Episode 550: Game Week Arrives, Captain Call

Episode 550: Game Week Arrives, Captain Call

And we’re off. Hi everyone. Welcome back. Episode 550 of the All Dolphins podcast on this Monday, September 1st, Labor Day. We’re outside. It is buckets of yucky out here uh in good old South Florida, but we’re going to get through it. Chris Perkins and I, Chris Perkins from the South Florida Sunle, kind enough to join me once again. Perk, how are you? Long time no see. Couple of hours maybe. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We’re getting closer to September 7th, baby. I get more excited every day. I get more excited. Absolutely. Me, too. Absolutely. Uh and the Dolphins were back at practice on Monday and today’s the day they named their captain. They made a move on the practice squad. Uh Mike McDaniel addressed the situation involving outside linebackers coach Ryan Crowe. And we will tell you who we saw or didn’t see at practice after I remind you. I do my usual reminders to please like, subscribe, comment for the video. 15,800 subscribers. Now we’re up to Let’s get this 20,000 so you guys can see me wear a Dolphins hat and a Dolphins jersey. You’d like that? I’d like that. So, how about that? Let’s make it happen. B, we’re going to start with the captains because I know you feel very, very strongly about this. Probably more so than any member of the media contingent. I believe the Dolphins announced their captains on Monday morning. And they are Tua Tongo Valoa, Alec King Golden, Eron Brewer on offense, Zack Cer, Jordan Brooks, and why am I forgetting the other one? Bradley and Bradley Sub on defense. And Chris Perkins is very, very happy with the fact that one of the players who is not a captain this year is Tyreek Hill. Perk, why is that so important to you, my man? because it represents an attitude change, maybe a mindset change for the team that foolishness will not be tolerated any longer. Tyreek has been a captain for the previous three years. He’s been acting a fool pretty much for the previous three years. And I mean, it’s off the field stuff, you know, with the with the the the boat uh marina captain in in North Miami in North U and Miami Beach, the social media influencer, the incident outside being detained by police before last year’s season opener, trolling fans, the I’m out uh speech after last year’s season finale, um having police called to his house. It’s, you know, it it’s it’s a lot of stuff that you don’t need somebody like that representing your team at that level. It’s a player vote and I’m glad to see that the players voted, “We aren’t going to tolerate this.” I’m a big Tyreek Hill fan. Tyreek Hill, as I said today in my column, don’t say it. Don’t say it. No. No. This is different. Tyreek Tyreek Hill is better at his job than anybody in that organization. Steve Ross, Chris Greer, Mike McDaniel, Tua, anybody. Scouts, coaches, he’s better at his job than anybody in that organization. He’s a central personnel, but you need to draw some lines. And the Dolphins players did that with that vote. I’m glad that they voted the way they did. Yeah. And and I give you a hard time. I don’t disagree with anything you just said. And the thing with Tyreek Hill, he’s always been a very hard worker. Yep. When it comes to getting ready on the field and all that, the guy practices like a maniac. Uh and if you look at his body, that’s somebody who takes care of his body. Now, the behavior flat out has not been captainlike. And a lot of it, as you mentioned, was off the field. And last year, the whole thing. And to me, the Ahmad bro comments, if you know Tyreek, it was so insanely guys speaking out of frustration. And for those who want to point out the, you know, pulling himself out of the game against the Jets after uh I like third quarter, whatever it was. Uh I’ve said this before, I’m going to say it again. To me, the failure there was not alerting his teammates. This is a guy who played hurt the entire year. He had this wrist injury that required offseason surgery. So, it’s not like he was like fussing around, but you got to tell your folks, listen, look at the scoreboard. Denver’s kicking the crap out of Kansas City. Sadly, we’re done. We’re not making the playoffs. I played her the whole year. Um, and this is where I’m going to push back on those who are going to quickly going to say, “Well, other players playing hurt.” It’s a difference between playing hurt, playing injured. Yeah. Okay. When you have an injury that requires surgery, that’s the difference. So to me the big deal again as far as that was concerned was he didn’t uh alert his coaches that he was pulling himself out. So anyway I want to talk about Tariq because Tariq is not one of the captains. The focus should be on the guys who were the captains. And if we heard Chris