Jonnu Smith – August 5, 2024
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Monday, August 5, 2024
TE Jonnu Smith
(What do you think of the prospect of adding to the tight end pass game production? This is one of the teams that didn’t score a touchdown from a tight end last year.) – “Just being able to come in early and be able to do what I do, make key plays, be an addition to the team and utilize my skillset and help us go a step further. So I’m excited to be here, excited for the opportunity. Just continuing to stack these days and collectively we’re all coming together building our identity as a team, and that starts with bringing your individual skillset to the team and contributing. That’s where we’re at now and so far, we’re making great strides with that.”
(What have you learned from Assistant Head Coach/Tight Ends Coach Jon Embree? He puts such an emphasis on blocking.) – “He’s the best that I’ve had. (Jon) Embree is a heck of a coach man and a better person. A ton of coaching experience, a ton of wisdom and knowledge that I can soak up and learn from him, a great guy to be around. That man’s name speaks volumes around here, so I’m excited to be a part of his room. I’m excited to learn and grow with him not only as a player, but as a person as well.”
(This team has talked about being more physical, more aggressive, I know that’s part of your game. What should that look like Tuesday and Wednesday against the Falcons?) – “We got to come and set the tone. It’s just that simple, come and set the tone. They’re coming in our house. We’ve been knocking each other’s heads off for the past couple of weeks, man. It’s time to just take it out on somebody else, and it just so happens to be them. We’ll handle that tomorrow.”
(Speaking of taking it to somebody else, you get to see some of your boys. Is there a player that you want to catch a pass over or run over?) – “(laughter) Listen man, I’ve been battling with those guys. They’ve got some good players on that side, but whoever lines up in front of me tomorrow, I’m treating it like I treat game day. It just is what it is. I’m excited about the opportunity, excited to go out, excited to let loose on these guys, excited to do it with this group of guys as well. One more sleep, one more sleep.”
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel made a great point about how your offense is only as versatile as your tight end, like your tight ends have such a big part of how many things a team could be versatility wise. What does that mean to you personally?) – “The tight end in any offense is really the guy that really creates the defense to move. That’s the adjuster. He’s usually the strength for the formation and he’s usually the guy going across the formation motioning across and shifting, just moving all over the place. That causes the defense to move, that causes the defense to adjust. If you got a guy that’s already giving the defense headaches and when you go out and he has a certain skillset that’s hard to defense you got a lot of problems on Sunday. That’s why I love playing the position. Just being able to use my advantage against teams and it’s part of the reason why I’m going into my eighth year in the NFL. Glad to be doing it with (Head Coach) Mike McDaniel calling the plays, man. He’s a hell of a coach, hell of a play caller. So just excited with everything we got in front of us.”
(We’ve seen you take reverses, line up all over the place. How many different positions do you think you’ve played this past month?) – “Everything, whatever I’m called to do. He’s going to utilize me to my skillset. That’s why I’m so excited about being here. I’ve been in offenses where my talent has been utilized and underutilized, so it’s good to be back on this side of it.”
(When does this offense become second nature to you as a first-year player in it?) – “I’ve been in this system – it’s kind of a West Coast style system – for a while now. Going back with Arthur Smith and Matt LaFleur, I’ve been in this offense for a while now, so it’s a lot of familiar terms, a lot of the same schemes, just different ways of dressing it up, different ways they’re dressing it up. So learning – already having an idea of what we’re trying to do makes it a lot easier, so just continuing honing on this playbook and establishing my role in it, just attacking it every day, every night. Whether it be in these meetings or these walk-throughs, already a couple of weeks in everything is coming in a lot slower. It can only get better from here on out.”
(What would constitute a good season for you personally?) – “Just make sure my skillset is known and that these guys know that I came here and brought what they expected. I’ve been a guy that’s been dynamic with the ball in my hands for my entire career. If I come out and continue to do what I do and do it with the ability that I’ve been blessed that I’ve worked on my entire career, good things are going to happen for this team.”
(What do you think are some of the creative ways to get you the ball?) – “Can’t spill all the beans right now man. Can’t spill all the beans. But no, like you said man, you alluded to it earlier, (Head Coach) Mike (McDaniel) is phenomenal at drawing things up for guys of a certain skillset. Again, I’m excited about everything that he’s got coming for us.”
Mike McDaniel – August 5, 2024
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Monday, August 5, 2024
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(We haven’t seen LB Jordyn Brooks or LB Anthony Walker Jr. in a few days. Are they injured and do you expect them to miss some time?) – “Both dealing with something different but they’re on their way back. When that is, I’m not going to hurt their timetable by boldly stating, but it’s not something I’m worried about. That’s a very competitive group, so as they’ve been working their way back, there’s some invaluable reps for the rest of the crew. So it’s been good and they’ll be back sooner than later.”
(What about S Jordan Poyer? Same question for him?) – “Yeah, dealing with something as well but he’s been very active and the safeties have stepped up in his absence. We will see him again.”
