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Speaker 1: This is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson

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Speaker 1: on your home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Drive. I'm Dale Lollie. He is Matt

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Speaker 1: Williamson and Matt we're let me continue down the road

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Speaker 1: here of where we started on Monday, because we looked

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Speaker 1: at the Steelers offense position by position. Uh, going through

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Speaker 1: the the positions position by position, highly redundant. But I

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Speaker 1: just wanted to take a little rusty then all of

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Speaker 1: a sudden fall apart. Yeah. Um, I just wanted to

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Speaker 1: take a look at the defense today in this first

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Speaker 1: segment and kind of go over what we thought of

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Speaker 1: that charge of the point. Yeah, absolutely so. On the

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Speaker 1: defensive line, uh, Camp Heyward, Larry, Ogen, Joebi, Montrevious Adams

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Speaker 1: around mid season replaced Tyson and Lulu in the starting lineup,

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Speaker 1: even though in the grand scheme of by by the

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Speaker 1: end of the season they had played about the same

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Speaker 1: amount of snaps. Yeah, and I mean their nose tackles

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Speaker 1: and they're not gonna be highs volume guys anyway. I

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Speaker 1: mean against the Ravens they played a little bit more,

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Speaker 1: but all in all they were eight snaps for a

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Speaker 1: Lulu twelve for Adam. You know that that just wasn't right.

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Speaker 1: It's not a high impact. That's why when when when

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Speaker 1: the people talk about taking a nose tackle, a true

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Speaker 1: nose tackle in the first round of the draft, you

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Speaker 1: can't do it. No, no, you definitely can't. Like I

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Speaker 1: want I want extra Lawrence, you know, I mean guys

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Speaker 1: that don't leave, they've better be able to rush the past.

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Speaker 1: They've gotta be able to rush the pass. Or they

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Speaker 1: can be three fifty, they can be three twenty. So

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Speaker 1: the word knows can be a little misleading. I don't

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Speaker 1: want will Fork, I don't want Hampton. You know, it's

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Speaker 1: just times have changed, and you had the young guys

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Speaker 1: on there as well. In addition into a Lululu to

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Speaker 1: Marvin Leo, Isaiah louder Milk, Jonathan Marshall. They signed after

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Speaker 1: Tyson after Chris Warmley went down. Um, so that's your group.

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Speaker 1: But if you look at this group, Ogan joebi unrestricted

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Speaker 1: the agent, Lulu kind of expected to retire, but he's

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Speaker 1: an unrestricted free agent, and Monterrey uh More Montre and

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Speaker 1: Wormley's a unrestricted free agent as well. He's dealing with

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Speaker 1: a you know, coming back off of a knee injury. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I was a shortsighted with it, but I just wrote

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Speaker 1: an article about the how I would do my offseason

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Speaker 1: defensive plan. I thought Adams was up as well, but

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Speaker 1: they wisely have him around for two years and I

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Speaker 1: think he's good enough as the ten snap a game

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Speaker 1: nose guy. But I would also look to get a

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Speaker 1: youngster or Javon Harder. I mean, somebody that's not just

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Speaker 1: a nose, you know, and the Javon Hargrave stuff. I

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Speaker 1: see people he may mentioning that he signed for thirteen

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Speaker 1: million dollars a year. The last time he's to be

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Speaker 1: he's gonna be. Oh, I can about So. I mean

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Speaker 1: that that early second could be the Baylor kid if

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Speaker 1: I think he can run and rush the past or

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Speaker 1: well enough, you know. But I'm My point was I'm

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Speaker 1: happy Adams is there. I think Lulu should retire. To

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Speaker 1: be honest with you, I don't think he should be

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Speaker 1: in the mix. I thought that became pretty evident. Um.

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Speaker 1: Adams to me is that too. But he has a

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Speaker 1: specific role in this defense, so he has value. Um.

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Speaker 1: I think this is really interesting because as a group,

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Speaker 1: I thought they played well if we're just analyzing how

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Speaker 1: did the d lineman play last year as opposed to

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Speaker 1: what the plan is, I think it was quite well,

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Speaker 1: you know there before so if you look at and

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Speaker 1: I know everybody looks at sacrit which I think is misleading. Now,

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Speaker 1: the run defense was markedly better this year, right, markedly better,

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Speaker 1: like almost a full yard per carry as opposed to

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Speaker 1: about worse than the league. It was about best in

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Speaker 1: the league, you know, I mean, you know, so that

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Speaker 1: matters with this group. But the sacks fell off they

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Speaker 1: had I think is a group they had like twelve

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Speaker 1: and a half sacks and Cam Hayward had ten, and

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Speaker 1: the non Hayward sacks of the games players you just

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Speaker 1: mentioned isn't good enough, and that doesn't reflect well on

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Speaker 1: ogan Job. I don't know what to do with him

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Speaker 1: in terms of bringing him back or not. It depends

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Speaker 1: on what they think. I don't know what he's gonna

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Speaker 1: ask for. Yeah, you're not gonna get him at this

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Speaker 1: deal the Bears. Yeah, but there's also you know, they

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Speaker 1: know better than anybody else what kind of injuries he

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Speaker 1: was dealing over the course of the season. Every Wednesday,

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Speaker 1: Ogan Job's out with it. And even when they signed him,

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Speaker 1: he wasn't healthy, So is the best yet to come?

