What to Expect from Year 2 in Mike McDaniel's Offense

touchdown padout of the two. Drivetime with Travis Wingfield begins. Now let me check your pulse if you're not further of what is up? Dolphins And welcome to the Drivetime podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins podcast Network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it going everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, we're going back over

to the offensive side of the football. I want to review three items that have me believing that year two in the offense could be even better than the number

six ranked offense we saw in year number one. We'll discuss that hypothesis and conclusion, plus some more mail bag questions, and we begin to get ready for Indianapolis by taking a look at our first offensive positions and what we expect from them at the combine tight ends and running backs as we continue the offensive theme on this pod from the PFF Top one hundred big board, and see who to keep an eye on during those workouts in

Indianapolis from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the drivetime. So we've been on a defensive kick for a few episodes, really about a week and a half now in a row. So let's go ahead and go back to the other side of

the football. And something I had mentioned at the end of the season, wanting to do a deep dive at the end of the year, And we talked to coach Fangio on the podcast last Friday and I asked him what about this offense gives opposing defensive coordinator's fits and he mentioned the wide receivers and the year that two had under center, and obviously starts there with a trigger

man in his top weapons. Then we also had Jerome Baker on a podcast this past week, the Varsity House Podcast, and he was asked about when he really realized just how fast Tyreek hill is and he detailed a play in training camp where Tyreek ran a short indbreaker and Jerome knew he had to get to his landmark and make the tackle elementary stuff right or tag off, not

actually make a tackle. But he said that because Tyreek can get to full speed by like his third step or sooner, that he had to completely change his angle and that landmark that had become so second nature on that particular route from that particular zone drop to then having to run and chase to meet him further downfield to improve his angle and give himself a chance to make the tackle or in this case a tag off.

He said that Tyreek and Waddle both offer that. And when you have to protect the deep part of the field, it makes you vulnerable somewhere else. If you're going to add extra pieces one spot, you're going to be vulnerable somewhere else. And every time you drop a defense, you have vulnerabilities. And that's why the best offensive minds can find ways to a tackles vulnerabilities regardless of the personnel

they have. But when you have to protect an area of the field so significantly, and the most dangerous area of the field, it's going to create chances elsewhere. I think we saw that throughout the course of the season, but I think there's even more meat on the bone. To use a phrase we like here on the podcast, to expand that in your number two. So Tyreke and Waddle together and in their second year, that's where I really start to get excited about what this offense can be.

I mean, we saw glimpses this year. We saw a record setting pace this year, four straight games, thirty points. Last time that happened for this franchise. It's been a long long time. I want to circle back to all that, but first he also Jerome Baker discussed Tuah and he said that he saw all off season was just two of putting his head down and putting in the work, regardless of outside noise anything, just put the work in.

And Jerome said he really appreciated the way that Tuah comes into the locker room with his head high because after everything the media says or all the narratives, Tua just goes about his business and does his thing. And he said there was a tangible impact behind that. He said that Tua took accountability when he made a mistake, he would own the airs from the quarterbacks perspective, and how far that reached the rest of the locker room in terms of a leader who's accountable. Jerome touched on

all of that and how valuable that is. That's why this podcast, this sort of monologue I'm putting together, is becoming more about the right kind of people and how continuity with those people can push a team forward better than really anything else. And I've talked about it many many times here on the show that I believe the best route to improvement in a given off season is improvement from your own incumbents. We saw Jalen Waddle take a big step last year. We saw Christian Wilkins get

even better than he was in year three. We saw two a tongue of Bloa take a big jump. That type of stuff, and yeah, don't get me wrong, Tyreek

Hill to Ron Armstad, Connor Williams massive massive impacts. But Rob Hunt's development at right guard that was a big deal as well, because when you hear this type of speak, going back to the podcast from someone like Jerome who's been here for five years and everybody respects what Jerome's about, so to hear him talk about the quarterback, the way that he detailed, the level of respect that he and the rest of the organization has for number one, I

just think that bodes well for the example that you have to follow if you're going to be a member of the Miami Dolphins, the right type of guys. So to bring it back to the receivers, and you know what, I have mentioned this quote so many times, So why don't I go ahead and run the audio for you here. I want to go back to Mike McDaniel, and I asked him this question on November twenty eighth, what was the most notable sign of growth that Jalen Waddle showed

you this year? And it was following I think the Texans game. Yeah, the Texans game, and Tua had mentioned Waddle's attention to detail in his postgame press conference, and so the following Monday, on the twenty eighth, I asked McDaniel about the most tangible or most notable sign of growth he saw this year from Jalen Waddle. Let's go ahead and play that sound real quick right after the break, you know, over the break. I really I was interested.

