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Speaker 1: It is the g Bag Nation here on one oh

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Speaker 1: five three of the Fan, and we are fortunate enough

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Speaker 1: now to be joined in the lead up to the

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty one NFL Draft by Stephen Jones here on

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Speaker 1: your home of the Cowboys, and a good afternoon, sir.

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Speaker 1: How are you good afternoon? Guys doing well? We are

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Speaker 1: having a fantastic time talking about this. How tough is

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Speaker 1: it for you guys to know for sure what your

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Speaker 1: contingencies and plan look like with the tenth overall pick

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Speaker 1: six days out. You know, we feel good about it.

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Speaker 1: I think we're getting a heartbeat. You're always going to

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Speaker 1: have surprises. I mean, that's that's without comes knowing that's

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Speaker 1: probably gonna happen at the end of the day. But

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Speaker 1: you know, the more you get your hands around everything,

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Speaker 1: you know, we just feel really good about where we

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Speaker 1: where we sit right now, and you know there's going

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Speaker 1: to be a really, really good football player sitting there

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Speaker 1: for us. Uh. You know, when we pick, we don't

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Speaker 1: have to have everything fall just right and know that

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Speaker 1: things are. I think things are really going to work

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Speaker 1: out for us and we're going to come away with

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Speaker 1: a quality, quality football player. Steven, I don't know how

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Speaker 1: many fans realize this, but I believe I'm right in

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Speaker 1: assuming that like you guys and other NFL teams, you

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Speaker 1: guys do mock drafts, don't you to kind of see

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Speaker 1: how this might look in different ways? We actually do.

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Speaker 1: It's just, uh, you know, it's interesting because you know,

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Speaker 1: our guys are well versed in this and they obviously,

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Speaker 1: you know, have visited with different teams around the league

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Speaker 1: about different things, and you know, not on the road

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Speaker 1: as much as we normally are, so there's not as

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Speaker 1: much conversation. But you know, it's really good to go

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Speaker 1: through those mock grafts and see what. You know, you

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Speaker 1: never know when they're going to come up with a

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Speaker 1: scenario and one of those mock drafts that's interesting and

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Speaker 1: you have to address it and you you know, see

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Speaker 1: what that might mean. Now, you know, at the end

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Speaker 1: of the day, we think we cover most of them,

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Speaker 1: but it is you know, I think productives, you know,

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Speaker 1: in our particular case, I think they're sure productive. To

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Speaker 1: go through the first round and up to our second

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Speaker 1: pick in the second round there, then I think that's productive. Okay,

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Speaker 1: So I asked that because last year when I would

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Speaker 1: do the stupid mock draft simulators. Anytime that Cede Lamb

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Speaker 1: made it to seventeen, I would just reboot the simulator

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Speaker 1: because I'd be like, guys, that's not going to happen,

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Speaker 1: and then it did. So when you guys were doing that,

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Speaker 1: how often did you think you would have to consider

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Speaker 1: a receiver? You know, I don't think that we had one.

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Speaker 1: So I guess our MOC grafts weren't doing well in

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Speaker 1: terms of showing his Lamb because all the ones we

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Speaker 1: did never had it getting CD Lamb, and so it

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Speaker 1: was real interesting when he fell all the way to us.

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Speaker 1: And you know, obviously sometimes our MOC grafts and more

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Speaker 1: jaded with how we rate the board versus how the

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Speaker 1: league might rate the boarder. And you know, every team

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Speaker 1: has different systems, different offensive systems, different detensive systems, and yeah,

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Speaker 1: can write players differently, so you you know, you never

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Speaker 1: know for sure how things are going to shake out,

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Speaker 1: and you know, then you get into the needs that

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Speaker 1: teams have, and you know what they're really uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: what they may think as a unique player, we may

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Speaker 1: think is a good player, and vice versa. And so

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Speaker 1: it's that's why it's good to have those mock grass

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Speaker 1: and sometimes you probably can't have enough of them. Okay,

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Speaker 1: So I asked all of those just to get to

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Speaker 1: this when you guys are running those have you seen

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Speaker 1: any scenarios where no tight end is picked in the

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Speaker 1: top nine picks? Oh yeah, oh yeah, I mean you

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Speaker 1: don't have to look very far, just uh you have

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Speaker 1: a we have a version of what we call the

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Speaker 1: Cliffs and that really you know, compiles all the media

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Speaker 1: that's about the cowboys that we get every day and ship.

