Miami Dolphins' Week 1 Depth Chart Revealed! What Are (And Aren't) The Dolphins Telling Us?

tamami Dolphins unveiled their first depth chart of the regular season we are reacting to that and some more here today on locked on dolphins you are locked on dolphins your daily Miami Dolphins podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day all right mayami welcome to another episode of Locked on do Dolphins it's your team every day here on the Loon Network I'm your host Cy Krabs a lifelong Miami Dolphins fan host of lockon dolphins co-host of lockon NFL scouting author of touchdown Miami on substack the NFL draft lead over at the 33rd team you can find all of our shows here on the lockon network on YouTube or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast tip of the cap to are every dayers because it is your team every day we don't just say it we live it here on the locked on network today's episode of Locked on dolphins is brought to you by FanDuel now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers came at $5 to get a free three-week trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV visit fanduel.com to get started Dolphins dropped the depth chart yesterday we'll get an injury report this afternoon we'll probably have a show uh reacting to whatever we find on the injury report which is probably going to be excessively long because any bumps and bruises the team is going to divulge them uh as a part of their injury reporting policies across the league okay we kind of touched on it yesterday following up on some injuries doesn't sound like there's a lot of concern with unless you're on an injury designation list it sounds like Miami's going to be in pretty good shape to have those guys actually go but the depth chart that the Dolphins released on their website had some interesting stuff not necessarily a ton of huge surprises there's some stuff that maybe if you take it super literal you can read into uh but it was the the designation of a position that I think had everybody buzzing the most and it was the F position not the FB for fullback but the F position everybody say what the heck is an F it was Alec Engel jonu Smith Tanner Connor does that mean that jonu Smith is the backup fullback to Alec inold is that true not necessarily the way that the Shanahan langu works is f is the fifth eligible uh because the base is two wide receivers a running back quarterback a tight end and then F whatever F may be f is an indicator of your personnel grouping an F could be a fullback in which case there's two backs you're 21 Personnel an F could be a second tight end 12 Personnel an F could be a third wide receiver which would put you an 11 personnel and whether it was us talking about 12 and 21 Personnel groupings and short yardage runs like we did last week or whether it's talking about the diversification of the offense and mik McDaniel saying the versatility of that room um signifies the diversity of your offense there's been these context clues along the way and now we have a formal designation of it in the depth chart the f is short for formation adjuster that's the official title in the playbook for the F position and if they Dolphins want to go in 21 Personnel the sixth eligible the F would be Alec inold if the Dolphins want to go in 21 or in 12 personnel with two tight ends on the field the F would be jnu Smith so it's less like a a vertical hierarchy and it's a little bit more of a uh different packages and different down and distances May dictate what calls you make and that's going to determine who out of this group um is actually on the field now that's not to say that jnu Smith might not line up in some instances as as a fullback in the back field because he's capable of moving around and I'm sure the Dolphins have a lot of plans for jonu Smith that we don't really know about yet and we've seen some flashes of it with the jet motion touch pass in the Red Zone in the preseason game we'll see if there's layers there I anticipate that there are but uh you could theoretically go with a jumbo package with a sixth offensive lineman and have Patrick Paul be the F because he's the sixth eligible but he's a tackle reporting is eligible when he comes onto the field to give you a jumbo surface in the blocking game it could be Braxton baros could be the F Odell Beckham could be the f um technically whichever one of Devon Anan or Jaylen Wright or Raheem moer whichever one's not an agback could be the F but I don't think it's a coincidence that you had a fullback your Flex tight end that moves all around and then the player that's done both throughout his time in the preseason and that being Tanner Connor was third on this pecking order in this spot so for Miami um this is the conrete evidence of this room providing you with um kind of the keys to all the different formations that the Dolphins want to be able to implement with different Personnel groupings depending on their plan of attack uh the rest of the dep chart offensively Tyreek Hill Jaylen W listed at starting wide receivers not a big surprise there quarterback to a tongue of AIS Skyler Thompson the two two running backs listed as different positions that's Rahe moard and Devon Anan with Jeff Wilson and Jaylen Wright behind them respectively at tight end it's Durham SMI with Julian Hill again the jonu Smith role designated as a separate role with Alec Engel and jnu Smith so it's all you could almost make the argument that there's enough ambiguity between the two that Alec is like your rundown formation adjuster and Johnny Smith is your pass down formation adjuster and they could do just enough of like the other thing with Alec whether he's in protection or's releasing on the routes or Janu blocking in the Run game in space that like that there's enough of that overlap there so that was kind of the whole point of the takeaway of the 12 and 21 Personnel show was uh you got to blur the lines more when you're in those game situations to be able to have the threat of both to present a big enough menu I I think that kind of suggests hey we got a preferred guy depending on the situation but the guys can both do both and then on the offensive line toron Armstead Robert Jones Aon Brewer Liam ikenberg Austin Jackson left to right your projected starting offensive line in accordance to the team's dep chart we're going to get into the defensive side of the ball next including one surprise that is maybe not a surprise but we'll need to see what the body of work looks like when we actually play against Jacksonville that's coming up next here on this