The Audible Ep. 78 | Albert Wilson

you know, in mediocrity for for decades um. And you know, they've they've been fortunate and unfortunate, fortunate that they've only had one season where they won one game and it was a disaster, but unfortunate the fact that they'd win eight games, six Kix games, seven games and all that gets you as a mid round draft pick that's maybe gonna work, maybe not throughout the draft. And it's kept

them mired in in this quagmire. They've been in a quagmire for you know, for for for decades, and you know, in order to change it, you gotta make big changes.

And I think that, you know, when they when they elevated Chris Greer, when they brought in Brian Flores, I think everyone understood that, hey, something needs to change, Something dramatic has to happen with this organization to get this football team to where everybody that's a Dolphin fan, everybody in this building, wants it to be a team that's gonna battle every year and be a possible contender for the playoffs and maybe move into a Super Bowl possibility.

They did it, and and it hurt. It hurt. I mean, you know, jettison a lot of players, a lot a lot of names that um that that were surprising to

a lot of folks. The big moves obviously with Ton Soul and Kenny Stills, and but look, you know, Kenny Steals in my mind, he kind of dug his own grave, you know, you kind of you know, they're there are certain things you can do with certain and certain things you can say, but uh, you know, once you start in my mind, and this strictly my opinion, once you start screwing with the owners other other businesses, then it's

whole different ball game. But neither they're there. But so this is a team that's that's that's quite frankly stripped, stripped themselves down, put themselves in a very admirable position going forward. Draft choices, first round picks, second round picks, the depth of the depth of choices they're gonna have over two years. Uh, it should get this team back on the track. But John is gonna fans are gonna have to be patient. You and I are gonna have

to be patient. Uh, anyone that follows this team is gonna have to be a little patient. But Um, as much as it may be a thing where everyone's got their opinion on it, John, I think it's something that had to be done. I think in order to be in order to get to the mountaintop. You know, sometimes you gotta you gotta, you gotta throw the dynamite in there.

And well, I know this offseason when Brian Flores was hired and Chris Career came to the podium and everybody talked about and the owner, Stephen Ross, everybody talked about, and this is gonna be something new. This is gonna change dynamic of how the Miami Dolphins are gonna try and build this franchise to get out of the quagmire that quite frankly, the organization has been in because when you look back the last ten fifteen years years, that

recipe hasn't built any success. The Dolphins have been to the playoffs one time since two thousand and nine, Okay, and there hasn't been a chance that you feel as a fan, we we've got an opportunity to compete for the playoffs, to compete for a world championship, to win a super Bowl that hasn't happened in a very long

time now. I would be lying if I said that I thought that meant getting rid of one of your top two three arguably players on this roster in Laramie Tunseil, And I would think, you know, twenty four touchdowns over four years for Kenny Stills. You you kind of want to hang on to a playmaker like that as well.

But when you get the hall that the Miami Dolphins didn't probably intend to go out and seek, but you're dealing with a team that's maybe a player or two away from they think going to the playoffs and going far into the playoffs in the Houston Texans, you have to kind of entertain that. And what was entertained was a future and a bright future, a chance at a bright future right away for the Miami Dolphins to do what they've done over the last couple of drafts, that's

stockpile some young talent. Now that's gonna be a young roster, but have a chance to stockpile some young talent and obviously have the flexibility to go up and get a quarterback if they if they deem fit after this year. Now, you hope Brian Fitzpatrick is a bridge to the future. You hope Josh Rosen might be able to be that guy. But if you're not certain and that doesn't work out, the plan b is is in place. Now you have the pieces to go up and get to a tongue

of Bloa if that's your guy. And if that's not your guy, maybe it's from from Georgia, maybe it's another guy, it's Herbert from but maybe you wait. Maybe you wait and get a Trevor Lawrence in the next year. If you're in a position, even if you win five or six games, you still have the pieces to trade and to bargain with to get to where you need to be if that's the situation you're in in two years

from now. So I think in my mind, they didn't go out seeking this trade, but the Hall trade found them. The trade found them. The Hall was too significant for them to pass up in terms of where they want to build this franchise. You know, if if I was in both sides of that trade, I'd be more I'd be more upset if I was a Houston fan, because you just mortgage your future, right, I don't even know if they have to participate in Vegas next year for

the draft. Yeah, you just mortgage your future for you know, for for a win now. Situation understand, because they're close, They got some good players in the football team, they feel that there, they feel their best moves. Try to get it done now and maybe have a two or three year running there. But but but if they fall flat and they got nothing else, everybody will be looking for a new job. Where whereas you know, you got

a team here. And you know the funny thing about this football team, John, It's been this way for a long time. Seven wins, eight wins, maybe six whatever. But it seemed like every year there were two games away, you know, two games at two wins at the end of the year. How many times two or three games left you and two of them you're in the right So so they were, so they were, but but and you kept saying, well, you know, Jesus, there there were

two games away from the playoffs last year. Get a good draft pick in the middle of the first round. You know, maybe you were there, but but it never materialized. And every year it's like Jesus, Jesus, we would have won those two games, It would have won those two games, but we haven't and we haven't and we have it. So you know, what's what's the old line, you know, the you know, doing the same thing over and over and expecting it to change over history, you know, and

it's not gonna change. So, you know, I think this team, you know, had a plan going in, and you're right, maybe not to the degree that we ended up now the result. But when you got a team that's sitting there with first round draft picks, second round draft picks and throwing them your way along with players, well you gotta sit up and take notice, especially with a team that had an idea of going in and let's let's

get rid of some dead wood. Let's get a young nucleus in here that we can build from, that can grow in our system, understand what we want to do, understand the type of game that we want to play, and then let's go out the next year and start adding you know, adding high you know, high end talent for this roster. It's it's you know, it's I think it's gonna be hard for fans to kind of wrap

their arms around it a little bit. But I think when you look at it from a football standpoint, from where this team is, you can either stay and be eight Nate and eight Nate and six and nine or whatever for for years that comes seven and nine for years to come, or you can do something different. And they've done something different and now now it comes down to turning those draft picks into meaningful draft picks. You have to be able to be lining up and and

you know, and and and and next year. You mean, you know three or four guys coming out of those picks that you go, well, that guys he's gonna be here for a while. You know he's gonna be a difference maker. And it and it starts at the position

of quarterback. Let's not fool ourselves. You have to have a difference maker at quarterback if you're gonna win in the National Football League, if you're gonna win with consistency, if you feel like you can go out and have the wherewithal to go get whoever you deem is the best guy to lead this franchise. Now he may be on the roster, he may be Josh Rosen, you never know.

