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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Command Center Podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. Washington's

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Speaker 1: all time sack leader. Ryan Carrigan retired with the organization

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Speaker 1: after signing a one day contract. I sat down with

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Speaker 1: the Washington Legend to discuss his career and what the

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Speaker 1: franchise means to him. Ryan, congratulations, Thank you very much.

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Speaker 1: Were you expecting that welcome coming in here? No, I

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Speaker 1: had no idea. I was completely caught off guard. I hadn't.

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Speaker 1: I I was shocked, like I was to see everybody

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Speaker 1: standing there. To see all the d line dudes that

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Speaker 1: have played with a couple of years back standing there

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Speaker 1: and everybody there, it meant a lot to me. He

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Speaker 1: didn't have words I did. I was like, I just

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Speaker 1: I kind of thought I'd come in here and just

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Speaker 1: kind of do it and then kind of leave. I

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Speaker 1: thought I thought they'd be watching film, and then you

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Speaker 1: know they're there. They were. That That meant a lot.

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Speaker 1: That was really really cool thing. There's so much respect

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Speaker 1: for your career, love and season, and even to this day,

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Speaker 1: if I asked some guys like, what is it that

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Speaker 1: really has made an impact on their crowd? Don't mention you,

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Speaker 1: but you set that example on how to be able

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Speaker 1: to have the sustainability that success. And that's and that

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Speaker 1: means I mean that that means a lot to me.

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Speaker 1: That means that I did a good job of not

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Speaker 1: just you know, taking care of myself, but showing, you know,

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Speaker 1: guys that you know, there's there's a there's a way

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Speaker 1: to do this that can you know, help you, help

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Speaker 1: you prolong your career, help you stay around a while.

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Speaker 1: And I'm to know that I was able to imparse

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Speaker 1: some good stuff on guys. Is a is a cool thing. Okay,

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Speaker 1: So what went into the decision why today? Why now? Um?

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Speaker 1: Because to be honest, if I'm being quite frank, this

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Speaker 1: that I did not intend to play this season even

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Speaker 1: going into last season. I kind of knew that I

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Speaker 1: kind of got to help report last last spring where

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Speaker 1: to where I knew that, you know, this was gonna

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Speaker 1: be my that twenty one was gonna be my last season.

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Speaker 1: So I knew it was gonna you know, I knew

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Speaker 1: I wasn't gonna be playing the twenty two season one

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Speaker 1: way or another. Um, but I kind of wasn't quite

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Speaker 1: ready to you know, announce you know, right after the

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Speaker 1: season and whatnot. And um, so I wanted to wait

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Speaker 1: till now, and it all felt like a good time

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Speaker 1: and um, you know, so I'm happy to be moving on.

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Speaker 1: Do you know what to do with yourself right now? Then?

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Speaker 1: Not waking up early, not coming to practice. No, I'm

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Speaker 1: still waking up early, but it's it's to chase after

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Speaker 1: my girls. I mean, my girls keep me busy. They

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Speaker 1: keep me my wife busy. But now I'm I'm definitely

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Speaker 1: planning to find some work. I'm not a I'm not

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Speaker 1: one that will want to sit it, you know, sit

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Speaker 1: around at home. I'm gonna definitely find find a way

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Speaker 1: to you know, be productive. I'm gonna challenge you a

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Speaker 1: little bit on your career here, Okay, here we are

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Speaker 1: on July twenty nine, twenty twenty known forever it's going

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Speaker 1: to be is the day that you officially retire as

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Speaker 1: a member of the Burgundy and Gold. Um, when you

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Speaker 1: give a few dates and you tell me what comes true?

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Speaker 1: Mind when I mentioned them too? Okay, so we'll see.

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Speaker 1: April twenty eighth, twenty eleven, I think I drafted. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: started with the easy, easy one and eight paperbab Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that was an easy one, Roger Goodell says. With the

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Speaker 1: sixteenth pick. Yeah, they select, they select me, and it

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Speaker 1: was it was unbelievable. That was You watched his draft

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Speaker 1: growing up. You never really think it's going to be you,

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Speaker 1: and then it's you, and it's like, holy cow, I'm here,

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Speaker 1: and it was. It was amazing. How about September eleventh,

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Speaker 1: two thousand and eleven, that was my first game. You

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Speaker 1: got to pick six in the third quarter and we

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Speaker 1: beat the Giants, got a nice division win. You know

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Speaker 1: how many yards you ran it forward for that touchdown?

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Speaker 1: It was It was a long one. It was super long,

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Speaker 1: like nine yards. I was saying, no, no, okay. I was.

