Dan Feeney – March 22, 2023
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Wednesday, March 22, 2023
OL Dan Feeney
(How many games have you started at center? I know most have been at left guard.) – “Most of the 2020 season was all starts at center. So 16 there and then I think two at the Jets. So yeah, 18 to 20 or something like that.”
(Did the Dolphins give you any sense if you would be in a competition at left guard? Obviously they have OL Liam Eichenberg, OL Rob Jones there. OL Lester Cotton as well. Or are you coming in strictly as a backup at guard and center as it was portrayed to you?) – “They said there would definitely be opportunities at the line. So that’s what kind of made me jump at the offer. I’m just excited to get there and show my talent, show my worth to the team and then we’ll go from there.”
(I wanted to ask you about kind of the continuity of going from a system that has some similarities to what the Dolphins run here under Head Coach Mike McDaniel. Playing the last couple of years in Mike LaFleur’s system, how does that kind of help you ease the transition to a new offensive scheme?) – “I think it’s huge. Honestly one of the first times Mike and I talked on the phone, it was pretty much X’s and O’s, so just having a very similar language is definitely huge. It’s easy to kind of just get into the system and kind of fit in right away, so I think that’ll be good for me. There will always be different languages about some sort of things but kind of having that same offensive mindset and scheme, I think it’ll be an easier transition for me.”
(I don’t know if you happened to see QB Mike White’s social media video where he did some casting on the Hangover with you and those guys coming down here. I believe he puts you in Zach Galifianakis’ role. I was I was just curious if you thought he was accurate there in his casting on that?) – “I definitely thought it was a little shade at first, but it is hilarious. And I think that is a little bit of me, that personality of just happy to be there, happy to be back with the boys. So it was a hilarious video. Whoever edited that and did that, it was spot on.”
(I actually want to ask you about those two guys. Tell us about your former Jets teammates now coming over with you. What are QB Mike White and WR Braxton Berrios like as teammates?) – “Oh, man, they’re awesome. Great locker room guys. Great people to golf with. They’re some of my golf partners so we have a good time out there on the course as well. Just good guys. Good guys to put in a locker room. They bring a great energy. They’re X’s and O’s guys, too, so talking ball with them is very fluid and easy. They’re just great additions to the team, I believe.”
(Was that something that you guys all communicated with each other about as your free agency sort of lined up that you guys wanted to go to the same place together?) – “I think we were just pretty much a package deal at that point, as soon as Mike White went somewhere. (laughter) No, I’m just messing around. But the stars kind of aligned for it more than anything. And it was awesome to see that I’m definitely going to have some familiar faces in the locker room, so it’ll be easier for me to transition when I got a couple of good guys in that locker room with me as well.”
(Talking about the Jets and all, you’re aware of how they were building and what kind of team they’re starting to put together up there. You know about the Bills as defending division champs and what the Jets are hoping to add in Aaron Rodgers. When you look at this division, what’s it going to be like you think in the AFC East next year?) – “I think it’s going to be a powerhouse division for sure. Like you said, I mean, the Bills have been very strong past couple years. And when I was on the Jets, Miami was coming along and had some great players. So it’s exciting to be a part of that system now and it definitely will be a powerhouse league. I mean, Bill Belichick at the Patriots. I mean, he’s one of the best coaches of all time. So it’s definitely going to be a tough division. And we’re going to have some tough division games coming up this year, but I think we’ll be able to handle it.”
(Let’s talk about the fun stuff. The beer chugging at hockey games. Tell me how that happened and are we going to expect to see that at Panthers games this year?) – “I hope so. I hope the Panthers shoot me an invite. I’d love to go. I love being at hockey games. It’s such a good energy and a good vibe. That energy is just contagious, so I kind of lose myself in a hockey game, clearly, as you guys have seen. That just kind of came about. We were all like, ‘Hey, when we get on the Jumbotron, let’s all chug a beer together.’ I took it a little far I guess, and started slamming it on my head. I was just trying to have a little fun with it. It was a great time being together with the guys.”
(What are your top three all-time beer choices?) – “Anything that’s cold is usually No. 1. I love that. I really don’t hate on any beer. I’m a Coors Light, Miller Lite guy to probably start. I love a Budwesier, a little Diesel. Funky Buddha is pretty good – a little local one to South Florida. I’ve had one or two of those and really liked those, so I think that may sneak it’s way up the leaderboard.”
(You’re obviously a lot of fun. You enjoy life off the field. How does that translate to your approach to football?) – “I think it’s contagious. Just being around guys that love having a good time and making work fun, it just makes the locker room better and makes the vibe around the whole entire team better in my eyes because if guys love hanging out with the guys outside of the facility, we’re going to bring that same natural energy and camaraderie into the locker room. And I think that’ll translate onto the field. Because once you know your teammates, you want to hang out with them outside of the locker room and it just becomes contagious. More and more guys get on board with it and it just becomes a nice atmosphere.”
(Is this still a mullet?) – “Oh, yeah. We still got the mullet. Business in front, party in the back. You got to be able to do both so I figured I’d show people right away.”
(Your sister made some t-shirts right for MS, right? Are those still around?) – “Yeah, so my sister does work for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and I support her doing off the field stuff. She wasn’t the one that made the t-shirts. They were kind of – so the Islanders actually ended up making a t-shirt for me and then all the proceeds that the t-shirts sold, we gave away to charity. I thought it was just something good to do – give all that money away and have fun with it and just trying to bring good energy and vibe there. But I had a couple of Jets fans make a couple of shirts too. Got to start making one and selling that thing out there.”
(How does that play into your – I guess that fits into your personality perfectly right? All of this stuff around you?) – “Yeah, I guess so. It’s just how it goes. Once the COVID year kind of happened, I couldn’t get a haircut for a while. I kind of went to the barber and I’m like, ‘Hey man, cut a mullet in there. Let’s see how it looks.’ It kind of just stuck from there and the train has been rolling pretty much ever since so I didn’t want to get off it.”
(I saw when you had that the hat on it was a Bass Pro Shops hat. Is that something you’re going to enjoy about South Florida? Are you a fisherman? And what else are you going to like about South Florida off the field?) – “Yeah, absolutely. I love fishing. It’s been a while since I’ve put a little line in the water, but I’m definitely excited to go back and do that. It’s just a calming thing I like doing when I’m not playing ball, just kind of let your mind go, catch a little fish, throw it back in there and do it all over again. It’s one of those easy things that’s just fun to do. But off-the-field stuff other than that, I just kind of like hanging out with my buddies, watching TV, Netflix series and playing video games. So usually when it’s not all gas, it’s usually a little quieter than that. But yeah, I like to have a little fun clearly.”
(The mullet was created because of COVID and the pandemic?) – “It definitely was a child of the pandemic year because I was out in California at the time and everything was pretty much shut down, so my hair was getting long. My girlfriend was like, ‘You need to get a haircut somehow.’ And that’s when all the at-home haircuts were coming out and it frightened me a little bit of all the horror videos I was seeing online. So I found a spot that was still open. The guy that ended up cutting the mullet in my head was one of the most ecstatic barbers I’ve ever had to cut a mullet. I’ve never seen anything like it. I was like ‘well, I came to the right spot,’ and he pretty much juiced me up right away when he cut it, so I was like ‘well, I think it’s going to stay for a little while.’”
(So you requested the mullet? That wasn’t like his top choice of hairstyles that he does?) – “I think it was his top hairstyle. They are just few and far between. So I think he was just so ecstatic about it. When I came in, I was like, ‘Hey, man, let’s cut a mullet in and have a little fun.’ And then I was going to eventually do a high and tight but he persuaded me the other way. I thought it looked good so I figured that keep it.”
Malik Reed – March 22, 2023
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Wednesday, March 22, 2023
LB Malik Reed
(After a year away from them, how comfortable will it feel to be around Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio and LB Bradley Chubb again?) – “It’s going to be awesome. To come in the league and being in Coach Fangio’s system, I feel like was huge for me, personally as a player. I learned so much about the game, a lot about the outside linebacker position, to be on the edge, setting the edge or in coverage as well. I’m excited to get back to work with him and my brother Chubb. We had a lot of great times in Denver. That’s a guy that was really close to me, and I’m excited to be able to play with him again.”
(You had your best statistical season under Vic Fangio a couple of years ago. It seems like wherever Vic goes, he brings the best out of the outside linebackers/edge rushers. What is it about Vic or his scheme that allows guys like you to thrive?) – “I feel like he’s been around the game so long. He’s been around so many great players. Like you said, he’s a great defensive coordinator. I think he helps get us in the right positions to be successful and he allows us to go out there and do what we do, and make plays and be playmakers. He knows we’re out there for a reason and to have an impact on the game. He does a great job with his scheme and how he coaches that position. He does a good job of putting us in the right spots at the right time so we can do what we do best.”
(I saw the dream killer chain. When you signed with the team, I was reading about that. Who came up with the nickname and where does that come from?) – “It was actually Von (Miller). I played with Von a few years and he gave it to me my rookie year. It’s something that stuck with some of my teammates. It came from the preseason. I had a good preseason and he was like ‘you’re killing quarterbacks dreams out there. Keep doing that. Keep being you.’ It was something between us and I felt like it carried on after that.”
(We’re looking forward to getting to know Vic Fangio, so fill us in on what we’re going to find out. How would you describe his personality?) – “I feel like he’s really about the business and the business of winning. I feel like having success as a defense and really doing a great job on that side of the ball. I feel like with him, you’re getting a guy that works extremely hard. You see that throughout our three years together. The progress that I feel like we made in year one that I was there in Denver until my last year. I think we were the No. 8 scoring defense then. You just see progression each year and I feel like that is a testament to the type of coach he is and the type of coordinator he is as well. I feel like you’re getting a great guy in him.”
(I saw that in 2020 and 2021, you had a total of 13 sacks. How do you describe your approach to the pass rush on the quarterback?) – “I feel like it’s relentless. I feel like that’s where it starts. In order to get sacks and be great at rushing the passer in the league, I feel like everybody has that. That has to be where it starts. I use what God has given me and use my tools to my advantage. I’m not the tallest guy, so I like to use leverage in my game and be able to get under tackles and get to places that are hard for them to bend to. That’s how you can summarize my game.”
(What kind of sneaker head are you?) – “I always have liked shoes. I feel like growing up, we didn’t have the most money and stuff like that growing up. It wasn’t like I could go out there and get all of them that I wanted. But there were always some that I feel like I enjoyed. Once I got to college and started to make a little money – the money that we would get each month – I tried to save it up so I could buy me some shoes and stuff. I had to stop because I was spending too much money at first. But once I got in the league, I feel like I started to bring that back and establish the enjoyment of buying sneakers and wearing them, figuring out what outfit you wanted to wear them with and stuff like that. I feel like that’s something that’s definitely sparked since I’ve been in the league.”
(How much does a pair of sneakers have to be for an NFL player to say ‘no this is too crazy, I’m not doing that?’) – “Great question. For me, personally, if it’s – there are some crazy sneakers out there that are expensive. If it’s over five grand, that’s too much for me. I can’t go above that.”
(You’ve had so much success playing with LB Bradley Chubb. When you found out you’d be coming to Miami and playing alongside of again, can you take us through the conversation? What was it like? And did you guys share some dreams on how it’s going to be working together again?) – “It’s amazing. My time with Chubb on the field, off the field, something just always clicked and it felt so natural. It’s a testament to the type of guy Chubb is and I feel like we’re similar in how we think sometimes. I feel like that flowed into us as teammates to where we could have a lot of success with each other. I feel like once there was some inkling of being able to come to Miami, I’ve been really excited to have the opportunity to play with him again. The type of player he is, and the type of person he is, he’s seeking to be great and win in a big way. I feel like that’s the type of people you want to surround yourself with, not only on the field with football, but in life. That’s a testament to the type of person he is. He’s seeking to be successful in whatever he does. I was definitely excited once we figured out we’d be playing together again. I called him once it was in the workings of me coming there. He called me back once he heard the news. ‘I didn’t know. I had to call you back, congratulations.’ He was so excited and I was excited too. I’m definitely excited to be back playing together again.”
