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00:00and that we believed it yeah well moving on to um i don't know cheerier topics the dolphins how
00:06about the dolphins marcel uh what what's going on in miami uh that's the cheerier topic that is
00:14how low the u.s has has made things um i mean the the overall i mean we can all
00:20figure out that
00:21there's a rebuild happening but the quarterback choice sort of flew in the face of that somewhat
00:27at least to me uh what are your thoughts on on how the spring and summer so far have gone
00:32for miami
00:34that looks like a work in progress uh i i have decided after the the events of the past two
00:41seasons that when this team shows me who they are i'm going to believe them uh but in this case
00:47i
00:48will delay my judgment because it's a whole new group of receivers for malik willis none of whom
00:54are necessarily you know starting quality on a contending team i think is is fair to say
01:01uh so it's a big learning process throughout the spring uh i did think that he had moments
01:08where he certainly could have been better he could have been more accurate uh i i didn't think
01:14he looked like any sort of world beater in the spring but again he's still kind of learning the
01:20team learning the scheme learning the people's name around the building even so uh i'm willing
01:26to give him the benefit of the doubt until pads come on and joint practices begin uh you know there
01:31was a funny little made-up competition i i thought during otas and minicamp that you know quinn
01:37ewers was challenging for a starter spot i i would not go that far i'm not going to go that
01:44far
01:44uh but i think he's he will prove to be a high level backup this is just this is going
01:50to be
01:50malik willis's team for this year and how bullish on him i know you just said like what he looked
01:55like
01:55in minicamp the work he did in green bay like was it worth what miami has paid him what he
02:02did
02:02in part-time duty last year yeah so i think you can look at it from a couple angles right
02:07like
02:08first of all these are two guys that spent every day around him for the past two years
02:12in john eric sullivan and uh and jeff halfley so if they've seen him and they've seen him practice
02:20they've seen him away from just the sample size in game that the rest of the world saw and they
02:25decided this is a guy who can win games for us and i think we have to we have to
02:29value that uh but
02:31also a little bit of it could be this is just the devil we know right like if you're happily
02:36and you're
02:36and you're sullivan this is the devil we know we know what to expect with malik willis
02:40instead of taking a chance on uh kyler murray taking a chance on another free agent quarterback
02:46or trying to trade for sam darnold or that like okay i i know what we're getting out of out
02:52of
02:52uh malik i don't want to play this this game we're already behind the eight ball a little bit in
02:57terms
02:57of scouting well why don't we just go with the guy we know so like i said there's a couple
03:02different
03:02ways to look at it there but overall i think they're really confident in in malik willis um you know
03:08his his rushing ability it's just a dynamic that we we have not seen from the dolphins at that
03:13position uh over the past few years and i think that alone that's going to help uh even the odds
03:20a little bit uh and make up for some of the shortcomings of the rest of this offense and there
03:25are
03:25shortcomings without question but uh i think uh it's just it's a tough spot for him this season
03:31obviously there's not a lot of talent on on either side of the ball not a lot of competitive talent
03:36on either side of the ball and uh obviously he's he's gonna be working up against the number one
03:42pick and the arch manning and take march for arch and yeah and you know take sellers all that all
03:48that conversation like it's gonna be a tough year for him i think but uh you know it's opportunity that
03:53i think he's deserved and he at least at the podium sounds ready for well let me ask you because
03:59i'm never and i mean listen we've uh you spent time here in buffalo but like there was a lot
04:04of years
04:04here in buffalo where there was talks of a rebuild but never a full tear it down and try to
04:12build it
04:12back up and and i thought that there were signs that the dolphins were ready to fully do that right
04:18i mean obviously you were you were walking from tyree kill after the injury and everything but then
04:23the trade of jalen waddle matched with the extension for devon a-chan and and listen a-chan's a great
04:30player and he's gonna he was either getting paid or he was getting traded i guess i look at it
04:35and i
04:35say one move and then the other one to me doesn't speak of a franchise that fully has agreed to
04:44saying
04:44and listen it doesn't matter if you're a new head coach new gm everyone's sort on the clock especially
04:49when you have the ownership that the miami dolphin says i'm sure steven ross isn't looking at this thing
04:53and saying yeah i'm ready to sit around and watch two to win teams for the next two years uh
04:58and you
04:59know tank for the number one quarterback but to me it it stinks of a move that a malik willis
05:05and
05:05a devon a-chan could win you a game in december that gets you out of the sweepstakes of the
05:10first
05:10or second overall pick and then you're in a position which it feels like a lot of these teams that
05:15always middle or are bad but never bad enough to truly change the dynamic of their franchise
05:21where do you stand on that like is this a full rebuild and if so help me make sense of
05:27you
