transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:02] It's the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

Speaker 2:
[00:10] Hey everyone, this is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Locked On Podcast Network. Thank you for being here, because your support means everything. And if you're looking for another way to support the show that you love, while getting something awesome in return, check out the Every Dayer Club. You get ad free episodes of your favorite Locked On show, access to a members-only group chat for fans of your team, and you can even jump into the national chats and talk about whatever is happening across the league. Tap the Every Dayer Club link in the show notes to learn more.

Speaker 3:
[00:42] Kaden Proctor, you, sir, are a Miami Dolphin.

Speaker 4:
[00:52] You are Locked On Dolphins, your Daily Miami Dolphins Podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

Speaker 3:
[01:02] All right, Miami, welcome to another episode of Locked On Dolphins. It is your team every day here on the Locked On Network. I'm your host Kyle Crabbs, a lifelong Miami Dolphins fan, host of Locked On Dolphins, co-host of Locked On Dolphins, scouting author, touchdown Miami on Substack, NFL staff writer for A to Z Sports. Want to give a special welcome and shout out to our everydayers. It is your team every day. We don't just say it. We live it and welcome to the first of what is inevitably going to be many rookie profiles here from the 2026 NFL draft. I just got back. It's 1 a.m. Friday morning. I just got back from finishing up at Regatta Grove with the watch party with the Dolphins and Xavier Howard and Ali Gordon and both of those dudes were awesome with their time and getting to talk a little football with them. Amazing experience. Thank you to everybody who showed up out at Regatta Grove for the Dolphins watch party that I was able to take part of on the rookie panel. There was not the reaction that I saw on social media at Regatta Grove for Kadyn Proctor. The Dolphins obviously trade down from 11 to 12. We'll talk about the trade, talk about what I liked about that. We'll talk about what Jon-Eric Sullivan said about Kadyn Proctor. We'll talk about how I valued and graded Kadyn Proctor. We'll talk about something that Jon-Eric Sullivan said about Kadyn Proctor that I think is very enlightening. The first thing is this. Hearing the Dolphins talk about Proctor, and the elements of his game that were important to them, I guess, exceptionally enlightening as compared to trying to blindly grade for criteria on what we think that we know. I'll use Spencer Fano is the exact example. Because Spencer Fano got a pretty handsome grade for me when I did the adjustments to the Dolphins scheme based on Bobby Slowick, Shanahan offense, continuation of Wide Zone. You're looking for a certain profile offensive lineman to fit that box. And you know, Spencer Fano goes nine to the Browns. But listening to Jon-Eric Sullivan talk about Kala Proctor, or Kaden Proctor, excuse me, and the ways in which Proctor's game is unique, and he referred to him as a one of one, because of the power, because of the size, but also the athleticism. So maybe they felt like they weren't compromising anything. And Proctor did get a relative athleticism score boost when I did do grades adjustments. But I didn't give him like a stylistic or scheme fit boost. They cared about getting this kind of player. That should mean something. And like my rankings and my boards and somebody said, you know, according to your board, the Dolphins are having a terrible draft. You know how small the margins are? Like if Spencer Fano doesn't get a scheme fit adjustment, and Kaden Proctor does get a scheme fit adjustment, these guys are within a half a point of each other. If I gave Kaden Proctor the scheme fit adjustment, he'd be the 18th overall player on my Dolphins specific board. Would I still personally have probably drafted Ruben Mane if I were in their shoes? Yes, I would have. Do I feel like some of the reaction to the Proctor pick is that they didn't draft Ruben Mane? Probably. I've got a lot of thoughts about Proctor. Was he my personal top-rated player? No, but I like the thought process. I like the statement that it makes. I like the vision that they're pursuing with this pick. And Sullivan said outright, we had teams calling us to get into our spots. And one of those teams was calling up to come up for Kaden Proctor. So this was not despite what your consensus board rankings or the previous mock drafts or whatever, are saying, no, this is a valued player that is very much in the heart of the offensive tackle run that we knew that was gonna happen, right? The tackle run started at nine and offensive linemen go nine, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, 21, 26, 28 is the run on offensive linemen. And you knew it was gonna get really bare. And sure enough, Lomu was the only offensive linemen left when the Dolphins picked at 27 when they moved up. And if they had stayed at 30, there wouldn't have been any other offensive linemen left. They clearly coveted, you know, Sullivan came straight out and said, you know, that this was our guy, you know, if we stayed at 11, we would have picked Kaden Proctor. Their assessment is one that was very strong for Proctor as a player. So if that's the player you were going to take at 11 and you take him at 12, and a team calls you to move up one spot and is willing to give you two fives, which the Dolphins get in this trade, they end up getting 177 and 150, or 180 to stack on to the pile to get the player that you were going to pick anyway, that in and of itself for me is an A move, because you're getting the same player, you spontaneously snap your fingers, and you get two more fifth round picks. You're up to 13, and the Dolphins got 13. The NFL record for most in a seven round draft is 14. They're on the verge, and I would not be surprised if they keep them coming. So I want to get into Proctor the fit. Where does he play? Sullivan has his thoughts on it. Nick Saban chimed in on it before the draft on Thursday night. Talk about the messaging of the player, why I like it, even if it's not necessarily my highest. Like, I've said this before, my board is not the final word on draft prospects. And all of it can be very exceptionally fluid. I said that already. Like if Kaden Proctor gets the scheme adjustment, he goes from 25th ranked player on the board to 18th ranked player on the board. And then if they like two traits, if they think he's excellent instead of good at two traits, now all of a sudden he's 13th player on the board. Like it's that small. It is that small. I like the process of the pick. I like the message of the pick. I like the why of the pick. We're going to talk about that on the other side of the break. Make sure you guys stick with us. NFL Draft is here where preparation meets opportunity and every decision matters. It's all about being ready when your moment comes. And that same mindset applies off the field too. That's where Regia comes in. Regia offers treatments designed to help you feel ready and confident for when it matters most. 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It makes the entire playoff experience more engaging from start to finish. Head to fanduel.com to get started. FanDuel, play your game. I can't help but chuckle. And I promise, I'm not, I'm not chuckling at anybody in particular. But I do chuckle at... Fix the offensive line. They're too soft up front. I don't want Caleb Lomu. He's too soft. Or I don't, I don't want Spencer Fano. He's too soft. We don't want soft players on the offensive line. Dolphins proceed to draft Kaden Proctor. I don't want Kaden Proctor. This is a disaster. Which is it?

