The Audible Ep. 50 | Assistant Coaches Breakdown

now that staffs are getting done. We'll talk about the Dolphins coaching staff as it looks like, you know, they're Brian Flores has got his group together and they're setting stones. We'll talk about that a little bit, um, but it's that time of the year where you know, the next big thing coming up as a combine. Right, let's get All Star game over. I walked into the facility, walked through the front door, and I'm walking through the halls coming back here to the studio, and they're not a

camn person moving in that building. I know there's coaches there. I'm in the building there there, they're a hold up. I don't have to hide from anybody because I get sitting right in the middle lobby. No one's gonna see me, pretty much, was the only one in there. You're okay, Hey, what's going on nothing. No, you're right, I I we count the minutes now for lunch exactly. Take you watch the clock on the wall. Tick tick tike, come on lunch. But you know it's it's it's you can bet that uh,

Brian Floores and his staff are up there. Um. You know, that's gotta be an interesting situation when a head coach comes in, a new head coach, especially a guy that's never been a head coach before, comes in and be interesting to talk to him about. You know, what do you do first? What? What? What's the first most important thing? Is it taking a look at every game tape and seeing how they played? Evaluating players? You know what? What?

What is the what is the thing that you that that you do first to start building a your staff, your identity, your ideas and your plans to move forward. How do you begin that construction? You know, it's it's kind of funny when you break it down and think about it that way, because there's gotta be a lot of moving parts, and we talk, we're kidding a lot of about you know, there there's so much downtime because no one's there's no players here. That's the big thing.

There's no players but the coaches and the scouting department and the general manager and everybody that's watching tape on quarterbacks and wide receivers and defensive linemen and free agents that are going to be out there, and that stuff goes on on a daily basis, and it goes from early in the morning till late at night. Now, we

talked about walking through that building is empty. When you walk upstairs and it's there, it looks like because people are going around and doing their daily routine of business and being able to prepare themselves for the off season, because, like you said, not only does this staff have to get to know each other and gel during the off season so that when o t as hit and training camp its and the regular season hit, that these guys are all on the same page and they're all following,

you know, the direction of their new head coach and Brian Flores. But they've got to be able to prepare each position on how they're gonna be able to coach who's gonna be in those positions, Who's who are they gonna be talking to in those seats in those position meetings, and how are they going to be able to put together an offensive system, put together a philosophy on defense. Have a new special teams coach come in and learn

the entire roster. You know, that's that's a big job for Danny Crossman, one of the new head coaches, who's gonna be in charge of special teams here for the Miami Dolphins. All those things you kind of take for granted, But that's a lot of work. That's a lot of work. It's a lot of preparation, and it's getting down to who's gonna be on this roster and how that kind of comes together at the end of the day. And then you know, some of the speculation with these guys

and who's gonna do what and this and that. But you know, you'd like to think that this team is about this. This coaching staff is gonna be a lot about looking at players. Uh, you know, I'm not talking about draft and pushing the side right now. I'm just talking about familiarizing yourself with this roster's gonna be here, and it's gonna be here. Who do we want to

be here on it? And who fits Now there's two philosophies of of of of putting together a team with the coaching staff is Hey, this is what we're gonna run. Let's find those guys and we can plug in to our scheme. The the other one, which is my preferred side of it, is let's look at who we got and see what we can build around these guys taking advantage of what they do best. You know that that that you're like, hey, okay, look, you know we got jeezs, we got a bunch of defensive ends and we don't

have a bunch of defensive tackles. You know, maybe that maybe that brings the three four into into play. And I think based on kind of what we've heard and what we've read and what we've what we've talked about with um with Brian Flores, I think he's kind of a you know, morphin kind of a guy. I think he's I think you're gonna look at the defense that you know, you may see a team at at some point running the three four and you know through the first court, next thing, you know, into four three and

doing everything. So they're gonna do multiple things I think defensive there. But but that being said, you know, to me, the best teams, in the best coaching staffs to the find guys that say, hey, we got this guy, and this guy does one thing really well. Let's not put him in some position where we're asking to do something that he doesn't do well. Let's take advantage of what he does the best. Let's find a way to to

formulate that to add that into our repertoire. Yeah, my biggest question is, and I agree with a lot of that bow, My biggest question is with coach floor is coming from New England and having some more influence that that it's going to be on the staff with chat O'shay coming over and Jerry uh Saplinsky coming over. Uh, there's a lot of guys that are going to come from the school of well, this is what we did

this week to beat the Jets. How are we going to morph into ourselves and beat the Bills next week and then go on the road and beat Washington the next week and then for three weeks in a row. We're gonna just be ourselves. We're gonna do what we do us. Now. New England was in a different position than the Miami Dolphins because they're coaching quarterback in their philosophy of being a chameleon on whatever works that week. To beat that team is gonna be you know, more

than good enough if we execute. So I think it's gonna be a fine line to see how the Dolphins try to portray that in their systems. Of Hey, let's put of our offense, defense, special teams in on our core beliefs and what we believe in. Now, let's figure out our guys and who we have and what do they do best out of that? Now, how can we build the next end of the offense, defense and special teams around the core of the players that we have.

So I want to be able to have a team that, you know, I don't want to be in shotgun all the time because we drafted Kyler Murray and he's our quarterback. But I want to be able to do a little bit of everything because that's what our guys need to do to beat each and every week or have the best chance to win each and every week against whoever

they play. It's gonna be interesting to see. And then, like I said, that's kind of what's going on upstairs right now, is just trying to figure out, you know, what the players you got, who you like, who you might like to change around, who you who you don't like? Some other people? Hey, you know this guy is out there.