But this team has to evaluate that because going into next April, you have to decide whether you're going to be able to to go ahead and pull the trigger on on a quarterback or get other resources that you know, this this football team, this club needs to build on the two thousand twenty the two thousand twenty one draft where you now feel you're in position to be competitive and kind of knock New England off off the throne.

So it's it's look, it's done. Uh, They've made their decisions and this was This was not a decision that was made by Stephen Ross. It wasn't a decision made by Chris Greer, wasn't a decision made by uh, Brian Florz or anybody else in that organ It was it was a decision made by everybody collectively, the brain trust of this organization, all body and on this. This is the way we're gonna do it, and this is how

we're gonna go forward. And you know, a little shocking it kind of you know, it's kind of going into the dentist and you get that shot, you know, from the dentist. You go, oh, I don't like that. But two minutes later, when that guy's digging in your tooth and you don't feel anything, hey, I'm good now. You know that's a great analogy. You're going for a simple teeth cleaning and you go, you know what, you got a root canal. We got here, we got three of them.

We're gonna prepare yourself. And that's how I felt. You know, the day after you're going, somebody told me, hey, do you hear about the deal? And it was like, what are you talking about? Laramie Tons and Kenny Stills and now Kikos. I'm like, what those are? Those are players that you kind of think you you're depending on to have success. So it kind of ought me back a

little bit. But then you kind of sit down. You look at where this team is right now and where they want to go, and you have to have a plan and just remember this. This shouldn't shock you if you think back and you go back and you listen to the offseason comments about where this franchise is now and you have and you're gonna scrap the way you've got there now and change direction and try to build something from the ground up. You build it with a new coach, you build it with a new philosophy in

the front office. But ultimately you build it with talent, and you build it with draft choice, and you build it with being smart in the off season. So not only do you have a wherewithal in terms of the draft, you're building dollars to go out and and kind of put towards resources selectively during free agency. You're not gonna go out and spend it all, but you're gonna be selective on what you do because you're you're building this

for two three for sustainability. You're you're trying to build a franchise that's gonna compete every year at the highest level,

not just every fourth year. You've got a chance to make the playoffs if everything goes right, in as a wild card, if everything goes right, you know you're go going back to you really, really, if you're a Dolphin fan, if you're your follow this team, if you go back to the day they presented Brian Flores and Stephen Ross was there, and Steven Ross time and and and and he talked about just what just where we're at right now, talked about making changes that make a difference for the

long term success. And that time everyone goes, oh, they're gonna rebuild, They're gonna rebuild, or you can call it whatever the hell you want to whatever terminology you want to call it, or this, and that they're changing the way they do business here. And at that day, if you didn't realize that day that the change that that that the way of doing business for the Miami Defense was gonna make a pretty drastic change, But then then you weren't listening to what he said. Now it's come

to fruition and you're gonna whoa man. That was a big deal and it was a dramatic move. A lot of bodies involved, a lot of guys that had become fan favorites down here, a lot of people that you know like these guys, and because they're all good guys, all work there, as all played hard, and you couldn't ask for anything more from the guys that that have left gone somewhere, um, but they just sit for whatever reason, I just didn't fit into And moving forward now it

is so here we are. This is our football team. We're gonna talk to Albert Wilson a little later on in the program. You get him coming back and get Jachim coming back. You look at that wide receiver room, you look at that running back room. When they keep seven guys, six guys in the six guys in that running back room, you know certainly the offensive line is is is a question that's gonna have to be fixed. Uh, your quarterback situation, you got a guy that's played in

plenty of games, one plenty of games. You got a young guy, but that behind them that who knows four or five weeks out get his opportunity. You've got a young defense on the other side. With with this that their scheme seems to be something that you know, really fits a lot of the players they have. So so who knows what this football team is gonna be. We'll find out on Sunday when the Baltimore Ravens come to football.

Football come to town, by the way, a football team that has been a total mismatch for the Miami Dolphins through for a decade. The Dolphins couldn't be campy. Haven't been able to beat that football team for a decade. It just always seems like a mismatch. Well, you know what, who knows your two maybe maybe they're saying the same thing about this team. But I like this. I like the guys that are left on this football team. Talk to most of them, been around most of them, and

and you just like their attitude. And I think and Brian Floores and this coaching staff they've they've drilled into this football team to just go out, be your best player, do your job, and let her let the chif fall where they may. And I think that's what we're gonna see. And I think this team, you know, everyone gez they're not gonna win. I know, I gotta feel this team is gonna surprise some people down the road. Is it

gonna be Sunday? I don't know, it could be, but somewhere down the road, this team is gonna get better as they go on. Look, they're a young football team, and you only get better by going out and playing and getting thrown to the wolves and getting the job done. And we'd be remiss not to mention John Denny too, and the you know, years of service that he gave

to this organization. On the field, he's been spectacular with the number of games you know, he's played in a row, and and and how consistent, how good he's been throughout his career. That was kind of a little shocker to me as well, because you kind of figured once the cuts were made and everything was was, you know, kind of dust was settling after the trades and after guys being jettison that he'd kind of be one of those fixtures. I think there's maybe only two or three guys over

the age of thirty now on this roster. You know, you've got Kilgore in the middle. You've got Rashad Jones and and maybe one other guy and and that's it in Fitzpatrick. And that's it. So it's you know, you thank John for you know, his years of service and

what he's done for this organization. But you know what it you know, I came in with a young group of guys, you know, and the old the seventeen and old guys were kind of you know, they were there in their last years and most of them were out of the league after by the time I was in

my second or third year in the league. If we had a bunch of young guys and you grew up to together and you're close and and and the guys I grew up with in this football team or still might some of my best because we're closely stayed together, and these guys have the opportunity to build the future of this franchise and have them be the foundation, have them be the guys that hey man, I remember when they got those guys, and two years later, here we are,

