decisionsWhat's your take on Malik Willis, uh, in this game and through the first three with what he's playing with?

Yeah, I, I like a lot of what Malik is doing.

Now, you look at judging by on-field results and a couple of the missed shots down the field, um, a- and those are, are big misses, right? And they're, they're high-profile misses because they're, they're big plays, and it looks like a guy's got to step.

Um, the, the one to Kevin Coleman was, uh, kind of he was forced off the spot, so the ball probably got up and down a little later than he wanted to.

I thought the one for Chris Bell looked like a really good throw.

It looked like Chris just as he was tracking it, whether he lost it in the sun or he thought he was running out of room on the sideline or whatever it was, I thought that was a good ball.

So you had some opportunities.

How, how has Chris played? It looks like he's definitely, they're throwing in his area a lot, but h- how has he played to you?

what's your take on malik willis uh in this game and through the first three with what he's playing with

yeah i i like a lot of what malik is doing now you look at judging by on-field results and a And those are big misses, right? And they're high-profile misses because they're big plays, and it looks like a guy's got to step.

The one to Kevin Coleman was kind of he was forced off the spot, so the ball probably got up and down a little later than he wanted to.

I thought the one for Chris Bell looked like a really good throw.

It looked like Chris, just as he was tracking it, whether he lost it in the sun or he thought he was running out of room on the sideline or whatever it was, I thought that was a good ball.

So...

You had some opportunities.

hey uh offensive line um i thought the guys overall played pretty well a lot better than a week before against a 49er what'd you think

what's your take on malik willis uh in this game and through the first three with what he's playing with

yeah i i like a lot of what malik is doing now you look at judging by on-field results and a And those are big misses, right? And they're high-profile misses because they're big plays, and it looks like a guy's got to step.

The one to Kevin Coleman was kind of he was forced off the spot, so the ball probably got up and down a little later than he wanted to.

I thought the one for Chris Bell looked like a really good throw.

It looked like Chris, just as he was tracking it, whether he lost it in the sun or he thought he was running out of room on the sideline or whatever it was, I thought that was a good ball.

So...

You had some opportunities.

hey uh offensive line um i thought the guys overall played pretty well a lot better than a week before against a 49er what'd you think

what's your take on malik willis uh in this game and through the first three with what he's playing with

yeah i i like a lot of what malik is doing now you look at judging by on-field results and a couple of the missed shots down the field um And those are big misses, right? And they're high-profile misses because they're big plays, and it looks like a guy's got to step.

The one to Kevin Coleman was kind of he was forced off the spot, so the ball probably got up and down a little later than he wanted to.

I thought the one for Chris Bell looked like a really good throw.

It looked like Chris, just as he was tracking it, whether he lost it in the sun or he thought he was running out of room on the sideline or whatever it was, I thought that was a good ball.

So...

You had some opportunities.

What did you think?

what's your take on malik willis uh in this game and through the first three with what he's playing with

yeah i i like a lot of what malik is doing now you look at judging by on-field results and a And those are big misses, right? And they're high-profile misses because they're big plays, and it looks like a guy's got to step.

The one to Kevin Coleman was kind of he was forced off the spot, so the ball probably got up and down a little later than he wanted to.

I thought the one for Chris Bell looked like a really good throw.

It looked like Chris just as he was tracking it, whether he lost it in the sun or he thought he was running out of room on the sideline or whatever it was, I thought that was a good ball.

So...

You had some opportunities.

What did you think?

And if they can do that against the Dolphins, it's going to be a long game for Miami.

Yeah, I have a feeling it'll be a long game for Miami either way.

But we'll talk about some matchups on the other side of our first break here.

Crossover Thursday, Chris Clark, Kyle Krabs.

Make sure you guys stick with us.

We want to welcome you all to the most rewarding NFL season only on FanDuel.

How rewarding are we talking? More rewarding than your multiple-time MVP returning for a successful season this year.

They let him kind of choose where he wants to go, which makes sense as their best pass rusher.

What do you think overall Malik's play?

I think it was up and down just like it was against Las Vegas.

I think the highs are really high and you see the escapability and You saw the arm strength on that one where he flushes the pocket and waves to Malik Washington and then comes back on the sideline and decided to rip that throw in there.

I still think the balance of playing on schedule and taking checkdowns and holding the ball, that's a tight rope to walk all year, and I think we're still finding that balance.

But it's not like he missed a bunch of open receivers against San Francisco.

I think they kind of...

He got leveled up on the secondary that you went against.

What are your thoughts on both situations and special teams overall?

