Dolphins in Depth: Dolphins offense facing identity crisis

Dolphins in Depth: Dolphins offense facing identity crisis

Have you ever had a situation where you think you’re going into a one-on-one fight, you versus another guy, put your dukes up, fair on fair, and then all of a sudden three other people jump out the out the shadows and start beating on you, jump you. That’s what happened in the Dolphins joint practice against Bears. Join Isaiah Smalls. Uh Isaiah, I know you weren’t there to see it, but man, uh the Dolphins got jumped. Dolphins offense got jumped. Sheesh. And it was it was uh it was a very humbling thing to watch. Let Let me set the tone for people to understand. Go ahead. Go ahead. Now, yes, a joint practice, the volume gets turned up in physicality, but it’s not supposed to look like real football. People aren’t supposed to get laid out on the ground. Um, you you’re not supposed to have physical hitting. You’re you’re it it’s your quarterback isn’t supposed to be touched. Uh, that wasn’t happening against the Chicago Bears defense. They flat out was just taking a bat and whooping Miamiy’s tail offensively. It was humbling to watch. It led to three interceptions from Tua, two fumbles from Alexander Madison, a guy who’s fumbled six times in his NFL career. It led to uh Tyreek Hill getting lit up on a slant. Not Tyreek Hill. Uh Jaylen Wadd being lit up on a snap. Devon Achant getting lit up catching a screen pass. Um the the middle linebacker Tmaine Edmonds headunting. It was like wow. Wow. My number one question because obviously I compiled your tweets. I saw what you were talking about. I saw what all the good people over there in Chicago were talking about. How much of this was a result of not having Austin Jackson, Alec Engold, and Tyreek? Those were three very key guys on this team. No. Did it look like they were missed or what was the No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, wow. Larry Borum did well. Okay. Having I I I you know, I I have I have hated on Larry Borum. Oh, of course. Um it shouldn’t call it hate. I have pointed out that previously he sucked. He doesn’t suck now. Okay, he’s getting better. In fact, I had him as a as one of my top performers. Um, Larry Boram is not Larry Bor. Larry Borum is is getting better now that he’s at the right tackle. I think maybe the fact he has chemistry with James Daniels from their time together, playing previously, their friends. I don’t know what happened to Larry Bourne. Maybe maybe he’s like, “Yo, I’m I’m not out here doing well. I need to tighten up.” Like I don’t know what happened, but he’s practicing better. Okay. Not having in Engles, that’s still 20 plays. Okay. Um, no, I just I from what I heard from Jason Leisure, who used to work in South Florida, he covers the Bears now. um good friend, very him and him, I don’t know if you watch Mike McDaniel’s uh press conference, but we’ve always told Jason, him and Mike McDaniel, boy, you guys would like each other because they’re they’re quite identical in terms of their their dry wit and sense of humor. And man, was there a love fest yesterday between those two. Um, uh, it the Bears defense led by Dennis Allen, they are trying to create an identity, a head-hunting physical identity, and and Leisure basically said the practice previous to that, there were like a bunch of fights, bear on beayer fights, and the coaches were like encouraging ing it. Oh wow. So Oh no. Yeah. So Oh, they got some guys over there. Yeah. So flip it. Yeah. Um Simone Biles husband. Yeah. Jonathan Owens. You got to stop calling him Simone Biles’s husband. I saw Mr. Biles is crazy. Yo, come on. You know he’s famous for being Simone Biles’s husband. Come on. It don’t matter. It don’t matter. I’m never I’m never for like the whole entire because your significant other is famous now you are. You know what I’m saying? I get it. I understand it. And I’m talking about both ways. I’m talking about what with like if you have a wife and you’re the more famous than the wife and now I just Go ahead though. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. He is dirty. He should have been He should have been thrown out the very first 11 on 111 practice. If the Bears had thrown out a player and sent a message like kicked them out of practice and I’ve seen it. I’ve been to joint practices where guys have been kicked out. Yeah. Yeah. Because you’re supposed to protect one another. Mhm. There was one play and Alan Pupard saw it where I don’t remember the Bears defender, but he literally went to clothesline the Dolphins defender at the end of a tackle and the Dolphins defender had to duck under it. Like who is closlining somebody football practice? Closing in 2025 is crazy. Now, I know the Dolphins reputation to be a soft and this is football. It is a physical sport. And so, you going to have to man up. What you going to do if you mike me there? You going to cry about it and say, “Hey, you’re hitting me too hard.” Like, what do you what do you do? But it was dirty. It was without a doubt. Two T two was hit multiple times. Like he was put on the ground. Put on Oh yeah. Put on the ground multiple times in practice. In a practice. Yeah. No, but you know what are you going to do? What what are you going to do when you know your team’s reputation, you know the world, the league perceives you as soft and here you go. Uh Dennis Allen defense is bullying the crap out of you. Are you just going to take your ball and go home? I mean, no. You You got to you got to you got to put up. But I I I think ain’t no conversation that could be had with Ben Johnson. Like, hey, man, my quarterback’s on the ground a few times. Like, and I get it. I I understand. I understand Ben Johnson’s over there on his offense. This is Mike would have to walk cray cross field to go cry about the fact that his defense is being pimp slapped his offense and jump. Yeah. Now what I don’t like is as you know if you’re a Dolphin fan, they get punched in the mouth, they fold. They got punched in the mouth and you watched them fold during the 11 on 111 periods in practice. I mean to even ended practice. They had a red zone period where the Dolphins offense did win the red zone period. It was the red zone period that ended practice. The Dolphins offense did win the red zone period. Now I’m making so much about the offense. Both defenses won that day. The Miami Dolphins defense performed better than the the the Chicago Bears. I’m not giving you thorough detail about that because as I say in joint practices I have to watch one unit somebody else and poop Alan Pupar watched the other unit. Now I glimpsed over there from time to time. I saw the Jordan Brooks interception. I saw the Jordan Brooks fight. I cannot name who he was fighting. It was a dolphin on dolphin fight. I I saw something. I don’t I don’t I mean I know we don’t necessarily believe Dove climbing but I I saw who he was you if you and that’s the thing. I’m sitting in a contingent with all the media members. We asked we asked everybody if they saw who the fight was between. I saw Jordan Brooks throw the fist. I did not see it was a scrum. I did not see who he was hitting. So, I’m not going to sit up here and tell you he was fighting Terrell Dodson. Okay. And I I never was able to identify where the claim that that he was fighting Terrell D. And if you were not there, you have no business naming somebody he was fighting. And I am now if they have it on film or if a fan saw it that was there. The video was shaky. The video was shaky. I couldn’t I couldn’t Oh, there was video on it. Yeah, there’s video. I’ll send it to you. I could but you couldn’t even tell who it was that he was. I couldn’t even see. I was trying to figure out the guy who pulled him apart and I couldn’t even figure out who that is. But you could definitely tell it was uh it was Jordan. Give me Give me a second. Keep going. Okay, that was that was crazy. That that was crazy. I’ve been here, you know, and I get it. Teammates I think I’ve seen players throw throw punches at one another. Um, but in the after effect, they they encourage the defense encouraged that like Jordan Jordan Brooks is the leader of the defense. This is his defense. if something something you don’t like happens like and and and in fairness, there was a tone set by the defense that they were going not they were not going to be beaten by Chicago. They were going to be physical, but they were not going to be dirty. I like there was no dirtiness about how they played the game. Now on the other side, oh that that thing was dirty. That that was and to the end where uh Kevin Beard Mhm. Uh it Diaz was just trying to block him. Maybe the whistle had blown and he’s still trying to block him. Beard trying to snatch off his helmet throwing punches. Starts a complete melee on the practice field. Mike McDaniel. Everybody trying to separate Mikey. This is the funniest thing. Mike McDaniel gets in the middle of it. So all you do see is this is 30 250 plus men fighting one another Daniel in the middle of it Michael Daniel in the middle of it trying to trying to like separate it eventually Terron