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Speaker 1: Have you seen enough glimpses? Are your trainers saying, boy,

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Speaker 1: this guy is toughing it out and you know it

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Speaker 1: probably shouldn't be out there, but is anyway? So that

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Speaker 1: one's going to be really telling if they lock him

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Speaker 1: up immediately or if they play the field a little

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Speaker 1: bit um, But they need somebody like him and another

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Speaker 1: and either like that early second nose tackle type or

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Speaker 1: you know, somebody from outside the organization. I'm also not

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Speaker 1: opposed to bring him Wormley back. I was depending on

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Speaker 1: what his prognosis is on the knee injury suffered it. Yeah, um,

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Speaker 1: I actually wrote that today. To being a defensive alignment

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Speaker 1: is a little bit different than being a skill position

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Speaker 1: player coming back off of one of those knee injuries.

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Speaker 1: And he is what he is at this point, he

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Speaker 1: was worth trading for. He's valuable. He's a four. I

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Speaker 1: mean two years ago he was asked to be at

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Speaker 1: two and you know they didn't see the two its

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Speaker 1: stuff coming. And you know, Lulu got hurt too, so

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Speaker 1: everybody got thrust up the ladder a little bit. But

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Speaker 1: if you could keep him at four or five. I

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Speaker 1: think you're really got something because he's a good player,

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Speaker 1: but he's not a star. Yeah. Is it put up

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Speaker 1: or shut up time for louder Milk. I mean he's

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Speaker 1: gonna be in camp. I mean three, year three. I

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Speaker 1: mean you you would expect him to take a step forward.

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Speaker 1: He got hurt at the end of training camp, that

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Speaker 1: didn't and then Leal, you know, ends up passing him by.

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Speaker 1: Those guys are active on game days, so there's not

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Speaker 1: a lot of hats to give, and you know he's

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Speaker 1: he can't play the those so he's strictly an end.

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Speaker 1: And you had you know, you've got Ogen Joe, but

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Speaker 1: you've got Hayward, you had Warmly who was those guys

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Speaker 1: and then you throw Lee all into the mix and

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden, it's like, Okay, he's lost in

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Speaker 1: the shuffle. Yeah exactly, And he got a hat late.

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Speaker 1: But he's never been a a real impact guy yet.

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Speaker 1: But he's flashed in preseason. I liked his rookie year

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Speaker 1: what I saw, so I'm not ready to like throw

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Speaker 1: him out yet, but you better do something in year

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Speaker 1: three or already get forgotten quick. He has he has to.

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Speaker 1: You would think next year become at least warmly agreed agreed,

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Speaker 1: or you're gonna have to look elsewhere because the problem

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Speaker 1: is that you can't expect him Heyward to continue to

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Speaker 1: play the snaps every game, I know. I mean that's

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Speaker 1: asking a lot. He probably still will because that's who

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Speaker 1: he is, but eventually you're, you know, you're it gets

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Speaker 1: too risky. I mean, that's that's not the smartest move.

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Speaker 1: But when I looked at this, you know, through my article,

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Speaker 1: I only played like two or fifty snaps this year.

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Speaker 1: I mean there was some injuries involved, like he might

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Speaker 1: be a seven hundred guy next year. I mean, and

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Speaker 1: that the old end. But is he making plays? Is that?

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Speaker 1: You know, that doesn't mean A lot of that was

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Speaker 1: him also playing out of position exactly. He's standing up

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Speaker 1: on the end and things like that, doing things of

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Speaker 1: that nature. And again, you know, part of that job

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Speaker 1: is the run, stopping stuff and taking on blockers to

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Speaker 1: allow other guys to make the plays, and he did

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Speaker 1: a good job of that. I think he's athletic. Yeah, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, I like what I've seen. You'd like to

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Speaker 1: see some more pass rush come out of him. Maybe

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Speaker 1: that develops here going into the year. Two. But I

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Speaker 1: definitely think the arra has pointed up with him. I mean,

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Speaker 1: one of the questions why he was a third round

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Speaker 1: pick not a second round pick was is he a

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Speaker 1: d tackle? Is he an end? And he stand up?

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Speaker 1: You know, I mean it's hard to say what exactly

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Speaker 1: he is. Do you think their plan for him is

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Speaker 1: to make him Aaron Smith Cam Heyward three for d

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Speaker 1: end or just move them all over? It was gonna

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Speaker 1: be the pensive lineman that that'll be good for him.

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Speaker 1: Looking at the outside linebacker, the edge position, you had

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Speaker 1: what you had High Smith, Malik Reid was there. They

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Speaker 1: traded for him in the in the preseason. He's also

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Speaker 1: a free agent. Yeah, he's a free agent. And then

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Speaker 1: you had um Jamor Jones, j Jones, Yeah, yeah, I

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Speaker 1: like Jamior Jones. I mean, if he's your four and

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Speaker 1: he was one of the core special teamers, he's cheap.

