Dolphins Staff
Read the transcript from Head Coach Mike McDaniel’s press convention on Sunday, Aug. 28, 2022.
(I assume speaking about soccer is simply exhausting this weekend, however with CB Byron Jones, you clearly have a choice to make. If he stays on PUP, he is out for the primary 4 weeks. Do you anticipate him coming off within the subsequent 48 hours?) – “There’s like so many things going on, especially when you have a competitive roster like we do. So we’ve kind of had it pinpointed, but it’s a fluid situation that has to do with him and a lot of other players. (I’m) looking forward to having some clarity here in the near future, but nothing’s taken me off where I’ve been for a while.”
(Getting right down to the ultimate 53, primarily based on yesterday’s efficiency, do you discover it tough reducing down that roster?) – “Absolutely. It’s one of the things that you know, being in the business for a while, that you hope to have these tough decisions. Yesterday did make it tougher. There were some guys that on both sides of the ball that maybe hadn’t got as many opportunities, and for the most part, there were guys that – most players put their best foot forward yesterday. So that is a good problem to have. But it is a problem that that only benefits the Miami Dolphins. So we’re leaving no stone unturned and making sure that we make the best decisions. (General Manager) Chris (Grier) and I have talked at length. I mean, we’ve been talking for the last couple of weeks, specifically on these roster decisions. We talked at length yesterday before the game to make sure we’re on the same page and everyone got ample opportunity. Then (we) talked again today and met today (for) a good amount of time. We’ll meet tomorrow morning and as long as it takes. But yeah, it is – the more good players you have, the more difficult that is. But that’s something that we embrace, because we know we’re on the right track.”
(I talked to WR Preston Williams and RB Sony Michel final night time about what they give thought to their roster prospects, they usually mentioned, “I don’t know. I did the best I could.” Could you discuss concerning the issue at these two positions, huge receiver and working again? It looks like you’ve got received some good choices.) – “No, in particular, those two groups have not only – from the onset, we knew we were going to have more NFL players than roster spots available. That we knew from the onset. But what was also really, really enjoyable as a coach to observe is you always hope that you have the right type of people in a competitive room that channel that competitive onslaught in the right direction. And so what that affords you is players getting better as a result of the competition. I think in both groups, you’ve seen that. You’ve seen multiple playmakers, really from top to bottom, in both groups. That’s what’s super rare is you have at your final 53 decision time, every player in the position group has been on the field making plays. So that does not make it easy. They’ve known that the whole time, which is why – what I’m proud about and what I’m happy about is each and every player in those two groups I see as an NFL player. So you know, the one thing that you can rest easy at night is I feel like they’ll all have opportunities, regardless of which ones make it, in the National Football League, because they’ve taken their game to another level and put it on tape.”
(On QB Skylar Thompson and making a case for a 3rd quarterback?) – “He’s made it tough, hasn’t he? No, I think those type of players that are able to, as rookies, come in and contribute, are always really exciting, and it’s more rare that you see a quarterback doing that. It’s more than just his quarterback rating and his completion percentage. He has owned the responsibility of the quarterback in terms of all the other players on the field with him. He’s made them better by helping them get aligned, and we’ve had very few procedural issues. And so I think in preseason football, there are a lot of quarterbacks that get opportunities. It’s rare that a guy can be a seventh-round draft pick and people outside of the organization actually know his name. I think he’s opened eyes with the way he’s played, and it’s made that situation very tricky, in terms of whether or not you can try to have him on practice squad or keep him on the 53 (-man roster). But you know, much like a lot of players, I think he – especially one of the things I was most happy with in this past game is pretty much all the participants can hold their head high and stand on what they’ve done in the preseason, with the closing of it being last night. And he should hold his head high and hopefully rest easy because he has done quite literally everything you can to be a part of this team.”
(I do know you mentioned final night time, it did not take lengthy to see the influence that Jason Jenkins made on everyone. After an evening to sort of replicate, is there something that stands out from talking to individuals nearly him immediately that you would be able to communicate on?) – “Especially in moments like that you’re – it’s hard to speak from anywhere, at least for me, from anything but the heart. It was just another testament of who he was as a person that there’s numerous people that unexpectedly were thanking me for what I was just doing – speaking to what I thought was right and just kind of being 100 percent transparent as I try my best to do. But I think it’s even more telling how many people have reached out and said how much they appreciate that, which doesn’t surprise me but it just kind of doubles down. We should all be that fortunate to leave a legacy like that. There’s – it definitely hasn’t gone away, and I don’t think it will for a long, long time. And that’s probably the biggest takeaway I have is that I can only hope to leave a legacy like he did with people that I work with.”
(Now that preseason video games are over, are you able to share with us some objectives that you just had for preseason that you just guys achieved?) – I believe we received higher each recreation. I believe on each side of the ball, there is a trick within the National Football League that you just sort of should excel at to do effectively and have your goals realized. And that is to give attention to the controllables. And to not, whether or not you do one thing effectively otherwise you do one thing poor, to only give attention to the method, and getting higher with ignoring the noise and never getting caught up in issues that do not actually matter. What issues is getting higher and I believe guys actually targeted on that. And that is the one method – whether or not it was the primary quarter of the fourth quarter final night time, I believed guys – we have been making performs on each side of the ball due to method, not due to scheme. And that, there isn’t any brief reduce to that. That harnessed the purpose that I had from the start, which was that we give attention to what really issues. And that is getting higher at what we do, studying from every little thing and discovering.. – there have been a ton of examples on this recreation and over the entire preseason of individuals turning what within the short-term appears unhealthy or appears as adversity, utilizing that to be the sail that helps them get higher. I believed that was on show final night time.”
(There are reports that LB Trey Flowers has agreed to join the dolphins. So I don’t know if you can confirm that, but we also understand that he at least tried out. So, what did you see from the tryout?) – “Well, that could be a course of that I can verify that I’ll verify when it is confirmable, which it isn’t proper now. (laughter) Oh, it is a one-time deal and was an extreme use of verify. But what I noticed was a man that is in form that is able to play. He’s a consummate skilled with a whole lot of versatility to his recreation and size. His model of soccer is conducive to the model we play. His versatility is engaging. So hopefully we’ll get one thing finished right here within the close to future, nevertheless it’s undoubtedly within the works.”
(After Tuesday, it’ll be 12 days until the season starts again. I wanted to know during your down time, do you plan on heading to like any local college games or high school games between that break?) – “I really feel like stability is necessary. It’s one factor I’ve realized in my profession. I began off – I noticed perhaps early to mid-on in my profession that generally you are your greatest model of your self should you correctly stability your self. So when there’s some downtime, which will probably be one or two days within the subsequent couple of weeks, I cannot be going to soccer video games. I will probably be daddy-ing and perhaps bearing the fruits of all these coaching camp swim classes that my daughter Ayla’s had, as a result of I’m a swim survivor not like a swim fanatic. I could make it to the facet of the pool however there isn’t any stroke that I’ve actually perfected. So it is going to be superior to see my daughter snug within the pool and I’ll be leaping on that.
(On T Greg Little’s efficiency at left sort out yesterday) – “I thought he did a great job. I was proud of him. You wouldn’t have thought that he was progressing through an injury. I thought that he – you can’t hide from the tape. And what I saw was a guy that while he hasn’t been getting physical reps, he’s been getting mental reps and watching his teammates perform the desired tasks and learning from them because he came back and played at a level that was higher than when he left, which is something that I never lose sight of and is a big deal to me. I was happy for him he was able to do it.”