05:27signing a running back this is a rebuild uh i know what they've been saying i know they don't
05:35like to use the term but actions speak louder than words and like neither of these guys are bsers and
05:42that's one thing i've really enjoyed about covering them these past few months they are not bsers if
05:47they don't want to tell you something they're just not going to tell you but they neither of them have
05:51intentionally been misleading so i i don't think that they're trying to actively tank and lose games
05:57but like you just trade it you trade it away or cut all your best players from a season ago
06:02you're not giving any big money to any free agent outside of you know malik willis and it's only big
06:09money in comparison to what the rest of the guys signed for and you've identified the guys that you
06:15want to rebuild around and eight ten is a guy that they want to rebuild around i don't think they
06:19see
06:19this as a multiple year ordeal i think they're gonna have a lot of money to spend next offseason
06:24they've got some draft capital to spend and obviously they love what devon hn uh aaron brewer
06:30patrick paul guys like that bring to the table like this is they think that they can get this team
06:34back into competitive spirits sooner rather than later they just knew you know you kind of had to
06:40eat your peas first you gotta eat your vegetables your broccoli and spinach before you get to the
06:44steak so uh this is just this is a vegetable year for them but uh you can't you can't fault
06:51steven ross in this regard right so over the past let's call it since i mean 2016 since chris
06:57greer took over it's been half measure after half measure right like you you fire adam gase and hire
07:04brian flores but then you fire brian flores and hire mike bedanda you fire mikey daniel and chris
07:11greer this time it's not just the head coach it is the coach and the gm it is a clean
07:16house uh effort
07:18to get new ideas fresh ideas into the building so uh i was actually of the of the mindset that
07:24mike
07:24really shouldn't have been fired i thought the problem was roster construction more so than
07:28actual on-field coaching but uh i i can't fault steven ross for just blowing the entire thing up and
07:36saying we need to reset marcel louis jac our guest on the western hotline uh miami dolphins espn
07:43reporter uh former formerly did the same gig here in buffalo uh with the bills that's how nate and
07:51marcel know one another uh going way back um how about the defensive side of the ball um you know
07:58chop robinson zach sealer there's some there's some pass rush juice there but is there enough for them
08:04to even like hang in games like what do you make of the defense yeah you know the secondary is
08:11going
08:11to be a bit of a struggle i think this year there is a top three that's kind of starting
08:17to to separate
08:18itself and in terms of juju brents uh chris johnson and then it's a it's a question mark maybe it's
08:25stormed up you had a lot of hype there a season ago darryl baker's got starting experience uh as well
08:32we just there's going to be some open competition there but there there are some guys that are
08:37starting to elevate but overall it's not a very deep group it's not a very it doesn't have a lot
08:42of starting caliber talent in that group i think if you get a you get an injury or you get
08:47a situation
08:47like last year where your corners dropping like flies this is pretty easily the best the worst
08:53cornerbacks in secondary room in the nfl uh they do have some pass rush acumen i guess in terms of
09:01chop robinson zach sealer had back-to-back i think nine sack seasons in 23 and 24 uh you know
09:10josh
09:10ushe has a double digit sack season under his belt david ajabo's got some potential but uh again it's
09:16not a lot of consistent proven starting caliber talent and that is you've heard me say that a few
09:21times during this conversation because it's a consistent theme with this team about what what they
09:27lack and what's going to probably hold them back uh against a really difficult difficult schedule
09:34uh the one thing i think the one area that i do think they're going to be pretty good
09:38uh at linebackers uh you know guys like jordan brooks uh terrell dawson buffalo's very familiar with
09:45and second round pick uh jacob rodriguez as well they brought back willie gay uh who was a training
09:52camp darling a season ago and it just he didn't really play much in the actual season so i don't
09:58know what coaching staff saw that we didn't or vice versa but uh i think they're pretty deep there
10:03at linebacker uh their idea is you know they want to be good against the run but uh beyond that
10:11it's
10:11and their defensive line interior defensive line is is pretty good zach sealer uh kenneth grant jordan
10:17phillips uh team's really excited about uh zeke diggers as well somehow slimmed down and it's still
10:25six to five 320 pounds or 328 pounds something like that that's slipping down i can get behind
10:31yeah yeah so like there's some size if they want to stop the run they've got the bodies they've got
10:38the guys uh to do so it's stopping the pass that's going to prove a little difficult this season
10:42uh marcel i wanted to just hop back on the offense real quick because i know you you in passing
10:47there talked about this group of receivers that really doesn't have like a guy that would be
10:51playing on a contending team um chris bell is a guy that they get in this last year draft a
10:56guy i
10:57liked a lot coming out of louisville um maybe i was just looking for it but i came across a
11:03couple of
11:03ota plays where it looked like he was you know getting some good connections down the field is that
