Albert Wilson – March 16, 2018
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Friday, March 16, 2018
WR Albert Wilson
(Tell us about your strengths. How would you describe your strengths as a player?) – “I’m pretty versatile. I can stretch the field down field or I can pretty much get the ball in my hands quick and can make something happen. I pretty much have experience with the slot, outside and lining up in the backfield. Pretty much whatever they need me to do, I’m pretty much up for it.”
(What does it mean to you at this point in your career to get this kind of opportunity and this kind of contract?) – “It’s definitely a blessing. It’s just what I’ve been wanting, just my hard work to be paid off and I still have a lot to do. I’m excited for this opportunity.”
(Can you tell us a little about that journey, about the difficulties you had? Just trying to get recruited out of high school, trying to make it to the pros out of Georgia State and just scrapping to make the Chiefs’ roster?) – “Yes, definitely. It’s been a journey of pretty much having to fight from the bottom of the pile and show what you have at the end of the road; but, this time around, God gave me an opportunity to where I’m pretty much in front of the pack. We’ve got a pretty good starting point where I’ve never had in my career, and I’m excited to see what I can do with it.”
(What does it mean to you to be back in South Florida?) – “It means a lot – just for my family itself – definitely to be closer to them and being able to have them see me on the regular and seeing me play on the regular. Not only for my family, but the people in my city to where I come back as much as I can and they only get to see me as much as possible. For those kids that are back in my hometown, to be able to see me and see what kind of work that I’m doing just a few hours away is definitely a great thing. Growing up in Florida, pretty much in the South, you grow up watching these guys play in the (aqua) and orange. It’s a dream when you play football, to get in this jersey, and now I have the opportunity. It’s an outright blessing.”
(In what ways will you try to bring energy and enthusiasm to practice, games and to the fans? I kind of noticed you tried to bring something different or special during that Dolphins/Chiefs game this year. How do you do that?) – “Definitely. That’s just who I am. It comes with me. As soon as I wake up in the morning, the energy is there and that’s part of my game. I feel like it helps the offense; not just the offense but it helps the defense. So when I come out there and I strap it up, I bring the energy. You’re going to get a dog out there that’s ready to put up a fight every battle and I feel like when somebody is fighting and giving it all you’ve got next to you, that man next to you is going to want to fight and give all he has.”
(Can you still play quarterback?) – “Oh, I’ve been working on my arm this offseason. Opportunities are coming, so you never want to set yourself short. (laughter)”
(I mean is that really something you could add as kind of a trick play or something like that?) – “Whatever the coaches need me to do. I’m just excited to be down here and get in a playbook and work with these guys and pretty much get some wins for this team.”
(Why Miami? How did this come about?) – “It was a great opportunity. We had some other options and when we lined everything up and saw what was the best thing for me and when … (Jarvis) Landry did a great job down here. He did a lot for the team. They split their ways and I felt like it was a perfect opportunity for me to step in and do some great things for this team.”
(WR Tyreek Hill was a guy the Chiefs oftentimes lined up in the backfield, and you got some of that work as well, lining up in the backfield. That’s part of your game. Is that something that you can also bring to the Miami Dolphins?) – “Yes, definitely. I’m very comfortable lining up in the backfield. Actually (I was doing that) before I first started lining up as a receiver in college. Before that, all I knew was lining up in the backfield. So I’m very comfortable with lining up in the backfield, in the slot and in the outside. It’s going to be fun getting with (the) coach(es) and putting a lot of things together.”
(What do you know about any of your fellow receivers? I know it would probably just be casual observations, but WR Danny Amendola, WR DeVante Parker and WR Kenny Stills. Do you know anything about anybody on this receiving corps?) – “Yes, definitely. Kenny … This receiving corps from last year, we’re flying right now. Just off of what you’re looking at, we’re straight up flying and I feel like the way we’re going to put a stretch on some defenses, it’s going to be crazy. The speed just outright shows itself. It’s going to be great getting with the guys and putting our speed to test. You know Danny is a straight-up dog. I feel like he’s very similar to myself in the slot and he’s going to work and win when you need him too. When you can count on a guy like that, they’re special.”
(You brought up WR Jarvis Landry a few minutes ago. What are your thoughts on him as a player and what attributes do you think there might be some commonalities?) – “He’s another dog out there. I love to watch him play. He’s a great receiver, has great hands. He’s definitely saucy. He’s a great guy and I’m definitely – as a football player and a fan of the game – I’m definitely attracted to see what he’s going to do in the future.”
(Reading about your background growing up around Port St. Lucie, you obviously went through an awful lot as a youngster. How do you look back on that experience? What do you tell people when they ask about your background?) – “It made me who I am today. A lot of things that I go through right now, it was pretty tough going through as a kid. It’s pretty much … I just look at it as a blessing. I took all my toughest battles early on as a kid. As an adult, I’m much stronger, so I feel like there’s nothing (that) can knock me down. It definitely was a blessing in disguise.”
(What do you think was a turning point in your life?) – “I would say around high school. I got around the right friends. I’ve got a mentor in Dr. (Marylin) Pryor. I had a football coach named Coach (Hilary) Poole, and they just showed me how talented I was as a kid and how smart I was as a kid. They showed me that outside of this neighborhood, there’s bigger things for you playing football, and we just took it one step at a time and now we’re here.”
(Are you surprised at where you are, looking back at how far you’ve come?) – “I wouldn’t say so. I worked really hard for this. I put in a lot of hours and a lot of work in for this opportunity. I’m not surprised that it’s here. I’m very excited for this opportunity, and I’m just looking forward to taking full advantage of it.”
(What was your impression of Head Coach Adam Gase?) – “He’s a great guy. Exciting. The energy that I got from him when we first met, it brought some butterflies to me, just how excited he was to get me in the building. I’m looking forward to putting in a lot of work with him.”
Josh Sitton – March 16, 2018
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Friday, March 16, 2018
Guard Josh Sitton
(You’ve been in this free agency process for a while now, considering you got released earlier. What was the process like for you in terms of finding a new home and what really allowed you to wait? What was the wait for?) – “Well, to be honest with you, I wasn’t a free agent until March 14th. The Bears just declined my option but technically I was still on their roster until 14th; but the process was a lot of waiting around. You’re just waiting to talk to teams. It’s a waiting game. It’s kind of annoying because I’m a pretty impulsive person. I just wanted to figure out where I was going to be. I was extremely happy to get this thing done and it worked out good.”
(Does it matter to you whether you play left guard or right guard and what is the difference between the two for you?) – “I think I prefer to play left guard. It’s more of a natural position for me, which is weird because I was always a right side guy throughout college and my first five years in the league. After I made the switch in 2013, I don’t know what it is. It’s just the way my body works, the way my hips move or something. I just like the left side better. I’ll obviously play wherever these guys need me to; but I think I’m better on the left side. The difference is, if you’re used to something, used to those body motions, and you make a switch, it’s difficult. I can compare it to trying to wipe your ass with your opposite hand. That might be a little bit too much for you all. (laughter) But it’s different when you’re not used to a position. I hope I’ll end up on the left side.”
(About offensive line continuity, I guess this is going to be your third offensive line in the last four or five seasons. How important is continuity and does talent outweigh continuity or where do those two stack up?) – “It’s extremely important, but something I learned in Chicago rather quickly is that you can build that chemistry and that continuity pretty quickly. I didn’t sign there until September 3rd. We had a game … I think (I signed) Monday and I played that Sunday. In six days, I was playing with two guys I’d never played with and I only had two practices there. We gelled pretty quickly and became a pretty good offensive line pretty quickly. It’s extremely important and it does take some time. That’s why you have the offseason program and things like that, and that’s why you have training camp. I think that we’ll be able to do it. The thing about offensive linemen, we’re all pretty much the same people. We’re the same breed of people and we always get along really well. I think that kind of makes it feel like it’s an easy transition switching around from team to team. The offensive line are all kind of the same.”
(Why the Miami Dolphins and were there other teams involved in the chase?) – “Yes, there were; but honestly it worked out to where I was down there already. My wife’s family lives down here in Homestead, so taking my visit was obviously right up the road. I’d say ‘Coach Wash’ (Offensive Line Coach Jeremiah Washburn) and ‘Coach Dowell’ (Offensive Coordinator Dowell Loggains) being down here and the familiarity with those guys played a big part in it for me. (Ryan) Tannehill coming back and being healthy, I think there’s a lot of good parts to this team that are in place and I think we can be a really good football team. I want to be somewhere I think we can win, and I think we can do that here.”
(I wanted to ask you a little bit about your relationship with Offensive Coordinator Dowell Loggains. Can you kind of describe how well you guys worked together from the time that you were together and how big a role that played in choosing Miami?) – “We’ve had a pretty good little friendship over the past couple of years. I love his style of coaching. I love his offense. I love the system that they run and like I said, we’ve become friends over the past couple of years. So, honestly it’s probably really good for me – and (Offensive Line) Coach (Jeremiah) Washburn as well. He’s one of my favorite coaches that I’ve had in my career. They definitely played a big part in it.”
