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Speaker 1: Welcome to the forty nine ers You've Got Maile podcast

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Speaker 1: presented by Manscaped. I'm your host Lindsay Polaris, and today

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Speaker 1: we have a combine edition of the podcast. I am

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Speaker 1: joined by Arizona Cardinals team reporter Danny Serek. Danny, thanks

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Speaker 1: for stopping by, Thanks for having Lindsay. I'm excited to

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Speaker 1: tackle NFC West. Our teams definitely have plenty to talk about,

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Speaker 1: plenty to talk about, and I wanted to start this

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Speaker 1: as your second combine and so just to tell us

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Speaker 1: about just the excitement of being here. It's kind of

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Speaker 1: the first big event of the off season. Yeah, it's

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Speaker 1: very exciting, I think, especially the fact that there's a

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Speaker 1: lot going on with the Cardinals new general manager and

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Speaker 1: Monie ausin Fort and you had coach Jonathan Gannon. That

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Speaker 1: staff is very close to being finalized, which is exciting.

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Speaker 1: Gannon obviously was coaching in the Super Bowl with the

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Speaker 1: Eagles and then was hired shortly after hours after by

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Speaker 1: the Cardinals, so things have been moving rather quickly, although

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Speaker 1: time is of the essence. So yeah, so there's a

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Speaker 1: lot going on at the combine, but it's been really

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Speaker 1: exciting and it feels very energized having this new regime

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Speaker 1: being in the office and the moves that they're making

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Speaker 1: and the hires they're making and what they're envisioning for

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Speaker 1: this team. So being here at the combine is exciting.

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Speaker 1: Our department definitely has lots to do, which from a

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Speaker 1: content standpoint is great, of course, but it's been exciting,

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Speaker 1: and you know, you kind of touched upon it. But

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Speaker 1: early impressions of them sounds like they are movers and shakers,

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Speaker 1: getting in the building and getting a lot of stuff

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Speaker 1: done very quickly. Yes, very energized. Gannon. He brings that

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Speaker 1: energy and that passion, and it is you can feel it,

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Speaker 1: I mean, and it trickles down to everyone else. And

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Speaker 1: I think you can notice that. And just the conversations

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Speaker 1: I've had with coordinators and other coaches and Manti also

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Speaker 1: and Fort's a new general manager talking with the scouting department,

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Speaker 1: and just how much they've enjoyed the knowledge that he

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Speaker 1: has shared in the philosophy that he's kind of bringing.

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure how much the philosophy from a draft

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Speaker 1: perspective will change again, just because it is such short notice.

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Speaker 1: Maybe not short notice, but not not a lot of time.

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Speaker 1: Changes so we'll see moving forward. But but you can

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Speaker 1: definitely feel the difference and energy and they've they've given

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Speaker 1: all some great first impressions. So some big roles changing

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Speaker 1: for the Arizona Cardinals. Also no new news here. There

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Speaker 1: is also quite a bit of coaching turnover on the

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Speaker 1: forty nine ers side defensive Former defensive coordinator Demiko Ryans

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Speaker 1: took the head coaching position at the Houston Texans. He

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Speaker 1: is now going to be followed up by defensive coordinator

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Speaker 1: Steve Wilkes, who was recently hired. I have not had

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Speaker 1: a chance to meet him yet, but this is the

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Speaker 1: first time that general manager John Lynch has really kind

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Speaker 1: of introduced the candidate that he was. I think it

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Speaker 1: was very encouraging to hear that he is similar to

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Speaker 1: Damiko Ryan's in the sense of having just a very

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Speaker 1: strong presence in the room, commands the room. He's a

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Speaker 1: player first guy as well. And we heard from John

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Speaker 1: Lynch yesterday and he said that, you know, after such

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Speaker 1: a successful year number one overall defense for the forty

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Speaker 1: nine ers, there's not a desire to change a whole lot.