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Speaker 1: He'll be back. He's an exclusive rights guy. Okay, But

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Speaker 1: the three is my question, you know, And if we're

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Speaker 1: going out grades for the year, high Smith get today. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, if we're talking about if you're looking at

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Speaker 1: this going in the next season, assuming you're going to

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Speaker 1: work off the assumption going in the next year. The

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Speaker 1: t J. Watt is on a percent healthy going at

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Speaker 1: the start of the year, and from what you saw

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Speaker 1: at Alex hig Smith, high Smith this year finished I

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Speaker 1: think third in the a f C and Sacks Yeah right,

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Speaker 1: right right, that's gonna be one of the top two

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Speaker 1: or three edge rushing edge rushing doo is in the

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Speaker 1: league going in the next season. I agree. I agree,

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Speaker 1: and I think it's time to start talking extension for

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Speaker 1: high Smith. I mean, he's at that point where I

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Speaker 1: thought he proved so much when What was out, you know,

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Speaker 1: I mean people were starting to He's only doing that

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Speaker 1: because this has gone now. The production continued once what

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Speaker 1: was out and teams started to double him. That's what

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Speaker 1: I said, Hey, a step further, as you start watching

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Speaker 1: some of these teams, they're like, well they were on

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Speaker 1: protections his way. Now not only are they not giving

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Speaker 1: him one on ones, but they're treating him like a one,

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Speaker 1: which I think he deserves. So I think he's going

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Speaker 1: to be expensive and that's good. That's a good problem

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Speaker 1: to have. Lock him up where h'm wishy washy is.

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Speaker 1: I don't think Reid had a bad year or was

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Speaker 1: a bad trade. I mean he was fine. He played

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Speaker 1: probably more snaps than you wanted because the wat injury.

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Speaker 1: Of course, do you have to be better there though,

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Speaker 1: because everyone knows the what on the field versus off

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Speaker 1: the field numbers. If you could get those closer to

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Speaker 1: each other. Because his backup is not I don't say,

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Speaker 1: as good as high Smith, but is less of a

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Speaker 1: drop off, that would be ideal. But it's also a

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Speaker 1: little bit of a luxury item too. It is and

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Speaker 1: it isn't like Highsmith. Highsmith wants to play nine plus

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Speaker 1: percent of the steps. He's a high volume. I think

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Speaker 1: the only played more than him, so he never wants

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Speaker 1: to come off the field. What you know, as hard

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Speaker 1: as he goes and as many gauntlets that he as

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Speaker 1: he has to run, does come off the field from

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Speaker 1: time to time. Yeah, I mean, all these guys know

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Speaker 1: their bodies well enough that hey, I take a break

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Speaker 1: when I need it. But as we saw this year,

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Speaker 1: you'd love to have a three who not only plays

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Speaker 1: when one of those guys is out is an injury,

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Speaker 1: you know, capable enforcement, and you also then have the

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Speaker 1: opportunity to play three if you want to. I know,

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Speaker 1: Melvin Ingram is a bad word around here. But I

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Speaker 1: love that signing, not knowing his personality and fitting all

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Speaker 1: that thing. And I think you could go down that

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Speaker 1: road again and have packages with all three on the field.

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Speaker 1: Maybe you tell high Smith take three more plays the

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Speaker 1: game off, you know what I mean. But we get

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Speaker 1: the and you would assume if you bring in a

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Speaker 1: young guy at that position, that he's really good on

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Speaker 1: special teams too. Yeah, I would say a third round

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Speaker 1: pick or justin Houston Melvin Ingram type. I'm not sure.

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Speaker 1: I'm not so much interested in one of those guys

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Speaker 1: because they're not going to play teams. They're not going

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Speaker 1: to play teams, but they've been around the block. If

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Speaker 1: you start looking at at some of the guys who

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Speaker 1: went up, yeah, they cast they cost more money than

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Speaker 1: the guys with money, and so you want that room.

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Speaker 1: You want that guy to be cheap, but he better

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Speaker 1: have some upside that you know, maybe two years from

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Speaker 1: now you're looking at that one. Okay, t J's contract

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Speaker 1: is just about up here. What are we doing with

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Speaker 1: what are we doing with that? We? You know, I

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Speaker 1: think that's the way to do this. Yeah, And I

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Speaker 1: can picture of scenario that free agency allows you to

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Speaker 1: do that with that at earliest late second or mid

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Speaker 1: second round, or maybe the third round pick, or it's

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Speaker 1: a fourth round Highsmith type guy from a small school

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Speaker 1: that as we've seen the work on we've seen in

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Speaker 1: the past to Matt or that that guy ends up

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Speaker 1: being Chad Brown and he kicks inside, yeah, or you know,

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Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden, well we got an

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Speaker 1: opening here at outside linebacker and he rushes the passer,

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Speaker 1: and Chad Brown goes out and gets double digit sacks,

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Speaker 1: and every in the world's looking for Michael Parsons now,

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Speaker 1: you know, I mean, people are starting to develop that

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Speaker 1: what's his face? Uh? Roncoes have a guy like that

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Speaker 1: from a Higo state. That's like, you run around like

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Speaker 1: a crazy linebacker. I don't know how you rushed the

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Speaker 1: passer off. You're pretty explosive. So I do think that

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Speaker 1: will be something more teams explore or in there looking for,

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Speaker 1: kind of like everone's looking for the Deebo Samuel and