Armstead who comes Terron Armstead cuz um Aram Brewer he he started his own too he was cuz understand the frustration of the offense when what had happened have been happening and you’re already frustrated and you’re struggling to manage your composure and you finally get into this situation where you’re you’re trying to like where you’re trying to like get get on your feet, get some redemption and then here they go trying to beat you down again. It’s it was like oh hell no. So you saw everybody jump in. Terron Armstead had to go get Aon Brewer because Aon Brewer was about that business. They were there was c there was certain players who was like, “Yeah, this is football over. We fa to get it.” And then there and then to Terrell uh uh uh uh what’s his name? Uh Tyreek Hill. This is the funniest thing ever in my mind. You know Tyreek Tyreek was a peacemaker, peacekeeper. Literally, he goes in cuz Estridge was like, “Nah, football over. We f to do. We f to go. We we like we we are about to go.” Because I think he was one of those guys that got one of them cheap shots cuz they were Oh, they were cheap shot. The secondary and the line Tine Emmens cheap shot after cheap shot after cheap shot after cheap shot. Yeah. So Tyreek goes in. Tyreek goes into the scrum. Literally picks up the Estridge, puts him over his shoulder, and walks him out. And Estridge is like fighting, trying to get back in. And Tyreek is holding him like he’s a toddler. Like, come on. Come on, baby. Let’s go. Let’s go. It was hilarious to watch. And event and Tua throws a pick six after that. Damn. Oh god. You know, I mean the Dolphins all then then Miamiy’s defense shuts down Caleb Williams. Then we get to the second second quarterbacks. Um and I think it was Zach Wilson who who did score a touchdown. Yeah. Threw something to Andrew Armstrong I believe. Yeah. Threw a touchdown to Andrew Armstrong. Um, obviously I think he had scored before, but Julian Hill was illegal procedure on a touchdown that he scored. Like he Julian got to clean clean his stuff up. He got he got to he got to it. It’s happened. There’s too much sloppy play from Julian. Yeah. Um, I know a lot is on his plate, but Julian, you about to lose your starting job. Like you were about to lose your job. Um, uh, Farrell Brown is is on that ass. Um but but the and the Dolphins defense stingy in all three red zone opportunities. In fact, Zeke Biggers delivered a sack on the final play. Yeah, big old Zeke Biggers delivered a sack on the final on the final play on the third down opportunity that that allowed the Dolphins basically to walk out with the victory in that period. So, the Dolphins offense got their ass whooped. No other way to describe it. Yeah. No. No. Six offensive penalties on the offensive line, three interceptions from the quarterback, two fumbles, a quarterback to center exchange issue. It was bad. That’s ugly. Now, the Dolphins defense, they did their thing. They they performed. It wasn’t as dominant as the Bears defense versus the Miami Dolphins offense, but they had the Jordan Brooks interception. They had a lot of pressure that flushed Caleb Williams out the pocket. Miami wasn’t cheaping Caleb Williams. The cornerbacks they held their own. They held their own. Okay. What were the just just to paint that picture for me, who were the the starting receivers for the for the for the Bears? I know Roma Dun was Luther Luther Burden was in there I’m guessing. Uh I didn’t watch I didn’t watch you. I can’t even tell you. Okay. Who it was who it was. Okay. Then another my next question then is Oh, hold on. But it should be pointed out that the Bears starting quarterbacks did not play. So Stevenson and uh what was the other guy’s name? Jaylen. Uh Jaylen Johnson. Yeah. Jaylen. Uh John play. Yeah. No, they didn’t practice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wait, wait. Okay. That changes virtually everything. Huh. That changes everything. Yeah. Um I guess I mean my my biggest question for you is I guess what what are like three things I guess that that this joint practice taught you about this team, about the Dolphins? They have practiced for three weeks against zone coverage and uh you need to start practicing against press coverage. Yes, man. Okay. Okay. Cuz they were rerouted though. They rerouted those receivers like nobody’s business. Wow. And Tua, you know how Tua is. Yeah. Two is throwing to spots where receivers should be. Ain’t no receiver even close. Wow. Yeah. Like even just just for clarification, NWI was he getting rerouted because obviously he’s a bigger