Breida's Thoughts on the Trade, His Speed and His New Team
We hadn't heard any public comments from new Miami Dolphins running back Matt Breida since the trade that brought him over from the San Francisco 49ers, but the fastest man in the NFL told "Good Morning Football" that he's excited about the new challenge that awaits.
Breida joined the Dolphins on the third and final day of the 2020 NFL draft when Miami sent to the 49ers a fifth-round pick that they ironically re-acquired from the Arizona Cardinals for fellow running back Kenyan Drake after it had been included in the 2019 trade involving quarterback Josh Rosen.
The trade came nine days after Breida signed his restricted free agent tender with the 49ers.
“It was kind of crazy," Breida said. "I woke up, got a phone call from his agent saying that there were trade talks with me and the Dolphins. It ended up happening. At first, I was kind of shocked, but then I’m always up for challenges, so I was excited to get down to South Beach.”
The acquisition of Breida came after the Dolphins signed free agent Jordan Howard away from the Philadelphia Eagles and the two have the potential of forming a productive one-two combination.
What Breida brings to the Dolphins offense is speed. NextGen Stats clocked him the last two years as the fastest player in the NFL.
Breida's speed opens up a lot of options for how the Dolphins can use him, but it's a safe assumption that he'll get a lot of snaps and will catch his share of passes out of the backfield.
Not that Breida was ready to give too much away on GMFB.
"Gotta keep it in house," he said. "No, they plan on using me a bunch of different ways just like the Niners did. And I just can’t wait to get down there and get started.”
When it comes to his title as the fastest player in the NFL, Breida clearly takes pride in it.
A highlight at the beginning of his interview had him referred to as "Breida the cheetah," and that brought up Kansas City Chiefs speedster Tyreek Hill. His Twitter handle is @cheetah, so Breida was asked what he would say to Hill or anyone else who would contest his recognition as the fastest.
“Hey, you’ve just got to do in shoulder pads," Breida said. "Like you said, the last two years I’ve been clocked as the fastest, so I got the title right now. They’ve just got to come and beat it. Anything that happened before that, hey, it’s all dust in the wind.”
Breida has yet to be able to get on the field with his new teammates because of the coronavirus restrictions, but he's excited about the possibilities for his new team.
The Dolphins will be looking, of course, to make a big jump after going 5-11 in 2019. It's exactly what the 49ers did last year when they reached the Super Bowl after going 4-12 in 2018.
Breida believes his experience going through that could come in handy.
“Definitely with my experience being in a Super Bowl, I feel like I know what a team takes to get to that point, what the culture has got to be like, how we’ve got to compete every day," he said. "Just the way these guys worked last year. I’ve seen how the Dolphins finished off the last couple of stretches of the games they played, and Coach Flo (Brian Flores) has got them going in the right direction and I’ve seen that through the virtual meetings. So I’m excited to get down there and start working with these guys.”
