Fantasy Football Daily - Miami Dolphins with Safid Deen | 2023 Franchise Focus Podcast

Episode Date: June 20, 2023

Continuing the ambitious "32 teams in 32 days" podcast series, Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) and Safid Deen (@Safid_Deen) of @USATODAY and @USATodaySports set expectations and answer your fantasy questions for the 2023 Miami Dolphins. Want to join a high-stakes dynasty league -- or any other high-stakes league? All new FFPC users get $25 off their first FFPC league of $35 or more, including dynasty orphans, using our affiliate link: https://myffpc.com/cms/public?affid=fantasypoints FANTASY POINTS PROJECTIONS ARE LIVE FOR ALL STANDARD AND PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS! Interested in playing Best Ball in 2023? There's no better place than Underdog Fantasy. Use our code FANTASYPTS to sign up for a new account at Underdog, and not only will you get a 100% deposit match up to $100... but you'll get a Fantasy Points Standard subscription for only $5! https://www.fantasypoints.com/underdog --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoints.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. Hey everyone, it's Joe Dolan and welcome to the 2023 franchise focus podcast series at FantasyPoint.com. Franchise Focus has been something we've been doing for a number of years and really what But what it started as was a team preview article for all 32 teams in the NFL with a fantasy slant. And last year I decided, and it ended up being a pretty successful endeavor, outside

of the fact that I recorded half the podcast with COVID voice, I decided to expand the franchise focus idea to go to the source. And what I opted to do was reach out to a podcaster, analyst, beat writer, individual for all 32 teams, somebody who covers. that team for a living, somebody who was just intimately close to those teams. And I thought it really went well and I think people enjoyed it. It gave me new perspective. It gave me new takes. There were some sleepers I learned about that I didn't think about. There were some breakout candidates that I learned about that I didn't think about. So I really wanted to do that again,

and I'm excited that over the next six weeks. I am going to be able to bring that to you. This is week one of the series. And what we're going to do is we're going to start with the AFC East and we are going to go AFC East, AFC North, AFC South, AFC West, and we're going to go alphabetical order within those divisions by city name. So we're starting off the podcast series with AFC East, and over the next six weeks, we're going to hit all 32 teams with an article. Some of them will be free. Some of them will be exclusive to Fantasy Point subscribers, but the podcast will always be free. There's going to be an accompanying podcast. So when you see the podcast or see the article, you know there's going to be the counterpart.

to that, either on the website or on the podcast feed. I'm really excited to bring the 2023 franchise focus podcast series to you. Without further ado, let's kick it off with the AFC East. And today we're welcoming Safed Dean from USA Today on the franchise focus podcast here. He is an NFL insider for USA today. He's based in Miami, used to cover the dolphins for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. So he is still very close to the team. You can follow him on Twitter at Safed underscore Dean. Safed, welcome to the show. We're two, I guess, depressed NBA fans.

So we're recording this the day after the NBA finals ended. Soffed is a heat fan. Now, Safed, you mentioned off air. The heat are an overachieving bunch. I am a Sixers fan, the exact opposite of an overachieving bunch. Just disgusted, by the way, the season ended. But at least the heat, you can hold your head high. I can definitely hold my head high for a playing team to need the second

playing game to go all the way to the NBA finals. I know they ran into an all-time great player in Jokic and, you know, a team probably a little bit just as well put together as their own in the Nuggets. But yeah, I do feel sorry for you as a Sixers fan, man. I hope Joelle gets some help real soon. Maybe Joel comes to Miami real soon. Who knows? I'm just kidding.

I know Philly wants to keep him really badly. So, yeah, it's, you know, always fun to kind of just have the NBA when, when then NFL is not around. But we're doing a fantasy podcast in June 13th. So you let me know what sport is taking is dominating a little bit more. Yeah. So we're actually going to be airing this next week, for us next week, if you're listening to it, it's not next week. It's now. But so I want to, I want to kick off with a question just so we can get it out there and maybe answer this hypothetically because I know that you've certainly been speculating about, I'm sure you're hearing from Dolphin fans.

