MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- By all accounts, Patrick Paul is a nice guy.
When he addresses the media, he's soft-spoken but confident, always smiling and polite. Even at 6-foot-7, 332 pounds his demeanor is gentle -- disarming, even.
Off the field, that is.
On the field, the Miami Dolphins' new starting left tackle knows how to get under opponents' skin, even when that opponent is his teammate.
"He's annoying as hell to go against, I'll tell you that much, because he is a s--- talker," Dolphins linebacker Jaelan Phillips said. "During practice, I hate him, but afterwards, the only thing I can do is admire him and admire his physical presence, admire his skill set, admire his athleticism, admire his work ethic and like you said, his ability to make adjustments and corrections. I think he's going to be a fabulous player, and he already has made a big step in this league.
"So yeah, Patrick is badass. He knows how I feel about him, so just like I tell y'all, I hate going against him. He knows I hate going against him."
Entering his second NFL season, Paul is tasked with succeeding former Pro Bowler Terron Armstead, who announced his retirement in April.
A second-round pick in 2024, Paul started three games as a rookie but showed the Dolphins' staff enough to put their faith in him this season.
Phillips said Paul was a trash talker as a rookie last year, as well, but "he backs it up more" now. His teammates share that same belief.
"Pat, man -- night and day from last year. Pat has grown into a really good player, man," Dolphins linebacker Quinton Bell said. "I'm excited that he's going to be starting for us this year. He's been great. We're definitely having conversations in our room about the way he's shooting his hands, his body and things he's doing and that nature.
"He's big man. He's really big, so he's presenting a challenge for us each and every day, as we are to him. I love that competition that we have. It's only making us better for the regular season."
Paul laughed when asked about Phillips' comments and admitted to needling his teammate and neighbor when they're on the practice field.
He also said his style of trash talk is modeled after one of sports' all-time great instigators.
"I think it makes it fun," Paul said. "One of my favorite athletes growing up was Conor McGregor, and I liked his approach to it. He'd beat the people before he even went against them just purely off of getting in their head. It just depends on the person, depends on the day they're having also, their approach, but it's easy to get under someone's skin.
"It doesn't even have to be something crazy, just something minute. Like a laughter when you're locking someone up -- that'll get them, I'm not going to lie. So it really depends on the person, and you just have to have fun with it."
Paul said Phillips "doesn't like that," but "it's all love" at the end of the day.
And to let his coaches and teammates tell it, he has put enough work in this offseason to earn the right to run his mouth on the field.
Dolphins center Aaron Brewer said Paul was training two-to-three times a day during the offseason, which inspired him to do the same. Paul said he rewatched all of his reps from last season and then studied every left tackle in the league to see what he could learn.
That work ethic has made an impression on Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel.
"He's out to prove something, but he understands the connectivity of the work and the result," McDaniel said. "Not chasing the result, chasing the work to get the result. ...
"... I think that for the whole offensive line, I think collectively, he fits within a culture that they're creating which is all about everything that they do -- their focus, their intentionality and their strain -- and I think the talk much like Jaelan is describing it, is a thing that they may or not choose to do. The focus has been on the work and his game, so his one-lining trash talking probably hasn't evolved as much as his game, which is what I'd want because his focus has been on that."