(How would you describe your style as offensive linemen?) – “My style as an offensive linemen? Well my style, the way I dress and stuff, is pretty simple. I’m a flip flops and shorts guy. (laughter) My style as an offensive linemen? I don’t know. I’m a hard-hat, lunch pail-type guy that likes to get to work and grind out there on the field. I’m just trying to go out there and win every play. I don’t try to … I’m not the type of guy to try and kill someone every play. I want to be very good on every single play and just be consistent. I think I’ve been able to do that over my career and I think I’ll continue to do that.”
(You know the Dolphins have put a lot of resources into T Laremy Tunsil at left tackle. Can you explain how you, as a veteran, could possibly help a young guy along, that’s playing right next to you at a very important position?) – “I think that the experience in this league is invaluable. You learn things over the years and you continue to learn. You learn smarter techniques. You learn to watch defenses. You learn to look at coverages. You learn so many small things that as a young player, you don’t realize. You’re so focused on yourself as a young player, and your own technique and things like that. As you grow, you learn these different things, and those are the things that I’ll be able to help him with – the small things from a step here, a step there, an angle here, an angle there, watching the linebacker if he moves over a couple of feet. It’s really small detail things that you don’t think about as a young player because it’s such a difficult position. It shows you how good a left tackle has to be to be putting all of your focus on the guy, that speed rusher coming off the edge. So just little things about the game that you probably aren’t thinking about as a young player, I’ll be able to help him with those things and help him grow as a pro and learn how to be a pro in this league. Hopefully I can teach him a lot about longevity in this league and how to achieve that because it’s taken me a few years to figure out how to train my body and do certain things to be able to play for a long time. Hopefully I’ll be able to teach him a lot of things.”
(It sounds like you’re more than willing to do it. Is it something that was brought up also by the team, kind of asking you if you could or would?) – “Yes, it was something that was mentioned. That was something that I brought up myself. I think that I am that. I’ve always been that type of player, to give my knowledge or whatever to anybody that is younger than me, and especially going into Year 11 now, I’ve learned a lot, a lot thing. I think it’s your duty as an older guy to bring those young guys along with you. So, yes; that was something that was brought up and that was something that I brought up myself.”
(I’ve got a question for you out of left field. I’m doing a little research here on you yesterday I came across a connection that I’m not all that clear on, but you and a WWE guy by the name of Roman Reigns. Can you tell us a little bit about that?) – “Yes. I played two years of high school ball with Joe (Anoa’i), and then he moved on and he played football at Georgia Tech. But yes, we’re from the same hometown, so I’ve known him for 15, 18 years, or something like that. I went and saw him actually in Green Bay, doing his thing and wrestling a few years back. It was cool to see. Him and his (family) too went to my school for a couple of years – the Usos Brothers. They have a big wrestling family. So Roman’s uncle, Rikishi – that’s the Usos Brothers dad – and he used to come watch our JV football games. Nobody would be watching the game. They’d all be watching him in the stands. There would be all these crowds around him. So yes, I’ve known those guys for a long time.”
Daniel Kilgore – March 16, 2018
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Friday, March 16, 2018
Center Daniel Kilgore
(Just with everything that has happened in the last month, your head must be spinning. What has this whole sequence of events been like for you? And how do you feel about where you landed in the end?) – “It’s been a crazy week. A month ago when I signed the extension, I never dreamed about being in this position; but where I’m at today and after meeting with the coaches, I’m really excited about where this team is heading. I can’t be more excited about coming to work and getting here and meeting all of the guys.”
(What did you think about Head Coach Adam Gase when you first met him?) – “I’ve heard a lot of great thing about Coach Gase just from previous coaches. Meeting with him today was very casual and being ourselves, being just another guy in the room. I think from his record, and track record and guys that have been around the league for a while, they love him. I’m sure with all of those guys that love him, I’ll do the same.”
(You obviously re-signed with San Francisco because you wanted to stay there. Do you regret now re-signing and what do you think about how they go about business when they sign you to an extension and then trade you a month later?) – “I don’t regret anything. I did want to stay there. Ultimately I had the goal of starting my career there and then finishing my career there. That obviously is not going to happen; but I’ve been fortunate enough that I was there for seven seasons and I’ve seen it all – playing in the Super Bowl and having down seasons. This happening, I don’t regret it. This is a new chapter for my family and I. I think the change will be good. As far as how they handled it, I appreciate how (49ers Head Coach) Kyle (Shanahan) and (General Manager) John Lynch got me in a position where I can be successful. They could have traded me anywhere but I think they did the right thing by putting me in a position that they know I can be successful, and putting me with a staff that loves the game and that are good people.”
(What do you know about your new teammates or your coaching staff? I know it’s very early in the process but do you have any familiarity with these guys?) – “Yes, I’ve been coached by guys who’ve coached with (Head Coach) Adam Gase before, and (have) just some of the same offensive strategies, I guess, that I’ve done in the past. Of course, I’ve been through different offenses. Yes, it’s pretty early. I really don’t know much about the roster or a lot of the guys that are on the roster, so I’m looking forward to meeting them.”
Adam Gase – February 28, 2018
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Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Head Coach Adam Gase
(On the NFL Draft) – “I think for us, and we’re going to have to see kind of how free agency goes before we really narrow it down. We really have the philosophy of drafting the best player on the board. So we’ll kind of see how everything goes. Usually it works out the right way for us. It has the last couple of years.”
(On the philosophy in franchising Jarvis Landry) – “We were trying to figure out the best way. We knew (what) we were going to do. We weren’t sure when the best timing was for us. We just decided to do it on that first day. We felt like that was the best thing for us to really … For him to know that that’s there. We’ll just kind of see how this plays out.”
(Do you want WR Jarvis Landry to be part of team next season?) – “Yes, if it works out the way that we’ve kind of looked at things. Really, that’s why we franchised him. We’ll just kind of see how it goes.”
(Have things gone well between you guys and WR Jarvis Landry in the past few months?) –“I mean since the season has ended, you can’t do anything. You can’t really talk to your guys. If you see them in passing, you can’t talk any football.”
(Regarding WR Jarvis Landry’s contract) –“That’s (Executive Vice President of Football Operations) Mike (Tannenbaum) and (General Manager) Chris (Grier). (They) kind of handle that stuff. I stay out of that. We’ve got time for everything. We’re not going to get in a big rush just because everybody wants to figure out what’s going on.”
(How would you describe the void there would be if WR Jarvis Landry isn’t on the team next year? What would be missing?) – “I think anytime you have a player that’s really been elite at his spot, if that guy is not there – we found this out last year, at least we felt at the quarterback position – it makes a big difference and you have to make adjustments. That’s why we’re trying to make sure we put this team together the right way. Right now we’re at that standstill where we can’t do anything. We’ve got the next 14-15 days until we can actually do anything.”
(Have you talked to WR Jarvis Landry personally?) – “I have not since the end of the season.”
(If you did, what would you say to WR Jarvis Landry about his future with the Dolphins?) – “You guys know this about me. Any time I have a conversation with a player, that’s going to stay private. I’m not going to talk about anything publicly.”
(On starting the process of scouting players) – “Chris (Grier) does a good job of setting everything up for me personally, and then our coaching staff, to where they narrow down a list in free agency to start. Our guys go and become part of the evaluation process and then he narrows it down even tighter for me so I can really maximize my time. It’s the same thing with the draft. He narrows the list down and I’m able to sit in a lot of meetings to where they’ve already gone through it a couple of times before, and the scouts do a great job. Between the scouts, Chris and Mike, they do a good job to where when we do hit those meetings, those meetings are very effective and not really short, but our time is used well.”
(What is intriguing about this quarterback draft class?) – “I haven’t really dug into it as much as everybody wants you to at this point. For myself, I’m still evaluating last year, our scheme and free agency.”
(On RB Jay Ajayi going to Philadelphia, the way the Eagles used run-pass options, and if he looked at how his team could use that) – “We take a peak at a lot of different offenses. I know (Eagles Head Coach) Doug (Pederson) is somebody I have a lot of respect for. We practiced against them in training camp, so there were a few things we actually took from them for our season. We always do projects at the end of the season where we break things up to where guys can go back and look at schemes or the way that their run-pass options were throughout the season. That’s always going to be a team we’re going to take a peak at.”
(How would you evaluate your rookie class from last year and what kind of step do you expect them to take?) – “I thought they did a good job. It felt like we had a lot of guys play. I thought our college free agents, we had so many guys either make it at the beginning or ended up being on the roster toward the end of the year. And our draft picks, the ones that ended up staying healthy – we lost a couple of guys – but I felt like that group did a really good job. They were a good example of how we want to do it going forward.”
(Where’s QB Ryan Tannehill at in his rehab?) – “Well, as far as what the trainers and doctors have told me, everything has progressed extremely well. He’s always going to be ahead of where he’s supposed to be. He’s a physical freak and we’ll just kind of play this one as the week goes on, throughout the offseason. Really for me, I won’t personally know until we get into those stages to where we can be out at practice, throwing. All I can do is hear things are going good, he’s moving around well, he’s able to do what he needs to do to play quarterback.”