He's an I love the way he worked in OTA's and you know, it's very very high on him coming out of college and had and it was obvious an OTAs that I really liked the human being and definitely believed in him really coming back from summer break and you don't have any time to learn or and you don't assume anything. I didn't know how he's going to come back, because that can be a very huge, huge time for a receiver, a young receiver, especially in a

new offense. Is what do you do over between OTAs and training camp to prayer yourself for an NFL season? And I was as encouraged by his I was as encouraged by him as any other player in terms of how he came back ready to play. So it was obvious early and he's as we've gone on, very talented players aren't allays that that hungry to be coached. You get you have a lot of success as a very talented player, and a lot of times, you know, I've

experienced players feeling as though coaching is an insult. He is quite the opposite. You know, he keeps learning each and every week, and he is not. It's always a guy has a chance to be really really good and chase greatness in this league, if you have a ton of talent, but you're constantly hoping that yesterday's version was the worst version of yourself that you'll see moving forward,

that you're constantly getting better. And that's something that he has proven to his teammates that he he's a really good player. We have to rely on him to make plays for us to play the style of football we want to play, and his teammates rely on him and trust him, and I know that each and every week he's going to put his best foot forward to be the best version of himself. Yesterday offered a great opportunity

for him to improve. There was some stuff in the game that he'll tell you that he definitely could have done better, and some situations that he encountered that was the first time in the offense that he encountered this season. So there's timing nuances and route running nuances that he's going to continue to progress. And that's why we got the Dolphin's got a good one in him. And the reason I wanted to play that sound drop and the reason I'm talking about all this, The way I am

is really multifaceted. In fact, it's three prong For the sake of specificity. Specificity number one is the proof in the pudding in terms of previous Shanahan McDaniel stops and the second year jumps they've experienced in their offensive production. And this is where I really wanted to start and kind of the I suppose the driving force behind this little research project I put together to show you the tangible increases in production for teams playing in the second

year of this particular offensive system. And granted they always are different with their own fingerprints on them, but generally speaking, the same offensive principles exist across the board with these same coaches, right Shanahan, McDaniel, O'Connell and mcveagher, Kim in that same vein you get it, Lafleur, all those guys. But as I researched it more, I realized my point was actually more about two other things as well, and

they are this number two. The conventional wisdom shared by so many of the greats, the typical does take some time to really get your offense to become second nature. We're talking about being able to understand the verbiage, the checks concepts without having to give it a second thought to it makes a change. I know right away. Boom.

That means I have to take this whip route and turn it into a conversion to a corner route to make sure I hold that cloud corner on the flat rob we want to throw underneath to Jaylan Waddle, That's just an example, right, Like, think of it this way. You get a new job, or you move to a new house, all of a sudden, you have new paths to take on your commute. You have a new grocery

store you have to go to. You have to find the route to your favorite new restaurant you're going to go pick up from You have to find the route that's best to go pick up your kids from school. It can be overwhelming, right Or learning a new job, learning the new process. It's learning a new operating system within your company, you know, especially for me the moving aspect moving from rural central Washington to busy Broward County.