episode lock on dolphins make sure that you stick with us you've heard us talk a lot about FanDuel America's number one sports book but right now we have a little something different for you now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a free three-week trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV then with a YouTube TV base plan you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market game all you need is a Google account and a current form of payment that you can cancel at any time just visit fanduel.com to visit and download America's number one sports po defensively caler Bonito Jones K Campbell your kind of Bas interior odd man front when you go with your base three for package so you're assuming it's SE Jones Campbell on the interior gaps with Jaylen Phillips Emanuel agba currently listed as the starters I think Jaylen Phillips's presence as the starter maybe a little bit of a surprise maybe it's more of a formality again it just depends on how literal you choose to take the dep charts um because it's not a surprise that he's at the top of the list but with his current situation and then talking about how they want to manage him is there a need to manage him um what kind of workload are we looking at what will chop Robinson take chop Robinson's behind Emanuel agba as compared to being behind Jaylen Phillips is that a surprise it's hard to say but then you go David long Jordan Brooks your your two stack inside linebackers with a base of Jaylen Ramsey Kendall Fuller Javon Holland Jordan puer on the back end ker Co who designated as the starting nickel that feels pretty cut and dry right um I think the challenge that this team can present is you see it on paper and everything makes sense but you go back to versatility being the name of the game and the NFL in general being a more you can do league and for K cble to have the ambiguity to play in the B Gap play on the center playing the SE gap for Jaylen Phillips to have the ambiguity to walk up inside inside gaps and line up and rush off the edge or Jordan Brooks to pressure jop from space or walk up and mug in interior gaps as well Emanuel agba is ability to reduce down inside chop Robinson at Penn State one of the things he did best was move around and get up into the gaps in line of scrimmage um really there's the only player I would look at in the starting lineup and say he doesn't have a lot of positional flexibility is Bonito Jones and he said so himself at training camp when he was made available to the mediate said you know that the nose Tacker role is kind of is what it is you don't got a lot of overlap and you just got to understand you got to be a tough ombre and sit in there and and occupy gaps so while I think the the the offensive death chart Illustrated it with the f I think the defensive death chart gives no illustration of the overlap that exists and I think that's a good thing particularly early in the season when you know a lot of the roles within the defense based off of what we saw the defense do last year in Baltimore but who's doing what who's lining up in the nickel and they're going to invert the cover two and you're going to end up rotating out and being a deep respons ility and the the corners lined up from depth is going to buzz down and play the flat or maybe the outside linebacker is going to drop out and he's going to take the flat and the Corner's going to shift to the middle of the field and that nickel player is gonna um try to cut something quick what's going to happen when you got six guys up on the line of scrimmage and one of the guys that's mugged up in the inside gaps is is a linebacker the Jordan Brooks or Jaylen Phillips and they get a turn around and they're going to bail out of there but they're going to dictate what way the center turns because hey this a defensive linan here in the AAP we got to block him he's got a really explosive first step and then oh hold's not even coming and then you bring the third pressure player away from where the center turns and Jaylen Phillips drops out and he's taking a hot responsibility with a quick throw and those are all the games that this defense is going to be capable of playing so you look at the depth chart everything logically makes sense but it's not as simple as that when you get out and front identification being I think the next Frontier for us on this show to really get into because you hear the conversation about fronts being married to coverages and how it all fits together and then we talk about a little bit front identification for the Dolphins wide Zone running scheme you could get two identical looks with different Personnel in certain spots and it's going to dictate what the front is whether it's a king or queen tag or something else there's a whole list of things that they do with a numerical system and code words based on um what the Personnel groupings are what the safety rotation is if a player's a linebacker or a defensive back on the second level like all of that I mean they account for all of that with their front identification calls and that in turn dictates what your combinations are in the Run game what your landmarks are in the Run game who you're going to leave unblocked in the Run game because you always have an unblocked Defender by Design and then your pass protection works the same way if you got michah parsons's out there and he's lined up with the edge you know darn well you're going to block Mah Parsons but what happens if Mah Parsons is lined up at Mike linebacker and it's third and 12 and they got guys that are capable of dropping out you're still going to want to account for Micah Parsons in the protection scheme so there's front identification uh JT s refers to them as Spinners uh players that you account for regardless of where they line up on every snap the Dolphins can play these kinds of games and their ability to uh cause misdiagnosis sees that's probably not right I don't care correct me in the comments you guys correct me on everything anyway so it's fine incorrect diagnosis of your fronts is going to lead to more user error on the opposing offense and that should in theory lead to more assignment breakdowns and Free Runners and explosive plays for your defense and negative plays for the opposing offense but that's a frontier we really have not explored but I look at that depth chart and I say yeah this all is logical but what happens when you're not in a base three four what happens if you come out in 11 personnel what happens when it's third eight at least on offense you've got an F youve you've got a