We're in the We're in the hunt. So there's opportunity out for these guys and some guys that never thought they'd get the chance to be on this football team right now they're here and they're gonna go out and they're gonna they're gonna lay it on the line and and uh and do the best they can do. And uh, I you know, I'm on board. I'm on board. I'm

ready for the ride. It maybe maybe bumpy may be tough at times, but I look at a lot of these young guys in this football team and and and I and especially on the defensive side, just watching scheme wise, what they've done during the watching them flying around. I'm I'm really excited about the about this defense to see

just what they can be. You know, it's funny you say the defensive side, because when you watch the preseason game games, you know there were there was obviously Baker and Iguavin are gonna be a big centerpiece to what they do because I think the differences with Rashad Jones and Minca Fitzpatrick playing close to the line of scrimmage and and moving back and forth and and bringing guys from you know, all different types of angles and positions on the field when you want to bring pressure, speed

and smarts, you know, speed and identification, doing things the right way, You're having the right leverage, doing all the little things that people kind of take for granted. I think with this coaching staff, the way they're doing, the way they're coaching it. On the defensive side, well, you better be able to run, you better be able to tackle, but you better be able to identify, and you better be able to to know your job because if you don't do yours, boy, it's you're gonna affect the guy

next year. And that goes for really any scheme, but especially with this scheme with guys running around, guys moving around. Sometimes there's not a guy with a hand in the dirt, you know, on third down, you and you're kind of moving around. You better be able to identify and run and cover and tackle in space because I think that's how I think that's how this Dolphin defense is gonna

be built. It's gonna be built with guys that that can that have speed, that that can make you miss and make you confin you know, just hesitate for a second because that that's going to create an advantage. And in this game on on Sunday is a good a good example for this, Steven. You got Lamar Jackson back, and here's a guy that you know, he can throw the ball. He can make every throw he wants to. More importantly, he's got you know, he's got the legs too.

He can be run away from you, run away from you. Just just extend plays, Uh, take the ball down the field if he needs to it on his own. And so those guys up front that that that discipline up front to rush a quarterback like that, you gotta stay in your lanes. You can't try to you know, you can't be a guy that said, Jess, you know I thought I could beat him in the outside. Well your other tackles going outside. Now you got to you know, you you really have to play your assignment. You have

to be disciplined in your lanes. You got to be disciplined in your gap, spacing between the other guys around you. You You can't have one guy upfield and one guy getting pushed back and creating a lane form. So you know, that's gonna be a major test for a young defensive front and a young set of linebackers to find some way to keep one of the most you know, active quarterbacks and and dangerous quarterbacks in and out of the

pocket where where they want him to be. That that may be the biggest test that they face all day long. And and maybe you know for the better part early in the season, Well, he's dynamic. I mean, he's dynamic as an athlete, and he's getting better as a thrower. But he can still beat you with his legs and it doesn't matter if you feel like you have the angle or not. He seems to have another gear to get by. You've got mark Ingram in the backfield. That's

gonna be a new dynamic for the Baltimore Ravens. You got the rookie from Oklahoma Brown, Marquis Brown, I believe it is, who's got speed on the outside. So there's a lot of things for this defense to be able to identify and be able just to keep everything in front of you, because in a split second, as soon as you miss an angle or take a bad angle on Lamar Jackson, you've lost. So it's one of those things where you know, that's one of the keys of the game really for me, is being able just to

just to corral him, just to slow him down. Because we saw what Josh Allen did last year, ran for like a hundred twenty five yards in hard Rock Stadium. You give this guy the chances that turns into a hundred, you're running for touchdowns. So that's one of the big keys for this defense. On Sunday, McCoo wandered in here Albert Wilson, Albert Man, I tell you, it's been a it's been a while for you to get back in

the football field. Had opportunity to play in the last preseason game and and uh, and it had to feel good to get back and had the the injury in October hip injury, go through all the rehab and we're finally to get back on the field. It had to feel I had to feel like you're crossing the finish line and in a you know, in a ten thousand

meter race or something like that. You know, Yeah, for sure, you know, just going through the whole process of you know, just coming and said locker room, when you pass on, going through warm ups and you know, finally getting going inside the game and playing. Um, it felt great. You know, it's a blessing to you know, be able to rehab and get to back where I was and um, just to get out there with the guys and compete man and try to help this team win as best as

I can. So, Um, like I said, it's a blessing and it's a great feeling. It was unfortunate that you get the injury and and and then Jachim has his injury. But the byproduct of it is coming back is you guys worked out together all the time. You compete with each other, You forced each other to get better. And sometimes that's what rehabs about, because you're you're you're on by your own you know, by yourself, You're everyone else is doing their own thing and you're just having to

get yourself back. And so they have a guy like that that that you like, that that you can compete with it in your own room. That had to be good for for both of you guys. Yeah, definitely, Um, you know we came in every day with the same attitude and just trying to get better, trying to compete. If it was you know, a lot of drills, box jumps, and it started off small, we was competing and everything.

Then it got into you know, running, then he got into routes and you know, now now we're back and were not enough next to each other, and it's a it's a great feeling. Um. I appreciate the guy for you know, coming in every day and just giving me a motive to just go every day. So UM hats out to him. Um Man, I think we're ready and will be back better than everything. It's great to see fifteen and nineteen back on on the on the field

for the Miami Dolphins. How difficult is it for a wide receiver really for for an athlete for any position in the national football he coming back from injury, getting those mental reps, kind of testing yourself at practice, you know, running some individual routes, but still staying as sharp as you want to be because you know, when you get the green light to say, hey, I'm ready to go a hundred percent, I want to be at my best, so I don't have any mental bus or physical bust

out there. How difficult is that to stay in tune with everything? Yeah, you know, we we all came in and learning new playbooks. So you know, the coaches of just getting those mental reps of not being out there going through ots and just being in a classroom walk through um, a ton of walk through reps, A ton of them of reps and just you know, just trying to do your job, you know, and be a pro about it. You know, it's your job to get out there and line up and do your best and do

what you're supposed to do. So I saw it just being a pro. You know. The coaches you know did a great job, you know, just giving us an opportunity to to do what we need to do. When when did you know, Albert, that you were ready to go? Like I feel myself. You know, you run a couple of routes, you come in and out of a route and you go that felt natural or that felt normal to me. When did that green light, I guess, or that flash go off said I'm ready to play? Um?