All those U turns and freeway entrances and exits, the commutes got confusing and I had to look at my phone for g PS often. Now being here for a little while, I barely ever use my GPS. I went to Tamrack to play golf last weekend at Colony West didn't need to use my GPS. I just looked up the address and said, oh, I just have to go

down seventy five. I have to take the Sawgrass exit or through towards Parkland and just take that exit right there off of is it Broward Boulevard and the courses right there off the left, So like, same idea, like rather than thinking about where it is and having to process and then react. Second year in the offense is like second year in a new house or a new job. I know how to get to public's, I know the best route to take to work. If the you know,

if there's an accident, our things are backed up. It becomes second nature, not just in the original thought, but the way you adapt and adjust on the fly. And the third thing was I think we have the right people here to make that jump very noticeable. What coach said about Jalen Waddle, We've heard that before. I've been

rewatching the games. I just rewatched the Steelers game, and you heard Collinsworth on the NBC broadcast mentioned his pre production meeting with Mike McDaniel and how Tyreek Hill taught them how to practice. He just meant, you know how to compete on a rep by rep basis like, No, this is how you do it when you're a seven time All Pro or seven time Pro bowler. I mentioned Waddle.

I mentioned the Baker Podcast for this reason too. Seeing Tua go through his pregame visualization each week five hours before kickoff. You see the way the guys talk about their quarterback. It's clear that they believe in what he's all about. And you earn that through your actions. Torn Armstead,

we spoke about him earlier. Another guy like this, and you know, speaking of Tarn at his last presser, I asked him what it says about the locker room that twenty five percent of the players earned a vote for our annual Good Guy Award, which is the player that is the easiest to work with and exhibits the most professionalism during their media availabilities with the press, and so Torn won that award, But twenty five percent of the

locker room received vote. That was the most ever. And I asked heron about that, What does it say about the guys you have here in that locker room. Yeah, we're getting the right people in the building. We're getting the right people in the building. You know, people that respect the game, respect that has played, and all the nuances of it on and off the field. It's important. It's extremely important to have that in the locker room.

Guys that can articulate communicate showed that respect, you know, through the ups and downs, because we went through five year one streak, five game losing streaks. So to have so many guys that up for an award like this speaks volumes to the team. So why do I spend all that time covering all of this? Because I think the combination of the complexity of an offense that a significant portion of our returning personnel made to be the

number six ranked offense in the NFL. Now they get a full calendar year with their own tape to go off of. They're not watching someone else execute this offense. They're watching themselves do it. They I have to say, oh, that's a movement unnatural to me. I made that move. I can correct that this way, I can drill that this way. I think that pays dividends more than just about anything you can do this offseason unless you bring

another Tyreek hillin. I've been saying this for years. Your biggest improvements year over year typically come from improvements of the incumbents. And that's the case here, and if it's the case here, I think you have to feel very good about where the number six offense in twenty twenty two can go to in number twenty twenty three. Let's go ahead and take our first break right there and come back. We'll revisit the two bullet points that I

mentioned already. I think we already kind of proved number three with the right kind of people here. We'll go back and revisit bullet points number one and two. That's next Drivetime podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation, doing something of a deep dive here on the podcast, taking a look at expectations for a year number two and the possibilities of growth and improvement and the continuity that could contribute to that potential improvement.

So we talked about the third bullet point right getting the right kind of people in the building. Tyreek Hill giving you the perfect example for how to practice to a tongue of byloa just putting in work after work after work, all off season before the games, to run armstead being an extension of the coaching staff on the field, an example of how to be a pro and go

about your business, and on and on and on. The first bullet point, though, was the idea that this offense is relatively complex, and the more time you spend in it, the more time you know. To take the right before the busy intersection to get to publics because it's a quicker access driver on the backside of the building. You don't have to deal with the shopping mall traffic ahead of the publics. These are things that I do to get to my public's faster. You see what I'm saying.

I know this because I have familiarity with my surroundings and my situation, so I go back frequently to something I heard ESPN's Jeff Darlington's say on a local radio show down here. I want to say it was Zach Krantz's Instagram show, but he said the Dolphins are knocking on the door. When it comes to Mike McDaniel, that was his first year, and a system like McDaniels or Shanahan out in San Francisco, it requires some time both in instituting the system and another offseason to keep adding

guys that fit that system. They've got a lot to build upon. I think what we saw this year was a blueprint, not a conclusive outcome of what this team can be and quote and that blueprint comment is the one that I really harkened back to Tom Harkin, the one that made me rubberneck a little bit. I've heard that same sentiment not just from people I know in the media sphere, but people that I classify to be

