Latest / 3 Yards Per Carry - Miami Dolphins / Scouting the Fins-1-22-26

Transcript

Scouting the Fins-1-22-26 · 3 Yards Per Carry - Miami Dolphins

0:31
[SPEAKER_01]: What's up everybody, welcome to another episode of Scouting the Finns right here on the 3rd for carry podcast feed.
0:36
[SPEAKER_01]: If you guys have not already, make sure you subscribe to only Finns that's discord.gg slash only Finns.
0:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Join on a desktop so that we avoid the Apple upcharge to 99 to read what
1:00
[SPEAKER_01]: a month.
1:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Go ahead and join only friends.
1:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Coach, Eric and I are also there for your premium news on the Miami Dolphins.
1:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Gentlemen, the Miami Dolphins new general manager and head coach.
1:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Finally spoke today.
1:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And
1:25
[SPEAKER_01]: You guys know that, freshness, football talk.
1:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I counted zero, um, um, um, stuttering, you know.
1:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And I listened to a general manager who had conviction in their, in his thought process, a lot more football knowledge
1:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And it felt like an actual football partnership, listening to it.
2:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I thought it felt, it felt like the reset that we have wanted for a long time.
2:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Like when, you know, we've talked about all the half measures they've done in the past with, you know, either they're letting the GM go, you're letting the head coach go.
2:20
[SPEAKER_00]: But it was never really a fresh start.
2:22
[SPEAKER_00]: It was always something was left over.
2:24
[SPEAKER_00]: You were always going to kind of drag some of the stuff and the previous regime into whatever you were doing next.
2:30
[SPEAKER_00]: But it didn't feel like that today.
2:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Right today they were talking about how the packers did things.
2:36
[SPEAKER_00]: They were talking about how they planned to do things.
2:39
[SPEAKER_00]: They were talking about their vision being aligned.
2:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And it really felt like the two guys out there, solely and halfway, really felt like they were,
2:48
[SPEAKER_00]: on the same page, which is something that hasn't felt like we've had here in a while.
2:52
[SPEAKER_00]: So, was definitely a breath of fresh air to listen to those two talk to that.
2:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean I think the thing that I came away from the entire press conference, most encouraged by was, I mean a couple weeks ago I came on here and I talked about how I wanted a GM that had kind of a strong sense of vision for this team and it seems like, you know,
3:24
[SPEAKER_02]: While he did mention it was an expansive process and searching for a head coach, he did mention that he came in right away with conviction and saying, this is a guy in Green Bay that I really want to work with, and that kind of speaks to a little bit of the power that he wields and kind of the say that he has in those decision-making processes and that he is kind of that leading voice.
3:49
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's something that I think
3:51
[SPEAKER_02]: you know, when you have a top-down organizational structure and it's something that's obviously you have that head coach between you have that connection between head coach and GM but there is that clear delineation that you know you get the feeling that Sully is the guy in the organization right now and that's something that I really like.
4:12
[SPEAKER_01]: I think
4:13
[SPEAKER_01]: We had a lot of takeaways.
4:15
[SPEAKER_01]: The big thing was about the main players to a tie-reak, the cap situation.
4:22
[SPEAKER_01]: How they're gonna build this team specifically through the draft, which will be a big point of the next few episodes of ours.
4:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I felt like Sully Khan a Dodge.
4:34
[SPEAKER_01]: the tool question.
4:34
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, he said, you know, he has a really met with two and he's to all wait the roster, but haven't half of did say that they want to draft a quarterback every year or every other year just to see where the guys are because they want to evaluate the weaknesses and the roster, they want to get better.
4:52
[SPEAKER_01]: They want to get younger.
4:53
[SPEAKER_01]: they want to get physical, they want to get faster, and they did talk about players with injury histories that they don't necessarily want on their team.
5:01
[SPEAKER_01]: That's also something that they evaluate, and that's screened to two of that he may or may not be here because Sullivan named dropped Quintinewers, and he also said, you know, other guys who are not currently on the dolphins
5:23
[SPEAKER_01]: aggressive and free agency, once the cap situation is fixated, you know, they don't want a team full of mercenaries right now.
5:31
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what they did with the beginning of the annual rear bill.
5:35
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't want it to had a fan said they want to accelerate it.
5:39
[SPEAKER_01]: but they gave up picks for Tyrekill for Bradley Chub.
5:43
[SPEAKER_01]: They gave two of this big extension.
5:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Then they extended Jalen Ramsey.
5:47
[SPEAKER_01]: They traded for Jalen Ramsey.
5:48
[SPEAKER_01]: They extended Jalen Ramsey a year after.
5:50
[SPEAKER_01]: They gave Tyrekill an extension.
5:53
[SPEAKER_01]: They gave two of a big contract.
5:54
[SPEAKER_01]: They had to rework Bradley Chub's deal.
5:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Then they got rid.
5:59
[SPEAKER_01]: They also traded, not traded, I'm sorry.
6:01
[SPEAKER_01]: They also got out and signed Toron Armset to a big deal who's also part of the Miami Dolphins
6:08
[SPEAKER_01]: right now.
6:09
[SPEAKER_01]: The big thing I felt like and, you know, I talked about an only fins I talked about in the show was that I was told that
6:18
[SPEAKER_01]: John Eric Sullivan may not take the Miami Dolphin's job because he was comfortable in Green Bay and he went out and said saying that, you know, he liked being in Green Bay.
6:29
[SPEAKER_01]: He was very comfortable in that system and I believe he said something along the lines was I was not going to take just any general manager job.
6:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if that's code for.
6:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I actually really really liked this mind me opening even though there's a lot of warts on the roster cap issues.
6:51
[SPEAKER_01]: The quarterback is kind of undecided.
6:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Now you need to you have to go and out and hire a new coach.
6:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Or you know he really wanted that challenge or Steven Ross is giving him unlimited resources.
7:07
[SPEAKER_01]: He's getting a whole lot of money to fix this, can get all the support that it needs to fix it.
7:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And Stephen Ross told him that, you know, I will give you whatever you want, just don't feel.
7:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I lean more so the latter in the decisions for him to take this gentleman into your job.
7:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think that he came out and like I said, he said, everything that you wanted to hear from both of them today, and on the quarterback topic,
7:38
[SPEAKER_00]: have an inkling that to it is their guy, which I don't think they do, right?
7:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Even if they felt that way and they came out and said that today, like that would, that would not go over well with this fan base, right?
7:49
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that not committing to anybody there was exactly what you would expect, right?
7:56
[SPEAKER_00]: There are certain kind of canned responses that you expect, right?
8:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes you get stuff that's off the wall, kind of like, you know, the bills owner talking about there.
8:07
[SPEAKER_00]: They're rookie waters.
8:08
[SPEAKER_00]: It was their own snack.
8:09
[SPEAKER_00]: They're fine.
8:11
[SPEAKER_00]: That was a while.
8:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And organically, umstrifier happening on live TV.
8:15
[SPEAKER_00]: But like you don't, you obviously don't want that kind of stuff, right?
8:18
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was a very textbook type answer that, you know, that they got to find.
8:24
[SPEAKER_00]: They got to figure it out, but it was, it was comforting for them.
8:28
[SPEAKER_00]: not to sound like they were settled at all on it, right?
8:31
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't have necessarily a vision for 2000 and 26 as far as what that franchise quarterback is going to look like.
8:40
[SPEAKER_00]: It felt like they had a long-term plan of swinging the bat until they find one.
8:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, not just going out and signing a vet next year to check a box and have a starting quarterback, but instead to do what it takes to get that franchise guy right and we'll see if that happens it's easy to sit there today.
9:01
[SPEAKER_00]: At the podium and say that you're going to draft a quarterback every year or two, but when you get into the draft and you, you know, see where the value is and a lot of times like quarterbacks in my opinion, go a lot higher than what they are projected to go right so if you are not willing to.
9:19
[SPEAKER_00]: draft a quarter back hires in their projection that you could just be left with, you know, the leftover guy that nobody really wanted.
9:27
[SPEAKER_00]: And at that point, you're just checking a box to draft one.
9:30
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, we'll see how that turns out in the draft, but to your point, it's on there, as to whether this was a job that solely actually wanted.
9:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it was, and in the the part that really makes me feel that way was one of the questions that he kind of
9:48
[SPEAKER_00]: when he was asked about a timeline right of when we should expect them to basically be Super Bowl contenders and he obviously wouldn't commit to anything like that.
9:57
[SPEAKER_00]: It'd be foolish to do that and you know, set that from a day one perspective.
10:02
[SPEAKER_00]: But when he talked about his conversation with Steven Ross, he wasn't going to reveal what that conversation said, but the key part of it to me there was that Steve Ross told him that if you don't succeed here, it's not going to be from a lack of resources, right?
10:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And he even pointed out that other places, that's not always true.
10:21
[SPEAKER_00]: We see that across the league, whether it's the bangles or the browns and places like that, that there's incompetence in the front office, for all of Stephen Ross's flaws, he's
10:36
[SPEAKER_00]: and absentee owner in a sense, right?
10:38
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's not necessarily bad thing, but one of the things that any GM is gonna love about him is that he is always gonna put the money out there for you.
10:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, if you can make a case, he's got the money, he's gonna come up with it.
10:50
[SPEAKER_00]: This is not a, you know, some owners perks the team and they don't have the money to be able to go out and make the big money signings.
10:58
[SPEAKER_00]: That is not Stephen Ross.
11:00
[SPEAKER_00]: So I do think that, you know,
11:02
[SPEAKER_00]: solely probably was not going to leave Green Bay just for any situation, but I think the attractiveness of not only being in Miami, right, story franchise, but having an owner that's willing to open up the checkbook anytime you want.
11:16
[SPEAKER_00]: That's got to be appealing for any GM that is looking for it.
11:18
[SPEAKER_00]: And then add on to that like Eric was saying, you know, that he really seems to have control of what's going on, right?
11:26
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't, you know, I think that solely wanted half leaf in the very beginning.
11:32
[SPEAKER_00]: but I do think they did the due diligence of bringing other guys in and talking to them, right?
11:36
[SPEAKER_00]: But it wasn't like, okay, we got solely in as the GM and then as soon as a shiny object of John Harball dropped off the tree, that Ross is trying to do that and shoehorn him in with solely.
11:49
[SPEAKER_00]: He allowed solely to go through his process, get his guy.
11:52
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that when you combine the resources that are available in Miami with the power that Sullivan has,
12:00
[SPEAKER_00]: have to think that he really wanted to be here and he sees this as a place that he can succeed.
12:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Eric, a bulk of this episode, we're going to talk about Jeff Hathley and the big thing he mentioned was that he'll be the play caller on demons, right?
12:19
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to be doing a full system audit of Jeff Hathley's defense, you know, not whether that he's smart or he's respected
12:28
[SPEAKER_01]: But what is the actual identity he brings in today's modern NFL?
12:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, when you look at Jeff Haffley's, you know, some of the things that he really likes to do just from an identity perspective, you see a lot of, you see a lot of fourth three, it's not a lot of blitz stuff.
12:55
[SPEAKER_02]: which again, in the modern NFL isn't really new, you know, it seems like the heavy blitzing flores, bagnolo approaches, you know, a little bit less common these days and, you know, you kind of have
13:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Vic Fangeo to high shell is still quote unquote the meta in today's league.
13:19
[SPEAKER_02]: So you'll see a lot of zone from from Jeff Hathley.
13:23
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, it's really heavy in zone 78% of the time, which is about seventh really not a lot of men, but they do provide a lot of pressure despite the fact that they don't blitz a lot in his defenses, which points to again, I don't get me wrong.
13:43
[SPEAKER_02]: having guys like Devante Wyatt and Micah Parsons fit into that, but one of the things that really excites me for this Dolphins team, which I've halfly, as I look at like the roster what things can be done.