You know I always felt, you know, I can do more than they were allowing me to do. UM, But I guess that would just me naturally, you know, just wanting to do more, just wanting to get back out there. I felt like, you know, we was going through a slow process and wanting to get out there. So um you know, when they gave him the great light and I was out there doing it, I never felt like, um, I couldn't have did anything so um so when they when they gave me the okay go out there and

doing it just felt great. So you know, it's hats off to the the training staff and you know, the organization and just giving me time and just being patient with me through this process, and the train is doing a great job, but just really having me and getting me back at some point during that whole process, Albert and you and everybody else that's that's gone through rehab like that is, there's got to be a point where you convince yourself that you're healthy. Right it's you're out there,

you run around, you feel good. You know. I don't know whether it's a whether it's a hard cut one way, whether it's something where you know where if if it's ane where you plant your knee and you know, you stress that thing and and oh I made it through, you know, kind of get you over that hump. Did you did you go through that point where you said, you know, jeeus, you know, I gotta do something here, and I don't want to be tentative because I want

to make sure this thing is gonna hold up. You do it, and you feel good about getting through that wall if you will. Yeah, you know, we was. I was at first doing individually and I went into you know, rops on air and everything was feeling good. But you know that that New Orleans week when I was you know, prepping for the game and you know, going through practices and getting handoffs and cutting up field making a move

on someone. Um, that's that's when I was for sure a hundred percent that I was ready to get out there and you know, just getting in the game and just flying around and just not thinking about it. Uh, That's that's when I also knew that, you know, I was ready to get out there and get him my best. You know, I gotta tell you this, And you know, I remember the first day of training camp. I came on, I'm looking for looking loose down there, and what you

keem looking for? Albert looking next? And go, yeah, man, man, Albert, his thig has always been there. Yeah, I look yeah, manah, you know, I I remember seeing the real Campbell stide and that that's the last time I was impressed with somebody was when I said camp I looked up it was Albert and then someone says, yeah, yeah, his size have always been that big. Phow. So you definitely got a lot of legwork in there and and got yourself to the to the peak point that you need to be. Yeah,

for sure. You know with the hip, you know, you just had to do everything over and over and just start small and just work on little muscles and just you know, build a lot of you know hips, calves, you know cards. You had to do all those you know muscles, and you had to work each group you know, by itself. So um, yeah, I definitely did a lot of leg exercises and um and I feel like that's what got me to this point and just got me so confident. So because I know I put the work

in and you know, I'm ready to show everyone. Everybody excited about the opening week, you know, Baltimore Ravens coming to town. What's the excitement with with the guys. I know you guys are focused in on one week at a time, that's been you know, the the kind of banging the drum to just focus on the tasket and focus on today. Really. But the Baltimore Ravens, you feel like you've had enough work, You've had enough stuff to build in that you feel like ready to ready to roll,

ready to get a w when it means something. Yeah, I think all the guys, you know, feel like they've been buying in all this whole process of you the O t A's training camp and you know, just ready to get out there during the preseason and ready to get out there and you know make it count. So, um, we've been ready, We've been working on iss off, so coming out there and you know, getting out there week one and just ready to prove it. We got a

great opportunity going against the Ravens. It's a good football team over there, So I think it's a good a good Week one match up. We don't go out there, you know and improved that that we're ready to play football. But this is gonna be a young football team this year. Have been a lot of changes in the roster over the last week or so and got fans out there question everything. But I know you guys as a football team.

When you look around that locker room and as hard as you work during training camp, I think you guys believe that there's a there's an opportunity to go out there, put a good product on the field and be competitive each and every Sunday. Uh, And all you can ask for is to is to get to the end of

the game and have a chance to win. In this league, it seems like it seems like nine times out of ten comes out of that last drive and you ei can kick a field goal, miss a field goal, score touchdown, or stop someone from scoring touchdown to win a game. How confident you guys that that you've got the guys in that locker room that can go out and compete at that level. We're very confident. UM. We felt like we got a lot of telling around us in every position.

I feel like they did a great job of getting guys in and just compete in all camping. You know, when it comes down to that decision, you know they make the best decision for the team, And I feel like we were ready. We were trust in the process. We trusted the coaches. UM, we trust each other, and you know we're ready to go prove everybody wrong, who

who's downs. The conversation at the beginning of training camp was coach Flores, discipline, dedication, play smart, t m T takes no tell, all those types of things, and it's kind of getting him getting getting this football team to where he wants to be. It looks like you've gone

through that process. Everyone's body into it um and do you think it's taken a hold in this team and guys are playing with that type of attitude, understanding that cutting down penalties, cutting down mentlori is all those things that that really can keep you from make the difference in winning games to to sitting on the Backside's what happened to us here today. Yeah, he definitely, you know, brought that attention to where you know, most teams lose

games instead of winning them. And you know it's kind of hard to go out there and you know, be the team that that doesn't do anything wrong like Tyland wise, doesn't make any mental areas, that don't don't get as many flags and and such that thing. So you know, as getting out there and doing everything right and doing what we're supposed to do, you know, doing all the things that don't take talent like you said, Um, I

feel like that gives us a pretty good shot. And you know, then adding the talent we have it gives us a even a better chance. So yeah, we're really happy with what we got. Um, like I said, we're ready to get out there and you know, play some ball. Finally, how's it been with a guy that has seen a

lot of football and Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback? Because it seems like when you have a veteran guy that has seen just about everything you could see defensively but more importantly on offense, to get you guys in the right direction, get you guys you know, going with repetition, get with tempo. I would think it's a calming presence to have a guy like that that has seen so much football in the huddle and being able to organize things and be

able to get you guys moving at at a rapid pace. Yeah, definitely. You know, like you said, we have a lot of young guys, so you know, to have that that that veteran mindset of just coming and just slowing the game down for some of the young guys and you know, just coming to play our game and you know, make them defend and we stay on the attack and stay on the offense side. Um, it's great to have him.