You know, there a lot, there's a lot of like you said, there's a lot of getting to know each other in that in that even with the guys that came from New England, because they they've known each other, but now they know each other in a different lights and in different responsibilities, and they're they're used to doing things in a certain way because they've had people around him in that culture that has done it that way for a very very long time. I'm interested to see

what this staff is going to morph into. You know, they're gonna have to recreate themselves to be able to get the best out of whoever is on this roster. Because I think that's the biggest quality of a coach is how he's gonna be able to get the best out of each individual and bring that as a team, you know, bring that every individual to their collective best. Now, how does that work for all fifty three? How does that going? But but that but that lies with the

head coach. I mean he's you know, you you got all your other guys kind of doing their their due diligence and doing their work, and then you're the guy that's got to get it all put it all together and get it. You know, when you start, when you start stuffing that sausage. He's the guy who's cranking at that that thing and making sure that it goes the right way and and making sure that you know that.

And look, I like the deal of And I've said this before and and really one of my concerns with with Adam Gays was I would like to see it's seen him be more of a head coach. You know, if if something's going on with the defense, good or bad, go down there and be a part of it and having having in have your input in there. So those guys, because look, you know, I don't care who who it was. I like even I go back and I keep I

go back to my my career. You know, I had a defensive coordinator in Bill Arnes Barker that was as good as any that's ever been in National Football League. Yet there were times when he and Coach Shula butted heads, and Coach Hill would come in and and and and throw his two cents in. Uh, and then it was up to him and say you you I got it. You you get out of here. I take care. But you know there's got But I knew this, you know, Bill Arnsberger meant one thing to me. He was my coach,

he was my you know, my position coach. He was my coordinator. But I know if Don Shula came over there, he stepped right over his shoulder and he became the guy. I listened to you from them because that's the guy ultimately that's going to decide my fate long term on this football team. I'm listen to him. And not that he tried to overstep anybody. I think his was more just like a reinforce what this guy said, what they

were saying, Hey, you am right, listen to him. You got damn better, you know, I mean, and let you know about it. And sometimes, you know, sometimes I think there needs to be that across the board with a head coach there. You know. I don't know about you, John, but to me, I've always I had one time when when I was in college, I had a head coach, uh, Darryl Rodgers. It was more of a kind of you can kind of go up and you know, have a little relationship. But most of my other coaches, there's been

a cushion there, you know. And and Don Shore there was a cushion there because he didn't want to be close enough. You don't want to be so close to you that if he had to make that tough decision on letting you go, that that clouded his decision. Makes So you know, to me, you've gotta have a head coach that a first first and foremost players respect, and that's what that's what Brian, Brian Flores has got to do.

He's got to stand up their day one and earn their respect, and earn it every single day so that no matter what he says, whether you agree with him or disagree with him, you still respect the way, respect the way that he brings it to you. And so I think that for him is is gonna be a huge, huge step to get him that. And haven't had the change you've been around him, I've been around him. I don't see that as being an issue with this. I

don't either. I don't think that's gonna even be a question when when you when you can control the room and your message is what he's trying to talk about. He's talking about family, he's talking about team, he's talking about everything we do in this building, out of this building is going to be about this football team, and it's gonna be about how can we get to where we want to be, how can we be the best?

And gosh, if you don't buy into that and you don't believe in that, you're in the wrong business of the wrong profession. But one of the things, too, bo is there's gonna be a lot of less miles talking to these players in terms of meetings, in terms of coaching, in terms of all the things that you do as a coaching staff. I mean some some staff sets up to twenty two. I think the Dolphins last year had twenty two coaches on I want to I mean there was a there was that move for a long time

of more coaches, more coaches, more coaches. And I remember when Nick, I want to say, Nick had a cornerbacks coach and assist a safety coach and a nickel coach and I'm going away and wait a minute, and those three guys probably had an assistant just for the defensive backs. Yeah. And so so you look at this team and now now they're down to including Brian Flores's seventeen members on their staff, and we'll go through them, and to me, you know, I think he's made a lot of good

choices here. Um, I don't think any better to me than Jim Calledwell. I love Jim Caldwell coming in here. Uh, you know he's got he knows. Jim Caldwell. Guy's been a head coach twice in this league. Uh, he's a very respected guy. And and I think any new coach, any new first time head coach coming in, you need to have that guy that you can kind of look over and say, hey, you know, I'm not sure this

is new to me. How did you handle this? Or a guy to step in and say and not to be afraid to say, I don't know about what we're what we're going with this, I don't know what we're going. I'm unclear. If so, if I've done this myself and it didn't turn out so right, what you can now you can do whatever you want. But I'm just giving

you my my input on what what this is. And I think that's a good sounding board for the first time head coach for a guy that you know as made the leaps and bounds that Brian has made over his coaching career to now to get his first opportunity in a five year deal to know that hey, you've got time. You don't have to, you know, make this decision right now because you know you want to win and lose. But let's think about what we're trying to

build here. You know, you're making your decisions, you're making your statements, you're standing on your principles for one reason is that that's to be the best you can be. And I think a good sounding board for a guy that's been in his seat twice in the National Football League,

as you said, is a great thing to happen. You can talk about Danny Croftsman coming in the crossman a special teams coordinator Patrick Graham, defensive coordinator chattel Shay, offensive coordinator Josh Bowyer, the defensive passing game coordinator Carl Dorell. Like Carl carlos here before, I think I like what he brings the table. I mean, I met Pat Flay, talk to him, to talk to him seems like it

seems like an offensive line coach. You know, you know it's funny, those offensive line coaches, they they're all cut him the same cloth. Either know, you know who you're talking to. If you don't within the first five or ten seconds, if it's an offensive line coach. Well that George God see tight ends, you know, like you know

that that's it's It's funny. That's one of the choices that one of the pics I looked at and said, boy, there there's a guy that that can make a big, big difference on this football team between the day he was he was signed until this year, because you know, you got Gasecki, uh, you got Durham Smith, you got these young tight ends that you really want to see make that Derby step, make a big step between last

year and this year. And and look, he's gonna fall on his shoulders to make sure that they get there. I like George. You know, he was a college quarterback.

