Possible Career Ending Injury For Miami Dolphins Alexander Mattison?!

Possible Career Ending Injury For Miami Dolphins Alexander Mattison?!

On today’s episode of Finside the NFL, some somber news as Alexander Madison, he is going to be out for the remainder of the season, I guess. So much for that. Just some neck and head soreness, huh, Mike? Also, the Dolphins did end up working out some running backs and signing a running back. We’ll talk about what that move was and the decision because I think it’s fair to question this one a little bit. Also with the PFF grades are out. We will go over that. And was the athletic and the 50 NFL executives and coaches that they surveyed? Well, were they justified or were they disrespectful with their ranking of Tua? We got a lot to talk about. Smash that like button. Subscribe if you are new. Let’s get into this. [Music] [Applause] You have got to be kidding me. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] Beautiful [Applause] [Music] day to be a dolphin dance. Let’s go. [Music] What is good fin nation? What’s good? It’s your boy Reason. We’re back here for another one. Smash that like button as you come through. I appreciate you all coming through on this Monday. And really, it’s basically a fallout show. All the fallout from the week one of the preseason tie between the Bears and the Dolphins, it’s really begun. So, ton of stuff to discuss here. Um, listen, it’s it’s wild. You know, the fact of the matter is that they need a running back right now. If you didn’t hear Tony Pauline today, he basically um let everyone know what time it was and he basically said that Bree Hall is in fact on the trade block. Imagine a backfield with Bree Hall and Devon Han. Wouldn’t that be absolutely I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but you know, one can ponder a few things, but yeah, they want to go with Brillin Allen and Isaiah Davis. So, I don’t know. I it it’s it feels like Aaron Glenn and they want to move on with Bree Hall. I mean, I wonder what his value is going to be. And wouldn’t it just be so Dolphins when we need corner help to go out and trade for a running back? Wouldn’t that like be honest with ourselves, wouldn’t that be absolutely hilarious? Wouldn’t that just be so Dolphins? I wouldn’t complain, but man, cuz we all remember we all remember how those game a few of those games he has against us. He was one of those guys who always got off the bus against the Dolphins. Loved him in college since he was uh at Iowa State. So, um, yeah, that that would be absolutely hilarious if it ends up that the M just so Dolphins, why wouldn’t we go try and trade for a running back right now, you know, like, you know, like, let’s just add another weapon, guys. Oh my lord. Listen, I do want to talk about a few things, though. Just a couple more things that I didn’t really cover yesterday in the PO. I gave a lot of my takeaways on the postgame show yesterday, but I do have a couple other things I want to add. First of all, I want to start with the All 22. I checked around 2 o’clock. It wasn’t out yet on NFL Pro or on NFL Plus, so I’ve only watched a replay in a condensed replay. That left side’s going to be mean. Listen, Jonas Vaniah, I think he showed a really strong anchor. He needs some improvement in the run game, but again, let’s give this grace. He’s not on his natural side here. All right. This man’s learning to do everything now with the opposite side of his body. He’s retrained. So, let’s give him a little grace. He’s going to get there. But you see the potential. And this is why I tweeted out yesterday, “Why are we running behind Larry Boram on the right?” And I saw some people defending Larry Borum and saying he was solid. Sorry guys, I just don’t see it. Keon Smith. I mean, we know he whiffed on the s the first strip sack of Quinners, but again, I went on a rant yesterday. He’s just not that dude. I mean, I don’t know how many times we got to have this conversation about the depth. I mean, I know there were some hiccups, but again, like Andrew Meyer last year when I was telling everyone, we go back, you can look at my video at the end of August last year, I dropped a video saying Lee Mikeberg and Robert Jones are not viable starters. And I even predicted that Andrew Meyer would be the better of the three of them. And I mean, we are hearing great things through training camp. And you go watch the film from last preseason. You could see the vision with Andrew Meyer. I I got more faith than Addison Weston, Josh PBY turning into something right now than I do Keon Smith turning into something. Let’s be real. At least they’re a little bit of an unknown we could live off right now. I mean, that unknown kind of went out the window with Quinn Yurus yesterday a little bit. But again, again, first, you know, I I say that jokingly because I’m not being too hard on Quinn. It was his first. I mean, why do you think he airma mailed that throw to Theo Whis? You could see the nerves. You could see everything was moving at a faster pace than he expected. So, this is why I said, “Hey man, you know, next week against Detroit, go give Quinn the first half. You know, I’m down for you wanna and give Zach Wilson in the second half and then game three, right? Final game against the Jags. You want to go give two a drive or two, knock yourself out, then give the rest of the game to Quinn. I’m telling you, throw him to the Wolves. This is your chance to throw him to the Wolves right now. This is what you got to do. We know what Zach Wilson is. I don’t know how many times we got to say this. I felt like a broken record yesterday because I kept saying it over and over again and I’ve been saying it since we signed the guy. I told each and and I hate to be I know some people oh reason I told you so well you know what you try being right more and then you could tell people that I don’t know what to say to you but when you come over here you know the accuracy rate is through the roof over here from player evaluations to projections etc etc. I told all of you because I was the first one to float this theory. Shawn Payeyton told us who Zach Wilson was when he gave Jared Stum all that money who doesn’t have the arm, doesn’t have the legs, doesn’t have the physical tools. Jared Stumm does, you know, like sorry Jared Stum