Do you agree with that?

No.

I don't think the play has been anywhere near where it needs to be or has it been anywhere near what it has been at times for his career.

Now, I recognize the game script for Austin.

The area of his game that's kind of always, in my opinion, given him the most troubles has been the true pass sets.

And you've been behind by multiple scores in the second half of both of these games.

And you had Max Crosby and you had Nick Bosa.

I thought he did one of the greatest jobs I've ever seen it could have been a lot more sacks than what he got and and the way he was able to get away from Bozeman some of those guys with his instincts to somehow get out of that pocket and keep plays alive I thought was was really good what do you think overall Malik's play

What'd you think overall Malik's play?

I think it was up and down just like it was against Las Vegas.

I think the highs are really high and you see the escapability and, You saw the arm strength on that one where he flushes the pocket and waves to Malik Washington and then comes back on the sideline and decided to rip that throw in there.

I still think the balance of playing on schedule and taking checkdowns and holding the ball, that's a tight rope to walk all year.

And I think it's still kind of, we're still finding that balance.

But it's not like he missed a bunch of open receivers against San Francisco.

I think they kind of...

What are your thoughts on both situations and special teams overall?

well Kyle let's talk about the individual players who did flash who who were your best Dolphins on Sunday and why

I think you you could make a case for the top three guys all potentially being rookie players on the roster where Jacob Rodriguez I thought was outstanding throughout the course of this football game and Caleb Douglas tied a franchise record for most receiving yards in a first game with the team, putting up 94 yards.

And he blocked his rear end off now, too.

That was the other thing.

As you look at the refs that Caleb Douglas is playing without the football and the effort and the physicality that he was putting on the field, I thought he was somebody who did a lot of really nice things.

And I think that's a great mark for – you don't have a ton to invest in players that are veterans and in free agency, but you have this third of the roster that's expiring.

So to get a couple of the guys that they kind of planted their flag on and say like, we want this guy, we have a vision for this guy and those guys coming out and playing well, I think is a nice nod to the player personnel opportunities that you did have.

What were your takeaways from watching him on Sunday?

Who were your best Dolphins on Sunday and why?

I think you could make a case for the top three guys all potentially being rookie players on the roster.

where Jacob Rodriguez I thought was outstanding throughout the course of this football game.

And Caleb Douglas tied a franchise record for most receiving yards in a first game with the team, putting up 94 yards.

And he blocked his rear end off now, too.

That was the other thing.

As you look at the rest that Caleb Douglas is playing without the football and the effort and the physicality that he was putting on the field, I thought he was somebody who did a lot of really nice things.

What were your takeaways from watching him on Sunday?

What, what were your takeaways from, uh, from watching him on Sunday?

Well, yeah, it's, it's...

I get it.

It was...

There was some buzz last year after the strong rookie season, and then it didn't show up, and, and you got buzz again this year in training camp.

I don't think that game script where you're trailing by 10 points in the first quarter and you're giving up what you're giving up on the ground as a collective unit early in that game, I don't think that's a recipe for the things that, where you want to put Chop in position to make the kind of plays that everybody wants to see.

And Kirk Cousins, through the first half of that game, ball was out in, like, 2.2 seconds on average in the first half.

But, like how, how do you, how do you decide whether or not Malik Willis is both the present and future?

What, what were your takeaways from, uh, from watching him on Sunday?

Well, yeah, it's, it's...

I get it.

It was, there was some buzz last year after the strong rookie season, and then it didn't show up, and then you got buzz again this year in training camp.

I don't think that game script where you're trailing by 10 points in the first quarter and you're giving up what you're giving up on the ground as a collective unit early in that game, I don't think that's a recipe for the things that, where you wanna put Chop in position to make the kind of plays that everybody wants to see.

And Kirk Cousins, through the first half of that game, ball is out in, like, 2.2 seconds on average in the first half.

And after that point, you know, obviously they, they get the interception.

Kyle, how do you evaluate Malik Willis throughout the entire season, knowing, you know, the Dolphins will probably have a very high draft pick, and there's gonna be temptation for the fan base to maybe go after one of these shiny object rookie quarterbacks? But, like, how, how do you, how do you decide whether or not Malik Willis is both the present and future?

What, what were your takeaways from, uh, from watching him on Sunday?

Well, yeah, it's, it's...

I get it.

It was...

There was some buzz last year after the strong rookie season, and then it didn't show up, and, and you got buzz again this year in training camp.