(I wanted to ask you about the role of the pass rusher because obviously it’s a passing league. But you guys have good edge rushers, you’ve got a good secondary and you’ve got a good defensive coordinator. What do you do to change, control the game, put fear into a defense as an edge rusher, and then from a total defense perspective?) – “I feel like it’s huge. That’s become a premium position in the NFL, once they started to transition to more throwing the ball. It put a lot of spotlight on the edge position and how big of an impact they could have on the game. Not even just rushing the passer but setting the edges. You have to be solid in that because if you’re not setting the edge and they are running the ball all game, teams are going to do that. That’s huge to start there. Then when you do have those opportunities to get after the quarterback, just as much as it is on the edge rushers to get back to the quarterback, it helps when you have guys on the outside that can lock up. The man to man, the safeties flying around, the quarterbacks be a little nervous to throw it back there in the secondary. It helps each other. It goes hand and hand – the rush and coverage. That’s something that Coach Fangio preaches. I feel like in terms of playing great defense in the league, that’s what coaches preach. It goes hand in hand. You got to be great in the front end and great in the back end to be great as a defense. It’s really being relentless. Something I’ve learned over my time, even conversations I’ve had with Von (Miller) – I was fortunate to play with him for those three years. He was like ‘a lot of sacks come off effort sacks.’ Everybody thinks it’s because of these great moves, but it’s really how bad do you want to get back there to him. You got to want it more than the guy in front of you trying to stop you. Being relentless – and that’s from the ends to the d-tackles – having that relentless pass rush and covering up for each other and stuff like that, I feel like that’s what leads to having that big impact as edge rushers.”
(Do you think it’s possible in today’s NFL for a defense to control a game? Or is a defense always going to be reacting to what an offense does?) – “I definitely think a defense can control a game in terms of stops, three-and-outs, getting turnovers, which is huge. Those two things I feel like are huge factors in terms of outcomes of a game, whether an offense is putting up a lot of points or whether they’re not. I know it’s simple, but if they can’t score, they can’t win. That’s the thing I feel like as a defense, you live by. You definitely want the offense to do well and succeed and stuff like that, but controlling what you can control as a defense, and that’s how fast you get teams off the field, whether that’s turning the ball over or getting stops, I feel like that has a big factor on the control of the game and field position and stuff like that – holding them back to where they’re playing from their end zone and the offense getting a short field and stuff like that. That plays a big factor in controlling the game.”
Jalen Ramsey – March 16, 2023
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Thursday, March 16, 2023
CB Jalen Ramsey
(Tell me whether you think this is the best cornerback combo in the NFL, the best secondary in the NFL, and how that will manifest itself during the season.) – “I believe so. That’s just the type of energy I bring. That’s the confidence that I always have. On paper, this is the best group that I’ve been a part of. And I feel like I’ve been a part of some good groups in Jacksonville and also in L.A. But on paper, I feel like this is the best one. Obviously, with me and ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) on the outside, and you got the young guys – Jevon (Holland), we just got DeShon Elliott, Brandon (Jones), Kader (Kohou). So I think we have a good secondary on paper if you look at it. But we got to put the work in. I mean we can speak it as much as we want to, but we’re going to have to go out there and prove it and that’s what we’re planning to do. But it’s not just about us. It’s the whole defense and the whole team. I think we can do some special if we put that work in and be as one.”
(Why did you want to be here?) – “A lot of reasons. He just made me answer one. This defense, this secondary. You look at it on paper, it’s something that you would definitely want to be a part of, I know I’m not the only person who wanted to be a part of it and will want to be a part of it in the future. Being back in Florida, that’s a great thing for me. Closer to my family. My pops, he’s about to retire. He’s going to move down here. He’s going to enjoy life. Obviously I got my daughters and my kids. We love the warm weather. That’s always a plus. The taxes, that’s a plus, right? It’s a good young team on the up and up. I feel like I can bring something to help them. Just be another piece to that puzzle here. There was a lot that went into me thinking about Miami and a lot of praying that went into it. Mom and grandma are praying over me. I’m super excited. I didn’t necessarily think I would be traded but once it kind of started to be reality, me and my team, we sat down and we kind of wrote the pros and cons of different situations going on and we wrote down teams and pros and cons, like which teams may be in need of a corner, which teams may be interested, which teams do I like as well, which teams will I fit whatever they got going on. I remember writing down Miami and Miami stayed at the top of my list from the jump. So then I just started praying about it and all started to visualize for me. So I’m ready. I hope it’s it’s everything that I dreamed of and prayed about and I’m sure it is. I’m excited.”
(Could you talk about maybe the reception you’ve gotten from fans so far? Because it seems like on social media…) – “It’s been all love, I ain’t going to lie. It’s been crazy. It’s been love. A lot of people have been showing crazy love and I was a little shocked at first because you know when I was at Florida State, we did our thing against the Hurricanes three years in a row while I was at Florida State. (laughter) So I’m like, man, I don’t know how they are going to feel about me right now. I used to tear them up. (laughter) But man, they showed love. They showed nothing but love. It’s been great. Me and ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) went to the Heat game last night. They showed a lot of love. It’s crazy. I know a lot of guys on the team already. I know a lot of guys like on the Heat team. I know a lot of people who just live here in Miami and Broward, Dade. So it’s been love, honestly. Everybody’s been showing a lot of love. It’s definitely been a warm welcome, so I appreciate that and I hope to return the favor with what I’m doing on the field, of course, and in this organization, but as well as in the community when I get the chance to do all of that good stuff.”
(What did joining a team with like championship aspirations in L.A. teach you about that process, and how to integrate yourself into a locker room and what steps you need to take?) – “Every team is different so I don’t necessarily like to compare like ‘oh, this is what it was like in L.A., so this is what I what it needs to be like here,’ because it’ll be different. And I’m going to embrace that change and that difference that we will have here. When I was going to L.A., I was kind of a younger guy, when I first got traded to L.A. Now I’m here and I’m one of the older ones in the room and on the team. So it’s a little bit of a difference. But I know what I can bring personally as a player and as a DB on the field. I know what I bring into the locker room, just my energy, my swag, my passion, my love. But there’s some championship qualities that I know I can bring as well, just from being on a winning team basically every year I was in L.A., besides this past one. And getting to the Super Bowl, winning the Super Bowl, having success individually, having team success, being around Hall of Fame players (like) Aaron Donald, Von Miller, Cooper Kupp, Matthew Stafford – I mean the list can go on and I don’t want to leave nobody out. But all those guys, learning a lot of valuable things from them, learning how our team dynamic was, learning how everybody had their own passion, everybody had their love, but we were all doing it as one. We were unified. We always had each other’s back. It was really like a family. It was good times. It was bad times. It was fights. It was love. It was all that. So a little bit of that aspect. I feel like I can bring and help feel that out and see where we’re going. And like I said, I’m an older guy now. We got some young guys on the team. I hope to elevate their games in any way that I can, whether that’s my preparation, how I get my body prepared, whether that’s my preparation with the game film, mentally, whatever it may be. I’m just trying to help however I can and bring a championship here. And I know I can. I know I can do my part. I feel like everybody else will do their part as well. But like I said earlier, I’m just a piece of the puzzle man. There’s a lot more that’ll go into it than just me and what I’ll bring.”
(The team shared some video of you and CB Xavien Howard taking a tour of the facility. And you mentioned that you actually visited his Pro Day in 2016. Can you kind of talk about that relationship, where it stemmed from, and just what you two can bring to each other on and off the field?) – “Yeah, me and ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) met, what is it, seven or eight years ago now. One of our close mutual friends, Corey Coleman, we are all pretty close. So that’s how we met. We met through Corey Coleman. And yeah, I was always like around Corey and supporting Corey, so I was going to Baylor Pro Day and obviously ‘X’ was the big-name corner at the time at Baylor. I knew a lot about him. I knew a lot about his game. We were like trying to recruit him, trying to get him to come with my agent and stuff. We were doing our due diligence trying to build the team right there. But yeah, I’ve been a fan of his game for a while. We got a lot of respect for each other. I can say he’s somebody who’s been a cool, dope friend to have. Last year when they were in L.A. for a week and played the Chargers, I saw him a couple of times. We had dinner, kicked it. The same vice-versa if I’m down here, I’ll hit him up if I need something. We’re both family men, got kids. That was all organic and natural. That wasn’t nothing that the Dolphins had to make us do or nothing like that. It was cool. We were already talking about it anyway. He already knew I was coming to town. We were going to go to the Heat game anyway and kick it. Then he came by, he worked out and stuff then he came by showing me around and stuff like that. That was cool. And then we went on about our night and had fun or whatever.”
(CB Xavien Howard is a little different than you though. You like to chatter and he is real quiet. How does that dynamic work? Are you going to try to get that to rub off on him a little bit?) – “I’m going to let him be him. He’s been successful already, so I ain’t trying to change him. I ain’t trying to do nothing. I’m trying to bring the best out of him, whatever that may be. And I’m sure he’ll do the same. But I mean, you can call me evil twin, I guess, if that’s what you all want to do. He’s the good one, I’m the bad one. (laughter) But I’m going to keep being me. I’m going to keep talking. If I get a little bit of that out of him and that elevates his game, cool. But if that is distracting to him, then I’m going to let him be him. He’s been successful, so I ain’t trying to do nothing but just bring the best out of him. It is crazy. Me and him really text each other at random times during the day since the trade happened, like ‘we’re really teammates.’ Because it’s crazy. Like I just randomly think about it during the day like this is crazy. Two years ago, both of us were first-team All-Pro together I think for the second time. I don’t know. We’ve been in Pro Bowls together. Like it’s really crazy to think about. You never really thought that we would be on the same team and be able to play at an elite level and help something special here in Miami. But yeah, I ain’t got to do nothing to change him or anything like that. I’m trying to influence him in the most positive good way I can and bring the best out of him because I know that’s what he going to do with me too.”
(You’ve shown a lot of versatility in the secondary in L.A. at the star position. How do you think that will transfer to Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio’s defense here?) – “Yeah. It’s a very similar scheme, so that’s a blessing. I might have to learn some new terminology and how he names things and stuff like that, but I’m very familiar with the scheme, love the scheme. There are different ways to play it, and that just depends on the flow of our team and exactly what he wants me to do. But because I have that versatility, I can do whatever that he asks of me. If he wants me and ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) to lock up the outside, that’s what we’re going to do. And then they’re going to do their jobs everywhere else. If he wants me to move around a little bit, go into nickel, go into dime, blitz, cover tight ends, running backs, whatever it is, I’ll be able to do all of it. I think everybody knows that. You all know me. You all know how I get down. You know what I do. So being able to bring that to this defense and this secondary is going to be cool for sure.”
(I was just curious about your level of intensity at practice. Can you give us an insight into that? And how much are you looking forward to going against WR Tyreek Hill and this wide receiver group that has so much speed right now?) – “Yeah, I love practice. As soon as I’m on the field, regardless, like that’s who I am. I got the intensity, I got the fire, the passion. I can’t turn that down. It’s like 100 at all times. So that’s practice and everything. So I’m sure those guys will be ready too. Those guys are going to make me better. I really embrace being on the team with a really good elite receiver. Like I was blessed when I was in L.A., obviously with Cooper Kupp. But we didn’t always get to battle it out every time. I know Tyreek, he got that mindset too. He a dawg, he wants to go get it. Jaylen (Waddle) too. I know we’re going to be battling it out. We’re going to be making each other better. That’ll be good for me, X, the rest of the DBs. It’s going to be good for the receivers too because we are going to get after it. It’ll be fun.”
(What kind of conversations have you had with Mike McDaniel? And what are your early impressions of coach?) – “He’s cool. Coach is cool. Coach is different. He’s cool. He be chilling. He’s young. Got some energy about him. Says what’s on his mind when he wants to. We can have just real conversations. It doesn’t feel like a player talking to my coach. It kind of feels like this is my homie a little bit, which is dope. You know he’s the authority, but that’s a dope dynamic to have with your coach. He keeps telling me that he’s going to be the best head coach I’ve ever had. He’s nudging Sean (McVay) on that a little bit. (laughter) Sean was great in L.A. It’s going to be tough because Sean is the man. But I believe him though, and I’m going to hold him to that. But it’s been cool, man. He’s real chill, real fun, real cool. I’m excited and I know a lot of guys speak very highly of him too.”