doesn’t have the tools that Zach Wilson does. And they said, “Yep, see you.” Shawn Peyton says, “No, go make Jared Stum one of the highest paid backups in football again.” You know why? Because Jared summ got it up here. 90% of that position is cerebral. That other 10% you got to make something happen with your arm or your legs or both. And that’s where we’re at. I I I don’t know what else to say. Zach Wilson is who we thought he was. It didn’t take We know it. We We saw it. I I will say this and I will give Quinn this and I said this yesterday. I’ll say it again. Listen, he looked more decisive. He looked like he was processing things a little bit more and he did make some good throws. Just the coverage was better. That’s the reality of the situation. But was I expecting, you know, go back to where I had Quinn on my quarterback rankings? Was he Shadura at three for me? Was he Cam at one or was he my boy Jackson Dart at two? Who, man, I don’t know. Listen, I don’t know if you guys have seen some of the breakdowns from Chase Daniel, former NFL quarterback on Jackson Dart on X today, but man, because I haven’t gone had a chance to go back and and watch the Giants game because I was watching I’ll watch it this week, but some of the things I mean, Jackson Dart was out here calling audibles and completing passes, baby. I’m tell I I tried to tell everyone and all these Jackson Dart haters because they’re just oh miss. Oh, and I kept saying like the narratives around this are so dumb around Jackson Dart. Like he’s getting NFL level coaching. Sure, they’re simplifying things, but do you think they would have him running their offense and investing in him that much if if he didn’t show a semblance above here? And what did I tell everyone? Another thing, there was a parallel with Tua running a lot of that RPO. What is that? You You got to make your reads quick. You got to make your You got to know pre- snap. And that’s what I was telling people. Yo, pre- snap processing and reading defenses. Jackson’s there. He’s got to get better at the post snap stuff. But you could see the pre and what’s that done for Tua? And that’s until early on. I mean, we all remember what Patrick Mahomes famously said. He couldn’t properly process and read defenses till almost year two, end of year two. He said for the first year and a half, he was just out there basically playing just playing pickup football, man. Playground ball. That’s what he was doing. This is from his own well, not that part, but the part about him saying he wasn’t reading defenses properly till the end of the second year. That’s when it started going, started clicking. I mean, this is an advantage young guys have and that, you know, you got to read the linebackers, you got to read the state, you you start so it becomes easier. So, I’m telling you, man, I think they got Jackson Dark going to be starting by week six of week eight. Let’s go, baby. And that guy’s got the tools, baby. Yeah. Shout out to Diear. They’re in there. And shout out to Ghost cuz he said the Dart Hive is buzzing. And all right. Love that kid, man. That kid, man. I wanted him or Nusmeer. Nusmire went back. So, we’ll see how this season plays out. And that’s another thing you got to play Quinn yours for. You got to figure out what you got here. I’m knocking on wood. You can hear it. If Tua goes down, and I don’t want him to go down because I want to watch meaningful football. So, I’m still knocking on wood. If Tua goes down, you already know where I stand. Garren Nusmar, Lenor Sellers, baby. Let’s Let’s roll. Let it ride. Let it ride. Now, I know there’s going to be I already see y’all coming. I know there’s going to be Kate Clubnik fans. You know, I know they’re going to be out there. I know the Hurricane fans are going to prop up Carson Beck, so I’m fully expecting that. Don’t worry, guys. You know, I like John Matier as well. I I you know, if you had to go a third guy for me, I I’m really high on John Matier. I think he’s going to have a good year. This is going to be a very good class. I mean, this is going to be a good class. So, and then the year after, I don’t know if people saw that. I mean, I was in Bahamas, but it basically got confirmed as I’d been trying to tell all these people who were saying March for Arch, Arch Manning isn’t coming out till 2027, right? And yes, I’m a fan of Mandoza, too. This is a good class, man. I mean, this is a good class. But here’s the thing. Let me ask you a question. This is why you need to figure things out this year. Because this is what I’m telling you guys. This is why I would be okay with a tear down. And this is the only reason why, but keep certain pieces, right? So, keep pieces on your offensive line. I’d keep certain, but I’d be okay. you know, go draft your rookie quarterback and find you got to find somehow. 2027 to me, Arch Manning is not the target. I’m sorry. In 2027, he is not the target. And that’s I’m going to be real with you right now. I want to get my quarterback this year if we got to go that route. And then I want to go get Jeremiah Smith. And I want Jeremiah Smith and Jaylen Waddle to be our one-two punch. And you draft Jeremiah Smith. That’s that’s the move, man. That is the big brain move. That’s why I would want to go find my quarterback this year if we have to go that route. Now, I’m hoping we don’t have to go that route because I want to watch meaningful football. I don’t want to be sitting here in January, not live with you guys on Sundays because we can’t get it done. So, this is where I’m at. I want Garrett Nusmeer, Lenor Sellers. Those would be my those are going to be the trains that I’m going to be pushing if we have to go that route. Last year was Dart and Nus. Um, and obviously you know I mean they are locked into Tua next year too, right? So, but you know I know people are going to Neil’s going to be pushing Drew Aller you know but you got John Matier Sam leave it. I mean it’s a good class. It’s a good class. What if Connor Wigman turns it on? You know what I mean? So, this is where this is a stack class where if we got to go that route, this is your year you want to figure it out because then in 2027, I’m all in on Jeremiah Smith. That’s that’s who we need. And if we got if two of balls out this year, balls out, and we win a playoff game, trade back in