Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Ultimate AFC East Crossover: ‘Fins Up - 2/13/2020

Episode Date: February 13, 2020

It’s Ultimate Divisional Crossover Week across the Locked On Podcast Network. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Joe Marino of Locked On Bills and John Butchko of Locked On Jets to take a deep dive into the AFC East. Today, the trio discuss the Miami Dolphins; specifically the impact of head coach Brain Flores, Miami’s plans for their 2020 coaching staff, and how their abundance of draft capital and cap space might help to build a contender in 2020.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello to all of you Foxborough faithful. Welcome to day four of the ultimate AFC East Divisional crossover here on Locked On Patriots, your daily home for news notes and analysis infused with the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. I'm Mike DeBate, your host of Locked On Patriots, a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And once again, folks, each and every day this week across the Locked On Podcast Network, it has been the ultimate divisional crossover. And of course, your New England Patriots are a part of the AFC East, the AFC East Division champions. And it's been my honor to be joined on the microphone by Joe Marino of Locked On Bills and John Butchko of Locked On Jets. We've talked Patriots.

We've talked Buffalo Bills. We've talked the New York Jets. Today, it's finally Finns time. That's right, folks. It's time to talk some Miami Dolphins. Now, the Dolphins are always an interesting topic for the New England Patriots, especially this year. In the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick era,

the Dolphins have been one of those teams that consistently gives the Patriots difficulty. In fact, a lot of Patriots fans often look at the schedule in anticipation year after year, and they pencil in a split between the Dolphins and the Patriots. Now usually, it's the Patriots taking care of business in Foxborough and struggling down in South Beach. That's usually how it goes. Completely the opposite in 2019, folks. Week 2 of the NFL season, Patriots Dolphins down at Hard Rock Stadium in South Beach. Patriots absolutely annihilated the Dolphins, 43-0. Dominant on offense, dominant on defense. Antonio Browns won an only game in a Patriots uniform.

But the Pats absolutely dismantled Miami in this game. Fast forward to Sunday, December 27th. Patriots Dolphins, Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts. First round bye is on the line. Miami coming up here in December. Recipe for disaster for the Dolphins, right? Unfortunately for us folks, that was wrong. The Patriots dropped the season finale to Miami 27-24.

In the process, they did not secure a first round bye, had to play the wild card weekend in Foxborough against the Tennessee Titans, ended up losing to the Titans 20-13 on January 4th, and that ended the Patriots' 2019 season. Now, a lot of you feel that if the Patriots took care of business against the Dolphins, the first round bye would have helped that team tremendously, and maybe even helped for a longer run in the playoffs. Unfortunately, folks will never know that. But we have to admit as Patriots fans that the Dolphins had a big impact on the Pat's season in 2019. And given the way they started the season, nobody would have thought that. This team is showing a lot of signs of progress under Brian

Flores, who really brought a sense of hard work and camaraderie down to Miami. He's been a great fit for this team, and it appears that Miami has finally found the coach that could mold this team back into a contender. However, what's in store for the Dolphins in 2020? They have nearly $90 million in cap space, a ton of draft picks. How are they going to invest that capital and try to build a contender sooner rather than later? Well, that's what Jonjo and I are going to talk about today.

But before we talk some fins, there was some big news out of Foxborough yesterday afternoon, and it involves the Patriots' front office. Ben Volan of the Boston Globe was the first to announce that the Patriots had agreed to a multi-year contract extension with director of player personnel Nick Casario, and confirmed that on Wednesday afternoon through a league source, and even though the exact terms of the contract are yet to be known, it appears that Casario will be back in New England for not only this year, but several years to come. Now, keeping Nick in the fold helps ensure that the Patriots retain their continuity.

That's such a big part of the way they do business, especially with some of the personnel losses they've had over the last couple of years. Don't forget, Matt Patricia has gone on to become the head coach of the Detroit Lions. Brian Flores, the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, will discuss Brian a lot today. Several assistant coaches have moved on. They've even lost some key members of that front office that have gone on to success with other teams, such as Bob Quinn and John Robinson.