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Speaker 1: So you want somebody that can come in and take

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Speaker 1: over and have a pretty similar coaching philosophy. Next thing,

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Speaker 1: I did want to talk about another similarity between the

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Speaker 1: Cardinals and the forty nine ers some season ending injuries

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Speaker 1: at the quarterback position. What updates do you have on

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Speaker 1: Kyler Murray and suffering an ACL injury, So there is

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Speaker 1: no real update quite yet. He did have successful surgery,

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Speaker 1: so he's working through that rehab. Now. He's been at

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Speaker 1: the facility in Arizona working hard, and that's something that

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Speaker 1: awesome for It and Ganon both touched on separately weeks

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Speaker 1: ago at their first preface conferences. Seeing Kyler Murray around

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Speaker 1: the facility and how hard he's been working, something they

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Speaker 1: both touched on at the podium here at the Combine

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Speaker 1: as well, that there is no set timetable for Kyler

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Speaker 1: Murray to return. He is still attacking his rehab over

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Speaker 1: they both talked about how happy they are with where

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Speaker 1: he is at the moment. The key though, is you

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Speaker 1: don't want to rush. You don't want to rush any

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Speaker 1: player back, but especially for this type of injury and

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Speaker 1: the recovery that it takes, and also the mental side

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Speaker 1: of things. This is the first big injury that Kyler

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Speaker 1: Murray has sustained. Throughout his entire playing career, and he

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Speaker 1: is a type of quarterback that is known for being

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Speaker 1: that dual threat, not just with his arm, but also

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Speaker 1: with his legs. So awesome. Fort and Gannon both reiterated

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Speaker 1: that they're going to make sure he feels one hundred

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Speaker 1: percent ready to come back so that he can use

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Speaker 1: his legs and feels confident in doing so. And on

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Speaker 1: the forty nine ers side, positive injury updates as well,

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Speaker 1: we heard from general manager John Lynch that Trey Lance

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Speaker 1: is progressing very well through his rehab work as well.

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Speaker 1: He suffered an ankle fracture in week two of the

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty two season. He has started a throwing program

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Speaker 1: and it was actually great to hear that John Lynch

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Speaker 1: actually has kind of a front row seat to his

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Speaker 1: rehab work just because Trey Lance is throwing right outside

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Speaker 1: his office, so John Lynch is actually able to see

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Speaker 1: him do his dropbacks, and I think he was calling

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Speaker 1: for wide receivers to be to start practicing with him

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Speaker 1: at the So we're very happy to hear that. In

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Speaker 1: terms of quarterback brock Party, he is awaiting to get

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Speaker 1: cleared for offseason elbow in elbow injury he suffered. He's

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Speaker 1: going to need to repair on his UCL and that

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Speaker 1: was postponed to swelling in the elbow, So still waiting

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Speaker 1: to see if he'll be cleared. He's actually in Arizona

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Speaker 1: with his family. I do believe he's from Gilbert and

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Speaker 1: just kind of a waiting to get further clearance on

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Speaker 1: that and then he can get to his recovery process

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Speaker 1: as well. So obviously, let's talk about the event at hand,

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Speaker 1: the draft. We're talking all prospects. What is the drafting

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Speaker 1: strategy that the Cardinals are taking headed into combine free

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Speaker 1: agency and some needs In terms of position, the Cardinals

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Speaker 1: have the third overall pick, which obviously is not a

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Speaker 1: position teams want to be in. However, it does present

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Speaker 1: a lot of opportunities and that's what Monti as and

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Speaker 1: for It has talked about that they are going to

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Speaker 1: look at all of those opportunities, whether that is making

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Speaker 1: a pick third overall or having the phone lines open,

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Speaker 1: and also for It said they haven't had any calls yet,

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Speaker 1: but there is still plenty of time. Yes, those phone

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Speaker 1: lines are open, which could allow the Cardinals to have

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Speaker 1: some more draft capital. However, I also wouldn't be surprised

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Speaker 1: if you do make a pick third overall just because

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Speaker 1: of the needs, and you can get a premier player

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Speaker 1: who can come in and be a game changer right away,

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Speaker 1: and maybe they decide to make another make a trade

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Speaker 1: later on in the draft because they do pick so

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Speaker 1: high in every round, you can get capital that way.