He's had experienced coaching quarterbacks, so he's gonna be able to relay that term in terms of when you're supposed to be open, when you're coming out of breaks, what the quarterbacks seeing in you, what he needs out of you, And in terms of having that experience he coached on him Caldwell staff in Detroit, So there's gonna be that synergy on the offensive side with him at tight end like that. Marrion Hobby defensive line coach, Rob Leonard linebackers

Tony Odin Uh stayed over from the old staff. I like Tony, he'll be he'll be handling the safety's uh really really good guy. Good uh energetic guy. He works well with those players, so he's got a great message and he's always at practice. Man, he's always upbeat, always talking, always trying to get the football out. So that was a good hold over. Jerry Schaplinski assistant quarterbacks, Eric Stuttsville another guy running back. Coaches all hold over from that staff.

Josh Grazard quality control will hold over from the staff, Manta Lombardi quality control, and Ti Kuan Underwood quality control. I never knew what quality control, never quite knew what that. I think. I think that means master of everything, because you have to be able to touch the entire coaching staff, and you gotta be you gotta bring coffee, and I think you gotta do all that that goes with the territory.

I mean, I'm sure that day's gonna happen, but those guys are probably overworked and underpaide, but they're happy to have have an opportunity to doubt. So seventeen coaches, a hundred seventy nine years of NFL coaching spirits in this group nineteen Super Bowl rings with four different organizations, the vast number of those coming from one organization at North.

But but so that's your that's your coaching staff, uh for for the Miami dolphense and look, you know, you look at them and some of the names, you know, some of them are new names or new faces that you're gonna see. And but John, you know, we've been around enough where you have these changes and it's like we ran into the offensive line coach path the other day. He just just starts right and starts with id on the thing, and you feel like you've been around him

for for a month. It's pretty cool because you're one person away from really knowing the guy. You know. It seems like, hey, you played songs, Oh yeah, and I coached with him or I know him. And it's funny

because the coaching fraternity, there's so many coaches. If you go around and you think about high schools and colleges at every every level in the end of l in Canada, wherever they're playing in the new leagues now, there's so much crossover with guys that have been on certain staffs or guys that grew up together, guys from the same hometown that you're really one or two people from knowing that guy really well, I'll tell you, tell you if

we talk about about that. And we got a lot of stuff to get to here, but let me so. So I'm coming out of junior college. I've been to a small school in Minnesota and left there and went to junior college, and you know, and and then I wasn't getting recruited by anybody from out junior college. And so I'm kind of I'm kind of like that that that sailboat in the doll in the doll drums. I'm just sitting there. The water was flat. I wasn't going anywhere.

No one was looking for me. All of a sudden, I get a call from somebody at the University of Pacific in Stockton, California, which is it's the stockyards of northern California. It's it's it is one of the you know, you put it this way when you go to visit California, the last place you want to go to a stat stock And so I get a call and they say, well, looking, I was playing tight end. He say, we're looking for a tight end. Uh, you know you interested? And I said, yeah,

I have. No one else has asked, no one else is knocking on my door, so I might as well. So so my recruiting trip to u OP was he calls, the coach calls and says, uh, I'll tell you what. I'll leave two tickets in a program for you will call. Drive on up and watch the game. Set. So, being a buddy in my drive up to Stockton, go to go to go to the wheel, call get my tickets, go sit in the stands. But we're having this shitty stadium,

shitty football team. After lights are out, you know, it was just a dump and and so I so my buddy looks at me good in the second half, he goes, well, what are you gonna do? You can come here? And says, yeah, yeah, I'm gonna come here. I go. I got nowhere else to go. I got nowhere to go. So so the guy. I get a call on Monday from the guy. He goes, hey, did you go to go? Yeah? He guys yeah. He goes, what do you think I got? Fine? He says. He says,

you're ready to come? I said, yeah, I'm ready. He says, I'll come I'll be down there Friday. I'll be down Saturday. Friday, we get papers signed, and you good to go. I'd be awesome man. Thursday, I get a call from Hey, Kim, how are you doing good? You know, we found it tighten, We like a little better. We gave him your scholars you know what, my scholarship brutal. Now I'm back in the dold room with no wind blowing, you know, and

what am I gonna do? Just then I get my junior college offensive line coach got hired by San Jose State. He tells the coach head there's a guy there that nobody knows, nobody wants, and he's a pretty good player. You might want to check him out. So I get so anyway, got long story short, I end up going to Sanjose State in the last minute deal, right. What's funny? But so we played Pacific every to two years. I was there for two years out of I mean, I must have had six sacks. I must have hit that

quarterback every other play. I mean, had a crappy offensive tackles playing yet and I just two years just beat him up for two years, you know, just took it out on him. Years later, years later later, I'm standing down on the on the field after a game and Uh and Joey it was probably then Joe Robbie Stadium, and Uh, guy comes up and taps me on the shoulder. Dolphins he just played the Jets. Guy comes up passed

me on the shoulder. I turned around like, yeah, he goes, Uh he goes, You remember me, I go, no, he goes. I recruited the University of Pacific and I said, now, I gave your scholarship when you killed us for two years. You know who it was, Pete Carroll. Carroll there was that his job at the University Pacific was his first paid coaching job, and as an assisted as a coach, he had been a student assistant there. He got paid. I was one of the first guys he recruited. And

then he gave up on me. You know, he says, he goes, he goes, that was the worst mistakement makes you killed it for two years? That what you get. I can tell Pete got a little bit better than the leave the two tickets in the program. There was a little cash in the program. Yeah, you think about a little bit. I said, you know, you gotta you know you gotta get those renegades there those guys and nobody wants so. But the point being, you never know

where you talk about you. You know, you meet Flaherty and you're sorry, oh I know this guy. You know you played for that guy. Yeah, next thing, you know, you've got eight guys in your back pocket, did you guys? You feel and it makes you feel good about a guy because especially if you give a guy a call and say, hey, what about so and so like a solid guy, really good coach, You're gonna love dealing with him. You know, that makes you feel good about the staff.