(How do you think Mike McDaniel compares to Sean McVay?) – “I don’t know yet. It’s only my third day. I just got here. (laughter) But just from my immediate interactions with him and everything, how the flow has been, it’s been cool. But like I said, I’m going to hold him to it. And I know the guys speak highly of him. It will be exciting. It will be fun.”
(You got to talk to me about his outfit. Are you Gucci down to the socks?) – “Come on. I got some Gucci, Gucci, Gucci, Gucci, Travis Scotts, chains on Hublot – shout out to Hublot. Gucci. Yeah, me and Gucci partnered up this past year so we do a lot of things and anytime I got some special going on, they want to make sure that they got me fitted and stuff. So as soon as the trade happened, they hit me and my team up and was like you got to wear Gucci, and I was like, I’m going to wear Gucci anyway so I got you all. Then I went to the Design District yesterday, we got fitted up, got a little fit. That was cool. And now I’m here in the flesh with my Gucci on. (laughter)”
(The trash talk, I know that is part of your game. How does that get you psyched up to play your best and who of your NFL opponents has given it right back to you the best?) – “It’s not like a psych me up thing. It’s just what I do. It’s fun. It’s part of my game. I have fun with this. Like it is my profession, it’s my job, it’s very serious, I got to take it serious. But like I have to have fun with it as well. I love it. And so that’s just a part of who I am and how I express my love for the game out there, how I go in my opponents. Like I ain’t got no friends while I’m on the field, it don’t matter who you are. So that’s just my way of going about my business. I ain’t going to say nobody really gives it back like how I give it, but sometimes a couple guys might have something to say, you know if they feel like they made a good catch or had a little success. But it ain’t happen often. (laughter)”
(You enter a division that had QB Josh Allen in it, potentially QB Aaron Rodgers. Where do you feel like you guys as defense stack up facing those type of quarterbacks?) – “We’ll be straight. We’re going to put the work in. It’s the NFL, so it’s any given Sunday, week by week. I think we’ll be good though. Like I said, on paper I’m cool with us. Man, I’ll come up here and sing praises all day long. But we got to put the work in. We got a lot to do and a lot to accomplish before we get to those games. They played well in the division already without me. I’m trying to come in here and just add to that. But I can’t even really speak specifically about certain games or matchups yet because we’re not even there. We got a lot to do internally first. That’s what it’s about. First, it’s us. And then we’ll worry about everybody else. But right now, we aren’t worried about nothing.”
(What is it about Coach Mike McDaniel that’s intriguing to you?) – “He’s a little weird. He’s a little weird. We’re all weird in our own way. But a little weird. But that’s cool, though. And he does things his way. And he’s himself all the time. Like it’s not fake or nothing like that. So I know that’s one thing all the players have said that have talked about it with me. And they like that about him. And I’m sure I will, too. But I can only speak from my recent interactions. We’ve interacted a little bit. And he seems cool. But once I’m actually here a little bit longer, actually around him a little bit longer, I’ll be able to answer that question a little bit better for you. But I think he’s going to be a great coach.”
(When you say he’s a little weird, what does that mean? The way he talks to the media?) – “Yeah. All of that. It’s different than what you would expect with maybe a head coach. He be fresh. Everything. He got the shoes. He loves shoes. All of that. It’s different. I wouldn’t say weird, but I think I’m weird. Like I say weird is in terms of like different. He’s different.”
(Last year WR Tyreek Hill wanted to come to Miami. He was traded to Miami. This year, you want to come to Miami and get traded to the Dolphins. Since you’ve been in the league, how have you seen player empowerment grow and develop?) – “It’s all about leverage, man. You got to know your leverage and use it. I think that’s what he did. And I know that’s what I did as well. So that’s it. It’s just about leverage and knowing your leverage and using it and having a good team around you. Trying to control your own destiny, your own journey a little bit, because we are in a profession where things can switch so often. You never know what one week, the next week might be one year to the next year. So as much as you can try to control your destiny a little bit, I think you should. So player empowerment is a big thing for me.”
(You guys are going to have heightened expectations here. And you did at the Rams also. I’m wondering, do you use that? Do you ignore it? Do you embrace it? Do you use it as motivation? What do you do with those heightened expectations?) – “I think you embrace all of it. Whether it was heightened expectations or whether they thought we weren’t going to do nothing at all, I think you embrace all of it. And that’s how you just store it and then when you grind it, if you need a little extra boost, think about something sometimes. Whether you’ve proven people right or whether you’ve proven people wrong, it’s just a motivating factor. I’ve dealt with it individually in my individual career. I’ve dealt with it with team success and the teams that I’ve been on. It doesn’t bother me. It’s just another tool that you can use as a motivating factor if you need to or want to.”
(So for those who say maybe you are past your prime, what do you say?) – “All right.”
(Did you hear any of that on social media?) – “Did you see me play this past year?”
(I’m just asking about what others may say about you.) – “You got to put on the film now. You got to really watch it. You don’t become this successful without actually doing good things on that field and having the respect from your peers and media. We’re going to see. We’re going to say what those guys say once we are out on the field. That’s what matters. We’re going to see what they got to say.”
(You accomplished so much in your career including a ring. What more do you hope to show people? What more do you hope to show yourself in your career?) – “Just more. For me individually, obviously I want to be a Hall of Famer. Honestly, I think I am a Hall of Famer but I’m trying to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. I want to be looked at in the same conversation as like Darrelle Revis, Charles Woodson and Deion Sanders. So individually, that’s where I’m headed. That’s my motivation and my mindset. But as a team, I’m at a new team so I want to bring all of that to a new team. I want to bring it to some guys that I’m close with. Some friends. Some guys I feel like are deserving of that success – playoff wins, Super Bowl. I can bring that aspect a little bit. If I can help bring that, that will be very fulfilling. If I can help guys grow and go to the next level of their game individually and become Pro Bowlers and All-Pros, that’s another motivating factor for me. Help guys get paid. All of that. Those are all motivating factors for me. I’m all for my teammates and my players. I’m good with all of that.”
(When you were talking a little bit ago about the player empowerment, I know you were at the NBA game last night. What did you guys at all learn from the NBA and maybe using their power to get to what you want to as a player? We’ve seen it with you, WR Tyreek Hill, QB Deshaun Watson. Getting what you want, what have you learned at all from that?) – “It’s all about leverage. That’s it. It’s what I said earlier. It’s the same thing, really. It’s just about leverage and knowing how to use it, having good representation behind you, having a good team behind you to go fight for you, really fight for you, and try to get what you want and desire at times. I’m blessed that I have the greatest agent in David Mulugheta behind me. He really fights for me. And not just me but all of his guys, to try to get us what we want and desire. So that’s great. And look, it doesn’t always work out like that. This is just in life, football – everything, how my mindset is, you can’t really just be in love with the end result or the destination and all of that. You have to kind of be in love with the whole journey and the process. And being around great people and having a real love and enjoyment and passion for something, that helps you do that. That’s how I think about it.”
(Heat games or Lakers game?) – “How that Heat game was last night was fire. They showed love. It was fun. They had the jerseys ready. They had everything. I don’t know because I’m a fan of players and ‘Bron (LeBron James) is the GOAT so I can’t even lie to y’all and say – watching ‘Bron, that’s crazy. I’m a fan of a lot of the guys on the Heat. I know a lot of them personally. Bam (Adebayo), Tyler (Herro), Kyle (Lowry), Vic (Oladipo). I know all of them so it’s going to be cool being able to see them in person. I don’t know. I can’t answer that yet. It was all fun. It’s just fun. It’s all fun.”
(Being around the City of Miami – you said you’ve been around the City of Miami. This city has been starving for a championship and not just the Heat. For the Dolphins, it’s been awhile. Do you get that vibe when fans are asking you stuff, that it’s about time?) – “Yeah, for sure. I am too. We should be. We should want to go get the Super Bowl. We should want to go stack up the wins, get the playoff wins and the Super Bowl. I’m embracing all of that too. That’s how it should be. I love that. Honestly, I love that we have some hardcore fans that want that and want to be great. I would kind of be worried if it was the opposite way. If they didn’t really care, that would suck. I’m glad that it’s not that way at all.”
(First practice – who takes WR Tyreek Hill and who takes WR Jaylen Waddle?) – “Honestly, I’ll line up and whoever comes up there is going to get it. ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) is the same way. ‘X’ is going to line up and whoever comes up there, we’re going to go at it. That’s how we’re wired. We aren’t worried about – that’s what people do in Pee Wee football when they’re scared to hit. They try to look in the line and they try to match it up. ‘Oh, I’m going to go with him.’ Nah. I’m first. Come on, whoever wants it. If he’s up first, come on. Whoever wants it. That’s how we’re going to roll around here.”
(How do you and CB Xavien Howard compare to another great Dolphins tandem in Pat Surtain and Sam Madison.) – “We’re trying to be the best. We aren’t trying to really worry about comparing ourselves with anybody else. We’re trying to be ourselves. Like I said, we’ve had some success in our individual careers up until this point. We’re planning to have more success now together in the same secondary as a duo. I’m not really looking to compare at all. One of the guys is our coach anyway, so we’re not going to really say nothing. (laughter) We’ll probably have some debates in the meeting room. We’re just going to get after it and then when it’s all said and done, then we can go over all of that and we can go over all about what people say that my man over there was talking about. We’ll keep the receipts and we’ll go back over all of that when it’s all said and done after the fact. That’s what I’ve been doing in my career. ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) has been doing that in his career. Somehow, we are stacking up All-Pros and Pro Bowls and interceptions and PFF rankings and all of that. We’ll talk about all of that after the fact.”
(Is it going to be nice not to have to chase a No. 1 receiver all around the field because you know on the other side you have CB Xavien Howard?) – “It’s going to be nice. A lot of things are going to be nice though, not just that. A lot of things are going to be nice. We’ve got some young hungry pass rushers. Christian (Wilkins) who is going to run everywhere around the field and make a ton of tackles. We’re going to have fun. There’s going to be a lot of stuff happening. I don’t know exactly – I haven’t really talked with Vic (Fangio) about specifics of how exactly things are going to go. But what I know about me and ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) is that both of us are dawgs. So if we get into a zone, then we may get into a zone and I may have to let ‘X’ ride with the zone. You go with him then. And he goes with his zone. Or I may get into a zone and I may want that. Or we’ll be like the evil twin goes that way, the good twin goes that way, and let’s do our thing. You never know. We’ll figure that out once the time approaches but until then, we’re going to enjoy being here. I’m going to enjoy my new teammates, my new coaches, the city. Find somewhere to live. All that good stuff. Y’all give me the food recommendations and all that good stuff. And then once it’s time to get after it, we’re going to get after it and we’re going to have some fun. We’re going to have some fun too. We’re going to love it.”
Mike Pouncey – March 9, 2023
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Thursday, March 9, 2023
OL Mike Pouncey
Senior Vice President, Special Projects, Alumni Relations & Advisor to CEO Nat Moore:
(Opening statement) – “I want to thank you guys for being here today because today’s a very special day and we’re honored and excited to have Mike Pouncey with us today. Mike has signed a one-day contract and has officially now retired as a Miami Dolphin. As you can see, we already got him in a (aqua) jacket. (laughter) When I think about Mike and his days here, Mike was not only a great player. Mike was also a great community activist, and he exemplified leadership at its greatest. When you think of his career, you think of the offensive line and what he did to lead that group of men as each and every week offensively, we were extremely competitive, he was that leader. The way he prepared, the way he helped the South Florida community; all that is what Mike Pouncey was to South Florida, and it’s so good to have him back. He was drafted in 2011 as the 15th overall pick out of the University of Florida, and played seven seasons with the Dolphins, starting 93 games from 2011 through 2017. During that time, he was a three-time Pro Bowler – 2013, 2014, 2015. He’s the only Dolphin offensive lineman to ever be selected to the Pro Bowl at two different positions. And he showed us that at Florida when he played defense and offense. But in 2013 and 2015, he was a center Pro Bowl selection and 2014 at guard. So when you think of Mike Pouncey – his career and what he was able to accomplish here – there’s greatness. The (last Dolphins) offensive lineman to ever be selected to three Pro Bowls continuously was Keith Sims. So think about that. He was also a two-time winner of the team’s Don Shula Leadership Award voted on by his teammates. He finished his career with the Chargers playing two seasons – 2018 and ‘19 – and earning another Pro Bowl. He’s joined today by his family, including his brother Maurkice, who was also a great player in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers. As Senior Vice President of Alumni Relations, on behalf of the organization, it is my honor to welcome Mike Pouncey to the lifelong fraternity of the Dolphins alumni. Mike, you’re now officially a Miami Dolphin again, for life. Welcome back, brother.”