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Speaker 1: So there's options for the Cardinals, and the good news

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Speaker 1: for them is that they have plenty of needs that

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Speaker 1: they could attack with that third overall pick. From the

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Speaker 1: original starting five the offensive line, the Cardinals only have

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Speaker 1: one starter under contract moving forward, so those other four

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Speaker 1: are either likely to retire or pending free agents, so

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Speaker 1: they have decisions that can be made there. On the defense,

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Speaker 1: JJ Watt retired and their other big defensive lineman Zach

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Speaker 1: Allen pending free agent as a starting cornerback Buyer Murphy,

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Speaker 1: so plenty of options defensively, especially that the Cardinals could

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Speaker 1: really focus on with that third overall pick. So it'll

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Speaker 1: be interesting to see if that's the decision they make,

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Speaker 1: or if somebody has a good enough offer for them

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Speaker 1: and they're able to trade back. The other thing, of course,

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Speaker 1: you have to look at, is how many teams if

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Speaker 1: the Cardinals do trade back, what are their needs? How

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Speaker 1: many teams need a quarterback? If you drop back, are

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Speaker 1: you going to be happy with the optional players you

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Speaker 1: would have? Whoever many spots? So options for the Cardinals,

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Speaker 1: which I guess is good news. Manscaped is the official

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Speaker 1: below the waste grooming partner of the forty nine ers.

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Speaker 1: code forty nine ers for twenty percent off atmanscaped dot com. Well,

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Speaker 1: then also you have to think about what needs are

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Speaker 1: addressed during free agency because that all plays into things.

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Speaker 1: And do you I know you mentioned there is no

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Speaker 1: solid final count on the amount of draft picks, but

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Speaker 1: what is it looking like as it stands right now?

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Speaker 1: I believe that the Cardinals, I don't know off the

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Speaker 1: top of my head, if there's a round they don't

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Speaker 1: have a pick in I know from some of the

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Speaker 1: trades they had made. I'd have to go back and

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Speaker 1: look of the trade they made for Hollywood Brown last

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Speaker 1: year where the Cardinals didn't have a first round pick,

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Speaker 1: also treating for wide receiver Robbie Anderson with Carolina. So

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Speaker 1: need to go back and look at some of those picks,

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Speaker 1: but the Cardinals should have plenty to kind of start

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Speaker 1: boosting up that depth and hopefully finding enough starters either

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Speaker 1: through the draft or like you were talking about, in

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Speaker 1: free agency making some moves there. So totally different kind

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Speaker 1: of drafting strategy and just what's available on the forty

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Speaker 1: nine ers side. So it's looking at ten projected picks

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Speaker 1: for San Francisco, but the earliest that those picks will

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Speaker 1: come will be either be ninety nine or one hundred.

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Speaker 1: So I think it's going to take a lot of

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Speaker 1: leaning on the scouting department and John Lynch and Adam

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Speaker 1: Peters to find those late round gems. I think they've

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Speaker 1: said a really great precedent obviously for finding those. It's

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Speaker 1: hard not to think immediately of Brock Purty, very final

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Speaker 1: pick of the twenty twenty two draft and ended up

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Speaker 1: being a starter very late in the season. And yeah,

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Speaker 1: just any other insight that you've picked up from your

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Speaker 1: front office headed into the combine that we're at right

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Speaker 1: now or the draft. I think it's still a little

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Speaker 1: early to understand what this team is really going to

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Speaker 1: look like, just because of the amount of pending free

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Speaker 1: agents that the Cardinals have, and this staff that is

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Speaker 1: just now reaching those final stages of being fully put together.

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Speaker 1: They have a lot of evaluations that have to be

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Speaker 1: done and that goes back even to linebacker Isaiah Simmons,

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Speaker 1: and the Cardinals have until May to decide whether or

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Speaker 1: not they want to pick up his fifth year option.

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Speaker 1: But Simmons was dubbed more of a starbacker this past year,

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Speaker 1: not just playing as a linebacker, but playing a lot

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Speaker 1: of safety because he does have that unique skill set

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Speaker 1: to play all around the field. So this coaching staff

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Speaker 1: is going to have to make that evaluation and decide

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Speaker 1: what type of defense do they want to play, Where

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Speaker 1: do they feel like Simmons Where to Simmons himself feel

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Speaker 1: like he can be the biggest asset to this team,

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Speaker 1: And so that's obviously going to play a role into

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Speaker 1: whether or not they pick up his fifth year option

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Speaker 1: in the next couple of weeks and months. So there's

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Speaker 1: plenty of decisions that have to be made. It's the

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Speaker 1: coaching staff just needs time to make those evaluations as

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Speaker 1: they kind of round things out. So we have to

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Speaker 1: wait a couple of weeks. I feel like to have

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Speaker 1: a good idea of what the future of this team

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Speaker 1: will really look like. But I will say that people

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Speaker 1: in the building are very excited about the direction things

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Speaker 1: are going with new general manager and the head coach.

