Mike McDaniel – August 3, 2024
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Saturday, August 3, 2024
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(I’m sure we’ll get to you guys have the player voted No. 1 in the NFL momentarily, but just a quick housekeeping item on WR Erik Ezukanma. We haven’t seen him this week. Is the absence related at all to what sidelined him last year and is he going to be out a while?) – “No, it’s not related to that from last year and I’m anticipating seeing him; when that is, I’m not going to thwart his process by saying ‘I’m expecting him soon’ or ‘I’m expecting him not soon.’ I’m just expecting him. We’ll see.”
(What’s the plan for today for practice?) – “Today – the only thing that matters, the only thing that exists. It’s a good question. You guys wouldn’t happen to know absolutes on the weather, would you? We didn’t either. We have prepared obviously for indoor practice; however if Mother Nature on the low percentage shifts, we might be outside for a portion, but we are obviously anticipating some rain. Henceforth, we had to cancel our stadium practice which guys were really geeked for. I heard there were like, 30,000 tickets, so we’ll take out our somber tonality on Mother Nature on the line of scrimmage today.”
(Football will be played at Hard Rock Stadium in six days. Would it be safe to say that you’re fired up for this live rep, for the season?) – “Yeah, I think this team is in the midst of on a daily basis developing their own identity and it’s something that builds for a long time. And I think we’re eager to get back in there and it’s a place that we take pride in to have an advantage, give the people what they want. So it will be fun to get back in there. Six days? That’s right.”
(What’d you think of WR Tyreek Hill being named No. 1 player in the NFL Top 100?) – “Appropriate. I may be biased, but I know it’s such an honor to be – to really have all your peers recognize what type of player you are and to have – there’s a lot of really, really good players so it’s a tremendous honor. But I think it’s also interesting that it’s not a surprise. I think part of what makes – there’s so many things that make Tyreek (Hill) unique, one of which is stuff that probably wasn’t talked about. I didn’t see it, but it probably wasn’t talked about in the little segment. We started off today’s team meeting with talking about how we intend to be different and you have Tyreek Hill blocking a one-on-one block on a linebacker on a run play in a team run-emphasis period. I think when you have the ability to make plays for your team and in extreme form like Tyreek does, heavy is the crown with regard to if you want your team to be great, you have to do the little things. Tyreek does that and more. He’s a one of one individual. He (never) ceases to amaze and I think it’s a really cool honor that has been well-earned as he continues to develop his game each and every year and do things that – when Tyreek runs a really cool route, you put it in the memory bank because you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s probably the last guy I’ll see to run that route.’ That’s the type of player he is and I think when your best player or the No. 1 player in the Top 100 poll for players is as team-oriented as he is, your team gravitates to that and that’s a good thing for the Dolphins.”
(Last year at this time you said Christian Wilkins embodies what you expect of this team. Can you talk about that void that you’ve noticed so far and how you’ve gone about replacing that?) – “I think every team is unique to its own and that’s a really special part of what’s going on right now. You can get lost in the idea of there’s no opponent, but you are creating in training camp what each opponent will see. You are creating your team’s identity, and it’s unique to a lot of varied individuals. And in this era, it’s very rare to have over 50 percent of returning players on your 90 (-man) roster when you’re in training camp. So it’s a new team and your eyes are wide open to see what they want to be and how they’re going to be it. And you have different people step up that decide that their voice is going to be a dictating factor in the direction you’re going. So for instance, we have – do you guys know who the orange jersey is today? It’s Jalen Ramsey. He’s a player that’s decided that he wants to dictate the terms. There are guys that have been on the roster that are developing, just as I talked about Tyreek developing, like Zach Sieler and Jevon Holland are making huge (plays). In a different year, the more confidence you get as leaders, the more you develop, the more that the team takes its own identity on with no – really last year is last year. This year is a different team and I think every day at practice, one of the reasons we’re getting such good work is the players are determining what they want their team to be like. And yesterday, it was Jalen Ramsey that was dictating the terms. He has the orange jersey today. Quite honestly, with the competitive team that we have, I have no idea who’s going to be that guy today. But as I’ve learned in the last four or five practices, there’s a lot of guys that want to be the reason that we that we succeed and so I’ll tell you next week what our what our team has decided to become and that is a daily process, that if you’re trying to emphasize finishing, you have to start and finish each day each week and each preseason opponent accordingly.”
(There’s been some talk the past couple of days, players picking up on Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver’s request, demand, whatever you want to call it that this team be “bullies.” What’s your reaction to that?) – “There’s a lot of words thrown out there. From my perspective as the head coach, I think it’s my job to truly paint the picture on how if you want your team to be known as something, you have to do that something every day and the residual, like, don’t get it twisted; whether people say positive or negative things about you from the past, those things are up to your determination whether or not you’re going to prove them right or wrong. So the locker room itself taking it upon themselves to decide on their terms what they will be known for, and then sticking to that; that is ultimately the No. 1 thing that you want any team, any one of your teams to ever do because football is very much like life where to be successful, you have to dictate the terms and there’s no path of least resistance towards that. So I really like where we’re at. We had a really tough practice yesterday and guys leaned into that. So that’s so far, so good. But then you get to see today, do guys let off the gas? Right, wrong or indifferent, success or failure; how’s our standard of play? And whatever they want to call themselves – if they want to call themselves bullies, if they want to call – as a locker room, be what you want to be. And that is never determined with talk.”