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Speaker 1: You don't have to look very far and see mock

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Speaker 1: grass that uh you know, have no tight end getting

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Speaker 1: picked in the top nine picks. So certainly, uh you

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Speaker 1: know that that wouldn't be a if you off your

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Speaker 1: feat scenario in terms of, you know, a tight end

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Speaker 1: not being picked in the top nine picks, because we

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Speaker 1: believe there's you know, especially if you just say, hey,

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Speaker 1: there's five quarterbacks that could go in the top ten.

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Speaker 1: I think there's gonna be you know, there's fourteen, fifteen

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Speaker 1: players that are worthy of being picked in the top ten.

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Speaker 1: If you say all five quarterbacks are Stephen, one of

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Speaker 1: your great secret weapons is Jerry. Just get him on

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Speaker 1: the phone. He gets those general managers to tell him

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Speaker 1: who he's gonna they're gonna pick. That's all you have

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Speaker 1: to do. Just let him start making. I've never seen it.

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Speaker 1: I've never seen a general manager get other general managers

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Speaker 1: to make to admit who they were gonna pick. You

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Speaker 1: have it. Not many of them will do it, but

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Speaker 1: every now and then you get one who will speak

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Speaker 1: up for you. So uh, it's it's it's rare. But Jerry,

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Speaker 1: if anybody could get someone to drop drop their drop

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Speaker 1: their shield, if you will, and get them maybe every

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Speaker 1: now and then to say what might be on their mind.

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Speaker 1: But I'd say that's probably pretty rare. Bright. No, I'll

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Speaker 1: tell you what I know. You and I You and

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Speaker 1: I have seen it, but it's not often. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: saw him do it with Carl Peterson and Frank Gill

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Speaker 1: him he had him on the phone. Each had him

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Speaker 1: on the phone, and then hey, you guys made the trade.

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Speaker 1: But Stephen, real quick, the how close and how difficult

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Speaker 1: has it been to have to evaluate with what you

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Speaker 1: have with Patrick Sartan and Jase Horne. I mean we're

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Speaker 1: talking like it could go either way. How has that

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Speaker 1: been in the war room for you guys, battling on

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Speaker 1: those two guys. Yeah, I mean, it's a obviously a

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Speaker 1: great debate. They're all, you know, they're top top top

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Speaker 1: players in the draft, and you know, they all, you know,

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Speaker 1: they have unique qualities. One has some that the other

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Speaker 1: doesn't have, and the other has some that the other

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Speaker 1: one might not have. So it's a you know, a

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Speaker 1: really unique debate. That debate goes on right now. I

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Speaker 1: can assure you there's been no no final decision on that.

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Speaker 1: But obviously, as you know, Brian, as we can get

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Speaker 1: into some very lengthy and long discussions and that'll obviously

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Speaker 1: probably only heat up and get even more intense as

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Speaker 1: you know, as we get into the first part of

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Speaker 1: next week, as you really start to roll up your

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Speaker 1: sleep stratgized and really get your board down to exactly

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Speaker 1: exactly how you want it. Talking draft here with Stephen Jones,

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Speaker 1: you know, talking about pitch. They're as good as he

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Speaker 1: is with you know, how Jerry's talked about him. Could

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Speaker 1: you see a scenario where he's on the board and

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Speaker 1: you still pass on him. Yeah, I'm not. I won't

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Speaker 1: get into that. That's just too much speculation for me.

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Speaker 1: You know, obviously, I said the other day. Uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: these tight end tight ends can be especially special. Ones

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Speaker 1: can be huge mismatches. And you know, you've seen New

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Speaker 1: England have a tremendous amount of success winning world championships

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Speaker 1: with it. Uh. Certainly, Kansas City's been dominant with uh

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Speaker 1: that's probably the best high in the league. And Kelsey

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Speaker 1: and even San Francisco with their tight end kettle. Really

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Speaker 1: I was a bit part of the reason, and they

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Speaker 1: made it to the Super Bowl a couple of years ago.

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Speaker 1: So now those guys are unique, and they certainly create

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Speaker 1: matchup issues. And certainly, uh, you know, Pitts is a

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Speaker 1: you know, a rare one, so you know he's a

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Speaker 1: great football player. Now, of course I haven't been here

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Speaker 1: trying to talk these uh you know, football lifers into

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Speaker 1: how fun it would be with four wide receivers, you know,

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Speaker 1: at premium assets and they look at me like I'm crazy, Steve,

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Speaker 1: Is there is there a law of diminishing return on

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Speaker 1: BPA at a certain position? Or could you stand in

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Speaker 1: there and fire again? Say that again? I'm sorry you

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Speaker 1: cut out. Is there a law when it comes to

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Speaker 1: BPA if you're stacked up at a at a position

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Speaker 1: like you know, we were talking about wide receiver and

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Speaker 1: another premium wide receiver would make it historic. Right, Is

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Speaker 1: there a law of diminishing return on BPA to you that, hey,

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Speaker 1: we just cannot do this one again or you know

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Speaker 1: where those players that good? I don't think so. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I just think when you you have those type of weapons.