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So, yeah, that would could

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Speaker 1: potentially kind of kill two birds. Yeah. So, and that

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Speaker 1: didn't end up being Avery. I kind of forgot he

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Speaker 1: was in the mix early on. Yeah, Yeah, it just

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Speaker 1: didn't work out there. Um, so obviously that you know

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Speaker 1: you said it started with that group. Inside linebacker, however,

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Speaker 1: is a big, big, big problem. Um, you got Miles

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Speaker 1: jack he got Devon Bush, Robert Splaine, Mark Robinson, take Crowder,

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Speaker 1: and then of course you have Marcus Allen was free agent,

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Speaker 1: but he was injured at the end of the year. Crowder,

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Speaker 1: Allen's a free agent, splains. A free agent pushes a

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Speaker 1: free agent, and Jackie can get out of if you want.

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Speaker 1: You can get out of if you want. But that

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Speaker 1: would leave you with just Robinson and take Crowder on

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Speaker 1: your roster. And I'm up putting any value in Crowder.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I'd like to see what looks like in camp,

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Speaker 1: but I'm not counting on him. Of oh he's my four.

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Speaker 1: I'm fine, you know now that being said, Crowder started

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Speaker 1: a lot of games couple year. Um, he he was Mr.

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Speaker 1: Irrelevant in his draft three years ago, and he stuck

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Speaker 1: around and it started I think thirty one career games.

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Speaker 1: I'm the Giants women weekend linebacker during that stage. But

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Speaker 1: he's been around the block. You know, if you could

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Speaker 1: do certainly worse than having a guy with that much

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Speaker 1: experience who by the way played it up, you know,

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Speaker 1: a big time college, you know, so I don't have

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Speaker 1: a problem with him having a roster spot. Yeah, if

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Speaker 1: it falls that way with camp, Yeah, absolutely, Like it

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Speaker 1: was a nice pick up. Yeah, and we'll see what happens.

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Speaker 1: Everybody's excited about what Robinson might be. Sure, but even

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Speaker 1: the Steelers showed you when they started playing him late

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Speaker 1: in the year they don't trust him on passing downs. No,

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Speaker 1: he's all over, he's all over. He's intriguing. Yeah. I

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Speaker 1: mean he runs around like somebody with their hair on fire. Right, right, right,

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Speaker 1: and sometimes it's a wrong way, sometimes it's the right way,

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Speaker 1: but he shows up all the time. That's a good

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Speaker 1: first step. I mean, he wasn't a first round pick.

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Speaker 1: I mean I think they I think they planned on

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Speaker 1: red shirt in them all year. Um, if i'm grading

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Speaker 1: letter grades by position, just what they did on the

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Speaker 1: field this year, I think that's my lowest graded position

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Speaker 1: group on the team. It's not enough. Splash Um. The

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Speaker 1: defense got better and better, and those guys weren't part

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Speaker 1: of the problem, more part of the solution. They pretty

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Speaker 1: much made the tackles that were there for to make.

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Speaker 1: But I need splash more coverage skills, let any more rains.

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Speaker 1: There weren't enough tackles for losses. There weren't enough passes defense,

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Speaker 1: There weren't enough sacks. There weren't recovery was forced. All

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Speaker 1: those things weren't there. Um. I get the Spellane love

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Speaker 1: by the staff, but I almost felt like he started

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Speaker 1: playing by default. You know, there's injuries, and I think,

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Speaker 1: k Bush where if we've seen enough of you and

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Speaker 1: that ship sailed. If they bring back Spellane, I want

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Speaker 1: him to be back as the three, not even as

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Speaker 1: a one or two. Yeah, I'm with you. Um, you

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Speaker 1: know there's he's certainly has value. Yeah, he's an NFL player,

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Speaker 1: but I don't want to have to start him. No.

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Speaker 1: I mean I think he played every snap at the

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Speaker 1: end there totally by default. Yeah, and they trust him.

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Speaker 1: I get that there's a trust factor there in communication

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Speaker 1: and all that, But every time he's on the field,

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Speaker 1: I'm waiting for the other team to sail. Hey, Splaine

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Speaker 1: is on the field, let's target him. Yeah exactly. You

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Speaker 1: know what's your thoughts on Jack's future. He's a tough

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Speaker 1: one to me too. The cap numbers big, right. Um.

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Speaker 1: Now that being said, he did lead to team and

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Speaker 1: tackles despite playing sparing after Week twelve because of that

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Speaker 1: groin injury. Um. You know again they know more about

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Speaker 1: the injury than than I do. Of course, you know,

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Speaker 1: do they feel comfortable with that? Obviously they signed him

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Speaker 1: to that deal knowing that what the cap number was

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Speaker 1: going to be this year and in the league with

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Speaker 1: stuff too. Yeah, you know, I mean growing, I don't necessary.

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Speaker 1: I don't think that's the same. I don't think they're

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Speaker 1: the same. He's still twenty six, I know, I know.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I really like the pickup when they made it. Um,

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Speaker 1: But some of these I like how they structure these

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Speaker 1: deals too. We'll get the Witherspoon and something LEVI that okay,

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Speaker 1: we can get out of if you want, you know,

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Speaker 1: And and are you worth this money or not? I

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Speaker 1: got a year's worth of knowledge to figure it out.