Like you said, he's a he's a great leader. Um, you know, I look forward to playing with him this season. I think he's been gonna do us a lot of good and um, we're behind him. How do you like your room? You look at yourself and we talked about your team coming back, and uh, DeVante Parker, Preston Williams, who has done a lot of good things. You've got you have two big guys that can get down the field,

go up and catch the football. You've got some speed guys, and then in between you've got some guys that do multiple things and then you throw the tight ends. It really looks from from a receiving corps you've got some some really good pieces in place to help this offense flourish. Yeah, definitely. You know, I think we have a lot of good

telling in a receiving room. You know, like you said, we got you guys from five seven to six five, and we can stretch the field, we can go downfield, and we we all can, we all can do you know what we need to do so to have the telling we have in our room, I think it's gonna give us a great chance, you know, whether it's you know, blocking the ring game or or going downfield or you know, whatever we need to do. I think our room we

can do it all. And I know you you've had a chance to see this scheme offensively, and we've seen what we've seen. And I don't know how much if we've seen the tip of the iceberg, if there's a lot of being held back, But do you do you like what this offense is going to present and the opportunities and it seems like there it seems to me like it's a it's an open it's an offense. It's really set up to to put people in in in

favorable matchups across the board. Yeah, it definitely you know, gives a lot of guys, you know, on the offensive offense side of the ball, the chance to you know, to win their their opportunity or their battles or their matchups. So um, like you said, well, we'll bet on our guys every chance when they get that matchup and they expect us to win. And um, it's just a good a good offense to be in for the type of town that we have. The opening day Baltimore Ravens come

to town. Opening day is always special no matter where you're at, no matter who you're playing, it's gonna and for you coming back from injury, it's a you gotta be looking forward to the day. It's gonna be gonna be a special day for especially there for the fans, special day for for everybody's there, but starting for the guys that run out of that tunnel. Opening days. I don't care a long you play, it's always a special day. Definitely good. We're looking forward to seeing you back and

looking forward to big things. And we catch another high five with you and and give that one over again. But we please appreciate you coming by and and uh, you know from us, we just appreciate all the hard work that you did to get back and get ready to play. And we're excited for you. Definitely thank you for having all right, Albert Wills, what tests it's you know, you know there you meet all kind of guys you know when you when you're around these teams, and and

and Albert Wilson is one of those guys. You you're you're really you're really root for, good guy, hard worker, and you could just see you know, you could see the disappointment in his eyes and in his demeanor when he got hurt last year. And and then Jachim, you know Jachim, and he talked about Jachem, how much Jachem meant to him, you know, during during rehab and getting

all that stuff done. And to have those two guys back, and it kind of leads me, John to to to look into this this wide receiver room where we're at Preston Williams. You know, big, big, tall receiver, athletic ability, runs, get great routes, and you know, after the big game early and kind of had some drop issues that that need to be cleaned up, no doubt, but he certainly showed that he can be a game, a big time game receiver for you. You got DeVante Parker when he

if he's healthy and ready to go. Well, we've got two big tall receivers out there, and you know, and and and and Albert talked about it anything from five

we got we gotta covered. And then you got and then you have to speed guys in there, and he and he and Jaki uh and then you mix the other guys in there all along with along yeah, along with the tight ends too I think you're gonna see you know, we saw a little bit during the preseason with moving Gaseki out and getting into I think they're trying to get him in places where he can get off the line of screams, get down the field and

be aggressive. And I think once you put that all together, I'm pretty excited about that receiving corps and what they can be uh for the for the football team. Now having said that, and then we're keep talking about the receiver, but that offensive line has gotta gotta find out a way to protect. But when they can protect, those guys are gonna be um a big, big part of of

whatever success they have in this team. Well, I think you're right in terms of what the offensive line, because now you add in a guy, a veteran quarterback that knows how to distribute the football, throw it away, anticipate. I think that's gonna help a little bit, you know, mass some of the things that go on with the offensive line. But I am excited about the receiving corps. We've seen a lot of explosive plays from this group.

You know. Now you add in the unknown, you add in Preston Williams, you add in an Alan Hearns, and you add in two guys that are healthy that have

been productive that our mismatch nightmares. You know, you get these guys in situations where it doesn't take a whole lot of time for these guys to create space, to create angles as a quarterback, where you can anticipate where they're going and throw them to a spot because they're that fast, They're that agile to to be able to to flash and get open and no when to settle down. They're not running, you know, past where you're supposed to be.

They're ready to catch the ball when the ball is delivered. So I like a lot of things that Jachem grant that Albert Wilson do as a tandem because you can put him outside, you can put him inside, You could hand it actually to Albert. He's built like a running back and you talk about that uh in the interview about you know, his bottom half. He's a strong athlete

and he's able to break tackles. And Jachem is able to make a lot of yards after first contact, making somebody miss turning a five yard route into a twenty five yard game. And now you flip the field and you have a chance to score from anywhere on the field with those guys. So those are the types of

thing I'm I'm excited about with the minute of two guys. Now, the big guys on the outside, you get to catch radius and you get you get guys that are healthy, and you hope they stay that way because big guys tend to tweak, you know sometimes, and we've seen it with Davante. You're hoping that he's able to be the

rock this year. That that you've seen it practice, that you've seen it training camp, that you've seen during the you know, glimpses in the regular season where he can take a ball out of the air and all of a sudden, who was that? You know it was eleven.