This year, the Pats suffered a very tough loss to their coaching staff in losing Dante Skarnecchia to retirement. That's why retaining Casario is so important for continuity. Bill Belichick remains at the helm as the head coach. Josh McDaniels remains the offensive coordinator. So retaining Nick as your de facto GM is such an important part of the Patriots building a championship contender in 2020. However, as good a news as this is for the Patriots,

it's already starting to fuel some speculation that I think can be pretty misleading. And that is regarding Tom Brady. As I said to open the show today, Casario's return to the Patriots is definitely a sign that they are trying to maintain as much continuity as possible heading into 2020. Now, it could be that that continuity includes trying to bring Tom Brady back into the fold. Be careful, folks. Nick Casario's return to the Pats does not necessarily mean that Tom coming back to New

England is a done deal. Keep in mind that up until yesterday, there were a lot of rumors that Casario was looking to move on, that he had several suitors out there in the NFL landscape, and that his leaving New England to take one of those opportunities was a very high possibility. At the end of the day, Nick chose to return to New England, which is what we all hope that Tom does. I don't believe this move is an indicator either way of what Tom Brady's plans are for 2020. If Tom does indeed return, Nick is the perfect person at the GM helm to help Bill Belichick

build a contending team. They know the roster, they know the strengths and weaknesses, but most importantly, they both know Tom. They both know the type of players that he's going to need to be able to succeed this coming year. As Ben Bowen put in his column yesterday, Nick Casario is the perfect person to help build the Patriots into a team that can take one last run with Tom Brady at the helm. However, if Brady and the Patriots decide to mutually part ways, Nick is also a very good evaluator of talent, and he can help build this team into a contender

sooner rather than later. So, bottom line, if you're looking at this move from a Brady perspective, it's a pretty encouraging sign, but I don't think it does a whole lot to move the needles either way. From a Patriots organizational standpoint, this is a great retention and a great move. I'm sure one of the happiest guys in the room that Nick is signing this extension is Bill Belichick. For the crowd that loves to beat the drum about Bill Belichick thinking he can do it all by himself, trust me folks, if he didn't believe Nick Casario was a valued member of this organization, he would not be signing him to this extension. Plain and simple.

So in Patriots Nation, we're happy to continue to have Nick Casario in the fold for the next few years. But the Patriots are not the only team looking to build a contender in 2020. As we stated earlier on, today on Locked On Patriots, Joe Marino, John Buchko, and myself take a deep dive into the Miami Dolphins. And in just a moment, we'll discuss Brian Flores, that ton of draft capital, an amazing amount of salary cap space, and whether or not those Miami Dolphins could threaten to climb out of the cellar in the AFC East.

I'm Joe Marino of Locked On Bills, and welcome to day four of the Ultimate Division crossover featuring the AFC East. Today is all about the Miami dolphins. And I'm going to be the one steering the ship as the host of a lockdown dolphins is under transition with Travis Wingfield, the former outstanding host of that podcast coming into a new position that did not allow him to continue with the podcast,

but we'll have a fantastic new host lined up very, very soon for you. Joined by the same panel as you've been listening to all week, we've got Mike DeBate from Locked On Patriots. Mike, welcome. Oh, excellent. Definitely happy to be here, Joe. Thank you so much for taking the ball on this one.

Looking forward to talking some fins. And, of course, John Butchko from Locked On Chats. Great to be back for day four of this great week we're having. And, of course, I'm Joe Marino of Locked On Chats. Great to be back for day four of this great week we're having. And of course, I'm Joe Marino of Locked On Bills. I can tell you that I'm the only host here that did not have their team experience a loss to the Miami Dolphins. And so as we mute them here for a second, as I kind of set the scene, I did want to kind of rub that in here to start the podcast. Could not relate to losing to the Miami Dolphins in the year 2019. So let's talk about 2019 with the Miami Dolphins. This team was 5-11, and let's be honest, they overachieved.