And there's not a whole lot to you know, you got to get to know this staff first of all. But when you read about him and where they've been in the success that they've had, you put them together and you've got a chance to have a pretty good staff. And there's a couple of things that uh, the coach Flores said when he was here, John that to me, are are are a a direct line to success in

my mind. And there two things that stuck out with me from our conversation was we're gonna be concern with penalties, We're we're gonna look new England's number two, number two, the second least penalized team and then and have been for a long time, and look at their success rate.

Go back to the Dolphin success rate when they were the least penalized team year after year and the success rate that they had to me there there, that's that is a that's an easy fix, and that is a direct that's a direct route to becoming a better football team by by eliminating the Those are the first that was the first thing he said. The second thing he said was sweat the details, you know, the small details. Paying attention to small details is gonna make you a

better football team. And I think those are tote two things that he talked about to me that just like we're two fastballs right down the middle of the plate. As far as I was concerned, you don't have to have talent to improve in either one of those areas. It has nothing to do with your athletic ability. You go back to mental discipline, self discipline, being taught the right way, and being an accountable for yourself. That's only thing that corrects those two things. And they don't show

up on the statue most times. You don't see him in in terms of how many yards you had in receptions or how many yards you through or how many tackles for loss, But they do show up, I would say twice a year, and wins or loss, I would say maybe more, maybe more, Well, you know what, you know what, Probably it does more than anything. But it keeps you in a four quarter game a lot longer, and you can get out of him a lot quicker

when you're bad in those two areas. I mean, how how many times John, during the course of the game did we see you know you gotta you gott a third and third and twelve, you connect for fifteen yards and all of a sudden there's the flag boom that not only not only do you lose the yardage, but you give up on that first down, and using your drive stalls and business, you expose your defense or offense or whatever way you know, you're giving up the football,

and it kind of demoralizes you after a while as a football team, because when things aren't going well and then you start to beat yourself in terms of penalties or mistakes or turnovers or just lack of discipline discipline plays, you kind of look up at the board and you're you're sitting on the bench as you're as the other

units out there going what the hell are we doing? Yeah, you know, we didn't practice this way while all of a sudden doesn't show up all the time on game bag, or maybe we did practice this way and no one really said anything about it. And I'm like, I believe the two. The two they're their one A and one B. To me, they're both the same thing at tension to detail.

You know, if if I've got to have outside leverage on a guy and he's trying to hook me, I'm gonna fight that thing as hard as I can instead of you know, the easy way is to okay, let me slide behind you and run around and make that play, and it never works for you. To me, that's as bad as as as a stupid penalty in as it's like a dropper of thumb. It doesn't show up on the on the statue, but you have twelve yards in the first down. It's help help you lose a football, right,

That's it. And so those are the two things things that I think if if this coaching staff can adhere to it and make it work, is gonna immediately make your football team a better football team. It gives you a chance to win each and every week when you're the most disciplined, least penalized football team lining up on that Thursday night, Sunday or Monday night. Absolutely, and that's where all the good teams are. You look at and

I don't want you. They have better players or or adhering to their game plan that much closer, but they're lacking. They're staying away from the disciplinary issues that get your football teams into trouble, whether it's a block in the back, whether it's a mental bust on a play where you miss a block or completely shoot a wrong gap, or you just drop the football or you're throwing it into a crowd. Though you can put them all into a basket, all things that didn't need to be done a couple

of other things. Uh, John Denny, it's continues, the old guy continues. I saw him with the u DC tournament and uh, he looks still looks like he's about twenty five years old. Teachs himself in good shape, and so you're long snappers. So he's got another How long has he been here? Always have been like thirteen fourteen. He's like, I know he's the longest tenure he's out there, and uh, and good for him. You know, he's a guy works at it hard, he stays in shape. He's here in

the off season. We see him in the building, you know there. You know, there's a lot of guys coming in and out doing stuff with rehab. And he's always working on his craft and working on his body to stay in a position where he can help the football team. And looking, I mean, he's been here for a long time and uh, you know, he's carved out a great career. He's made a lot of money, he's got you know, he's got a good name down here. I think he's

going into yeah, amazing. Yeah. And if you're a if you're a dad out there, if you're a mom out there and your teacher, get how long snap? You know, Jeff dellen By t Jeff Dellenbach, former Dolphin, you know, he taught his son. He's taught his son. Had a long snap, got a full right, got a full right to Auburn decide like Auburn came back out a full right to Talahouse, but the Florida States snapped the whole time. Got a couple of tryouts in the NFL. But I

gotta completely paid for education just because his dad. You know, look look, hey, you know here you go. Not the biggest kid, but he had that skill to to to snap the football long snap and you know, extra points and field goals and punts and stuff, and got himself a nice college education out of it. Yeah, it's awesome. I mean when you can, and especially at that position, because it seems like that position is getting younger and younger.

