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Speaker 1: Your tunes about drive on your twenty four to seven

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Speaker 1: home of the Black and Goal Steelers Nation Radio. Back

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Speaker 1: on the Drive here on a Tuesday to the phone lines,

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Speaker 1: we go to catch up with our buddy Allan Saunders,

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Speaker 1: of course covers the Steelers for Steelers Now. He has

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Speaker 1: been on the Allen Saunders World Tour, Shrine Ball, Senior Ball,

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Speaker 1: super Bowl, all of the balls. I'm trying to get

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Speaker 1: him involved in the next turkey ball in the backyard

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Speaker 1: as he is just globe trotting here and we do

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Speaker 1: want to get into all of that with you, Allen.

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Speaker 1: But first of all, let's start Steelers local here before

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Speaker 1: we get into some other happenings across the NFL. A

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Speaker 1: conversation that Matt and I were just kind of having

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Speaker 1: in our first segment about Aaron Rodgers Steelers quarterback, you know,

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Speaker 1: off season approach. We kind of said that we feel

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Speaker 1: like it's fifty percent chance it'll be Aaron Rodgers fifty

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Speaker 1: percent the field.

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Speaker 2: Do you agree with that?

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Speaker 1: Is that does that numbers that percentage need changed? Is

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Speaker 1: it already a foregone conclusion in your mind that Aaron's

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Speaker 1: going to be back? What's kind of your a lot

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Speaker 1: of time still to lapse here. But what's kind of

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Speaker 1: your your temperature gauge on this is we're here in

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Speaker 1: early February.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I think maybe a little over fifty percent.

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Speaker 4: I think i'd take I think i'd take Aaron Rodgers

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Speaker 4: against the field right now.

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Speaker 3: Uh.

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Speaker 4: You know, obviously, the big question is what does Aaron

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Speaker 4: want to do? Does he want to keep playing? If

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Speaker 4: he wants to keep playing, does he want it to

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Speaker 4: be in Pittsburgh. I think those questions are very hard

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Speaker 4: to answer. I don't think Aaron's ever been an easy

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Speaker 4: guy to get inside of his head, and the decision

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Speaker 4: about whether to keep playing is very personal, you know.

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Speaker 4: I just I have a hard time, you know, feeling

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Speaker 4: like anybody externally would be able to even sort of

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Speaker 4: suss that information out. But I do think the fact

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Speaker 4: that Mike McCarthy said, yeah, I talked to.

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Speaker 3: Aaron Rodgers in his press conference and.

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Speaker 4: Said he would love to have him back, I mean

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Speaker 4: to me, if I'm Mike McCarthy and I talked to

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Speaker 4: Aaron Rodgers and the vibe I was getting this probably.

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Speaker 3: Isn't gonna happen. That might be something I would keep

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Speaker 3: to myself, right I mean I would be.

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Speaker 4: Broadcasting like, yeah, I want this guy if I think

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Speaker 4: it's not gonna happen. So I think the Steelers would

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Speaker 4: love to have him back. I don't see a lot

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Speaker 4: of better options out there for them as a team,

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Speaker 4: and I think reading the tea leaves a little bit

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Speaker 4: it seems like that's at least possible in their line

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Speaker 4: of thinking.

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Speaker 3: So I'll take Aaron Rodgers over the field.

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Speaker 4: I don't know how buy how much, but yeah, I

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Speaker 4: mean I think that's the guy right now.

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Speaker 5: I think that's well said, and I tend to agree

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Speaker 5: with everything you said. What's your opinion though on or

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Speaker 5: what kind of grade would you give it or would

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Speaker 5: you approve of your personal opinion not theirs? If they

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Speaker 5: were to run it back with the same three guys.

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Speaker 5: I mean, I mean what you said about not being

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Speaker 5: a lot of other options is important.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, like a scene, it's I guess it's not great.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I don't think he'll be better, you know,

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Speaker 4: maybe a little bit more comfortable with Mike McCarthy's offensive

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Speaker 4: scheme from day one than he was with Arthur Smith's

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Speaker 4: I suppose, But balance that against the natural sort of

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Speaker 4: age progression curve.

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Speaker 3: He's at the steep end of it.

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Speaker 4: I mean, let's let's be honest, not too many guys

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Speaker 4: at that age have been even average, let alone good,

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Speaker 4: and so I wouldn't expect it to go great. I

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Speaker 4: just don't see a lot of options that excite me

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Speaker 4: a lot more than that and some of the other ones.

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Speaker 3: You know, you can still bring Aaron.