You know that you want that because you need guys like that on the outside to maybe you know, when you're covered, you're not really covered, and fits he knows how to throw that back shoulder, get him, get him some catches that really you're not counting on down the field because those those are thirty and forty yard games down the field. You know. You add to that the

the offensive running book, the running backs. They're running backs in there, and it's gonna be you know because you know that you know, you know that Kenyan Drake uh and you know the Calin Bloge are both gonna be active in the passing game. Also, Yes, they're all gonna be part of that that that passing game. Uh. And then Mark Walton see where he fits in Gascon? Who

you catch Chandler Cox? You know, you know, here's a guy that you know, I know, I know we've talked about him a little bit during the pregy preseason and on the on the broadcast and stuff like that. But you know, I think he's done everything you've asked for the kid. I mean, he's made some key blocks to bring some uh some of the backs on some nice runs. He could step up and block the line of script

and protect help protect the quarterback. And you know you got those fullbacks when they pound, they pounded, and all of a sudden you sneak him out a little play action, go over the top. They've been able to do that. So it's gonna be interesting to see how he fits into the to the to the mix. But I think they've got the running backs that they've got in there all do different things. And then for you and Patrick Laird,

who really been really expected. It wasn't expected to do a whole lot, but came out and it showed you can get to the perimeter. You know, he can. He can do a lot of things for and in his college career we didn't see in the preseason, but catching the football in the backfield. This is a guy that did that for Cal with consistency. So there's a lot

in that running back room. I love the one to punch of Kenyan, you know, and being able to to be flexible there with Kaylin and Kenyan, you know, you have a guy that, uh, once he gets in the open field and bellage. He's a big guy, but he can sure run by you. And I like Kenyan that suddenness that he has when he has his hands on the football. You know he's there and then he's not there, and he's able to really take it to the next level. And and both of those guys to me, in the

running game, they can beat the unblocked defender. You know, when you get through the hole and all of a sudden there's a guy there you have to beat. Sometimes as a running back, they can make that guy miss or at least when they engage, they're gonna be able to bounce forward for a couple of yards because both those guys have that good vision and good jump cut in the hole to be able to get you going forward instead of backward. It's, uh, they're talented and you

look at all those areas. So the one area that this team needs to figure out is is the first five guys up front. And because you look at the you know, you look at the specialist guys, you look at you look at the skill guys, and they're they're you know, there's a lot of skill on this on this offense. But those guys up front somehow need to mesh. And it's funny a week ago we're talking about Jesus two guys that they need to tear the offensive line. They needed they need to get more reps. Well they

got their reps. Now we've got find those. Now now it's you know, who who's gonna line him in the tackle position? And I wish at this point we could say who it's gonna be. Right now, imagine Jesse Davis is gonna you know, play play well into play one of one of the tackles. He could be your left tackle going in this way. You know, we're knowing who knows. And then Isaiah Prince is another guy, and you're playing the right tackle. He's got a lot of a lot

of worker. And you've got a couple of the couple a couple of offensive lineman coming in with some experience at that tackle position, Danny. So we're not gonna know. We're really not gonna know who five with five guys are gonna line up until the day before the game or you know, quite frankly, when when they wosition and get on their first possession, then we'll find out who

that starting offensive line is gonna be. And and John, they believe me, if there's anyone gonna be burning the night candles, uh, it's gonna be those offensive linemen and uh and Goo. You know, you know what, some of these guys came in. They found out on Monday. There they're in on Monday night, and they're they're practice right away, you know. Or and and it's it's really they've they've all played, which is good. It's not like you're getting

another rookie that you're gonna have to retrain. They've all played in training camps, all gone through there in shape. You know. That's the one thing that kind of scares you when you do something like that. But these guys all have some sort of experience. So you're you're hoping that you know, you get in, you get in, You're you're you're staying late, you're up early. You're in here trying to learn the offense. And the guy next to you is helping you out. You're you're when you're not in,

you're getting those metal reps. Because these guys are gonna be thrown in, uh to a situation where whoever's in there than the starting five is gonna have to gel together right away because they're going up against the formidable Baltimore defense. And you look at that defense a big stout up for always stout up front. Uh, You're always gonna see different looks from them. They're gonna give you

a multiple things. They're gonna try to disguise, You're gonna try to bait you into different things, and and so more very important, you know, the the kid in the middle kilgore you gotta big job because he's he's kind of he's kind of like the kind of like the granddad in there. And then come on, you guys, let's

let's you know let's tighten this up. And then he's got to be the guy that you need to help This guy, I mean, it's you know, his job has become uh a lot more uh than maybe he can expected. You know, the thing you the thing you worry about, and especially as a quarterback, you just want to be able to identify the mic and get a hat on a hat. You know, you want to be able to at least I've got a guy. You don't want to let those you know, free blitzers and that penetration in

the run game. Those are the things that you look for early in the game. As long as you can identify and you can get a big guy on a big guy, get the running back on a on a linebacker or safety when it's pressure, you're okay. It's when you get the running back on a defensive end or a tight end on a defensive end. You want to make sure you've got a big guy on a big guy and at least you've got a fighting chance from there. I saw I saw a clip. It was uh, Dave,

Google Almo. That's the last time I'm gonna pronounce try to pronounce it Google and and and he was, you know, getting his off and I think for the last game or whatever, and he's he's you know, exhorting his team. Come on, let's go out and look if if if there's no one, If if there's if someone, you go to hit someone there not there, find another color jersey. Just get on something. You put your helmet on somebody

in the other colored jersey. Whether you're right, wrong or in different, but just get a get a helmet on somebody. And that maybe some of that going on with this, with with with with this group as they go forward. But I know this, you know he's gonna he's gonna work his tail off to get these guys ready, and

he's got their attention and he's got their respect. The head coach, the head coach has everybody's attention after the last because you're you're, you're spot on the roster is for a little while, unless you perform, unless you're you know, playing up to a standard that he is set. So this is a group going forward that you know is going to be in their playbook, that you know is gonna be attention to detail because their job depends on it. And that's the way it should be. You know, nobody's

you know relaxed and sit back going. You know, I feel pretty darn and secure about my position, especially if you play offensive line. Right now. Yeah, well, you know what, sometimes the best football players are uncomfortable football players. You know, I feel like I spend my whole career I was uncomfortable. Yeah,

that was uncomfortable. Just say, I don't know what's gonna what's gonna happen here, but uh yeah, but but that's you know that, that's where they're at, and so uh you know it again, I keep trying to look at this, and I keep trying to look at it from both sides, and quite frankly, when I look at it, I'm looking at where we're at. I'm looking the foundation of youth that we have in this football team right now. I'm all, I'm all good with it. I'm all good with it.