(Two leaders of this team, QB Tua Tagovailoa and WR Tyreek Hill, got financial paydays over the past couple of weeks. How do you think that resonates down to the rest of the team in the locker room to see their high-end guys, their top guys get paid like that?) – “Well, I was thrown off by your question originally, because I heard two liters as in like quantity of liquid. But now that I have the rest of the context – leaders – I think that it’s a cool part of the process. I think the team appreciates the some of the best players we have on our team and really want them here. So when contracts are agreed upon, you have a little more stability and a little more known, so that’s exciting. But I think the team has really responded to how the aforementioned players have responded to those types of things, in terms of understanding that as much as that it’s an accomplishment in itself, the bigger goals and where they want their careers to be, what they want their careers to be known for, is through the team. I’ve seen it even more investment into the team, by all the players that have had new contracts. And I think that goes a long way.”
(Just to kind of branch off of what you said, you’ve been around a few guys who have received big paydays. What is the commonality and like the next step forward that creates success for both them and the team?) – “I think what’s been exciting from the team standpoint, I think that’s what the team is excited about, is you do have one or two directions. It’s generally not same as you have the negative way, which we’re not experiencing, or you have players respond to that investment with really what comes along with that in terms of the devotion to the team. Quite frankly, if you’re a big piece of the salary cap and you’re trying to be a good team, that piece should be spent wisely. There’s different leadership things that you’re capable of doing that I’ve really seen guys seize the moment and step up their investment, so that they can be the reason why – you want to be a reason why you win, not win in spite of someone. So I think that it’s been really exciting to watch our team develop as there’s been a lot of individual talk. There’s probably been more individual talk than years past, and the reaction has been more team investment and more self-sacrifice, really, across the board by this team, so it’s been exciting.”
(Last year, we heard a lot about CB Jalen Ramsey’s involvement with the team as an injured player, I’m curious if you can describe the impact he’s had as a player on the field during training.) – “I said a lot of very nice things about it, because it was very – I’ve never seen or I hadn’t seen up to that point a player involve himself as much as (Jalen) Ramsey did while he was hurt. That being said, he’s more impactful when he’s not hurt, and I think he’s comfortable with me saying that. I’ve challenged a lot of guys and there’s been kind of a theme where the first step is expressing what you want or talking, but the most important step that really makes honest words of your proclamations are your actions. So Jalen both put it upon himself to verbally set the tonality and then follow through with – I mean, every day he makes probably – he’s on a heater right now, probably the last five practices he’s done something that I hadn’t seen a player at his position do. So that is probably the most important thing is your actions and the way you’re trying to contribute to the team. Jalen knows that he can have as big of impact as anyone on the team with the type of player he is. He’s taken that extremely serious and has been a very intense participator in training camp practices for contract questions.”
(Another contract question if I could. S Jevón Holland seems like the only one of that big group you had a year or two ago that were coming towards an extension. Has there been progress with him? Is S Jevón Holland someone that’s part of your long-term plans?) – “I love Jevón (Holland). Jevón has been working on his game like he always does, but he’s having a really good camp and really taken to the scheme. That’s where my expertise lies, which is why fortunately for me, I chose coaching as a career path. I did not jump alongside (General Manager) Chris Grier in the front office portion of football for a reason; I’ll let him go through that process. He’s an invaluable member to Dolphins and I’m excited to see him progress today. Then beyond that, in terms of timetables, and conversations, man, that dude is working all the time. I know it’s on his plate, where that is, I try to focus my attention on the stuff that he’s depending on me to focus.”
(What might we notice, because we won’t talk to you before tomorrow’s joint practice, what might we notice about how you and Falcons Head Coach Raheem Morris have decided to structure things and what you might like to accomplish in the two joint practices?) – “I think you’re going to see a couple teams that are really excited to play against someone else. We are at that time of training camp where it is tough sledding in terms of you’ve used all of your moves and your counters. So it’ll be a breath of fresh air, I think in regards to Raheem Morris, one of my favorite coaches I’ve ever worked with, very impactful one for me because of his defensive prowess. I was able to work with him on the offensive side of the ball as well – was in both Washington and Atlanta with him, so we go way back. In joint practices where you have extensive working history with the other head coach, I think it’s a little bit easier in terms of the flow of practice, there’s more similarities to the flow practice to your normal practice, because of just our paths and what we believe in. I think you’re going to see two hungry teams trying to establish who they are and practicing while being able to protect each other, it should be pretty intense. It’ll be fun one. So I’m excited to see Raheem and all the new bells and whistles that he has schematically. It should be a challenge.”