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Speaker 1: Obviously you see Kansas City getting it done with you

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Speaker 1: know a lot of different weapons, and you know they're

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Speaker 1: they're explosive, and they're very difficult to match up with

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Speaker 1: and very difficult to uh, you know, to slow down. Well,

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Speaker 1: you know when they have a hot hand. Uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: they'll say, you know, the only thing to fibly slow

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Speaker 1: them a little is losing you know, los An offensive

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Speaker 1: line linemen, tackles, and even when you got great weapons

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Speaker 1: and a great quarterback, if you know, if you guy

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Speaker 1: didn't have time to throw it, then it creates issues.

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Speaker 1: And you know, obviously that was a big part of

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Speaker 1: our problem last year when we lost uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: three of our starters and you know then lost depth

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Speaker 1: to boot and uh, you know, it just creates issue

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Speaker 1: when you can't protect your quarterback and you can't and

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Speaker 1: it makes it difficult to run it as well, uh,

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Speaker 1: certainly a cad. Yeah, and you don't have that group

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Speaker 1: up front that you used to h it's not it's

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Speaker 1: a different look when you get the ball. How appealing

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Speaker 1: does that potentially make, um a couple of guys that

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Speaker 1: are maybe left tackles in college but could play guard

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Speaker 1: in the NFL if you have the right guy available

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Speaker 1: at tend there? Do you guys factor in Tyrant's health

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Speaker 1: and is else going to be back all the way

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Speaker 1: and consider kind of doubling down on the strength of

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Speaker 1: the team there. Well, I'll start with the fact that

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Speaker 1: we believed that both Tyran and Lyle and Zach are

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Speaker 1: going to come into this season as as good as

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Speaker 1: we've seen them in a long time. I mean, they're

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Speaker 1: they're healthy there, they're over their injuries, which feel very optimistic.

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Speaker 1: H you know what they can do and uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's a huge class that they've really kind amazing. Uh

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Speaker 1: you know, after they had their injuries, they rehab from them,

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Speaker 1: and we felt like, you know, they're they're ready to

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Speaker 1: roll and not only we're gonna have a great year

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Speaker 1: this year, but several years to come. So well that's

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Speaker 1: a huge plus. But at the end of the day. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: we had as much success as anyone taking up a

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Speaker 1: left tackle in college and make them an All Pro

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Speaker 1: guard in Zack Martin and certainly Connor Williams has done

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Speaker 1: a nice job for us. But certainly those left tackles

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Speaker 1: in college, you know, depending on their length and how

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Speaker 1: you feel about them, can move down in there and

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Speaker 1: do you know, become very special as a guard at

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Speaker 1: our level. Stephen, this might be an unfair question because

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Speaker 1: you're still working through your your board and stuff, but

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Speaker 1: are you noticing like a pocket of different positions where

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Speaker 1: there seems to be three, four or five guys stacked

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Speaker 1: in there in certain rounds? Is there a couple positions

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Speaker 1: that you can you can kind of talk to us

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Speaker 1: about that. Hey, Brian, I've seen these cornerbacks, these defensive ends,

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Speaker 1: offensive tackles as are something that you've you've kind of

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Speaker 1: noticed a little bit of a trend that you've seen

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Speaker 1: a bunch of quality pocket of players at Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: think there's some some spots that some years are better

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Speaker 1: than others, some years or worse than others. I will

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Speaker 1: say this, it seems like there's always a bunch of receivers.

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Speaker 1: You know, obviously with the college game where it's gone.

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Speaker 1: You know, they certainly are producing the receivers and you

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Speaker 1: get to see them do it, you know, time and

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Speaker 1: time again and they just, uh, you know, finished up

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Speaker 1: another round of going through receivers again, and boy, it's

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Speaker 1: makes your eyes blur at the end because there's you know,

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Speaker 1: there is a large quantity of receivers throughout the draft,

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Speaker 1: but you do get positions at times where you see, hey,

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Speaker 1: this is where we have some offensive lineman ranks, and

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Speaker 1: you know, we might have an opportunity there if we're

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Speaker 1: willing to be patient, maybe to pick someone up there

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Speaker 1: where there's quite a few guys that we have, you know,

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Speaker 1: ranked more you know, middle of the type draft that

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Speaker 1: might be a good fit for us. Stephen, thanks so

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Speaker 1: much for making time. We look forward to catching up

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Speaker 1: with you next week. Hey. Thanks, it's always a pleasure

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Speaker 1: to be on