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Speaker 1: We'll use it elsewhere. Or you caught him and call

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Speaker 1: him the next day and say, but we can give

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Speaker 1: you four you know what I mean? You just tell them, hey,

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Speaker 1: we're we think you're worth You're worth this amount of money,

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Speaker 1: and you know, do you want that? The interesting thing

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Speaker 1: about this group Matt Jack, Robinson and Crowder. Yeah, we're

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Speaker 1: all college running backs. Interesting that converted the linebacker. I've

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Speaker 1: probably told this story, but in my recruiting days back then,

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Speaker 1: you would often bring in like five running backs in

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Speaker 1: a recruiting class, knowing I'll always be good at running back.

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Speaker 1: You know, whoever runs the top. These guys were all

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Speaker 1: the best athletes on their high school team. But two

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Speaker 1: of them will be a linebacker, one of them will

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Speaker 1: be a safety. One of them is gonna transfer, you know.

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Speaker 1: So that's not super uncommon. But I do think that's

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Speaker 1: an interesting trend because Robinson is the greatest example of

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Speaker 1: I haven't played linebacker all that much now for two years, right,

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Speaker 1: one of them at the NFL level were only played.

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Speaker 1: I think you only end up plant well under runner. Uh, cornerback,

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Speaker 1: but I think that's their biggest outside the organization need

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Speaker 1: right now. Yeah, without a doubt. At cornerback, you got

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Speaker 1: Levi Wallace, you got James Pierre cam something. Fond of

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Speaker 1: those two, by the way, Arthur Milette Yeah, uh. You

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Speaker 1: also have William Jackson sitting in the waiting in the wings.

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Speaker 1: You also still have with so correct me if I'm wrong,

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Speaker 1: but I think Levi Witherspoon Jackson are all under contract

358
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Speaker 1: if you want or very are easy to get out of.

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Speaker 1: I don't see them obviously, looking at the numbers on this,

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Speaker 1: I don't see them carrying William Jackson in the next year.

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Speaker 1: It sounds it's like twelve million dollars. It sounds crazy

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Speaker 1: to me to try. I don't think Witherspoon, can you

363
00:18:13,240 --> 00:18:15,840
Speaker 1: carry this is only like four million dollars and it's

364
00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:20,520
Speaker 1: it's it's much more palatable. But I think it was

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Speaker 1: pretty obvious that Wallace was the better player, right. I

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Speaker 1: kind of thought it was gonna be one of the two.

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Speaker 1: And they almost have identical contracts from what absolute And

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Speaker 1: if I'm picking, I'm picking Walls, and I think everybody

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Speaker 1: would because I think you want Sutton back. Suttons are

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Speaker 1: freaking you want Sutton back. Pierre's a restricted free agent.

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Speaker 1: They'll pick that up. He'll pick that up. But I

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Speaker 1: think that's really valuable. Like if he's my four, we're

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Speaker 1: sitting pretty you know. I mean, if Milette between him

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Speaker 1: and Milette once an ounced guy one was an inside guy,

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Speaker 1: they're not gonna cost you anything. I can live with them.

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Speaker 1: I want better than that. But I think having those

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Speaker 1: two on board is very important. Um, Sutton is going

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Speaker 1: to be an interesting one because he he's very versatile,

379
00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:05,040
Speaker 1: he's very smart, but he's never gonna be a one.

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Speaker 1: He's gonna get paid heavily of if he gets to

381
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Speaker 1: the open market. Do you let him get to the

382
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Speaker 1: open market. You're talking to him now, I mean ideally,

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Speaker 1: and this might be too pie in the sky, but

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Speaker 1: I would love to see their five be Sutton, Millette,

385
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Speaker 1: Pierre Wallace in an early pick. I mean, that's a

386
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Speaker 1: corner that's a corner room, and I think that's not

387
00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:30,280
Speaker 1: crazy to strive for. No, I don't think so either.

388
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Speaker 1: I think you know, Sutton wants to be back. You know.

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Speaker 1: I did a shit down interview with him last week, Um,

390
00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:39,600
Speaker 1: you know, and he said, Hey, this is this is

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Speaker 1: home for me. I've you know, yeah, I've grown up here.

392
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Speaker 1: I've spent the first five or six years of my

393
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Speaker 1: my NFL career here. I know the defense, I know,

394
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Speaker 1: you know everything. I want to I want to be back.

395
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Speaker 1: And traditionally those are the type of guys they've extended to.