(How excited are you about the idea of having QB Ryan Tannehill back?) – “I’m extremely excited. I know really our entire roster is. The guys that I talk to at the end of the year, everybody appreciated what he brought to the table in years past. Sometimes you lose perspective of what somebody does for your team and what he did for us in 2016 when we lost him and going through an entire season without having him. I think the appreciation for him, not only for the coaching staff but other players, is very high.”
(On the transition going from coordinator to head coach and if he could explain what goes into that and what stands out about Lions Head Coach Matt Patricia?) – “I think the hardest thing in that first year is just managing your time because you want to be involved on the side of the ball that you’ve been working on for your entire career. You’re trying to manage your time between offense, defense and special teams. It depends on if you’re calling plays or calling a defense, that’s going to occupy more of your time. Then you’re more involved in personnel and more involved in so many decisions and then you’re dealing with a lot of managerial type things to do. You have to manage your time extremely well because next thing you know, you’re not hitting things you need to hit. Matt’s been in New England so long, he’s seen how it’s done at the highest level and I’m sure there’s a lot of things he’s going to take from that and those experiences and use those to his advantage.”
(On what Lions Head Coach Matt Patricia does defensively) – “I’ve had games where we’ve gotten yards and no points and I’ve had games where we haven’t gotten many yards and they’ve done a really good job to where we haven’t scored many points either. He’s always challenging to go against. There’s games where you feel like he knows what you’re calling before you’re calling your plays. It was always a fun game to call games against him because I knew, with him being a good friend of mine, it was kind of that rivalry to where you’re trying to beat one of your good friends. We get to play him again this year, so I guess it doesn’t end yet.”
(Is T Ja’Wuan James is healthy?) – “As far as medically, he’s healthy and we’ve got to make a decision here coming up. We’ve still got a couple weeks before we have to make any kind of decision.”
(On if the success of Minnesota and Philadelphia playing backup quarterbacks this year changes the premium placed on that position) – “For us, we felt like we were in a pretty good position with Ryan (Tannehill) and Matt (Moore) going into last season. We felt that way the year before and it really paid off for us the year before when Ryan went down and Matt was able to come in and finish that season off to where we got a playoff berth. Last year, when Ryan went down so early, that was one of the main reasons we felt like bringing Jay (Cutler) in was our best option because that gave us two guys in case something happened and Matt had to play. I think it’s really hard for quarterbacks to stay healthy for 16 games. It’s a physical game. These guys are taking some shots and a lot of times they don’t see them coming, and that’s when the injuries occur. If we can get into a situation where we have two guys that we feel confident about, that’s going to benefit us.”
(On if he wants to know where prospects stand on social issues as he gets to know them in the coming months) – “No. My biggest thing I’m always looking for is everything’s football-related to me. We support our guys when they do anything outside our building to try to help our community. In Kenny’s (Stills) case, he’s really branched out to (help) not only South Florida, but outside of there. We’re very supportive of trying to help as many people as our players can try to reach. I feel like our guys do a really good job of that.”
(On RB Matt Forte retiring) – “I just heard that walking over here. It surprises me a little bit. I thought he was going to keep going there for maybe another year; but he’s a great player. I’m very fortunate that I was able to be around him for one year, and the last two years with him being with the Jets and getting to see him play a few times. He hurt us when he played us. He had our number, it felt like. He’s a great player. He’s so versatile. He’s a great guy, a great locker room guy. He did it right. He’s what you look for when you talk about a pro.”
(On evaluating WR Jakeem Grant) – “Jakeem got some opportunities this year and made the most of them. We had high expectations going in, especially after training camp, that we felt like there was going to be a little bit of a jump there. I think it just got tough for him where he was getting beat up just a little bit on some of the kickoff returns and punt returns, and he lost a little juice there in the middle of the season. Then once he really got comfortable, he made an impact on our offense. We’re looking to build on that. I feel like we have a good idea of what’s the right amount for him and what he can do and what we can have success with him. We’ll kind of see how this year goes and what else we can do with him.”
(On WR Leonte Carroo) – “We’re still just bringing him along. I think he has a better feel for the offense. Sometimes it’s tough to find that role when you have those three guys really that we all trusted and didn’t want them off the field. We were doing a lot of ‘11’ personnel where all three wide outs were on the field, and when we go to our ‘12’ personnel package, it was Jarvis and one of those other two guys. It’s a tough, tough lineup to crack. His biggest thing is always just keep finding a way to get better, and when he gets his opportunity, he’s done a good job when we’ve thrown him in there and he’s made some plays when we needed him to.”
(On the importance of finding versatile guys on defense) – “We’re always looking for that just like everybody else is, especially this time of year. It’s just finding the right guys that fit what we’re looking to do. I know (Defensive Coordinator) Matt’s (Burke) always looking for ways to tighten down our defense. What do we do well? That’s really what we’ve been talking about. We’re just going to keep working on that as we go through the offseason.”
(On if G/T Jesse Davis is a tackle) – “We’ve had a lot of discussion about this. For him, really playing the majority of his snaps at right guard, I think he did a good job there. Him and Sam (Young) really developed something there toward the end. We’ll just see how everything kind of plays out. We have a lot of time here. We have to make decisions on so many players and kind of see how free agency goes and see how the draft goes. We’ll kind of sort through all this stuff. We want to just try to get as many guys as we can to compete in that room and try to find a way to make ourselves better.”
(On the philosophy of drafting a quarterback every year) – “I’d love to draft a quarterback every year. It doesn’t always work out that way. We’ll see how the board falls for us. That first year, we felt like Brandon (Doughty) was a guy that there were a lot of us that were very interested to see what we could do with him, and he had a lot of success in college. We’re still working through things to try to help him get better and we’ll see how this year goes. It’s hard to predict.”
(Can RB Kenyan Drake hold up at the same volume?) – “He’s one of those guys that hasn’t had a lot of wear and tear over his career. We’re really not ever looking to be a team where one guy has 20 to 25 carries. We kind of want to spread it out. We like using multiple backs. We started doing some things with other guys like moving Jakeem (Grant) into the backfield every once in a while. Kenyan has done a better job of taking care of his body and getting himself ready for games. A couple of those games where he had 20-plus carries, he’s walking in and acting like he didn’t play a game the night before. So I think youth plays a part in that a little bit. He’s put together well.”
(On if RB Kenyan Drake improved in pass protection) – “I don’t know that there was anything that really told me that he wasn’t good at pass protection. I think he’s had more opportunities. There have been a few times where I wish he would have done some different things; but I think for the most part, he’s going to stick his face right in there, take a linebacker on, and he’s going to do everything he can to make sure it’s stalemated at the line of scrimmage or he drives the guy out of the way of the quarterback. He knows who to get. It’s just sometimes he’s got to use the right technique, so we’re going to just keep working on that as we move forward.
(On evaluating himself and the offense the past season and what led to wanting to get more help running the offense) – “I think once (Offensive Coordinator) Dowell (Loggains) really became available … We’ve worked together in the past. Obviously we were running the same offense. He just did some different things because of personnel than what we did in 2015. We’ve evolved a little bit here. Dowell knows how I think and we’re able to communicate very easily. There is something about our connection that it works well for me and him.”
(On how he envisions that Offensive Coordinator Dowell Loggains will help him) – “I think Dowell can really jump ahead. He seems to have a good knack for knowing what I’m thinking before I say anything. That’s always something that is a good thing to have when you’re a head coach and you have a lot of things you have to accomplish.”
(On if QB Ryan Tannehill would be okay if the team drafted a quarterback in the first round) – “Ryan would never shy away from anybody coming in at that position. Ryan is going to be our starting quarterback and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. I can’t wait to get back out there in the spring and get going. I just know it’s going to be really good to have him back.”
(On Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski) – “I don’t know what’s going on with all of that. I just know when he’s in there, it’s very difficult to handle their offense. He’s a game changer for sure. He makes plays that not many guys can make.”
(On rumors that Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski may retire) – “I don’t want to root for that quite yet because that will probably draw him back in if enough of us start rooting for that. (laughter)”
(On Offensive Coordinator Dowell Loggains) – “I think as soon as I heard that he was moving on and I knew that he was interviewing, when I was able to talk to him. We had a spot open and I knew that was really the fit that I was looking for. Being back around him has been great for me. When you’re around guys that you’ve work with before and they know your system, they know how you want to do things. He was able to walk right in. It felt like he never left. It’s been fun being around these guys I haven’t been around in the last couple of years.
(On if he likes the discussion of making defensive pass interference a 15-yard penalty) – “It probably changes for me if I’m on offense or defense. If I was on defense, I’d be excited about it. I’d tell them any time you get beat, just tackle the guy. It’s only going to be a 15-yard penalty. If I’m on offense, I’m probably not real happy.”