You know. Well, that's the that was the plan. I mean, it's shocking when when all these changes happen, but the plan for this organization is to build through the draft, and you have to have resources to do that. And the Miami Dolphins found a way. Whether that was part of the you know, the master plan of the blueprint of of going forward or not. I don't think it was.

But when you get at the hall that you you're you're asking for in terms of another first round or another second rounder to add to your own first and second rounder. Then you double up in the third round. It's just unbelievable. The opportunity now presents yourself to have so many options when that time comes. But most importantly, you're getting guys in that have some experience so you can go forward and present you have a chance to

win on every Sunday. And that's the most important thing I think for this football team in that locker room, for this coaching staff is we'll coach him up. We've got guys that have experienced. It's our job to get them ready. It's your job to execute. And if you go out and you battle, you're gonna have a chance to win. If you don't, if you can get out of your own way, I think that's one of the things, uh,

this football team must improve on. And we've talked about that too, where you know, blue in the face talking about beating yourself in terms of penalties and mental mistakes and all that stuff. But that's that's important. Now. It's very that the meter on that has gone on because, as you know, this team isn't talented enough quite frankly, to go out lay your hat on the field say we're gonna be able to compete with you for sixty minutes.

You can't beat yourself. You're the Miami Dolphins this year, and it's gonna be a tough sledding comes Sunday against Baltimore because that's a team that's hard nosed. You know, it's a team that wants to beat you up on both sides of the line of scrimmage, and you have to be ready to battle for sixty minutes. Again. The other thing with those guys is you know you're you're you're you know. John Harbaugh is a special teams guy.

That's where he came from. And so you know, if I'm John Harbaugh and I'm coming in here to get ready to play this well, new on the rocks, the new guys on this roster, I'm gonna I'm I'm gonna go in my bag of tricks and I'm gonna show you. I'm gonna show you something. So if I'm if I'm on any special team, any special team, I'm gonna be on high alert. I'm gonna be on high alert for anything that's any any gadget play, any tricks and he fake punts, andy, you know, fake field anything like that.

If I'm on on any of those special teams, I'm gonna have my radar up at at maximum level to see because I would expect one or two times he's gonna try to You're gonna try to take advantage of some of this this youth and this football team from the special team side and turning into a big play. Well, I think that. I mean, you have so much stress as a as a young guy anyway coming in and you're you're in a new team, new new culture, new organization,

new way of doing things. You're worried about if you're a corner or a safety, or if you're a backup linebacker. Hey, I gotta make sure that's my key on this. This is my gap fill on this run blitz. But now I've got a whole playbook on special teams that I have to kind of learn from the start because it might be different than Houston was, or might be different than India, or it might be different than wherever you

came from. So that's another burden. So that's why you know in early out late, there's a lot of Miami Dolphins this week that are gonna be burning the candle at both ends, just to make sure that they have their assignment down from from offense, from defense, from special teams, because you don't know how many plays you're gonna be asked to play and you don't know which one of those are gonna be the critical play that can make or break it. Yeah, it's a it's gonna be a

season that's it's gonna be a season to change. It's gonna be a week to week look at. But I'm excited about Sunday. I'm excited about Opening Day. I'm excited about watching this football team and watch this football team grow and watch them develop a personality because I think this team is They've got a lot of good guys that that that that I like the way they think, and uh so it's gonna be fun to see just

what the personality of this team is. I think that I think that they're a team that they get down, they'll fight back. I don't think they're gonna be a team that's gonna, you know, throwing their towel at any point. I think they'll keep their head up and um. But

it's it all starts on something opening day. You know, it's something about is running out on the field for the first time when it really means something I can remember just you know, going through preseason and you're kind of going on, you know, I want to I want to get through. I want to show them my best. But I'm only gonna play for a quarter. I'm only

gonna play for a half. Now you're gonna play, And it's it's something about playing at home, you know, in front of your crowd, in a in a game that you want to win to get your season kicked off in the right way. Uh, it's something special about it. Well, and there's a lot of you know, I think what we got how many I mean, I gotta got a lot of young players in this team, some of them which this will be their first regular season football game.

I mean, go down to Christian Wilkins, Michael Deater, you played in big game, played in big games. Michael Dieter, played in big games. Those guys have seen it, seen a lot of it, but they've never seen opening day in the in the National Football League. And so you know they're gonna be excited. I'm sure they're gonna be a little nervous. I think there's gonna be a lot of you know, a lot of butterflies or black birds

flying around their stomachs before it goes. But but that excitement level, that level excitement a lot of times can can carry you to some some pretty special things. Well, it gets you through the first half of the first quarter, and all of a sudden you look up and you go there, wait a minute, there's there's only twelve minutes. You know, there's the only eight minutes gone in the first quarter. You know, how do I get through? You're right, A lot of that excitement, you've got to be able

to temper because it's a long game. You know, you look at the clock sometimes and you you get caught up in the emotion. All of a sudden, the clock hadn't really moved, you know, and you're waiting for your next opportunity. So I do I agree with you. It's a young team, uh, but you want to be able to get that first one. You want to be able, especially at home. You want to be able to get off to the right foot at home because you know, we've talked in years past how many. What's your record

need to be at home? What's your record need to be away? Boy at home? Will you want to strike while you can? And when you have the opener, that's the one that gets to get the crowd into it, you know, get get get that home field advantage going for yourself. And you know, if you're a fan of the Dolphins, and you know, I've I've since we've been doing this, you know, everywhere you go, Hey, I listen to Audible, like the Audible love the podcast, all this stuff.

You know, you know you gotta you know, you your Dolphin fans. You know you're not gonna go anywhere. I know all the people I've I've talked to their Dolphin fans, they're not gonna go anywhere. They may bitch and moan and why do we do this? Why do we do that? But when push comes to shove, there they're gonna they're following.