14:00
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think that there's just in terms of halfway scheme and what he likes to do on defense,
14:05
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think there's a single player that I'm more excited for than Chop Robinson, because now I'm not saying that there's the same caliber of player, but who else is going to know how to use Chop Robinson better than a guy that just had Michael Parsons?
14:24
[SPEAKER_02]: in Jeff Haffley.
14:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, uh, look, philosophically, you know, Jeff Haffley's defense is not necessarily an outlier.
14:32
[SPEAKER_01]: It's more, it's very similar to Anthony Weaver's defense, except there's more structure and disguise cover.
14:39
[SPEAKER_01]: There's, uh, when I say more structure, I mean, the players know what they're doing Haffley basically coaches them throughout the off season on defense of what they're actually
14:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Half of these defense is going to be peace-milled throughout the off-season like it was for Anthony Leaver.
14:59
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, you said it, Eric, that they run around zone around 70% of the time, right?
15:07
[SPEAKER_01]: The Seahawks do it 81% of the time.
15:09
[SPEAKER_01]: The charges do it 81% of the time.
15:11
[SPEAKER_01]: The Ravens do it 75% of the time.
15:15
[SPEAKER_01]: those teams along with Green Bay, the defenses are a bit similar, the players are very interchangeable as well if no one, you know, is injured if we're just assuming looking at the starting depth chart.
15:28
[SPEAKER_01]: But coach, the question is the outcomes of each defense, right?
15:33
[SPEAKER_01]: And here's where things get a little bit interesting.
15:36
[SPEAKER_01]: We talked about the dolphins, you know, last season with what getting pressure with four guys are getting pressure with five guys.
15:46
[SPEAKER_01]: It looked like Jeff Haffley's defense was much worse than Miami's in terms of four men and five men rush success rate and four men rush success success rate they're ranked 18th.
15:56
[SPEAKER_01]: and five man blitzes or five man rushes, they were ranked 28th, which is bottom of the league and worse than mining.
16:04
[SPEAKER_01]: But they ranked 14th and overall Saxon that was also, you know, defensive back blitzes, cap blitzes, three safety looks where the safety is what also blitzes.
16:15
[SPEAKER_01]: as well.
16:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, it comes back to what we've been saying.
16:18
[SPEAKER_01]: That foreman rush is functional.
16:22
[SPEAKER_01]: It needs to work in order for your defense to be solid and to get off the field.
16:27
[SPEAKER_01]: But the five-man rush is not, and that actually dictates the coverage behavior too.
16:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, I think the most defensive coordinators, when you look across the league, they don't want to bring five or six guys.
16:41
[SPEAKER_00]: If they can get pressure with four,
16:42
[SPEAKER_00]: The, the, and that's the way that they are going to go with it.
16:45
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that, you know, even when you look at Anthony Weaver's defense and, you know, you mentioned about halfly in the way that he is going to coach these guys up and try to simplify things.
16:55
[SPEAKER_00]: That was one of the things that he talked about in the press conference is focusing on the fundamentals, right, and not not trying to overwhelm them with information and that's.
17:05
[SPEAKER_00]: something that Anthony we were talked about right he talked about the illusion of complexity was a turn that he used going into the season but then a few weeks into the season he's talking about you know he was trying to call too much that he was trying to you know call stuff for the 2020-2040 fence instead of all the new pieces that he had.
17:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that they have similar philosophies
17:33
[SPEAKER_00]: implementing that and probably having more experience than Anthony Weaver as a coordinator stepping into the position.
17:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we've got official because he has done this with college kids at Boston College in Ohio state and he's done it at the NFL.
17:49
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, he's had more experience with that.
17:51
[SPEAKER_00]: So hopefully as we move into.
17:55
[SPEAKER_00]: the you know the Jeff halfway defense with the dolphins he is he's able to take those lessons learned and what we're probably going to see I think is going to be probably similar to what you saw with Vic Fangeo in terms of not blitzing a lot of guys at least early on until they really
18:17
[SPEAKER_00]: comprehend the defense, but the big part there is that when you when you choose to only rush with four, then it's more about your Jimmy's and Joe's and your ex-Zeno's, you've got to be able to have those guys up front that they can get there.
18:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the dolphins do have a few of those guys when you look at the interior pressure with Kenneth Grant and Zach Seeler, you know, hopefully chop and continue to grow off the edge, probably still need to add more to it.
18:47
[SPEAKER_00]: probably gonna have to bring that fifth man a little more than what Hathley would like to early in the season to try to generate some of that pressure.
18:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and look, the Anthony Weaver front four or front seven, I should say defense, is a little bit different than Jeff Hathley's.
19:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you're watching this on YouTube, you're seeing what the front structure looks like on the defensive line.
19:15
[SPEAKER_01]: With Anthony Weaver's defense, you had the defensive line and namely the defensive tackles and even edge rushers like.
19:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Zach Seeler, Kenneth Grant, Jordan Phillips, Zeeek Biggers, Matthew Butler, Child Robinson, Bradley Chobb, Malcolm Good, I'm sorry, Cameron Good, and Quentin Bell, there were two gapping, and what two gapping means is that they are reading the blocks and trying to create lanes for the linebackers like Tyrell Dodson.
19:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Jordan Brooks and, you know, even saved.
19:48
[SPEAKER_01]: He's like, make a Fitzpatrick, Ashton, Jay.
19:50
[SPEAKER_01]: David is to get downhill in the in the run game to cover up those blocks.
19:55
[SPEAKER_01]: So that way, they don't get up to the second level.
19:57
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's a little bit different, though.
19:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Coach, can you explain what Halfley's one gap defense is?
20:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
20:05
[SPEAKER_00]: So as you were kind of describing that you're two gap defensive, you picture some of the great plays that we saw at a Jordan Phillips this year where he stacks up a lime in and he's able
20:15
[SPEAKER_00]: and then shed the block to make the play.
20:17
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what two gapping is when you're talking about one gapping, it's exactly that you have one gap.