Potential interest in Dalvin Cook. He's a Miami native. He's on the free agent market, potentially has a new team by the time this podcast even airs. But would you characterize the Dolphins' interest as real, as valid, and as interest that makes sense to you? I think the dolphins, from a team perspective, interest makes sense to me. I would say I think Dalvin Cook wants to be in Miami more than maybe the dolphins

might want him. and not to say that the dolphins don't want him. Right. Obviously, it's a money issue. You know, the dolphins have a lot of guys they have to pay. Christian Wilkins being one of them. You know, a bunch of their own guys, you know, need to get paid. Javan Holland is coming up.

Jalen Waddle is coming up. You know, a lot of young guys that they really used to make this rebuild happen a couple years ago. You know, we're getting to years three and year four time for contract talks. And, you know, you go give Dalvin Cook you know, a two-year, three-year deal. It could take away some money for some people. And you might have to, you know, have some people walk away.

The Dolphins notoriously, they don't do running backs. They don't, you know, they don't care for them well. Kenny and Drake was a third round pick, just like, you know, I believe Devin Arcane was. And so, you know, they don't value the position highly enough, you know. And from the years, past couple years, it's always been kind of a thing where it's like, all right, watch out for the running back on the other side, but Dolphins don't have the running back on their own side. And I think if Dalvin Cook were to come to Miami,

it'd have to be a big pay cut or something where it was a really team-friendly deal with a low-based salary and just a lot of, you know, bonus money. And I also saw one thing, too, you know, a couple things out there. You got guys like Rahim Moster and Jeff Wilson and even the rookie in the running back room there. You know, those, Davin Cook isn't, excuse me, those guys aren't taking carries away from Dalvin Cook. Dalvin Cook's taking carries away from those guys.

And plus Dalvin Cook can catch a little bit out of the backfield too. And with a quarterback like Tuotanga Vailoa who likes to, you know, check down, you know, beat the checkdown like a hammer. You know, a guy like Dalvin Cook would have great fantasy value if you were to join the dolphins. They still be a tight end away, in my opinion, even if they had Dalvin Cook. But, I mean, Dalvin Cook's a home run hitter and he surely shores up a lot of spots on an offense where, you know, the dolphins, you know, need a tight end. they might have some O-line issues.

But he's a home run hitter that kind of just like Tyree Kill, just like Jalen Waddle in the sense that they mask a lot of the issues that he might have that are a little bit more deeper. So the one thing that got me really excited to bring you on this podcast, you had a tweet from May 31st. You were at Dolphins OTAs. Yes, I was. And you were very, very concise.

28 might be a player. That's all I'll say for now. 28, of course, is referencing rookie running back Devon A chain. So if Dalman Cook doesn't sign with Miami, this is the guy fantasy players are most excited about in the backfield. He's getting drafted before Moster. He's getting drafted before Wilson. What did you see from A-Chane at OTAs that should make Dolphins fans and fantasy players excited? Definitely.

I think what should make Dolphins fans excited is the speed, you know, 4-3, 4-4 speed. And you put that along with Tyree Kill and Jalen Waddle, that's a lot of fast guys on the field for your offense. you put a lot of pressure on defenses with that kind of speed. You know, it kind of helps sell the, you know, the play action pass a little bit more for Tua, knowing that you have a guy that you can fear with that kind of speed. But he has to become that player, you know, that I spoke about. You know, when I saw him making some plays there in OTAs, and I said that, you know, it was obviously a notepad's day, which is important to note.

And all the fans in my mentions were very, very important to note that out to me as well. you're not the same when you're in shells and upads. Understood. Yeah, we know, understood completely, yeah. But, you know, and without diving into too much of what I saw with respect to the dolphins and how they're going to unleash this guy, because if you want them on your fantasy team or you want them on your favorite team, you don't want everybody knowing how they're going to use them. But I think he's really effective in space.

And I think some of the things that you saw him do in college will translate really well. And most of all, I think what translates the best is going to be the speed. How concerned are the dolphins with Tua? And I mean, like, the level of play was obviously good enough. We understand that. But, I mean, they were putting up historic numbers. But, I mean, it is so hard for anybody to shake. Fans of the NFL, fans of the Dolphins, people concerned about the NFL.