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Speaker 1: And I was going to ask in terms of just

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Speaker 1: response from the fan base, what have you seen just

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Speaker 1: from those Arizona Cardinal fans and the excitement that is

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Speaker 1: that also being felled outside of the building. Absolutely, and

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Speaker 1: that's not a knock to the old coaching staff or

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Speaker 1: front office by any means. I think just feeling that

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Speaker 1: excitement and that burst of energy and having a little

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Speaker 1: bit of change. And the Cardinals have had success in

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Speaker 1: the last couple of years. However, they only have two

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Speaker 1: feel like the fans were feeling that they were wanting

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Speaker 1: some change, and so now they got that, you got

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Speaker 1: something a little different. The Cardinals made the change from

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Speaker 1: going from an offensive minded head coach to now defensive

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Speaker 1: minded head coach. So hopefully those changes kind of pan out.

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Speaker 1: But I will say the excitement from the fans has

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Speaker 1: been there, just from what we've seen so far the

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Speaker 1: last couple of weeks with Manti asin for it and

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Speaker 1: Jonathan Gannon, and I look forward to seeing that enthusiasm.

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Speaker 1: We played in Mexico for the home game with the

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Speaker 1: Cardinals last season, so I didn't actually make it out

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Speaker 1: to Glendale, Arizona, but I've heard great things and that

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Speaker 1: kind of leads us to our fan submitted questions portion

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Speaker 1: of this. So Jessica from San Jose wanted to know, Danny,

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Speaker 1: what was your favorite memory of that Mexico City game

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Speaker 1: that we played. I will say a Stadios Teco was

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Speaker 1: incredible to be in, and just from the standpoint of

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Speaker 1: the performances and just how loud it got, I will

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Speaker 1: say it did feel like it was louder for forty

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Speaker 1: nine Ers fans than Cardinals fans, So that part was

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Speaker 1: a little difficult, I will be honest, but I will

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Speaker 1: travel very well. They did travel very well. But I

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Speaker 1: really enjoyed being able to feel that energy from the fans.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it was huge, and when you travel for

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Speaker 1: the NFL, there aren't any stadiums like that that now

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Speaker 1: pack as many fans in, so that was really cool.

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Speaker 1: And just kind of being around Mexico City and being

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Speaker 1: around a new culture, and I did think it was

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Speaker 1: cool to see, if you know, people walking around in

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Speaker 1: Cardinals or forty nine ers year or other NFL teams,

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Speaker 1: just kind of remembering like, oh, like even all the

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Speaker 1: way out here in Mexico City, they're NFL fans, which

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Speaker 1: is pretty cool to see. Yeah, And I think also

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Speaker 1: when you talk about just venues, there's so much history

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Speaker 1: with Estadiosteca, so it's just crazy to know that like

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Speaker 1: Olympics have been there, World Cups have been hosted there.

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Speaker 1: So definitely an amazing experience to be in Mexico City.

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Speaker 1: Kind of I've only covered one Super Bowl, but it

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Speaker 1: did have the feeling of a Super Bowl, especially with

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Speaker 1: that fourth quarter light show. I've very very much enjoyed that.

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Speaker 1: I didn't really enjoy the rain, though, I will say

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Speaker 1: that that part was gone. Fine, Yeah I could. If

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Speaker 1: you would have traveled to Glendale, Zona, there probably would

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Speaker 1: have been random and beautiful. I'll tell you that probably

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Speaker 1: been just nice and bought me would have been perfect.