(QB Tua Tagovailoa talked about his relationship and gave a lot of credit to Quarterbacks/Pass Game Coordinator Darrell Bevell. Can you talk a little bit about what you see behind the scenes with the relationship that they’ve had now a couple years together and all the credit that goes into building that relationship?) – “Well there’s not many relationships more important to the Miami Dolphins and the fan base than that of Tua (Tagovailoa) and Coach (Darrell) Bevell really, because it’s the ultimate trust that you have to build on a daily basis and that you have to maintain on a daily basis. At that position, I think the work that they’ve done together, I would attribute to the continued progression of Tua’s game directly correlates to their work and how – case in point, you feel like you almost see a newer, more glistening version of Tua every single time we step out to a to a new phase. Whether that be a Phase 2 or a training camp – every year, that’s been the case. So I think that is a connective relationship that’s very important. There’s only one way to really establish a relationship like that and that’s pure investment on both sides. And very proud of how they continue to attack with pride Tua’s his game and Coach Bevell’s ownership in his game. I’m happy that they get to hang out every day, and I think Coach Bevell’s sense of humors really helped develop Tua’s sense of humor. That’s a behind the scenes thing – he’s got a lot of jokes. Oh, he does. Maybe next time you guys talk to him ask Coach Bevell to tell you some jokes – low key hilarious.”
(Is there something – a question out in left field a little – that you appreciate in your third year as an NFL head coach about the job that you didn’t know or that stands out that you didn’t know coming into it?) – “You know, I’ve talked about understanding the servitude, and I really got a sense in Year 3, you have a more supreme humility to the job, from my perspective, in terms of you get the job and everything – you’re always working around how everything’s orchestrated. You’re adjusting to the different needs of the job to the different people that you affect, but then you still have that, I don’t know, ambition or you’re a little naive enough to think that you can do more on your own than I think you really capable of. I think I have a strong sense of truly how dependent I am on all of the people in the building for the building to move in one direction. I think the relationship aspect and how people bond I have a firmer appreciation for, and overall, it is very, very humbling just because at this point in my life, I almost can do nothing by myself. Almost nothing. I still can work a microwave, and I can fill my car tank up with gas, but outside of that, I need a lot of help for everything I do.”
(You spoke a little bit about it with the joint practices, but kind of talk to us a little bit more about how important these are for the team’s development getting closer to the first preseason game?) – “I think it’s an opportunity to start defining who you are in concrete as a team, some of the things like how you handle adversity, the standard with which you play football and practice football, they really come into focus when you get that first opportunity to practice against someone. This practice week, every year we’ve had the opportunity to cross train against another opponent. I think the preseason games and practice have their own areas of extreme importance for younger guys. The game and the things that come with going into an NFL stadium and your assignments and hearing calls and being able to execute your techniques and fundamentals like you do in practice, there’s a stronger importance on those games. For veteran guys, practice can be as the best dress rehearsal – intersquad practices can be the best dress rehearsal for games because you have the most true scheme that you’re really executing that you may not unfold to the rest of the league when you when you do preseason games. You have a little more – there’s just more football from a schematic standpoint that are closer along the lines to the regular season, and I think that not being able to tackle allows for people to play at a speed where they can let it go and it’s more closely associated to NFL game speed. Those types of things you can’t replicate in the preseason necessarily, and some guys aren’t even playing in those because of that the tackle portion of it. So we get a lot of value out of it. I’m looking forward to this particular joint practice because this particular team seems thirsty to define themselves and it gives them an opportunity to within the locker room. So it should be real fun and we’ll probably wish it was hotter.”
(A housekeeping thing to close the loop on QB Tua Tagovailoa and his contract. You had told us you weren’t going to get involved in it, the Tua tells the story, you went to somebody, management, and said, “We’ve got to get this done.” What was it about that moment? Is that accurate? And what was it about that moment?) – “I think there’s a consistency and uniformity from our organization when you’re talking about entering into and progressing through contracts of that magnitude. I think people know that I stated very clearly from the onset that my belief in the player, and I think that belief was held supremely through the organization. I think it was probably a little glorified, so to speak, in terms of like, me kicking the door down or anything. I think anytime I was asked, through the whole process from the beginning, middle and end, everybody from (General Manager) Chris (Grier) to (Chairman of the Board/Managing General Partner) Steve (Ross) to (Senior Vice President Of Football & Business Administration) Brandon Shore to (Vice Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer) Tom Garfinkel knew where I stood. I had the consistency of stance and I held it through the whole time, but I think that it was an organizational process more than anything, because we wouldn’t have been on the final doorsteps if everyone wasn’t in likeminded fashion, really excited to get that contract finalized so we can move forward and focus on the team, which will be the only thing no contract, no one’s going to care about those things in December. I think our players who are receiving contracts understand that, which is why we’re focused on what we will look like in December.”
(Did you put in a good word to kind of get the deal across the goal line?) – “I mean, I’m an exuberant guy that really stands behind his beliefs. I don’t think they needed to hear me say the same thing over and over, but I probably said the same thing over and over. Like I said, there’s a lot of people that were working on that deal that that should get high fives. You can just give me a nod, because I’m not the – let’s just say I was very excited for it to be done and I was very excited to start fielding questions like these because I’m only thinking about the team. Oh, wait, I’m still answering them. No, it’s all good guys. (laughter).”