We all understand he might be one hit away. How concerned are the dolphins internally with Tua and protecting him and protecting his long-term health? Yeah, it's a very healthy concern. You know, obviously Tua shut down at the end of the last season because of those reasons. You know, him, you know, having another concussion on, you know, Christmas Day against the Packers, you know, and playing again for the rest of the season. And that's where the Dolphins earning a playoff berth for the first time in years since 2007, 16, excuse me. You know, so about seven, six, seven years.

on top of that it was probably the Dolphists have less than five postseason prearances since 2000. So just think about the magnitude of the moment and Tua couldn't play and they kept them out for a good reason too. I say kudos to the Dolvins for that. We're not trying to rush him back for a big game, especially

against the Bill's team that they were just inches away from beating. I think they really closed the gap on Buffalo. But yeah, look, the Dolvins have a healthy concern for Tua's health and Tua's done a lot for himself this offseason, getting stronger, learning a little bit of jih-too so we can learn how to fall better um you guys got to remember man too is this is

year four for two uh year four um year four year five year four this would be this would be the fourth year year four okay so year one he broke his hip all right he broke his hip yeah played you know barely played half the season year two he's finally getting a little bit stronger more more of an off-season program than just getting healthy again right yeah year three is last season and he's got a new coach, he's got a new offense to learn. Lord knows how many offensive coordinators this guy's had, even dating back all the way to Alabama, right? But this is the first offensive coordinator in the NFL that he's had

that's purely offense, purely supporting him, purely, you know, advocating for him to take the reins and be a starting quarterback, not just be a starting quarterback, be a leader on the team, and not, you know, not shying away from him, instilling confidence in him. him believing in him so that others on the team believe in them in the same way. So when I think about the dolphins going into this season, yes, too, it needs to be healthy, of course.

And he, as a special case compared to every other quarterback in the NFL, sure. But he definitely has what it takes to, you know, help this Dolphins team win some games and be successful next year. You know, I just really just hope for his sake that he can stay healthy. And, you know, if it is an injury, knock on wood, it isn't a head injury. you know, more important than that, you know, if tool goes down for a game or two, you know, you're hoping for a guy like Mike White to come in and step up. And, you know, I'm not sure if Mike White was the right signing for them in that particular

situation, especially with their third-string quarterback going into, you know, the playoff game for them, Skyler Thompson, you know, maybe a better veteran quarterback would have helped. But also the quarterback market among backups isn't that great either, you know? And no team is really in the market of signing two starters in dealing with that situation. So the Dolphins kind of have what they have here. You have a bunch of pieces that are really great around Tua. Tua, you know, Tyreek Hill, Jalen Wattle. You look on defense with all those guys, Javan Holland, Jalen Ramsey, Xavierian Howard,

Christian Wilkins, Jerome Baker. I can go on and on about that defense. Those guys are going to have to win the games. The defense is going to have to win the games, and Tua is going to have to put together at least 24 points, 27 points, anything in that realm to help the Dolphins, you know, not only compete in the AFC East, but, you know, make it, make it past the first round of the playoffs. So I want to circle back. You mentioned Mike White, and I thought that was very interesting because,

look, Mike White has had some nice moments with the Jets the last couple of years. There's no two ways about that. I actually had a cult following, you know, with with the Jets. But I got to admit, like you, I look at this situation. And we know backup quarterback's important everywhere. We know what the Eagles did with Nick Foles, of course. But I, can't help but be just a tiny bit underwhelmed that maybe the most important backup quarterback in the NFL right now is the Miami Dolphins backup quarterback, given what we know about Tua? What did they like about Mike White that let them say, you know what, we're okay going into the season with Mike White as our backup quarterback? I understand you might be a little

underwhelm, I might be a little underwhelm, but what did that have the Dolphins said regarding Mike White? Because I'm sure that's a question they've gotten a lot this off season. Very much so, yes. First, I want to full disclosure. Sure. Mike White is probably one of the first kids I've ever interviewed as a writer coming up. I remember when he was in high school. I remember when he was high school. I remember once he USF before going to, I believe, Western Kentucky where he kind of shined out. And then you see him with the Jets and he can win a game or two for you. But if he plays a little bit longer, the team's got a little bit more time to kind of pick him apart. I think when you saw the Jets play with Mike White as quarterback, they didn't give up. They didn't give up. They didn't give up. up. The guys on defense didn't give up. The guys on offense didn't give up. And it's even more

