00:00The Miami Dolphins and Miami Dolphins fans are in the grips of a rebuild.
00:05It was none more evident today than a 19-9 loss to the Detroit Lions.
00:11That is what a rebuild feels like. That is what a rebuild looks like.
00:15A guy that looks into the Dolphins every single day and does it better than anybody else in my opinion
00:20is my friend and my man, my main man, Omar Kelly from the Miami Herald.
00:24He's been at the stadium all day and he's taking some time to join us right now.
00:27Omar, thanks for joining.
00:30Always a pleasure, gentlemen.
00:31Omar, I got to ask you, at this point in the rebuild, where are we?
00:35Are we ahead of schedule? Are we on schedule? Are we a little bit behind schedule?
00:39How do you feel this rebuild is going so far progressively?
00:43It depends on what your goals were for the team and what your vision is for the future.
00:50If you wanted to tank the season and get Jeremiah Smith or one of the top-rated quarterbacks,
00:56you're right on track.
00:58You've got one win.
01:00You're not going to be the worst team in NFL history because you're not going to go 0-17 for
01:05the first time in NFL history.
01:08And right now, you keep losing these fourth-quarter games.
01:12Today was a victory because it was a fourth-quarter game against a very good offense.
01:18And eventually, the seams came aloose.
01:21You fell apart.
01:22The one thing I don't like to see about this team is that in the moments where they need their
01:28quarterback
01:28and their offense and their defense to be clutch, they're not.
01:32But that's what good teams do.
01:34That's how good teams perform.
01:36The Denver Broncos aren't a really good team, but they perform well in clutch moments.
01:42The defense, you know, Bo Nix performs well in clutch moments and clutch situations.
01:47The defense is opportunistic and performs well in clutch moments and clutch situations.
01:53Dolphins aren't there yet.
01:54And you could say whatever you want to say about the reason why they're not there.
01:58I think right now, this very moment, the talent is okay.
02:03It can match up with probably half of the NFL teams.
02:08My biggest concern is when the rookie wall hits and when injuries start to stack up a little bit more,
02:15they won't have the capabilities to play with any team.
02:20But if your goal is to not win games but keep it competitive and see rookies develop,
02:26then you're right on par with what you're expecting.
02:29And lessons are being learned and learned the hard way.
02:32Yeah, Omar, it seems like this is a team that really struggles with knowing how to win
02:36because they really just don't have any experience.
02:38And Jeff Happley has talked about that.
02:40And I felt as though the New England Patriots, we were the better team.
02:43It was just they know how to win.
02:44They were crafty.
02:45They were a better coach.
02:46They were better players.
02:47And they knew how to win.
02:48And they just found a way at the end of the game to win.
02:51Speaking of wins, give me a range.
02:54Because there's no way to absolutely pin it down.
02:56When do you feel as though, if things go right for the Miami Dolphins,
03:00when is a time frame that they could possibly be a contender for the playoffs, just playoffs?
03:05How many years or how long do you think it could be?
03:08Well, it really depends on what they do in the offseason and how aggressive they are.
03:12Let's just say for fantasy talk, they go out and they trade for Lamar Miller.
03:17I mean, not Lamar Miller, Lamar Jackson.
03:20I would think that could instantly put you in a playoff conversation, especially if you have another good draft.
03:28But, you know, and there are other moves that you can make to drastically improve your roster.
03:32But I would pretty much say that this team is probably about two years away.
03:36Maybe they're playoff contenders or maybe they're competitive teams in 2028.
03:42Right now, you know, it's hard to sit there and say they're going to be competitive,
03:47considering we've got the second half of the season to play.
03:49And I'm not sure they get to four wins in the second half of the season.
03:54Omar, you're around the team a lot.
03:55You know the atmosphere and the attitude and everything that's going on in the locker room.
03:59Is it a different attitude this year?
04:01Is it a different type of culture surrounding the Miami Dolphins?
04:04Or is it maybe just so young they haven't even kind of found themselves?
04:08They haven't found themselves.
04:10They haven't found an offensive identity.
04:11They haven't found a defensive identity.
04:13They don't know how to win.
04:17They're still identifying who are their leaders.
04:20So, yeah, there's a lot of growth that's taking place.
04:23So I have a hard time sitting here and telling you that this team has identified who they are.
04:30Because they haven't.
04:31The one thing that they are is they're a physical team.