The perception of this team entering the season is that they were tanking, and their eyes were set on the number one overall pick. And after they started 0-7, you kind of felt like that was the case. But lo and behold, Brian Flores, the first year head coach coming over from the New England Patriots, rallied the troops, found some magic under Ryan Fitzpatrick, and this team closed the season 5-4. Now, offensively, I mentioned Ryan Fitzpatrick. He played really well, maybe his best season in the NFL, and that includes some good years for the New York Jets and, of course, the Buffalo Bills.

Devontae Parker, the former number one pick, he had a breakout season, looked like a first-rounder, had over 1,000 yards, and he signed an extension, and it looks like he's going to be a fixture in this offense, and it took some time, but it seems like the wait was worth it. Preston Williams, an undrafted free agent out of Colorado State, he showed a lot of promise, and it looks like he's going to be potentially a steal for the offense. And then, of course, Mike Gusecki, a tight end from Penn State that they took in the second round a couple years ago. It looks like he kind of came into his own and started to make some plays for this offense.

Now, when you do talk about this offense, you have to mention the offensive line. It was a train wreck, and luckily they had Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback because he's a quarterback that's known for his ability to get the ball out of his hands and overcome bad offensive line play. But I think if there's a number that really encapsulates the struggles of the Miami Dolphins offensive line, it is that Ryan Fitzpatrick with 243 rushing yards led the team. Defensively, the team got better throughout the course of the year. Brian Flores, again, coming over for the New England Patriots, where he was the mastermind along with Bill Belichick

for all those great matchup-specific New England Patriots defenses. Started to see some of those same ingredients sprinkled in with the Miami Dolphins with not nearly the same level of talent that he experienced in New England and really maximized, I thought, a roster that had a lot of holes. And so, you know, I think when you kind of look at this defense and some of the production they were able to get out of guys like Nick Needham and Vince Beagle and John Jenkins and Devon Godchow, it's very promising to what I think this team can do once they have more talent for Brian Flores to work with heading into

the coming years of the Miami Dolphins big rebuild. And so, Mike, I do want to start there with the head coach, Brian Flores. He came over from the New England Patriots after a decade plus with Bill Belichick. And we've seen a lot of coaches come from that Belichick tree, and it hasn't always meant success. It hasn't always been a recreation of the New England Patriots, if you will. What did you see from Brian Flores in year one? And do you think that he can be the guy that changes that narrative when it comes to plucking Belichick disciples? Well, Joe, in my opinion, yes. And I don't hesitate at all to say that having had the privilege of covering Brian here in New England two years before his leaving for

Miami, you could see the head coaching pedigree in him right from the start. He exuded that type of command, whether it be in a post-practice wrap up or a press conference, he commands the room and that makes him beloved to anyone that knows him. He's got such an impeccable reputation still here in New England. And that's saying something, considering that there's not a lot of love lost between Patriots fans and Dolphins fans. You know, there's usually not a lot of love between these two organizations. But the New England Patriots fans still hold Brian in such a high regard. The media up here and most of the people that he worked with. He has a way of blending intensity with being a player's coach. That sounds easy to do,

but I assure you it's not. His demeanor immediately earns him respect and that dedication and attention that he pays to his players, that makes him loved. I think a lot of the movie, The Bronx Tale, about being loved and feared and when Sonny tells Cologero it's nice to be both, I think Brian does that. Now, in a much different way, folks, but I think the players love him and they fear letting him down, and I think that's why he has such command over his locker room. But demeanor aside, he's a really good football coach, and I think he showed that this year. The talk at the beginning of the year about tanking and losing a bunch of guys, that had to be difficult on Brian. But I think he navigated it unbelievably well.

They lost their first four games, their first seven games overall. The Dolphins somehow bounced back. They won five out of their last nine, like you said, Joe. That included victories over Philadelphia and, of course, that victory over the New England Patriots. That cost the Pats the first round by in the AFC playoffs. That was a tough loss for my fan base, for me to take personally. Now, a lot of it is because of the message he had to the team.