Ger’s comments last week the fact that Jordan Brooks and Aaron Brewer w up being two of the captains absolutely should have been seen as a slam dunk because he meant he singled them out as two guys who really stood out. I think they got the captains correct this year. And you know, there’s no there there’s no um slacking uh among these six players. They they bust their butts the whole time. They don’t get in trouble off the field. They set a good example. Bradley Chub is a guy who didn’t even play last season. He was out with the knee injury. That’s how hard he’s worked. That’s how much they respect him. Aan Brewer and Jordan Brooks are only in their second year on the team. That’s how hard they worked last year. That’s how much their teammates respect them. And then Zack Cer, Tua, and Alec Ingle, we know the story with them. They always bust their butts. And and so that was that was uh demonstrated or displayed in the in the player vote. I have zero problem with any of those selections. The players did a great job. I you know and and I’ve written that um earlier in the off season that it appears that things are taking a turn for the better with this team. This is another one of those signs that we can’t say anything for sure right now. Let’s face it as the NFL is mostly about wins and losses. But when you see things such as this, you start to think, okay, well maybe things will be a little bit different around that camp this year. So we’ll we’ll see what the Dolphins can do. But I like what I’ve seen so far and this player vote is more confirmation of that. Yeah, I I will second that in in saying that I don’t think there’s any question that the Dolphins number of players who are kind of looking out for themselves more than they’re looking out for the team has been gr drastically reduced. Uh I think Tyreek M probably still falls in that category because he wants his money and he wants the spotlight. Um, outside of him though, I mean, Jaylen Ramsey was a guy who was looking out for Jaylen Ramsey. Javon Holland to me gave off kind of those vibes. Uh, and I’m I’m not going to like start going through the roster. Uh, but there may have been a couple more as well. I think this year the Dolphins certainly have more of a group that’s all swimming in the same direction, so to speak. And whether that makes any difference or, you know, in the win in the wins and losses, it certainly can’t can’t hurt either. So, uh, and you mentioned the fact that the captains in essence represent the Dolphins and that was one of the points Mike McDaniel made when he was talking about Ryan Crowe and one of the first rule the first rule the team the Dolphins have is protect the team and part of that is protecting the image of the team and all that and when you have as as Mike McDaniel mentioned very well you’re going to have Dolphins in the headline uh because Ryan Crow himself getting arrested is not a big deal but the second it says Miami Dolphins ‘s coach Brian Crow gets arrested, then it becomes a big deal. McDaniel confirmed he’s been put uh on administrative leave. While he’s out there not working with the Dolphins, while the situation gets resolved one way or another, the Dolphins have moved senior defensive assistant Shawn Ryan to the position of OB Kosher to work with the OLBs. And as you pointed out and asked Mike McDaniel, there’s certainly something very interesting about that. and Perk, I’ll give you the honors of of telling the good folks what that’s about. Yeah, this is the first time that Shawn Ryan has worked on the defensive side of the ball in his NFL career and I believe in his college career also. Uh I I think it’s an interesting choice. You know, he just became he was a I if I’m not mistaken, he’s got 13 years of NFL experience or maybe this is his 13th year. All the previous years were on the offensive side of the ball except for last year when he became a defensive assistant uh with the Dolphins. So, you know, uh I believe it was Jordan Brooks or Bradley Chub who pointed out that this is interesting because he’s a former quarterback’s coach and now he’s going to coach guys who attack the quarterback. So, he’s going to have interesting perspective. And I agree with that 100%. Um it it’s just that when you’re coaching possibly the most important position group um with the team and I know quarterback is very important, right? Maybe maybe the second most important position group I should say. Well, the edge rushes just because of their depth and their but you’re saying that you’re saying the second best position group on the Dolphin roster. Absolutely. But like most important to me and this is the point I was going to make. I’m sorry. Go ahead and finish. Okay. No, go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. No, because I was going to say that