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Speaker 1: I was like, you know, this is your day. I'll

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Speaker 1: let you okay, it's okay. I mean, a great way

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Speaker 1: to start FedEx Field against the Giants. How About one

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Speaker 1: week later September eighteen, played the Cardinals and I got

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Speaker 1: my first stack Kevin Cobb, yeah, quarterback. Yeah, I remember that.

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Speaker 1: That was Yeah, that was a good day. We started out.

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Speaker 1: That was won. Our second game in a row. Started

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Speaker 1: out too, I know that year. And then let's see

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Speaker 1: here December twelfth, two thousand and twelve. December twelve, twenty twelve,

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Speaker 1: m It's week seventeen. Oh sorry, yeah, Week seventeen, Okay,

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Speaker 1: we beat the Cowboys to win the East. That was

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Speaker 1: an awesome one Sunday night football, beat them on on

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Speaker 1: the big stage to go to the playoffs. Yeah, it

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Speaker 1: was your first division title and playoff birth. How about

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Speaker 1: September fourteenth, twenty fourteen, Uh, I know, was that the

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Speaker 1: Jacksonville game? Yeah? Four four stacks against Jacksonville. That was

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Speaker 1: a that was the day you dream of to say that.

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Speaker 1: And then September thirteenth, twenty twenty franchise stack record. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm not I'm kind of impressed the recall a little

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Speaker 1: bit about two Yeah, well I have one more here,

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Speaker 1: although I probably could add a few more after this.

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Speaker 1: How about March sixth, twenty nineteen. Oh, the best day

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Speaker 1: for my firstborn was born. Never forget that. Oh what

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Speaker 1: a moment. All those the pick six, the stacks, all

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Speaker 1: that works. Cool, but nothing like that. And here you

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Speaker 1: are now going with three beautiful girls, by the way,

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Speaker 1: a beautiful family. Congratulations on that. But if we look

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Speaker 1: back over your career, I mean, there are so many

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Speaker 1: record that you have as the franchise all times sack

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Speaker 1: leer with ninety five and a half the number of

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Speaker 1: games you played consecutively one hundred and thirty nine. From that,

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Speaker 1: is there something over your career that maybe stands out

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Speaker 1: to you as more meaningful or important than another. I

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Speaker 1: mean from a statistical standpoint, not in particular. I definitely

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Speaker 1: took pride in sacks and forced fumbles because I felt like,

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Speaker 1: as a pass rusher, that's that's like your objective, that's

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Speaker 1: your touchdown. That's a running back or quarterback getting a

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Speaker 1: touchdown is getting a sack in a forced fumble. So

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Speaker 1: I definitely took pride in that. But I definitely being

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Speaker 1: able to being available, being available to play, and you know,

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Speaker 1: no matter the situation, no matter you know, whatever week

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Speaker 1: it was, if we were in playoff contention, if we're out,

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Speaker 1: you know, I took a lot of pride in that that.

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Speaker 1: You know, I was the same guy when things were

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Speaker 1: going good, well the same guy when things were going bad,

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Speaker 1: and I always always tried to make sure that that

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Speaker 1: was the case. That's the part of one. I talked

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Speaker 1: to different guys. And let's say that you set that

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Speaker 1: example on how to take care of your body to

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Speaker 1: make sure you are available out there for those moments.

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Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite memory though, of playing at

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Speaker 1: FedEx Field or for the Burgundy and Gold. You mentioned

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Speaker 1: one of them when we beat the Cowboys to win

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Speaker 1: the NFC East in twenty twelve. Um, I would you

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Speaker 1: mentioned another pick six in my first game that was incredible.

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Speaker 1: I never scored in college, so to score in my

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Speaker 1: first pro game was like, oh man, this is this

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Speaker 1: is cool. And then I think another another big one

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Speaker 1: was against Dallas in eighteen when it got a sack fumble,

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Speaker 1: Preston Smith picks it up for a touchdown, and you know,

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Speaker 1: we secure a big win against Dallas and that gave

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Speaker 1: us like a two game lead in the division. And

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Speaker 1: I just remember it like FedEx Field was so loud

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Speaker 1: that day, and in that moment, it was just it

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Speaker 1: was it felt it felt so cool to you know,

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Speaker 1: have made the play to get the crowd like that.