important for the guys on defense. You know, NFL players know. And if you don't know, here's something that I've always learned is that if the defense knows the offense has a quarterback, defense is going to play hard to get the ball back to him. And if they don't feel that way, you know, they're going to be lack of dazical, lack of dazical, let some plays go, kind of go through the motions and I really care. You saw that judge's team. They were knocking on the door. They were knocking on the door. They're probably a game or two away from probably, you know,

being the Dolphins and having their playoff spot. And, you know, Zach Wilson's situation wasn't great for them. And Mike White stepped in and he galvanized the whole team. He was the quarterback that they wanted to play for instead of the other number two quarterback that got taken in the draft number two, Zach Wilson. So let that be a lesson or let that be the reason why, you know, the Dolphins signed him. Okay. I think they know what Mike White can do in a locker room.

I think because Mike White is from Miami as well or from this area. you know, has a good sense of probably what this team has been through the last 20 years of his life. And what it means to be from down here, which is something that's kind of important to the Miami Dolphins and important to the people of Miami more so than the players who may not be from here and just, you know, are starting their career here and getting a check and playing the game they love. But there's a connection there. And the connection to being a little bit of, you know, a local tie helps. But Mike White's job is to, you know, welcome himself among the. the team, make his teammates love him the same way that, you know, they've aspired to love Tua. And, you know, when his opportunity rises, if you can go and run to the end zone to beat

the Bengals at home, by all means, please go do it. Yeah. So we know about Tyra Kildwin, we know about Jalen Waddle. Fantasy players know all about those guys. They're both gone within the top 20 picks of basically every fantasy draft and rightfully so. What Miami last year, though, did not have, and I'm not even sure they're going to have this year, was really a number three option who fantasy players can say, you know, that guy's going to get the ball. It wasn't Kisiki, you know, it wasn't Cedric Wilson.

If there's going to be anybody this year, who has the best shot to be that kind of number three passing target behind the top two top dogs? You know, the sad part is I really couldn't tell you, Joe. I really couldn't tell you. You know, last season we thought it was going to be Mike Kiskeki, but Mike McDaniel is very against, I guess, the tight end. in his offense or Mike Gisiggi was not equipped to do the things that he needed to do to be featured a little bit more. You know, Mike Giskegis was the number two passing target, almost the number one passing target under the old coaching staff when he was playing with

Tua and when he was playing with Ryan Fitzpatrick. But that's just a different quarterback in Ryan Fitzpatrick, too, who just throws contested passes and let you make the play on it, whereas Tua was very reserved in the fact that he didn't want to, you know, insinuate turnovers because that was his direction from the coach. So he didn't make some passes he probably could have made. You know, behind two-in, Tyree, who else do you really want to have the ball if you're the dolphins is what I, you know, is the argument here, right?

Rahim Moster is just as fast. Jeff Wilson's pretty good as a running back as well as a backup. You know, Cedric Wilson could hang on the field because the other two guys and, you know, when you think about 11 guys on the field, right, you got two-star running, two-star receivers, you got your quarterback. You might have a fullback along with the running back. and then you have your O-line. Who's that other guy, right?

Is it going to be Sartic Wilson this year? It could be. You know, I don't know if it's going to be Braxton Berrios. I see him as a returner, but definitely a guy who can come in and catch a few passes, just like, you know, a River Greycrafted, you know, a four-string guy.

Maybe Eric Uzama, you know, breaks out. He was a rookie last season. They also have, you know, Robbie chosen Anderson. He's got multiple names, whichever one you see in your app, you know, just, you know, if you're going to pick him, that's his name, I guess. He's going to have...

Nobody's drafting him, but yeah, you know, that's how I feel about the dolphins. A couple years ago, man, if you would have me on a Dolphins podcast, and I'd be like, if you had Devonty Park and Mikeosiki on your fantasy team, and they were starting in your lineup every week, I'd be like you'd be in trouble, right? That was a couple years ago. This Dolphins team, you got Tyree Killer Jalen Wado and your top 20 picks. If they were one of your first or second picks, you might have a really great lineup if you do really well outside of it, right?