Speaker 4:
[10:55] Right?

Speaker 3:
[10:56] You either want the offensive line to not be scheme-specific hyper-athletic guys that don't have a lot of uproot-ability at the point of attack, or you do. Kaden Proctor was my OT3. He'd have been a half a point behind Spencer Fano for OT2. Had he got a great adjustment for a scheme fit and stylistic fit and Spencer Fano didn't. He'd have been a top 20 player on the board, Kaden Proctor. Had I known what the criteria that was the prioritization for Kaden Proctor coming in for what they wanted on the offensive line. But there's a few things here. If you pull out your Sully Packers bingo card, offensive linemen and corners in the first round. Well, they did both of those. But they drafted an offensive tackle. Sully said he can play four spots on the offensive line. So they're counting him as somebody who can play it. Left tackle, left guard, right tackle. He's young. He's 20 years old. I've told you beforehand that kind of stuff matters. They care about it. He told you before it matters. So 20 years old, position flexibility in the offensive line, ability to play tackle as compared to Yawane, who was my top rated offensive lineman, but does not have position flexibility to the degree in which they needed. I don't know how they bake those into the grades. I don't. Full disclosure, I don't. And right now it's not really important. Proctor is probably going to start inside for you this year. And it's not just Jon-Eric Sullivan that thinks he can play guard. Nick Saban said he'd be one, quote, one hell of a guard. There's a direct quote from Nick Saban on Pat McAfee on Thursday morning before the draft. So we got Sully, the guy who's running the show, and we got Nick Saban, who said some stuff about him, whether or not he was a quote, unquote self-starter from his freshman year exposures and experience to Proctor. There's a really powerful backing from somebody that gave Proctor a seal of approval that means a lot to me, and that's Duke Manyweather from O-Line Masterminds. This is one of the founders of O-Line Masterminds, has worked with Tehran Armstead on this offensive line expo every single summer, and he's worked with Proctor, and he's trained Proctor. And he has been emphatic with his support on what he thinks Kadyn Proctor is going to be. And you listen to Jon-Eric Sullivan talk about their conversations with Proctor, and the hunger that he has to be a great football player, and some of the maturation. I mean Nick Saban got his hands on this dude when he was like 17. Right? He's 20. And Jon-Eric Sullivan told us they were going to build a roster from the inside out. Jon-Eric Sullivan told us that they wanted to get more physical and controlled line of scrimmage. This does both of those things. The Dolphins are paying Malik Willis. Jon-Eric Sullivan said it was important for them to protect Malik Willis. They go out and they get an offensive lineman. And one that is going to change the tonality of the offensive line. Can you imagine Patrick Paul and Kaden Proctor next to each other? This is it, right here. And I mentioned this on the panel with Xavier and Ollie tonight. And Xavier started laughing. But it was, imagine Kaden Proctor at guard. Imagine how good, I've said this before, imagine how good Aaron Brewer is with not replacement level guard play. And I said, imagine Aaron Brewer and Kaden Proctor on a combination block with how explosive Brew is and how powerful and also explosive Proctor is. Does he end up at right tackle long term? We'll talk more about where I think he ends up long term. I think this year he's probably going to line up at guard. And yeah, there's going to be growing pains, but this is a three year starter in the SEC with all of the physical talent you possibly need. Are there technical things to clean up? Yes. Do I think we need to find the right balance of the proper playing weight? Yes. But I can't sit here and get mad about a player that I had top 25 on my board that is a few minor tweaks and adjustments away from being a top 18 player on my board that got taken 12th overall. You picked up two extra fives and you have a lot of conviction in the player. Cool. I hope you're right. We'll find out if you're right or not. But I like the message. The message is we're not going to be a soft football team anymore. We're not going to just come out here with a bunch of athletes and be playing Cole Strange at right guard because he's athletic enough to run his own tracks. We want guys that are going to move you against your will. We want guys who are going to punch you in the face. We want to run the you-know-what out of the football. We're going to punch you in the effing mouth. That's the message. I like that message. We need that message. We need that style of play. You've got some guys that can do that. I like the pig. Again, not my highest rated player. My opinion doesn't really matter. I'm not in the draft room. I don't know what all the criteria is, and I've already laid out how small the margins are from being in one stratosphere to the next. And again, offensive line flexibility, building