expert analyst of the game. The difficulty of the system and of making it seem like it's second nature to you to know to cut that public's cut short that turned to the public's parking lot, take the first one off the second one. And I think about, you know, scoring those thirty points in four straight games while you're still making all that happened to me, that's a lot

of reason for optimism. And I asked coach about this at the end of the year presser, and he described the offensive line play as having to retrain everything you had previously learned in your football life. And I think about how that could probably speak to some of the waves you saw in moments during the running game this year and the ups and downs and potentially putting that together more consistently. Man, we had some games where it looked like you were creating lanes like Ricky Williams had

in two thousand and two other games. It was just a struggle. You have to imagine another year, another offseason to not just work on the fundamentals of that style, but to have a full year of tape on yourself to evaluate. I just have to imagine that plays dividends. And so I got to looking at year one to year two jumps for every stop that McDaniel was, you know, at in his career, among the places he was at for two years, and it starts in Washington in two eleven,

two twelve, from sixteenth and offense to fifth. Pretty good. He was in Cleveland for twenty fourteen. They were only there for that one year, but man, that Brown's team was the most fun Browns team to watch in like a decade. At that point. They went seven to nine. It was their most wins in seven years to that point, and the most wins they would have for another four year. So literally their best record in ten years was the

one year that they had McDaniel and Shanahan there. And we've heard the accounts of Andrew Hawkins and Nate Burlison and the other receivers who played in that room. I think Taylor Gabriel was another. Just they loved what Mike McDonel's all about in Atlanta twenty fifteen to twenty sixteen, from seventh to second, I mean, you see what we're

going forward. That's that's kind of your I think baseline looking at here is the twenty sixteen Falcons which went to the Super Bowl and had that twenty eight to three lead. From an offensive perspective, if you can see a similar jump there, and that was the same. They had Matt Ryan and established good quarterback like we have here. They had a pretty good offensive line that they continue to put pieces around. They had a really solid running game.

That's where I think Miami has some ground to make up in the tight end room as well. But they also had Julio Jones, like we've got Tyreek Hill. Shoot, who was our second option that year in the receiving game. I don't I can't remember who it was, but it wasn't Jalen Waddle. They can tell you that much. Then they took the head job Kyle Shanahan did and Mike McDaniel the running game quarrier job for the Niners in twenty seventeen twenty eighteen, they were from twelfth to sixteenth.

And that's the one regression, but you know context because twenty eighteen was the year they traded for Jimmy Garoppolo, and what did they do in his second year of the system in twenty nineteen when they found their quarterback. Just the number four offense in the NFL. Something I've taught myself in this little study, as they always started off really well, because look at the year before they arrived.

The twenty ten Washington team was twenty fifth. So Washington went from twenty fifth before their arrival to sixteenth in their first year to fifth in their second year. The twenty fourteen Falcons were twelfth, then to seventh, then to second in the second year, and the twenty sixteen nine ers thirty first up to twelfth to sixteenth. It's pretty good growth. It's not just Jeff Darlington who notes the importance of continenting offense. It's former players and coaches who

have done at a high level as well. And that's bullet point number two. Quotes from people talking about year two in an offense, and I refer often to Peyton Manning in the Manning cast and it was a Lions and I think Packers game two years ago, and he was talking about Jared Goff in the twenty twenty one Lions offense and how for him it was always sometime around year two where the offense felt second nature. Well, Jared Goff this year in the Lions start off one

and six and then what do they finish? It was at nine and eight, eight and nine, maybe it was their final record, and their offense was absolutely on fire in the second half of the season, as we saw in the game that Miami beat them. Their offense was going up and down the field. But I found this quote from Peyton Manning when he first joined the Broncos about learning a new offense. The question was specifically if he felt the same way he did in Indian terms

of his preparation heading into the season. Here's the quote, No way, no way. It's possible when you have new coaches, new players, new offense. It's been energizing to be back on the field, but it's very challenging with all the changes. It's not comfortable all the time. What about Peyton Manning's greatest rival, Tom Brady. Here's what Brady said, when he first got to the Bucks. I've got to learn new players, I've got to learn the scheme. So that's where all