to me it’s not a it’s really weird to me that again offense offense offense offense joins the Dolphins as a senior sorry as a defensive assistant. This year they make him a senior defensive assistant and now he’s working with the OB coaches. Having said that, if I look at the position coaches to me offensive line is other than the coordinators obviously offensive line massively important. I think this year particularly because of the youth the quarterback’s coach is really really important. Um outside of that I don’t know that any other one really jumps out to me. Maybe the tight end’s coach John Embry because there’s not a whole lot of proven commodity if Darren Waller doesn’t become Darren Waller and that’s an entirely different story into itself. So that’s why to me it’s really weird, but I don’t know that’s a big deal again because of the group he’s working with where he has a bunch of established veterans there. Yeah. I I think I say that because these are the guys who have to move the needle for the Dolphins. You know, quarterback has an excuse, tight end has an excuse, edge rusher, there’s no excuse. You got Chub, Phillips, Chop, Judon. get to the quarterback, impact the game, cause some turnovers, make that quarterback nervous, win games. Um, you know, these are the guys and and look, and and and health is a big thing here obviously with with Chub and Phillips, but even if they don’t stay healthy, you got Chop and Judon. No excuses, Shawn Ryan. Make something happen. and Anthony Weaver also. But but you know that I I say it because he’s got the capability and the depth. You know, I know that um you you could say that Daryl Beville and Frank Smith with the quarterbacks, they’re one deep. You got Zach Wilson after Chua. The the running backs, you’re Well, where’s the line? I just said just made a face. Um the wide receivers, you’re pretty much one one deep, right? when you get past Tyreek and Jaylen Waddle and we’ll just say Malik as the as the slot or if you want to say NWI as the third receiver, you don’t have much depth that the the edge rushers can come at you in waves. You can put three of them out there. So that that’s why I say that. But but they have the capability of changing game whether you agree with me on that or not. Um Shawn Ryan steps into a very important role on that coaching staff and and you know hopefully he handles it very well. He’s he’s um you know he’s a seasoned coach, two rings with the New York Giants. He knows his stuff in the NFL. It it’s it’s an interesting choice uh of Shawn Ryan as opposed to anybody else on that staff. And I haven’t even looked to see who else what the other options were or if anybody else has coached outside linebackers. But obviously you don’t want to disrupt two position groups here, right? You don’t want to take your you you you know Joe Joe car Joe Joe Barry who coaches the inside backers and move him to outside and now two position groups will have a new coach. So I I think they did it with minimal uh disruption to the coaching staff. Sure. I guess another option would have been assistant linebackers coach Matt O’Donnell. Uh this one is fine. And to me as I was joking uh during practice it’s like his job is not very difficult. Chop Jaylen Bradley Matthew Jon quarterback over there. Get him. Oh. Oh, and remember to set the edge once in a while. I I kid. Obviously, it’s not like that, but right. Yeah. See ball, get ball. Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. This is why I’m gonna defer to to, you know, to the Dolphins and I’m sure Anthony Weaver had some major input with Mike McDaniel asking him what’s going to be the least disruptive. Um, and obviously this will be a situation to follow as developments um, you know, occur with Ryan Crow in this situation. Um, and going back to the captain real quickly, I wanted to point that out that the Dolphins have six team captains this year and Mike McDaniel told us that there was a wide gap in terms of the vote getters from those six to the rest of the group. And in case you’re wondering, it’s it’s the lowest number I think we’ve had under Mike McDaniel. It been seven and eight in the past. It’s a high number compared to other teams. The the Steelers have four, including only one on offense, and that one is Aaron Rogers. Uh, and the Buffalo Bills, by the way, have two captains. They have Josh Allen on offense, and they have Terrell Bernard on defense. So, there is no set number for the amount of captains you want to have. Dolphins have six, which is a good number to me. In this particular case, it’s more about quality than quantity. And I think the Dolphins have six good options right there. So, uh, roster move on the practice squad. Just to be thorough, the Dolphins brought back Isaiah Johnson, who had been waved when the Dolphins