But when you've got a veteran guy that you trust, boy, it's sure put your mind at ease because you're not gonna get the unexpected uh bust on a snap. You're not gonna get one of those that are sailing over your your you know, snapper, the kicker's head or the holder's head or it's off target and your time and gets messed up. And it sure does help with the two or three young kickers the Dolphins have had over

the last four or five years. That those guys come in and see, you know, of their career or to start their career, have a great year, have no doubt about it. So congratulations to John Danny. Good to have him back for a for another year. He's always a you know, he's he's a union president union or as a union rep. And so he's got a lot of involvement with his football and a lot of influence in that in that locker room. So good to have John Danny back. The other thing John is is this week

it's certainly a tough week for for down to South Florida. Uh, you know, the anniversary of the stone Stoneman Douglas tragedy last year. There's last seventeen students, teachers, administrators in that whole thing, and John, the hangover that of that whole

day just continues to cast up Paul. Down here in South Florida's so much going on, and these kids have become activists out there and promoting you know, reasonable you know, responsible use of guns and n r A issues or all whatever the issues are out there that all these kids are trying to Uh, you know, the most important thing is they're trying to make our schools safer for for our kids out there. And they're doing it you know in a in a grassroots Uh meth, did you

really have to give them credit for? But uh so it's a fourteenth and you know, Broward County are trying to get the Broward County Athletics trying to get everyone to kind of take days off fourteenth and fifteenth, no practice, no games, just to remember that, uh, you know that the pain that they're going through and at uh U in Parkland Stoneman Douglas so um horrible, horrible thing and just you know, it seems John, since that's happened, uh, down here in the South Florida, day doesn't go by

where you don't see a stone, you know, a Stoneman Douglas strong or a knee shirt or or storying the news or a story in the newspaper something about it. The impact is uh is gonna be felt down here for a long time. So we just wanted to remember that that is the anniversary this week and all the people that are out there still um going through with just unimaginable pain over all that just want to give

them our thoughts. Yeah. Absolutely, I mean just a horrible tragedy as you mentioned, and you know, teams around the county are are you know, would think all of them are gonna get adhere to not playing on Thursday and Friday with the memorial of that sad day coming up on the fourteenth and uh It's just one of those things where both you know, you you're riding on the saw grass and you kind of take a peek over and you start seeing camera crews, you know, setting up

last week at least I did, and people coming out and there's still memorials there, and you know, the students can't use the one wing that the tragedy you know, happened, and and they've got portables up and it just it just reminds you of that that entire awful, you know, pit in your stomach, you know, from from that day

on and you still feel it. There's all, like you said, there's reminders on on cars all driving around Broward Dade County, Palm Beach County where you see MSD Strong or you know, you you start seeing and you have those feelings hit you again, and it's one of those things that you hope that these young people and the parents of of of these young students that were tragically lost a year go it can make some kind of improvements on on keeping the school safe keeping not only in this county,

but every county around it. It's everywhere, you know, and you and you you talk about these shootings, these schools and stuff, and and you know, quite frankly, in the inner city and stuff goes on every day, you know, and they kind of get lost in the shuffle um and where you know, I think I'd like to see where some of this diet, some of this dialogue that's come along with these these shootings, and how do we resolve them, how do you minimize them, how do you

make sure that these schools are safe? Takes its way into the inner city to where these kids are dealing with it, you know, on a you know, I mean, I don't know how they do on it on a day to day basis. Every time they walk out of their house. You never know. And so you hope that there's you know, there's there's some help coming down there too. But anyways, look at something we've gone through with, something we're gonna deal with, you know, for a long time

down here. And I just want to remember him on this on this week. Uh. The other thing, John is getting back to the Miami Dolphins and football and now you know, the drafts right around the corner coming up in April, we got the combine coming up here and the end of the month. At the end of the month, so you'll start, you know, you really start getting into draft mode and everything, and and now you've got um, uh, the kid from Oklahoma comes out. He's out. You know,

he's saying, hey, I'm a I'm a football guy. Although the Oakland A's I'm sure you're still gonna try to tug that thing. And you know, I don't know that was me. I don't know if I was, I would be, I would see, well, you know, I like football, but cheese. I like baseball too, you know, yeah, I being that middle seat, you know, get that, get that whole thing going one way or another. He's already he's already cashed that check from the So they've got four million reasons

say no, no, no doubt about that. Uh. But you know, now's the time you start kind of looking and and seeing what you want. And you know that the mock drafts are coming out hot and heavy, all yeah, yeah they I mean, well it's pretty easy to right now. I mean, based on everything that's gone out there, we're a team without a quarterback right now. Um. You know, but you know that's I guess that doesn't get resolved until when the new league year opens up and something

like that. And um, you know, all that stuff will take its course. But when you talk about the draft and you talk about the Dolphins, you know, sitting where they're sitting, there's probably three teams, probably three teams ahead of them that you know could say, yeah, I could take a quarterback. I could take one, for sure. And in a draft where the quarterback position there's no clear cut really Number one, it's your flavor of the of the month, whoever it fits your system, or whoever you

believe is going to be in two years. Maybe the better quarterback of the bunch, that's the one you want to hang onto. But the Miami Dolphins might be in a position where they need the best one for this year. They well, John I we've talked about this a little bit. I've gotten the point now where you know, whether it's the Dolphins or any other team out there, if you don't have a top ten quarterback, you're you're you're you're swimming upstream. You know it, And it's a tough streen. Yeah,

you don't know where you want to go. If you get that right leap, you may pop up there for a little bit. But but I think we're all talking about the same thing, and I think I think Mr Ross, I think Tom Garfinkel, I think on down the list, I think Brian Flores, I think everyone you know, we're looking looking at that not that one year pop up every now and then you know that this this franchise is dead set on finding a way to be in that playoff picture each and every year and battling from