He stuck to it. He was aggressive in what he did with the game planning every single week, whether it was going for it on fourth down or the fake punts or showing that through coaching and through leadership that he was going to be able to have this team in contention, whether they were favored or whether they weren't every given Sunday, they went out there and they competed for this guy. To me, that shows the measure of a coach that really rubbed off on the rest of the team. And I think that's why Brian Flores is absolutely the right fit for this team this year and

moving forward for many years to come. Well, and that's that's the challenging part of that discussion was everybody thought that the Dolphins were tanking and trading Wade Mink of Fitzpatrick and Laramie Tunsil and depleting the roster. And, you know, you watch the team play and nothing about the way that team played, even when they were getting blown out in the first four games, indicated that there was a lack of effort. And I think, I mean, we talk about the job that John Harbaugh did with the Ravens and Kyle Shanahan with the 49ers, but what Brian Flores did with this Miami Dolphins team in 2019 is very, very exciting if you're a Miami Dolphins fan. John, I want to talk about this offensive coordinator switch that happened in Miami.

You're familiar with Chan Gailey. They fired, surprisingly, Chad O'Shea, and they hired Chan Gailey to be their offensive coordinator. I obviously know Chan from being the Bills head coach in 2010 through 2012, but his most recent position was with the Jets in 2015 and 2016 as the offensive coordinator. From both of those stints, 10 through 12 with the Bills, 15 and 16 with the Jets in 2015 and 2016 as the offensive coordinator from both of those stints, 10 through 12 with the Bills, 15 and 16 with the Jets. It was this marriage of Changaly and Ryan Fitzpatrick. And so what are your thoughts when you think about this reuniting of those two guys at this point in both of their careers with the Miami Dolphins? What does it mean short and long term about this

quarterback position, which is going to be so critical for the Miami Dolphins. What does it mean short and long term about this quarterback position, which is going to be so critical for the Miami Dolphins turning the corner? Well, I think of Ryan Fitzpatrick as a guy who's kind of an ideal bridge quarterback to the future. I think he's kind of like a high-end spot starter, a guy who can buy you some time

if you draft a quarterback and he's not ready to start on day one. In fact, the Miami Dolphins season gives me a little bit of a flashback to the 2017 Jets season where the Jets entered the season. Everybody presumed they were tanking. That was the word thrown around a lot prior to the start of the 2017 season. And everybody assumed that they were trying to get Sam Darnold with the top overall pick.

Well, as it turned out, the Jets were a little bit better than people thought. They finished 5-11, but Baker Mayfield emerged on the scene, and Darnold actually was not the top quarterback off the board that year. Now, the Jets made a trade-up with the Indianapolis Colts to get the third overall pick, but the Jets ended up with the quarterback everybody thought they were going to get preseason. They just were a little bit better than people were expecting and they did not get the top overall pick.

And I think there's a little bit of deja vu this year because heading into this year, everybody thought the Dolphins were tanking. And everybody thought they were going to take to a tag of by a lower with the number one overall pick. Well, what's happened this year? Joe Burrow emerges. The Dolphins are a little bit better than people think. Looks like Burrow is going to go number one overall. And who knows what will happen between now and the draft, but there's a good chance the Dolphins will end up with Tagovailoa, the guy everybody thought they were aiming for to begin with. I don't think Fitzpatrick is the long-term solution in Miami, but as I said, I think he's a good guy who could be a bridge to the future. He's, you know, with the Jets, all indications were he was a good teammate. You know, he was somebody who was supportive of the young quarterbacks

and Chad Gailey is a really good fit for him. Gailey is the type of guy who spreads the field. In fact, if you go back to earlier in Gailey's career back in the 1990s when he was on Bill Cowher's coaching staff, he was actually ahead of the curve. The Steelers were one of the first teams that spread the field with four and five wide receivers on a consistent basis. Now, back in those days, teams were only doing it on third down, obvious passing downs, not to the extent you see spread offenses today, but he was kind of an early adapter of spread offenses. And what does Ryan Fitzpatrick do well? He's a guy who, if he figures out what the defense is doing pre-snap, he's going to be very effective. And by spreading the fields, Gailey kind of helps

Fitzpatrick make those pre-snap reads. Now, Fitzpatrick's not a great guy if his pre-snap reads incorrect. He's pretty much going to go with whatever those pre-snap reads now Fitzpatrick's not a great guy if his pre-snap reads incorrect he's he's pretty much going to go with whatever his pre-snap read is and if he's wrong he's going to throw an interception but Gailey I think is a guy who has gotten the he's gotten as much out of Fitzpatrick as any quarterback uh as as any coach has gotten out of him I think you know not this year not what's standing with uh Chad O'Shea but I think part of the reason and I've read about this a little bit, is one of the reasons that I presume the Dolphins made this switch is that I think they're going to draft somebody.