signed Kendall Lamb to the roster. He cleared waiverss, became available to make room. The Dolphins waved cornerback BJ Adams, um, who looked apart. I mean, he’s certainly got got the really long body for a quarterback, but obviously Dolphins prefer Isaiah Johnson, who’s also got a very long body. And speaking of which, got my first look up close at the Julian Guju Brent. Big dude for a quarterback. I mean, holy moly. Uh, I think he’s listed at 6’2 and he’s all of it, if not very long arms as well. It’d be interesting to see what kind of role he plays, how quickly he can get uh, you know, what sort of assimilated into the system and all that. wouldn’t surprise me if he were inactive for his first game with the Dolphins considering he just got here, but obviously we shall see over there. Any thoughts on any of this? No, they’re they they’re they’re searching hard for a quarterback and you know, they’ve got to get these guys up to speed so quickly. You know, Jack Jones is almost a season vet when you consider Rasool Douglas and Juju Prince uh being under under 53 also. So, um, yeah, they’ve got to coach these guys up. Uh, Matthew Arujo has got his work cut out and at the quarterback’s coach and then Anthony Weaver also as the defensive coordinator. You’ve got to get these guys up to speed very quickly. As a matter of fact, if I’m not mistaken, the first three coaches that the Dolphins face, Shane Stiken of uh of of the Colts, uh Mike Vrabel of New England, and Shawn McDermott of Buffalo, all beat Mike McDaniel the last time they played him. Um Sean Sean Stiken last year, uh Mike Vrabel in 2023 when he coached Tennessee, and then Shawn McDermott the last six times. So, um, yeah, they they’ve got to get these quarterbacks coached up because these other coaches apparently know Mike McDaniel and his tactics pretty well. Um, couple of other things as well we should tell you for those who like to keep track track of these things. There’s some jersey number changes for the Dolphins. Taj Washington has switched from seven to 84. Used to belong to Erica Zukama. Dolphins had two number sevens during training camp. Jason Sanders being the other. Jason Sanders is on IR. So I guess technically Taja Washington still could get seven, but Sanders likely is going to come back and it’s been around. So uh the other one, Tyrell Dodson went back to number 25, which he apparently wore in college. I know he also wore it at one time with the Buffalo Bills who now and that means Dante Trader Jr. switched to 11. And this is interesting. Dante Trader Jr. has not played one regular season game yet and he’s already on his third number because he started off as 29, gave it up to Minka, moved to 25, gave it up to for Terrell Datson. Uh outside of that, the new kicker Riley Patterson is number 47. Ju Guu Brent is number 32, which belonged to Patrick McMorris, who’s now on the New York Giants practice squad. Uh, quick history lesson here because I’m detecting a renewed enthusiasm for that from the viewers. So, and we aim to please over here. Last time the Dolphins faced the Indianapolis Colts in their regular season opener, there was something very significant that happened in that day. It was in 1998. And what was significant was it was the first NFL game of one Payton Manning. Wow. How about that? How about that? Uh, I had to look it up the exact number. Dolphins won that game. Want to say 24-15 and they made it a very difficult afternoon for Pton Manning who I believe threw three picks and I’m double checking right now to see if it was three or four picks. But anyway, that’s the last time the Dolphins opened against the Colts. They also open against the Colts the previous year. Um want to say they won 16 to 10. I’m going off the top of my head right now and I should probably do the research first before I yap I yap about the history lesson but um so anyway that’s it for that practice report what’s going on with Darren Waller perk please help me what’s going on with Darren Waller by the way before before you jump in and tell the folks there is no injury report no participation report that comes out for the first time Wednesday so ask again enlighten the folks why I would ask what’s going on with Darren Waller I don’t know. Next next question. I mean, I I can expound on that. I still don’t know. Next question. Okay. Really, it’s so bizarre that uh you know, and and we mentioned this last week, he’s not going to get contact before the first game, and unless he does some full contact stuff Wednesday and Thursday, um which that’s going to be limited contact. I mean, nobody is going to be putting on full pads in week one and going, you know, head-to-head action. So, it’s it’s such an interesting approach with with Darren Waller and and not having contact. And, you know, by proxy, if you