from that point. And if you're gonna do that, I think it's been proven over the last two decades that if you don't have one of those top ten quarterback may not It may not have been that way back when I played, it may not have been that way, you know, in the league long time ago, but it's pretty clear to see now and you take those final eight teams and look at those four quarterbacks, they're there that if you don't have one of those top ten guys,

you your chances are pretty slim. So I think I think at this point, if you're if you're not a team in this league with one of those top ten guys and you're not trying to figure out a way to get you one, then then you're missing the boat in a big way. So the offense, whatever way, whoever it is, whatever the guy I'm of the York that says, hey, go out and grab one of these guys, and if you got a trade up to get him, go ahead

and get him. And if you bring him here and maybe he's not the guy when, then do it again next year, Do it again next year. You've got to find a way to make that position as as solid as you possibly can and then as elite as you possibly can for as long as you possibly can. And you and it's it doesn't mean you know the hot guy all the time. It doesn't mean you know Kyler Murray is the hot guy right now. You know you can go, you know, the guy to the house stay too.

Then those and then there's you know, secondary guys that are gonna fall into place. You know Will Greers of the world and the guy from Missouri, and you can continue down the line. Even even the guy from North Dakota State Eastern Stick is gonna get is gonna get some play, and he might be another guy you look at the back end of the drafts, that guy might be the best of the bonds, So let's take him. But um, you've got to find You've got to find

a guy that your team can rally around. Your team believes in and most importantly, that you know what you're going to get out of that guy each and every week for your football team. There can be no question marks. And that's a guy that that is going to be the leader and he's gonna be the carry the flag

of your franchise. So it's such an important position to go out and investigate, and that's why the teams that need him are spending so much time going out and saying, you know, is this the right guy or no. You look at this Dan Age in the quarterbacking and I think Danny was kind of one of the first guys kind of in that ilk of guys that you look at the top quarterbacks. Now you go back to the Brett Farve and Dan Marinos and Jim Kelly's and John Always and and you could I'm not sure how far

past them you could go. But when you get to that crop moving forward to today, most of these quarter most of the quarterbacks for in that era or been or playing fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen years. So you get that guy, you've got him for fifteen years. That means your franchise, That means your kids are gonna grow up and say, man, we were really good for a long time. And that's what I did as a kid watching the Dolphins. We're really good for a long time.

Look at the guy, look at look at the San Diego Charger fans or now l A Charger fans who've been watching Philip Rivers for fifteen years Eli Manning with the Giants. The point being is, if you get that guy, he's gonna be there for fifteen years, seventeen years, and you don't gotta worry about it anymore. I gotta worry about him being hurt, no doubt about that. But you know, you you those guys aren't sitting there going every draft,

jezs we need another quarterback. Well they'll find one third, fourth, fifth round to be a you know, a backup or a guy get But you know, instead of being what we've gone through and kind of just h didn't missing guys for three or four years. And you know you had Ryan for seven years and and that's really seven dead years. To be honest with you, it's hard. It's hard. It's a hard position to play. It's a hard position

to be consistent over a long stretch of time. And it seems like it's a hard position to narrow down on who to choose. UH can do it for a long and extended period of time, because when you're right when you mentioned the names you mentioned, I remember growing up as a kid. I can tell you every quarterback on every team because those guys were there, whether the

team was average, whether the team was elite. I mean, you go back to Steve Droell, Grogan's, Bobby douglas Is and guys like that who played for long We're very good, played for a long time in the league, and they

were pretty good quarterbacks. But but again, those those that era, although it was a quarterback driven era, I don't think it was a quarterback driven as you could have a middle of the road quarterback and pretty pretty damn good if you had a couple of good running backs or in the middle of the road quarterback hung around on because the team was pretty damn and wanted to both sides of football. Yeah, but but now if you don't have that guy, you you really have very little chance

along the line. John want to actually you you being a quarterback, and I've I've kind of kind of got into this mode over the last couple of years. Is that I don't know that it's ever been easier to be a successful quarterback in the league as it is now. Not that it's any easier to throw the football, not but but the rules that are out there a h to protect a quarterback. You don't see his quarterbacks getting hurt as much assign that's by design. They're not taking

the beating that they used to take before. So I think that's one thing. And the other thing is they've made it so putative on the defensive side to be a defensive back, to be a linebacker where where coverage is now is so loose because you can't be physics fear of quarterbacks or receivers in the middle of the football.

So they so they just go and so you know, if you're in an era where it's never been easier to be a quarterback, which to me means I'm more to have to get a guy in here and get him in there, a s a p and learn on the fly, because you know, there's no more year two sitting around and learning the offense. The offense. The coach might change, the offense might change by the time you

get your chance. You're right, that's the way society is that it's win now, and if you're gonna win now, you better try to do it with the best players that are on your roster. And most of the time it's the young guy that's sitting there because you picked him for a reason. Yea, So that's you know, that's kind of uh I think going in that that's certainly on this football team, that's gotta be priority one. Uh, you know, figuring out what's going on and then getting

the offense around the guy that you got um. And then beyond that, there's a lot of you know, a lot of needles and so will over the next month or so, you know, coming up the draft, we'll we'll kind of go into depth into all that stuff and get that work out. Let's go ahead and try some uh some questions. Yeah, you know, I'm I'm so happy to have the questions back. You know, I could see and you love him. I love him? Um M C corn mean Twitter guy at mc corn mean on Albert Wilson.