And Chad O'Shea brought the New England offense down to Miami. And it's a very complicated offense. It has a lot of option routes, conversion routes. You know, there's a lot for a young quarterback to digest. And I know Gailey's offense is much more quarterback friendly. It's more simplistic, maybe something that's a little bit easier to bring a young quarterback along with. So I think that the reunion of Gailey and Fitzpatrick makes sense for Miami. But I also think Gailey's, I always respected the job Gailey did with the Jets. And I think that Gailey is a pretty good

guy to have around a young quarterback. You know, when I think about what this could mean in terms of the quarterback that the Miami Dolphins are targeting is I do think it is an indicator that Tua is their guy. And when I think about Tua in 2018 at Alabama, when Mike Loxley was the offensive coordinator, you saw a lot more of the vertical passing game, and Tua was wonderfully accurate down the field. And then this past year, Mike Loxley went to Maryland,

and they bring in Steve Sarkeesian, and it's a lot more quick game, get the ball out of your hands. And you saw Tua able to really just kind of be the point man for an offense in a lot of ways, the same things that you'll see in a Chan Gailey offense. And I think what you get in Chan, especially with a quarterback like Tua who does have good vertical accuracy, is you get a good blend of the best of Tua in 2018 under Loxley and the best of Tua in 2019 over Sarkeesian

and give him what I think would be a really good opportunity, like you mentioned, in a more quarterback-friendly system to come in and execute. Because as exciting as Chad O'Shea is and what he got out of Ryan Fitzpatrick, the dynamics of putting him with a young quarterback is very concerning, especially when you think about Josh Rosen's experience this year in Miami. He looked like he was completely lost. He comes out and says he's never made protection calls.

He's never identified a Mike linebacker. And it's obviously wasn't a great job of Chad O'Shea catering what he wants to do to his quarterback. So one thing that I do want to point out here, as we consider the Miami Dolphins and this big rebuild that they're going, and in a minute, I'm going to ask Mike about their draft capital and all this cap space that they have to really build this roster because there's a good, they're going to have endless resources really to add talent. And one thing that I can really appreciate in seeing the bills kind of go through a rebuild, I don't think it was quite as drastic as this dolphin situation is that one thing Sean McDermott and Brandon Bean did a really good job of is making sure that for all the young talent that they brought into their roster, that there was a meaningful veteran in every single room to help bring along these young players.

And sometimes that was difficult because it wasn't necessarily the most talented player or the most roster worthy player, but a guy that had the right DNA, that had the growth mindset to really be able to pour into young players and help them acclimate to the NFL game. And so when I think back to, you know, even the Jadeveon Clowney situation where it felt like there was a deal done for Clowney to come over from Houston to the Miami Dolphins and he did not want to go to Miami. You think about Minka Fitzpatrick wanting to kind of get himself out of town. Are the Miami Dolphins going to be able to assemble enough meaningful veterans to help maximize the acclimation and development of all the young players that are about to get brought into this roster? Now, I guess the tax situation in Florida, the weather,

all of that's going to be certainly on the side of players wanting to go to Miami. But, you know, I think it's one of those deals where that's going to be the unique challenge, the layer to this that is somewhat overlooked is making sure that you get enough meaningful veterans to support all your young players. I mean, I work for the Draft Network. All day long, I get screenshots of mock drafts that people run on our mock draft machine of what they're doing. And a lot of Miami Dolphins fans, and they're sending this long list of all these wonderful, young, talented players. Great.