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Speaker 4: Rodgers back and also take a chance on a guy

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Speaker 4: in the draft that doesn't have to be either or sure.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, well, but I don't know that Rudolph has to

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Speaker 5: come back.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, he is the one guy that I would say,

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Speaker 4: look right now, I think you know, you line up

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Speaker 4: the three from last year and say, okay, but maybe

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Speaker 4: you get to the fourth round ud of the draft

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Speaker 4: and and Drew Aller is sitting there maybe uh yeah,

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Speaker 4: Trinidad Schrambliss ends up having to go into the draft

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Speaker 4: sort of against his will and sitting there with maybe

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Speaker 4: that comp pick of theirs at the end of the

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Speaker 4: third round, you say, hey.

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Speaker 3: This is good value. Let's go try guys that.

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Speaker 4: I don't think you need to bring Mason Rudolph back necessarily.

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Speaker 4: Mike McCarthy has spoken a lot about Will Howard more

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Speaker 4: than than Mike Tomlin did in terms of providing some

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Speaker 4: optimism for the fan base, in terms of saying, hey,

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Speaker 4: this is something that I think we can do. I

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Speaker 4: felt like Mike Tomlin was always very much on the

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Speaker 4: other side of that as sort of seeing the fan

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Speaker 4: base that and I created a monster with the excitement

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Speaker 4: for Will Howard and was maybe trying, if anything, trying

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Speaker 4: to quell that a little bit. Uh, because he's been

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Speaker 4: very open about being excited about working with Will Howard.

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Speaker 4: So I wouldn't rule him out as a long term

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Speaker 4: plan certally, wouldn't expect him to start this year, at

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Speaker 4: least in the first half of it. But if you

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Speaker 4: want to go into the year with Howard and some

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Speaker 4: other young guy and Rogers, I don't think that's a

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Speaker 4: terrible approach.

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Speaker 5: I don't either, and it sounds nuts, but if you

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Speaker 5: think it through, I think it's one hundred percent true.

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Speaker 5: Of any quarterback walking the planet right now, the one

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Speaker 5: that I'm most sure will be in La Trobe is

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Speaker 5: Will Howard.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think that's far That is.

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Speaker 4: Like Rogers has been very good about working with Howard,

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Speaker 4: like he seems like a guy you want to mentor

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Speaker 4: a young quarterback did it with love and Green Bay.

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Speaker 4: So yeah, I mean I don't there's it's not a

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Speaker 4: great situation, period. No, there are a lots reasons to

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Speaker 4: like that approach compared to the other available options.

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Speaker 1: I think that's well said, and so let's go down

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Speaker 1: that route for a minute here, guys, if it's Aaron Rodgers,

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Speaker 1: Will Howard and insert another young rookie quarterback, Alan, do

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Speaker 1: you have an a you know you were on with

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Speaker 1: us during the Shrine Ball.

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Speaker 2: I think it was two weeks ago.

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Speaker 1: And we kind of had this similar conversation, but the

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Speaker 1: Senior Ball has come and gone since then. We now

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Speaker 1: know Trinidad. John Bliss is going to be involved in

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Speaker 1: this draft class now too. Is there a name we

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Speaker 1: all know? Mendoza is QB number one, and I think

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Speaker 1: a lot of people are starting to kind of chisel in.

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Speaker 1: Ty Simpson is number two. But would there be somebody

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Speaker 1: you'd be interested in?

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Speaker 2: Alan?

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Speaker 1: Is that bring this guy in, Let him compete with

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Speaker 1: Will Howard for a backup spot, Let him learn from

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Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers for a year and maybe he could be

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Speaker 1: the guy in twenty twenty seven?

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Speaker 2: Is there anybody that fits that? Bill in your mind.

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Speaker 4: Currently, I think I'm probably most intrigued. I drew aller

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Speaker 4: of the rest of the class, because I think he

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Speaker 4: does have all the physical tools that you need. Clearly

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Speaker 4: things didn't go well. I mean even you know this

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Speaker 4: year and before the before the injury, things were not

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Speaker 4: going well.

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Speaker 3: He has had struggles in big games.

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Speaker 4: There's no question, I think always though, when you're looking

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Speaker 4: at someone you know you can't teach height and arm strength,

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Speaker 4: those are kind of they are.

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Speaker 3: What they are.

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Speaker 4: I would rather take, especially when you already have Will Howard,

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Speaker 4: who kind of feels like a guy who you know

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Speaker 4: has back up floor. Basically, I would be fine with

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Speaker 4: taking a swing and a guy who might be a

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Speaker 4: total bust, who just might never figure out the mental

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Speaker 4: part of the game and may not even be playable

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Speaker 4: as a backup, but does have the physical tools and

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Speaker 4: you can envision maybe someday figuring it out.

