00:00Columnist for the Miami Herald covers the Miami Dolphins.
00:03Dolphins, two picks tonight in the first round.
00:07And Omar, if you had to put money on it,
00:10who are the Dolphins coming away with tonight?
00:13Give us at least one of the names that you feel like
00:16they're going to target and get tonight.
00:20Probably LSU cornerback Mansour Delane.
00:23He's probably the number one cornerback on the board.
00:26He doesn't have any medical history, just like Jermod McCoy,
00:31who most people think is going to slide.
00:33He missed all the last year with an ACL injury.
00:36Supposedly has something degenerate.
00:38I don't know what's going to happen with him.
00:40He might have a Will Johnson-esque slide down the draft.
00:45And then if I'm going to go with a second guy,
00:49I'd probably pick Keldrick Falk, the Auburn defensive lineman.
00:54They need somebody to stop the run.
00:56Because if you don't stop the run, you'll never, ever get past –
00:59you rush the quarterback.
01:01And, oh, is that – is the positions of how you have them ranked?
01:04Because we've been talking about it.
01:05People talk about O-line, D-line and all this.
01:07I believe I've said it for weeks now.
01:09It's way harder to find a lockdown corner
01:11than it is to find a run-stopping D-tackle or something.
01:14Oh, absolutely.
01:16You know, for me, the positional – where the ebbs and flows of the draft,
01:21like, for instance, I will tell you that the edge-rushing defensive ends
01:26who can actually stop the run, those guys are going to be done by the second round.
01:30And unless you want to chop Robinson, a third-down pass-rush specific guy,
01:36you're basically going to have to get one in the first two rounds.
01:40You know, I will tell you, the offensive tackles, I think they're going to go by fast.
01:45A lot of people think that they're probably going to be six that are drafted in the first round.
01:50You know, you might have to wait on the offensive tackle or take a project.
01:55But, you know, it really comes down to where is their depth.
01:59Like, there's depth at safety.
02:01There's depth at inside linebacker.
02:03There's depth at the interior of the offensive line.
02:07There is no depth at defensive tackle.
02:11There's depth at wide receiver.
02:13But depending on what you want, because it's a lot of different wide receivers.
02:17If you want size, it's a very short list.
02:20If you want the run-after-catch specialist, there's more to select from.
02:24But, you know, those guys are going to go quickly.
02:27What are we going to learn today about Sully and Halfley?
02:30Because this is their first opportunity to show us what it is they prioritize
02:35and how it is that they view these types of young players.
02:39What do you think we're going to learn about them today?
02:42Because I know what they've been saying, which is they want tough guys, tough as nails.
02:46They want the game breakers.
02:49Prototypical size.
02:50Yeah, bigger is better.
02:51Yeah, blah, blah, blah.
02:52I mean, that's what they've been saying, Omar.
02:54But do you think we'll come away today with two guys that fit that bill?
02:58Or are we going to learn something a little bit different about the new GM and this era?
03:04I think Sullivan said a lot during his pre-draft press conference.
03:09And maybe some of that is to throw people off his scent.
03:13But, you know, he basically said, I'm trying to hit a double off the wall instead of hitting a home
03:19run.
03:20He basically is like, I'm a bird in the hand as opposed to two in the bush.
03:24So I think they're going to go the safe and conservative route.
03:27The one thing I will tell you about this draft is it would be a massive mistake if they trade
03:32down from 11.
03:33Because a lot of people who evaluate the players in this draft will tell you they're probably 13 legit first
03:40round picks.
03:4113 players with first round legit grades.
03:44Now, everybody else is going to be taken in the first round.
03:46But they're kind of second round caliber players that you're going to take in the first round because everybody else
03:53has pushed up the draft.
03:54If you trade away that pick number 11 to go back down to go down to 18 and pick up
04:01an extra second or third, to me, that would be a mistake because you're going to miss your opportunity to
04:07get one of the guys who are considered legit elite prospects in this draft.
04:40Oh, I thought you were pointing at me.
04:42Or you can watch film all you want.
04:44How do you evaluate that?
04:48You know, they talk a good, great game about the film should tell you what you need to know.
04:52And but, you know, Chris Greer said the same thing and then drafted Chop Robinson.
04:57No disrespect to Chop, but, you know, he didn't produce much in college.
05:01He was a combine guy.
05:03If they go in the first round and they draft the combine guy, then we pretty much know, you know,
05:08what time it is.
05:09They're a metrics team.
05:10They're an analytics team.
05:12And, you know, that's really what's disappointing about the last era and not to say anything about, you know, negative
05:19about Chris Greer while he's out the door.
05:21He's he's cashing his check.
05:23So he worried about he worried about the Dolphins.
05:25But a lot of money.
05:27Yeah, they, you know, during that era, they went for speed.
05:32They went for athleticism and metrics, not necessarily on field production.
05:39And hopefully we stray away from that.
05:41That's that's not the Green Bay way.
05:43And even though these guys talk about how they they're doing things differently than Green Bay, you know, it would
05:49be very disappointing to me if they selected a guy who's an all workout team, but his film is very
05:57quiet.