Mike Pouncey:
“I’m excited to be back. I’ve waited for this day for the last two years just because the Dolphins just meant so much to me and my family. For my son to be at this age now, and to be able to see it and be able to appreciate it a little bit more because he was so young whenever I was playing here. I told him, I said, ‘this is something you got to work for, to be able to come back and be able to be wanted to a place that gave so much to you and changed your life.’ I’m glad he’s been able to see it. I brought my family here today. My brother, obviously without him, none of this is even possible. I’m happy to be back. I know this is two years past retirement but to be able to say I’m retired as a Miami Dolphin is one of the greatest achievements of my life.”
(When Nat Moore is going through your list of accomplishments in your career, what’s going through your mind?) – “It blows my mind. I still to this day – me and my brother laugh about it, like to be able to have the money that we have, to have all the accolades that we’ve accomplished, like how did two kids from Lakeland do that? Hard work, I guess.”
(How much does this day mean to you because I recall when you got that contract extension in 2015, you were saying you wanted to retire as a Miami Dolphin and now you are – what does this mean to you?) – “It means the world. Like I always said, I was going to be a Dolphin for life and I meant that. I waited around for two years to be able to come up here and retire a Dolphin and now to finally say I’m retiring as a Miami Dolphin, it’s just awesome. I can’t wait until we get to celebrate today.”
(How much have you been in touch with the organization over the last few years and how much more do you think you will now?) – “A bunch. I was in touch with them a bunch over the years even when I was playing with the Chargers. I still had a bunch of friends that worked here. I still knew all the ownership and a lot of the scouts and stuff. So the relationships have always been there. Since I’ve been retired, I’ve done different events – we did the (Dolphins Challenge Cancer) cycling challenge, me and my brother did one year. We stayed involved. But now that I’m back here and it’s whatever volume they want me around, I’ll be around. I came down for a couple of weeks during the season whenever Coach Flores was here and helped with the offensive line. I’m here. I’m retired. Me and my brother, we just opened a liqueur company now called J.F. Haden’s and other than that, my phone is always open for the Dolphins.”
(So you’re local then?) – “Yeah, we stay in Fort Lauderdale.”
(You made the Pro Bowl as a Dolphin for a number of years and then along the way, they tap you on the shoulder and they say you’re not a center, you’re a guard now. What do you remember about that year that you played guard?) – “It was harder getting out of bed. I am not going to lie to you; guard is one of the toughest positions in the NFL. But I was used to it. It was my natural position. I had played it so much throughout my career especially in college and was very successful at it, so to move over was just easy. And at that time, Samson Satele was back around. He was a good friend of mine and I had no problem moving over, but the Pro Bowls here were a lot tougher than the one in in California when Philip Rivers was slinging that thing around. It felt like sometimes you didn’t have to touch anybody, but that Pro Bowl there – I know that’s part of the resume, but a lot of times it comes off team success.”
(What position would you play now at your new weight?) – “(laughter) Which one ain’t getting in the game? (laughter) That’s the only position … No, I mean the only position I know is how to play is offensive line. So if I were to ever play again, it’d be that position. But I don’t see me ever going back on the football field. I run routes for my son now. He plays quarterback so I enjoy that more than anything.”
(I wanted to actually ask you about the weight loss. What motivated it and how much better do you feel now?) – “I feel awesome. You know what it was, me and my brother, we retired at the same time and a lot of times whenever you get so used to being in a routine, we just challenged ourselves. Let’s drop this weight and see how fast we can do it. I’ve had him by my side throughout my career and even post career, and he makes it easy. But the process for us was just stop eating like linemen. We stopped eating all the carbs. We stopped eating six, seven times a day and we just, yeah. (laughter) And honestly, everyone’s like, they ask us all the time, like ‘how do you guys eat?’ I say ‘like rabbits.’ You say ‘well, what do you mean, what’s the difference?’ I say, ‘back when we were playing, we ate like pigs.’ That’s the only difference I can explain.”
(How much have you lost?) – “We lost 70 pounds so now I weight about 228 pounds. When I was playing, I was 300, 303 pounds, around that weight. But a lot of weight in a year.”
(You said your phone is always going to be open to the Dolphins. Do you think you’ll ever have another future in football, maybe coaching or something else?) – “One thousand percent. I’m just waiting for my son to get to high school. Right now, I’m just enjoying his little league process, but as soon as he goes off to high school, I’ll start my coaching career.”
(Have you thought about the Honor Roll, the Dolphins Honor Roll or be up in the stadium? Have those thoughts gone through your head?) – “I mean, those are thoughts I had whenever I was playing. Right now, it’s just more of, man, if that ever happened, I’d just be appreciative, just like I am today, to be able to come back and sign a one-day contract. But that’s just part of just time passing and for me, whatever comes with it comes with it, but it’s not something I’m going to ask for. If it happens, it happens.”
(You’ve got an interesting legacy here through the years. How do you remember it and how do you want to be remembered as a Miami Dolphin?) – “I just want to be remembered as Nat announced, just as a guy that was here that gave everything he had, was a leader, was respected and loved by his teammates and the community. And outside of that, the rest of it is on tape. You just cut the tape on, it’ll show you what I was as a football player.”
(It seems like the Dolphins are often in that stage of having to rebuild the offensive line. It’s a tricky position to nail down obviously. When you look at the line that they have now, what do you see?) – “I love the offensive line. (Terron) Armstead was a big-time pickup for the offensive line. He’s really helped those young guys come along, but that’s a part of going through the NFL. A lot of times in our era, whenever you were drafted, you were expected to play right away. And nowadays they give guys a little leeway to develop guys because I think coaching sometimes has been dumbed down a little bit in college football to where guys don’t develop as fast as they used to because the process is a little bit different. The mindset is a little different. And outside of that, that’s pretty much how I feel about it.”
(Any thoughts on OL Connor Williams? He came here, he was a guard.) – “I think he did a real good job. I watched him all year long. I think he made the transition over to center, made it really smooth; but when you’re playing guard, it’s a lot easier to make that transition from guard over to center because a lot of times at center, you’re helping out instead of a lot of one-on-one blocks.”
(Tell us about the business.) – “Oh the business is doing awesome, man. I’m glad you asked. Thank God. (laughter) I haven’t talked about football in years other than little league football. I haven’t talked about football. But no, the business is doing awesome. We’ve been very, very thankful, grateful for Buzzy giving us the opportunity to be a part of this company. We own a liqueur company and the best thing – our pitch and sell about our company is that every other liqueur is made in Europe and other countries. We’re the only American-made liqueur company and it’s done really well for us. We have four different flavors – espresso, mango, citrus and lychee. But they do really, really well. We own a distillery down in Allapattah. It’s five blocks outside of Wynwood. And it’s been doing really, really well. But that part of what we’re doing now is just a little bit of a piece of what we’ve done over our careers. Me and my brother own a bunch of real estate throughout Columbus, Ohio. We hate to say it sometimes, but we own a hotel. There’s a bunch of different stuff that we got going on. But we’ve been very, very successful outside of football. And that was one of our things was that we wanted to be more than just an athlete. It was like, man, we’ve done so much as football players and to say that we’re retired at 30 years old just sounds ridiculous, so now it’s just time to prove ourselves as business entrepreneurs.”
(And you guys are so personable, you and Maurkice. Why don’t you have a podcast or anything?) – “(laughter) Everyone always asks that. We just go on a lot of different ones and we speak our mind a lot. But we did ‘The Pivot’ and everyone was like, they asked us ‘why don’t you guys start your own?’ Because we don’t have the time to build the content. He has three daughters and you know how that is. With one daughter, it’s a mess. But you got three and all of them are under 11 years old. I have a teenage daughter now that’s 15 years old. We had kids so young that when we were in our playing careers, we missed out on a lot of their younger days. And so now we’re just playing catch up with it. And honestly, we’re just very thankful that we have all of our real estate stuff and stuff that brings us in a lot of income that we can just be able to give our time to our family.”
(How do you feel like you grew as a person in your time in Miami? We always enjoyed your candor.) – “If I thought how I thought now, I’d still be with the Dolphins. (laughter) That’s part of just growth, man. I swear I look back and like, ‘dang, man, if I was just a little bit more mature when I was playing,’ but that’s part of what makes you a good player is that edge that you bring. So I have no regret over what I did here and I’m very proud of my career that I had here. And obviously now just trying to be looked at it in a different light in the business world and it’s been awesome. We’ve enjoyed the retirement life so far.”
(Is there anything that you maybe miss from the game?) – “I just miss – I still have all my friends, so it isn’t that. It’s more just that routine of doing something collectively with people and I miss being in a locker room. But other than that, I don’t miss going to practice. I don’t miss showing up to game day. There’s too much anxiety, you know what I’m saying? I love football. I’m telling my son now, we’re riding to football games. I’m like ‘why the hell am I nervous?’ (laughter) But that’s just part of just me, just my makeup and I try and teach him the same thing so hopefully one day he’s standing up here whatever team it may be and giving a speech.”
(What do you think about this new facility here?) – “Man, the facility has been awesome. Just to see it here – to see the old facility that we had behind Nova over there in Davie, man they could put six of those inside of here. It’s just a testament that Mr. (Stephen) Ross wants to see this organization win and wants it to be seen as one of the top teams in the NFL. He’s done a really, really good job. And what I will say is Coach (Mike) McDaniel has brought back excitement to the Dolphins. I was tailgating in the parking lot. I was doing it all. I was a real fan. We’re excited for this year because we’re going to be around a lot more. I’m excited for the direction of the football team.”
(I would imagine your paths crossed quite frequently with Jason Jenkins with your community work down here. I was curious about your relationship with him.) – “Jason was awesome. I always promised him one day that … damn. (emotional) Jason was a good man. I wish he was here today with us.”
(Anything planned with the Dolphins in the next few weeks? Appearances or anything like that?) – “Yeah. Tom (Garfinkel) got us connected with some people at Hard Rock so we’ll have our liqueur in Hard Rock soon throughout a couple of different spots in there. But outside of that, hopefully we can do a draft day party down there and use that venue.”
(What were your feelings driving up here today? A lot of memories coming? It’s a new facility but were there a lot of memories coming back?) – “Yeah, it was awesome. I took the same route that I used to take to the stadium. I went through my same routine. In the morning, I got up and had to go to the gym and get it off me a little bit. Everybody in the gym knows me in there so everyone was all excited for me and that was fun. Just to take that route with my family one more time.”
Maurkice Pouncey:
(What was it like to kind of watch Mike Pouncey’s career from a bit of afar?) – “It’s so crazy. People always ask that question. I always looked up to Mike. Mike was a better player in my eyes. I think Mike’s path was a lot harder than mine. I played with ‘Big Ben’ (Ben Roethlisberger). I had Antonio Brown, Le’Veon (Bell) and all these great players. I think for him to have the success that he had and the way he’s viewed down here, it meant a lot more to the family … I always looked up to Mike and I always thought Mike was the better player. I know I got a lot more recognition. That will be a part of any other speech I have down the line but I always looked to Mike as the biggest brother and the greatest figure in my life. Y’all take that for what it is and y’all go look at the film like Mike said. I used to go home and instead of watching my game, I used to go straight to watching Mike’s game to see how he played before I go judge myself. (laughter) Mike was a hell of a player. He had a lot more respect down here from the organization and the players. It still shows to the day how we carry our business when we go around places. He made that legacy possible for us so we didn’t have to move back to Lakeland and just have our Lakeland fans. (laughter)”
(What is it like getting to work beside Mike Pouncey now with the new business and all the stuff you get to do together?) – “It’s just been exciting because like Mike said, we retired at 30 years old and to have the success we had, I think Buzzy, his wife Kim and our liqueur business, it just gave us a brighter outlook in life just not to have real estate and say we own this building or own these apartments. I think it gives us more life to be around things and show our kids something, and aspire to be something in life. I think that’s really huge on me and Mike – and our family did it to us. They instilled on a day-to-day basis not just to have money but to go work, have a schedule, have something to look further in life for. That’s what we’re trying to instill in our kids because they’re blessed. They’re spoiled. They get every damn present they want. So more than anything, you better bring home those straight As kids, for sure.” (laughter)
(I believe I saw you guys in training camp. You guys have a little league football team?) – “Yeah, so Mike does the travel football team. His son’s the star quarterback man. He ain’t playing o-line, so he better be able to throw that football for sure. ‘Big Ben’ (Ben Roethlisberger) told him – he taught him as soon as we retired, he told him to put the quarter in the pocket. So that’s his little tip for him to make it down the line. But yeah, Mike has a travel football team. We’ve been involved in that part. We got the foundation that we’ve been having for 13 years now. We’re actually in discussion, I’m glad you asked about this – we’re actually bringing something to the University of Florida here at the end of the month. We wanted to put together a development branch, a skill development branch for the kids there, to have actual mentorship to bring back to the university to show the kids that we’re giving these kids hundreds of thousands of dollars and they don’t even know how to write a check. So let’s start teaching these kids a little bit something different in life.”