11:08a player you've got your eye on this year as a guy that maybe could alpha his way into into
11:13sort of
11:13being this team's number one wide receiver um or is it still maybe too early to tell what what that
11:19that pecking order looks like uh in miami on offense like i mean like he could take it almost by
11:25default
11:25like almost as just a lack of any other option the question with him is just going to be when
11:32he's
11:32ready to to really play we haven't seen him in team drills yet uh he's working back from that
11:37torn acl but this was a guy who was probably a fringe day one pick yep or early day two
11:42pick
11:42before the injury um miami fans are very familiar with him he lit them up in louisville's upset of
11:47the canes last season i good size good speed great after the catch as well uh this guy when you
11:55when
11:56you're designing a number one receiver like this is what he looks like this is the size the speed
12:02the talent combination like that's what it looks like so i i think they're really excited about him
12:07they're also really excited about caleb douglas uh he's got to get a little bit stronger uh still
12:12pretty wiry but uh the speed is there the hands have been inconsistent let's say uh during spring
12:20ball but uh they are excited about him once he he gets his body acclimated to to the pro level
12:25but
12:26i i think chris bell is definitely somebody to keep an eye on i really i want to say i
12:30took him in our
12:31dynasty league i don't remember if i didn't then i wanted to but uh this is a guy who uh
12:36if you're in
12:38fantasy if you're you're looking for some scrappy production late in the draft and you're starting
12:42to take flyers this is the guy who i think you can take a flyer on uh and then also
12:46marcel i listen
12:47you you covered a lot of sean mcdermott's tenure here i wanted to ask you about obviously big changes
12:52this offseason by brandon being the bills being you talked about you know uh the half measures in
12:58miami right one guy one one time one year it's the gm the next it's the coach um well here
13:04in buffalo
13:04it was not just the gm not going but it was the gm getting a promotion and the coach going
13:09um overall your your sort of take on on the departure of sean mcdermott um in the introduction
13:17of joe brady as this team's head coach and maybe what your your kind of your expectation is for them
13:22this season um with with a lot of new faces at the realm at least on the coaching staff and
13:27up top
13:28yeah i i think it was it was surprising but not shocking you know what i'm saying like it's uh
13:35or maybe shocking but not surprising either way i understood the reason why i understood the why
13:40because if you couldn't make it uh to the super bowl in this year's playoff field in the afc
13:46then it's like a you know when are you going to there's no lamar there's no mahomes like i don't
13:51know burrow like who are you you had to beat not even bo nix you had to beat jared stidham
13:56like it's i understand the disappointment and i understand the decision there uh i guess that
14:02they're hoping you know the roster is close they just needed somebody they needed somebody to
14:07to steve currant they needed steve currant of the mark jackson yeah but uh you know i i've always
14:13one thing i've always respected about brandon bean is you know his willingness to to speak
14:17after after major moves after major controversies like i usually are going to hear from him uh i am
14:25curious how another trade for a pseudo star wide receiver works out there in in dj moore uh still
14:34got kind of question marks about the rest of that that receiving room outside of khalil shakir i don't
14:39know that i don't know that i'm a believer in keon coleman suddenly snapping back uh when his new
14:44head coach is still his old offensive coordinator uh but the beauty of it man is you got 17 and
14:53i've said
14:53this a a bunch of times uh like just speaking about dolphins bills matchups like i don't care who's
15:01hurt who's rostered who's on the team who's playing well who's in form who's out of form it doesn't
15:05matter man 17 lines up bills have a shot so 17 is lining up you got a shot this season
15:11how do you
15:12feel about new england before you go do you think arrows all still pointing up or did the playoffs
15:18sort of level them off and a tougher schedule i just i don't want to load the question what do
15:23you think of new england it is a tougher schedule this year i think that they probably come back
15:28down to earth uh in 2026 i think they definitely took advantage of i don't want to seem make it
15:34seem
15:34like it's their fault or they did something wrong but they did take advantage of a weak schedule of a
15:39weak uh you know quarterback matchups of a weak afc playoff field and they also took advantage of
15:45having a talented head coach in mike brable uh i i believe all the you know the distractions are
15:52probably over at this point uh i think that they're still going to rally behind him i love
15:58obviously the aj brown trade that gets them a real receiver that they severely lacked uh last year
16:05despite a good year from stefan diggs uh aj brown is a different kind of guy so i i think
16:11that it's a
16:11it's a close race and it's definitely a two-team race but i'm taking the buffalo bills to win the
16:18afcs all right marcel thanks so much for the time really appreciate it sorry about texting you during
16:24that soccer match last week and uh hopefully no worries at all man catch up again no worries at all
16:30we get into camps or into the season uh sometime love talking to you man great job absolutely man
16:35thanks for having me on all right it's marcel louis jacques espn's
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