my time and energy is going to be focused. And also learning my teammates, learning guys like Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, O J Howard, Cameron Brad, a lot of the skill players, running back Ronald Jones, and obviously the offensive line, who's a very talented group. How about Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels, previously OC of the Patriots, one of the best offensive minds we've seen in this century. Here's what he said a couple of years ago when talking about his quarterbacks,

particularly Cam Newton, in year two of the offense. It's a lot less new learning every day, more repetition of things. He already understands. Things slow down, things make more sense. There were things I was telling him to do last year that he didn't quite understand, but I was telling him, hey, do it this way, try and do it that way. Make him the mic whatever. He was just trying to do everything I said and not thinking can cause, you know,

not the quickest reaction. McDaniel's continue in that same story. Now he actually understands the why on most things. That is really the goal for the quarterbacks when you're out there trying to read defense on a play to play basis, If you don't understand why we're doing something or why you're supposed to make the protection slide here or there, it's a tough position to play. So you can really find this from anyone if you look hard enough. I

found some from Joe Burrow and Jalen Hurtz. Recently, I went back and found some Chad Henny talking points about his second year in two thousand and nine. In fact, this from the Palm Beach Post story that was that I found on the Google machine. His biggest growth has come with his complete understanding of the offense at game speed, said wide receiver Greg Camarrio. You can only get that

through game reps. The point I'm making, or trying to make, is that the second year typically comes along with some natural progression just from the familiarity, especially when you're in the position Miami is with a quarterback, the top two receivers, most of the offensive line, all those key players are returning in the same system, and I think that has an abundance of value for the Miami Dolphins in twenty twenty three. Let's go ahead and take our last break

and come back on the other side. We'll answer a couple of your mail bad questions. I didn't get to all of them on Monday, and I didn't get to all of them here either, but I want to answer some more and also take our first look at the scouting combine in Indianapolis with the tight ends and running backs and who I expect to have big workouts. That's next Drivetime Podcast, your host, Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation, segment number three here on a Wednesday.

This time next week, I will be in Indianapolis with a couple of the guys from the video staff, myself, Mike and JT. Couple of guys I played golf with a lot we are going up to. Indeed, we're gonna get a ton of interviews with a ton of top level talent from the biggest networks, and I can't wait to bring it to you guys. Gonna be a lot of fun content here on the podcast as we continue to head so fast towards the off season, the new

league year draft season. I can't believe the combines here already and as it stands right now, we know the draft order through the first three rounds, shy of some comp picks or coin flips that will break some ties that honestly I don't care about it because it does

not involve the Miami Dolphins. But the draft site Tankathon does have the order with all of these strength of schedule tiebreakers and things that differentiate how the rounds alternate draft order, and the Dolphins have the fifty second pick in the second round and the seventy eight and eighty fifth overall picks in the third round, and we'll know the slots of the other picks once comp picks are

all divvied up and all that stuff. But for the sake of this exercise and the trip to Indianapolis, I wanted to look at the top one hundred big board from Pro Football Focus and just talk about the different players that we'll see work out an Indie and I thought, why not start at the running back position. So on PF they have number eighteen B Jean Robinson, and it's hard to find a more complete player than this guy.

He's going to demolish the combine. I expect us to get to the end of the on field work from the running backs, and you'll just see Robinson Robinson Robinson for all the category leaders, every metric. He moves unlike anybody else in this class, aside from the guy we're going to talk about here in a second, Jamir Gibbs. The lateral agility I think should produce great numbers and

all the explosive metrics. You go watch his tape at Texas, he gets to gaps and holes that just doesn't really make a lot of sense from a science and gravity standpoint. He's also strong as hell. If he does bench which less and less players are doing the bench press, I expect him to perform in that area too, And it doesn't really matter which tape you watch of this guy. He was so dominant in college that it's pretty easy to pick up his game and translate it to the

next level. We saw Breece Hall have a big impact. I think this guy is exponentially more talented than the running back from Iowa State last year number fifty four on this list, Zach Charbonnet from UCLA. He's had a long college career. He has a pretty heavy workload, and I'm not sure he's going to be the workout monster that you'll get from Robinson and Gibbs. But if there's a back in college with better vision and field than Charbonnat,