Mike Pouncey:
(How did the little one get to be a quarterback instead of a lineman?) – “He turned out a little bit like his mom. (laughter) She’s a little bit smaller. I feel like that position, especially at his age, it teaches you the game a little bit faster. I know he wants to be a wide receiver, but I’m like if you know the game at that position, it makes you a better football player and it gives you an advantage over everybody else on the football field. So just me going through this whole process from little league all the way to the NFL kind of just prepared me for me to have a son and be like, if I ever have a son, I’m going make sure he goes on this path to be successful, and I know that’s the best way to be.”
(Closing remarks) – “I do want to say this though, to Jason Jenkins’ family, I wish them the best. What Jason did for this community, what he did for the Miami Dolphins is irreplaceable. There’s nobody that’s going to be able to replace that man. And to his family, I want to say sorry and I hope you guys are doing well.”
Chris Grier – March 1, 2023
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Wednesday, March 1, 2023
General Manager Chris Grier
([CB Byron Jones’] pair of Tweets saying that he can’t run or jump from the injuries, said not to take pills or injections from the team. Do you have any response to that? Has he ever expressed any concern or frustration with his rehab in terms of how it was handled and will he be on the team in 2023?) – “Yeah, I said – I was like everyone, I think I was on a flight here (when I heard about it). I was on my way because I had to come in early for some committee meetings. I talked with his agent. We had a good conversation and with Byron (Jones), we’ve always had great communication in terms of he has a very good relationship with our training staff and doctors. So from our end, it’s been very transparent. A lot of really good communication between him, his agent and our trainers and doctors. I think we’re in a good spot. He’s working hard trying to get back and play and he’s been in communication with us through the process. I know you want a reaction, but I really didn’t because we talked to the agent and he was good and I told him, I said we’ll talk to Byron just to check in again with our doctors, once they get through the Combine with all the medicals and stuff here. But no, we’ve had no indication of anything that’s – it’s been a really good working relationship with him.”
(Is the expectation that CB Byron Jones will be on the team in 2023?) – “He’s under contract with us. Right now Vic (Fangio) is back in Florida just looking over the team so obviously he’s going to have some say in this because I think with his scheme and what we’re doing, and we’ll also talk with Byron (Jones), too. So a lot of moving parts right now. I’m not running around the answer, but that’s just kind of where we are right now.”
(Is there confidence CB Byron Jones can play again?) – “I’m not a doctor. I don’t know. I don’t want to speak and not – but we’ve seen him. When I last saw him, he was working out, doing everything he can to try and get back.”
(So do you go on the assumption that if you get CB Byron Jones able to play in 2023, it’s like extra? Or are you counting him as your starter opposite CB Xavien Howard?) – “No, I think you have to look at every option. You always have to look at all the different scenarios and try and plan for best-case and worst-case scenarios. So right now, we’re not making any assumptions on anything and just letting him continue to attack his rehab and see what happens.”
(Have you had discussions with DT Christian Wilkins’ agent about an extension and how much of a priority is that this offseason?) – “Christian, ever since we drafted him, has done nothing but get better each year. He is a tireless worker, as we’ve talked about. You guys have heard me talk about how he works around the building. He’s in every day. He’s still in the offseason. I’ve seen him around more than anyone. He loves the game. He loves our organization. We love him. We’d like to have him here for a long time. But in terms of conversations with agents, we don’t really talk publicly about it, but we would like to have him here a long time.”
(Where do you stand on QB Tua Tagovailoa’s fifth-year option…?) – “Yeah, I think with us, we’re still having all those conversations because there’s a lot of factors that go into that. And I think now that we’re finally finishing up the coaching staff, we’ll focus on some of these answers and coming together with Mike (McDaniel) and I, we’ll sit and talk about it as well as with Mr. (Stephen) Ross and Brandon Shore. So we’ll go through it and we’ll make our decision then. But all expectations, he’s our quarterback and he’s our quarterback here to be successful for a long time.”
(Are the dynamics different for the quarterback position when you have that fifth-year option given how … people are going to take it one way or the other?) – “Yeah, but you try and take that out of it. You just kind of make the decisions that are best for the organization and the team. So there are always factors as a quarterback. That’s the position that everyone talks about. But for us, you just try and remove emotion and try and make good, sound, smart decisions, and hopefully it’s the right one.”
(How big of a priority is finding a starting-caliber offensive lineman? Or do you feel that you have five guys in place?) – “I think the offensive lines we showed last year – we went out and we added Eric Fisher and signed guys and injuries happen, especially at that position. So for us, it’s continuing to add depth at that position and the competition and create spots. The guys made tremendous strides last year. You guys have heard Mike (McDaniel) and Frank Smith talk about how happy he is with the development of some of the young players. Obviously like with Austin (Jackson), he just needs to stay healthy so we can get a full evaluation of him, but with Connor (Williams), Liam (Eichenberg), Rob (Hunt) and obviously Terron (Armstead), we feel we have a good core of guys right there to start with. And Rob Jones and Lester Cotton coming in a playoff game, a young player. So excited about some of the development and potential of some of the players.”
(Are you guys a little more open-minded about OL Robert Hunt as a tackle or do you still personally believe that he has a very high ceiling mostly at guard?) – “Yeah, that’s the great thing about Rob, is that he can play both and excel, but I think where he is at guard, he has a potential to be a special player at guard. And I think he can have the chance to play tackle and he’s done it multiple times. So his versatility and position flexibility as well as Rob Jones, all those guys across the line – Connor can play guard, center. Liam can play tackle if he had to. The position flexibility that those guys all provide is all something, too, that’s exciting for us.”
(This is the first time in a couple years where you guys maybe don’t have an abundance of cap space now entering an offseason. I was curious where you are in the process of freeing up money? It seems like you’re going to have to restructure some guys. What is that dynamic and balance like these three or four weeks?) – “Yeah, this is nothing that’s unexpected for us. We’ve done a good job communicating that and Mr. Ross, we’ve talked to him and knows as well. Brandon Shore and Max Napolitano do a great job of looking at all scenarios for us. But when we make moves and we do trades like we did with (Bradley) Chubb midseason, it’s always with an eye of what things are going to look like and what we have to do. We’ll be fine. It’s always working from that position flexibility that we like and we’ll continue to do that, which provides us opportunities to continue to make moves.”
(On the possibility of RB Raheem Mostert and RB Jeff Wilson Jr. returning) – “Yeah, that was the one we talked about the other day for just a little bit because obviously we traded for Jeff (Wilson) and obviously Raheem (Mostert) and Mike’s (McDaniel) relationship as well, too. So yeah, we’re very open to those guys coming back. We’ve talked about that scenario where they may be back. We may have the same backfield back next year. Obviously they’re free agents and that’ll play a part of it, but we’d be very excited to have them back.”
(When you talk about QB Tua Tagovailoa being the quarterback for a long time, does that include the thought of an extension before the season starts?) – “Yeah, I think all options like I said, we’ll go through it here and we’re going to spend a lot of time here and that’s a good thing, is we’re not rushed to make anything right now. And so we’ll be in touch with Tua’s representatives and Mike (McDaniel) and I and Brandon (Shore) will sit and Steve (Ross) and we’ll make a push for things and we’ll talk and we’ll see where they stand. But like I said, we’re very excited for him. The strides he made this year with Mike (McDaniel) and the offense, you guys have been here and seen it. It was really exciting. And to see the work he’s put in that you guys don’t see at the facility and around, it’s been really incredible. And the dialogue between him and Mike just talking football. I’ve never heard as much football as he talks about Mike (McDaniel) and stuff he sees even from other games. It’s pretty cool to see.”
(And when you’re talking about like a fifth-year option and an extension, durability starts to be a factor because obviously you’re committing for a long time. Do you have any concern about his durability?) – “I can’t lie and say no. But it’s not something that is going to make us afraid to do something long-term with him. The one thing he’s had, he’s been banged up, but he always comes back and bounces back and plays hard and performs, so excited for his future. Excited for watching him doing all the work he’s been doing in the offseason right now to prepare for 2023 and he’s very excited to get back on the field with his teammates.”
(I wanted to ask your thoughts on … last year. Were you self-scouting? What did you learn? What did you do right? What do you need to work on?) – “It’s like everything. We felt we made some good moves, some good players we brought in that impacted us. We were a young team so adding some veteran guys that were leaders but also good players to show these guys how to do things we thought was important. Every move that you make, you’d love for them all to be home runs. We thought we had a really good free agent class last year. Obviously a player like Cedrick Wilson was signed, but then the Tyreek (Hill) trade happened. So that was just different which impacted him. But then end of the year we probably don’t win games without him returning the punts, stepping up to do that and then giving us a chance to win games. So all the guys contributed pretty much, so happy with that. But at the end of the day, I was really proud of the work the scouting staff did in season like with Brandon Shell and those guys that come in and impact us to help us win. So it’s just trying to make good decisions to create depth and competition at positions to keep us in a position to try and win games.”
(When it comes to running backs, could you potentially be more open to taking like an earlier high draft selection than you have in recent drafts?) – “Yeah, I think if there’s a really good player, an opportunity to get a really good player, we can’t pass up anything right now. We need some depth at some spots and at running back, obviously with no one under contract on the roster right now, would be one. And there are some good players in this draft. So we’ll always keep looking and you guys know how Mike (McDaniel) loves his running backs.”
(QB Marcus Mariota and QB Carson Wentz are examples of a couple veterans with pedigree. Interest in potentially one or the other, or someone very much like that?) – “Yeah, we’ve had some preliminary talks, Mike (McDaniel and I, just about the guy to come in and to be the right guy to fit for this offense and what we’re doing. So yeah, every player is on the table. We’ll talk about every one of them. We’ve talked about a couple of them already. But we’ll keep turning it over and try and find the right guy to come in. And the good thing is, I think a lot of people want to come in. They see the excitement of the offense and what Mike’s done. I know the Heisman winner made some noise with his tweet about wanting to play for Miami, which is always pretty cool because they see what Mike has done and his coaching staff has done offensively for us.”
(I was curious as you look to shape this defense in Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio’s vision and mold, how important of a priority is upgrading inside linebacker and safety this offseason?) – “You’ve heard Vic (Fangio) talk about Jevon Holland, how much he loves Jevon and getting some depth at that position will help with a couple guys there still, and then obviously with Brandon (Jones) coming back off his injury at some point here. The inside linebacker position, yeah, we really have two guys under contract there, so we need to build some depth and create some competition there. And we’ll do that. We’ve had some preliminary talks about stuff, but when we get back, we’ll really hit it with Vic here in these last couple of weeks before the start of free agency.”
(It’s a late-breaking story, obviously with Jalen Carter – is this something that scouting circles thought might be coming? Was it a surprise? And also, when a news like this breaks once before the draft, how much does it kind of rearrange workflow for a player like that?) – “I really just heard it walking over from a previous engagement, so I really can’t comment on it because I don’t really know about, and it’s a situation that if I don’t know anything like that, I don’t really want to comment. But in terms of when a story breaks on a prospect or player, it’s just at the end of the day, you just got to do your work and let it all play out. I mean, obviously, Laremy Tunsil was a situation we had here that we were able to take advantage of a situation that happened. So I don’t really judge anything until you know the facts and what’s going on. It would just be hard to comment.”