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Speaker 1: It was. It was an awesome moment. You understand this

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Speaker 1: fan base and just how passionate they are, how how

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Speaker 1: much they long for those wins and those celebrations. But

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Speaker 1: you have one of the most iconic celebrations at this

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Speaker 1: fan base loves Um the heartbreak Kid. What does it

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Speaker 1: mean that that still resonates with fans today too. I

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Speaker 1: just I think it's it shows I think that you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm I'm kind of relatable, Like you know, it's it's

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Speaker 1: a wrestling it's a wrestler move, and I think a

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Speaker 1: lot of people think, you know, wrestling is kind of

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Speaker 1: funny and whatnot. So it was I think it just

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Speaker 1: showed some relatability. And I because I mean, and I

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Speaker 1: just I love that people whenever I'd come out the

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Speaker 1: training can't practice or whatnot, see fans, you know, doing

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Speaker 1: it off the side, and it just I'm still surprised

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Speaker 1: at how much it caught on. Like I remember talking

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Speaker 1: a little confident about it and him telling me to

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Speaker 1: do it, and I did it, and I never knew

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Speaker 1: it would catch on like that, but I'm glad it did.

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Speaker 1: It still does fans love it. Um. You know, they

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Speaker 1: have a lot of love for you. But what would

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Speaker 1: you say, UM, as you leave this game eleven years,

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Speaker 1: what is there something you might miss more than another? Um?

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Speaker 1: Definitely just the environment, Like you can't you can't get

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Speaker 1: a football environment, like a locker room environment unless you're

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Speaker 1: in a football environment. And it's that's one of the

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Speaker 1: things I've grown to appreciate over the past couple of

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Speaker 1: seasons is just how special that is. Like, you get

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Speaker 1: to go to work with your friends work, you get

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Speaker 1: to go to work with your friends and and and

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Speaker 1: get to get to hang out, you get to play football,

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Speaker 1: you get to you're in the grind. You're you're in

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Speaker 1: this grind together. You you learn so much about different

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Speaker 1: people from different walks of life. It's this. There's nothing

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Speaker 1: like an NFL locker room, there's nothing like an NFL building.

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Speaker 1: It's just and so that's what I'm gonna miss. I'm yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'll miss playing. I'll miss you know, getting sacking quarterbacks

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Speaker 1: and all that. That's that was fun for sure. But

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Speaker 1: the day to day with guys, the day to day

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Speaker 1: with developing relationships, you know, with not only teammates and coaches,

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Speaker 1: but you know, the support staff. You know, the chefs

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Speaker 1: in the kitchen, the guys in the weight room, it's everybody,

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Speaker 1: the equipment, everybody. And I think that's definitely what I'm

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Speaker 1: going to miss the most is because that those relationships

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Speaker 1: are special. You said, you're not one to just sit

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Speaker 1: around and be idle, so they do. We know what

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Speaker 1: those next steps are yet not exactly but I'd know

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Speaker 1: what I'd want to do, and I want to stay

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Speaker 1: in football coaching, I think is the route that I

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Speaker 1: want to get into. Uh, I can't think. It kind

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Speaker 1: of speaks to the wanting to be in the football environment.

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Speaker 1: I just I love that, I love being around the

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Speaker 1: guys and I've you know, I know I have a

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Speaker 1: lot of wisdom I can pass on to guys and

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Speaker 1: hopefully help some younger guys become the become the players

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Speaker 1: that they want to be. And um, but yeah, I

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Speaker 1: just I want to stay in football. I love love

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Speaker 1: the game too much. This game loves you, the Burgundy

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Speaker 1: and goal loves you. You know. We're now voting on

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Speaker 1: the next ten to go. We have the eighty greatest

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Speaker 1: for now voting in the next ten for the ninety grades.

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Speaker 1: What would it mean for fans to make sure that

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Speaker 1: you're cemented in that list of one of the greatest

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Speaker 1: Ever'd be a tremendous honor. It's this is a very

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Speaker 1: historical franchise. I mean to be around as long as

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Speaker 1: it's been. To think of all the players that have

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Speaker 1: come through, the volume of players and also the quality

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Speaker 1: of players that have come through here. If I'm you know,

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Speaker 1: fortunate enough to be one of those and that's I mean,

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Speaker 1: it's a hell of an honor and that's not something I,

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Speaker 1: you know, take for granted. Congratulations, Ryan, thank you, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: nice to have you here. Good to have you back

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Speaker 1: in the building and forever of the Burgundy and Goal.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely thank you for all your news and analysis. Be

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Speaker 1: sure to tune in two Command Center week nights at

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Speaker 1: five thirty ten p m. On NBC Sports Washington. You

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Speaker 1: can also stream on YouTube and commanders dot com. Hail

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Speaker 1: to the Commanders