I haven't really seen that yet. He does build to speed in the open field, but his subtle jump cuts allow him to maintain momentum while attacking the lion scrimmage. I think he'll have a great metrics in the broad and vertical jumps, and that can be a carryover of balance, and this dude's tape is just full of balance and

slipping tackles. There's a clip against Stanford this year where he sticks his foot in the ground to cut back from a forced defender forcing him back inside, and there's a big defensive linemen in the way that Christian Wilkins does this pursuing from the backside, and when he cuts back, the lineman goes over the top of his back and Charbonnet stays on balance and keeps trucking. He is incredibly strong in the lower half. Is most of these running

backs tend to be. Number fifty seven is maybe my favorite player in the draft that I've watched so far, Jamir Gibbs from Alabama. The explosiveness and the big plays are there, every single game. I think he's gonna tear up Indie. It's gonna be Gibbs and Robinson a top year workout boards if he asks me, both in the metric testing and the onfield drills. I think you can get out of love for what he does in the route running aspect, because you go back to the Tennessee

tape and you'll see tons of that. Just him leaving linebacker is in coverage in the dust. He's a second college football The last three years, among draft eligible backs of the combine, in terms of receiving first downs, he had forty two. Deuce Vaughn had forty eight. I think he'll absolutely light up the three cone, the short, shuttle, the broad, the vertical, everything that points to explosive, quick, twitch,

start stop, all of those buzzwords that we love. Jamir Gibbs has that in spades and the way he can kind of stretch a play out and it matches so well with the stretch zone, the inside zone concepts that we run here. Man, he'd be a great fit. If he's there at fifty two, I would personally run the card up and turn that thing in. But of course we have a long way to go in the process,

probably won't be there. I'm sure things change a lot from now till then as well, so as it stands right now, this is This is my guy in the draft class number seventy seven, Seawan Tucker out of Syracuse. I feel similar to him about is the way I said about Zach Charbonet. Not sure the combined numbers will explode, but he has a chance to check all the physical boxes because they'll probably weigh in at two hundred and ten pounds. He also has great breakaway speed, so could

run a four four if he does that. He's a Day two pick all day. When he got into space last year on that fast track at Syracuse, he was gone. He's so built in the lower half that's hard to imagine anything but really good jumping metrics and look running backs is some of the world's most impressive specimens. I expect all of these top guys to test well, and that includes Tank Bigsby, just an absolute specimen out of Auburn,

number eighty on the Pro Football Focus list. Now for on field drills, this typically he doesn't translate as well in terms of the body type that he is, but the combine doesn't measure the patience and vision, which is where I think Tank really pairs his physical prowess effectively. This guy's gonna be a great short yard back at

the next level. I'll be curious to see his broad and vertical numbers and number one hundred Devin eighth chain from Texas A and M. He's gonna need some good times because unlike Bigsby and Tucker, he's one eighty five. But that shouldn't be a problem. His tape is chock full of huge runs where he outraces the defense. He made some big plays in the passing game last year. I can think back to the Arkansas victory in September where he had some big time plays in that game.

That's probably keeping a close eye on this guy, how he performs and all the time metrics, but also the on field receiving drills. It's a great class of running backs guys. We'll see what the Dolphin's doing free agency, but there's some options here to go this way. I also like TYJ Spears out of two lane. He's not top one hundred, but another guy that think's gonna work out very well in Indianapolis. Speaking of receiving skills, how about a position that majors in that area, Well, I

guess double majors. The top one hundred tight ends according to Pro Football Focus starts number seventeen Michael Mayer from Notre Dame. He'll be a first round pick. Some of the best college tight end tape we've seen in some time. Kyle Pitt's notwithstanding, because I'm talking about all three phases pass routes, pass, pro, run, block, all that stuff. When I plug on his tape, it's not some flash of athletic ability that really jumps off the tape. It's more