(I know you do a lot with the competition committee. Can you maybe detail what that looks like …?) – “It’s interesting to, I guess, kind of get behind the curtain a little bit. I think Troy (Vincent), and Rich McKay, who is the chairman of the committee, do a great job in the room. But it’s really cool to be there and listen to Coach (Mike) Tomlin, and Coach (Mike) Vrabel, the coaches there, Coach (Frank) Reich. And just talk about John Mara, and Stephen Jones, Katie Blackburn, and just talk about everything. You really see how they’re trying to drive the game for improvements. But really it’s a lot of debate, it’s a lot of listening and learning. And then you just have to have an opinion on stuff. You kind of talk to some of the other GMs and or head coaches to see where they feel about things. But at the end of the day, our group, we’re charged with making decisions of whether a proposal should move forward or not. It’s exciting. I’ve enjoyed it. A really good time. Like I said, Troy and Rich have been great and it’s been fun.”
(On the QB sneak and roughing the passer) – “(laughter) Well, I said it, I still think Jaelan’s (Phillips) wasn’t a roughing the passer, but I was in the minority of that one.”
(I want to ask you about your thinking on tight end. First, is what TE Mike Gesicki might be asking outside of your price range or does he not fit this offense? And then going back to price thing, given the salary cap situation, if you do pursue one in the draft, what would your prototype tight end look like? What’s your main quality you’re looking for?) – “I think the great thing about Mike McDaniel is that we’re just talking about what he looks at each position, and he says he can work with any type of tight end. So there’s really not a ‘we have to have this kind.’ So his flexibility in working with having just good players is the one thing that always makes things easier. Mike Gesicki has earned the right to become a free agent, as you heard me say, and he and I had a really good conversation before we left the building. And with him, I said, price range and what it is, I don’t know what his price range would be, but he’s been a good player in the league. He’s been a productive player and I’m sure he’ll have some suitors and like I said, we always say never say never around anything, but he’s earned the right and I’m sure he’s excited to see what his free agency options are.”
(When it comes to the injured players that were out this season – S Brandon Jones, CB Nik Needham, DE Emmanuel Ogbah – are they expected to be ready for OTAs? Or is there any sort of timeline for their return?) – “Yeah, I think with all those injuries, everything’s kind of fluid on that. It’s kind of always hard to say when someone’s going to be back, with their timelines. But I will say all our guys have been in every day working hard to get back. The good thing about living in South Florida, these guys are always around and Troy (Maurer) and Kyle (Johnston), and Nao (Inoue) do a great job, and Jon Boone working with those guys. They enjoy working with them, which is fun, so they’re always in rehabbing. So for us, it’s not rushing them back. It’s just making sure they come back ready to go.”
Mike McDaniel – February 28, 2023
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Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(In regard to the decision on QB Tua Tagovailoa and the fifth-year option, what role do you think concussions and durability should play in that discussion?) – “I think like any other player, you factor in every variable. I think one thing that when you’re talking about those types of decisions, I think it’s important to recognize that we have a congruence of interest by the Dolphins and the player – Tua – that both parties really want him to play at a very high level for a long time for the Miami Dolphins. So what’s the best way to really engineer that or to help manifest that? Well, those are the things that we’re kind of weighing in terms of the various options with the same desired end (result) as Tua would like. So you factor in everything as best you can, but that’s part of this game that we’re all involved in, is there are some unknowns. So you weigh those and you press forward and make the best decision possible for the organization.”
(Are you close to making a decision on the fifth-year option?) – “I mean, what is today’s date? It’s in February. Our deadline… so we’d probably be best served utilizing the time – that’s kind of the way we’re approaching it, but that doesn’t mean we’re spending any long period of time not discussing it. This is something that Chris (Grier) and I have been working through and will continue to work through.”
(What do you make of CB Byron Jones’ tweet and now that we’ve been a bit removed from the season, what can you tell us about what went down?) – “I’m not a big tweeter, but I know it’s a tough situation from a competitor that loves to play the game of football. I think the one thing I will say is that throughout the process, Byron (Jones) has been able to be the conductor of the train and I think the Dolphins organization, the entire training staff and the medical department have supported him on every turn, and I think we’ll continue to do that as he presses forward.”
(Did CB Byron Jones at any point during the season express any concerns about the care he was getting?) – “To me specifically? No. I try to keep my ear to the street, so to speak, but I’m not sure how – the bottom line is he feels the way he feels and I think as a leader of professional athletes, I empathize with how everyone truly feels. I think all I can do is support. I know Chris (Grier) feels the same way. We can just support the player and the process and do best with that.”
(With nobody in the running backs room under contract for next year it’s kind of an opportunity to … What qualities are you looking for as you build this running back room?) – “The best qualities. Good follow-up. (laughter) I think it’s one thing I’ve been fortunate – being in the same system for like, 18 years, or whatever it’s been; is you see there’s a lot of different ways that you can get to the desired result. So I think first and foremost from the running back position on our team, you need a team player that’s willing to do whatever it takes to win. We have good players surrounding the running back position so you’ve got to be willing to pass block and do things off the ball. I think there are many different types of running backs that can excel in this offense given whatever their skillsets are, so to me, I just want team-oriented guys that enjoy getting the ball, fighting for yardage and trying to win football games as a result. So I’m very open-minded to all the skillsets across the board and just looking for guys that are completely invested in joining our ongoing process to be as good as we can be.”
(Backup quarterback, do you think QB Skylar Thompson is ready to take on the role of QB2…?) – “I think really when you assess Skylar’s play as a rookie, he did a lot of things to deserve to be in competition and to have an open mind to him being – to winning the backup quarterback role. I don’t foresee that being unchallenged by any stretch. I think when you look at the position from its entirety from a year ago; well a year ago, we had a one-man room that there was a lot of questions with regard to where Tua was at in his development of his game and we needed someone to come in that could really help him take a step in the right direction to be a starting quarterback in the National Football League at a high level. I think Teddy (Bridgewater) came in and did that. I think as it stands right now, I was happy with what Skylar was able to do under the pretense that he’s going to continue to get better, and I think Tua is in a different spot. I think the team is in a different spot. And I think there’s some competitive advantages that we can bring to the room through free agency and that’s what we’ll look to do, is at least have some – there will be competition regardless in the room, regardless of who we sign – but I think that’s something that we’re definitely interested in to make the quarterback room better.”
(You made some changes on the coaching staff, but it seems like you’re retaining Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman. Was there consideration to make a move there and if not, what do you like about what he did last year?) – “So for me, it never really crossed my mind, and that just comes as a result of daily evaluations of all coaching involved in the building. I think that the Miami Dolphins fanbase, the players and Danny and myself would all agree that the desired results, we have more to achieve; but if I would have determined that that was solely his – if I thought that we couldn’t get to where we need to get to go with Danny Crossman, I would have made a move. I definitely didn’t feel that way and that just comes as a result of daily investment into the coaching staff and what he brings to the table.”
(What about the same as it applies to your offensive line coach? You did make a change there …) – “So realistically, the way the staff was orchestrated the previous year, I really needed to get more offensive coordinator work out of Frank Smith and he was devoted a little too much to the offensive line. And I needed more, selfishly, to alleviate some stuff off my plate; and so that was the motivating factor to make that move, was to facilitate Frank Smith being able to appropriate his time more as a coordinator and less in the offensive line room.”
(What are your thoughts on Bills S Jordan Poyer potentially making his case to come to Miami?) – “Well, I’m not in the business of tampering. (laughter) And I believe – I mean, you guys might be trying to get this second-year hustle on me, but we need every draft pick we can get, so I’m all for Dolphins fandom and the more players that even if they’re on our opponents’ team; if they’re cheering for Dolphins, I think that’s good for all of us.”
(Ran Carthon told the story about RB Elijah Mitchell and how you put that tape together. What was your experience dealing with Ran and what is it that you think will make him a good GM?) – “Ran Carthon is somebody I’ve had several years of experience in the National Football League with. I have no doubt in my mind that he’s going to do this job as well, if not better, than the last job he had. This is the type of person he is. I think the Tennessee Titans are getting a guy that’s motivated for the right reasons to do what he does best, and that’s evaluate football players. I think he has a great scope of what it takes for a team to win and all the different variables that are encompassed in that. I think he’s a leader of men. I think he’ll get the best out of his department and I think especially since he complimented me, I can’t say enough nice things about him.”
(On DeMeco Ryans becoming head coach of the Houston Texans) – “Oh buddy, these are two of my favorite people. So Ran Carthon transitioning to DeMeco Ryans. I’m just glad that I didn’t have to interview against him. This guy is unlike any other coach I’ve been around where I really haven’t been around a guy that is old enough where we drafted and I was there for his Year 1 as a rookie. Oh by the way, he called the defense and was Rookie of the Year and immediately the best player on our defense. Fast forward to his first year in coaching and he excelled at the same rate as a quality control defensive assistant, which had expedited, fast-tracked to position coach and then he had the pressure of following Robert Saleh and that elite defense and you know what? I think at every juncture he’s just been first-class, high-level human being. The bottom line is as a head coach, your job is to make everyone around you better and at every walk that I’ve been able to view him from age 22 on, that’s all he’s ever done. So it’s very rare that you get such a leader of men that is willing and able to be a coach after having as illustrious of a career as he did. So I think the best is yet to come for that franchise and I know he couldn’t be happier to be in there.”
(Just to round out with all your favorite people, Bobby Slowik is going to be the offensive coordinator in Houston. In having a similar background to you but also his ability to work defensively when he was in Washington, what do you think that gives him an advantage in play calling?) – “I think it’s a huge advantage because it’s almost like being bilingual. To be able to speak that language and understand the motivating factors from that defensive side of the ball and accruing multiple NFL seasons doing so, I think it’s invaluable. I think not all coaches, myself included, are afforded that opportunity and I know from every person that I’ve been around that’s experienced something like that, it pays unbelievable dividends. You have a tireless, hungry worker in Bobby Slowik that has an exuberant young mind, but also is grounded in a lot of football principles both offensively and defensively that every team would be fortunate to have.”
(There has been some discussion at the league level about some of the quarterback runs that we’ve seen. From an offensive philosophy standpoint, what do you think of it, and is it something that could catch on?) – “I think it’s cool anytime someone is able to execute something when the opponent knows it’s coming. I don’t care who you are, that will be attempted by every team if they could guarantee the rate of success that the Philadelphia Eagles were able to do it at. It isn’t the coolest highlight reel of football to watch; but nonetheless, I appreciate what it takes to excess at that because I’m pretty sure that every team in professional football has attempted the quarterback sneak. Any time you’re entering the grounds of 100 percent attempt, but then you have one team that does it at that level of certainty of outcome at that high of a percentage, there will be attempts to re-create it. However, I wouldn’t expect it to have the same residual results. I’ll abide by any rule.”
(If there is one thing you would tell yourself from before you became a head coach to where you are now, what would it be?) – “Have bigger muscles. (laughter) No, I think I’m grounded enough to understand that I don’t think you necessarily want it to be all roses. Part of the beauty of this job is to handle some turmoil. I think I’m pretty comfortable with where I am with that. I think I’d probably tell myself to just get ready (because) you’re going to want to win more for the franchise even more than you can conceive, and that’s ok. So don’t hyperventilate.”
(How do you see the defense fundamentally changing under Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio?) – “I think it’s kind of an unfair comparison to a degree. I think in my NFL career, Vic is one of one in my opinion, of creating and innovating and sustaining high-quality defense. I don’t know about you but in 1995, I was 12-years-old and cheering for the inaugural Colorado Rockies. He started coordinating defenses at that time. But then has been able to adjust it to the game, and to the things he’s having to defend and to the players that he has. I think having the opportunity to add Vic Fangio is as exciting of an opportunity in the offseason that I could have. I think all players on defense will benefit from it. I know myself included, I’ll benefit from the process of being able to work with him on a daily basis and tap into his infinite wisdom. I mean shoot, last week, just in one week in the office with him, I had a couple of hours of just very gratifying football conversations that will just help me moving forward form the head-coaching position. On top of that, he was giving me stories on Pat Swilling and Kevin Greene – just stuff that from a football historical perspective, I very much appreciate. Just last week, I got to find out about his simulated pressures that he’s so famous for – what provoked him, what was the advent of that and when it was. Just that stuff is very interesting but now you take it a step further. When you have a guy that is innovating, over time, I think the residuals for players are really everything they sign up for.”