the first round and add more ammo so we can go get Jeremiah Smith next year. cuz Jeremiah Smith, that’s the dude I want to replace. I know it’s a pipe dream, but that’s the dude. And I think uh what’s his face is eligible that year, too. Um what the Alabama receiver, Ryan Williams. I think he’s um eligible that year, too. Let me just check his eligibility. I think he’d be eligible that year, too. Yeah, I think Ryan Williams would be eligible that year, too. And he looks special. But Jeremiah Smith, Jeremiah Smith, the best. I mean, this guy’s going to be better than I mean, we’re talking potential better than prime Calvin Ridley type of levels here. So, man, but 2026 is when you got to get your quarterback if you’re going to get and I want Lenor or Nusmire. I’d be down for her. John Mat, Sam, leave it. I mean, this season’s still got to play out. So, anyways, that’s why you got to sink or swim. You got to figure out what you got with Quinn in the preseason. Give him the reps. Let’s go. Give them the reps. And no, I see people in the chat eight and nine. I don’t want eight and nine. And but how many years have we had eight and nine recently? You know, we forget 2022. We came away from that season saying what, ladies and gentlemen, if Tua stays healthy, you know it, I know it. We beat the Bills. You all know this. This curse is off our back two years ago if two stays healthy. Let’s be real with ourselves right now. We should have swept the Bills that year if it wasn’t for Tyreek and Trent Sherfield dropping those footballs and Josh Boyer in that defense, letting them convert a third and 17 and then scoring a touchdown before the half. Let’s be real here. We would have swept him that season because we beat him in Miami. Even though Tu was rattled, we still beat him. We would have beat him in if the if players like Tua Hey, it’s happened twice now since McDaniel’s been here. Let’s be real. And they’ve only played in Buffalo three times. Well, not including the playoffs, but three regular season games. Let’s be real here. In three regular season games in Buffalo in 2022, Tum was one of the best players on the field. I just gave you literal literal examples of his team letting him down. And then flash back to last year, week nine, right? EPA per play puts up a top nine EPA per play through nine weeks, but he was the only one of those top nine quarterbacks to lose that week. Why? Defense has one of his worst EPA per play allowed ever against a Shawn McDermottle led offense in his tenure. Our special teams puts up the like what either the worst or second worst EPA per play ever. Like again, everyone arounds him lets him down. Our defense couldn’t get a stop for 45 freaking minutes. Come on, man. That’s the reality of the situation. I know we can do it. I know we can do it. Are they just going to all get off the plane? This goes back to when Flores was here. You remember to his rookie year basically win and get in against the playoffs. The game where Matt Barkley lit us up in the second half. Who remembers that game? Andrew Van Giggle was one of the few guys who got off the bus that day. No one gets off the bus. And then when a superstar does get off the bus, no one else, the coach might his brain might be still on the bus. Other players don’t get off the bus. It’s ridiculous. But that’s the thing. We can’t get all, you know, everyone wants to talk about soft or whatever. Spin whatever you want. We all watch these games. We’re all hardcore fans sitting here talking about the Miami Dolphins on August 11th. All right, let’s be real with each other. big games. We don’t get all three phases to show up. This is why we’re all so relieved that Greg Aerman is calling this the special teams. Now, I know Jake Bailey had a what 56 yard punt compared to Stonehous’s 50-yard punt, but again, let’s be real here. How many Okay, he’s going to give us a 56 yard and then a 26 yarder follows that up on the next like let’s let’s let’s not remember. We’ve seen that one before, too, man. A healthy Tua guarantees us at minimum we finish 10 and six. Let like again, let’s be real here. A healthy Tua, we finish 10 and six minimum. Now, if they can show up in December, that could push that to 12 and four. But are they going to show up? I don’t know. you know as much as I know right now. I’ll know a little bit more when I go down and see them in person August 19th, 20th, and 21st. I’ll know a lot more. So that’s that’s and DC Monroe nails it. Like let’s again keeping it real. That’s the key you need. And that’s what’s so frustrating, DC. That was right in your possession heading into that Ravens game. You were fighting for first place in the AFC. And what does it come back down to? That Texans lost. And what happened? All three phases didn’t show up. I don’t care what anyone tries to tell me. Well, the offense should have got a first down, brother. Go look at the lead for under three minutes left. You’re telling me like, go watch the plays. Go watch. You’ll see Xavier Howard playing the ball instead of, you know, being a little conservative with the lead and it ends up costing us. I mean, Will Levice, we’re the only team he end up looking like a superstar against. Like let’s be real here. So I mean you would have won that game. It’s a totally different ball game now. It’s crazy. This the life we live as Dolphin fans. So, we’ll see. I mean, no one’s calling for I mean, well, there obviously it’s a select few, but I’m not calling for anyone right now, you know. I’m not calling for a quarterback right now, but I’m telling you, if Tua goes down, the train is starting again. Last year was Nusmeer and Dart. I’m hooking it to Nusmeer again. That’s my guy. And of course, Lenores. Of course, Lenors, you know. So, and then there’s other guys I like. It’s just a good quarterback class. How long are you going to keep playing this game for? You gota you got to take a serious swing. And does anyone want to pay Zach Wilson another $6 million to be here based off what you’ve seen in one preseason game and what we’ve seen in his film through his NFL career? No, thank you. That’s a pass. And I see like that’s that’s some of the narratives people are trying to spin. while he led scoring drives. Listen, my lord. Are we just going to leave out context and make idiotic declarations right now? We