I don't think that game script where you're trailing by 10 points in the first quarter and you're giving up what you're giving up on the ground as a collective unit early in that game, I don't think that's a recipe for the things that... where you wanna put Chop in position to make the kind of plays that everybody wants to see.

And Kirk Cousins, through the first half of that game, ball was out in, like, 2.2 seconds on average in the first half.

Kyle, how do you evaluate Malik Willis throughout the entire season knowing, you know, the Dolphins will probably have a very high draft pick and there's gonna be temptation for the fan base to maybe go after one of these shiny object rookie quarterbacks? But, like, how, how do you, how do you decide whether or not Malik Willis is both the present and future?

have a lot of bad sinners if we went through that boy there'd be a lot of people in big trouble with the big man if we did that go ahead

Speaking of the big man, Jordan Phillips, you mentioned it was really cool to see how enthusiastic Jeff Halfley got when he was talking about him, and you kind of got a feel.

I don't know if you caught this, but when they did the introductory press conference for Sully and Half, the Dolphins put out a video afterwards that was kind of like the behind the scenes.

One of the guys that rolled up to say hello to Sully and Half was Jordan Phillips, and Halfley kind of It's like, oh, yeah, I love the way you play the game.

You play the game the right way.

To Jordan Phillips, he said, I loved you coming out in the draft.

So you knew that there was a little bit of an affection there for that skill set based on their first meeting in person as, you know, half way as the head coach of the Dolphins.

But what do you expect from Malik Willis besides great patience with this group of young guys that he's going to be playing with?

Go ahead.

Speaking of the big man, Jordan Phillips, you mentioned it was really cool to see how enthusiastic Jeff Halfley got when he was talking about him, and you kind of got a feel.

I don't know if you caught this, but when they did the introductory press conference for Sully and Half, the Dolphins put out a video afterwards that was kind of like the behind the scenes.

One of the guys that rolled up to say hello to Sully and Half was Jordan Phillips, and Halfley kind of It's like, oh, yeah, I love the way you play the game.

You play the game the right way.

To Jordan Phillips, he said, I loved you coming out in the draft.

So you knew that there was a little bit of an affection there for that skill set based on their first meeting in person as, you know, Hathaway is the head coach of the Dolphins.

But what do you expect from Malik Willis besides great patience with this group of young guys that he's going to be playing with?

Go ahead.

Speaking of the big man, Jordan Phillips, you mentioned it was really cool to see how enthusiastic – Jeff Halfley got when he was talking about him.

And you kind of got a feel.

I don't know if you caught this, but when they did the introductory press conference for Sully and Half, the Dolphins put out a video afterwards that was kind of like the behind the scenes.

One of the guys that rolled up to say hello to Sully and Half was Jordan Phillips.

And Halfley kind of was like, oh, yeah, I love the way you play the game.

You play the game the right way.

But what do you expect from Malik Willis besides great patience with this group of young guys that he's going to be playing with?

everybody knew what the deal

was.

Everybody knew what the deal was when you started moving on from Tyreek Hill and Bradley Chubb.

Yes, they have the cap space now, but the other side of this is what John Eric Sullivan talked about.

We want to be deliberate about who we bring in here.

We want to be deliberate about if you're trying to build a culture, stop outsourcing talent to come in as veteran players that is a guy that only signed here because he cared about the money to get in around all these young players that you have right now and kind of have that influence versus he's here for one year and he maybe has a negative influence and gets in somebody's year versus, These guys, these rookies are going to be here three, four years at a minimum, hopefully, as long as they perform at a certain level.

So it goes beyond just the payroll and the cap when you're making decisions about who you're bringing into the fray here.

Kyle McCord and Brady Cook, second and third quarterbacks, what do you think about what you have there to what you just gave up?

But everybody

knew what the deal was.

Everybody knew what the deal was when you started moving on from Tyreek Hill and Bradley Chubb.

Yes, they have the cap space now, but the other side of this is what John Eric Sullivan talked about.

We want to be deliberate about who we bring in here.

We want to be deliberate about if you're trying to build a culture, stop outsourcing talent to come in as veteran players that is a guy that only signed here because he cared about the money to get in around all these young players that you have right now and kind of have that influence versus he's here for one year and he maybe has a negative influence and gets in somebody's ear versus, These guys, these rookies are going to be here three, four years at a minimum, hopefully, as long as they perform at a certain level.

So it goes beyond just the payroll and the cap when you're making decisions about who you're bringing into the fray here.

Kyle McCord and Brady Cook, second and third quarterbacks, what do you think about what you have there to what you just gave up?

So that's the under-the-radar thing that's going to happen this coming football season.