bodied receiver. Everybody was getting rerouted. Everybody everybody was getting rerouted. It was wow. It was that was probably the most biggest standout for me. Dolphins without a doubt need to start practicing against press coverage because ain’t nobody gonna give you no free release this season. Yeah. Yeah. like there is nobody gonna give you free release this season till you prove that you can actually beat press. Um uh the Dolphins ran very well. I think the only thing they did positively was run well to the left side. Um the Bears the Bears riders were like, “Yeah, we got an issue. We got an issue here.” Like in terms of who their edge setters were. I don’t remember who specifically was playing over there, but they were getting mauled. And that’s a positive sign. That’s a very positive considering that that’s where the Young Bucks are. That’s where Jonah and uh Patrick are. Okay. Um and my my third of the stand out is um I could rock with Malik Washington. I I um Yeah. What? I’m just I’m just saying I just You said you could rock with him with what? Here’s the reason why I say I could rock with him. Okay. When you visually when you visually saw everybody on offense cowering and people started to play a little intimidated, started to play a little timid. I ain’t I’m not even gonna I’m I ain’t you know I ain’t lying to you. They was scared. They I put out a meme like you know uh where where um what’s his name? Uh Kevin Har like no no no no they were not ready for what the Bears had. The Bears when I say they got jumped they got jumped and they were not ready for that. Um but Malik Washington he wanted to smoke. He he wanted to smoke. ran some very hard, dangerous routes. Um, when them when those receivers tried to lay him out, he gave it back to him. Uh, Malik Washington earned my respect. You are now officially my number three because, you know, when you have those moments where it’s your crew versus another crew, you need to know somebody gonna step up. Yeah. Yeah. He He stepped up. He stepped up. He stepped up like a big boy and I I I was I noticed it. I saw it. I was proud about it. Um Destridge like I respect it. Like you saw you saw the guys who who wanted that who wanted to fight who fought back. That’s good. And then you saw the guys who wilted and Tua was a wilter. I’m I’m I’m I ain’t even I ain’t even gonna lie to you. Tua was wilting and that is something that he’s probably going to spend the next couple of days beating himself up about. Yeah. Um I’m not I I’m I’m not going to make any excuses for it. Things weren’t going well for his team. Things weren’t going well for his unit. And he shrunk in the moment. What is the narrative about Tua? That he does just that, that he shrinks in the moment. Sometimes he gets too far into his head. And what what kind of bothers me about this is I saw a clip the other day where he talked about his the biggest improvement, you know, in in his in his career, I guess, has been his mindset, right? Sometimes he’d be he’d get too caught up in the bad plays he he’d make. And then, you know, one of the things I extrapolated from that was because that’s how you get games last year. He I mean he had two games where he threw three picks, right? And you could tell that like during those games that once he threw that first one, he was like, “All right, I got to try to make up for it.” And then he threw another one and okay, now I got to go try to make up for that and throw another one. So that just that that bothers me considering that’s kind of what that’s exactly what happened yesterday. His narrative that’s that’s that’s tough to hear. That’s that’s exactly what happened yesterday. And um Mike is going to have to spend some time undoing the damage done. Got to build back up that confidence or is it is it and it’s not and and it’s not just him because to me the bigger issue were the receivers. Like you can’t like you can’t be rerouted like that. You can’t be pushed aside like that. Like not by no CB2s. They I mean but but when you know your receiving course are is full of tiny guys. Yeah. Like what what do you want? What like what what do you want? What do you like? This is how you chose to build your team. And yeah, I know you added um um Nick Westbrook and Eric Uzukama. He got laid he was the first one to get laid out. Yes, I did. I did. He was a he was the first one to get laid out. Yeah. Like when I tell you it looked like old school football where you know when you go over the middle of the field Yeah. Oh, you was gonna pay the price. It I I I’m not lying to you. You went over that middle of the field. Those safeties um it’s a safety called Brisker. I’m trying to remember his name. Um I can’t uh his name Jaquan Brisker. Like I gotta check when whether he a free agent or not. When when he gonna be a free agent cuz that dude that that dude he was he was head hunting. He was heading. Okay. Um I I liked it. I can’t even deny that I liked it. It was It looked old school to me. I was like, “Yeah, like like you went over that middle. He was he was gonna take your head off and in a practice. Yeah, that’s kind of crazy. I’m still I’m still blown away that you say that to Tul ended up on the ground a few times in a practice. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um even uh James Daniels talked about Yeah. I let him get I I let I didn’t hear I didn’t hear that. I let to get touched too much. Yeah. It it was the right side that was giving the the pressures now. And it wasn’t Larry Bourne. So that’s that’s now that’s now that’s very rough here. The big free agent lining is uh kind of I I wouldn’t say that he did bad. Yeah. Um it was just a reality check that cuz we got we got we got they got work to do. They got work to do. And I would I would I’m glad that the next joint practice is going to be Detroit. And I know what Detroit’s got going on. a player was airlifted and hospitalized yesterday. They they ended their the the exhibition game. Yeah. They did. And I’ve been in those situations where they they after you see that players players are not trying to play football. Um I I can’t remember if that’s happened before with the Dolphins, but yeah, once you once you see somebody get like um who was a wide receiver last year in Houston that got pulled off the field on a stretcher? Oh yeah. Um I can see his face in my head. Yeah. The dude from um who from who from Florida. Yeah. Once you once you see that your your mind is like you re you it reminds you this is a dangerous game we playing. Like people get get people get get hurt paralyzed. Yeah. What whatever whatnot. Um Tank Dell is the receiver that you’re that you were talking about. No no no no no. I’m talking about Dol Houston though when Dolphins play. Oh, when Dolphins played Houston, when Dolphins played Houston, that remember the receiver that got hurt that was hospitalized for a little bit? I can’t remember his name now. They got him from Green Bay. Um, keep I don’t remember that at all. Yeah. Um, what was I gonna say? Uh, so they they they definitely have in my op I’m glad that they’re going to have joint practice against the Detroit Lions because the Detroit Lions play with the same level of physicality. Clearly teams are going to try to rough you up. It that’s how teams are going to play you. And the only counter for that is to be physical and be able to run the ball effectively and then beat them over the top with big plays. Now, go ahead. I think my my my number one question for you is just is this out of everything you said, right? Do you believe that this is fixable by by September 7th? O. Oh no. I deafening right now. I need to see the fight in this team. Okay. I need I need to see I I know the defense will fight. Will the offense fight or will they wilt? um the fight in Devonte Chan, the fight in you know and if you’re not going to fight the fight in Jaylen Wadd, um the fight in Julian Hill, the fight in Darren Waller, the fighting offensive line, the fight in two tongue. If you’re not going to fight, it’s going to be a rough season. You going to put up empty stats because it’s not you’re not going to win when it matters because the book on you now is just rough them up. just just just rough them up. And um they they they have I the only counter for the way that Chicago was playing is to beat you beat you over the top, beat you deep cuz Chicago was just jamming the crap out of you. And if you couldn’t get behind them and connect on that deep ball, it was, you know, you you ain’t have a chance. Now you can run the you can run the ball. They ran the ball. Now, but do I believe that they can run the ball consistently like that? No, not really. Um, even the screen passes that they threw, Chicago lit them up. Like lit like when they caught screen passes, Chicago was like, “Oh, you going to catch a screen pass?” Like it wasn’t no like it wasn’t no you know thud. Yeah. It was you catch a screen pass, I’m running through you. Like this is real football. This is not this is not no, you know, oh, we not playing flag football. Yeah. And they wasn’t ready. Was they were not ready. And I’m glad that practices against Detroit. I