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Speaker 1: All right. So one more question, or actually a few

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Speaker 1: more questions for you, all right, So JJ Watt was

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Speaker 1: an old timer. What was your experience with him? With

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Speaker 1: your two seasons and new your bellot With the Cardinals,

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Speaker 1: JJ was incredible to work. Every time he spoke to

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Speaker 1: the media, I felt like we learned something new, either

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Speaker 1: about him or teaching us something about the game. He

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Speaker 1: was the consummate professional. He would go into game mode

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Speaker 1: and he would be very serious, and there are other

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Speaker 1: times where you got to see the joke side of

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Speaker 1: JJ and talking to his teammates about the type of

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Speaker 1: jokes or he is. And I feel like with HBO's

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Speaker 1: hard Knocks this past season, you really got to see

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Speaker 1: that side of JJ. And I'm happy that he was

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Speaker 1: able to go out on his terms after playing for

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Speaker 1: as long as he did, and you know, going through

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Speaker 1: as many injuries as he did. The fact that he

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Speaker 1: was able to end his career healthy and the way

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Speaker 1: that he did, and he might not have been at

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Speaker 1: his peak and previous years, but the fact that he

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Speaker 1: still led the team in sacks and he was still

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Speaker 1: productive and offenses still had a game plan for him

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Speaker 1: in the final year of his career. I'm glad that

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Speaker 1: he was able to go out on his own terms.

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Speaker 1: He was an incredible leader and you could see that

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Speaker 1: without even hearing from his teammates talk about it. Not

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Speaker 1: just on the field, but also how to handle yourself

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Speaker 1: in the locker room or in the weight room, and

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Speaker 1: nutrition and all those kinds of things. And I'm hoping

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Speaker 1: that that will kind of continue on his legacy even

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Speaker 1: though he won't be in the locker room, that the

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Speaker 1: players learned enough from him for that to carry on.

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Speaker 1: But he was wonderful to be around. This podcast is

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Speaker 1: sponsored by Manscaped. The official below the waste grooming partner

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Speaker 1: twenty percent off at manscaped dot com. I was really

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Speaker 1: proud of the Faithful because JJ Watt did officially play

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Speaker 1: his last NFL game at Levi Stadium. It was just

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Speaker 1: great to see that the faithful gave him the sendoff

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Speaker 1: that he very much deserves. And I don't think the

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Speaker 1: magnitude of his career was lost on anybody in Santa Claras,

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Speaker 1: so that was very very cool to see. It was

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Speaker 1: very special too that there was a moment on the

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Speaker 1: JumboTron and for an opposing team to do that at

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Speaker 1: when it was an away game for the Cardinals. I

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Speaker 1: think was just really classy, really well done. I was

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Speaker 1: on the field when JJ came off the field at

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Speaker 1: the end of the game for well, end of his

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Speaker 1: game for him and end of his career. And the

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Speaker 1: fact that the fans were chanting his name again like

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Speaker 1: a road game for JJ Watt was just really incredible

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Speaker 1: gamey goosebumps just hearing that. Well, when you talk about

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Speaker 1: consummate professionals again, I think that was a league wide

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Speaker 1: consensus on JJ Watt all around great guy. All right,

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Speaker 1: So this one is for the both of us. How

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Speaker 1: competitive do you expect the NFC West to be in

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty three? Two playoff teams this past season? So

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Speaker 1: projections or early observations. Well, it's interesting because if you're

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Speaker 1: talking about this a year ago, the Rams were coming

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Speaker 1: off the Super Bowl, and so then to see the

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Speaker 1: year that the Rams had, it's kind of like, oh,

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Speaker 1: I don't I don't really know what this can happen

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Speaker 1: with the Seahawks and Geno Smith and what's going to

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Speaker 1: happen there. We were kind of talking before we started

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Speaker 1: rolling on the podcast. I was joking with you that

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Speaker 1: doesn't seems like it doesn't matter how hurt or whatever

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Speaker 1: the forty nine ers are going through that you guys

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Speaker 1: are always competitive. So you guys absolutely are going to

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Speaker 1: be at the top of my list where you're talking

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Speaker 1: about the NFC West. I am confident though, that the

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Speaker 1: Cardinals are going to be able to be confident. I

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Speaker 1: know that there's a lot of things that have to

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Speaker 1: be decided with some of those veteran free agents we

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Speaker 1: talked about, and what needs to be done in the draft.

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Speaker 1: The fact that Kyler Murray is not expected to be

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Speaker 1: ready to start the season. We're not sure how many

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Speaker 1: games that could mean. Again, it's all dependent upon how

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Speaker 1: his rehab goes in the progress that he's making. But

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Speaker 1: what are the Cardinals going to do at quarterback? Are

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Speaker 1: you going to stick with veteran quarterback Colt McCoy or

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Speaker 1: the Cardinals going to bring in another veteran back, maybe

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Speaker 1: someone who has experienced with new offensive corner or Drew Pensing,

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Speaker 1: or with Jonathan Gan and our new head coach. So

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Speaker 1: there's still questions that have to be answered, But I

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Speaker 1: do think that the Cardinals have enough of the core

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Speaker 1: pieces to where if you're able to fill in those gaps.