But we all know what it means to be a young, talented player in the league. It takes time. And I think an underrated component that we must keep in mind is go get those good young players. But for the general manager, Chris Greer, he's also got to supplement that with meaningful veterans to help teach those guys how to be pros. If you've been a listener to this podcast, I'm sure you've heard all the great advertisers working with the Lockdown Podcast Network to reach sports fans. But you may not know that Lockdown Bills, Jets, and Patriots is a great way for your local business to reach passionate Bills, Jets, and Patriots fans. Just like you, unlike any other podcast lockdown gives your local company, the unique ability to reach local podcast listeners, not just any podcast listener, a locked on podcast listener.

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lockedonpodcast.com slash advertising and let us know who you are. We'll get our team to help your team achieve Locked On advertising success. Once again, text the word advertising to 33777 or visit lockedonpodcast.com slash advertising. We look forward to hearing from you. All right, Mike, I want to talk to you about continuity because you know a lot about that from covering the New England Patriots and something you mentioned on the Tuesday discussion about the Buffalo Bills and forecasting the team in 2020, highlighting continuity so much so as to comment on the left guard being a really important part of the Bills offseason. Now this Dolphins

team loaded with assets, $90 million in cap space. That's the most in the league and tons of draft capital, two first round picks, to second round picks, to third round picks. When you factor in the compensatory pick that they're slated to get to fourth round picks, to fifth round picks, to they have two picks in every round one through seven. And then in 2021, they have the Texans first and second round pick. In addition to the This team is loaded. Like we've never seen before. Where do you even begin to start thinking about where to invest these assets and how much of this roster can reasonably flip in such a short period of time? And kind of how do you pace this whole thing?

This is a big overhaul. How do you pace it? Well, it's a huge overhaul. There's no question about it. And again, you mentioned the draft capital that they have, the first round draft picks, in addition to their own selection at number five, if the Dolphins choose wisely in this draft, they can really set the rebuilding plan in motion in a big way. But I'm glad at the end of the last segment that you closed off

with making the point about the Dolphins needing to bring in some meaningful veterans, needing to bring that team together. It's nice to have the young assets, but you need savvy veterans, guys that have been in this league before to be able to provide the tutelage and the expert ability to bring these players forward. And Chris Greer is going to have nearly 90 million in cap space to work with. So in addition to the absolute haul of draft picks that he has to work with, he's got a wealth of cap space available. The Dolphins have that cap space available because, like we've been saying all along on today's show, they sent a lot of veterans packing last season, a lot of guys that did

not want to be there. Because of that, there aren't a ton of major unrestricted free agents that the Dolphins have to worry about. If I'm the Finns, I start with the offensive line. And I know I sound like a broken record. I've been saying that so often this week on the lockdown crossovers. But that's because with a young team and likely a young quarterback to be leading them, you need a solid line to protect him.

And one guy I think they should be looking to hang on to, and Dolphins fans are probably going to roll their eyes when I say this guy, but I'm a big fan of Evan Boehm. He isn't the sole answer he really doesn't even have a ton of star potential but he's that type of solid piece in a rebuilding project that really makes all the difference this year when the New England Patriots had to go into their depth to the offensive line to be able to bring guys up they relied on a guy named Ted Karras who is a household name in New England but maybe not well known in different circles. Karras is a versatile line, and he had to step in and play center for David Andrews this year. When you have a guy in the experience of your system, it's so important to have those depth pieces.

So I think Brian Flores recognizes that. He knows the value of offensive line depth. Sometimes the depth pieces are as valuable as the starters. Now, where they can put that cap space to work, Joe, is upgrading at left tackle, because I think they're going to let your Marcus Webb walk. And to be honest with you, I don't think that's a really big loss for the Miami Dolphins. But keep in mind that if the Dolphins do draft Tua, and it sounds like we're all in agreement that that's going to happen, he's a lefty. Then the right tackle is going to be protecting his blind side. Now, one of the reasons the Patriots have been so successful during that run you talk about consistency Joe they've been so adept at being able to find a guy to protect Tom Brady's blind side so that's the

left tackle because Brady is a right hander obviously guys like Matt White Nate Solder Trent Brown they've been big keys to Tom Brady's health throughout the years. So I think that the dolphins liked what they saw from Jesse Davis at right tackle last year, sliding him over to right guard created a void at the right tackle position. If I'm Miami, if Washington doesn't slap the franchise tag on Brandon Scherf, I really would make a run at him. I think he would make a lot of sense to solve the problem at right guard. And then you can plug in some of the pieces and make a run at him. I think he would make a lot of sense to solve the problem at right guard, and then you can plug in some of the pieces and make a pretty formidable offensive line.