(On what RB Kenyan Drake needs to take the next step) – “Just keep growing. Just don’t get stagnant in his development. I think there’s a lot for him to still learn. He just needs to keep gaining knowledge. He’s been watching other guys. I know that was one of the things this offseason that he was going to try to do was watch more film on other guys to see other people’s running styles and how they do things. I think the longer he plays in this league, the more he’ll realize you just have to stay with it. You have to study. You have to find ways to learn. You just can’t stay the same every year.”
(What steps forward to you want to see from Charles Harris?) – “I’ll be excited to see him have a bigger role this year. We kind of tried to use him more in those passing situations and making him more of an every-down player. It’s always interesting that first year when d-ends come in from college, that transition from play-action passes or the run game, then have to transition to a pass. It’s not as easy as you think. When it’s third down, you can see that’s really where he’s more comfortable. The more football he plays, the better he’s going to get. I thought he had a pretty good year this year. He did a lot of good things and we’re excited about what he showed us.”
(Does DE Charles Harris get a chance to compete for a starting job this year, or do you see it as DE Cameron Wake and DE Andre Branch?) – “He’s going to be compete for a starting job.”
(On if he wants RB Kenyan Drake to develop more as a pass catcher) – “That was one of the big reasons we drafted him was his ability to run the ball inside and outside, run routes from the backfield and spread him out. He was one of those constant guys that would like to remind you of how good of a receiver he is outside and in empty (formations) and things like that. I always would tell him, ‘I know, we drafted you. I remember. We got some situations to put him in where we got some man coverage and we got linebackers out there on him and it’s a good matchup for us. When that happens, we’ve just got to make sure we hit our shots.”
(What are the characteristics in a running back, either in free agency or through the draft, that would complement RB Kenyan Drake?) – “I think anybody that can play all three downs. Really, that’s the biggest thing I look for, is a guy that can both run the ball, pass protection and catch the ball out of the backfield. I think that’s why Kenyan and Damien (Williams) were such a good … both of those guys, we never really looked at either one of them as the starters. It was kind of 1A and 1B. They both started games and we felt good about both of those guys being in there. I never looked up to say, ‘Who’s in the game?’ It didn’t matter because I felt like they both had complementary skill sets. Both those guys really did a good job. They fed off each other. They were happy for each other when they had success.”
(From our eyes, LB Kiko Alonso didn’t have as good a year in 2017 as he did in 2016; how did you see him play last year, and is he a Mike or a Will linebacker?) – “He had the same amount of tackles this year as last year, right?”
(There were some breakdowns in pass coverage…) – “Do you know who was supposed to cover who? Was it a safeties issue? Was it him? Was it man-to-man coverage?”
(Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke said some things that indicated…) – “Everybody is going to have some issues every once in a while, but I don’t think it was as bad as everybody kind of portrayed it.”
(Do you think LB Kiko Alonso is good at covering tight ends?) – “When we put him in the right position and he gets up there and he’s aggressive on them, I think he does a really good job. I think when he plays off and kind of waits for that guy to make a move, that’s when we’d rather him be more aggressive and trust the fact that he’s faster than most of these guys. When he does that, that’s usually when he had the most success.”
(Is LB Kiko Alonso more of a Mike or Will?) –“He’s played both. Our linebackers are so interchangeable. We can put him at either one.”
(What do you want to see at the tight end position this season and does Jarvis’ presence raise or lower the importance of the tight end position?) – “That’s always going to be a position we look at and try to figure out what’s going to be best for us for this season. Any time that you can have a tight end that can be effective in the pass game and still be effective in the run game and pass protection, that’s what you want there. The last two years, we’ve had some movement where guys have been in and out. We’ll kind of see what happens this year. Picking up A.J. (Derby) late last year was good for us. He did some things that really impressed us in practice and we tried to get him involved a little bit in a game. It was good to kind of get … that last game was a good experience for us where we played a ton of guys that really hadn’t gotten to play all year, so we at least have a good idea of what those guys can bring to the table.”
(How anxious are you see to LB Raekwon McMillan back on the field and whether he can pick up where he left off last year?) – “I’m excited to see him get back on the field, along with our quarterback.”
(When you’re evaluating a quarterback prospect, how much do you get from watching them throw?) – “I think any time you can watch somebody throw live, it helps you because you can kind of see in between plays kind of the reaction to things. How do they come back from a throw that wasn’t really great? Those Pro Days are valuable. Private workouts, when you can get up in close and watch these guys, I think it’s very valuable.”
Mike Tannenbaum and Chris Grier – January 24, 2018 (Senior Bowl)
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Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Executive VP of Football Operations Mike Tannenbaum and General Manager Chris Grier
Mike Tannenbaum:
(So who are you picking?) – “I’m picking the North 20-17. (laughter)”
Chris Grier:
“We were actually laughing. You know you guys are here every year. You always see one team that looks so great during practice. You’re like ‘Oh, they’re going to kill the other team,’ and then it’s the opposite. They’re blown out or something and you’re just like …”
(What are the most important attributes in any quarterback that you would want on your team?) – “I think the big thing is leadership. You need a guy that’s kind of a dynamic personality that knows how to handle people, both good and bad, because you’re going to have ups and downs. (You need) a guy that’s steady and I think the important thing is a guy that a winner. I think it’s important for a guy that’s won in high school, won at the college level. You’re trying to look for a lot stuff that may translate to our level but the college game is different than our game. It takes a lot of work and our scouts do a great job in terms of background and digging and stuff. Those are some of things we look for and then, as we get to know the people. This is just Phase 2 really of the whole offseason process. We’re still early in it but we’re looking forward to get to know not only quarterbacks, but a lot of guys at other positions as well.”
(When you’re watching them on the field, what are the traits – film or field – what are the traits that you look for from the quarterback position?) – “Obviously, how he carries himself. It’s important here – for Mike (Tannenbaum) and I – we were talking and we like to watch the guys and how they handle themselves around the group with their teammates and coaches. This (event), they’ve been thrown in like a fish bowl here. Media’s here and (they have) new teammates (and a) new coaching staff. You just watch how they interact with that but when you watch it on film, again, you don’t really … I like to see them when they’re in their worst, when they’re struggling in a game and how they pull themselves out of it or how they rally their team. Those are always things you really look for. Again, just being able to see these guys live helps us tremendously with the evaluation process.”
(Wyoming QB Josh Allen I believe and Oklahoma State QB Mason Rudolph both said that they had time planned with you this week. I’m sure you’re going to talk to all of them if you haven’t already. What in those interviews has stood out to you and what do you look for I guess when you sit down and talk to them?) – “We’ve talked to some guys but we haven’t finished. We still have a whole day today. Really again, we’re just getting to know the players at this level at this time. I think for us the important thing is to get to know the person. We have the information from what the scouts have, so we’re just trying to see if that marries up and if there’s any red alerts or red flags that we need to look at as we go towards the Combine and the Pro Days, when we’ll spend more time with all of these players at other positions. I think for us right now, it’s really just getting to know the person and just see if they’re a fit and what kind of person they are and if they’re a fit for us.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
(Just hypothetically, without getting into the specific guys or anything like that, you guys have a quarterback that you like right now, on the roster. So what would be the rationale philosophically behind considering drafting someone at 11?) – “For us, we’ve always talked about it – Chris (Grier), Adam (Gase) and I – we just want to give ourselves as much flexibility as we get closer to the draft and we’ll see what happens. Staying at 11, moving up, moving back, regardless of the position, we want to try to have as complete of a team as possible heading into the draft, so if things occur, whichever way they may, we’ll be prepared. You always hate going in saying ‘Boy, we’ve got to get position X to start this year,’ because things never work out that way and you don’t want to kind of force your own hand. We’re going to work really hard over the next couple of months to give ourselves as much flexibility as we get closer, and assuming we stay at 11, so we can take the best player for us at 11.”
(How comfortable are you with the 11th pick?) – “Well, I mean it is what it is. We’ve earned it, whether we like it or not. We were 6-10. We have to take advantage of that opportunity. History shows that if we do our work correctly, we should get a good player there. Again, we’re going to worry about the part we can control which is the preparation and being thorough and (we will) see how things unfold. A lot of things will change between now and draft, we all know that. There will be trades that none of us see, players that will go up the board or back down. A lot will happen between now and draft day.”
(I’m just trying to better understand your thought process roster building-wise, because if everything goes according to plan, QB Ryan Tannehill would be around for the foreseeable future. So what would be the logic behind adding any rookie quarterback this year?) – “Again, I think you have to balance winning for today and developing for tomorrow. Last year didn’t go, obviously, the way we hoped. It gave us a chance to reflect on some things we could do better. Part of that is making sure that we have good depth at as many positions as possible, knowing that over the course of a 16-game season, they’re going to play. That’s what history shows us. You look at the teams still playing, to their credit, they had excellent depth. For us, we’re always going to try to put the best team together, where we’re going to have players, not only in starting roles but in backup roles, that can go in and contribute right away. I think that there’s always a balancing act of trying to put a good team on the field but knowing that you’ve got to have quality backups behind them as well.”