I think this is where Daven Cook comes in. If you really need a player, that's going to be your third. guy and maybe he even, you know, Cattlebolts into one or two, you know, if he did join Miami. But if I were to pick a player right now, I think it would have to be Cedric Wilson. You know, he's a little bit younger than Robbie. But also I would say, you know, his catch radius and the things, the amount of catches that he does pull in, pulls in a very high percentage of them when he does get the ball. I can definitely see Cedric Wilson kind of eating in the slot this year, especially at the last

year where the dolphins really hit him. You know, maybe it's a breakout year for a guy like that. maybe the Dolphins move some guys around in the line even more that, you know, a guy like Usama could play on the outside and Tyreeks coming out of the slot or Jalen's working out the slot too. But if you don't have Jalen Waddell and Tyreek Hill, I would stay away from Dolphins players and look elsewhere. So honestly, I like that that's your answer because Mike McDaniel makes my job easy as a fantasy analyst. I know who's getting the football. And, you know, sometimes you watch a guy like Sean Payton and then he's drawn up. plays for four string tight ends and happen with the dolphins. We actually like that. So I'm going to have to leave you with one more. Sure.

Maybe player, we haven't mentioned yet who, I'm guessing it's not going to be a receiver based on what you just mentioned, but maybe an under the radar dolphin who could potentially contribute to a fantasy team this year. And I'm guessing it's going to come from the backfield. Yeah, it's going to come from the backfield. And, you know, I got Rahim Moster's backup, Jeff Bolson. You know, he came over mid-season from the 49ers, and to be honest, he was kind of a godsend for the Dolphins. So I don't think they made the playoffs without him.

You look at, you know, he had one game against the Browns, 17 carries, 119 yards with a touchdown. Scored three touchdowns last year in some limited action. Had a receiving touchdown as well, you know, against the Bears the week after. I remember when Jeff Wilson first joined the Dolphins, he was one of my first fantasy pickups. I just saw the potential. I think Mustard missed the game as well. just got all of the carries and really did well. But he knows Mike McDaniel's offense.

Rahim Moster knows Mike Daniel's offense, right? These are two guys who've played in it, who've studied it, who've, you know, done live reps in both cities now, San Francisco and Miami, right? They have the best chance to, you know, excel in the same offense. So I think there's a little bit of a, there's no drop off when you're going from Rahim Moster to Jeff Wilson. And that's why I like Jeff Wilson, you know, maybe he's not like a, you know, early before you know if you're a 12 man league maybe you're you're picking him ninth or tenth

round um if you're targeting him that's maybe he gets maybe maybe he gets past even later if you're you're dealing with a bunch of friends who you know don't really know second string running backs that well um but you guys listen to this podcast um so i would i would go and get jeff wilson i think i'm definitely going to get him again this year um you know by then by you know midway in the season he started a game or two for me and then i went back to my starters when uh they came from a bye week. So that Jeff Wilson will be my pick. His name is Safed, Dean. He covers the NFL for USA today, but still very close to the Dolphins, as you can tell. Follow him on Twitter at Safed underscore Dean. Soffat, thank you so much for joining me on the franchise focus podcast.

It was great having you. Hopefully it's a fruitful offseason for our two NBA teams. I know they're both going to be making moves. I wonder if dame's going to end up in Miami. I'm wondering too. You're not the only one. We're in a big, we're in a big thing in too. We just got Lionel Messi to play soccer here. Of course. Just, you know, give somebody a bunch of apple stock and some land. They'll end up coming to Miami. So the Alvin Cook could probably get the same package and I'm sure Dame Lillard could too. We might have something for Embed if you're interested, Joe. It's a tough thing. I don't want to trade Joel, man, but I just don't know where they're going to go. I'm going to go cry in my hat when we leave. Safit, thank you so much for joining me.

It's been really wonderful having you. Great. Thank you so much, man. again to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform, and come join the roster at FantasyPoints.com.