How a goofy road trip video is a step toward taking Dolphins where they want to go | Habib

The laughs? Mike White, Dan Feeney and Braxton Berrios packed plenty of those into 10-minute segments over Zoom with Dolphins reporters last week, with the promise of more to come. Feeney even offered his list of favorite beers, especially for chugging at hockey games, taking great care to include Funky Buddha, a South Florida favorite.

Together, they are three new additions who migrated from the New York Jets to the Dolphins in a five-day span, with White starting the exodus and Berrios bringing up the rear. Seizing on the opportunity, White had his agents patch together a video for social media, borrowing from a scene in “The Hangover” in which three buddies take a goofy road trip.

“Just being around guys that love having a good time and making work fun, it just makes the locker room better and makes the vibe around the whole entire team better in my eyes,” said Feeney, an offensive lineman.

In case you’re wondering how this helps the Dolphins get over the hump next January, Feeney will tell you.

“We’re going to bring that same natural energy and camaraderie into the locker room — and I think that’ll translate onto the field,” he said.

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Mike McDaniel brought some of that vibe to the Dolphins the minute he was named head coach. Ask any player about McDaniel and the first thing he’ll talk about is his smarts. The second thing? His sense of humor and ability to connect with anybody. It’s a departure from his predecessor, Brian Flores, but don’t get carried away with that. Cherry-picking your way through history, you’ll have no trouble finding examples of either style being right for that particular team at that particular time.

Once White, a quarterback, was aboard, he put in a good word to general manager Chris Grier regarding Feeney and Berrios, a receiver/return specialist.

“I told Chris Grier when I got to talk to him when I signed they’re such good locker-room guys, I think,” White said, adding that he could tell even while with the Jets that the Dolphins were working hard, and succeeding, in putting together 53 players dedicated to the team.

“You can tell just the way they kind of interact and even you see posts on social media and all that,” White said. “Like we’re all kind of connected.”

It’s a fun time of year, seeing the new pieces come together and projecting how it could/should affect the product on the field. Nobody knows that for certain, of course, so here’s one prediction you can take to the bank (if you’re so inclined to go to a bank, of course): Feeney is going to be a hit when the big guys up front pack into their meeting room.

Feeney appeared for his Zoom close-up wearing a Bass Pro Shops cap but wasted no time whipping it off the minute somebody mentioned his celebrated mullet. His excuse for it traced back to the pandemic when he was out in California and let his hair go because he couldn’t find anyone to cut it. Eventually, his girlfriend put her foot down.

“So I found a spot that was still open,” he said. “The guy that ended up cutting the mullet in my head was one of the most ecstatic barbers I’ve ever had to cut a mullet. I’ve never seen anything like it. I was like, ‘Well, I came to the right spot,’ and he pretty much juiced me up right away when he cut it. ... It kind of just stuck from there and the train has been rolling pretty much ever since, so I didn’t want to get off it.”

At least somebody is picking up the slack for the disappearance of Ryan Fitzpatrick’s beard.

Feeney was the obvious choice for the Zach Galifianakis role as Alan in White’s “Hangover” takeoff. In it, White cast himself in the Bradley Cooper (aka Phil) role and Berrios as Ed Helms (Stu). With White driving and Berrios riding shotgun, the Feeney character begins an off-key rendition of “Three Best Friends,” which is best described as not quite as soothing to the ear as hearing “Are we there yet?” all the way from Jersey to Miami.

“We’re the three best friends that anybody could have,” Galifianakis can be heard singing. “ … And we’ll never ever ever ever ever ever ever leave each other.” (At least I think it’s six “evers.” I could go back and check, but I don’t ever ever ever ever ever ever want hear it again.)

Feeney: “I definitely thought it was a little shade at first. But it is hilarious. And I think that is a little bit of me, that personality of just happy to be there, happy to be back with the boys. So it was a hilarious video. Whoever edited that and did that, it was spot on.”

The clip ends with them pulling up at Hard Rock Stadium as they pass a sign saying they’ve entered Miami city limits. White basically was executive producer. The clip is only 24 seconds long but as of Thursday morning, it had more than a half-million views on Twitter. White apologized for needing help with the editing, joking, “Maybe I’ll make that my next offseason project so I don’t have to ask people and can turn out more content.”

You make the rare move of scooping up three players from a division rival within a week, you get the collective personalities that come with it.

“We were pretty much a package deal,” Feeney joked.

The Dolphins, naturally, made the investment hoping it leads to wins. If a few laughs come with the package at no extra charge, they'll take it.

Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at  hhabib@pbpost.com and followed on Twitter  @gunnerhal.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Is Mike White's goofy road trip video a sign Dolphins are going places?