Can I give you one? Yeah, go ahead.

I mean, he's a cane, so he's probably not going to be super off the radar for this group, but I think the ceiling's super high for Damon Wilson, who transferred in on the edge.

Obviously, the canes have a very tall task replacing the edge guys that left this past year in the draft with two first-rounders, but...

I really like Wilson's tape.

I, there were games where I thought he was the best edge defender that Missouri had last year.

And they had an edge defender that went in the first two rounds in this past April's NFL draft.

So, yeah, it's fascinating to see what's going to happen.

But everybody knew what the deal was.

Everybody knew what the deal was when you started moving on from Tyreek Hill and Bradley Chubb.

Yes, they have the cap space now, but the other side of this is what John Eric Sullivan talked about.

We want to be deliberate about who we bring in here.

We want to be deliberate about if you're trying to build a culture, stop outsourcing talent to come in as veteran players that is a guy that only signed here because he cared about the money to get in around all these young players that you have right now and kind of have that influence versus he's here for one year and he maybe has a negative influence and gets in somebody's year versus, These guys, these rookies are going to be here three, four years at a minimum, hopefully, as long as they perform at a certain level.

So it goes beyond just the payroll and the cap when you're making decisions about who you're bringing into the fray here.

And the other part of this is maybe those players that you would feel like would be attracted to sign and bring in, they've got to decide they want to play for the Dolphins too.

knew what the deal was.

was.

Everybody knew what the deal was when you started moving on from Tyreek Hill and Bradley Chubb.

Yes, they have the cap space now, but the other side of this is what John Eric Sullivan talked about.

We want to be deliberate about who we bring in here.

We want to be deliberate about if you're trying to build a culture, stop outsourcing talent to come in as veteran players that is a guy that only signed here because he cared about the money to get in around all these young players that you have right now and kind of have that influence versus he's here for one year and he maybe has a negative influence and gets in somebody's ear versus, These guys, these rookies are going to be here three, four years at a minimum, hopefully, as long as they perform at a certain level.

So it goes beyond just the payroll and the cap when you're making decisions about who you're bringing into the fray here.

And the other part of this is maybe those players that you would feel like would be attracted to sign and bring in, they've got to decide they want to play for the Dolphins too.

What do you think about what you have there to what you just gave up?

everybody knew what the deal

was.

Everybody knew what the deal was when you started moving on from Tyreek Hill and Bradley Chubb.

Yes, they have the cap space now, but the other side of this is what John Eric Sullivan talked about.

We want to be deliberate about who we bring in here.

We want to be deliberate about if you're trying to build a culture, stop outsourcing talent to come in as veteran players that is a guy that only signed here because he cared about the money to get in around all these young players that you have right now and kind of have that influence versus he's here for one year and he maybe has a negative influence and gets in somebody's ear versus These guys, these rookies are going to be here three, four years at a minimum, hopefully, as long as they perform at a certain level.

So it goes beyond just the payroll and the cap when you're making decisions about who you're bringing into the fray here.

What do you think about what you have there to what you just gave up?

knew what the deal was.

Everybody knew what the deal was when you started moving on from Tyreek Hill and Bradley Chubb.

Yes, they have the cap space now, but the other side of this is what John Eric Sullivan talked about.

We want to be deliberate about who we bring in here.

We want to be deliberate about if you're trying to build a culture, stop outsourcing talent to come in as veteran players that is a guy that only signed here because he cared about the money to get in around all these young players that you have right now and kind of have that influence versus he's here for one year and he maybe has a negative influence and gets in somebody's ear versus these guys, these rookies are going to be here three, four years at a minimum, hopefully, as long as they perform at a certain level.

So it goes beyond just the payroll and the cap when you're making decisions about who you're bringing into the fray here.

And the other part of this is maybe those players that you would feel like would be attracted to sign and bring in, they got to decide they want to play for the dolphins too.

What do you think about what you have there to what you just gave up?

Yes

... with John Eric Sullivan and g- and being in Green Bay, right? When he first came into the league, uh, he was with Green Bay for, what did it end up being, 20 games that he was with the Packers, and 23 and 24.

Uh, and then in 25 he was back with the Packers again for another three games.

So it was actually 34 games his first two seasons, and then three in 2025.

So he's got like 40 games on the roster with John Eric Sullivan as a member of the front office.

So I think at least in the case of Ben Sims as a player, not a lot of reps and playing time, but- They've seen him, and I think that gives you a little bit more peace of mind knowing that he's still gotta get ready for this season.

We still have other tight ends that are gonna contribute in those other roles.

Yes