04:34And, you know, Jeff Haffley took a victory lap because we're a physical team.
04:38And we played another physical team and made it a fourth-quarter game.
04:42And that's certainly something to be worthy of acknowledgement.
04:46But to say that, oh, you know, we've got to learn from these mistakes.
04:52And stop making penalties and stop beating ourselves.
04:56And, you know, oh, the refs are calling it tight.
04:58Yeah, all that stuff is excuses that you make when you're not a very good team.
05:02And they're not a very good team.
05:06But they should be playing better in the second half than they have in the first half.
05:11And that's what I'll be looking for.
05:13Yeah, they have not been a very good second-half team.
05:15And I know you were upset with these guys earlier in the year.
05:18And I think I've been very disappointed in some of the guys that I expected on the offensive line especially
05:23that would really kind of be strong and bold.
05:25I'm talking about Aaron Brewer.
05:26I'm talking about Austin Jackson.
05:28I know you have to be somewhat disappointed in their play, not just today, but this season.
05:33No, I wasn't disappointed in Brewer's play until the last two weeks.
05:37And that's something I got to – you know, but he played some hell of a defensive tackle
05:43the last couple of weeks.
05:46So, you know, and maybe something is bothering him.
05:50I don't want to make excuses for him, but Brewer has been playing phenomenal for the earlier
05:55portion of the season.
05:56They have just lined up against two very physical defensive lines.
06:01That's no excuse.
06:02Also, I think what's a contributing factor to the way that they played recently is teams
06:09have figured out they didn't know Ollie Gordon.
06:11They didn't know where Ollie Gordon's runs.
06:13They didn't know what this team liked to do with Ollie.
06:16And they didn't know what he wasn't capable of.
06:20Now there's a book out on them.
06:22And when there's a book out on somebody, that's when the team and the coaches and the player,
06:27they have to adjust and they have to show you that I'm more than what you thought I once was.
06:32We're not doing that.
06:33And then also contributing to it, which is something I wrote about in the Miami Herald,
06:37my column for tomorrow's paper is basically, what do you do when an athletic quarterback
06:43doesn't have his athleticism anymore?
06:45And that's what's happening with Malik Willis right now.
06:48He's battling that groin injury.
06:50And if you watch that game closely enough, you can see that he can barely move.
06:54What does an athletic quarterback do when he can no longer move out the pocket?
06:59And if you're an honest person, you will acknowledge and admit that Malik Willis isn't that polished
07:06of a pocket passer as of yet, neither is his weaponry.
07:09So now teams can basically stack the box, seven in the box, force Malik to throw,
07:15take away, take away, you know, force Malik to throw into tight windows.
07:19And he's not going to run around and scramble.
07:22So, and you don't have to worry about, you know, people running between tackles, Ollie,
07:27because there's so many men in the box.
07:28What do you do then?
07:30How do you counteract that?
07:31And I don't necessarily think the Dolphins have an answer to that question yet.
07:35Yeah, we've waited for years for our coaches and our teams to make adjustments.
07:39And it just seems like we're not at that point yet.
07:41And Malik Willis does become very one-dimensional, especially when he cannot run.
07:45Now, for the callers that are calling in, and you always have this,
07:47why don't they play the backups, especially at quarterback?
07:50Tell me that there is no real backup answer for Malik Willis.
07:54And then for a lot of positions, but especially Malik Willis,
07:56you don't want to see the backup.
07:57Am I correct?
07:58I don't know, because I haven't seen him either.
08:01If we're playing Kyle McCord, we're waving the white flag on the season.
08:06You're not even going to give your team a chance to win on Sunday.
08:09And that's just my opinion based on the fact he has no – you see what Malik is doing
08:13when he has no chemistry or comfort level with his weaponry, and he doesn't.
08:17So what do you think a backup is going to look like?
08:19It's going to look worse.
08:21Yeah, I'm really worried about playing any backup on this team with the depth that we have.
08:25So whenever people call up, I kind of tell them, hey, you don't want to see what's going to be
08:28happening.
08:29I do want to talk about these rookies, though.
08:30It has seemed to be a pretty good rookie class.
08:33Which rookie out of the 13 that are on the team has impressed you the most so far this half
08:37a season?
08:39I would go with Caden Proctor from the standpoint.
08:42I think he could be a 10-year starting NFL offensive lineman.