20:24
[SPEAKER_00]: So now you can be a more aggressive through that gap because you don't have to worry about the gap to your left or the gap to your right because the pre-snap alignment, the stunts are going to set that up where you know, you have,
20:40
[SPEAKER_00]: seven rate gaps depending on what the office of formation is that you have to fill and you have four line back or four defensive linemen, three linebackers and sometimes you're going to safety down the box to do it, but when everybody is responsible for just one gap, right?
20:56
[SPEAKER_00]: So maybe, you know, defensive tackle is responsible for the gap between the center and the guard.
21:00
[SPEAKER_00]: That is all he's got to worry about and allows them to play more free less thinking.
21:06
[SPEAKER_00]: right, more explosion up field.
21:08
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the question, right?
21:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
21:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, it's the question.
21:13
[SPEAKER_00]: As long as everybody is doing their job and everybody is filling their gap, aggressively, you don't have linebackers that are bouncing around trying to do more than their responsibility or you don't have, you know, defensive tackles that are jumping out of their gaps, then it's a very sound way to play defense and allows you to play aggressively, get up field.
21:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Part of that is what allows that foreman front to be good and pressure, right, because now your defensive tackles are getting up field immediately even in the run game.
21:46
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not it's not too gapping where you're standing up your reading and then you kind of have to restart to get back into your past rush.
21:54
[SPEAKER_00]: It is a, you know, a tack from the very beginning philosophy.
21:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, Eric's, some of the dolphins, young rookie defensive lineman like Chopper Robinson, Cameron Good, went to Bell, Kenneth Grant, and Zeke Bigger's struggle a little bit to a gaping.
22:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you think, you know, this is more so a better scheme fit for the guys on the defensive line?
22:19
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely.
22:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, because I think when you look at guys like a Jordan Phillips and you look at guys like a Kenneth Grant, even guys like a chop Robinson on the outside, those guys are such great athletes that I think when you allow them to one gap instead of kind of having to read and and see how to play develops in front of them, you're allowing their explosiveness to kind of take over on a given play where, you know, like coacher said they can just kind of play free.
22:49
[SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, the important thing that's going to have to happen there is obviously, you know, there's work that you need to do on the back end of the defense so that those guys can feel confident, you know, going as aggressively as possible because the last thing that you want is, you know, to have a back running right by you and there's no one behind you to clean up the play.
23:14
[SPEAKER_02]: But I think, in a scheme where it's all out attack, like I said, guys like Jordan Phillips, I'm really excited for really excited for Kenneth Grant Chopper Robinson, you know, I think the escape that that needs guys to kind of read and react with as many rookies as the dolphins
23:41
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think you saw that in the first five, six games of the season where they really struggled up front defensively when we kind of expected the front seven to be, you know, really a strength for this team and that didn't materialize until later on in the year.
23:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
23:58
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, coach, looking through some of these four man five man rush comparisons to good defenses like the chargers and ravens who are very similar in one gaping the charges were first in five man rush success.
24:15
[SPEAKER_01]: The ravens were second and somehow the dolphins were actually seventh.
24:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And they were too gapping most of the time, either with a safety blitz or a Jordan Brooks coming down hill as the blitz or by the way, I think Jordan Brooks.
24:31
[SPEAKER_01]: might have another good season this year playing for Jeff Hathley, but the Packers were 28th, not look.
24:40
[SPEAKER_01]: If you can't even win with five, you either need to tie in your coverage or you need to disguise better.
24:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And in 2025, Green Bay could have do that because of the injuries on that defense.
24:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Here you go.
24:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll just go ahead and list out who are the players that went on injured reserve.
24:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, line back a Christian watch.
25:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Micah Parsons, Jordan Riley defensive tackle, Nate Hobbes, starting quarterback, Zayne Anderson, back up safety.
25:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
25:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Those are defensive guys.
25:12
[SPEAKER_01]: You have four of
25:19
[SPEAKER_01]: You had a line-backer eduring grouper who was questionable for a little bit.
25:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Devontia White also went on IR.
25:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Bob Melton, one of their defensive backs went on IR.
25:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Come all hidden as well.
25:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Towards the end of the season, Hammond Bob Melton also went on IR.
25:38
[SPEAKER_01]: You lose a lot of...
25:40
[SPEAKER_01]: You lose three defensive backs.
25:42
[SPEAKER_01]: You lose three defensive linemen and also a linebacker.
25:47
[SPEAKER_01]: One of those guys being micoparsons.
25:49
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a big hit.
25:50
[SPEAKER_01]: That's like saying, Rasul Douglas, Mink of Fitzpatrick, Jack Jones, Jordan Brooks, not Jordan Brooks.
26:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll say maybe Tyrell Dodson out.
26:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Towards, you know, at least week 10.
26:06
[SPEAKER_01]: and so forth.
26:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Those are pretty good players for the dolphins deepens.
26:11
[SPEAKER_01]: You can say those are pretty good players for the packers, uh, defense as well.
26:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, and at that point towards the middle of the year, you got to work with what you got, right?
26:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, what more can you do?
26:25
[SPEAKER_01]: There's not a lot of waiver wire additions.
26:27
[SPEAKER_01]: The trade deadline is over and now you just got to work with what you got,
26:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I said from the beginning when you're going to this foreman front in your trying to get the four or the five man pressures, then it really comes down to the talent that you have out there and as that talent starts dropping, then you're going to see a drop off in the production right you can't completely overhaul the defense at that point you can't go from a foreman.
27:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Brian Flores cover zero and nine guys up on the line of scrimmage.
27:13
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't just do that in the middle of the season in the NFL.
27:16
[SPEAKER_00]: That's something you have to build up to and practice.
27:20
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that, like you kind of said there is on, it goes both ways too, right?
27:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Once you start losing those guys up front, then your secondary has to hold on a
27:35
[SPEAKER_00]: once you start losing those guys in the secondary, then the balls probably getting out quicker, right?
27:41
[SPEAKER_00]: So you don't get as many pressures because the balls go on because the defensive backs are getting beat early, right?
27:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So there is a big puzzle that has to go together, and I think that one of the things I really liked about Jeff Hathley and the way that he was talking in the press conference today was the way that he was,
28:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Cateres to the talent that he has on the field, right?
28:07
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't ask them all to play the same way.
28:11
[SPEAKER_00]: If you, you know, they talked about the way that he coach Richard Sherman versus the way that he coached Darrell Reavus, right?
28:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Two very different players that are very good at different things.
28:23
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, you don't want to ask Richard Sherman to be up there just pressing every playman coverage chasing a guy around the field.
28:31
[SPEAKER_00]: He's probably not going to be the player that he was and vice versa with Reemus, right?
28:36
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't want him sitting back there and cover three of the entire career because he's probably not going to be the same player.
28:43
[SPEAKER_00]: So I like that about halfway, you know, they're going to bring in talented guys, but it's not that you have to bring in a specific type of player, and you have to make them all play the same way across the board that halfway is going to
28:59
[SPEAKER_00]: call defenses, put them in positions to where they can capitalize on the talent that's on the field.
29:07
[SPEAKER_01]: We talked a lot about from structure, but now we need to talk about the coverage back in.
29:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Looks like with Jeff Haffley's defense, it's more so of zone match coverage where it's primarily played and cover two cover three.
29:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Cover four style, but after like, you know, once the water severs are a little bit deep after 5 to 10 now then it becomes matchman coverage where the coverage rules still try to stay intact, but they're fluid usually Jeff Halfley's defense does morsel cover two and cover three mixed in with cover one.
29:51
[SPEAKER_01]: and in Tampa 2 coverage, it's a form of cover 2, however, the linebackers get deeper into their drops.
30:00
[SPEAKER_01]: There's also a thing called Invert 2 coverage where the linebacker takes the deep middle of the field and the safeties are a little bit more aggressive and drop towards
30:10
[SPEAKER_01]: the middle of the field.
30:11
[SPEAKER_01]: If you remember, Mike McDaniel's defense with Tuatung by Lowe, at quarterback struggled heavily in 2023 and 2024 against Cover II and Inver.
30:24
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to see what Jeff Hathley's defense looked like that up against a Mike McDaniel shenanity type of offense,
30:31
[SPEAKER_01]: just watch the Packers game against the dolphins in 2020.
30:35
[SPEAKER_01]: That's all I'll have to say.
30:39
[SPEAKER_01]: But Eric, looking at Jeff Halfley's defense from 2024 to 2025, there was actually an evolution in how he utilized the defensive backs.
30:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, the nickel usage went out pretty significantly, you know, from 25th and
31:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, and I think that that's pretty in line with the wide trends and it really does emphasize.
31:11
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, that nickel isn't necessarily going to become your base, but I think in today's NFL, a lot of teams, the reason why the run game has come back in the last two, three years, the way that we've talked about is because defenses are more and more comfortable playing in these in these nickel packages, because it is just a lot more low risk in terms of getting beaten over the top.
31:38
[SPEAKER_02]: You're more likely willing to let a team get three, four, five yards at a time when I'm at ground and create more variance in those offensive drives just through more plays, more outcomes can happen.
31:51
[SPEAKER_02]: And so I think when you look at it from that perspective, it does put an emphasis on your secondary.
31:59
[SPEAKER_02]: You're looking at a secondary right now that has a lot of question marks in it.
32:05
[SPEAKER_02]: between, you know, guys like Caterco who and Storm Doug who missed the season last year.
32:10
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think that it's going to really emphasize and need to add to the secondary and get much younger in the back seven this year.
32:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
32:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, we're talking about using nickel, you're thinking of using five defense of bats, right?
32:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Three corners, two safety as well.
32:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And Jeff Hathley's case, he actually used three safety's and two corners.
32:39
[SPEAKER_01]: From 2024 to 2025, John Bullard was a safety, they drafted in 2024.
32:45
[SPEAKER_01]: He played in the slot 361 snaps.
32:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Then in 2025, he moved to 537.
32:54
[SPEAKER_01]: In terms of deep safety for Xavier McKinney, he played 613 snaps deep safety and it went down to 666 shout out to Anthony Testino who coach is also one of your buddies as well on your YouTube TV show.
33:13
[SPEAKER_01]: from 2024, the packers ranked 20th in the amount of nickel they played and in 2025, they ranked 12th.
33:23
[SPEAKER_01]: My here's a thing playing with three safeties.
33:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Having a safety whether it's five 116 foot six one or two hundred two ten, you still have a little bit of that
33:43
[SPEAKER_01]: flex out in the linebacker position, more so of the will position, like the will position now in modern nine of fell.
33:50
[SPEAKER_01]: It's fading away, right coach and air like it's it's fading away.
33:55
[SPEAKER_01]: You use that third safety as your flex linebacker and slot which is why guys like
34:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm blanking on the Rams, Quentin Lake, Quentin Lake from the Rams.
34:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Nick a man, Lori, who Eric, you remember, and that's exactly how I was thinking of the entire time as you were going through that.
34:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we absolutely loved that guy.
34:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I wanted him to be a Miami and hey, if he was here with Hathley, I mean,
34:22
[SPEAKER_01]: that would have solved so many issues, but he's doing that in Seattle as the centerpiece.
34:27
[SPEAKER_01]: What jail and Ramsey used to be with the Los Angeles Rams and what Anthony we've ever tried to utilize him as a star guy in 2023 and 2024 and along with Kyle Hamilton and Baltimore, same with Durwin James, in Los Angeles.
34:44
[SPEAKER_01]: That's your chess piece guy, right?
34:47
[SPEAKER_01]: He can help out and run support.
34:49
[SPEAKER_01]: He can come down help in coverage and also cover those athletic tight ends and slot wide receivers as well.
34:55
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll take a look at one play here on YouTube.
34:58
[SPEAKER_01]: This is actually the wildcard game up against the Chicago Bears.
35:04
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a cover one pre-snap look overall, but when you take a look at the post-snap rotation
35:12
[SPEAKER_01]: It looks very vanilla, but then right at the very end, once they're snapping the ball, you rotate back into two high shell or they rotate back into a one high shell.
35:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Try to confuse the quarterback.
35:25
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, Luther Burden is coming across in motion.
35:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Jvon Bullard and Xavier McKinney are the motion men's in the trip trips rules, which the bears are doing.
35:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Carrington Valentine in this actual coverage look because it becomes a non-traditional Tampa tool look right here.
35:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Carrington Valentine who's their left corner back becomes the safety by these coverage rules.
35:53
[SPEAKER_01]: So in Tampa too, the corners actually play deep halves on their side of the field.
35:59
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, as I explained earlier in the show, the safeties come a little bit down towards the middle of the field and the linebackers, they're they're dropping a little bit more deep.
36:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And once again, there's three safeties on the field.
36:15
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll go ahead and run the play right here.
36:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And it looks to be a sim pressure here, as well.
36:22
[SPEAKER_01]: You have four guys, five guys on the line.
36:25
[SPEAKER_01]: One of those guys drop back and one of the linebackers actually go ahead and blitz.
36:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Caleb Williams, he sees it.
36:33
[SPEAKER_01]: He sees Luther Burton running wide open but because of the pressure that's coming and because of where I believe who is that player.
36:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the deep safety, the deep safety,
36:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, not the Deep Safety Carrington Valentine, again, takes that deep half of the field.
36:55
[SPEAKER_01]: The safety Javan Bullard takes the curl because once again, they're playing a form of cover two.
37:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Caleb Williams doesn't throw this ball properly, where it's supposed to go, it becomes a whole shot for Luther Bird, and Carrington Valentine comes down with the intersection.
37:11
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you can see on the play, it's also right there on my Twitter account, if you want to take a look at it.
37:17
[SPEAKER_01]: In those types of plays, you know, where the quarterbacks are rushing to the ball, rushing to get the ball down the field, that becomes an advantage for defenses.
37:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the defenses are always trying to confuse quarterback, right?
37:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Because when the quarterback gets up to the line, he is scanning that defense.
37:36
[SPEAKER_00]: He's trying to see what that looks like.
37:38
[SPEAKER_00]: When you, you know, those those motions we've talked about Mike McDaniel using those motions,
37:43
[SPEAKER_00]: to try to get the defense to show their hand and try what they're doing and you know when you can bump over and make it continue to make it look like man coverage like on that the play that you had before and then it's zone right and not only like the pre snaps reads for a cover three.
38:07
[SPEAKER_00]: or a cover one right Jeff Hathley talked about that being a closed, closed center coverage versus an open center coverage.
38:17
[SPEAKER_00]: The the razor different so when you snap the ball the quarterback catches it and he's anticipating you know if you're looking to cover three right you're thinking something off the seam somewhere in there but suddenly that post snap picture changes right then you have to as a quarterback be able to process that quickly and
38:38
[SPEAKER_00]: where the new windows are going to be.
38:41
[SPEAKER_00]: So I feel like halfway does a good job of keeping it simple, but, you know, disguising it well.
38:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's where Jeff Hafton deserves credit, right, Eric?
38:57
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, absolutely.
38:58
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, listen, in the NFL, it's no secret today that it's a game of space, right?
39:08
[SPEAKER_02]: And when you're allowing your corners to really kind of play physically and really play into that space, because when an offense is snapped row, there's only so many spots that they can kind of throw the ball to, like you know what your quick routes are going to look like on most plays.
39:28
[SPEAKER_02]: And so it's all about putting your guys in position to where they can use their instincts best to make a play on the football or the receiver at the catch point.
39:37
[SPEAKER_02]: and what Jeff Haffley does is he leans into that physicality of his secondary, you look at Xavier McKinney being maximized as a post-safety playing deep and then using your linebackers to really pressure the quarterback.
39:55
[SPEAKER_02]: That's where again I'm excited for a guy like Chop Robinson
40:08
[SPEAKER_02]: but it really does kind of emphasize the importance of what I would love to see in this back seven, which is bigger, more physical corners in the back and safety as well.
40:35
[SPEAKER_02]: What was in 2020, all right, or what it was in 2020, even.
40:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
40:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
40:40
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, yeah, you know, you maximize your safety looks, the corners are big.
40:44
[SPEAKER_01]: They're playing physically.
40:45
[SPEAKER_01]: They're pressing that it's not a lot of soft books.
40:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Initially, the linebackers are used as pressure tools.
40:52
[SPEAKER_01]: There's one game, the Titans Packers game, where and the first half, they only had one sack and they were rushing with four.
41:00
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not working, right?
41:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Jeff Hathley switches up right after the half time they run a little bit more cat blitzes, Sid pressure looks with five guys coming.
41:09
[SPEAKER_01]: They had eight sacks in the second half.
41:11
[SPEAKER_01]: They had nine sacks in that game.
41:13
[SPEAKER_01]: They had 12 quarterback hits.
41:15
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a real time in-game adjustments.
41:19
[SPEAKER_01]: We talked a lot of the good about Jeff Hathley's defense, but there's also a downside to it.
41:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And the drive sustainability defines
41:32
[SPEAKER_01]: When I deep dive and took a look at the drive metrics, Jeff Halfley's defenses from 2025 and a little bit from 2024 are giving up around three minutes and 20 seconds.
41:45
[SPEAKER_01]: or offensive drive, that is the worst in the NFL.
41:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's almost seven plays per drive, which is the second worst in the NFL.
41:56
[SPEAKER_01]: If we take a look at the best defenses like the Seahawks and the chargers, just two and a half minutes, right, that the Seahawks are giving up per drive, two minutes and 45 seconds for the chargers.
42:11
[SPEAKER_01]: three over three minutes for the packers.
42:15
[SPEAKER_01]: That defense didn't get any stops.
42:17
[SPEAKER_01]: They had pauses here and there.
42:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Now metric wise, the defense on paper looked much better than it was.
42:24
[SPEAKER_01]: They only gave up 5.2 yards per pass attempt.
42:28
[SPEAKER_01]: They were second and yak allowed.
42:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And they only allowed four touchdowns playing in nickel.
42:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, we were talking about nickel right here
42:41
[SPEAKER_01]: quote-unquote base package for athletes defense because there wasn't a lot of 4-3 played it was more so Nick we're talking about Nick right here But with those metrics
42:53
[SPEAKER_01]: There were 16th in opponent scoring percentage.
42:56
[SPEAKER_01]: There were 18th and third down stop rate.
42:59
[SPEAKER_01]: There were 15th in the red zone.
43:01
[SPEAKER_01]: And there were 27th in turnovers.
43:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Remember, the dolphins also last season had issues with turnovers.
43:08
[SPEAKER_01]: They couldn't get a lot of interceptions.
43:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Only up until late in the season.
43:12
[SPEAKER_01]: They tried their best to limit the damage but they did not end any possessions and look.
43:20
[SPEAKER_01]: We all know the New York Giants are have, well, what is it the six pick?
43:25
[SPEAKER_01]: They're like three, they were three and 13, right?
43:28
[SPEAKER_01]: They gave a 15, 16 play drives consecutively to Jackson Dart and the New York Giants offense up against replacement level.
43:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Why receivers?
43:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Rookie quarterback.
43:38
[SPEAKER_01]: rookie runny back as well.
43:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Up against Botanix and the Broncos, they gave up 302 yards, four touchdowns, almost nine yards per attempt, zero sacks, zero interceptions.
43:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Up against the Los Angeles Chargers, they gave 153 rushing yards, almost six yards per carry, only two sacks.
43:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
44:00
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of different cubies, a lot of different teams, Broncos obviously are in the AFC championship now.
44:06
[SPEAKER_01]: The chargers are out of the playoff, they couldn't get much doing and the giants were the worst teams.
44:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And the NFL.
44:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I get it.
44:16
[SPEAKER_01]: There were injuries, but man, nothing worked in those games.
44:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And then those defenses were just stressed out.
44:24
[SPEAKER_01]: They couldn't get any stops.
44:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was very similar to the Dolphins defense last year
44:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Arguably, more talent, you could say.
44:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, that is something that has to improve.
44:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's something that, like you said, we've been talking about this with the dolphins.
44:42
[SPEAKER_00]: You've got to find ways to get off the field on third down, right?
44:45
[SPEAKER_00]: That's how you take down that average, the time in the place when you give them less first downs.
44:53
[SPEAKER_00]: You got to find a way to turn the ball over, right?
44:55
[SPEAKER_00]: That eliminates
44:57
[SPEAKER_00]: all of that stuff, right?
44:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Cause then you're ending the clock, you're ending the plays, you're creating a turnover.
45:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, I think that's gonna, it's gonna come down to talent, right?
45:11
[SPEAKER_00]: You gotta have guys that are ball hawks.
45:14
[SPEAKER_00]: You gotta have guys that are, we'll go for the strip, right?
45:20
[SPEAKER_00]: You obviously wanna make the tappy, you wanna be a very sound-packling team,
45:26
[SPEAKER_00]: forced turnovers at the expense of missing tackles is not a good thing, right?
45:32
[SPEAKER_00]: But you have to be able to play in a way that you are constantly looking to create splash plays, whether it's tipping a ball that gets intercepted, whether it is stripping a ball that's bouncing around and you know ends up as a scoop and score of that type of thing.
45:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that Jeff Haffley and his heavy zone type preference
45:53
[SPEAKER_00]: kind of aids in that right when you're playing zone defenses you are keeping your eyes towards the quarterback more.
45:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the way that he is able to disguise that will help out as well.
46:05
[SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, you know, there has to be talent added to this team, especially on the defensive side, because you can, you can have all the schemes that you want.
46:14
[SPEAKER_00]: You can have the best play calls you want.
46:16
[SPEAKER_00]: But at some point, those players on the field, they got a, you know,
46:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Making that tackle short of the first down, whether it is getting that pass break up or creating a turnover.
46:30
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, definitely definitely somewhere that Jeff Haffley needs to improve, but there's a lot of room for improvement here in my area.
46:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, Eric, the dolphins will be playing up against Josh Allen twice, Drake May twice, whoever the quarterback is for the jets.
46:50
[SPEAKER_01]: They play Bones, they play Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Jordan Love, Caleb Williams, likely for an endoman doza with the Raiders, Jared Goff, maybe JJ McCarthy,
47:09
[SPEAKER_01]: gigantic quarterback gauntlet with really, really good run games as well.
47:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's that's scary.
47:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Like that's kind of scary.
47:20
[SPEAKER_02]: it certainly is.
47:22
[SPEAKER_02]: I think the one thing that you can kind of take solace in with, you know, any zone heavy scheme is that really what Jeff Haffley is searching for with that kind of approach is it's a high floor defense in that you are kind of more bend but don't break.
47:42
[SPEAKER_02]: You're not in
47:48
[SPEAKER_02]: I think in a defense like that, where you are playing kind of that further back more a conservative style, the individual players themselves on defense and the talent that you have becomes that much more important because you're not creating splash plays at this comatic level, you're creating them really at the individual level.
48:11
[SPEAKER_02]: and you need your playmakers to be just that.
48:14
[SPEAKER_02]: And so it is kind of a natural product of that system that you will have longer drives because teams are more likely to take what you're giving them because you're giving them those four or five yard plays.
48:28
[SPEAKER_02]: And
48:29
[SPEAKER_02]: Really, you can kind of make calls that, you know, when are we actually going to send that pressure on those crucial downs, what have you, but at the end of the day, it really does come down to.
48:42
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, players making those plays to force a fumble to go for the interception and players are more empowered to be more aggressive in a system like that because number one, you have your eyes to the quarterback.
48:54
[SPEAKER_02]: And in most cases, unless you're the deep safety, you know you've got somebody behind you that if you don't make the play, you've got a teammate there to pick you up.
49:05
[SPEAKER_02]: So really, it's going to be about accumulating talent on a defense like this.