go with this look at the offense that, you know, Tua has has really never thrown to Waller in a competitive situation. Tua hasn’t thrown to Tyreek in a competitive situation in almost nine months. Austin Jackson hasn’t had contact in weeks. Um, Devon Aan hasn’t had contact in a a couple of weeks. And and so it’s it’s just going to be interesting to see how this all meshes on Sunday with this offense that like you’ve got so many moving parts and unknowns and untesteds. And it’s been a long time since it’s been tested together that I I really wonder what this offense is going to look like on Sunday. Yeah. And the the origin of my question to perk was this. This is what we observe. We’re in regular season mode now. So we watch about the first 20 minutes of practice, which is usually stretching and a couple of other periods, which usually involves special teams work and then some position group stuff. Well, Darren Waller was out there for stretching. Then they split up into positions and we got some some tight ends doing some work with offensive linemen, some blocking stuff. Darren Waller’s not there. He’s gone inside. Then we go outside, check out what’s going on. Darren Waller shows up and he’s working on conditioning stuff on the side while the receivers and tight ends go back inside. And it’s like, what’s going on here? This is why this is why I brought the question. It’s weird. Uh, and from the during the time we were there, Tyreek Hill and Devon HN also did pretty much a strictly conditioning work. Then Jordan Brooks told us after practice when Perk asked him, “Why the hell was Tyreek Hill not a captain?” I’m sorry. I I did I got I got chastised by the media. That That was the first question Jordan Brooks got. I have I have no tech sometimes. I just Well, there was there was a there was this little low. Jordan Brooks was up on the podium and nobody said anything. So, I was like, I’ll I’ll hit him with my perk questions. And there was no tech, no easing into it. I’ll apologize to Jordan Brooks. Very tactless on my part. But he did say, “Go ahead.” No, no. And is it in in your defense is like the the the obvious question to Jordan Brooks when he came up is, you know, what’s what’s it mean to you to be to have been selected captain? I was like deferring. I don’t I don’t ask a ton of questions at the media media sessions. Um I should have eased into it. Sorry. I should have eased into it. I should have asked the guy about himself rather than just bam, what about Tyreek? Well, but again, if that was what if that was on your mind, there were like 10 other people there. Nobody nobody else jumped in. I I was deferring to somebody else and eventually I was like, okay, I’m gonna ask it and then you beat me to it and went with like we were tired. Anyway, Jordan Brooks mentioned as did Bradley Chub and I think also um Eron Bro probably said the same I don’t even know if it was asked that it doesn’t matter you and Mike McDaniel said you can be a leader without being a captain and all that. And then Jordan Brooks pointed out that Tyreek had a touchdown during practice. So which would suggest obviously he did some some some teamwork with the offense. So um but we don’t know the extent of it. Again, we do not have a uh an official practice participation until Wednesday. At which time if there’s something physically going on with Darren Waller, we will know because they’ll have to the Dolphins will have to include it. For now, we don’t know. The three players who go ahead. Oh, I’ll I’ll say this real quick. The the observation from Dr. Perkins is uh both Han and Tyreek look pretty good going through their work with the trainer on the side. Once again, um Han not wearing any sleeve or anything on either calf. We still don’t know which calf it is, which is good because that means he’s not favoring anything from our point of view. And then with with Han, I mean with Tyreek and the oblique injury, he seemed to be able to bend in all directions. He was bending over and bending to the side with the trainer. He was running and stopping and starting again. So I I have no reason to believe that either of them um won’t take the Well, they should both take the field on Sunday. That’s the easier way to phrase it. As Mike McDaniel has said all along, they should both be ready for the season opener on Sunday. And if they don’t, you can voice your complaints to Chris Perk on social Dr. Perkins for the Oh, sorry, Dr. Chris or at the Sunso.com. Um, remember, he’s not a doctor. He just wasn’t. You just play one on TV. Play one on this podcast. Yes. Yeah, there you go. Uh, I I agree with you. I don’t think there’s going to be an issue. Three players did not practice on Monday. They were cornerback Ethan Bonner dealing with a hamstring injury, running back Jaylen Wright, who remember