Transcript of Dolphins DC Anthony Weaver talks Drake Maye and Calais Campbell being a “force multiplier”

All right. I'm very excited for our guest this week, a little different on NFL Daily here with Jordan Rodriegue, of course, and welcoming in Anthony Weaver, the defensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins, with a very cool-looking logo backdrop there. You did it up right on your Zoom, Anthony. Thanks.

Yeah, I did it all myself. He drew the dolphin.

He programmed everything, installed the LED lighting. I wouldn't be surprised based on the job you're doing over there, covering every... No stone is unturned over there, it seems like, with your group this year, Anthony.

You guys are too kind. Just having incredible players are going on and giving maximum effort, man, which is... It always gives you a chance.

Okay, so now we're going to really grill you hard with the hard-hitting question.

We set you up, and now... No, I'm just kidding.

No, I was thinking about you because I remember you as a player. You happened to be in, I think it was about the second or third year of your career when I started my career covering the league. So I remember you for those Ravens teams and the Texans. And I was I've seen that you've gotten a game ball as a coach, as a defensive coordinator. Tell me about the different satisfaction level. Maybe which is different, better, whatever, between getting a game ball as a player, and now you're doing it as a coordinator.

I think getting the game ball as a player is actually much easier than trying to get one as a coach. Because ultimately, as a player, you're just responsible for the one person yourself. And you do everything you can to try to prepare yourself to go out there and make plays when they present themselves. Well, as a coach now, you go through all those same processes. Now you're doing it for 30 something odd people. So when those guys go out there and obviously play the way they did, it's rewarding to get a game ball, but it's more satisfying just to see those guys have the success because of some of the work, just some of the work that you've put forth.

And I I think I want to go a little deeper on that, too, Anthony, because you're managing so many different types of people. You're reaching so many personalities. I covered Jalen Ramsey, for example, in Los Angeles, and he just absolutely is a rising tide that can lift all boats and such a unique individual. But you're also... You've got Kaleas Campbell, 38 years old, still doing the dang thing. And you've got just a bunch of players who are trying to show up and make plays for you and a lot of moving parts. So How have you, in your first year in this role, how have you reached such a dynamic range of personalities? And what communication levels and layers differentiate when you're trying to, for example, install something with a very experienced players, such as those two I mentioned, but then also install something maybe complex with younger players, rookies, guys who are really trying to show up on the tape for you?

Yeah. Well, to answer the first part of your question, I think my ability to communicate and talk with a bunch of different types of people, I think it's truly a product of just the way I grew up. I'm a very proud army brand. My dad was in the army for 21, 22 years, and my mother actually served for two as well. We moved every four years, and that forced you to learn how to talk to people. You couldn't be shy. I think naturally, by nature, I was a shy kid, but I knew that I couldn't be that way. Otherwise, I really just wasn't going to have many friends. That moving around and learning to be personable and how to talk to people and develop relationships has absolutely benefited me in my coaching career. In terms of just installing and trying to talk to just the different players at whatever stage of the career they're in, I think the one thing you never want to do as a coach is assume and take anything for granted. Because I always tell the all the time. You're either growing or you're dying. So you try to make sure you hit the elementary things, absolutely.

And you just want to make sure you hit every detail with the guys constantly because there might be one day where a vet may sit there like, Oh, I've heard this a million times, and there's something you said differently, and now it clicks different. And that's the difference between making a play or just missing a play. So constantly talking to guys. You can't assume anything. Cross every T, dot every I, and let's make sure we leave no in turn.

Yeah. I heard one of your players, Anthony Walker, describe the defense as complicated for them, talking about the opponent, and simple for us, which I loved as a writer. That is concise. That is one of those phrases you could put up on the walls in Miami or whatever. You always see on hard knocks with the motivational phrases. That's good. Complicated for them, simple for us. What does that mean to you?