(On LB Channing Tindall’s progress) – “I’m expecting a big offseason and a big jump in Year 2. Channing knows that. He has that expectation for himself. He worked very diligently. But I think it’s a matter of him really being able to visualize and really carry out all assignments within the defensive structure that I know he’s really mandating for himself to take another step. I think he did a great job with the reps that he had, and the scout team, during the year for practice. He did develop. But we’re excited about this next year opportunity to really take advantage of some opportunities he will have.”
(On if he’s looking for wide receivers) – “I think you wouldn’t – outside of the known entities, Tyreek (Hill) and Jaylen (Waddle), their roster spots are not up in question. I try to refrain from penciling in any player in any sort of position as best I can only because honestly, the way I approach the whole scenario is that if you want a job, you can win it. It’s going to be based on the merit on the field. I think there is opportunity there. I think there are some guys that aren’t on the roster that will be on the roster. Who those guys are, that’s the million-dollar question. The bottom line is we’re going to have an atmosphere that’s going to – you’re really going to have to thrive in a competitive atmosphere because there are talented players that you’re going to have to compete with to win the job of the third-most targeted receiver.”
(On game management) – “I wouldn’t be honest if I told you that going into the season, I wouldn’t expect some natural learning curve. There is a lot of responsibility that I don’t pull any punches. It’s a difficult job. That being said, I feel like there are clearly some situations I’d like to have back. There were some situations that I was ok with. I think that really, every year for me, I’m going to have a high level of anxiety if I’m not finding stuff that I can’t completely get better from. That belief that you’re constantly a better version of yourself, that drives me. There are plenty of situations that – we had as many pre-snap penalties, I think we led the league in them offensively. So obviously there is a lot of work to do that we’re all excited about rectifying. Clock management is just another layer of things that I’ve already begun the process of – call the play faster.”
(On how watching tape of themselves will benefit the offense) – “It’s going to be huge. Little written about scenarios that our offensive players haven’t had an offseason where they are watching themselves in half a decade or maybe more. That’s incredibly important. I even throw digs in jest; but I had to be reminded by coaches on staff last year that this is like the fourth consecutive season that these guys have watched a different team’s cut ups in the offseason and haven’t watched themselves. That adds up fast. I’m very, very excited for the players being able to come back and digest the system and not have any variance offensively. We’ll just be correcting, building, and improving upon what we did last year.”
(Do you have updates on injured guys?) – “(Emmanuel) Ogbah is doing well. I just saw him in the facility and he high-fived me and I had to jump. He looked great to me. He’s been recovering soundly. Brandon Jones is continuing to work. Nik Needham is in good spirits and has had no setbacks in his recovery.”
(Do you see any scenarios where TE Mike Gesicki returns next year?) – “There is always a spot for good players. I think that Mike has earned the opportunity to test the market and I very much encourage that. That’s being in charge of doing our best to take care of their careers as best we can. But for him to have that opportunity to go earn, we very much encourage that. However, we are not in the business of saying no to good players. I wouldn’t close that door at all.”
(What attracted you and General Manager Chris Grier to S Verone McKinley III that allowed him to start games down the stretch?) – “His football acumen. He came in as an old soul, where if you didn’t have the flip card, you’d think he’d been in the league for 10 years with how he went about his business. It was first and foremost a priority for him, which is why he was able to be relied upon down the stretch as though he was a vet. I think those qualities are a common denominator amongst undrafted players that succeed in the National Football League and he exemplifies that, where you have a guy come in with expectations for himself that are far greater than the draft or undrafted free agent money allotment. All the stuff that we perceive, they go above and beyond to set their own course in their career. He very much did that.”
(On QB Tua Tagovailoa doing judo this offseason) – “Jiu-jitsu.”
(A couple of weeks ago, QB Tua Tagovailoa said that he was working on how to fall. Is that something the team facilitated?) – “It’s something that we had various ideas. Some of which I won’t repeat because they weren’t as good as that one. We were willing to go to any length. However, with him getting invested in it and really talking to him and hearing how the trainer is invested in him and how he was really into it and getting good residuals from it, we feel very comfortable in terms of this being best preparing him for things that he hasn’t otherwise been able to prepare for. It’s something, like a follow-through throwing motion, it’s something that we’re trying to train and he’s 100 percent all in, attacking it with vigor and exuberance.”
Vic Fangio – February 20, 2023
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Monday, February 20, 2023
Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio
Opening Statement from Head Coach Mike McDaniel:
“I just wanted to introduce coach Vic Fangio. It’s an exciting day for the Miami Dolphins organization, the fan base. Since the season ended – we really tried to attach, in the journey for looking towards the future, who can we entrust to continue to develop the players to maximize all people in the building in that regard, to do right by the organization and chase what we’re trying to chase in building a winner. So it was a very easy decision, when given the opportunity. I was very excited about the opportunity. I was really pumped that he joined in the vision, and couldn’t be happier, really, for the organization. He’s really a guy that takes professional football serious, but also the obligation to continually evolve and get better. You don’t have a sustaining career for longer than I’ve been alive really, like Vic has, without that fearless chase of continuing to evolve, and get better, and be the best version of yourself as you age with grace. So without further ado, Vic Fangio, the defensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins.”
Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio:
(You were a DC who was in high demand. There were a lot of teams that were looking into potentially bringing you in. What made Miami the right fit and the right opportunity for you after a year off?) – “Well, I think the Dolphins have a good thing going here. I like Mike (McDaniel) and his staff that he already has in place here. I think there’s good components to the coaching staff, led by Mike, that made it intriguing to join that. I think there’s a good nucleus of players here. And the allure of South Florida.”
(What do you think are some of the most important ways to maximize a player’s talents?) – “Well, I’ve always believed you just try and improve every player as an individual. And then hopefully you do that well enough to where their position group improves. And if their position group improves, then the defense is improved. So you really do it from the ground up. And there’s a lot of good young players here that I think have room to grow. And hopefully, myself and the staff will get that done.”
(What’s your connection with Mike McDaniel, and when did you guys meet and develop a relationship?) – “Really, I didn’t have much of a relationship with Mike. Obviously we have some mutual friends. But as far as Mike and I having a relationship worth mentioning prior to this would be misleading. Obviously, I knew of him; he knew of me. We’ve had two- or three-minute casual conversations maybe at the Combine or somewhere else. But no major relationship prior to this.
(Having said that, from the little that you’ve been with Mike McDaniel now, what’s your first impressions of a guy like that?) – “Well, it’s been very little because I got here last Tuesday, and Mike was on vacation. So today’s the first day we’re in here together. Now we did some Zoom interviews together from where he was last week. But everything I thought – he’s energetic, genuine, obviously got a good football mind. He puts good offensive football out there. And hopefully we can complement that.”
(This past season, you weren’t in the NFL for most of the year anyway. But you did spend quite a bit of time studying games. In the time that you are studying games, what can you take away from what you saw of the Dolphins defense? What stood out to you?) – “Well, I didn’t study the Dolphins defense per se that much. Basically what I did with all my time was I kind of treated it like a college professor on a sabbatical and was watching a lot of NFL tape, more from a situational standpoint rather than studying a team per se. So I never actually studied the Dolphins in its entirety. Now, obviously, their games would come across these situational studies that I was doing. And I think there’s some good young talent there. Obviously, just from two years ago in the draft with (Jaelan) Phillips and (Jevon) Holland, those are two really good players that I really liked in the draft. Bradley Chubb is here, who obviously I know about. And several other guys. Christian Wilkins is here, another guy I liked in the draft. Christian’s greatest honor, is the Bill Campbell Award trophy, which is the ‘Academic Heisman.’ Bill Campbell was a good friend of mine. So when I see him, I always think of that. But there’s a good nucleus of players here. For me to give you a great answer schematically, I’d be stretching it.”
(You got a ton of defensive coordinator experience. Going into this tenure with head-coaching experience, how will that transform who you are as a DC?) – “My experience as the head coach won’t change it too much because I still ran the defense when I was in Denver. So I just continued on that path. Obviously, I had more on my plate that I was responsible for. But I’ve done this job enough now that I don’t see it being a major, major factor.”
(How important was it to get Renaldo Hill to come from LA? And now how do you convince him to leave a DC job to work under you?) – “Yeah, it’s important. First and foremost, Renaldo is a good coach. He’s really a talented coach that’s got a bright future in the NFL. He worked with us for two years in Denver. So his familiarity with me and the system and what we do was important to me. But regardless of that, just his ability to be a great coach is what attracted me to him.”
(How’d you convince Renaldo Hill to leave?) – “I’ll let him answer that for you at some point.”
(How do you like to go about deciding which players should play, which players should play a lot, and maybe some aren’t going to play a lot?) – “Well, that’s a process that starts in training camp. I could say OTAs. But in OTAs, we’re going to be teaching everything. It’s a process that really the players are in charge of. Now there’s some that you’d like to play every play. Sometimes that’s not possible from an exertion standpoint. But a lot of the great players that I’ve been around, they never leave the field very often. I know the heat here is a different element and animal to deal with. But there will be plenty of packages available for guys to get playing time. But who plays and how much is really up to the players.”
(Your time off – did you come up with anything new that you would like to try out there?) – “Yeah, there’s a few things that I came up with that I’m anxious to try. We’ll try them in OTAs at some point and then in training camp as a good fit for the other things we do. But what’s going to be most important is tailoring what we do to our players and to the opponent that we’re playing for that week. So there may be things that we did at previous stops that we won’t do much here because it doesn’t fit our players and vice versa; we might do something a lot that we didn’t do other places because it’s a better fit for our players. And sometimes it’s a better – you might think it’d be great to do something because it fits a certain player really good, but you really have to think about how it fits all 11 and what’s the best way to stop somebody from scoring too many points.”
(Your time with him in Denver, what were your thoughts on LB Bradley Chubb and what’s the key to unlocking the best of him here in Miami?) – “Well, the three years – and Bradley and I talked about this the other day when he was in here – the three years I was with him in Denver, he was the victim of some injuries. I believe he got hurt in the fourth game the first year I was there and was out for the season. He came back the second year and it took him about four or five games to get into the groove coming off the injury and then he had a good season that year. And then he really basically missed – it doesn’t say it statistically – but he missed most of my last year there because he had an ankle injury that kept him out and when he came back, he wasn’t himself. (He was) still recovering. He had two ankle injuries. So I’m anxious to get him rolling, keep him healthy and see the Bradley Chubb that we all know he’s capable of being.”
(Based on what you know about LB Bradley Chubb and what you liked about LB Jaelan Phillips entering the draft a couple of years ago, what potential do those two have as a pass rushing duo here?) – “They have great potential. But potential – we got to see it. Talking about it is easy, projecting it as easy, but we got to see it. And I’m confident knowing those two guys’ work ethic that they’ll do everything they can to put a good product out there on the field from the both of them. They both have the tools. They both have the makeup to be really good players on the edges for us.”
(How do you describe your defensive philosophy? I know we’ve heard a lot in the last couple of weeks about things you do, but how do you – do you have any way to describe it?) – “Not a buzzword if that’s what you’re looking for. We’re in charge of not letting the other team score and we will do anything and everything to do that. I’ve been places in the past where we pressured a lot. I’ve been places where we didn’t pressure very much. You’ve got to fit the scheme to the players that you have while also factoring in the opponents that you’re playing. So hopefully we’ll be a team that will keep the points down, make it hard for teams to score a lot of points and put our offense in position to score points for us. So I’m not a buzzword guy as far as that goes other than we want to play good defense and what’s good defense? Keep them out of the end zone.”
(Going off of that, what is your general philosophy when it comes to blitzing specifically?) – “As needed and when I want to. (laughter) Versus having to. If you have to, that’s not a great feeling. You want to do it when you want to on your terms. Now, having said that, I can’t tell you what that means from a percentage standpoint.”