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Speaker 5: And if you flush a fourth round pick on them,

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Speaker 5: so be it. Yeah, I mean it's worth the risk.

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Speaker 3: I mean, they have well filk, they're gonna flush a

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Speaker 3: couple of them anyway. Yeah, may as well take a

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Speaker 3: big swing with one of them.

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Speaker 5: Did anyone at the Senior Bowl at that position stand

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Speaker 5: out or pique your interest more than the rest.

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Speaker 4: Well, I thought not Smeyer was really good. I just

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Speaker 4: think he's like, if.

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Speaker 3: You already have Will Howard, there's a lot of the

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Speaker 3: same you're getting in there. Yeah. Yeah, I just thought

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Speaker 3: that doesn't excite me.

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Speaker 4: For the Steelers, I thought he had a really good

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Speaker 4: Senior Bowl for him and probably for me, established himself

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Speaker 4: as sort.

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Speaker 3: Of worst quarterback four in this class.

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Speaker 4: Depending on where you put Shambliss if he does end

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Speaker 4: up in this class. I don't know, waiting on a

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Speaker 4: Mississippi judge to just throw a ranch in that process

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Speaker 4: because I don't know why I feel like it's coming.

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Speaker 3: But yeah, I feel like he did really well.

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Speaker 4: I just had for the Steelers, that doesn't That doesn't

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Speaker 4: excite me. I guess some of the other guys that

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Speaker 4: were there that are more athletic Taylor Green about him, Well,

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Speaker 4: the thing about him is you kind of get two

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Speaker 4: bites of the apple because if the quarterback thing doesn't work,

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Speaker 4: maybe you can turn him into Taysom Hill. And if

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Speaker 4: you want to throw Day three pick on him, I'd

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Speaker 4: be fine with that. But I mean that's a that's

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Speaker 4: a big project.

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Speaker 3: That's yeah.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, that's way down the road, a year away from

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Speaker 5: being a year away, you know, right.

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Speaker 1: Alan Saunders with us here on the Drive on Steelers

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Speaker 1: Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network. Alan, as I

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Speaker 1: mentioned at the start, you've kind of been on this

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Speaker 1: world tour. You've been in Texas and Alabama and California,

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Speaker 1: you've been everywhere. Man, at the Super Bowl Sunday night,

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Speaker 1: of course, as the Seahawks capture Super Bowl sixty over

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Speaker 1: the New England Patriots, just you paint the picture a

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Speaker 1: little bit for us what it was like there. Looked

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Speaker 1: like fun, good weather, nice environment out in California. And

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Speaker 1: then of course just kind of your your biggest takeaways

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Speaker 1: from from Seattle Super Bowl triumph.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, the weather was fantastics actually hot, just like seven

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Speaker 3: two degrees and I was.

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Speaker 4: Wearing a sport coat in the sun and I was like, man,

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Speaker 4: I've sliped a little bit here, but.

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Speaker 3: The weather was beautiful.

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Speaker 4: Tough tough venue to host a Super Bowl, being very

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Speaker 4: far from San Francisco.

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Speaker 3: But I love the stadium itself.

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Speaker 4: It's real tight footprint, real like high vertical stands, every gear.

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Speaker 4: They feels like you're on top of the game. It

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Speaker 4: was my first time there, so I really enjoyed that

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Speaker 4: part of it.

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Speaker 3: And uh, man, I don't know.

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Speaker 4: I saw a lot of people complaining on social media

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Speaker 4: about this game, and I'm like, I don't know, man,

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Speaker 4: that was an absolute defensive takedown of a guy who

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Speaker 4: was two votes or three votes away.

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Speaker 3: From being MVP.

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Speaker 4: I mean, I was having a blast watching that. Seattle

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Speaker 4: defense just absolutely demolished New England. I thought it was

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Speaker 4: an all time great performance, especially from a unit that

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Speaker 4: just does.

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Speaker 3: Not have standout stars.

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Speaker 4: I mean, Witherspoon is a really good player, but they

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Speaker 4: didn't have a guy in the top five defensive Player

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Speaker 4: of the Year voting, and that's one of the best

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Speaker 4: defensive performances I can remember at the Super Bowl.

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Speaker 3: I thought it was great watch.

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Speaker 4: I understand the people at home maybe didn't necessarily agree

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Speaker 4: with that, but I was moved by it.

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Speaker 5: Hell, and I don't know how much homework you've done

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Speaker 5: on it, but I assume you're on top of it.