know it probably lead to more injuries, but Anthony Weaver’s got to have his defense get more physical with them. like they can’t be playing friendly football because this offense has to get ready for what they’re gonna face. Like I don’t worry about the defense even with these cornerbacks. Yeah, they all right. They going to be all right. The the pressure in the front is is creating enough disruption with the corner. The the only concern I have is quarterbacks are going to have to hang and cover a lot longer, especially when it’s athletic quarterbacks. Yeah. Because they going to get out the pocket. the quarterbacks are gonna be flushed out the pocket a lot. Josh Allen, the Lamars, you got Josh Allen twice, you got Lamar toward the end of the year. Jayen Daniels, who else who else will they face that’s a little bit mobile? I don’t even know. Um, yeah, Anthony Richardson. Uh, and yeah. Uh, yeah. No, if he comes back there they’re the and and even the safety spot like I don’t I didn’t watch defense a lot but it wasn’t like when when when the de the offense would make a big play you’d hear the crowd cheer because we’re in Chicago so you did not hear the crowd cheering all all you heard was offensively ooh like like damn like That’s all you That’s all you heard. Like like Yeah, it was it was uh you ain’t hear the cheer. There was no cheering over there on the on the right side of the field. All you heard was like like like the crowd that was watching the defense play. All you heard was them like like like we we some headbusters. Yeah. Uh yeah, that’s good. I mean, look, I I think I think we’ve we we’ve said this time and time again that the defense is probably going to be the calling card for this team, and they got to set the tone for the entire team. They do. They do. And that means you got to rough up this offense on a regular daily basis. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I mean I don’t I can’t I can’t think of another way to simulate that pressure other than I I think I think um I think Tyreek and Tariq and Jaylen and the and and whoever is playing in the slot, Malik, uh they they have to like Jason Marshall Jr. he’s got to he’s got to he’s got to get them ready for like he is without a doubt safe on this roster cuz he needs to get them ready for press coverage. Let let him because he’s big. Yeah. Whoever is your best jammers and press corners. Um and you probably probably need another press cornerback. Like I think that might be why Cornell Armstrong is is so elevated on the dep chart because he’s pretty decent as a press coverage guy and he’s a he’s a physical quarterback which is why he plays the gunner. um your press guys, they got to step to the forefront because you are going to face a lot of press this season. Uh I ain’t nobody going to play zone against you. Like until you start to beat them over the top. Yeah. Nobody gonna play zone cuz these receivers, they getting manhandled at line of scrimmage. And it was it was it was very humbling. and um they going to have a lot of teaching tape to go over. So hopefully it’ll be interesting to see if they respond on Sunday. Um I I like unfinished business. Definitely unfinished business. I would be shocked if Tua doesn’t play because you’re not going to do me like that. Yeah. You’re not you’re not going to you’re not you’re not about to cuz they got they got it was like you not about to do me like that. There’s there’s pride involved in this. Um so if I mike uh yeah all my starters y’all ain’t earned no day off. Let’s let’s go to work. How many snaps? Let’s get our get back. How many snaps? Huh? How many snaps? Two series. You got you you got to show me you you you got a little fight in you because now that the tackling is real. We we can’t you cannot go out like that. Um so but we’ll see. I mean I don’t know if I’m playing all my defensive guys. Yeah. Do I need to play Bradley Chub and Jaylen? Bradley Chub. Jaylen Phillips. I mean shoot Zack Ca take your day off. No Zack probably gonna try to set the tone. No. No. I know. Zack if his rookies are playing Zach is gonna play. because he he he need to Zach is Zach is a leader of leader and Zach is gonna be like I’m not gonna have you out there without me. Um but uh Jordan Jordan Brooks I don’t know if I’m letting it. Yeah, I’m I’m I’m making him play. I’m making him play. Um but it’ll be interesting to see what happens. What will be the things that you’re looking for on Sunday? for me, you know, as I wrote in my my story, the Miami Herald, couple things. I’m looking at the safety spot. I want