They're gonna follow this football team. And you know what if you don't want to follow this football team, and will it go somewhere else, you know, go somewhere else and and watch someone else and and go pissing mona about them. But you know this is a franchise that that unbeknownst to you as a fan, they're trying to do what's right for you. They're trying to do the right thing to get a product on the field that you can be proud of, that you can be excited

every year when the season starts. Today, we're a Cali. We're a playoff caliber team where we're gonna go. Can we get to a Super Bowl? Can we get in a championship game? You know that that's where everyone wants to be, and that's where the fans want to be. And I think that's where I think. I think the moves over the last week have put this team in that. Now it's gonna be it's gonna be a long haul. It's gonna be a rocky road. There's gonna be up,

there's gonna be downs. Are times you're gonna geez, I don't know, it's gonna be this bad. And there may be those times where you wake up. You know, I remember Greg Camario running from touchdown and you would have thought you won the Super Bowl. I'm looking up and I think Mr Mr got tears in his eyes and a right so you know, the a motion of football, uh comes in a lot of different I think that was what was it? What was it? Cozy? It was coach? Is the last game? What was it? Uh? Oh gosh,

I can't you know that? Uh Belly Billarck, Brian billar right, he made a bad call down the goal line after that. But but getting back to it, I just you know, try to send a message out to the fans and hey, this this is this is for the best of this organization. This is best for the future of the organization. And and no matter what this season ends, whether it's another six, eight wins, whatever, whatever this season ends, you know, it's it's it's a season that you're gonna have to get through.

It's a season that you can still be excited about your football team. You know these guys. I guarantee you this, You're not going to be upset at the at the ever effort that these guys give you each and every week, whether it's from the coaching staff or whether whether it's from the players. And to me as a fan, Uh, that's all you can ask for. Show me a team that's got five Pro Bowlers, you know, a bunch of first round draft picks, and their lazy son of a

bitches and they just go on the football field. And you know, I'm watching I'm watching Hard Knocks and and you know what, you know what, you know what I you know what I learned about the Raiders and hard Knocks only care about his money. It seems like every time that's all they're talking about money. This guy's making that much, that guy's making that much. You know, the first round draft pick goes, hey, yeah, you're making a hundred hundred million dollars once you pay for my DA

it's all and I'm going lay. That's the kind of football team you want, you know that, that's you know, God, God bless them, Let let them, let them see what they do this year long. I just think that, you know, the the makeup of this football team now is becoming the mentality and the personality of Brian Flores and Chris Career.

That's why you hire details, And it's all about the right thing and building the proper way, building a foundation, adding the foundation, and then getting yourself ready to where you can take off and be in a position to

challenge for the biggest and the best. So I think if you're Steven Ross, that's what you hired those guys for you hired them to change the direction and change the dynamic of how you build an organization, because what you've done since you own this football team you haven't been happy with because there's been you know, a coach and then three years, and then another coach and then three years, and you're trying to patch work with high draft you know, high price free agents, uh missing on

a couple of guys. You put that all together and you have six wins. Then you put it all together and you might have seven wins. That's not good enough. That's not what That's not what this ownership, that's not what this front office. That not what the fan base wants. You want to be able to build from the bottom up. You want to have a great foundation, and the only way you do that is through the draft, and you gotta hit on a on a consistent basis in terms

of two three years down the road. Now, with something that happens out of kind of really out of left field, you you deal one of your best players, two of your best players uh Ad kiko in and three of your best players. Because he's been the most productive tackler

on the team the last couple of seasons. And you're doing it for a wealth of goods that are gonna come in over the next two seasons where you can have flexibility to go get a quarterback of your choice over the next two years, but stockpile this this roster to add to the young talent that you think you can build around that. That's that's the only way you do it in national football. I think it's you know, it's it's this is the beginning of what I think

is gonna be a good future for this franchise. It all starts Sunday when the Baltimore Ravens come to town kick off at one o'clock. And you know, if you've got some people out there that are piste off and don't want to go to the games, and their season ticket holders say, dude, give me those tickets. I'll go. I'll go. I'll sit in your seat. And I'm excited to see what happens Sunday. I am. I'm excited to see the whole thing. And and I'm I'm excited to go on the ride. I'm excited to go on the

ride with this football team. And I'm not you know, based on what we've seen is as I'm not sure the changes are done. Yet you know this is gonna be like they're probably I would say normally there's like the bottom four or five guys on the roster. You know, you might want to be very flexible with your living situation this roster. You may be in the back back ten three you maybe you know, just stay at the hotel. You don't. We stay at the hotel. You pay for

my rent. They're gonna and I have enough confidence in this staff and Chris, they're gonna find the right guys that fit the schemes that on offense, defense and special teams. They will work and they will get it done to where you have a chance to win every Sunday. It might not it might be a little bit longer than projected in terms of instantaneous Hey we're gonna win, you know,

four out of the first five games. I don't know, maybe maybe not, But you're gonna have a chance to win each and every Sunday, and you feel like you're gonna be competitive that you want to be. You wanna you want to see a team that works and that executes and that has a chance that fourth quarter comes along. How many times have we said it, either have the last possession. On offense, you're trying to stop them get off the field. On defense, you're trying to kick a

field goal to win the game. You want to be in those situations with this football team. I don't know how how long it's gonna take to get there consistently or or be able to be at a two touchdown lead in the fourth quarter, but you want to have the guys that are working towards that. Yeah, and then and that's that's where they're going. And so, like I said, it all starts Sunday. It's gonna be a good ride.

It's gonna be fun, and uh, who knows where we in may surprise a lot of people, may disappoint a lot of people, but it's say it's Dolphins football and and here we go. Can't wait for the regular season. There it is, and appreciate you guys that are following us, and keep follow us. Let's send it in fact grabs the guys, and let's let's add to the bandwagon a little bit and jump on the back of this football team and support him because God knows, these guys have

worked their ass off to that. Right now, from a coaching staff, all the way down to to the to the last guy in the equipment room that since doing work in this for this franchise, all trying to get to the same place and that's where you guys want to be in It all starts on Sunday and we'll see at the game on Sunday. We'll talk to you next week on the Audible. Until then, have a good weekend and let's enjoy some football this week. M