(Where do things stand with WR Jarvis Landry?) – “Jarvis is a pending free agent. We have a lot of respect for him. He was drafted here, developed here and coached here. He’s obviously had very good production. In terms of negotiations, that’s something we wouldn’t comment on with any of our players. He’s one of several free agents. Damien Williams and Matt Moore are guys that have contributed here for a long time. I’m sure we’re going to keep some of them. We can’t keep all of them. That’s just the nature of our sport. There’s still some time before the upcoming deadlines.”
(There’s been a lot of talk in the newspapers from WR Jarvis Landry’s side on the record. He’s felt disrespected at some point in the negotiations. Did you speak to him at all about those concerns and do you feel like that’s behind you?) – “Yes, we’ve had a number of conversations for a long period of time. I’ll keep those conversations private, the ones that Chris (Grier) and I have had (with him). I’m sure they’ll do the same; but there’s been a lot of communication between us and them for a long period of time.”
(Prior to this offseason, what has your guys’ relationship been like with WR Jarvis Landry?) – “Again, he’s a Dolphin. He was drafted here. He’s been productive. I think Adam (Gase) has used him and he’s produced and he’s gotten better. Again, as the three of us (Gase and Chris Grier) said, we want sustainability. We want to keep as many of our own players, within reason, draft and develop them; but again, you can’t keep them all. That’s just part of the system that we all live in.”
(One of the strategies the Dolphins have employed in recent past is the use of the transition tag, which I’ve tried to read and learn about some. I know at least two guys you guys have used it with. Can you explain to me the philosophy of when that is used? Good? Bad? How it helps?) – “Yes, that’s obviously just one possibility that a team could use. Again, every situation is going to be different. Usually you have the right to match, I think it’s the player average of the top 10 at his position. Again, we’ll see what happens. We have some time until any of these deadlines come up.”
Chris Grier:
(How much do you guys rely on Special Advisor to the President and CEO Dan Marino’s input with quarterbacks? I saw him here.) – “It’s good to have Dan around. Obviously, a player that was of his caliber when he played and one of the all-time greats and someone that is very respected, it’s great having him in the meetings. We’ll sit and we’ll pick his brain and he’ll ask us questions, as well. For us, it’s great. It’s another opportunity for us to learn and for him to learn as well. I think the players are excited when they meet him too, which is always cool. It’s not just the quarterbacks. Last year we had a linebacker walk in. He walked in and he was like, ‘Oh, I loved you in Bad Boys 2.’ (laughter) And that’s how he knew him. That’s how the players and kids nowadays know him. It’s always cool to see how the guys react.”
(Does Special Advisor to the President and CEO Dan Marino function, basically, as an extra scout for you with quarterbacks?) – “Yes. He sits in on the coaching meetings with the coaching staff. Dan is a great guy and great to have around. He’s all-in with all of us and wants the best for us and the Dolphins as well.”
(This is Head Coach Adam Gase’s first trip to the Senior Bowl from my recollection. What does having him here bring to the evaluation process?) – “It was good. Last year we were in the playoffs so he didn’t have time and then I think this year, we didn’t have the year we wanted and so it gave him a little more time to come down. He came down for a day and wanted just to see everybody. It’s always good to see all of the quarterbacks live. He wanted to see all of the guys we’re interested in seeing, but also at other positions, as well. It was good having him here. He had some good talks yesterday and enjoyed his time here. I think he enjoyed it here; but he hopes he’s never here again. Hopefully we’re winning too many games for him to be here.”
(How would you describe the approach that Head Coach Adam Gase takes when he’s in the room with the players, especially quarterbacks?) – “Adam’s the same guy. (laughter) You know how he is. It’s no different. He’s always going to talk, challenge them and engage them. I think that’s what players love about him. You guys talk about how he is. He’s no different with any position.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
(How would you evaluate the season WR DeVante Parker had? You’re going to have to make a decision on his fifth-year option. What are the plusses and minuses for a player that hasn’t yet played up to the level you guys are hoping?) – “DeVante is another guy we drafted here. We want to see him reach his potential. I know it’s important to him. Obviously, he’s dealt with injuries, which is I’m sure as frustrating to him as it is to us. We’re going to keep working with him and try to get him to be the best player he can be. Obviously he has a big ceiling and a lot of ability. He works hard at it. Like I said, I think it’s important to him. In terms of where we’ll go with his contract and his option, we have plenty of time to make that decision, so that’s a ways down the road.”
(Understanding his health, obviously an option year is not guaranteed unless it’s an injury. Would you feel comfortable betting on WR DeVante Parker to continue to develop and maybe show a little faith early? Would that be something you’d be alright with?) – “Again, we’ll look at it as the offseason evolves and where that goes. Again, we like DeVante as a person. We see his ability and, again, hope that he can grow and develop to reach his potential.”
Chris Grier:
(Last year’s first-round draft pick, DE Charles Harris, mixed in. Obviously you guys had depth at defensive line. How do you assess the two sacks and the overall performance and where you think he’s headed?) – “I think with us, it was a learning year for Charles. We didn’t expect him to come in here and be a great (player right away); but what he is is he works hard, he loves the game and he’s very competitive. I think probably over the last six games, he played really well as he kind of learned and got his feet wet and developed. That’s what, when he met with … He spent a lot of time with Jason Taylor early in the year and Jason kind of told him … Jason was like ‘I had (five sacks) my first year.’ He said ‘As the year goes on, you’re trying … As your body gets used to the long season, you’ll kind of figure it out.’ He played really well in those last three or four weeks of the season. We’re excited about his future. The guy loves football. He doesn’t say much. He just comes in. He’s a grinder. We’re very excited for him in the future.”
(How would you overall assess the rookie class and how they contributed?) – “I think it was good to get them a lot of playing time. I think like every class, you’d love for all of them to come in and be these star players but I think we’re excited for Charles’ (Harris) future. I think Raekwon (McMillan) is one we’re looking forward to getting him on the field. He was a big loss for us and we have high expectations for him. Davon Godchaux and one of the rookie free agents, Chase Allen … That whole class, overall, we’re very happy with them. We’re excited for the future; but again, we’re not settling. We know we need to get better.”
(Speaking of LB Raekwon McMillan, where is he at in his recovery at this point in time?) – “He’s right on or ahead of schedule. He’s in there every day. That’s from the coaching staff, the trainers. He’s in the meetings all of the time, and they just talk about how he is and his approach to everything. He should be ready to go in May and be out there at 100 percent.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
(You guys have had a month almost since the end of the season to assess things. Do you feel like after 6-10, this is something you guys can turn around in one offseason? Or is it a more long-term project than that?) – “When you just look at the big picture of our sport, I think that’s one of the things that is attractive about our sport is how things change. When you look at the NFC playoff teams, like five of the six teams were new this year. Over the last couple of years, the AFC has kind of turned over and you have almost as much. I would say we have a lot of work to do and we’re trying to have … I think to have sustainability in our system, you have to evaluate your own correctly. We’ve been spending a lot of time talking about that and trying to learn from what happened a year ago. As Chris (Grier) just touched on, from the draft class to the work ethic of our guys, we’re very excited about our future. We have a lot of work to do but we do feel like things are going in the right direction. We’re going to have make some obviously hard decisions and choices along the way, but in terms of our view of the program and what we want it to be, we feel like it is going in the right direction.”
(What is your level of optimism that you can do that with what you have right now though, as far as getting back to the playoffs next season?) – “Again, because our sport is so close – the games, how competitive they are … We were all there for our last game and the Chargers are hanging in the balance, and the Ravens. Buffalo gets in to their credit. Things can change so quickly by just a handful of plays. For us, we’re going to start 0-0. We have a lot of work to do but we also know there is great opportunity there if we work hard and do things the right way.”
(What did you learn from last year’s turnaround, the opposite way?) – “I would say when you look at … When you sit there and look at your team on paper and the depth and say ‘Okay, we feel pretty good.’ Some of our depth was tested early and it didn’t respond as well as we had hoped. Again, I think the three of us (Chris Grier and Adam Gase) talked a lot about that – building a team for a long season knowing that the way our sport is now, all of these guys are eventually going to play and some may have to play sooner than others. Are we, within reason, prepared for all of those situations that may occur? We look at every year as an opportunity to get better and to learn, not just because we were 6-10; but we try to go through that process every year.”
Chris Grier:
(What did you learn from last season?) – “Again, like Mike (Tannenbaum) said, for us with the evaluation, you’re learning every day, every game, every week, every month. For us, I don’t think you look at it as the season’s over, it’s done. I think if you’re a good organization, you’re always evaluating and doing a self-assessment. We’ve been doing that. Right now we’re in a big phase of Adam (Gase) has got this new coaching staff. We brought in new people so we have fresh eyes and a fresh look at our team and we’re going to get together as a staff here in a couple of weeks and again, we’re going to hammer it out for two days. We’re going to knock out everything and talk about what we’re going to do offensively and defensively, what we need to get better at and what we do. Everyone, the whole organization, is going to be on the same page and I think that’s important if we want to sustain success here. For us, again, we learn every day. We were 6-10. It is what it is. We feel we’re a better team than that but we just have to prove it.”