05:58And and that would that would to me be a massive disappointment for for day one, if not the entire
06:05draft.
06:06Like, I don't mind if you take a workout guy in in the third day and, you know, take a
06:11flyer on him.
06:12But in the first round with these two first round picks, you bet you better you better hit some doubles.
06:19And that means people who can actually play play the game.
06:22You you wrote in a column in the Herald that transforming a franchise based on a draft and that many
06:30picks is risky.
06:31Do you think because you've been around them a long time, do you think Stephen Ross has the proper brain
06:37trust in place this time to build a team through the draft?
06:43I have absolutely no knowledge or understanding of what they're going to do.
06:48So I cannot say that I cannot say that with with full conviction.
06:53I can tell you that this is the first time Steve Ross has done it all at one time, quarterback,
06:59GM, head coach, just reset.
07:02And that's the right approach, because for now, everybody's on the same way.
07:08Everybody's on the same wavelength and everybody is is is in unison.
07:14Whereas I think in the past, Chris Greer, you know, one of the things he didn't have that much conviction.
07:20So he kind of went with whatever his head coach wanted to do, where it was Brian Flores.
07:25He went one way.
07:26You know, he he had a different model from Brian Flores.
07:30If it is Mike, Mike McDaniel, you know, we had a roster full of Smurf receivers who were quick.
07:35And, you know, and it wasn't ideal soon enough.
07:40You're you're you're you know, as as Parcells would say, when you start making an exception, next thing you know,
07:46you got a team full of exceptions.
07:47And that's how they became.
07:49They became a team full of exceptions.
07:51Right now, the Dolphins have to get back to prototypical players who produce on the field and in college level
07:59and stop worrying about how old the player is.
08:03And, you know, probably stop worrying about what the injury, what the injury report says.
08:09Like, you know, Francis, my will know it.
08:11Yeah, he's got a back issue.
08:12It's probably you know, I've never known a back issue ever get better.
08:16But I will say this.
08:17He showed you he's a warrior for the University of Miami for three straight years, starting every single game, probably
08:23not even ever missing a practice.
08:25So why would I expect anything different from him?
08:28It sounds like you're you're going to be OK with an Akeem Mesidor pick at 30 if he's if he
08:33ends up being there, Omar, because I know a lot of people are talking about his age.
08:37But but to that point, I just read so much and I've heard so much that this draft sucks like
08:44the players in this draft aren't great.
08:46This isn't a good NFL draft.
08:47And after the top like 15 picks, the drop off in talent is immense.
08:52Yeah, I don't know how you feel about that.
08:55But if if that is true and you have, you know, seven picks in the top 95 or whatever it
09:01is, 98 picks, why not?
09:03If you're Sully and Halfley, use some of that capital to try to get back up into the draft to
09:08take some of these game changers early on.
09:10But you do realize they need about 15 to 20 players on this team, right?
09:18They need they need actual play.
09:21They need bodies and people who can play.
09:24And I know they can wait a little bit for the waiver wire.
09:26And they're still good veterans out there.
09:29You know, Russell Douglas is still out there.
09:30He's probably better than any cornerback in this draft.
09:33Um, so you could still supplement your roster, but this they need cheap, young talent.
09:40Shannon, though, when you on that rookie contract, you are cheap labor and and they got you locked up for
09:46four years and cheap labor and they feel like they could do whatever they want with you.
09:50Now, this is probably a different age because this whole NIL situation and transfer portal, it makes these rookies feel
09:58like they could go wherever they oh, I don't like my situation here.
10:01I'm I'm I'm going to just transfer.
10:04Well, it don't work that way in the NFL, but but, you know, you're starting to see players move like
10:09Jacksonville, the Brian Thomas situation.
10:13You know, you got a disgruntled wide receiver.
10:16He don't want to be here.
10:17You got him on the on the contract.
10:20OK, maybe you do put him up for for a draft pick and see see what you can get for
10:25him.
10:25So it's a different era of football players.
10:29But also you're seeing a lot of people older in this draft.
10:32They're 24, 25 year olds in this draft.
10:35Yes, COVID was a factor, but now guys are staying in college because, hell, it gets to a point where
10:42you can make more money in college than you can make in the NFL.
10:45Well, the Ole Miss quarterback, he's making more money in college than he was going to make in the NFL.
10:51So, you know, hell, Ty Simpson, if he's not selected in the first round, he would have made more money
10:57at UM than he would have made in the NFL.
10:59You know, you know, what's his name, the quarterback, the backup quarterback for the Dolphins, he started, Quinn Ewers, he
11:08was offered $2 million to play at UNC last year.
11:11He would have made more money in college than he would, than he made in the NFL in his whole
11:16rookie deal in one season.
11:17So it'll be interesting to see how that impacts the draft process over probably the next three to four years.
11:25Oh, my first deal was four for four.
11:27I thought I was balling.
11:30Everybody makes a million dollars.
11:33Admittedly, when we say cheap labor, we're grading on a curve here because we all know what cheap labor is
11:39and it ain't an NFL rookie contract.
11:42People don't realize it, but NFL players, they're really thousand years.