a position that is the flex position you don't got that on defense and I think that's a good thing now I have a few odds and ends I want to tack T Le here including uh the strength of schedule in accordance to Orange sharp we're going to finish with that here on this episode of Locked on dolphins make sure that you stick with us passion driving patience are not just the formula for winning championships it's also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors says everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance from superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more weather into speed power or style eBay Motors has you covered with over 122 billion parts for your number one ride or die you'll always find exactly what you're looking for and with the eBay guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back because with eBay Motors you're burning rubber and not cash with all the parts you need at the prices you want it's easy to make your car the MVP and bring home the dub keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions to apply eBay curreny fit available only to us customers I always try to bring the energy like that the TV reads do with like the last bit there and I think I'm still at like one quarter speed of how some of those folks read those uh final lines of advertisement so if anybody has any tips I'll gladly take them on how to work through uh the last couple sentences and really string them together now getting back on track back here we have courtesy of Warren sharp sharp football analysis if you're not familiar does a great job uh looks at a lot of different ways uh how the uh the league Works some analytics the Warren sharp release that just came out was an update of the 2024 strength of schedule but not based off of last year's wins right that's um doesn't really help you a lot when some of these teams have 60% 50% new on their rosters ton of turnover a lot of personnel changes coaching staff changes who cares what their win total was last year instead Warren sharp looks at strength of schedule with the Vegas odds for win totals for all of the teams and some some teams far outperform expectations for their win Total Lines but the vast majority are within one or two wins plus or minus whatever their their team total is for the season you know if that if that wasn't the case um Vegas wouldn't make the kind of money that it does on everybody betting on all the games the Dolphins implied strength of schedule based off opponent projections for over under on the season is actually believe it or not not the ninth easiest strength of schedule for the season is some of that boosted by two games against the Patriots have who have an implied win total of four and a half on the season yes absolutely but look at teams in the bottom half and you have a number of dolphins opponents you look at Power Rankings across the league and Miami more often and than not has about five four or five games against teams that are ranked higher than them and the rest are usually against teams that are ranked lower than them and that that kind of Falls in line but at least Warren has the math behind it for implied lines so the Dolphins their team total for Vegas this year is nine and a half if you listen to the show this week you probably know I'm taking the over on that but for Miami the opponent that they face having what is the ninth easiest strength of schedule um I think is is that much more of an affirmation for me that you look at some of these teams and everybody's hot for the the Jets right and the Cleveland Browns last year won 12 games with four different starting quarterbacks and all these injuries to their offensive line those games in particular I mean that's three of your last five I look at those teams I look at the Rams who have more questions about today than I did two months ago with the trade of Ernest Jones they didn't really bring in a lot of veteran players in the post June 1st window uh they're they're undergoing a very significant youth movement defensively I look at those four games in particular and you perceived those based off of the projections from Aaron Rogers going into the Jets with the Jets defense but then what the Rams last year as a tough out in the playoffs as a 10- win team the Browns is a 12- win team saying well they're getting their starting quarterback and some of their offensive Lineback but that's where for me there's enough of a dissonance between who those teams were and who those teams are and we'll see with the Jets there's a lot of time between the now and the first time those two football teams play each other late in the year mommy catches them twice in the last what five weeks so um I just thought it was very intriguing that for all of the discussion around the schedule and a second place schedule and look you know case in point with Buffalo the three games that those two teams are different Miami gets the Raiders the bills get the Chiefs Miami gets the Browns the bills get the Ravens and the bills get the Lions and the Dolphins get the Packers I look at two of that those three and I think they're they're Market advantages for Miami as a part of the puzzle for Miami trying to chase down that team from Western New York so um just something to put in the back of your mind as we we get ready for this season and we know we're preparing for uh what is a very high expectation season for a lot of people for the Dolphins some of the numbers at least the numbers for the number one source for team success which is know the books are undefeated in the grand scheme of time seem to suggest that Miami sets favorably we would like to think that that is the case and the Dolphins will take advantage of it in addition to taking some steps against the top teams that they will play that's going to do it for us here on this episode of lock on dolphins couple things to look out for we have crossover Thursday tomorrow with Tony Wiggins of locked on Jaguars uh this is about the time last year the Dolphins had some contract work done where was Alec Engel or Durham SMI Blake Ferguson I believe Zack sealer we'll see what comes the next couple of days if the Dolphins do any contract work as well if we do we'll probably going to show in on that as well so busy rest of the week as we set the table for week one I'm Kyle Krabs you can keep it locked in right here unlocked on dolphins I appreciate you guys for checking out the show as always you can find us on YouTube or wherever you list to your favorite podcast make it a great rest of your day I'm out of here