really counting scoring drives. Give me a break. Okay. Shout out to Taj Washington. This, you know, this wide receiver battle, this is going to be next level. I can’t wait to see what happens. how this sh how this all pans out. This is going to be interesting. Now, as far as expectations, I haven’t really talked about it. My expectations for this season, well, I mean, you’ll get my record prediction when we do our preseason panel. Um, I don’t know. I don’t really I mean I know what the expectation is where it if you do not reach this bye-bye I know what that should be that should be playoff win as a collective if and I’m talking about like you know Greer McDaniel as a collective if if you don’t bring us a playoff win you know now in the same sense we’re kind of doing the same things over again right like we’re bringing in guys with injury histories and they’re getting injured. It it’s been happening for years and it’s just this cycle that keeps happening. You know, we expect all of a sudden they’re going to play a thousand snaps when they haven’t played it in years. They’re going to play it for us and somehow that Miami Sun is going to is just going to radiate and give them so much vitamin D that they’re just going to turn into the Hulk and be unbreakable. And that just doesn’t happen. So, um, you know, that goes for free agents and roster players that we’ve drafted because there’s a ton. Paging Austin Jackson, paging Jaylen Phillips, paging to a tongue of Aaloa, you know, you know where it is. Austin Jackson, imagine being under the hook for $16 million next year for that. Oh, wait. Um, so I don’t know. And let’s start off with some injury news. Speaking of what a terrible segue, but it is what it is. This is where we’re at in life. Alexander Madison, we went from Mike McDaniel telling us yesterday it’s just some soreness in the neck in the head to not quite D not not not quite. Alexander Madison has a neck injury that requires surgery per sources. He is expected to make a full recovery, but he will be out for the 2025 season. Has full strength and motion. Seven-year vet was having a quality camp in life. I mean, that is a brutal break. I liked what I saw yesterday. He was obviously providing that much needed downhill thud that that backfield was lacking a little bit. Again, I’m gonna wait for the alt 20 to see how much was on the line and how much was on the actual backs. But, you know, that’s just tough. And what’s even tougher, and just sticking with this for a second, and this is a guy who we’ve referenced before on this channel, um, Dr. Jesse Morris says it’s likely an acute fracture, severely herniated discs. Says, “Wishing him best of luck. Hopefully, no long-term issues, complications. there’s a chance this is career ending for Alexander Madison. Um the fact that it’s like I don’t know the fact that it’s just it’s it’s crazy that how quickly on on that football field your life can change. I mean, this is why I talk about why I get why um, you know, I get why NFL players want fully guaranteed contracts. You know, I’ve already said this. I think football players and I mean before I say this, I understand how the market works and it’s impossible, but I’m just saying I I think football players and NHL players based on the contact sport and the quality years of life taken off their bodies, I I think they should be the highest paid, but again, it’s based off markets and I get it all that. But um like and it’s brutal when you look at it, right? Like it’s it’s a brutal I don’t know. Like I’m just praying he’s okay. It’s a I saw that screenshot today and I was like, “Oh boy.” You know, like I I definitely didn’t still shot it. Um it it it looks like a just it looks like a brutal injury and just praying, you know, we got to put our prayers up for Alexander Madison. That’s a tough tough and we’re praying it’s not a careerending or even threatening injury and you know he can make that choice whenever he wants to to step away and not be forced medically to step away because you don’t want to see any players career that they’ve worked so hard since little kids to attain the status and you know the ability they have and where they’re at in life. They’ve worked since kids to to attain that and to have that taken away when it isn’t their choice. You don’t want to wish that upon anyone. So, uh you know just except OJ Simpson maybe. But you you just Alexander Madison, we are praying for a speedy recovery and then you can get back to normal. That’s absolutely terrible. Um so I don’t know. It’s awful. So, um, now before that news broke in terms of severity, and I mean, listen, if you’re going to come up here and ever in my chat and say, “I don’t believe a thing Mike McDaniels says in a press conference.” Now, I What can I say? Thank you providing the clip, Mike. Oh my god. You know what I mean? Like, listen, you got to That’s a um no comment. We’re we’re awaiting further evaluation. Not oh, it’s just some neck and head soreness and like come on brother. Like that’s uh Oh man, that’s that’s terrible. So prayers up for Alexander Madison, but I mean come on Mike, you’ve now I I I I there’s not a thing I can say to someone who says you aren’t telling the truth. I hate to be that guy. Um, now, but before that news broke and what made us wonder and actually tweeted out and had to edit the tweet, I was like, I wonder if this speaks to the severity of Madison’s injury, you know, because that room is thin. We saw they’ve only got four backs. That one goes down, it’s thin. Now you’re down to three. So, news broke today that they were working out free agent running back Jamal Williams. Now, you’ll remember Jamal Williams. He broke what, Barry Sanders team record of the Detroit Lions when he had 17 rushing touchdowns a couple years ago. Since then, his yards after contact has gone down, but you can still see he’s used in a lot of short yardage situations. They apparently passed on him. Apparently, he just wasn’t good enough. So, I I think a lot of us were expecting Jamal Williams was going to be the option and the route the Miami Dolphins went, but that isn’t the route they went. Instead, it broke few hours later that the Miami Dolphins are signing Aaron Shamplin per his agents Henry Oregon and Alex Begliger. Shamplin appeared in three games with the Steelers last