Dowell Loggains – January 19, 2018
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Friday, January 19, 2018
Offensive Coordinator Dowell Loggains
(I’m wondering what you’ve been up to your first two weeks on the job?) – “I’m just trying to get settled in, going back and watching as much Dolphin tape as I could and (getting) caught up. I’ve been traveling back and forth between here and Chicago and trying to find a place to live and all of those things before we get the staff settled and really get going on self-scout and the college process and evaluation process.”
(Tell us about your relationship with Head Coach Adam Gase?) – “I’ve known Adam for a really long time. I had an opportunity to work with him in Chicago when he was the offensive coordinator and I was the quarterbacks coach and we’ve had a really good working relationship. We see football the same way – offensive football and quarterback play the same way – so for me, it was a no-brainer to have the chance to come back here and join up with him.”
(You mentioned you see things the same way as Head Coach Adam Gase. Can you be more specific? What exactly do you guys share? What traits?) – “Just the philosophy and the way that offensive football is supposed to played. The stuff that we do, we have a common vision for how we think that way, how we think you go about the process of practicing and developing young players and developing quarterbacks. I think that’s our common bond with the vision we had – the evaluation process of the quarterbacks, the way you coach them on the field, the way you develop them in offseason. I think we have a shared vision and we became close quickly because of that.”
(What will be your role as far as play calling and working with QB Ryan Tannehill?) – “(Head Coach) Adam (Gase) will be the play caller and then I’ll be involved in every aspect of the offense, including being with (Quarterbacks) Coach (Bo) Hardegree and (Director of Football and Player Development Clyde) Christensen, and being around the offense, especially the quarterbacks”
(I know you said you’re going to get more into the self-scouting as we go along, but first impressions – when you took this job, you obviously had some familiarity with what the Dolphins were doing. What went wrong last year and what needs to get better?) – “It’s hard. During the year, I always watched the Dolphins. Every offensive coordinator in the NFL is watching a couple of teams weekly, whether it be the Saints, the Rams, the 49ers, the Dolphins. A lot of people watch those teams. Obviously, I was able to, in the first year in (2016), to watch every game. This year, I’m trying to get caught up right now in watching these games, so I can’t really comment, because I wasn’t here. I know we have a talented group of young players that we’ve got to do a better job with next year than we did last year. I’m really excited about diving in with these coaches. It’s hard to talk to players right now because of the CBA rules, but diving in with the assistant coaches and figuring out where we failed and where we need to get better going forward.”
(What’s your impression of QB Ryan Tannehill coming into the job?) – “I’m excited about working with him. He’s been in the league for a while now. I had the chance to evaluate him when he was coming out. He’s a guy that’s got a lot of physical traits. I know (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) thinks a lot of him, so I’m excited when the offseason starts, to be able to get in the classroom, start grinding on the field and doing those things to help him get better.”
(We’ve gotten to know Head Coach Adam Gase pretty well over the last two years. He’s definitely an interesting personality. How similar are you guys in that regard, and why are you laughing? Can you shed a little light on how you guys interact with each other?) – “We see football the same way, so that helps our relationship. I don’t know that we’re the same as far as personality and those things go, but just the way … We’re able to communicate very well with each other, very blunt and to the point. There’s no … I think when you have mutual respect for each other, you cut through a lot of those things and get right to the point. I think that’s what we both appreciate about our football relationship. I think the number one thing is … It’s the offseason right now. I’m here by myself staying at a hotel, my wife and kids are in Chicago, and when I leave the office every night, the only person left in this office is Adam Gase. I respect the heck out of his football work ethic. When you see him in the office in the offseason at 10:30 at night grinding tape and trying to figure out and make the corrections that you need to make and figure out how you’re going to evaluate the roster when the season didn’t go the way you wanted it to, I have a tremendous amount of respect for that and those are the type of football people I want to be around.”
(Why did you laugh when I asked you that?) – “I think you know why I laughed when you guys asked me that. (laughter) Adam (Gase) is a very passionate, intense person that loves football. I’m glad to be back in those interactions that we had in 2015 in Chicago and good to be around. It’s been enjoyable again (to be around) someone that that’s passionate about winning and wants to succeed that bad.”
(I know it’s early but what are you first impression of the receiver corps you have to work with?) – “We’ve got a young, talented group. I haven’t gotten to watch all the tape that I want to watch. I’m really excited to sit down and talk to (Assistant Head Coach/Offense Shawn) Jefferson and (Wide Receivers Coach) Ben Johnson about those guys each individually. When you watch the tape, you see splash plays on splash plays. It could be a really good group. We’ve just got to keep coaching these guys hard to get them to where we want to go next year.”
(I see that you’re listed at 5-foot-6 and I know that you played quarterback at Arkansas. What was it about your skill set that allowed you to be a Division I quarterback at your size? Was it talent or skill set?) – “It was work ethic. It was knowing your own limitations and knowing what you had to do to separate yourself when you’re playing with guys that are a lot more talented than you. You just work your tail off and put yourself in good situations. It’s kind of the same way with coaching. You might not always be the smartest guy. You have to know your own limitations and just try to work harder than the next guy. I think that’s how you get jobs in this league and stay in this league is just develop an unbelievable work ethic, try to out-work as many people as you can and have self-awareness.”
(Given your size, have you already taken a liking to WR Jakeem Grant?) – “It wasn’t the size, it was when I watched that slip screen that he took to the house. His play strength for being a small guy, he plays very physical and very strong. I’m really excited about him. I’ll probably try to stand next to him as much as I can on TV games and pregame warmups. (laughter) I’ll enjoy talking and being able to look eye-to-eye with him.”
Mike Tannenbaum, Chris Grier and Adam Gase – January 3, 2018
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Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Executive Vice President of Football Operations Mike Tannenbaum, General Manager Chris Grier and Head Coach Adam Gase
Mike Tannenbaum:
(In light of everything that happened this season … I’m asking about the discipline. Offensive Line Coach Chris Foerster, LB Lawrence Timmons, LB Rey Maualuga and the penalties, was there a discipline problem on the team this year and, if so, how did it contribute to the outcome of the season?) – “The season just ended. We were 6-10 and the three of us are going to take our time and look back at the season – what went well, what we could have done better – and do a comprehensive evaluation and look at everything. We look forward to putting a better product on the field next year and we’re going to look at all aspects of it.”
Adam Gase:
(Hypothetical question for any or all of you. As truthfully as you can answer this one, if QB Ryan Tannehill would have been healthy this year, how do you think the season would have played out?) – “I’m pretty sure you already know my answer to this. Hypothetical, it didn’t happen. It is what it is. We just know we get him back next year, so we’ll have a full slate with spring, training camp and preseason. There was nothing we could do once he got injured. We made the adjustments we had to make to try to put together the season we were hoping to have.”
(In light of how the season went, was signing QB Jay Cutler the right decision?) – “I think so. He was somebody who had been in this system before. We thought that we could get our guys moving in the same direction pretty quickly. It didn’t happen as fast as I was hoping. There’s a lot of good that he personally did. There was probably some games where we wish we could have done some different things. It’s always a … When you look back at it, it’s not like there were a ton of options to find a starting quarterback. We felt like Matt (Moore) was a good option for us, but we felt like having two guys that we knew that could play in a regular season game was our best chance.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
(Do you think this organization is as far from where it wants to be as 6-10 would suggest?) – “I think one of the main things I like about our sport is every year there’s great stories. You look at, I think the NFC in particular, it’s five out of the six teams (in the playoffs this year) weren’t in the playoffs a year ago, so 2018 will be a fresh start. It’s up to us to work with our owner, Steve (Ross), who gives us a lot of great resources to put a better product on the field. I believe in the people in our building, the coaches and how we do things. We’re going to have to tweak some things; but overall, I believe in where we’re going. We’re going to have to make some decisions like every organization; but again, our sport is set up where we can get this thing turned around. A year ago we had won 10 games. We’ve got to learn, again, what went wrong this year and try to get a better product on the field (next) year.”
(You mentioned Owner Stephen Ross, you probably heard what he said after the game Sunday and he dropped an f-bomb. Can you sense the frustration he has as an owner?) – “Steve is a very passionate guy. He loves the Dolphins, gives us great resources to be successful, gives us great support. He was disappointed on the season like we were and, again, where our energy now is trying to evaluate what happened, learn from it and make the proper and necessary adjustments.”
Adam Gase:
(I know there were a lot of disappointments this season. What area or areas exceeded your expectations?) – “I think it’s hard to really pinpoint either way, good or bad, right now. We have some time here to be able to go back and look through everything. When you go through a season, you’re so week to week. I know I’ve talked about this before, but it’s hard to go through an evaluation of any area unless you actually go back through it. During a season, there’s not a lot of time to do that unless you have a bye week. You can have a week, or so, to go through and make those kind of adjustments. Right now, this is a process we’re going through right now. We’ll get to that point where we’ll actually evaluate each group, each position group, scheme and things like that.”