(I wanted to ask you back to WR Tyreek Hill for a second. It seems every year he is adding to his game. He’s the only player in NFL history with back-to-back 1,700 yards. He’s doing this late 20s, early 30s. Can a guy like him kind of make people rethink, hey, age 30, that’s no longer when players start declining, that his window might be four, five, six more years?) – “No, I think he’s – like when you’re trying to explain the idea of an outlier, right? Maybe Webster’s – in the definition of ‘outlier,’ you can have a picture of Tyreek (Hill). I think he reinforces the idea that you should never put anything in a box and never hold any individual to the timeline of the norm. I think he’s an example of a unique athlete that I don’t know what your eyes tell you, but my eyes tell me that he’s thriving, right? And I think it reminds you that you don’t ever pigeonhole people in general to any sort of exact science. You let people define themselves and he is a person that there’s some scouting departments in the National Football League at one point – not necessarily currently – but at one time that didn’t draft receivers under 5’10. He’s under 5’10. Whatever department would probably draft him. And I think that goes for all players. It’s a lesson of individuals should be treated as individuals, understanding generally people are slower as they get older; not all people. Some people are just fast all the time like Tyreek.”
(You have three possible/probable Hall of Famers in DT Calais Campbell, CB Jalen Ramsey and WR Tyreek Hill. What’s the value of that on and off the field?) – “Regardless, if people are up for debate, for the Hall of Fame, you don’t just fumble into that. There’s no excessive talent that gets you in that conversation. There is a combination of unique talent and a unique person, and those players forever, they’ll dictate the terms of locker room. They have tremendous influence, more so than any coach could ever on how to do things at a at a very high level, how to take care of your body, how to learn and study the game. The fact of the matter is those conversations aren’t for the freak athletes; they’re for the freak football players. To be a good football player, you have to have immense immersion into the game to play your role with conviction. So instrumental, I would say, to answer your question.”
(Your tight end room feels like a bit of melting pot of individual skillsets on top of a really dynamic football player in FB Alec Ingold. What kind of flexibility can that give you as both a game planner and a play caller this season?) – “That’s what you’re looking for in those positions because inherent in those roles are flexibility. You’re part of the blocking corps. You’re part of the receiving route tree. When I tell you offensively, the most challenging position each and every week to learn the plan of attack is in that F-position, which is both tight ends and fullbacks. And the versatility of that room, turn the page, there’s the versatility of your offense. And I think that role is ever-expanding based upon what the defense presents. I think that room collectively has really attacked the offseason from both a run game and a pass game standpoint, and when you do that, you make everyone better because you add another eligible in the pass game and you add another offensive lineman in the run game all at the same time.”
(Do you think you needed more production out of the tight end as you looked at the team going into this season?) – “I think there’s opportunity to get more production from that room from an emphasis standpoint. What I mean by that is the types of plays we’re running, the types of things we’re asking people to do; you’re always looking at getting better and improving. And I think one way for us offensively is really to add an eligible in the pass game that’s extremely important in the run game, and that’s the tight end position. So you don’t just say that to do that. That takes an offseason of emphasis, of working the craft and techniques and if we’re trying to expand anybody’s role, they themselves have to expand what they’re really good at. I think that the room has done a great job of that and I think that that’s exciting for us because there’s a lot of attention paid to some other players on the field, that any time there’s over-attention one way, that leaves a little vulnerability in the defense in another.”
(Have you asked or heard if the league plans to have any emphasis on the speed-motion rules? I saw according to Pro Football Talk there was a sentence added that seemed to be a point of emphasis on forward motion at the snap. Is this something you’ve inquired to make sure there’s no change or anything?) – “To execute in the game of football, I would say it’s a priority to know the rules. Fortunately, we have NFL officials here at practice. Currently – they were here yesterday, they’ll be here today. And we also have a little a cheat code, if you will, a member of the competition committee resides in an office that shares a wall with me. So very, very proactive in knowing exactly what the rules are and anything that we do, we’re either adjusting or catering to any sort of rule emphasis and we’re going to try to keep it that way.”
(So maybe emphasis but as far you know, no rules changes in that area, as far as you know?) – “I think you read it as it reads. The emphasis is clearly stated. If you interpret that as exclusively timing motions, you better not simulate the snap counter. You’d better not move forward. And our motions will have to be legal for them to work unless we just want to run minus five-yard plays, so I think we’re fine with that. We’ll always cater to the rules and I think to simulate the snap is illegal and we should not do that.”