year and he had recently worked out for the Bears and the Jets. Um he worked out for Miami today and he landed a deal. Yeah, not great. Not great by any stretch in the imagination. Um, this guy, you know, he’s bounced around teams in terms of practice squads and, um, in 2023, I believe he was, you know, because he was cut. I mean, we’re talking about a substitute middle teacher, you know. I mean, we can literally call this guy the substitute, you know. Um, I mean, now here is the interesting thing. You look at his you do look at his athletic profile. I mean, he did have an 8.22 Raz when he was coming out. Um, so I mean, you know, he had 44 speed coming out in that 2022 draft. So, we’re in a 448. Thing is, he’s 5’9, like 195 pounds, and he doesn’t bench very much. I mean, he’s not I don’t even think he’s been used in a short back short yardage situation in the time he got with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Didn’t even get one short yardage carry, you know, but hey, he’s got a 37 and a half inch vertical. Oh my god. which is like that’s what’s crazy because there were options out there for them and I don’t get why they just I don’t know I don’t get why they didn’t look at more of a thutting back. There were legitimate options out there for them. Oh, the all 22 is out now. Beautiful. But I don’t know. I I just I mean I’d rather see what Gus Edwards, Zack Moss, or Dante Foreman have right now than Champlain. Like I you know, go get me Gus Edwards. Somehow he could always get short yardage situations converted in Baltimore. Adding Aaron Champlain. I mean, you added a body. Hey, now on the flip side of this, let’s be real here. Let’s be real here. more chances for OG31 and Jaylen Wright. So, you know, because this guy displacing either one of those guys. I mean, and they’re pretty much locks anyways to make the roster. But Alexander Madison was making it interesting. What if they’re only rostering three running backs because they want to carry six wide receivers? No way they carry seven. That would be crazy. The whis making the team think carry seven. But what if they they only carry three because they’re just gonna, you know, that he goes down. That opens up a roster spot. Okay, let’s just keep an extra receiver because we like what we’re seeing right now. Day but day one has it. Day one nailed it. Hopefully saving money for a quarterback. I mean, let’s go. And it’s going to be up to OG 31 and Jaylen Wright to get the short yardage. So, I don’t know. We’ll see. You know what’s crazy, too? Because, uh, it says running back could be a special teams guy. You see how many special teams snaps Grayson Murphy got? Speaking of, they’re they’re this staff, I think, likes Grayson Murphy. There’s some work that needs to be done because he definitely had some reps. want back when you go back and watch the film and I’m going to even dive further tonight with the all 22, but you know, I get it. It comes down to the length of his arms basically. That’s going to be his biggest issue probably. But Olly, man, more chances for Ollie, more chances for Jaylen. We already know what Achan is. I had a conversation with a friend today, you know. Let me know in the chat what do you think Achan is? Is he a running back or is he a weapon? Is he like just is that what you would because that’s what I label him. I don’t label him a running back or receiver. To me, he’s a weapon, you know, and I I think Gadget doesn’t do him justice. So, I think he’s a legitimate weapon, you know, like when you talk about I know some people hated this comparison and I’m going to make it again because I truly believe it. He reminds me of I think he’s more explosive and people are going to say you’re crazy reason. I think he’s a more explosive Reggie Bush. That’s what I think he is. And listen, I love Reggie Bush here. I think a lot of people forget how good he was for us. I think he was I think I think Reggie Bush Reggie probably the best three running backs I’ve seen since Achan in Dolphins Colors. And yes, I know I’m forget. I’m not forgetting EJI were probably obviously Ricky, my boy Ronnie Brown, and then I put Reggie, and now I put Han 4, but I see a more explosive Reggie Bush. That’s what I see. So, um, you know, we already know what he is, but yeah, he’s a weapon. Like I’m gonna tell you this right now with Devon Achen in a perfect world you’re giving him like 10 to 12 carries but you’re giving him like six to eight targets as well right so you’re still getting him the ball around 20 time 20 times a game right and then you want to still run around 24 to 28 times at minimum. So now you can split the rest of that out between OG 31 and Jaylen Wright. So, in college they call them athletes. I like that. Lamar Smith. No, these guys are better than Lamar Smith, bro. Let’s be real. Come on. If If you If we’re in a draft right now, and I’m Let’s go prime. I’ll give you prime all these players. Who are you taking? Ricky, Ronnie, like you’re taking all those guys. Ricky, Ronnie, Reggie, um, and Achan. You’re taking them all over Lamar Smith. Come on, brother. But I agree with um Manny. Jaylen Wright needs to step up. This is his chance. You know, this is his chance. So, I’m going to be especially looking at his carries tonight, too. So, um this is his chance. So, this is Jaylen Wright’s chance to lock in that RB3 spot. Look at Chris. He says a Chan is somewhere between Reggie Bush and Marshall Faulk. Love Marshall. That guy was even when he was like in the later years with the Rams, how good was he, eh? Guy was just awesome. Unbelievable. But that’s what the Miami Dolphins uh you know, let’s be honest here. None of that’s getting displaced. All right? I mean, let’s be real here. None of that is getting displaced in terms of the running back two, running back three. Now I want to know did OG and and be honest chat to you. Did OG31 did Olly Gordon did he make that running back 2 battle with Jaylen Wright interesting now that it’s him and Jaylen Wright only no longer is Alexander Madison standing in either of their way? Let me know in the chat because remember Jaylen Wright had that bruising touchdown run too. Let’s be real here. Remember he had that bruising run? Let me know in the chat. Did OG3 make this OG OG31? Did he make this a battle? Diear says, “Yep. Olly Gordon looked