he's gonna he's gonna plash me, but that's gonna have fun. He's just

a great coach all around. And one of the things that makes him a great coach is his ability to adapt to his players and also to get the most out of versatile players. And I think that's one of the things that you bring to Miami more than anything Jordan's is that versatility. Can you talk about your ability whether it's zone scheme or man scheme and just how you're able to adapt to the different schemes throwing about

you throughout your career. Hum. Yeah, coming to the NFL, I was mostly like out sides one when I first got into the league and stuff like that, but then third year changed up a little bit more inside zone. But I just feel like, you gotta be versatile. You gotta be uh right, whatever the coaches want to roll wherever since they bring in you gotta baby to make

yourself fit into it. Jordan, You've been one of the most productive backs since you came into the league back in sixteen, and it seems to me like the vision in your game is the best aspect of your game. And for those that have never played football, or tailback especially, how are you able to kind of slow things down and process the game that quickly to make those big runs. Um, it's definitely something you gotta you gotta work on and

stuff like that. Even when I got to feel the deaf you, um running back coach, he has just slowed me down like some of the rogers who said, I need to be more patient because if I was going to fans, I was gonna miss up to I don't ba to see it. So m he worked on when we just slowing down to be more patient. But patients definitely a part of it, because if you go to fans, you want to be to make a coop or your MYSTICU. You wanta be to see it because you gotta let

things develop. Sometimes want to stay in that lane regarding your production and go towards your past protection production. According to Pro Football Focus, you have two hundred and fifty five career pass blocking reps and just nine of those times your man got pressure on the quarterback and seven

of those nine those nine pressures were hurries. So your quarterback only ever got hit twice and you hit the ground running and pass pro as a rookie, what is it about your game or maybe it's more about your will that allows you to excel in this very critical area of playing running back. Um, coming to the NFL, I feel like there's one of the toughest things for

running back to learn. Just pass focus. They thought so much thinking you have so much responsibility and if you want to get on the field, you got to take the quarterback. So I might definitely take pride in that. And also just like enjoying, Like when somebody tries to come through and hit the quarterback, I love like just stopping him in their place and just keep him up the quarterback. And on that same train of thought, when you get into the second and third level, man, it's

it's fun to watch. There's some semblance of the water Boy and those rounds because you're out there punishing dudes. Is that just a running backs dream, running free beyond the first level? Oh yeah, definitely. Uh. Once you get there, you gotta be you got a quick thing because it's gonna come at your fast, so you gotta be ready and stuff like that. So um, but it's definitely a dream. Once you get onto get pass out of big guys

and stuff. You get to the smaller guys, you know you have a better chance of running through them or maybe running away from them or whatever your whatever the game is, Jordan, I want to go back to your college days, back both at Indiana and you A B. I'm curious to get your feelings about what it was like to find out that the U a B program shut down, because that, to me, has got to be the hardest thing for an athlete. And how do your kind of search went into finding your next stop there

in college. I was definitely tough. Uh. We definitely not expecting that when I told you go to the school there, but it was just another bubble of my path that they had to deal with. It was definitely heartbreaking the time, but used as a blessing disguise. Got to go to a bigger program. We got to play on the biggest stage and um, so that I could play on a bigger level song Um, I feel like it worked out

for the best. Every single game you played, you finished with that you played the entire game, you finished with more than a hundred and forty five yards. So production has been kind of your the name of your game throughout the course of your career. And I want to talk about your short yardage production, because I had a chance to go back and look at some of your splits.