to see somebody try to carve out a role. Um, obviously, you know, with with the injuries in that unit, you know, someone has to start opposite of of Minka, right? So, hold on. You ain’t liking what Elijah Campbell doing? No, no, no, no, no, no. I’m not saying that. That’s not what I’m saying. I sound like that’s what my ears are telling me. But, that’s what my ears are telling me. I want I want to see a clear or order order behind him, right? Like I want to see something from Mc Morris. I want to see what Colberg can do. I want to see what Saunders can do. Like I got beat bad. They got beat. I did see that play. You did see that? Yeah, you mentioned that. That that Saunders Yeah. let the rookie tight end just right through. And there’s a video of it too on on there’s a a Chicago Bear fan put to took video of it and it was that I didn’t like that. I didn’t like Channing Tindle on special teams. You did say that he uh he w the effort was piss poor. Um the wide receiver Monterey Baldwin. Monterey Baldwin. Yeah. You said that he he like dropped a punt or something like that. You drop a punt, jump on it. Yeah. Try to go get it. Like it looked like the Cam Newton when he fumbled in the Super Bowl. Like he’s like he was like looking at like, damn, I dropped the punt. while while the Bears defenders over there jumping on it like like what what are you doing? Um Cam Good did have a punt block, but I didn’t see it. A punt or field goal block. I didn’t see it. Okay. Um as as the different fields were working. Um so props to Cam good. I I think he’s in the danger zone. Um yeah, because if you ask me Grayson Murphy Yeah. Um, which one was it? Is it McClendon? Yeah, there I And I probably could put both of them on my practice squad. Um, that spot is probably for special teams. So maybe Cam Good is safe, but Cam Good needs to go make plays on defense in my opinion. That’s real. Um, and uh I’m trying to think uh um if Melano was working a little bit more, but I don’t know if he plays. That’s what I’m see. That’s why I’m saying I’m looking at that safety spot. I want to see who the best ability is availability, right? And if he’s gonna be the starter, let’s stop pretending. You I I hear that, right? I hear you. But with with what football has 100% injury rate or right or wrong? Yes. if he’s a guy who has a significant injury history, right? The fact that he didn’t come onto the feet, come into into training camp healthy, to me, it was a I don’t want to say a red flag, but it was something to keep notice of, right? Because to me, I mean, football, it’s a game of attrition as well. Like, you’re going to beat yourself down, right? And so, if you’re already coming in at 90% when there’s guys coming at 100, your floor your I mean, your your ceiling is a lot lower than everybody else. So, that’s my thing. You make a very good point and especially when you factor in Elijah Campbell is the Dolphins top gunner. You know I I’m obsessed with gunners. You need two. They they are very important. You need two. If Elijah’s a starting safety, he can’t be a gunner. So I see Jack Jones working as a gunner. I don’t know how it looks. I see Cornell Armstrong work in a as a gunner. Like if you are a hardcore Dolphin fan, you need to pay attention to on punts the guys on the edge to have to get past two defenders. It is a hard job. It is a very difficult job, but you have to have a toughness to you. Ethan Bonner has been identified as a guy who cannot do that. Yeah. Um and you need to find some quarterbacks who can do it. And speaking of Ethan Bonner, that that’s what the other that I said. And speaking of Ethan Bonner, that is the other position that I’m going to be looking at. I think we can pretty much agree that Storm Duck has a pretty solid hold on at least one outside cornal role. And you know, correct me if I’m wrong, I don’t think Kendall Sheffield’s hold on that other ro on that other one is as strong as people. You know, obviously right now he’s CB1, but I feel like that can change. I don’t know if he’s QB1. I don’t know if he’s according to the depth chart, he is. according to death chart. N depth chart’s a liar could get based on yesterday. Bingo. So now I’m looking at all right, who’s gonna take that spot, right? Obviously, you know, they would love for Cam Smith to take it. It’s not Come on. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Chill. Chill. Chill. Chill. They have moved on. Let’s let’s not even let’s not even let’s not even let’s not even inject hope and hype into it. More realistically, I’m looking at Jack Jones, honestly, as a guy that could probably, you know, go go steal that from Kender Sheffield. But I mean, Ethan Bonner, you know, just I’m just telling guys in the position. Those are the guys don’t sleep on Cornell Armstrong. But see, they but but you seem uh hellbent on him being the starting nickel for whatever reason. No. Uh, I think he’s working on boundary now, too. Okay. Like there like I I’m honestly telling you I don’t know what’s going on with Cornell Armstrong cuz he gave more opportunity than everybody else on the team. Like he doing he he doing everything and and they’re like really trying to see what he could do. He is nickel. He is Boundary. He is Gunner. like they’re really trying to see like yo can we like does like I in my mind easy to put him on a practice squad give him four games of elevation see where it goes in my mind but based on what my eyes are telling me he might make the 53 like he I I saw he he also got one of my top performers. I saw a lot of fight from him yesterday. That’s great. Special teams um cornerback work like and people are like, “Oh, you you just like Cornell Armstrong. That’s your dog.” I don’t know Cornell Armstrong. I’ve had one conversation with him. Like I don’t I don’t have a clue anything about him. All I know is he is at the front of the line. Yeah. Why? I have absolutely no idea. Yeah. So, we we we we might see on Sunday. I don’t know. Look, I mean, he should at least get some nickel nickel uh quarterback. Yeah. Reps on Sunday, but I mean, I I want to see him on the boundary. I want to see what he can do. Uh but those are the two those are the two positions just to, you know, bring a a nice little bow on that question. Those are the two positions I’m looking at the most. Um you obviously wide receiver three is is is something to note. the running back rotation will be interesting to pay attention to. Um because as much as you talked about Madison and and a little bit of Han yesterday, you didn’t mention Ollie Gordon and so that’s either a good thing. He had a good run. All right, there we go. So I will put him in the pile of guys who fought yesterday. Okay, so then I want to see that fight carry over to Sunday, see what he can do because I mean look, I I think when you talk about the solutions for this team and then being having to be a team that might have to rely more on the run than you think. I mean, from what I see in that running back room, obviously I wasn’t there yesterday, but what what we see in practice, they have at least an interesting group of guys that I think could put something together. Now, whether or not Yeah. The running back room, we talking about AJ, talking about Madison, you’re talking about Ali, uh, even Jay, right? You think you’re thin? You think they’re one thing? They’re one thing. They’re one thing. I think you’re you’re going to you’re going to have to add a a running back for the practice squad from some other team which you can find because running back Yeah. Diamond dozen. Yeah. Running back a diamond dozen. Um but I’m just intrigued by that group in of itself. Yeah. I want I want to see I’m curious about Jaylen Wright because I have been Yeah. It’s it’s like it’s been hot and cold. I I think he came I think it was hot at the beginning. He kind of you know cooled off right now. So, we we we’ll definitely see that. And I’m I’m curious to see what Quinners does. He didn’t get much reps yesterday, which means they gonna play the crap out of him on Sunday. He like he didn’t get nothing. Um so, and and I understand it because you know, you this is about getting two in the first team some work. Like, you ain’t ain’t going to waste reps on the number three quarterback. No, no, no. So, um, so it you for all those Quinners hype hype people, um, you you gonna get to see what you what you want to see. I was about to say Austin, Texas, you know, pay attention to, uh, the Sunday. Definitely tune in. Read some stories, too. Read some Miami Herald stories, too. All right. On that note, we will be back on Monday after the game to recap what we see from the Miami Dolphins in their first preseason game. Thank you for watching Dolphins in. Hopefully you’re a subscriber. Um hopefully a subscriber to the Herald and we will see you on Monday. Peace.

After a rough joint practice with the Bears that saw six offensive turnovers, the Dolphins get a shot at payback in Sunday’s preseason opener. The Dolphins In Depth podcast recaps Friday’s struggles and what Mike McDaniel’s team must do to shed its “soft” label.

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