Yeah, that's the goal. That's ultimately the goal, right? I actually learned it from Rex Ryan. His gloss philosophy was the kill philosophy. People used to have kiss, which was keep it simple, stupid. Well, we don't think anybody's stupid, so we apply the kill philosophy, which is keep it likable and learnable.

That's you.

No, people just learn in a variety of different ways. You just got to figure it out.

Every once in a while, though, there's a dummy, though. It's life. It's human nature.

You won't hear that from me.

So K-I-L-L, what does it mean, and how do you apply it?

Yeah, it means keep it likable and learnable. So the one thing, first and foremost, when guys walk into that meeting with me, I want them to want to be there. I don't want them to dread coming to meetings. We've all had those jobs. We've all been in those classes. Go back to college where you had to go into the classroom and you're like, Oh, God, I got to listen to this teacher again. That's the first thing I want to get rid of. I want guys to be excited walking in the building. Then we try to do anything possible to make sure the information that give them is very digestible. So we try to be bold, brilliant, and brief, right? Because the attention span for some of these guys nowadays, particularly in the iPhone age, you can't sit up there and lecture. So try very hard to create an environment that guys want to be in. And then when we do present the information, we find a number of ways to try to give it to them so it retains and it hits them in the right way.

But how do you do that? I spoke with, I know he won't mind me sharing this. When I spoke with Mike McDaniel right after he hired you, he said, A, he wanted somebody who could make the complex simple for players and communicate effectively and as a teacher in a teaching mindset, someone who could reach players, who players wouldn't feel on guard around, that could really be open with you, but also somebody who is going to be installing and evolving what's coming next in defense in this league. And you have to walk that line in your role because you're always trying to look around the corner and evolve into what's next while teaching something from the ground up. So what does that look like for you personally? And how do you keep pushing this system, this scheme, this philosophy forward while game planning week to week and also making sure no players left behind with what the baseline of the information is?

Yeah. Well, I think that starts way back prior to training camp in the spring. When we install, we try to install concepts. So once you learn a curl flat drop, we try to teach everybody a curl flat drop and vice versa for a number of different things. We don't just say, Hey, this is cover three. This is what it is. Then we just mix and match the people around, manipulate coverages by half field and play where we can. The beauty in that is we have some guys with some pretty high football intelligence and football IQ, so we can move people around seamlessly. It goes back to what Walk said, where we can do things that look complex to the offense but are very simple for us. The other thing is just schematically in terms of coverages and blitzes and coverage variation and things of that nature, we do a lot. We do a lot. Now, we found a way in teaching that where, again, it's simple for our guys because we teach so much part to hold. And then just in terms of trying to stay ahead of the trends, because of that, we go into the game plan with a very concise menu.

But because we put so much on tape when you're an offense and you're studying us, you're like, Oh, my God, what are we going to see? They do this, they do that. We're not doing that every week. We try to pair it down, obviously, by the opponent.

And because you're understanding why offenses will try to attack certain parts of the field and try to manipulate space, but you're teaching players why they're doing the things that they're doing and why you're uploading this concept before you start to build pieces around. Do you find players to be empowered by that? I think a lot of players want to know why in this age of the league.

Absolutely. That's the old the Belichickianism. You can teach a player how, but it truly becomes powerful, and they know the why behind it. And we're always trying to preach that because obviously, as coaches, you can see things one way, but they're the ones out there who are playing the game. I think as long as they understand big picture, schematically, what everybody around them is doing, that's going to enable them to decide when they can and can't take chances. Where they can take some educated guesses.

I'm taking notes here. Bold, brilliant, and brief.

That's going to go up right behind us here.

That would be better for podcast. I was like, We're trying for the bold and the brilliant. Brief, I think both Jordan and I can both-I struggle with that.

I struggle with the brief part.