11:45They're not millionaires.
11:47Your taxes take about 40%.
11:50Your agent get 3%.
11:52You got people, you got to pay for training, your body, your food.
11:57But like you, you, and then you got to buy mama a house.
12:01You broke by the time you were like year two.
12:03That's crowded.
12:04Crowder, you was broke, huh?
12:06After the fourth year of a million dollars a year, I had $237,000 in the bank.
12:12And you were cheap, so I know.
12:15And you were making money on mixtapes and DVDs.
12:21He's not counting the cash business.
12:24Yeah, he's not counting the cash business.
12:27This is on W2 paper we're talking about.
12:29This is W2 papers.
12:30Oh, one thing we have to talk about was the receivers.
12:34He, like you say, when you say no disrespect, you're probably about to disrespect somebody.
12:38You can't send Malik Willis out there and say, hey, Tutu, go make him look great.
12:43Hey, Malik Washington.
12:45But I can't say a six-round receiver is going to be a difference maker.
12:49And he has to have some weapons.
12:51We can't give it to A-chan 40 times a game.
12:5530, but yeah, they're going to have to find some receivers.
13:01You know, and as much as we make a big deal about the size of these receivers,
13:06and yeah, you need to get a little bit more size into this unit, think about this.
13:10Who's going to give you run after catch plays?
13:12Who's giving you that shake and bake?
13:13That's not on this roster.
13:15You got Tutu Atwell with speed, but he hasn't proven he's a shake and bake kind of make you miss
13:20kind of receiver.
13:21Who's going to give you those easy, cheap plays?
13:24That's why a guy like KC Concepcion from the Texas A&M receiver or Malachi Lemon,
13:33those are players that you got to add before you add that size because those kind of make you miss,
13:41guys.
13:42Those don't come around very often.
13:44All right, Omar Kelly.
13:45The draft is tonight.
13:46Follow Omar on social media and read his work in the Miami Herald.
13:51You can listen to our draft coverage tonight, which starts at 6 p.m. on this radio station.
13:57Real quick, because we're out of time.
13:58You have nerds as a top five candy of all time?
14:02Absolutely.
14:03Nerds.
14:04You know how to open the box?
14:06Yes.
14:06Who doesn't know how to open the box of nerds?
14:09Yes, I know.
14:09I saw.
14:11Nerds.
14:12I would only put airheads ahead of nerds in the candy.
14:16Do you have any chocolate candies ahead of the-
14:19No, I don't put chocolate in candy category.
14:22Chocolate is chocolate.
14:23Chocolate is not candy.
14:24So M&M's, like nerds over M&M's.
14:28M&M's is not candy.
14:30M&M's is chocolate.
14:32It's in a different category.
14:33Oh, I see what you're doing there.
14:35I see what you're saying there.
14:37Okay, that is a tight definition.
14:40Chocolate is its own category.
14:42You got white chocolate.
14:43You got dark chocolate.
14:44You got milk chocolate.
14:47You know, you can put peanut butter in the chocolate.
14:49You can put some-
14:51Yeah.
14:51Are we all in agreement, by the way, that milk chocolate is the superior chocolate?
14:55Everybody wants, oh, dark chocolate's the best.
14:58And you gotta have a-
14:59It's a little bitter.
15:00And it's complete garbage.
15:03Milk chocolate tastes better.
15:05Absolutely.
15:06Milk chocolate is the top chocolate in the game.
15:08Huh?
15:09People who want to eat dark chocolate, they want to eat it because it's healthier.
15:13They think it's classier.
15:15They think they're, you know, highfalutin because it's dark chocolate and that's how they eat it in Europe.
15:22You know, milk chocolate is by far the superior tasting chocolate.
15:27I'm here to open your eyes.
15:29Dark chocolate, over 70% coca, is actually an antioxidant coca.
15:34We're not talking about health benefits.
15:36Exactly.
15:37That's exactly what Omar's saying.
15:38I'm talking about if I want to taste something that tastes delicious, it's milk chocolate.
15:42If I'm eating chocolate, I'm cheating.
15:46I'm being bad.
15:48Right.
15:48I don't want to be good while being bad.
15:51I don't want to be health conscious while being bad.
15:54That's like people who eat, like, protein bars is like a snack.
15:58Oh, okay.
15:58That guy right there.
16:00I just threw down a 20-gram protein Gatorade protein bar.
16:07But that's fine.
16:08You know, Omar and Hawk, if you guys don't want your chocolate packed with antioxidants and you just want that
16:13processed crap, that's fine.
16:15I don't want it packed with antioxidants.
16:18I'll take something for antioxidants.
16:20I'm not going to get it through chocolate.
16:22I don't need to eat a score bar and feel like I'm being healthy.
16:26I want to eat a three musketeers and have something taste good.
16:30Yeah.
16:30Twix.
16:31Kit Kat.
16:32Yeah.
16:32Exactly.
16:33I feel like we've covered a lot of ground.
16:35That was neat.
16:36We got through all the boring draft stuff to get to the good stuff.
16:40See you, Omar.
16:41All right, guys.
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