Mike McDaniel told us has a timetable of Septemberish. We are still in September, but I’m going to guess it’s more midish Septemberish than earlyish September. Very nice. I know I get stupid sometimes. Sorry. Uh, and the other one who wasn’t there was wide receiver Dridge. Do not know the nature of his injury. Um, but we saw him out there working with trainers today. No, we did. We did. And and the the overlying point over there is if those are the three guys who are going to be out for the opener, I’d say the Dolphins have done well because they’re not, with all due respect, they’re not frontline players. Uh, they’re more back of the depth chart guys. So, it’s was obviously more important that Han be in the lineup, that Tyreek be in the lineup, that Austin Jackson be in the lineup, and all indications are that it’s looking good for all of them. As far as Darren Waller is concerned, I am done guessing. I don’t know. Uh, and oh, and Mike McDaniel was asked before practice about his level of confidence, be ready, and the answer today was something along the lines of, I’m confident, but exactly how much how much you’ll be able to contribute, I don’t know. And yeah, I I just I just I just don’t see how he’s going to be able to play like 50 snaps or whatever. You know, offenses usually get between 60 and 70 snaps a game. I I just don’t see how Waller is going to be able to to be out there, especially because he’s not a blocking tight end. If he’s a blocking tight end, maybe you just put him out there and get him used to some contact and try to fool the the defense. But I I I just you’re the more he’s out there, the more the defense is going to laugh and go there. There there’s no way you expect us to take this seriously. Yeah. No, it’s I don’t know. Uh the the other bit of news that we have to pass along involves a former Dolphin player, Anthony Walker Jr., linebacker out of Miami Northwestern High School. No, he didn’t play Northwestern. He played at Pace. Pace, right? Pace. My bad. played at face mansenor. Uh, no, he he played at Northwestern. That’s why I had I had that in my head. So, I’m sorry. Anyway, played for the Dolphins last year. Signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a unrestricted free agent. Was released by the Buccaneers. Signed today to the Colts practice squad. possibility he plays on Sunday against the Dolphins along with one Xavier Howard who is now member of the Colts who by the way if you’re going to be on the lookout for him is wearing number four with the Colts. So Xavier versus Tyreek baby. Let’s dial it up. Let’s do it. Let’s get that matchup going. Well, as a little preview, this is going to be a teaser because tomorrow on the All Dolphins podcast, it’s the return of Behind Enemy Lines uh with feature Steven Holder from ESPN talking Colts and the matchup at Lucas Oil Stadium. And yeah, no, he’s a great a great dude. We may not be so quick to assume Xavier Howard on uh Tyreek Hill and we may not be so quick to assume that the Colts were really that desperate that they needed to sign a guy who hadn’t played all of last year because they just might be very good at quarterback. Anyway, that’s my teaser. Check it out. Uh it’s scheduled to post at noon Eastern time. Uh tomorrow, tomorrow night, as I’m going to go through the uh the programming alerts here tomorrow night at 700 p.m. Eastern time is the Dolphins Collective with TD do TD Finn talk, Douglong, Omar, Kelly, and myself. Uh that’s going to wrap it up unless did I miss anything from today, perk? I don’t think so. No, I think that’s it. I think that’s it. Okay, we covered it all. So, as a reminder, please like, subscribe, share, comment, all that good stuff. Make sure to check out my man Perks. Fine written content at the Sunsinel. Sunsel.com. When do you have a Dolphins deep dive with Perk? Tomorrow at noon, just when the behind enemy lines debut. Right. Right. We’re back on our Tuesday at noon schedule. So, me and David Feronis. Uh, yes. Uh, give us give us a look either before or after you watch Poop and and Stephen Holder. Okay. Oh, man. That’s crazy. Oh, damn. That’s not good. Watch. Exactly. Then you have your pick of both. What you should do is absolutely watch both, whichever order you want. So, um, but they’ll be fine content either way and check out Perks uh, written content at sunsel.com. So, that’s going to wrap it up. Thanks for watching. Enjoy the rest of your Monday.

Miami Dolphins on SI Publisher Alain Poupart (@PoupartNFL) is joined by Chris Perkins from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel to discuss the captain choices, the coaching move, and more. Make sure to follow Alain on Twitter at @PoupartNFL and Blusky at @alainpoupart.bsky.social, and read his stories (free content) on Miami Dolphins on SI at si.com/nfl/dolphins.