(Do you expect that QB Ryan Tannehill will be your starting quarterback in 2018 and is it a risk to rely on a guy who’s had two knee issue in the past nine months?) – “Yes, I see him as the quarterback next year and that’s any player. Anybody can go down at any moment and really, I don’t look at it as two injuries. I look at it as he had the knee, we were advised and so was he to handle it a certain way and it didn’t work out so that’s kind of the part of the business that’s tough, where we went with an advice that we all felt like was good for us and it didn’t work out. Now next year, we get him back and he’ll probably be stronger than he’s ever been.”
(Do you feel you needed greater insurance at that position?) – “We’ll kind of see how everything plays out. We’ve got a long ways to go with whether it be free agency (or the) draft. We’ll see if one of these young guys that we have develops over that time. I like what David (Fales) did in this last game. I thought he did a good job. He battled for four quarters, gave us a shot and we’re going to kind of see where all this goes.”
Chris Grier:
(As you look ahead to next season, how high on the priority list is getting WR Jarvis Landry re-signed?) – “I think with all of us right now, as Adam (Gase) said, we’ve really just started the evaluation of our team. Through the season, we’re always focused on our opponents and doing that. And the coaching staff, they’ll get that done and they’ll start looking at the players over the season and writing it up; but with all of our players, we’ve talked about the guys that we want to keep are our guys we know we’ve developed and had here. Jarvis is one of many players that we’ll be talking about over the next couple of weeks.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
(How would you describe you level of optimism at the moment about getting a long-term deal for WR Jarvis Landry done?) – “Any negotiation we wouldn’t comment publicly, but as Chris (Grier) said, philosophically we want to draft, develop and keep as many of our own as possible. We’ll see what happens with Jarvis and a few other noteworthy free agents. In a perfect world, we keep them all. There’s a salary cap, so we’ll make those decisions at the appropriate time within the context of what’s best for the organization.”
Chris Grier:
(If I can ask a philosophical question to General Manager Chris Grier first. Philosophically, is it off the table to draft a quarterback in the first round or is it on the table?) – “You’ve been around me for a couple of years now. We’ve said we’ll always take the best player on our board. I’ve talked from Day 1, we’ve talked about the J.J. Watt thing. At (defensive) end we have (Cameron) Wake and whatever; but if J.J. Watt’s on the draft board and we’re picking, we’re not going to pass on J.J. Watt because at defensive end we feel good about. So, all positions, I mean again, we’re evaluating everything. Every positon, it doesn’t matter – quarterback, tackle, defensive tackle, everything’s wide open for us.”
(With the emergence of some of the young players like WR Jakeem Grant and RB Kenyan Drake, does that give you hope that you can turn this thing around rather quickly?) – “I think we all feel good about the young players that got to play and are developing and a good young core. Again, everyone, we’re 6-10. We’ve got to get better. It’s not acceptable. We’re all ultra-competitive up here. You guys know Adam (Gase). He’d kill his own dog if he had to, to go to the Super Bowl. I probably shouldn’t have used that analogy but … (laughter)”
Adam Gase:
“I don’t have a dog.”
Chris Grier:
“At the end of the day, we’ll do whatever we feel is best for us; but we’re happy with our young core.”
Adam Gase:
(Adam, do you have a dog?) – “No. (laughter)”
(Is that the reason?) – “No. (laughter)”
(The question was raised about WR Jarvis Landry and we all know his passion for the game, but do you feel it boils over to a point where it’s negative and that he needs to grow up a bit?) – “I think this last game was probably the … I think that was the pinnacle of what I’ve ever seen with him during a game. I know there’s been times where some of those guys kind of got in the mix a little bit; but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it get to a level where it was extremely bad. Last game, that was about as embarrassing as I’ve seen in a long time. It’s just something that we can’t have happen. Whether people think we weren’t in the game or it was garbage time or whatever it was, all I know is we were in the game and we’re going on our last drive of the game and two of our best players on offense aren’t in there. That was very, very frustrating to watch and standing there, not being able to do anything. We need way better control from our best players in the heat of the moment.”
(How does that factor into deciding his future with the organization?) – “I think you can’t take one isolated incident and overreact. But at the same time you have to make sure that you look at everything we’ve been doing over the last couple of years. That’s where a lot of our decisions are made when you look at the body of work. Then kind of see what direction we want to go in.”
(How likely is some or a great deal of staff change for you?) – “We’re going through that process right now. I’m going to talk with all of these guys and have conversations with Mikee (Tannenbaum) and Chris (Grier), (Owner) and Mr. (Stephen) Ross. We’ll make decisions over the next probably week or so. I know this, we’re in no rush.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
(Quarterback position aside, how do you assess the free agents that you re-signed here, the contracts? Do you still feel good about what you guys did in 2017?)
– “Again, we were 6-10. We’ve got to look at everything. In a perfect world, we want to keep as many of our own guys as possible and we’re going to look at that. The decisions we made, did they live up to the value of what we paid? Why or why not? As we sat here a year ago and talked about the guys we wanted to keep, the Kenny Stills’ and the (Andre) Branches and the Kikos (Alonso), we all felt that that was the right message to send to the locker room coming off of the season we did, how hard they worked, how much they were pushed by the coaches and how they responded. Building a long-term program, that was a key building block for us, to try to reward our own as much as possible and then move forward from there. With that said, not every decision maybe worked out perfectly and we’re going to look at that; but we’re always going to try to lean towards taking care of our own before we look outward. Again, we’ll continue to be opportunistic; but the more we can draft, develop our own, get coached and have the standards that Adam (Gase) has set for the players, that’s really important to us.”
(If you guys look to restructure with DT Ndamukong Suh, do you sense that you guys have a good relationship with him when it comes to those kind of things, like that’s a good conversation you guys could have?) – “We really haven’t gotten towards the salary cap yet. In a perfect world, we try to give ourselves as much flexibility as possible. We’re going to sit down and look at all of our players and figure out what makes sense for us. Some situations, we may have a little bit more flexibility than others.”
(What’s been the level of cooperation between you guys and DT Ndamukong Suh during his time here?) – “He’s been a pro. He’s played well. He helped us win a bunch of games, helped us get to the playoffs a year ago. He’s played well for us and again, we’ll evaluate each player, their salary and what flexibility we have. I appreciate everything he’s done. He’s a hard-worker, does everything he’s asked and he does extra in terms of preparing himself for games; but like I said, we’re 72 hours out after our last game and we have a lot of work to do to evaluate everybody.”
Adam Gase:
(Do you guys have any idea of positions of need during the offseason?) – “We haven’t got there year.”
Mike Tannenbaum:
(Last year it was understandable that you wanted to keep your own. You had a 10-6 team, a playoff team. This year you have a 6-10 team. Why would you want to keep that team together?) – “Like I said, just philosophically, our disposition is to keep our own when it’s appropriate. Again, we’re going to continue to be opportunistic. I think Chris (Grier) and the personnel guys, if you look at it during the season, we continued to try and go add a guy like an A.J. Derby. Again, that might not be noteworthy or headliner; but he may contribute for us for another year or two. I think our approach and … (Owner) Steve (Ross) is constantly challenging us, ‘How can we get better?’ We’ll continue to be opportunistic and look outwards as well; but again, just talking about as much as we can within reason, we want to keep our own. We think that’s the way to have sustainability, to have an identity here, and it’s meaningful to be a Dolphin and if you do the right things, play well, do the right things off the field you’re going to get rewarded.”
Adam Gase:
(You have a number of player who are on the north side of 30 years of age. LB Lawrence Timmons, QB Jay Cutler so forth and so on. Have you gotten any indication or do you know for a fact if any of them will not be returning next year?) – “Certain guys have indicated their plans going forward, if they were still under contract or even if they were a free agent. Really, those are discussions that, as of the moment, I’m not ready to make public. We’ll see how all of this plays out and see if we’ll have to make a move to where we have to do something about it, whether a guy didn’t play as well as we wanted him to. I think this is part of the evaluation process. That’s included in it.”
Adam Gase:
(QB Jay Cutler said that he doesn’t want to be a backup quarterback. You’ve got QB Ryan Tannehill as your starter. So that means Cutler’s not going to be a Miami Dolphin next year right?) – “You could’ve asked me Week 1 if he wanted to be a backup quarterback. I was shocked you guys didn’t have any clue about that. It’s pretty obvious where he stands right now.”
(With WR Jarvis Landry putting up the best stats ever seen before for the first four years of a NFL wide receiver, can you talk about how important he is, just the identity of this team and what will the team look like without him?) – “I wouldn’t go into hypotheticals of what we would look like without him. I know that he’s had a lot of production, done what – as far as what we asked him to do – this offense kind of works with him well and suits him well. We’ve probably wanted to use him in different ways to where we could stretch him down the field a little bit on certain concepts. We haven’t always been able to get to it or I know he has had probably three or four big plays down the field taken away from penalties, whether it be a holding call or something that has gone wrong in those areas. He does kind of fit our system really well. Those three guys work well together, when we’ve got all three of those guys healthy and we’re rolling pretty good. For us, it’s more of a consistency thing and just keeping those guys going right and staying ahead of the sticks, so we can give those guys opportunities.”