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel mentioned you’ve been doing this longer than he’s been alive. You see these young guys, young head coaches, the offensive philosophy is changing. How do you mix with that and do you think he’ll benefit from having a guy who’s been around like you and have seen it all?) – “Yeah, the game’s evolving. Since I got in the league, the evolution of the game has just continued. I think we saw it firsthand in the Super Bowl – I guess it was nine days ago, eight days ago – two great quarterbacks, two great offenses, and they had their way with both defenses in that game. There was like, I believe 17 possessions in that game and I think 14 of them resulted in scores. And we’ve got to find a way to slow that down, and the only way you do that is to evolve your philosophy, what you’re teaching, what you’re playing, to fit stopping what they’re doing now. To line up and play what you did 10, 15 years ago, although you’re still doing some of that; you have to adapt it to today’s NFL game. Years ago, every team had a fullback. Now, hardly any teams have a fullback, and the fullback’s been replaced by a third wide receiver or a second tight end who’s like a third wide receiver. That in and of itself has changed the game. But teams are still running the ball. Everybody likes to say it’s a pass-happy league, but percentage-wise from 40 years ago to now, the runs have decreased only about 4 percent. And Chris Grier told me, because he’s on the competition committee, they had a graphic last week in a meeting, this is the most runs in the NFL this past year in the last 25 years. So you still have to be able to stop the run and play physical.”
(You mentioned the sabbatical that you took. Can you give us a little bit more detail of maybe what that looked like week to week for you watching those situational drills?) – “Well, I set up shop – I lived in Destin, Florida, up on the panhandle, and I had a computer that I was able to VPN into and it was just like if I was in an office, an NFL office. I had exposure to everything that any NFL coach had at that time. And wherever I went, I would tune in and do my – not every day, but most every day – spent a few hours watching tape and doing these different types of studies like third down, red zone, formational studies against offensive personnel. I did that a lot up there. I traveled out of there. I’d go back east and fly into Philadelphia and either drive two hours north and see my mother or two hours south and see my kids. I’ve spent some time in San Francisco. But no matter where I was, I was doing that. Just doing it on a kitchen table. Sometimes I went into a library and did it. But I just did that all year. I played some golf, too. It was an interesting year, one that I would recommend for anybody to do at some point, but in this business, you can’t do it too often.”
(What was the desire to get back in? Some may have just enjoyed life. You wanted to get back into coaching. Why?) – “Yeah, just because that’s who I am. That’s what I do. That’s what I like to do. I still have a lot of coaching left me. It’s not like I’m thinking about retirement or anything. Somebody asked, ‘How much longer are you going to do this?’ I don’t know. It might be 10 years if they’ll have me here for 10 years. It’s just who I am, what I do, what I enjoy doing. I like the competition. I like teaching players. I like to see players improve as individuals and putting something together is challenging and fulfilling.”
(I think you mentioned teaching players. One guy you mentioned earlier was S Jevon Holland. I know you’ve had a lot of success with safeties. What do you think you could maybe teach him to elevate his game?) – “I haven’t studied him enough since he’s gotten the NFL as far as what can I teach him, but I do know I really liked them the year he came out in the draft. I like his physical ability, his combination of size, speed, quickness, he’s got good instincts. I think he’s smart from a football standpoint. And you’re right, we’ve had some good luck with safeties over the years in the last few stops, and I’m hopeful and confident that he can be one of the top safeties in the league.”
(You mentioned fitting your scheme to the players. With your relationship with General Manager Chris Grier, how much input will you have on bringing in certain players with all the relationships you have that you think will fit here?) – “We haven’t sat down and said how much I will, but you can rest assured if there’s somebody I feel strong about, I’ll be in and out of his offense pestering him pretty strongly.”
(How close is this defense to being Super Bowl caliber?) – “Oh, I don’t know. Can we get one practice on the field? (laughter)”
(What have you done this week? You’ve been here a week, you said about a week. What’s your order of business this week?) – “A lot of it’s been spent on filling up the staff and everything that’s involved with that, which is a multitude of phone calls, Zoom interviews, talking to a lot of people. I did one day of a little house hunting and up to this moment right now I’m looking at one that’s way more than I wanted to spend. (laughter) But it’s been – I’ll tell you what it is, too – last week, it’s one of those where you’re super, super busy, but if you came in my office, and ‘hey, show me what you got done today,’ I really couldn’t show you much. Because you’re doing all the busy work, not handwriting busy work, but the legwork to fulfill your staff.”
(So if you’ve had conversations with them, what are your early impressions of Defensive Line Coach Austin Clark, Linebackers Coach Anthony Campanile and Cornerbacks/Pass Game Specialist Sam Madison?) – “Great. They were on vacation last week, although I did spend some time with Austin (Clark) and Anthony (Campanile). We watched some tape together. I met Sam (Madison) for a little bit. But by all reports and everything I know, they’re great coaches, and that’s why Mike (McDaniel) kept them on and I’m looking forward to working with them.”
(You mentioned obviously you spent time, it’s been reported, with Philadelphia during the Super Bowl period. What did you learn? Or what did you maybe help in that period that you think you can provide insight with?) – “I wasn’t there often. Like I said earlier, I would fly into Philadelphia and either end up going north a little bit or south a little bit to see family and I’d stop in and see them because Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni are friends of mine and I’d spend some time there. And then when they got in the playoffs I helped them prepare for the NFC Championship game and the Super Bowl, but I was helping the offense, not the defense. I was giving them a defensive perspective for the offensive coaches and it was a great experience. They’ve got a great organization. Jeffrey Lurie’s a great owner. Howie does a great job as the GM. Nick Sirianni is a great coach and they really have a great staff up there and what little I was around them, I enjoyed it.”
(Did you have any background with the Dolphins at all before this?) – “No. Other than – some of you are old enough to remember when the Dolphins were in the AFC East when it was a five-team division and I was with the Colts a couple of years. Dan Marino and I talked about one of those games just last week. Obviously when you think about the Dolphins, you think about Don Shula, Dan Marino, the heyday in the 70s, the 17-0 season. I think the Dolphins are one of those franchises that the NFL is a better league when the Dolphins are relevant and in the hunt and hopefully we can get it back to that.”
Zach Thomas – February 9, 2023
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Thursday, February 9, 2023
Pro Football Hall of Fame LB Zach Thomas
(Can you sort of take us through this day? What’s your day been like today? I’m sure it’s been pretty remarkable.) – “Oh, man. It’s amazing. I’m just a small-town kid from West Texas, and for me to be here with all these greats and legends that I used to watch and even play with, it’s just an honor. It’s humbling and I’m just so grateful for everybody that helped me along the way because you’re not self-made, but to look back when I was eight years old and just to – it would be a huge dream for me just to make it to the NFL, but to end up being a Hall of Famer is crazy, man. It’s crazy when I think about it. I’m proud to represent all our defense. We had those great defenses when I played and I owe it to all those guys. I guess somebody has to get the credit. My d-line did all the work and I’ll take the credit (laughter). But I know this, is I’m so grateful for those guys, the linebackers that I played side by side. It was just a fun journey and it’s a humbling honor for me, but I’m just so grateful just to even get this far.”
(I know a lot of people have questions, but before I let you go and you move on, have you decided – I know it’s sudden – but have you decided on a presenter yet?) – “Who would be your guess?”
(Jimmy Johnson?) – “Yes, sir. Yes, sir. All day long. He’s a guy that gave me a start my rookie year from the get-go. He threw me in the mix from the get-go. I was there for special teams. Mike Westhoff helped out in getting me there, but Jimmy (Johnson) put trust in me before we even played a football game. We played a preseason game and he was like, ‘all right, you’re going to be starting.’ And he told me, ‘don’t let me down.’ And I never wanted to let him down because of that start, because man, I was a longshot. I never got the respect I felt like I needed and that’s my motivation. But for being my size most of the way because I didn’t fit the part, it gives hope to those kids that don’t fit the part, that are undersized. They could end up a Hall of Famer one day if you just believe in yourself and bet on yourself and I feel like that’s what I did. But I’m lucky to have some bad asses around me my whole career. It’s crazy how grateful I am for that.”
(Congratulations. Well-deserved and long overdue.) – “Man, I’ll tell you what. I know you didn’t ask a question, but ‘deserved.’ It’s a team game and like I said, you’re only as good as what’s around you and I had some great players around me. But like I said, I’ll take the credit.”
(There’s video circulating of the moment when you found out you were in the Hall and it’s Jimmy Johnson breaking the news to you. Can you describe the emotions of receiving that welcome surprise and for it to be Coach Jimmy Johnson?) – “Oh man, it was powerful. I went to lunch with my mom and I didn’t even think they even voted on it yet. So I come home and I’m walking up the stairs and I see Jimmy in a gold jacket just standing there and man, I broke down. I cried, even thinking about it now, and I really appreciate that guy. It’s crazy how you’ve got to rely on so many other things and choices of a coach because I would have went anywhere else and it might not have been the right system for me. It might not have been the right coach for me. They might not have taken a chance on me. Jimmy was a guy that did, and so for him to be there, that was wild, man. I’ll remember that for the rest of my life and for my family to be there, too, because my kids really didn’t get to ever see me play unless it’s old tape. But for them to be there for that moment was special.”
(Did you kind of have an inkling that maybe this was the year for you? This was your fourth straight year as a finalist?) – “I never did. I try not to look at all the guys because all of them are deserving, even the finalists. I definitely wasn’t surprised, but I am grateful that I got this opportunity to get in because it’s hard to get in. It’s very hard and I’m finally in. You can’t take me out so I’m very blessed.”
(Did you kind of have an inkling that maybe this was the year for you? This was your fourth straight year as a finalist.) – “I never did. I try not to look at all of the guys because all of them are deserving, even the finalists. I definitely am not surprised. But I am grateful that I got this opportunity to get in because it’s hard to get in. It’s very hard. I’m finally in, man. You can’t take me out. I’m very blessed.”
(At what point, either late in your career or after your career, did the thought of ‘Maybe I have a shot at getting into the Hall of Fame one day,’ start to appear?) – “Once I started seeing some of the guys get in, I said ‘Man, I’m going to have a chance.’ And once you get into the finalists and you’re a finalist year after year, you get more of a chance. So I was very grateful for that. But I started feeling like I was inching closer and closer every time I was a finalist. My family, I would let them vent one day if I didn’t make it. And that’s it. Because the game has been so good to me. I’m never going to be ungrateful, even if I never made the Hall of Fame, because it’s so good to me. It’s set me for life, man. So again, for me to be up here and represent the former teammates that I had, I don’t know if they’re going to give us enough time for all of the guys that I owe in the induction speech now that they’ve shrunk it down to 10 minutes. But I’ll try my best because that defense we had from Sam (Madison) to Pat (Surtain) to ‘JT’ (Jason Taylor), Trace (Armstrong), ‘Tim-Bo’ (Tim Bowens), the interior with ‘Big Shorty’ (Daryl Gardener), Robert Jones – the linebackers, Derrick Rodgers, Morlon Greenwood. We just had so many great players around me. Brock Marion. It’s special. I know I’m probably leaving so many guys out that played a part in helping me get all the way here because it is a team game.”
(So many great players have played the game. So many great players have played your position. What was it, do you think, about the way you played football that will enable you to have this permanent honor and to be enshrined in Canton?) – “Well like I said earlier, I didn’t fit the part. I’m in the middle of the defense. You’re supposed to be the Dick Butkus, Brian Urlacher type look. And I didn’t fit that part. I feel like the one thing I will say that was really good of mine was my prep. My pre-snap was really good. Towards the end of my career – it wasn’t great from the beginning. But once you start fine-tuning everything – I was so happy and so confident going into every game (in my) later years. You just get smarter. You get more efficient with your time. You get smarter. That’s why pretty much walkthrough was so important to me before even a live practice when it came to preparing. Everybody kind of overlooks walkthrough. Because my alignment is what won for me. I’ve got to give myself the best chance and if you just get lined up right, your odds of winning on that play go up. I think that’s where I felt like I won was my pre-snap … That was it. That was one thing that I felt like – you’ve got the quarterback as the quarterback of the offense and I was the quarterback of the defense. To get our team lined up pre-snap, that was big and underrated because nobody knows when you line up right or wrong besides the coaches. That was the one thing that I took a lot of pride in. I’m getting us aligned right. And if they come out in a certain formation, it’s all about keeping yourself out of a bad play than not just trying to win every play. It’s keeping yourself out of a play. So for me, that’s what I miss the most and that’s what I feel like was underappreciated was my pre-snap and how I lined my guys up once they came out with the formation.”