consistent pad level routes, leverage. It's just kind of a subtle way to win. He kind of reminds me of Jason Witten in that way. Everything that coincides with production with a productive player. Mayor seems to excel at that. He'll probably go in the first round, even if the testing isn't as impressive as some of his contemporaries. But

man won a player best tape in this class. And speaking of guys that will blow up the combine, Luke Musgrave number thirty one overall here out of Oregon State, a player I am incredibly excited about, and I think he'll blow the doors off of Indie. He was a state champion long jumper and triple jumper in high school. Also excelled in lacrosse an alpine skiing, like just the ultimate freak athlete, and he packages all of that in

at six foot six, two hundred and fifty pounds. Bruce Feldman wrote his Freaks List, he was number twenty seven. Was Luke Musgrave on that this year ten one and three quarters broad jump, four five one at that size, four point two one agility score, thirty six and a half inch vertical jump. This guy is going to be I think the star of Indie. Number thirty six, Dalton Kinkade from Utah and watching this guy dominate down the seams in the Pac twell for years. He runs routes

like a wide receiver. High points to football as well as anybody, and when you watch his tape there's a clear translation for a workout beast. I think his change of direction, the three cone drill, the Verton broad jumps to he uses to get on top of safeties and linebackers will show itself in the workouts this year. He's a big play tight end that made that happen with

athletic ability and fluidity to his game. So I think all of his testing metrics, his side to side, lateral agility, and then if you look at his run after catch two, it's just he's just a pure athlete and potentially another first round draft pick here at this position. Another player I disagree on their ranking number fifty two Darnell Washington from Georgia. Both he and Jamir Gibbs are in the fifties, which great. I would love to get one of those

guys there, but I think both guys are first round picks. Personally, he might be my favorite player in the entire class because he just makes no sense. He's six seven, he's two hundred and eighty pounds, he runs like a wide receiver. It makes no sense. There are clips of him on tape just using like a basic forearm shiver to wipe

out a defensive back on a second level. Like personally, again, I think fifty two is way too low, and I think that will change after he works out when he runs and jumps the times and distances that he will at that size, I think he'll climb up a lot of boards. Watch for him and Indy as a guy that could be the biggest mover. He is an absolute freak who I don't think he was had his skill set totally amplified at Georgia. I think if you go to the tape and watch it, you'll see it that

way because of his inline blocking work. But I think there's even more meat on the bone, especially when it comes to the red zone for this absolute freak of nature and the number seventy four Sam Laporta out of Iowa. I don't think he'll work out that great. His tape doesn't scream four four. He's just kind of like Michael Mayer in the sense that he just understands leverage and pad level and routes and timing and pacing and his release package all that stuff. Also an absolute monster with

the football in his hands. But I don't think he'll test that well. He could be an other day two options there. So I think a lot of guys in this group probably require the fifty second pick at both these positions. I'm not really one from mock drafts this time of year, but both Washing and Gibbs are in that range, you know, per the Pro Football Focus big board. Either of them would give the offense a huge shot in the arm. Bijean and Musgrave could be long gone.

Maybe they're not. Either way, both of these position groups are deep and loaded the top. Sometimes that can push the entire class down the board a little bit. Again, this is all for previewing Indianapolis, but I do think the combination of the running back tight end position could produce a name at fifty two that would get people really excited. And I think you kind of have to play into that with free agency. We'll see what happens with Raheem and Jeff Wilson and Savan and Miles, the

entire rooms free agents. But I kind of like how this stacks up at these two position groups because you can make your attempts at your moves and free agency and then circle back and say, well, we didn't get this. The draft can be a good resource to go find that. But again, draft good players, don't draft based on need. Just take the best players. Man. Okay, let's go ahead and finish up here with a couple of male bad questions, because you guys put a couple more good ones out here.

