(Does your analytics department provide you with an injury predictor for potential picks and if not, why not? If so, does any player in the first round have a higher predictor score than QB Tua Tagovailoa?) – “First of all, I just want to say on behalf of the organization, thank you to all of the first responders and people on the frontline during this time of crisis. Obviously our words are not enough and seeing it every day is heartbreaking. Hopefully we’ll be back here and our country will be strong. People in South Florida are resilient, so I’m looking forward to things getting back to some semblance of normalcy. To your question – again, I hope everyone’s family and friends are well and safe. Yes, we do have an analytics department that does injury predictions. Again, football is a violent sport. We do the best we can – I’ve been in this for a long time – I’ve been around good players that were never hurt like Jake Long, for instance, back in the day; and then players – when I was in New England, we drafted Curtis Martin. Curtis Martin was always hurt and basically never missed a game in New England. I think in terms of where our guys have graded guys, I’m not going to get into that; but yes, we do a lot of studies on that. (Head Athletic Trainer) Kyle Johnston and our doctors and staff have done a lot of work on every player, and they’ve done a fantastic job, so we’re going to just proceed as normal.
(What’s the process with you guys putting together the board now, especially considering the environment and obviously how difficult has it been?) – “For us, it hasn’t really been too much different. The difference is obviously we’re not in the same room, but we did a lot of work in December starting on the draft, with all of the picks we had coming into this draft, and the coaching staff and the scouts have all done a tremendous job of evaluation all the way through December and all the way through the spring until now. Little tweaks here and there. Obviously we’re not in the same room, but we’ve done a lot of meetings, a lot of video conferencing with the technology mediums and we feel really good about our process, and we’re ready to go.”
(I just wanted to ask what are your thoughts about QB Justin Herbert and QB Tua Tagovailoa as prospects?) – “They’re both interesting kids. I’ve gotten to know both of them through this process. Really good people, good players. They’ve both won. For us, going through the process, we’re going through the process just like with every player we’ve done. Obviously being a quarterback, that’s why everybody wants to know; but we’ve spent a lot of time with a lot of the top players and it’s no different with them. They’re both very talented players. Both have won a lot of games and they’re both intelligent players that are winners.”
(I wanted to ask you a week away from the draft, is your final quarterback ranking set? And can you tell me a little bit about how you and Head Coach Brian Flores and Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey have worked together to develop some consensus?) – “I think it’s been a process working with (Offensive Coordinator) Chan (Gailey) coming in, and it’s been really good. The communication’s been great. We’ve spent a lot of time talking through the different qualities that we’re looking for in the players that we’ve talked about. From our end, it’s been pretty smooth and we haven’t set our final board yet. We’ll do that probably late this weekend or early next week, but a lot of really good discussions on what we feel is best for the Miami Dolphins.”
(Obviously you’re going to have to rely more on your scouts this year than perhaps years past with the ability to have 30 visits and all that. Have there been a couple of scouts in the last three or four years – I know Assistant Director of College Scouting Matt Winston is a name you’re going to mention – but guys that are still out-in-the-field scouts that you really rely on?) – “I think we have a really, really good group of guys. Like I said, I think they’re all very talented. We rely on all of them because we have a lot of really good scouts. The area scouts are really the ones that know the players the best. They’ve seen them the most. They spend the most time around the players, so with (Assistant General Manager) Marvin (Allen) and the national scouts and (Co-Director of Player Personnel) Adam (Engroff) and Matt (Winston) and (Senior National Scout Ron Brockington) ‘Brock’ and (Senior Personnel Executive) Reggie (McKenzie) – those guys for us and like myself, we go into schools, you come in for a day and you work where area scouts go to those schools and they’ve been to their area schools three or four times at least and have been around the kids the most. So you really have to rely on all your guys. We spend time; we listen to them. We’ve had a lot of meetings. We’ve spent a lot of time just going over the backgrounds, the character and what they saw, especially on the player’s tape this year. It’s not any different than any other year. The tape really tells you what the player is and then the Combine and all of the other stuff maybe gives you a little bit clearer picture, but at the end of the day, it’s what the guys do on film.”
(What’s your reaction to the NFL directive about the offseason programs and how workable do you think they’ll be?) – “We’re just going to work through it. We’re ready to go. Brian (Flores) and the coaching staff have been prepared. I think one of Brian’s greatest strengths is always looking to the future, so we’ve been ready to go. We’ll react to whatever directive the league gives us but for us, it’ll be business as usual as best we can. Again, there’s nothing we can do. Everyone is dealing with the same issues. We’ll be ready to go.”