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Speaker 5: But Wes and I are going to talk Steeler cap

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Speaker 5: casualties in the second hour. Could you see Ramsey or

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Speaker 5: Queen being in jeopardy?

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Speaker 3: Probably not purely from a salary cap standpoint. But it

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Speaker 3: is the last year.

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Speaker 4: Of Queen's deal going into it, Ramsey has no more

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Speaker 4: guaranteed money after this year on his deal and relatively

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Speaker 4: little at that. So for me, both of those are

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Speaker 4: guys you got to have a conversation with this offseason

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Speaker 4: if you're the Pittsburgh Steelers, and depending on how those

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Speaker 4: conversations go, I think deciding to.

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Speaker 3: Move on could be prudent.

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Speaker 4: You're not making enough in cap space for letting either

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Speaker 4: of those guys go to feel good about going back

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Speaker 4: into free agency and signing a better replacement.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, there's not.

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Speaker 5: It's not someone waiting in the wings on a third

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Speaker 5: round pick that's just bursting to get on the field either.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: I mean they don't even have a corner and safety

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Speaker 4: whichever you want to consider Ramsey. I mean, they have

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Speaker 4: some work to do in free agency. It's it's Order

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Speaker 4: and Eccles and sebassing Castro.

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Speaker 3: I mean, those are the other guys that they have

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Speaker 3: right now. So yeah, I don't I don't see it.

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Speaker 3: And they have a ton of cab space. What's what's

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Speaker 3: the cab cap going on?

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Speaker 4: They would need to be making that they'd be wanting

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Speaker 4: to cut guys just from a salary cap standpoint. But

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Speaker 4: if you go into a conversation with the guy about

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Speaker 4: his future and his contract and you say, hey, we

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Speaker 4: want to be here, they want to be way over here.

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Speaker 3: This is probably not going to work out long term.

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Speaker 3: Maybe you decide to make a move. But I I

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Speaker 3: I think from a pure cap standpoint, I'm a little skeptical.

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Speaker 5: Do you think Pierre is someone though actively try to

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Speaker 5: bring back? That would be my first call.

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Speaker 3: I would be trying to bring back Pierre and Samuel.

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Speaker 3: I don't think you're gonna have enough corners.

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Speaker 4: But you know, it's a new coaching staff, so I

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Speaker 4: mean they're gonna have different opinions about these guys. They're

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Speaker 4: not gonna see the same things. But Joe Witt is

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Speaker 4: coming in to run the secondary. It's gonna be a

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Speaker 4: very different, schematically looking secondary. So I don't know how

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Speaker 4: much Cover three you're gonna see. And if that's the case,

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Speaker 4: is James Pierre as valuable to you as he was before,

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Speaker 4: I don't know, it might be a different preference. So yeah,

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Speaker 4: I mean, I think both of those guys are good

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Speaker 4: enough to be a starting corner opposite Joey Porter Junior

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Speaker 4: that's fine with me, but I don't know, it could

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Speaker 4: be a different direction.

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Speaker 5: I don't know about you, but and I haven't given

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Speaker 5: this enough thought, but I'm having a harder time projecting

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Speaker 5: scheme fits for additions to the roster on defense than

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Speaker 5: I am offense. And part of that's just because Patrick

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Speaker 5: Graham such a chameleon with the schemes.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I don't you know.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I feel good about they're gonna stay

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Speaker 4: in the three four, you know, base.

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Speaker 3: I feel good about that.

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Speaker 4: And you can kind of look at most of what

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Speaker 4: he's done and the sort of Belichick Tree stuff filtered

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Speaker 4: through Flores who's been here, and there was already some

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Speaker 4: of that around, and I think I can kind of

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Speaker 4: get a good idea of what to expect from the

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Speaker 4: front seven perspective.

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Speaker 3: Secondary is a total wild card for me because Graham

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Speaker 3: has done it several different ways, Witt has.

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Speaker 4: Done it a couple different ways, and then you have

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Speaker 4: this personnel that was running, you know, different stuff. But

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Speaker 4: the idea, the basic idea of the defense was it

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Speaker 4: was a cover three defense. And now I really have

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Speaker 4: no idea what kind of coverage they want to run

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Speaker 4: to try to pick secondary guys that fit it.

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Speaker 1: It's a fun kind of whole new world for us

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Speaker 1: all here this offseason, certainly alan last one for you

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Speaker 1: to kind of circle back to a big picture topic here.