Jack Conklin, obviously, from Tennessee would be another option. He'd be an upgrade over Davis at right tackle if Miami chooses to go that way, and then Davis could actually be moved over to the left side if two is going to be your quarterback. Speaking of the quarterback, that's the white elephant in the room. Obviously Josh Rosen to me does not look like he's the guy that's going to be in their future. And John and Joe, you both hit on this earlier, the dolphins moving on from shadow Shay. That really is a, is I think a big, um, clue that they're looking to go with Fitzpatrick as a bridge quarterback and probably bring in a guy like Tua that can redshirt for a year, learn and be able to take over the reins.

So that to me makes the most sense. Joe, you talked about this earlier on in the week as well. To me, the fact that O'Shea is gone and Gailey comes in really throws a lot of ice on the rumors about the Tom Brady situation that I think we discussed kind of playfully on Monday. It just doesn't make any sense. Fitzpatrick's not going to be there to mentor Tom Brady. That's not going to happen. So I think they look to the draft. I think they're looking to Tua to bring in less medical problems, you know, prevent him. I think they can get him at number five. I don't even believe that they're going to have to trade up necessarily to get him. So the other area that I have my eye on with the Dolphins and bringing in maybe some veteran

help is the running back position. Now, they traded Kenyon Drake to Arizona late in October last year. I think they're going to look to upgrade. I don't think they'll do that through the draft. I keep my eye on the Chargers. The Chargers are not going to be paying both Melvin Gordon and Austin Eckler. So the Dolphins could be a suitor for whoever is the odd man out in LA. Keep a sharp eye on that. If you're a Dolphins fan, either one of those two running backs might look good in South beach, but ultimately I think they

look to solidify the offensive line, add a couple of depth pieces on offense to help along a young quarterback like Tua and let Brian Flores have the keys to the kingdom when it comes to this defense, mature them. I think defensively, I think that's where you're going to see the Dolphins invest a lot of that draft capital. Well, the roster turnover is pretty inevitable, but maybe one thing that was surprising about the Dolphins already this off season is the amount of coaching turnover. And John, I mean, Brian Flores lost a third of his coaching staff from his first season already. Some of that was by choice in firing coaches.

Some of them left for jobs, promotions, and other staffs. And so when you think about this, I want to know your level of concern. Is this kind of a product of the Patriots or the Dolphins having to wait for the Patriots to win the Superbowl to bring in Brian Flores and officially name him coach and just kind of being behind on hiring the staff. Or do you kind of give them some praise for maybe not clinging to some potential mistakes and really trying to get the right mix of coaches in the building early on in the Brian Flores era? Well, right now I'm kind of laughing because Mike put the idea in my head of the Dolphins having Ryan Fitzpatrick mentor Tom Brady,

which I agree is not going to happen, but I can't get that out of my head now. I do think a lot of it, this would just be an educated guess because obviously I'm not a Dolphins insider, but the first thought that went into my head was that Flores was hired is probably as late as you can hire a head coach in the nfl because patriots were in the super bowl last year which

meant his hiring could not be official till after the super bowl and typically that puts you a couple weeks behind the curve when you're bringing in a new head coach getting his getting staffed up um now i know there was a there was some assumption at the time that Flores was getting the job, so I'm sure he was able to line some people up. But the Dolphins did not have his undivided attention as he was trying to assemble his coaching staff. And so I'd imagine that some of this turnover is just due to the fact he maybe couldn't get some of the guys he wanted a year ago. But I also look at it this way. The Dolphins hired Flores. He was kind of young and kind of inexperienced. And we always talk about young players developing. But I think the