49:12
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not super concerned that the dolphins giving up like an exorbitant amount of points to almost any of those quarterbacks because like I mentioned, I think this is naturally kind of a higher floor defense.
49:25
[SPEAKER_02]: But that also means you have a lower ceiling potentially.
49:30
[SPEAKER_02]: In terms of just being able to kind of create those turnovers and when that does go bad, it can be really aggravating because you're going to have a lot of 10, 11, 12 play drives.
49:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the thing is, the Miami Dolphins have always been a defensive team first and when they have a good to solid defense, they're usually second in the AFC can make a run for the playoffs and are much better suited for the offense to be complimentary and assist in winning games.
50:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Now look,
50:03
[SPEAKER_01]: The Dolphins goal from 2026, it's not immediately to win the Super Bowl, right?
50:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, it's going to take a lot of building blocks for Jeff Hathley's defense and offense to get to where they want to be, you know, coach, you said that John Eric Sullivan did not really give a timeline of when is what and what's going to happen.
50:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And here's where Jeff Hathley's piece comes in where him and whoever's in his coaching staff, they have to teach these young guys.
50:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, like there's going to be a lot of young guys coming in in 2026 and 2027.
50:40
[SPEAKER_01]: They need a
50:42
[SPEAKER_01]: really, really good teachers that can give structure, discipline, and accountability that develops these players where two years from now, three years from now, they're really pushing not only for wild hard wins, but divisional appearances, championship appearances as well.
51:02
[SPEAKER_01]: But then you also had the risk of a first-time head coach in the NFL, a staff that has never called police as of yet.
51:13
[SPEAKER_01]: A guy who's been in the NFL for two years as a defense coordinator who's had poor clock control, low turnovers, and more so they pass it philosophy on defense to survive.
51:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And Eric, you said, he raises the floor, but the ceiling
51:31
[SPEAKER_01]: What the Miami Dolphins need is an elite defense.
51:36
[SPEAKER_01]: that doesn't just hold them to three points, or less than seven points, but stops positions before they're in scoring range.
51:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Because that's what's been happening since at least 2020, when Brian Flores was also here.
51:55
[SPEAKER_01]: They were giving up points, but they weren't stopping positions.
51:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Jeff Hathley's defense in the next year too, needs to stop those positions.
52:02
[SPEAKER_01]: So whoever is out on offense,
52:04
[SPEAKER_01]: can help score and lie in the burden for the defense like that's what we'll need to happen.
52:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I think that I don't I don't have huge expectations for 2020, so it's like you said this is not going to be a Super Bowl team.
52:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And one of the things that John Erick Sullivan talked about when free agents who was brought up is that priority number one
52:32
[SPEAKER_00]: into a better situation right and basically that means we're not going to see a whole lot of free agent action.
52:39
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to see them really investing in these the draft picks that they are making and we've heard them talk a few times now about trying to build through the draft retaining room guys.
52:51
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that what we're going to see more of this year is trying to establish
53:01
[SPEAKER_00]: we're building with our guys so that we're not running into this 2025 scenario where the entire defense is completely rebuilt from one year to the next.
53:13
[SPEAKER_00]: You're always going to have turnover in the NFL, right?
53:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Retirements, free agency, all of that stuff.
53:19
[SPEAKER_00]: You're always going to lose players, right?
53:21
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you are losing three players from a defense and the other guys all know what's going on,
53:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, maybe one or two of those guys are already guys that have been in the system and they're just elevating into that starting line up, then it's a totally different picture and like you talked about their song right there, it's going to be a lot of teaching so I think that's going to be a primary thing when Jeff Halfley is looking at the assistance that he wants to bring in that was one of the things that he talked about that he wants to be boots on the ground he wants to be out there coaching.
53:53
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why he left the college ranks because it was too much administrative stuff essentially.
53:59
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that he's gonna expect that out of his coaches as well that they're not just teaching schemes and expecting these guys that are fresh out of college to know exactly how to play football, right?
54:13
[SPEAKER_00]: They've got a good idea, they're all talented, but the learning can't stop there.
54:17
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that we're going to see a group of coaches that really invest in the teaching of the techniques and that's what we're going to see a lot of here in 2026 in my opinion is that it's going to be more trying to see them master the the techniques the fundamentals right keeping stuff more basic and building up that base so that as we move into 2027 that that group that is returning is young hungry
54:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was exactly what Jeff Haffley was expecting out of them.
54:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and I, and just to piggyback off of that, you know, another thing that that Sully kind of mentioned in the press conference was They're not going to chase the quarterback for 2026.
55:02
[SPEAKER_02]: Sure.
55:02
[SPEAKER_02]: They're going to draft.
55:04
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, every year, every other year, whatever, just because of the value that the quarterback position has from that perspective, but he also talked about teams that, you know, draft this unbelievable quarterback and because of the fact that you can't protect him or you can't stop anyone doesn't really do you much good so to your point, I think 2026 is very much going to be built about building that infrastructure offensively defensively
55:34
[SPEAKER_02]: So that in 2027, when you do have ideally your franchise guy, whoever that may be, whether that's somebody you draft, somebody you sign, somebody that's currently on the roster.
55:51
[SPEAKER_02]: So that when that guy is ready, you have that infrastructure around him to succeed.
55:57
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think that that's ultimately the right way to build this thing out.
56:04
[SPEAKER_02]: And you know, I come away pretty encouraged in terms of everything that I heard at the press conference this morning.
56:11
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see what Jeff Haffley's defense looks like after following Mike McDaniel's offense for the last three years, coach and Eric looks like we'll be following what Jeff Haffley's defense will be looking like and we'll get a sense of
56:25
[SPEAKER_01]: What the defensive side of the ball looks like will learn a lot more as we go through this within the next year, or the next five years as Jeff Haffley's contract is five years, will learn a lot of defensive terminology as well coach and I will get that for you throughout the year, and we'll learn about it.
56:42
[SPEAKER_01]: So stick with us here on scouting the fence part of the three hours per area podcast.
56:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Now we're also on the five reason sports network as always,