396
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Speaker 1: Like we drafted in the mid rounds. We saw you

397
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Speaker 1: your early progress, gave you a little more gave you

398
00:19:57,480 --> 00:19:59,320
Speaker 1: a little more. You're starting to become a leader, you know,

399
00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:03,000
Speaker 1: see some more so when people say, well Steelers can't

400
00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:07,360
Speaker 1: draft cornerbacks, they just completely overlook guys like William Gay,

401
00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:10,280
Speaker 1: guys like Cam Sutton, who Okay, they're not stars. The

402
00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:13,160
Speaker 1: shape towns and played a long has got a long time. Yeah,

403
00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:14,600
Speaker 1: they just didn't use a lot of first round picks

404
00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:17,800
Speaker 1: on corner There's there was a long time between Already

405
00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:21,360
Speaker 1: Burns and uh Rod Woodson and you know right, yeah,

406
00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:26,280
Speaker 1: I mean I can't even think of ye figures. Those

407
00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:28,280
Speaker 1: are the two. Those are the two cornerbacks in the

408
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Speaker 1: thirty years I've been covering the team. That's it. It's

409
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Speaker 1: the only two first round cornerbacks. Yeah. I was asked

410
00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:35,399
Speaker 1: about that today too, because in the article, like I

411
00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:37,880
Speaker 1: think the first round corner is very much play. Looks

412
00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:40,760
Speaker 1: like there's a nice crop right around seventeen. Yeah, but

413
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Speaker 1: do you think this organization don't give me, don't give

414
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Speaker 1: me some guy they drafted in the sixth round and

415
00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:48,159
Speaker 1: say they they didn't develop this guy. No, but I

416
00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:50,280
Speaker 1: mean that those are you hit one one out of

417
00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:52,680
Speaker 1: every eight of those, and Already Burns was a long

418
00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:54,560
Speaker 1: time ago. And he was like the twenty ninth pick

419
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Speaker 1: in the draft. He wasn't ninth. And you've had two

420
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Speaker 1: first round corners since Woodston Basic, you know. So I'm

421
00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:02,320
Speaker 1: not in the camp that they have no clue what

422
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Speaker 1: they're doing in the corner position, right. I Mean, that's

423
00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:07,000
Speaker 1: just again if you look at the nature of that

424
00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:12,040
Speaker 1: position across the league, that's the nature of the position. Everybody,

425
00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:16,080
Speaker 1: the starting cornerbacks out there were not drafted by the

426
00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:18,080
Speaker 1: team that they're playing for. Right. There's a lot of

427
00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:19,720
Speaker 1: movement there, and a lot of them have better luck

428
00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:22,120
Speaker 1: in their second home or a second contract, and there

429
00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:24,119
Speaker 1: every rookie is gonna get picked on to no end

430
00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:28,040
Speaker 1: because you can't. It's the toughest thing I think for

431
00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:31,040
Speaker 1: teams to look at her, or scouts to look at

432
00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:35,200
Speaker 1: when they're when when they're looking at college players, is

433
00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:37,440
Speaker 1: matching up what that guy's being asked to do in

434
00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:39,399
Speaker 1: college to what he's going to be asked to do

435
00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:42,000
Speaker 1: in the pros. It's it's night and day. I Mean,

436
00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:44,840
Speaker 1: I've mentioned on the show a thousand times, but they

437
00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:47,200
Speaker 1: got hired. They sat me down with the wide receiver

438
00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:50,240
Speaker 1: coach and the corner coach and said watch every snap

439
00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:52,320
Speaker 1: of man coverage you can, and you're not going to

440
00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:54,600
Speaker 1: find much of it in the college, you know, and

441
00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:57,280
Speaker 1: maybe you get five snaps the game, maybe get to

442
00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:00,240
Speaker 1: maybe get nine. Some teams play a lot pit lays

443
00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:01,920
Speaker 1: a lot. That why their corners last in the league,

444
00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:03,679
Speaker 1: you know what, because they play a lot of man coverage.

445
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:05,399
Speaker 1: So it's hard because they're gonna get it in the

446
00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:07,639
Speaker 1: next level and there until it's almost like can you

447
00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:09,800
Speaker 1: hit a curveball? Like if you can't get off man coverage,

448
00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:12,119
Speaker 1: you're gonna get curveball every time. You know what I mean,

449
00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:20,240
Speaker 1: you're gonna be nucla loose or yeah right, uh so,

450
00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:23,480
Speaker 1: I mean I think that group I would be fine

451
00:22:24,119 --> 00:22:27,760
Speaker 1: bringing back the core of that and adding to it

452
00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:30,240
Speaker 1: in a draft. Yeah yeah, I do too. I don't

453
00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:33,800
Speaker 1: want to get in the position where after Jamal Dean

454
00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:37,680
Speaker 1: or that gets expensied, gets so expensive it's like tackles

455
00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:40,040
Speaker 1: and corners. I don't want to shop in that aisle. Ever,

456
00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:44,639
Speaker 1: I'd rather burn the hand it develop them. Um and

457
00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:48,000
Speaker 1: hopefully that doesn't happen. Sutton, But it's Sutton, your first call.

458
00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:50,920
Speaker 1: We probably mention this mention. I'll probably get to it

459
00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:53,400
Speaker 1: but Anthony Miller's back, so they did make a move already.