Adam Gase:
(The offense struggled during the last season. What’s the missing ingredient?) – “We’re just inconsistent. We’ve just got to figure out a way to develop better chemistry, whether it be in the offseason. I felt good about it going into training camp from what we did in the offseason. I felt good about it when Ryan (Tannehill) was working there those first 10 practices of training camp and when he went down, it was a reset for us. We kind of knew coming into it when Jay (Cutler) came on board that we were going to probably go through some tough times. It probably lasted a little longer than we wanted, and that was frustrating, because you want it to click fast; but it just didn’t happen. That’s what happens, you have inconsistency throughout the entire season.”
(The last two years you had to make moves within the locker room to try to get from what we understand maybe some bad culture out of there, whether it’s the trade of RB Jay Ajayi, some cuts after the Tennessee game two seasons ago. Do you feel like the veteran leadership in that locker room has stepped up enough to be able to get your message out there amongst players?) – “I think it’s probably a work in progress for us. I know that was something that I’ve talked to a lot of guys – especially after the season – about. It’s never going to be the way we really want it and the way we keep talking about it until guys really take control of this thing. There are a lot of things I can do to make things the way we need it; but at the end of the day, player accountability, making sure that everybody is on the same page, you need your leaders to step up, you need them to be vocal, you need them to actually do their part in a leadership role. The hardest thing about that is it’s exhausting. That’s why it’s hard. That’s why there’s not a lot of great leaders when you look at players. There are a lot less than you would think. I’ve watched it. I was around enough really good players and Hall of Fame players that I watched them do it, and I watched what they looked like after the season. It takes a lot of effort and it takes a lot out of them, because not only are they doing that, but they have a job to do and they have to play well. We need our veteran leaders to step up and really take handle of this locker room this year.”
(It’s too soon to evaluate, you’re going to do that in the coming days and weeks; but how about yourself as a coach? Is it too soon to take a deep dive into that?) – “That’s going to be something that’s going to be probably on the front burner for me. I’m going to want to do that. I know I spend a lot of time with these two guys and they’re not shy about telling me when I screw up. I’m sure I (don’t) handle it well at first, but I usually come around. We do need to take some time and just get away from it for a second, because it’s a long season. It didn’t go the way we wanted it to, especially two of the last three weeks where we were battling to try to find a spot, and we need to win one game just to stay alive and we just couldn’t pull it off. It takes a lot out of you because the frustration level goes up when it doesn’t work out the way you want.”
Chris Grier:
(How would you describe the opportunity and responsibility that comes with having such a high first-round draft choice being 11th in the first, second, third rounds; but especially the first pick?) – “For me, the draft, it’s always an opportunity. Like I’ve told you before, I hate when people say, ‘It’s a weak draft in this area,’ and stuff. It’s an excuse because guys don’t want to do the work or try and find guys. So for us, we’ll go through our process. I don’t want to be picking 11th. I know these guys don’t want to be; but it is what it is. We’re 6-10. We’re going to take advantage of it and draft good players. We’ll work through it and find the right person for us.”
Adam Gase:
(This organization has had a lot of turnover at the top over the years and Mr. Ross has obviously opted for continuity here. What do you see as the benefit of stability at the top of the organization going into another year?) – “Personally, I just never even worry about it. I was hired to do a job and that was try to win as many games as possible. We focus on doing all the things we need to do from the first day of the offseason until the end of this season and start it over again. I’ve kept the same philosophy just personally: I’m going to do my job with everything I have until somebody tells me not to. These two guys have the same work ethic and drive. We put everything into this. We’re trying to make sure that we do everything we can to put our players in a great position and then after that, it’s how far can we take it and can we actually play a season and do it the right way and give ourselves a chance to get into the tournament and when we do, can we make some noise?”
Bobby McCain – January 1, 2018
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Monday, January 1, 2018
CB Bobby McCain
(From all accounts, a good season for you personally. What are some of the goals that you set in the preseason that you felt like you were able to execute in the game?) – “Just being consistent in my technique, being consistent in making plays and trying to do the right thing. If you do things right, good things will happen.”
(How would you assess how this year has gone? You guys took a lot of body blows throughout the course of the season. Do you think the record accurately reflected how you all played?) – “No, it doesn’t. And this team, people talk about talent. This team has a lot of talent but talent doesn’t get you anywhere. This team does have … We work hard and the season didn’t go the way we wanted. We all know that and we had a lot of ups and downs; but at the end of the day, we’ve just got to come back this coming season and just know that things have got to change. We’ve got to put a stamp on it.”
(For any team, if they lose their starting quarterback the second week of training camp, the season is usually not going to go very well. You guys battled through that but do you think all of the things, like the hurricane, was just too much for this team?) – “No, I won’t say too much because even with the hurricane, we went down there and got a W. I wouldn’t say it’s too much, but just we’ve got to put distractions aside. Like you said, there’s a lot of things that happened. We lost ‘Tanny’ (Ryan Tannehill) early but guys have got to step up. That’s (Head) Coach (Adam) Gase’s (philosophy). He has a next-man-up mentality, always. If one guy is down, the next guy’s got to step up. Once everyone gets that mentality, I think we’ll be pretty good.”
(Was this year’s defense as talented as last year’s defense?) – “I would say so. I would say so, for sure. Like I said, our record doesn’t reflect it and our team stats don’t reflect it; but we had a lot of talent. We’ve got some really good players on the defense (and) on the whole team, really – offensively, special teams guys, just guys doing their job, guys doing their part. Defensively, we’re going to come back and we’re going to put it together. We’re going to make it a great one.”
(You’ve had a lot of young defensively players that got playing time. When you look at CB Cordrea Tankersley and CB Charles Harris and CB Torry McTyer right there beside you got some playing time – DE Cameron Malveaux and DT Davon Godchaux. You know the list. What do you think about the young defensive talent on this team?) – “They stepped up and did their thing this year. They stepped up and embraced their role. As rookies, you come in and you’re blinded and you’re wide-eyed but they stepped up and they embraced the moment. They stepped up in big games. Torry’s out there playing Tom Brady in his first game; but things like that, when you see first- and second-year guys, even third-year guys, young guys that are coming into their own and just embracing what they’re doing, that’s big. That’s what you like to see.”
(Have you kept in touch with CB Byron Maxwell at all?) – “Yes, I talked to him a couple of times – a couple of times here and there. I know he’s down in Seattle doing his thing. I don’t know what they’re doing from here.”
(How did CB Byron Maxwell handle what happened and how his time here ended?) – “I guess he handled it pretty good. He’s got a good head on his shoulder. He’s mentally tough and he can deal with things well. I can’t say ‘Man, we talk every day;’ but I’m sure he went down there and he did what he had to do.”
(Was that a surprise when they cut CB Byron Maxwell?) – “Yes. It sucks but that’s just the business. You don’t ever expect to come in and your brother to be gone, but that’s just how it is. At the end of the day it’s the NFL and you’ve got to do your job every day.”
(How tough is it to be cleaning out your locker a lot sooner than you wanted to?) – “It sucks. It sucks because the goal was to get to the playoffs and make a run; but it didn’t happen. I think I’m going to wait on mine. I’m going to leave it a couple of days and let it sit to let it sink in. It definitely sucks though.”
(Talk about recovering that onside kick last night. That was a pretty wild formation and everything.) – “Yes, it was a great kick by Cody (Parkey). We had the numbers that we wanted. It’s just crazy that in the Bills games, we recovered two onside kicks – the first one and then this one. I guess I can say when I’m out there on onside kick, we are 100 percent. (Laughter) It was a great kick by Cody and great execution by everybody, even guys like Neville (Hewitt) and Walt (Aikens), guys who were making big hits to jar the ball loose.”
(LB Neville Hewitt blasted that guy.) – “Yes, for sure. Guys executed the game plan. When you execute, good things happen.”
(Does K Cody Parkey have a good set of skills for onside kicks?) – “He does. Cody is a really good kicker. I think he went to the Pro Bowl his rookie year, I’m pretty sure. You go for a reason. Yes, he’s a really good kicker.”
(Is that really how you feel about the Bills, the Jills?) – “That isn’t for me to say.”
(What do you feel like will be the point of emphasis for the spring and summer for the whole secondary to take the next step forward?) – “Just consistency. Once we start making plays, once we start coming along, just consistency in what we’re doing because at the end of the day, we’ve got to put the team on our back. The ball is going to go up in the air regardless if you like it or not. How I see it is next year, when we come back, we’ve all got to have the mindset that there’s no 50/50 balls. The ball is ours once it’s up in the air.”
(Is it true that overall that there were actually more mental errors than physical errors?) – “I’m not sure. I couldn’t tell you.”