Fifty carries in your NFL career on third and fourth and short, and you converted thirty seven of those into first down, so a percentage of seventy four conversion on short yardage. What's the mindset of a running back, of a good short yarde running back, I should say on the mas Uh, they know you're gonna run the ball, they know you're getting the ball. They just gotta stop you. But you can't let them stop. You gotta keep your legs moving. And um, you gotta know how far you

gotta go, so you gotta keep getting man. But really just start a fight and just keep your legs moving. Don't stop into you get it and stay low. And Jordan, last year with the Philadelphia Eagles and you played the game in Miami, what were some of the challenges you had and preparing for the Dolphins defense upfront? Um, I was actually heard in the game, so I didn't get that play for practice of week. Okay, my apologies for that. Well, on the other side of the ball, you'll be sharing

the backfield now with Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Dolphins quarterback. What is the Jordan Howard scouting report on fits magic? Um, he just makes stuff happens. That's that's what I see. He makes things happen like every time he's counting out

every year. Um, his team might be carting alas, makes the plays the division a lot of times more times than not, and fits through a couple of kind of coming onto the scene receivers last year in Devonte Parker and Preston Williams and then Mike A Sicki at tight end. And those guys have a really extensive basketball background, and that's become kind of the theme here on the Drivetime podcast talking to the the new Dolphins free agents. Here

is your basketball background? Are you a hooper? And can you throw down pretty impressively? Um? No, I'm not a hooper that cannot throw it impressively. What's what's the what's the other sport you might play if it wasn't for football? Um? Football of you on the sport got you? That's that's a fair answer. I guess you found your right career path. And just to kind of sum this thing up here

for your Jourdan'll let you go here. What are the Dolphins ultimately getting the full package here with Jordan Howard. I was gonna get a guy who come to work every day. Uh, I'm gonna do it, do its best to have the team and where he came with whatever type of role. Just a hard guy. Still, I feel like I still have not to prove. Still, I think with the tip of my shoulder every single game, this is what I'm kind of working. Just gonna be a great guy in the in the locker room and and

outside in the community. And as far as going outside the community and kind of some of your leisure time. What are you looking forward to most about being a South Florida resident. Um? Good good weather year round. That's definitely something I'm looking forward to. Good weather year around. Um, but just the good vibes. I'm definitely how to get used to the heat, but I feel like they were to be a problem, be advanta when playing her teams.

Using that heat to your advantage, especially in the power running game. Yes, definitely fast. Absolutely, guys can wear it down pretty quickly that second half of games when he got someone like Jordan Howard coming out them. Jordan's congratulations on the new contract, Best of luck this year, Stay healthy,

and welcome to Miami. And there he goes, the newest running back added to this Miami backfield to give a boost to the running game, and really one of the more fun backs to watch on tape when you watch the way he sets up his blocks and gets skinny through those creases and then explodes into the second and third level. You heard him talk about how much he enjoys really dishing out punishment on those defensive backs once he does get into that level. And this is a

guy that hits big runs pretty routinely. Ten plus yard runs are a regular thing just about every single game, whether it was with the Eagles or the Bears previously in his career, and that's always who he was back in college as well, both at U A B and Indiana. You heard our scouting report on Jordan Howard from Lanzer Line and scouts anonymously or coaches the coach run the league said that Jordan Howard might have been the best

pure running back in that entire class. And again, that was the year that Zeke Elliott went number four overall, So Jordan Howard comes in with high praise on top of guys they got drafted in the top five of that draft. So he comes to Miami with plenty of production, which really in my mind validates that scouting report that he might have been the best pure runner in that

draft class. So he brings great production. You heard him talk about the culture that he wants to fit into in Miami and improve the locker room and prove the work in the community. Just a good guy all around, and he's gonna be a good addition for your Miami Dolphins. All right, that's gonna close it up for this podcast. We'll have more of a cumulative approach on a podcast sometime next week, but we're gonna talk to all the Dolphins free agent signings that occurred over the last couple

of days here on the Drivetime Podcast. But as for today, that's gonna be my time to make sure you don't miss any of these new podcast dropping pretty much multiple podcast a day or every single day, and we're gonna do it through the weekend too, So keep your eye out for new additions of the Drivetime Podcast to ensure you don't us them. Go ahead and hit subscribe on Apple, Google Play, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast from. Leave us a rating, leave us a review, Give me a

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