good. Need to see more.” I agree for sure. Shout out to the chat right now. Steve, shout out to Knight. He went ahead and donated Fside the NFL membership. And then good old Birdman been around for a minute. He came through and he donated five. Thank you for building the Finsside fam. I appreciate y’all. Mc Death takes a stance. Says, “Not for me. OG got a lot of time against the third stringers. I liked what I saw, but I also think like like let’s remember here there were definitely snaps we can remember where the offensive line, especially on that red zone that that red zone rushing debacle that we saw there. Um especially on that fourth down. offensive line did that run game zero favors on some of those. So, we’re going to see what OG31 I mean these are like let’s go see I would even be starting the starters against Detroit. I said this yesterday on yesterday’s show. Let’s get backups out there and then at home you want to give the starters a drive or two. It’s at home against the Jags. They’re in their own building. Comfort levels there. It’s the closest game to the start of the season. Play that game. Right. This is where sinker swim Quinn Jaylen and OG let me take the leashes off. It’s you boys. Like this is where we go. So we’ll see how it goes. But Aaron Shamplin, I do not expect anything. Hey, and maybe I end up being wrong. I don’t think I’ll be wrong, but maybe I end up being wrong. All right, so let’s get into the PFF grades because the PFF grades actually came out and there are some interesting things for sure when you look at them. So, let’s get into these. It’s been a while since we looked at PFF grades. So, offensively, Taj Washington scored a 90. Patrick Paul, who I would agree was our best offensive lineman. He number 284.7. Braden Daniels, who when you went back and watched the film, man, he actually did have a good game. So, I actually agree with those grades. Number four to I and I would probably Yeah. Number four to Tongaloa. Number four with him is Nick Westbrook. A Devon Achan was a six. Addison West, there he is, number seven. Number eight was Malik Washington. Um, number nine was Alexander Madison. Daniel Brunskll was 11. Aaron Brewer at a 12. AJ Henning. And the staff is apparently high on him. Right at the bottom though, Keon Smith, Germaine Aiti. Look at Kian Smith put up a 19.8. Germaine Aiti 27.8. Zack Wilson 33.6. Quinn Ewers had a higher grade than Zach Wilson, but they were still both terrible. Jaylen McKenzie, he had 23 snaps, he had a 37. Frell Brown, who was out there whiffing for sure. Jonas of I think that’s way too hard on him. Now, I do think in the run game you saw some issues, but again, you got to understand this kid’s learning to do everything with the left side of his body now. So, you got to give some grace there. Um, this is why I said I would have had James Daniels at left guard and I would have had Jonah at right guard because that’s just where he’s suited. But, say lovey. Larry Boram 48. He was not good. I think he was I’d put him below Jonah. At least we got up the field. Um, Josh PBY, not great. Julian Hill, not as usual. Olly Gordon, they were light on Ollie. They only gave him a 62.4. They gave him a 9.4 in pass blocking. I got to go back and watch the film again. Um, the All 22 I’ve seen. It’s out now, so I will be watching that tonight. Um, maybe go over some clips tomorrow with you guys. We’ll see what’s up. Um, and yeah, so there are your offensive PFF grades. This is going to be interesting. Let’s look at the passing. Let’s look at pressure and depth. So Quinners, all of his completions came at the middle of the field. Um, five for what, 12 in the middle of the field. 0 for two to the left, 0 for two to the right. Um he was actually kept clean 70% of the time, right? 14 of his drop backs, he was five for four. Under pressure, he was 0 for4 and that’s where all the fumbles came, his turnover worthy plays, right? So, but they did charge two drops. So, they did charge two drops. I wonder who they charge those drops to. Let me see. Let me see who they charge those drops to. Alexander Madison and Olly Gordon. So, there you go. Um, so there’s Quinn. Uh, not great. Uh, let’s go to Zach Wilson. Zach Wilson, not great. Not great at all. Uh, now again, under pressure, he’s one for three. um when he’s kept clean. He was four for six. And you see again two completions over the middle, two to the left. Um now, no drops on any of his targets, but I mean like look at his grading out when he’s under pressure. Time to throw when he was kept clean was about 2 seconds. Um it was about 3.57 seconds when he was extending the play. What was Quinn’s time to throw? I actually didn’t check that. Quinn’s time to throw when he was kept clean 2.31. So, but I mean a lot of that pressure was created obviously by Zach Wilson himself too to a tongue of Aloa when he was kept clean. He was five of six. He actually wasn’t under pressure at all. Um and no drops. So there you go. Now blocking. Keon Smith allowed was charged with allowing two sacks and seven pressures. Jermaine Nefiti allowed four pressures. He was charged with allowing a hit and a sack. Jonah Savanaya was charged with allowing a sack and one hurry. He allowed two pressures. Jaylen McKenzie allowed two pressures as well. Um, I actually thought his pass blocking was better than his run blocking. I got to watch the film again tonight. But, um, yeah, otherwise decent, but I mean, still 18, what was that? 15 pressures between four players. Keon Smith, Jermaine Aidi, and I’ll add Larry Borm to the list. That’s awful. Defensively, Zack Cer usual dominant self. Jordan Brooks and Isaiah Win were your top three graded defenders. Ethan Bonner came in at four, Jordan Phillips at five, Storm Duck at six, Kenneth Grant came in at seven, KJ Britt at eight, Bonito Jones at nine, and Ben Stilly at 10. all above 70. Dcoan Jackson right there at 11. Tyrell Dodson came in at a 65. Grayson Murphy, Matt Dickerson I thought was better than a bunch of these guys. Matt Dickerson was good, man. I thought yesterday. But yeah, like I told y’all, Dcoin Jackson was really good yesterday, too. But yeah, Isaiah Johnson, Ethan Bonner holding it down. Um, Zeke Biggers I thought was good. He’s graded like mid. Willie Gay I thought was good. He’s graded mid again. Your worst graded