08:48I think he could potentially be a pro bowler.
08:51I can't say that about just about anybody else.
08:54I like what I've seen from Jacob Rodriguez.
08:57I like what I've seen from Johnson, from the cornerback, Chris Johnson.
09:04I've liked the times that I've seen from Michael Taft, but none of it's really consistent.
09:09I can tell you Caden Proctor's been consistent.
09:12I like Caleb Douglas, too.
09:14I think he's not playing up to what I think his potential is yet,
09:18but I do definitely like what I've seen from him.
09:21Yeah, but like you said with rookies, when books start coming out on them,
09:25that's when you really contest and see how really good they are and they're met on.
09:28There is really no book on anybody on this Dolphins team for the most part.
09:32So we just kind of wait and see.
09:34Omar Kelly from the Miami Herald.
09:35Omar, how can people find you?
09:37I know it's at Omar Kelly on social media, but you're on the Miami Herald all the time.
09:40What are some of the upcoming articles that are stewing in your mind
09:43as you finish up on this 19-9 loss for the Miami Dolphins?
09:48Yeah, I'm probably going to do something on the midseason.
09:52What have we really learned about this team?
09:54What have we learned about this organization so far half the season in?
09:59And I definitely wrote about Malik and, you know, what happens now
10:05that he can no longer scramble around?
10:07Like that, I thought, was his superpower, his ability to evade pressure
10:11and not just get yards but, you know, escapability.
10:16Things, plays, look lost.
10:17And he tried to do that today, and it was just a disaster.
10:20So what happens when he can't do it anymore?
10:24And then I'm actually curious about Josh Uche
10:26because I think he's really having a good season.
10:28I don't think people are paying attention to the caliber of season he's having.
10:31And he says he wants to stay here, so we'll see, though.
10:35The trade deadline is Tuesday at 4 o'clock.
10:37I'm guessing the Miami Dolphins are opening to taking calls on anybody,
10:40I would guess, right now.
10:41Am I correct?
10:42Yeah, absolutely.
10:43I've never covered a GM that wasn't open to taking calls.
10:46What do you think?
10:47He's going to say, no, I'm not going to take a call
10:49on Patrick Paul.
10:50Absolutely.
10:51I will not accept the first-round pick from a team that's selecting
10:54in the top ten.
10:55No.
10:56I wouldn't even consider it.
10:58No.
10:59Open for business.
11:01Miami Herald.
11:01You want to make a good offer.
11:03Yeah.
11:04Look, everybody has a price.
11:05That's what I say.
11:06So, yeah, we'll take it.
11:07Yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:09Somebody earlier called,
11:10if we can get a third-round pick for Austin Jackson,
11:12why wouldn't we trade him?
11:14Third-round pick?
11:15Like, you're trading Abram Brewer for a third-round pick.
11:21Austin Jackson, you'd trade him for, like, a sixth.
11:25I was going to go lower than that, but we'll leave it at that.
11:28Not seventh.
11:30Omar Kelly from the Miami Herald, we appreciate you so much.
11:33At Omar Kelly on social media, you can find him on the Miami Herald.
11:36Thank you so much.
11:37Hopefully you can write some great articles and relax a little bit this evening.
11:39Yeah, also, for those who follow my work on the Dolphins Collective,
11:44it's a podcast I do with Poop Art and TD and Doug Lee Durong.
11:50So, hopefully you guys will find that on YouTube
11:52and all the places you find streaming sites, Dolphins Collective.
11:56Dolphins Collective.
11:57That is what I'm talking about right there.
11:58Omar Kelly, we appreciate you so much.
12:00We'll talk to you soon.
12:02I guess.
12:02Oh, he gives a little hug right there.
12:04So, the Dolphins, Omar Kelly, tell us, look,
12:06maybe it's not as bad as we thought, Anthony.
12:08Look, maybe two years, maybe three years, this rebuild.
12:10If you do it right, you know, you've got to ask fans to be patient.
12:14We've been patient for 25.
12:15I don't know if we've been patient for 25 years.
12:17We haven't had a choice.
12:18But I'll take, you know, where we're at right now.
12:20If you tell me three years from now we'll be in the playoffs, I take it.
12:24I mean, what do you got to lose at this point?
12:27You can only go up.
12:29You can only go up.
12:30Oh, no, it can get worse.
12:32Trust me.
12:32It can get worse.