from the inside out, being more physical in the line of scrimmage, drafting young players. We got bingo on the bingo card. Nobody should be surprised here. This is all the things that they told us matter to them. They did it again. The only thing that caught me off guard was the prioritization in the power, the prioritization in the displacement and the violence, as compared to the scheme. And boy, what a welcome change that is. I refuse to be mad about this pick because he's a few spots lower on my personal rankings. Or because they didn't draft Ruben Bayne. Because the message is proper. Now it's up to him to be the best version of himself, and it's up to the coaching staff and the support staff to make sure he's the best version of himself. I dig it, man. I dig it. I dig it a lot. Let's on the other side of the break talk about where I think this offensive line can go from here. We'll do that next. Make sure you guys stick with us. Dinefield draft is this week. And every pick is tradable moment on Cal-Shee. Now that we know whether or not David Bailey or Arval Reiss ends up being the number two overall pick, you can start to explore who's the 33rd overall pick. Who's the first name off the board on Friday night? Does that pick get traded on Cal-Shee? You're trading against your peers in a live market, meaning there's no house. And as the probabilities change, you can buy in or out of your position. Trade the draft pick, the game, and more on Cal-Shee. For a limited time, download the Cal-Shee app. Use code LOCKEDON at $10 when you trade 10 K-A-L-S-H-I. Cal-Shee. Trade on anything. Dolphins' preferred offensive line for me. All right, so Kaden Proctor were projecting to play a different position because he played left tackle, was a starting left tackle for Alabama. Can we not do the thing that we did with Jonah last year? And like, I don't want to assume. And Jon-Eric Sullivan was asked this to me. He said, I'm not going to assume anything. But can we please, please just take Kaden Proctor and put him at left guard and then move Jonah Savionite at right guard and have him compete with Jamali Sawyer, who's played at right guard, and have those guys go at it at right guard? Can we do that? Because if you take Proctor and you put him next to Patrick Paul, please give me this, football gods. I want to see Patrick Paul and I want to see Kaden Proctor running combo blocks on three techniques until the cows come home. I want to see those two guys with their size and their power and their athleticism. I want to see what that looks like. I want to see the first time you have third and two and you give the ball to Olly Gordon and we say, we're going to run right off your left butt sheet, Kaden. Get that defensive lineman the heck out of this gap. Move him. I would like to see it. That's probably my preferred avenue right now. Would be Paul Proctor, Brewer, probably Saviia Nia, Austin Jackson. You still need to right tackle insurance policy. Maybe that's Kaden Proctor would probably and preferably not have that be the case in 2026 as a rookie having to cross train and learn multiple spots. Maybe Sawyer is your utility player and he's your sixth and he could play four spots on the offensive line. And then you've got Andrew Meyer who can play guard and center. Okay, now I feel like I've got seven guys. You probably need one more and he probably needs to be able to play tackle. And now you get a one through eight that I at least feel like is a functional group with some significant upside for the starting five. There's not long term continuity because Austin Jackson is in a contract here and I don't know how you're going to parse through that. I was really surprised at the intensity of the reaction to this pick. Because again, everybody frustrated with the offensive line. Fano's gone, Maui Ngo goes 10. Is it not just... it is what it is? These guys are off the board, you're not trading up. And it sounds like Miami might have coveted Proctor over those guys anyway. I get the Yawane conversation. I wonder if the guy that didn't have Tackle Flex, I suppose. Sounds like they really thought Kadyn Proctor is a special player. I can tell you when I'm done this and I finished the Chris Johnson podcast show, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to turn on tape Kadyn Proctor. I'm going to watch some tape before I go to bed. But it is 1.26 in the morning right now. So I should probably wrap this up. That's all I have for you on Kadyn Proctor. Excited to hear from him tomorrow. Be at the facility, get a chance to be a part of the group that gets to meet Kadyn and ask him some questions. I'm excited for that. I also need to listen to his press conference and interview because I was listening to Sullivan on the drive home, and here we are, we're hammering out some content. It's draft week, so sleep is hard to come by. That's going to do it for us. I'm going to get this show up and then immediately do a Chris Johnson episode. So I hope to see you all in about 30 minutes from whenever you're done consuming this one. I'll talk to you all again soon. Thumbs up.