(Can you talk about what draft night is going to be like for you from a setup standpoint? How is communication going to work between you and your assistants and what will you be looking at? I assume this is the room you’re going to be in, but did you have to put stuff in there because of this? Can you walk us through what the night is going to be like?) – “Yeah, we’re finishing setting up everything in the next day or so. I’ve got multiple televisions in here and computers. It will best mimic the draft room the best we can. The communication part of it is going to be similar to (this). We’ll be on video technology – Brian (Flores), myself, ownership, (Assistant General Manager) Marvin Allen, (Vice President of Football Administration) Brandon Shore. All of us will be in communication kind of like this, talking on stuff. For us, it will be different but we’re ready to go. We’re going to have some run-throughs of it but I’m very confident. I think our IT department has done a fantastic job with getting this all set up. We really don’t have any apprehension about this process. We’re ready to go.”
(I thought I heard you say that you guys were going to set the final draft board this weekend, which makes me think that maybe you really haven’t decided who you’re going to take No. 1 or who you want to take No. 1. Is that in fact the case and do you have such a strong conviction about who you want to take that you’d be willing to trade up to get him?) – “Setting the draft board, we’re still finishing meetings with the scouts this week. We just finished one. We’ll go through that and then Brian (Flores), myself and Marvin (Allen) will sit and go through it and talk about it. We have an idea of who we like but again, we want to make sure we have all of the information, the medical meetings coming up here in the next couple of days. We’ll finish (gathering) all of the information. Until we get the clear picture with all of the information, that’s when we’ll set the board final. For us, it’s the same process we’ve had every year. Nothing has really changed on that. It’s trying to set it on that Monday or Tuesday and the draft is Thursday night and you’re ready to go. In terms of moving up, trading and all of that stuff, we’re in the same process that it is every year. Teams call us. We call every team. Every team calls every team. Everyone is just doing their due diligence just to see what options are available if anyone wants to move or trade up. For us, it’s the same as it’s been every year. I know it will be scrutinized more because of all of the picks we have and what we’re doing, but it’s really the same process we’ve had since I’ve been here.”
(I was talking to somebody about the draft and the process and the communication and they were saying that they believe teams that are among the first couple of picks every day will be at an advantage because they aren’t going to have to scramble to talk to each other about trades or other things. Do you think you guys are at an advantage because you are at the top of days one and two, at least?) – “Yeah, that’s a good question and that’s what it’s been historically through the draft. If you look at – always when you start the next morning of each day or afternoon if you start in the evening, that’s always the one because teams have had the night to look over their draft board and make calls to all of those teams that are picking in the top half of the draft for players they’re interested in that they’d like to get. Yeah, it is an advantage. It’s something that we’ll take advantage of and see what happens from there.”
(I wanted to ask about the QB decisions you made last year. QB Ryan Fitzpatrick was the third option after QB Teddy Bridgewater and QB Tyrod Taylor, but this team really gravitated towards his personality and he really helped the young players come about last season. QB Josh Rosen maybe didn’t have the same effect on his teammates as Fitzpatrick did. I just wanted to ask you what did you learn about adding those two guys last year that might impact what you’re looking for in the QB decision you’re going to make next week.) – “’Fitz’ was, like we’ve talked about ad nauseam, what he’s done for the locker room, he was a veteran presence, the type of person he is and the impact he had in the locker room with younger players and veterans. Josh has done a great job, like we’ve talked about since the end of the season, of how he progressed through last season and learning. For him, he went through a very tough thing, being a top 10 pick and traded after a year and learning a new system and a new city. He’s still a young player. In terms of it, you’re always looking for what you feel are the types of players who fit your program best, and what you want and what you’re looking for. So for us, I think you always look back and try to learn lessons but going forward, we’ll still be aggressive in trying to find the right people that fit our program.”
(I wanted to ask you how many prospects have you identified of being worthy of that No. 5 overall pick?) – “I would say when you’re at that No. 5 pick, every year the joke is around the scouting world that if you’re picking 12, there’s always 10 that you like. (laughter) We’re at five but we feel really good about – (there are) probably eight or nine players we feel really good about. We’ll get a good player and we’ll be very happy to have him, and I think the fans will be happy as well.”
(I wanted to talk to you about the success you had on Day 3, finding both contributors and starters in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh rounds and even last year specifically with some undrafted free agents. What has been the key to kind of uncovering some of those late round gems, and has the process of doing so changed at all given the current state of things with the virus and the shutdown?) – “We’re going to go with the same process of how we’ve done things. Our scouts have done a great job, as well as the coaching staff. We always talk about communication and that’s really key because to get those guys on the backend, it’s the coaches and scouts on the same page and everyone on the phone, talking to players and identifying players that can help us or see something that has upside for us to develop. For us, the process is the same as always. It’s the communication. The coaches and scouts have done a great job for us. They have worked extremely hard at the communication. That’s always the key, and then it’s the relationships you have with agents as well. That always helps. I think our track record as you said, in terms of playing the young players, and Brian (Flores) is committed to giving people the opportunity and people earn their shot here. I think that’s an exciting thing for free agents that come in and have a chance to make the roster and play.”