I wanted to answer first from Gabe Genevec Gay. Hope you're well man, it's been a minute. He's at Gabe Geno thirteen. He asks in a unique way. The addition of Fangio will help too, from the standpoint that he'll get to practice against a style of defense that he hasn't been sharp against in the past. Would you agree, Yeah, I do not, in the sense that this defense has always kind of tripped up to h I think some of his worst tapes have been against you know, Fangio

in twenty twenty last year against the Chargers. I don't think you can understate the value of having a great coaching staff with years of experience and accomplishments for exactly this reason, And per report from ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Dolphins will be bringing over Ronaldo Hill, by the way, a long time fan and me is over the movement that higher. He was an integral part of the two thou eight AFC East Championship. But that's something you get

from the staff. And each time I'd ask either Frank Smith or Darryl Bevil about or you know whoever about working together, that's something they would all say. They collaborate around everything in building this Miami Dolphins offense, and same thing on the defense. That would absolutely carry over from

the other side of the football. I would think so when Ronaldo Hill or Vic Fangio comes in and says, here's what we did in that game, or I should say, just Hill, here are the vulnerabilities, here's how we don't want you to attack us. And then two can take what we talked about previously with that tireless work ethic and just go improved another aspect of his game. That's

the off seasons four. Working on what you're good at, for sure, but also picking up a few things that you've highlighted for improvement and drilling those until they come out of that you quote unquote weakness category. I think it works on the best staffs both ways. Here's how we attack you, and then come up with answers based upon that approach. Great question, Gabe, I think it has a lot of validity to that. At Kevin MD four, he has a fun one. What's up, keV, look forward

to seeing you and Indie. He asked me give me football positions for Pinkman, Heisenberg, Saul, Mike and Freeing. Oh that's great. Where are they lining up? Let's see. Pinkman is my emotional captain of the defense. I'm thinking my safety like he wears his heart on his sleeve, So I'm picturing Buddha Baker at his emotional hard Knocks speech this year. So he's my free safety. Heisenberg's the quarterback because he thinks of everything. He knows everybody's job. He

knows where you need to line up. He can correct when you're wrong on a play. He knows your rules. He can fix the airs of everyone based upon his mental prowess. I've got Saul Goodman as my offensive guard because he does the dirty work. Actually, let's call him the fullback. He does all the stuff that's so critical, but gets the least amount of appreciation. Gustavo Freing is

a middle linebacker, the traffic cop of the defense. He coordinates every single move because he built the largest distribution system that the drug trade had ever seen in Breaking Bad. And better call Saul. He can do the same here on the defense and get things lined up. And then you also asked about Mike. Mike is I'm gonna make him. I want to say middle linebacker. Let's call Sam linebacker.

I'm just he's got a neck roll, he's got a busteed up, knows he's essentially Jon Favreau in the replacements. I'm not sure what he's gonna do, but he's gonna be tough. He's gonna a lot of tackles from me on defense. Fun exercise, CAB, I appreciate that. One more here from at Sewan Underscore three oh five. Has two ever had an offensive coordinate for two years in a row? If so, what was improvement like in that second year? Well,

he played in technically the same offense at Alabama. In fact, you know, I had coach Saban on the podcast a couple of years ago and he talked about keeping that core offense at Alabama together regardless of the play caller changing every year. So it was the same system, different play caller. But yes, this is his first year with the same play caller and back to back years since high school. And you look at his college progression pass A rating by year one seventy five, one nine, two

oh seven. His yards per ten went from eight point three to eleven point two to eleven point three, his completion personnagement from sixty three point six to sixty nine to seventy one point four. And we've seen similar progression in the NFL as well, not that it pertains to the idea of continuity with the play caller offensive coordinator, but I think it does work both ways. So there

you go. Good questions, good combine talk. We'll talk more combine on the podcast tomorrow and I think Monday as well. We'll see about that. But good stuff here for y'all. I hope you guys enjoyed this longer edition of the Draft Time podcast. Back with you guys on Friday and then again next week is Combine week. We'll also have alec Ingold on the podcast. I'm not sure when that drop's been looking forward to getting that to you guys

as well. You all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, leave us a rating and leave us a review. You can follow me on Twitter at Winkfield NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the Fish Tank podcast with Seth and Juice. Check

out the international podcast here on the network. Go to the YouTube channel for media Availabilities Dolphins Today, plenty of other content as well, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com until next time finds up Carolina Camera and Daddy's Coming ho