defenders, Ethan Robinson. I would agree with that. He had a tough one. He was missing tackles. It was a tough one for Ethan Robinson, I thought. Channing Tindle, I agree. Yeah, it was a tough one for him, too. 110%. Cornell Arm uh Cornell Armstrong, that’s not good. Alex Huntley and Mike Sanders, sorry, John Sanders round out your bottom five, but then there’s Mike Hilton as a six worth as well. That’s not great. So, I thought Matthew Butler, he had a couple whiffs. I didn’t think he was that good. Kendall Sheffield got ran through and they had middle of the pack. I thought Derrick McClendon was better than like they gave him a 60. I thought Derrick McClendon was really good yesterday. Even when I was went back and watched the broadcast, he still looked like one of the better defenders out there. I don’t know what that grade is. I don’t agree with that at all. What sunk it is? T like I don’t agree with that at all. But okay, he was one of the better defenders I out there. That’s what I thought. Now, when you look at coverage, see your coverage matchups. So, Channington Tindle in coverage targeted five times, allowed four receptions, and he allowed 58 yards. Brutal. Two first downs. KJ Brit targeted four times, allowed two receptions, only 14 yards. John Sanders targeted four times, allowed three receptions and a first down. Um, but there’s also that Jade Walker drop against them. Storm Duck targeted three times, allowed three receptions for a total of 12 yards. Ethan Robinson was targeted twice, allowed one reception for four yards, but it was a touchdown. Cornell Armstrong targeted twice, allowed two receptions for 22 yards and a first down. Melon was targeted twice, allowed one reception for five yards. Also, Durham Smith had that drop early on against them. Isaiah Johnson. Um they charge him with a pass break up. The throw was short. He didn’t really have to do much on it, but um he was targeted twice, allowed one reception for only one yard, but he allowed allowed some after the catch. Right. BJ Adams targeted twice, allowed one reception, which was a touchdown. There was also that pass breakup he had. Jason Marshall, I mean, they counted one of those as a drop. He I don’t know which one they’re counting as a drop, but he had that good, you know, four setting completion on one of them. Eugene Asante, he started once, allowed one reception for seven yards. Dcoan Jackson, he allowed one reception on one target for seven yards as well. Willie Gay allowed one reception for 17 yards to Devin Duivere. Patrick McMorris allowed one reception. You also had that interception that was tipped up, right, that Ethan Bonner tipped up. But the one that Patrick Morris did allow was the touchdown the back of the end zone to Maurice Alexander Totap. Jordan Colbert allowed one reception for six yards. Tyrell Dodson allowed a reception for eight yards. Mike Hilton allowed a reception for 16 yards and a first down to Luther Burton. Colon Loveland was targeted once against Jordan Brooks. It went nowhere. Jack Jones allowed one reception for five yards. He also had an interception that was called back because he was flagged for DPI. Ethan Bonner, he broke up the pass to Tore and that McMorris picked off. So there are your PFF grades, stats, and info. Continuing on here, was the athletic justified or downright disrespectful with to a tonguea? This is behind a payw wall, but I’ve got it for you guys right here. So, this is the quarterback results are in for 2025 with 50 NFL coaches and executives. They tier all the quarterbacks in the NFL. So, there you go. Um, we’re going to get into how this works. Um, this is how it went. Overall, there was, you know, to a tongue. I mean, he went he fell two spots this year. Obviously, injuries are going to do that, right? Justin Herbert fell two spots. Perie Tua, Trevor Lawrence. I don’t know how Trevor Lawrence ain’t fallen farther. Dak fell three spots, you know. So, Anthony Rich, Kurt Cousins spent 12, but Sam Darnold went up nine spots. So, here we go. Um, tier one they have Patrick McMorris as the best quarterback, Joe Burrow and Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, then Matthew Stafford. Okay, now I want to talk about this for a second. I I do want to talk about this for a second. Let me let me talk about this. I see everyone’s hating on Joe Burrow. Everyone, how’s Joe B? Are y’all kidding me right now? Did y’all watch Joe Burrow last year? That guy should have been in the MVP discussion. If it wasn’t for Joe Burrow, the Cincinnati Bengals would have been picking number one overall. The Cincinnati Bengals wasted a fant like a MVP caliber season with Joe Burrow last year. So I actually, y’all know I’m a Joe Burrow fan. I’ve been a Joe Burrow fan. I wanted him. I wanted Tua, him or Love. Those that’s the order I wanted those guys cuz I didn’t think we were getting Burrow. We didn’t have a chance. But everyone were on the Tuesday night panel. Who do you want to name? EM TD ball game. Any of those people you want to name? I put them all on to Joe Burrow. Okay. Joe Burrow was next to two was my guy in that draft along with Jordan Love. I loved those three guys. I’m a fan of Joe Burrow. That’s justified. That kid. Did no one see how good he was last year? Come on. I’m sorry, man. Joe Burrow is is you give Joe Burrow Shawn McDerman’s defense with coach with Shawn McDerman as a defensive coordinator, they’re winning a Super Bowl, you know? I’m sorry, man. Like, so I might be a little biased because I’m big on Burrow, but listen, I but I would also Hey, if someone puts Josh Allen at number two, knock yourself out. I do. I would take all three of those before Lamar. Did Lamar get better as a passer last year? Yeah, 110%. But I would take all three of those guys before Lamar. I think Joe Burrow’s in the running with they have him tied with Patrick Mahomes. I think I think that’s fair. He’s tied in terms of votes. So, I see people hating on that. I don’t know. Now, Jaden Daniels would be five for me. He’d be the bottom of the And I call me crazy. He’d be the bottom at of tier five. He’d be fifth spot. Flip him in and Stafford for me. Justin Herbert would not be seven for me, but we’re not going to go into that conversation. Jared Goff, he belongs in the top 10. CJ Strad, he had a struggle last year. Um Jaylen