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Speaker 1: If we're able to create the right type of debt

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Speaker 1: that they could still be competitive. So it sounds like

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Speaker 1: the easy answer. I would still think that the forty

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Speaker 1: nine Ers, Cardinals, and Seahawks would be the top three.

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Speaker 1: Kind of feels like the Rams would have more work

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Speaker 1: to do. Is about today. I think there are just

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Speaker 1: given the amount of picks of the ams are projected

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Speaker 1: to have, which is lower, and they don't have that

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Speaker 1: first round pick. They're picking I believe early in the

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Speaker 1: second round. But again, that does kind of affect how

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Speaker 1: things go. I would say there's there's gonna be a

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Speaker 1: lot of competitive it will be a very competitive twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty three between between all the teams. Two first round

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Speaker 1: picks for the Seahawks, so definitely something to look out

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Speaker 1: for there they have that trade or the pick from

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Speaker 1: the Russell Wilson trade and then their own first round pick.

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Speaker 1: So and then yeah, so much depends on whether comeback

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Speaker 1: Player of the Year Gino Smith is resigned, kind of

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Speaker 1: what his future looks like. As terms of the forty

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Speaker 1: nine Ers, I think there's a lot of foundational pieces

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Speaker 1: that are locked down, at least through the twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: three seasons, so hopefully another opportune and very competitive twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty three. Obviously some question marks in terms of just

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Speaker 1: health of the quarterbacks, but that will sort itself out

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Speaker 1: in due time. And then John Lynch said, kind of

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Speaker 1: the theme of this draft is just going to be

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Speaker 1: adding depth, particularly offensive line, safety and cornerback are probably

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Speaker 1: the positions of need for the forty nine ers, So

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Speaker 1: just interested to see how those needs are filled, either

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Speaker 1: through the combine or free agency. A little bit of

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Speaker 1: different draft needs for the two teams. Forty nine Ers

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Speaker 1: for depth and the Cardinal still looking for a few

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Speaker 1: starters at some positions, but it happened. It's just a

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Speaker 1: natural turnover. Unfortunately, you can't keep a roster intact. It's impossible,

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Speaker 1: just what the way contracts work out and salary caps

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Speaker 1: to keep everyone intact. Although I do know that twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty two roster was very, very highly touted in the

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Speaker 1: NFL and very close in terms of a locker room.

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Speaker 1: All right, And just since you are the veteran here

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Speaker 1: in terms of combine, what is your best advice for

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Speaker 1: navigating this very busy week long event. Try and get

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Speaker 1: as much sleep as possible, which isn't always easy. I

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Speaker 1: personally love events like the Combine or the Pro Bowl,

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Speaker 1: not just from the content side of things, but also

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Speaker 1: just being able to talk with people around the league,

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Speaker 1: like yourself. That we really don't get a lot of

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Speaker 1: opportunities to be face to face with people from around

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Speaker 1: the league, other team reporters, national reporters, things of that nature.

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Speaker 1: So I love being able to see old friends meet

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Speaker 1: new ones, and that kind of leads to everyone congregating

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Speaker 1: at dinners or going out for drinks after and so

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Speaker 1: it's trying to get as much sleep as possible because

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Speaker 1: the days somehow go by quick and are also very long.

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Speaker 1: At the same time, you were very early this morning,

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Speaker 1: so I totally feel Yeah, we had a very early

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Speaker 1: shoot with our new head coach and our new coordinators.

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Speaker 1: They went for I don't want to say bright and

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Speaker 1: early workout because it was early, but it was not bright.

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Speaker 1: It was still very darks in fact, not out at

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Speaker 1: the time. Well, thank you so much, Danny, and I

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Speaker 1: will see you twice next year no matter what. I'm excited.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for having me on Lindsay. Of course, Thank you guys,

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Speaker 1: and to submit your fan summitted questions, head to forty

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Speaker 1: nine ers dot com slash mailbag, and stay tuned for

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Speaker 1: the next episode, coming straight from the Combine