We can both work on a little bit. I always am fascinated by players that made it to the NFL that want to be coaches because you know how a coaching lifestyle is in the NFL. And I guess maybe it's your background moving around as a kid, too. That gets you somewhat prepared. But knowing what coaches put into it, it feels like that's a special level of football sicko that wants to go from a good playing career to a coaching career. Did you know you wanted to do that while you were playing?

Yeah, I got to be honest. I absolutely did not. Again, I grew up with Rex Ryan, was my position coach when I first got in the league, and I would just hear nightmare stories about him sleeping in the office Monday, Tuesday. I'm like, Oh, my God. I'm like, Rex, it's just I'm going to get a reach block, a down block, a double team. You were in the office that long for that?

What are you doing?

But Along the way, as I started age, I was in Houston, and I was with some young players, young Mario Williams, a Mobya Koy, who was a heck of a player, but was like 50, came out playing in the league. I found myself in that coaching mentor role towards the end of my career. And I think that's when the light started to come on a little bit where he's like, You know what? Maybe I can do this. And just had some coaches along the way, I mean, going back to my high school coach with Blazer, I don't know, who were just tremendous influences and thought I could serve and help players in that manner to a game that's been incredibly good to me.

It seems like we could see it on your face as you talk to us how important that last part in particular is, knowing what worked not just for you But all the guys you're going to battle with every week and knowing what was important to them, what mattered to them, some of those principles, you must self-talk a lot, reminding yourself those types of things, what worked for you as a player, and carrying them forward into how you run your ecosystem today.

Yeah, I was incredibly fortunate where I was around a bunch of coaches who I felt were in it for the right reasons. There was no selfish intent. They all worked in service, and they were just ultimately trying to get us better so that we can maximize our God-given ability in there. And I try very much to do the same thing. Selfishly, I'd love to win a Super Bowl, but everything else, man, I'm just trying to pour into these guys so that they can realize every one of their dreams.

Yeah, one of the players that was in the league for a long... Was in the league when you were in it? Is that possible? Oh, yeah, for sure. Was Kaleas Campbell, who you're now coaching, who's actually not that much younger than you. I'm always shocked just from the outside that he sits out in free agency every year, and then he just gets a one-year contract. And look, he's compensated very well. But compared to other players, younger players that are out there, every year, he's one of the best like, bargain out there. He comes into a team and he helps change that team, and He's still playing at a ridiculously high level. Seeing him and Zack Seeler out there together, to me, is part of your secret sauce. Certainly was a big part of that that Ram's win that you had. I don't know. Tell me something about coaching Kaleya's Campbell and what that's been like. Oh, man.

What an absolute joy. You talk about a guy who's the same guy every day, a consummate professional. He's a force multiplier. There isn't a person he interacts with who isn't better as a result of that interaction. So one of those things when I got the job, you try to talk about the type of player you want by position, and we're talking about the big end spot, and I'm telling Chris and Mike, and I'm like, Listen, Gileas Campbell is out there. I'm like, Oh, you're like, Coach, he's 38 years old.

He's 38 years old.

I'm like, I get it. I understand that. But just watch the tape. He's certainly still playing at a high level. What you can't get people to understand that haven't been around him is just how he makes everyone in the building better, not just on defense, but on offense with the coaching staff. He is just positively reinforcing everything you're trying to get done as a coach because he has the same goals. At this point in the career, there's nothing he hasn't accomplished. He's Man of the Year, Pro Bulls, All Pros, all of those things. He's chasing one thing, and that's winning a Super Bowl. So he's doing everything within his power to try to make that happen. And obviously, he makes life incredibly easy for me as a ball coach, too.