same thing applies to coaches. You know, Flores is a guy who's still in his 30s. He has less of a resume than most guys do when they ascend to a head coaching job. So I think there's a learning curve for him. And I think there's a learning curve for him. And I think it's going to take some time for him to figure out what he wants in an assistant coach. And this is the point I always make. People like to make definitive statements about whether a head coach is good or whether a head coach isn't good. But every job I've had, I've been better at year two than I was in year one, and better in year three than I was in year one and better in year three than I was in year two so I think in many ways Flores is still kind of figuring out the types of coaches that he wants for his team and maybe he saw in year one his first time being in charge of an

organization that there were some guys in there that maybe did not fit his philosophies I'll say this as well I think Brian Flores has earned the benefit of the doubt because I thought he did a phenomenal job in his first year with the Dolphins. Sometimes you don't really know what an assistant coach does, what kind of role he has on the team. And when you judge a head coach making a

change, it comes down to a leap of faith. Do you trust the head coach? And I think if you're a Dolphins fan right now after year one, I would trust Brian Flores. I'd give him the benefit of the doubt when he makes a move. All right, guys, let's finish up with some fun, some predictions. And last week, the over-under for 2020 NFL win totals opened up, and the Dolphins were set at 5.5 for the over-under.

We know that they won five games somehow with this roster. And so based on what you know about this team and the opportunity ahead of the Miami Dolphins this offseason, do you see them hitting the over-under? And John, I want to start with you. I'd go over. I mean, you look at the number of draft picks they have, you look at the cap space they have. I mean, they have as many assets as any team in the league. And I know it doesn't always flow this way, but if they won five games with the team that they had, you're telling me they're going to be under 5.5 after adding multiple first round picks, after multiple second round picks, after the most cap space in the

league, I'd take the over. Yeah, I think that's conventional wisdom. Mike, I want to shift it over to you and I'm going to turn it completely over to you. Let us know your over under prediction for the Miami Dolphins. If they hit the over under on five and a half and then we've got something fun prepared for Friday. Give us a little tease on that and send us home. Absolutely. Well, Joe, thank you. And thanks again for running point on today. We always appreciate it. And I hope Finns fans were able to find some solace in hearing a Bills guy, a Jets guy, and a Patriots guy talk about your team. But I'm not going to endear myself to Miami Dolphins fans right now. I hate to say this.

First of all, let me preface it by saying I believe the Dolphins are going to be a better team than they were in 2019. In 2020 are going to be a better team than they were in 2019. In 2020, this will be a better team. That being said, I'm taking the under. And the reason why I'm taking the under is the strength of schedule that Miami has to play this year. I think that has to come into play here. You're facing the AFC West.

You're facing the NFC West. Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers. Say what you will about the Los Angeles Chargers. They can string together some wins. If they get the right quarterback in that system and they bring back Hunter Henry, and that defense starts playing up to snuff this year in their new home, they showed some signs of life last year.

You flip it over, you're talking about the NFC West now. Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Arizona is much improved. These are going to be very tough wins for any team to get. So I think because Miami is still a very young team and there's still a team that's feeling their way out, I think they're going to be a more complete team, a better team. But they may struggle to get to that five-win plateau next year simply because the level of competition they're going to be facing is going to be all that much more difficult, save for the fact that they have to play the Patriots, Bills, and Jets twice,

as they always do. Those three teams, I think, are going to be improved. Definitely the Bills and the Jets will be improved. Patriots are a wild card right now. We don't know what Tom Brady's going to do. But if Brady's back, you can bet that at least they're going to have to split that matchup. So that's the reason why I say Miami may struggle to get to five and a half.

But ultimately, again, I think they'll be better. We hope you enjoyed today's podcast, folks. And Joe did allude to it. We do have some fun things planned to close out the week here on the ultimate divisional crossover here on the Locked On Podcast Network. You love your team. You love your players. Guess what? We have our own loves.

We have our own players to love. We also have our own players on other teams that we may covet. No Ten Commandments here, folks. We may covet some of our team's favorite players, and we're going to write some love letters, maybe even some valentines to these players on friday so definitely stay tuned as joe john and myself profess our love for our favorites and maybe some people that we were the ones that got away we hope you enjoyed today's podcast and we look forward to closing the week with you on friday long live the afc east