Can we all just take a moment and realize how much of a dynamic shift this legend brings. I think I speak for all the Dolphin fans when I say that we love Albert Wilson. I tell you what he was. He was. You talk about a lightning in a bottle man. That guy came in. And then I had seen him in Kansas City using most when I saw in Kansas City, we're using mostly as a decoy because his speed. But boy, I tell you, put the ball in his hands, and then between him and Jachim where you really had two

guys that could score from anywhere. So I think that was a that was a hard one when when he went down, and that was just like a it was like just a punch in the gut when he had the whole error went out of hard Rock Stadium when he went down, because you could just feel, what are we gonna do now? How are we gonna be able to run these quick screens and all these picks and all these under off and in the passing game and have no explosion and have no one to take that

four yard pass and go forty fifty yards. And boy, he could do that. And Albert was a guy that the more chances you gave him the better. Yeah. And then so look, you know, I don't know where he's at rehab wise. I haven't seen Albert. So a couple of things on social media. He's doing some squats with the bar and then lightweight, so he's working. He's gonna be ready. I saw Jr Team over the weekend in an event and then he looks like he's he's doing well.

So get those two guys back to get their speedback. Twitter at Jack Cross three sixty six. Can any of the current defense players be considered solid this unit rank thirty one? Nothing solid about that. No Dolphin defensive players should feel secure in their position. I I don't agree with that, And I mean, I'm looking at you know, I'm looking at I'm looking at Gotcha. I'm looking at Vincent Taylor coming back as being a big part of it. Um,

I'm looking at both. I'm looking at Ray Kwad McMillan to have I'm looking at Baker, Jerome Baker, same thing. And uh so, I look, I think there are some good players on the defensive side of the football. I think they've got to be coached up there. To me, to me, a lot of the things that that have to go on on the defensive side of football, to me go back to the details of playing the game, details of doing your job the way you're supposed to do it now. Look, they certainly you certainly like you

got more more production of the defensive end position. Um and I think, like you know, the William Hayes, I don't expect to see him back, which is really disappointing. I thought he was because I think he's he was one of the better players coming into the season that you had. Man, this guy can do multiple positions and he doesn't take a playoff. He does it the right way. That was a huge disappointment for me. But I think there's you know, Xavier still is just a going to

the fourth year. Whatever happens with him contract rising. Look, I'm I'll throw my hand in the in the up in the airs. I'm all for giving what he wants, giving what he needs and and bring him back. Just you know, I'm I'm a dad. Let's let's not get rid of our talent anymore. Let's manage our talent and make him work for us. Facebook Jim rp. Antonio Brown wants out of Antonio Brown wants out of Pittsburgh. Why

not Miami? Uh, you know, I don't know that Miami is the kind of team right now to take on a guy like Antonio Brown that if he's not gonna be um if you if I'm not gonna get what he wants, if he's not gonna be as productive as he can be and wants to be, I just think he becomes I think he becomes an issue that that you that a young football team can ill afford to have.

I don't know how you could have the year Antonio Brown had, or years and Antonio Brown has had with a potential Hall of Fame quarterback throwing you the football and be so upset and not happy in a town

that just praises their football team on a daily basis. Well, you know, I hate to say it, but he's taking a Pittsburgh franchise that has been proud, steadfast, has been a rock in the National foot Ball League and as well run and as well respected of a franchise as they are in the National Football League and took and took the gold in the Black and Gold and drug it through the mud that that Antonio Brown you pile onto that, the stuff that's gone on in the off season, Boy,

that's a headache. I'm not so sure Brian Floores uh might be willing to take in in year one. No, I'm that will come along with it. Yeah, I just don't think that. I don't think he's a fit in in a football team like this. You know, if you can't fit with Pittsburgh, I don't know what you know. I don't know where you go? Twitter at at T do you t ed up twenty five? T d up twenty five? I sometimes I like to get these guys saying, you what what does that mean? Like, I don't know

what is the T d up? T d up? There you go? Look at Gotcha has been quite a steel for us, and hopefully he gets even better with coach Floors in town. I'm with you. I like I like Devon Gotcha. I like I like Vincent Taylor. I think those are two really young, blurd knows nose guys. Yeah, they're just uh, they just won't just like to go out and play. I like, you know what, Vincent Taylor is a guy that's just a block of man. I

mean that guy. He's good on special teams, gets his hands on football's can block you know, extra points and field wal opportunities, and on his core job, he's hard to move and look he's he's you know, if you remember kim A Gotcha came in and really had an impact early on, and Vincent was kind of the other guy. And then I think this last year, I think Vincent kind of toward the injury will step over there before he got hurt, and he did. He kind of became

the guy. So you've got two good young guys there that, you know, if they continue to show improvement. Again, I keep going back to the the the Xavier, the the x Men. You know, three years if if you get those guys on that that rise that he took and they've all got the Cape Bill, they all have got the athletic ability to be that type of players if they can get there. Twitter at light on the Dome, Um,

I'm so glad we resigned John. Danny talked about that he's one of the best long snappers in the lead. That's a position you don't talk about unless it's a bad snap. Well, look, you haven't had a bad snap and we're talking about we talked about it. We have.

So yeah, yeah, good to have him back. Uh Twitter at uh raw L s FL John, maybe you can give me a little bit of help out the w w R A w L s f's that's all San Diego State I want to comment and and say just how excited I am about the coaching lineup, but I do feel obligated to laying my thoughts on our new coaches until mits. I Look, everyone's been asking me, what do you think of a new coach? What do you think of new coach? I said, you know what, I

like conversations I've had with him, everything. I like what he said, like wait, carries himself. Uh, you know, I like a lot of things about about what he's done. Um, but it all comes down to, yeah, by mid season, you'll have uh, you know whatever, whatever your opinion is of him right now, I'm sure it's gonna change a hundred handful of times with the fan base out there by mid season. Well, it's hard, man, It's it's hard. And you know what, to be honest with you, and

we've talked about we've talked about this, You're honest. Opinion probably shouldn't come after five games, ten games, sixteen games in a regular season. You might be able to start formulating an opinion, but you you got to give this guy a chance to get his philosophy. To me, if I was a fan or someone who covers the team, would be if you get halfway through the season, you've had a lot of class clock mismanagement, you know, replay,

you know, replay requests. Just don't you know, you see your ten guys on the field, the feld, you go, hey, wait a minute, this team looks a little unorganized, you know. But but I don't. I don't see that being a case. But to me, that's the only way where where you could say midway through the season, yeah or no, you know so, but yeah, I don't. I don't you know that that's a that's a long term deal there, Uh, Facebook, Jamie.