I love that. My first job, I was running. I was interning for the Arizona Cardinals running quotes, and he always took me aside in the locker room. He would never remember this now and say, Do you need anything? Are you okay? And now to see him, he's just the exact same. And that was, I don't want to age myself, although I'm definitely younger than both of you and Koleya. Just to throw that out there. One thing, I know we're being so greedy with your time. I know. We got to go, Sue. But I did want to ask you because this league is so driven by quarterbacks. And as a defensive coordinator, you have to have this innate understanding of quarterbacks and how to attack them on your side, especially as that position evolves and changes. And you see a new wave of really young guys, and then you see Matthew Stafford, and you have to figure out how to confuse the heck out of him with some of the coverage and Sims that you were running in that game. How do you walk that line between strategizing toward the next wave and then that all-out preparation of a game plan against a guy who's seen it all?

Yeah, you love it. You love the challenges week to week, just based on who that guy is. I mean, a guy like Matthew Stafford will face Aaron Rodgers here in a few weeks. There isn't There isn't a pressure or disguise that they haven't seen. So you're constantly just trying to put some indecision in their heads, and the majority of the time, that's going to be with your rush, trying to get people at their feet because they are a little bit up there in age. These younger guys, I tell you what, they run around. It's the play after the play most of the time with some of these younger guys. You try to do everything you can, take away their first, hopefully their second read. But when that breaks down, you don't know what's going to after that. And then you just hold your breath and hope somebody on defense makes a phenomenal play.

Yeah, you got an interesting one this week, Drake May. What are you seeing? What are you seeing there on tape?

I think you see just that. You see a young player who's certainly developing confidence in his ability. He's certainly still trying to figure out the coverage, this variation of the league, but he has all the talent in the world. At any point in time, he can pull the ball down and chew you up for rushing yards for about 25, 30 yards. So we always got to be cognizant of that, too.

Yeah, I want to own my biases. I grew up in Massachusetts.

He told me before the show, he was like, I have to ask him about.

You got to just see. It's always been a fun rivalry. Dolphins, Patriots. You're now part of it, at least for a couple of games this year. I know you had a head coaching interview last year, so who knows how long you'll be in Miami, but obviously doing a great job with the Dolphins, and we appreciate your time, Anthony. Thanks for it.

Thanks, guys. I appreciate you having me all.

All right. That was Anthony Weaver. That was awesome, Jordan.

I love talking to him. He's great. What a great personality, great football mind. You had to get your Drake May question, which I loved.

I know. I wanted it almost to be a little more pointed like, Hey, are you worried? It's like an older secondary you got there. No, I don't know.

We do need to put his slogan up on-Tackling this young buck in the open field.

Do you think Jalen Ramsey would be very much up for that?

I feel like he's probably just got a picture of him in his locker upcoming for that game.

That would be outstanding. Yes. If you get a chance to see it on YouTube, just the smile, the vibe. You can get a little bit of a vibe from someone in only 15 minutes. That's why they do those combine interviews with all the draft prospects. You can see him as the type of person, and he's already now had head coaching interviews. He had one with the Falcons last year in DC interviews that I'll be just watching where it goes. You could see him impressing an owner in that setting. We're seeing a trend.Former player.Not to get too off topic here, but if you look at who's leading the divisions right now, the coaches, it's a lot of not an offense guy. It's a lot of running the culture guy or a defensive guy making the culture versus just offensive play callers. So a lot of different ways to skin it.

Guys who played, guys who can get it inside the head of the player and maximize potential. Certainly a shift from what was the the dynamic there last year, although it's working out in Philly for everyone. So it's a win-win. The third win thing for us. I think of like, Deia Campbell.

People are going to look at the lines and like, Oh, how did they do it? That was a coach. I think it was more about building the culture and setting the tone, be able to reach players, not just calling plays. That was Andy Newiever. That was a great week. You've obviously time traveled from Tuesday into this show.

Same outfit.

Appreciate I appreciate everyone listening. We will be back on Friday with our Pickshow, Cynthia Freeland. I don't know if you've heard people talk about this, Jordan. The Pickshow is hot right now.

So I hear.

The pics are hot. The analysis are hot. Both Cynthia and I are on fire for right now. And yes, when we're talking to a member of the 2006 Kubiak Texans, you know football is back.