(I wanted to ask you about Assistant General Manager Marvin Allen and when did you – obviously you guys grew up in the industry together, but when did that friendship and bond develop, and how does he help you? He supposedly is a good college evaluator.) – “Marvin played running back for my dad in New England. I’ve known Marvin since I was growing up, around my parents and the house from the time he was coming out of Tulane. Then my dad hired Marvin – when he finished playing – as a scout. Marvin’s worth ethic has always been good, he’s very intelligent, he’s got a great demeanor. People like talking to him, so he gets a lot of information. But again, it’s the evaluation. He has an eye for talent. He’s always had it. He worked hard at it. He wanted to prove as a player coming in that he was going to earn that. There wasn’t anything handed to him; it’s worth ethic and drive. Yeah, over the years seeing him, everywhere he’s gone he’s had success. If you follow from where he’s been, everywhere he’s gone, I joke he’s only missed the playoffs I think like three times in his whole career as a scout. He’s done a great job and been a part of drafting some good players. We’re very excited we can have him here. He’s been a great addition for us and he’s good around the young guys too. He spends time helping the young guys in the office develop. He’s done a great job there and we’re glad to have him.”
(I think you joked with us at the Senior Bowl about the QB Tua Tagovailoa hype. It seems like it’s been going on for two years now. The moment has finally arrived when you have to make a decision. What can you say to Dolphins’ fans that you definitely should get this pick right. Why should they be confident that Tua or not, it’s definitely going to be the right pick coming up at five?) – “I would say that we’ve done a lot of things here with us. We’ve spent a lot of time. Brian (Flores) and the coaching staff, the scouts, we’ve spent a lot of time going through it. We’ve spent a lot of time with the players, we’ve spent a lot of time doing it, so we’re going to do what’s best for the Miami Dolphins. We hope they have some trust in what we’re doing and they believe in what we are doing. They are a passionate fan base. I hear from the people I see at the grocery store. We had the pest control guy over here spraying the house and he is over here asking me Dolphins questions the whole time. It’s good. My wife and kids are worse than you guys. Every day they pop in my office going, ‘who are we taking?’ It’s a fun, exciting thing; but for us, we’ll do what’s best for the Dolphins and we feel good about the process.”
(You guys have been active in free agency. How did what you were able to do in free agency affect the way you are evaluating picks and how does it affect your draft board?) – “I think for us specifically, we talked about finding the right types of players for our organization. We didn’t want to go with older players. We got a lot of guys that were the younger – 25, 27, 28 (range) – guys that have been winners, guys that are great locker room guys, great mentors. We’re such a young team. Yeah, we were a little more active than we have been in the past. We wanted volume of guys, especially not knowing where we’re going to be in the future, we need guys that can help the younger guys transition, learn and get on board as fast as they can in terms of learning the defense and preparing. Having guys with some familiarity with Brian (Flores) was really important. When you do free agency, you always have an eye and are looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the draft. We tried to address some places we thought could help us in terms of free agency with the roster, and then we use the draft to help build and continue to build the roster up.”
(You’ve got 14 picks and five in the top 70. How important is it for you personally to really hit a home run in this draft?) – “I think it is very important. For us and this organization, these next two drafts are – the picks we have next year as well – if we do the job that we expect to do, we feel fully capable and we’re very excited to do it, that we can build a strong team here, which we’ve always talked about competing for a long time. Not just one year, build it and fall back. If we build it right, with the right picks and smart picks and do it the right way, we have a chance to have a good team here for a long time.”
(Is there a particular threshold where a player’s talent may supersede their injury risk?) – “Like I said, historically it can go all over the place. For us, you always weigh the talents. You talk about the kid, the person, the work ethic and then you do look at injuries. You take in the factor of the positon he plays and such. For us, every decision has to be weighed with that. Like I said, I’ve been around great people, players like Jake Long who was unbelievable and unfortunately he had the injury bug and it caught him. Then I told you about Curtis Martin, no one would’ve guessed he would be a Hall of Famer. They thought he was a great football player there, but he was hurt all of the time. Then he ended up having a Hall of Fame career and basically never missed time. Again, you just never know. For us, we factor in all of that stuff; but we’ll make a good decision for us in terms of what we think is best for the Dolphins.”