Herz, they’re all I I don’t think Jayen Herz is better than any of these guys. Baker Mayfield at 11. I mean, I think Baker Mayfield’s a top 12 guy. I’ve said this. Dak Prescott. Uh, Jordan Love, I think he’s getting too much love. He’s still being overrated. Brock Pury should be higher. Kyler Murray should be lower. Aaron Rogers should be way lower and Tua should be higher. I think I, you know, I think Tua should be at the bottom of tier two right now coming off that injury. That’s my thoughts. Dak Prescott should be in tier three. Jordan Love should be in tier three. Um, Jaylen Herz should be the bottom of tier two. Um, I would put CJ Stout at the bottom of tier two as well. I would put Justin Herbert below Jared Goff Baker Pury. And you could make the argument him and two are neck and neck. If you’re going to go traits, you go Herbert. If you’re going to go the passer, you’re going to go Tua. So, I think Tua and Herbert are probably neck andneck right now, but I think they’re below Goff. I think they’re below Baker, and I think they’re below party. So, but anyways, to a tongue of Aaloa, they ranked them 17th. And this is what they said. All right. The Dolphins offense averaged 24.1 points per game in 11 games with Tuango Valoa in 2024 compared to 13.3 in six games without him. Quote, they literally cannot operate the offense when he is not out there and they are top 10 offense when he is out there. An offensive coach said, quote, I don’t even like watching him play, but at this point, dude, I can’t say you are not that guy. So that’s someone an offensive coach who doesn’t even like watching Tua and he’s basically saying I can’t say you are not that guy because they’re top 10 offense when you’re out there. The voter was among a dozen placing tongue of below in tier 2 half as many in 2024. So there were two dozen in 2020 last year when they did this coming off that 2023 year. There were two dozen that placed him in uh tier 2. This year there was only a dozen that placed him in tier two when they when they went over the 50 NFL coaches and scouts. Quote, “He’s probably a two on the production, but if the game was on the line, I’d be scared to death if you were my quarterback.” And exec said another photo called Tongaloa, quote, damn near the most accurate quarterback in the NFL. Quote, “It is the offscript plays that he doesn’t have.” A defensive coach said, “And if it is not paired with the run game to draw the under coverage, then you don’t get full utilization of his accuracy on the second and third level. The result is a quarterback who can look really good or really bad depending on the situation. Quote, “He does a really good job of hitting these play actions in windows and putting it on guys where it’s catch and run and has good anticipation for it and they can get out of his hands.” Another defensive coach said, “I’ve yet to see him carry his team when they are not clicking the other phases. Has Miami ever won a game where the run game is getting killed that can’t hit play action when they can’t hit the play action stuff and it’s just time for Tua to sling to sling the ball. I mean I mean you can make that argument and the final point is hey and I’ve talked about this the reason why now I think he’s getting better at it. You know what I mean? Like you go back to that we were talking about the Bills losses. There’s only so much you can do especially last year. I mean, what are you going to do when your defense isn’t going to stop for 45 minutes? And I mean, he put up what, top five EPA per play from a quarterback standpoint ever against a Shawn McDermott le defense um since he’s been the Buffalo Bills head coach. So, I mean, he put up like, you know, top five numbers against them. But, it is what it is. So, I but I do agree and I’ve talked about this. This comes down to not getting the reps in college. Why does Josh Allen so good in crunch time? Did he ever have to take a snap off at Wyoming? Same thing with Mahomes. He was used to it playing at Texas Tech. They need these reps. Any position needs those reps. Doesn’t matter what it is. I’ve already stated I think Tua should be in tier two. Him and Herbert should be neck and neck. If you want me to do like where they would be, they would be what? They would be 10 and 11. Tua and Herbert would be 10 and 11 for me. They’d be top 12. They’d be 10 and 11 for me. And you could flip them either way, basically. So, listen. But then you got an offensive coach saying, I’m telling each and every one of you, I don’t even like watching him play, but at this point, dude, I can’t say you are not that guy. Why? Because they literally can’t operate that offense when he’s not out there. So he had 36 votes for tier three and he had um 12 in 20 he had 12 in tier 2. In 2024 he had 26 votes in tier three and 24 in tier 2. So it was literally neck and neck. So is what it is. I get it. Injuries man. Injuries. If he would have built off that 2023 season, he would we would have seen him make that leap to tier two on that list. So, you could sit here and say it’s justified or you could sit here and say it’s respectable. Let me know in the chat. Were those rankings justified or respectable? Let me know. All right, smash that like button, subscribe if you’re new. I will catch you on the next one. We got joint practice this week. We got a preseason game next week and then I’m out to Miami for Jacksonville week. I’ll be live at both training camp sessions. Then I’ll be live at joint practice and then you already know what time it is. We’ll have the preseason game right back here in the studio. So until then, fins up. I’ll see y’all on the next one. Take it easy everyone.

On this episode of Phinside The NFL, Reason discusses the fallout from the Miami Dolphins Preseason Week 1 game against the Chicago Bears where the two teams played to a 24-24 tie!

Alexander Mattison has a serious neck injury that has ended his 2025 campaign and one doctor speculates that it could threaten his career!

The Athletic has 50 NFL executives and coaches tier NFL QBs, was their ranking of Tua Tagovailoa justified or disrespectful?

The Miami Dolphins had multiple RBs in for a visit and signed one today!

Plus we’ll discuss the PFF Grades from the Dolphins tie with the Bears and much more!

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