460
00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:56,000
Speaker 1: Do you think Sutton's the next one on the list

461
00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:57,800
Speaker 1: to kind of start talking? That was gonna be much

462
00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:01,560
Speaker 1: more difficult than the right when you're deal, Okay, I'll

463
00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:03,680
Speaker 1: be back on. Yeah, I didn't do anything last year. Yeah,

464
00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:06,720
Speaker 1: those are but yeah, Sutton is going to be more interesting. Uh,

465
00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:09,000
Speaker 1: they'll be some negotiations or I'm sure his agent is

466
00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:10,440
Speaker 1: gonna want to say, well, if he goes to the

467
00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:15,080
Speaker 1: open market, of course, X y Z and he's not wrong,

468
00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:17,960
Speaker 1: you know, right. Yeah, So that's that's one that you

469
00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:21,480
Speaker 1: definitely want to get done before. Like I don't know

470
00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:23,200
Speaker 1: that I have to get Ogenjoe be done before for

471
00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:25,760
Speaker 1: you agency or you know, but I Sutton's one I'd

472
00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:28,040
Speaker 1: really feel. Yeah. What I don't want is for Cam

473
00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:30,639
Speaker 1: Sutton to go out and say, uh, you know, go

474
00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:33,760
Speaker 1: test the market and we'll try to match. That's going

475
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:36,239
Speaker 1: to get expensive and it's not the right message too.

476
00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:37,800
Speaker 1: It's like you want to be here, we want to

477
00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:39,800
Speaker 1: be here, let's knock it out. I mean, that would

478
00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:43,719
Speaker 1: be a deal. Last question, William Jackson, you can't pick

479
00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:46,160
Speaker 1: up that money. You don't don't know enough about him. Yeah,

480
00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:48,639
Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean he can't be a sealer next year, right,

481
00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:51,360
Speaker 1: you could. You could renegotiate a free agent like anybody

482
00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:54,359
Speaker 1: else you showed some love you had. How about a

483
00:23:54,359 --> 00:23:56,040
Speaker 1: one year deal. You have to you have to release

484
00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:58,760
Speaker 1: him first. Let's release him and then call him up

485
00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:00,800
Speaker 1: again where you renegotiate the deal and say, hey, we're

486
00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:02,840
Speaker 1: not willing to pay you twelve million next year, but

487
00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:05,359
Speaker 1: we are willing to pay you two or three right, right, right,

488
00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:07,680
Speaker 1: that's what I mean. I think that's it could be

489
00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:11,119
Speaker 1: in the card. Well no, yeah, for sure. At the

490
00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:13,919
Speaker 1: safety position, you got making Fitzpatrick, you get Tarrell Edmonds,

491
00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:19,439
Speaker 1: Demonte CAZy, Miles killer Brew, Trey Norwood, and Elijah Riley. Yeah. Uh,

492
00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:23,760
Speaker 1: Edmonds CAZy both unrestricted free agents. Everyone else will be

493
00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:27,159
Speaker 1: back in some capacity. Does mean they're making the team. Um,

494
00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:29,280
Speaker 1: I know you can save a little by cutting killer Brew,

495
00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:31,760
Speaker 1: but I'm not sure that's worth it. Or again, you know,

496
00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:34,400
Speaker 1: when you start looking at your core special teams guys,

497
00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:37,720
Speaker 1: I mean he's one of those. He has value. Yeah,

498
00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:41,040
Speaker 1: there's values been around, He's familiar. So I want to

499
00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:43,840
Speaker 1: bring Edmonds and Casey back to I wrote the exact

500
00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:47,520
Speaker 1: same thing. Now that's the expensive safety room. I mean,

501
00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:49,120
Speaker 1: because you're not gonna get Edmunds at the same deal.

502
00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:51,280
Speaker 1: You're not if you're gonna play the number of snaps

503
00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:53,720
Speaker 1: that they did this year. I don't have a problem

504
00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,560
Speaker 1: paying that. And I think having those two there contributed

505
00:24:56,600 --> 00:24:58,880
Speaker 1: to make a leading the league and interceptions and doing

506
00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:03,639
Speaker 1: more stuff. And so if it's not CAZy, it's somebody

507
00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:06,119
Speaker 1: like CAZy, right, right, right. If it's not Edmonds, it's

508
00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:07,680
Speaker 1: someone I want a strong and I want to free

509
00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:10,240
Speaker 1: and I want to play a lot of big nickel.

510
00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:12,400
Speaker 1: If it gets down to it and you don't find

511
00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:14,760
Speaker 1: those guys, maybe the second or third round pick because

512
00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:19,520
Speaker 1: of safety, I mean that would prog kind of staggers. Yeah,

513
00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:21,960
Speaker 1: but I I like what they have. I'd love to

514
00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:25,320
Speaker 1: keep it, and I'd be aggressive to do so. So

515
00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:27,960
Speaker 1: I think I think we're on the same page. I

516
00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:30,240
Speaker 1: wrote this, We've talked about it, and we do this

517
00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:34,560
Speaker 1: every day. I'm more of a draft offense signed defense,

518
00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:38,359
Speaker 1: with some exceptions. I mean, we talked about first round corners.