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Speaker 1: There was a lot of debate, a lot of rage,

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Speaker 1: a lot of anger in some NFL Hall of Fame

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Speaker 1: conversations and discussions over the last couple of weeks. Put

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Speaker 1: on your or grab your crystal ball for us a

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Speaker 1: year from now or I guess maybe fifty one weeks

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Speaker 1: from now. Are we all going to be happy because

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Speaker 1: Benjamin Todd Roethlisberger is going to be a first ballot

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Speaker 1: Hall of Famer? Are we all going to be kicking

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Speaker 1: and screaming and they're going to do some nonsense and

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Speaker 1: try and get Eli in there and make Ben.

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Speaker 2: Wait, you think Ben is going to be a first

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Speaker 2: ballot guy in twenty seven?

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Speaker 3: Man, that's become a tough thing to predict.

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Speaker 4: I would have told you three weeks ago that was

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Speaker 4: pretty sure Bill.

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Speaker 3: Belichick was getting in. Yeah, that's for sure.

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Speaker 4: I do think the process is a little more or

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Speaker 4: sensical when it comes to the modern era guys. I

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Speaker 4: feel a little bit better about that. I think he

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Speaker 4: should be in. I don't see a reason in this class.

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Speaker 4: There's not a player out there that I would think, Hey,

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Speaker 4: this guy's got to go in ahead of him. Certainly

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Speaker 4: there are other, I think first ballot types, but I

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Speaker 4: think there's room for Ben Roethlisberger there. I think Eli

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Speaker 4: Manning's Hall of Famer too. I hate that the rules

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Speaker 4: and the voting have gotten more restrictive. I've always felt

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Speaker 4: like the Pro Football Hall of Fame, because it started

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Speaker 4: so late into the NFL, has just had this big

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Speaker 4: backlog of guys that are very, very representative of what

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Speaker 4: a Hall of Fame resume looks.

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Speaker 3: Like that haven't been able to get in.

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Speaker 4: Guys who were very obvious Hall of famers have had

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Speaker 4: to wait years and years to get in. I don't

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Speaker 4: really see who that benefits. I hope the Hall of

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Speaker 4: Fame changes the process. I hope the outrage over Belichick

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Speaker 4: forces them to change the process and maybe we'll get

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Speaker 4: an eight or nine player class again. And if that happens,

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Speaker 4: then I think it's one hundred percent.

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Speaker 3: Then Roethlisberger's how about a B. No, I.

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Speaker 4: Don't think that you're gonna get guys. I think his

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Speaker 4: resume is interesting.

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Speaker 2: I think he's a yes for me.

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Speaker 5: I'm not saying he's gonna go next year.

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Speaker 4: I don't think you're gonna get guys who covered him

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Speaker 4: contemporarily to ever.

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Speaker 3: Vote him in.

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Speaker 4: I think if he gets in eventually, it will be

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Speaker 4: because somebody ten fifteen years down the line lines up

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Speaker 4: the statistics and says, hey, this guy's worthy.

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Speaker 3: But I don't know.

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Speaker 4: You know, they talked about with Too about hey, you

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Speaker 4: know he.

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Speaker 3: Was a locker room problem, and that's why they made

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Speaker 3: him wait a year.

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Speaker 4: Well, if t O was a locker room problem, what

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Speaker 4: the heck was Antonio Brown? I mean, there's a whole

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Speaker 4: different category of locker room problem there, including it up

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Speaker 4: until quitting in the middle of a game, and so.

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Speaker 3: The stats are there, certainly.

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Speaker 4: But I think it's it's probably something that's down the

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Speaker 4: road for him, if at all.

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Speaker 1: Well, speaking of down the road, Alan, thank you for

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Speaker 1: taking the time, and hopefully we'll catch up with you

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Speaker 1: down the road here in a couple of weeks at

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Speaker 1: the combine. Maybe we'll run this little trio back here

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Speaker 1: on Radio Row in a couple of weeks. Thank you

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Speaker 1: for taking the time, as always, partner, and hopefully you're

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Speaker 1: getting recalibrated from your last few weekends on the road.

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Speaker 4: Heck yeah, taking a couple of weeks laying low and

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Speaker 4: then we'll see an Indy.

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Speaker 1: Sounds good, little little combine, talk in some shrimp cocktail

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Speaker 1: with our buddy, Allan Saunders.

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Speaker 2: Take care, dude, we'll talk to you soon. Thank you.

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Speaker 2: There he goes Alan Saunders Steelers.

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Speaker 1: Now make sure you're checking out all his coverage as

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Speaker 1: we get into the combine and off season. Great stuff

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Speaker 1: with Alan as always, thanks to him for taking the

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Speaker 1: time