One thing I couldnot stand was it seemed every time we got the ball, we got a false start unless we're talking about fall started holding call, put ourselves in bad position. Coach Forest, Coach florest Stead, he has no tallest penalties that alone to play good, sound, fundamental football. And that's where right on there, Twitter, h Jen Tink Todd Jr. You know what you think? Joe's on here

just messing with logan and putting some bad names. I'm just thinking, who Gen Tink June names their kid Gen Tink. I don't know, maybe that's a family name. Jen Tink thinks so and I agree defense wins championships. Focus on building the defense. In this draft, I don't know the defense has win championship much and well I don't know three yeah, so yeah, I'm with you on that. To the most prolific offenses in a long time, I would say I would say, if I'm looking at this, I

would put priority one would be quarterback. Priority too would be uh, defensive line and offensive line, and then and and and probably those would be two A and two B. H Ron Bellamy. Flores is winning over the fans already. Man, sounds like a winner in life. Dolphins will have a top ten defense this year. Watch. I'd love to see that. But but I do with this. I think that it's hard to it's hard to have listened to Brian Flores and these press conferences. It's hard to have not been

around him. We had him on the program, uh last week, I know you did an interview with him. He came out for the DOLF of the d c c UH Golf Tournament, spoke to everybody and said, Hey, I got a million things to be doing back in training camp right now, he said, but my mother is going through cancer and this is a place I need to be right now, so you can, you know, you really get a good a good snapshot of of the type of person he is, the type of coaches and and uh,

but he's all about business. You know. I've talked him a couple of times, and you know, he knows, he knows, he knows the magnitude of the job that's in front of him. He knows. He said, Look, I gotta I got a mountain of things on my desk. I gotta get through it, he says, And I'm gonna just kinda chip away at it every single day. So I think he's going about at the same same bing And I've got you know, I got no I've got, I've gotten.

There's not one I owed to a concern that I can have for him other than the fact that I've never seen him as head coach exactly. And I don't know the team he's gonna have around here. That that's the biggest thing. The I don't have any doubt that he's gonna install discipline, he's gonna make this team, you know, work, He's gonna make him earn everything that that that that

whoever is on this final roster. And I really don't have any doubt that he's going to be successful because he's been successful everywhere he's been and he and he's done it on the defensive side of the football. The only question I have is who's going to make up the nucleus of this football team and how is he going to be able to craft that into something that

that that wins championship. And don't don't get me wrong, I'm not I'm not one of these guys that's for tanking to get the next quarterback that's coming out next year. I just don't know. I just don't no idea. I have no idea how you do that. I have no idea how you gotta coach. It's pretty easy if you listen to some some of our buddies that we talk

to all the time. Um, but I'm gonna say this, you know I would be I wouldn't be upset if if if if I see if the Dolphins win six games next year, five games next year, if I've watched the football team that doesn't beat themselves, if you've cleaned up the penalties, if you've cleaned up the you know, if you've got the discipline and you just don't have the horses right now. But you see a football team

that has the basics you do. You've done a lot of good things, but you just can't get over the hump. I can live with that because if you can see that philosophical change of how you're playing the game moving, and then you know it's gonna get better as years go on. What I wouldn't be happy with is seeing a four win football team that's disorgan eyes, that penalty ridden, that you've got malcontents, guys that don't want to go you know, you know, all the kind of things that

are cancerous to a football team. Um, that's that's what would be hard to swallow. You know what, I'll take some wins next year that we go, wow, how did we win that one? I don't know. I'm glad we did because you know, quite frankly, when this team started three and oh, everybody's looking around, everybody was happy, and we're going, holy cow, how do we do that? Maybe maybe we're gonna steal a couple more and sneak into the playoffs. Uh Twitter, gent Tech Todd Jr. Defense win champions.

Just forment, we got that Rob Bellamy Flores is winning over the fans already. Man, sounds like winner already did that one? Right? Yeah? Okay, last one? Frederico Ariola, mhm, that must be Logan. Well, I know I know where Riola is on his mind all the time. I don't know if it's Frederico. But uh, it's gonna get worse before it's get big it's better. So what's the answer, John, if it's gonna get worse before it gets better. And Fredrico's got the answer, I'm gonna see if you know

the answer. If it's gonna get worse before it gets better, drink heavily. Bring back the old logo. I don't think you can ever ask a question. I don't think you could ever ask a question about the Miami Dolphins, whether it's good bad, whether they've just one lost, demolished, the team got demolished themselves. Somebody where, somebody has come go when you're gonna change back the old big time? At some point. I know this, there's a lot of there's

a lot of people inside that building. I would love to have it back, but you know, and the uniform would be quite honest with the colors that AWM is awesome. It looks like we're gonna have maybe three opportunities, are four opportunities to wear the throwbacks in two thousand nineteen, Maybe version might as well make it eight. Could be cool, right, all right, that's gonna do it for the program. We'll be back next week the Audible Uh. Sponsorby good friends Verizon.

I believe we're still there. Good for those guys. That's your network to choose. That's my network, A choice that kind of keeps my phone going and keeps my wishes. Sometimes I wish my phone work to break down a little bit, but that's just a crazy John Kimbo Camp. Will catch you guys next week, Okay,