519
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:41,680
Speaker 1: But my worry is I don't want the defense to

520
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:45,320
Speaker 1: get old and expensive overnight because the league it's not

521
00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:48,280
Speaker 1: for long, you know. Well, that's why I want, you know,

522
00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:52,119
Speaker 1: I'm looking at a defensive lineman, I'm looking at an

523
00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:54,720
Speaker 1: outside linebacker, looking at a cornerback in the draft. In

524
00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:56,800
Speaker 1: the draft, right, I mean, they don't typically go into

525
00:25:56,840 --> 00:25:59,400
Speaker 1: a draft and if they have eight picks, makes seven

526
00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:01,960
Speaker 1: of them on all offense. They're split up pretty even. Yeah,

527
00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:04,760
Speaker 1: for that reason, yeah, you know, right, So no, I

528
00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:07,600
Speaker 1: think you can weigh that out pretty well, you know,

529
00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:11,200
Speaker 1: but it does worry me that it's and everyone harps

530
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:13,480
Speaker 1: on it's the most expensive defense in the league. And

531
00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:16,800
Speaker 1: that's a little bit because the fudging the numbers a little,

532
00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:19,399
Speaker 1: but it's if you put all this money into your

533
00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:21,800
Speaker 1: own too, you're gonna be expensive and you're gonna not

534
00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:23,920
Speaker 1: be super young on That's yeah, that's the way it goes.

535
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:25,680
Speaker 1: And then you know, two years from now, the offense

536
00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:27,520
Speaker 1: is going to be more expensive and you start resigning

537
00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:29,960
Speaker 1: some of those guys and you're drafting defense, you know,

538
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:32,399
Speaker 1: to replace these dudes. You know. So that's just the

539
00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:34,040
Speaker 1: way it goes. I mean, ideally you'd like to have

540
00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:37,520
Speaker 1: a balance there, but yeah, that's not how things usually work.

541
00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:41,000
Speaker 1: So we seem to agree. I mean, Sutton in whatever

542
00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:46,119
Speaker 1: order you want Edmund's Kzy ogan Job or my priorities,

543
00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:48,600
Speaker 1: maybe in that order. I just don't know where ogan

544
00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:51,359
Speaker 1: Job's replacement comes from. If it's not him, that's the

545
00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:53,440
Speaker 1: But I don't want to settle if I could do better,

546
00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:55,680
Speaker 1: you know, I also don't want to pay him the

547
00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:58,680
Speaker 1: thirteen million dollars that Chicago offered him last year. It

548
00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:00,480
Speaker 1: would have to be a deal between the he's getting

549
00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:03,040
Speaker 1: now and the one he couldn't. He got ten million

550
00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:06,880
Speaker 1: from the sign now, I guess it was. It wasn't cheap. Yeah,

551
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:08,639
Speaker 1: And a lot of that does come down the injury

552
00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:11,760
Speaker 1: and how much they know about it sense, because I

553
00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:14,159
Speaker 1: think if you think Leal is ready to be that

554
00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:17,119
Speaker 1: guy next to Cam and then you draft somebody and

555
00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:20,159
Speaker 1: make him this year's Leal, I mean you kind of

556
00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:23,919
Speaker 1: need to defensive linemen. Yeah, and not counting Ogen Joe,

557
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:26,359
Speaker 1: I mean maybe even three if you you know that

558
00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:28,680
Speaker 1: you live with seven, if if you don't count on

559
00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:31,639
Speaker 1: louder Milk. You know. So there's a lot to that.

560
00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:33,720
Speaker 1: One's the hardest one for me to envision how it's

561
00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:36,600
Speaker 1: gonna go. Now, I'm with you. There's some puzzle work

562
00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:39,880
Speaker 1: to do there. But overall, I thought the defense, um

563
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:43,320
Speaker 1: as the season went on got better. Obviously they're the

564
00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:46,840
Speaker 1: numbers without with him, without what those are what they are. Um,

565
00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:51,280
Speaker 1: you know, I think the defense and it's poor play

566
00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:54,520
Speaker 1: contributed to the two and six start dealing without what

567
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:57,199
Speaker 1: everybody put that all in the offense. I mean, that's

568
00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:00,280
Speaker 1: the hardest guy to lose on the team without that question. UM.

569
00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:03,400
Speaker 1: I also think it's very important that they played less snaps,

570
00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:06,639
Speaker 1: you know, time, possession, all those things too. I mean

571
00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:08,600
Speaker 1: they started the season I was going, man, they played

572
00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:11,040
Speaker 1: a hundred snaps. I mean, these guys are just too much,

573
00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:14,159
Speaker 1: way too much, too much, you know, so that that's

574
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:16,440
Speaker 1: a tomin thing. I mean, it's complimentary football. I can't

575
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:18,240
Speaker 1: in my defense out there that long, so we're gonna

576
00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:20,000
Speaker 1: run them. I don't care what defensive, it doesn't matter what.

577
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:23,440
Speaker 1: Too much defense is bad is a bad, bad thing.

578
00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 1: You can subscribe now the S and r's newest podcast,

579
00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:30,120
Speaker 1: The Godfather of Pittsburgh Sports is talking nothing but Steelers.

580
00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:33,120
Speaker 1: It's Severeign on Steelers. New episodes drop. I think he's

581
00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:35,520
Speaker 1: cutting back to once per week here during the off season.

582
00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:38,200
Speaker 1: But you can subscribe to that today. It's available on

583
00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:40,800
Speaker 1: the Steelers Mobile app, the I Heart Radio app, and

584
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,400
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast. He is Matt Williamson. I

585
00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:45,960
Speaker 1: am dale Ally. You're listening to the Drive here on

586
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:48,560
Speaker 1: Steelers Nation Radio. We'll be back with more right after

587
00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:48,720
Speaker 1: this