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Speaker 1: All right, this is Darwin James and you listen to

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Speaker 1: the Charges podcast network. All right, guys, Chargers weekly on

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Speaker 1: location at the Senior Bowl Mobile, Alabama. Please be joined

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Speaker 1: by General manager Tom to LESCo. Tom, it's fun. We

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Speaker 1: do this around this time every year. Senior Bowl gets

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Speaker 1: bigger and bigger every year. We're just down in this

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Speaker 1: lobby area. It was looked like a football convention. It is.

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Speaker 1: It's a little bit of a convention for coaches and scouts. Um,

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Speaker 1: and not always in a good way because a lot

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Speaker 1: of guys here looking for jobs, which means the rut

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Speaker 1: of work. Um. But yeah, it has turned into that.

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Speaker 1: I mean, this is got to be his twenty plus

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Speaker 1: years for me going to the well I ask nineteen

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Speaker 1: ninety five, so um, coming to Senior Bowl has changed

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Speaker 1: a lot. It was nineteen ninety five Senior Bowl leg

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Speaker 1: First of all, I was I think I was sharing

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Speaker 1: a room with two other people with with with like

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Speaker 1: with like a bunk in front of the bed. Um,

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Speaker 1: I mean, we're going to practice. It was just NFL people.

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Speaker 1: There's nobody else that. It wasn't covered very much in

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Speaker 1: the media at all. All Um, it wasn't nearly what

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Speaker 1: it is now. I mean the NFL network coverage and

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Speaker 1: ESPN is here. Yeah, I mean, it's just it's grown

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Speaker 1: exponentially over the years. Um. Yeah, it was. It was

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Speaker 1: a sleepy, little, uh you know, all Star game for us,

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Speaker 1: but it was still the biggest game for us. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it's always been the top seniors in the country. Um.

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Speaker 1: So it's always been that the best All Star game

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Speaker 1: for us to see players. But it's turned into now

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Speaker 1: where it's a huge event. Yeah, it's almost the unofficial

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Speaker 1: start to the draft evaluation process. I know you guys

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Speaker 1: place a priority on the film, but if you could

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Speaker 1: go into as much detail as possible, just take us

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Speaker 1: through what this week is like for you and everybody

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Speaker 1: on your staff. Well, it's different for me than for

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Speaker 1: the for the scouts, um. But the scouts where they

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Speaker 1: get in here on Sunday, it's really Kevin, Kelly, Jojo

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Speaker 1: wouldn't in the whole staff and and uh, I mean

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Speaker 1: really they'll talk to almost every prospector every player that's here.

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Speaker 1: So you know, whenever you see those reports that the

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Speaker 1: Chargers talk to so and so, well, yeah that's that's true.

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Speaker 1: Your mobile maybe, but we talked to everybody and that's

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Speaker 1: where really every team does it. I mean, you talk

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Speaker 1: to everybody here because for the scouts, a lot of

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Speaker 1: these players they couldn't talk to with the schools. And

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Speaker 1: you can go in, you can watch tape, you can

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Speaker 1: watch practice, you can talk to coaches and support staff

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Speaker 1: about the players. But usually you can't sit down one

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Speaker 1: on one with players very often in the fall, and

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Speaker 1: you shouldn't be able to they're they're playing college football.

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Speaker 1: Um they're busy between their football, their academics are classes.

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Speaker 1: They don't have time to be talking to NFL scouts

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Speaker 1: at that point, which is fine. So this is one

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Speaker 1: of these All star games. Is the first time where

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Speaker 1: you can actually sit down with the kids and talk

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Speaker 1: to them, get a feel for them a little bit

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Speaker 1: as people, so we can kind of get a feel

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Speaker 1: for do they fit for us or not. So they'll

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Speaker 1: talk to every player that's here. We'll talk to them

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Speaker 1: some guys again at the combine where the coach is

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Speaker 1: a little bit more involved there. But um so a

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Speaker 1: lot of the week is talking to the players. The

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Speaker 1: players do some psychological testing here as well, and then

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Speaker 1: the practices that that we're all out watching. Tuesday Wednesday Thursday,

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Speaker 1: and you know, the practices are great because it's it's

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Speaker 1: a high level of competition. It's a player practicing against

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Speaker 1: another player who's going to be an NFL player. You know,

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Speaker 1: you don't know what level yet, but you know that

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Speaker 1: guy as an NFL player. So when when you have

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Speaker 1: one on once, it's good competition, it's good evaluation for us,

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Speaker 1: and you know, very really they may stay for the game.

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Speaker 1: I think every now and then we'll leave one guy

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Speaker 1: back to State to watch the game. The practices are

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Speaker 1: the meat of the week, the practice. At the meet

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Speaker 1: of the week, we get all the film from practice,

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Speaker 1: so we'll go back and you know, we'll go through

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Speaker 1: it all over again, because when you're a practice, there's

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Speaker 1: multiple things going on at once. You may be watching

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Speaker 1: Steven on seven over here, and then you've got one

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Speaker 1: on one's old line D line over here. You can't

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Speaker 1: watch both and alive practices, but it's all it's all

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Speaker 1: on tape for us to go back and watch it.

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Speaker 1: You kind of analyze it. But it's a great evaluation

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Speaker 1: tool for us, not only to watch them play football

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Speaker 1: the kind of but they kind of meet them as kids.

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Speaker 1: We've talked about the whole Senior Bowl process the last

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Speaker 1: couple of years, and I know it's it's probably a coincidence,

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Speaker 1: but the last three years there are numbers twelve guys contributors,

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Speaker 1: Guys who you expect to be starters are playing a

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Speaker 1: lot of snaps for you, are on your roster dating

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Speaker 1: back to twenty seventeen, go back to Desmond King, Dan Feeney,

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Speaker 1: Chenna Nuosu, ray Sewn Jenkins, Drew Tranquil last year. It's

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Speaker 1: funny to say that because I forget, you know, through

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Speaker 1: the whole process there in the fall, the All Star

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Speaker 1: Games a combine. I kind of lose track of who

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Speaker 1: played one All Star Games because we don't really draft

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Speaker 1: guys based on hey, we're in the Senior Bowl, We're

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Speaker 1: in East West Game, the NFLPA Game. So it was

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Speaker 1: funny you mentioned those names. I'm like, yep, yep, I

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Speaker 1: remember seeing all those guys here. I mean, there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of guys in Maza was in the Senior Bow.

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Speaker 1: He was in the Senior Bowl that I don't remember. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: he was here, Okay, But I guess the point is

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Speaker 1: you have guys who played four years in college, maybe

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Speaker 1: largely leaders or captains, guys who mean a lot to

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Speaker 1: their respective programs, And just looking at the Chargers locker room,

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Speaker 1: a lot of guys a high character, who have played

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Speaker 1: a lot of snaps in college. It's probably knew coincidence

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Speaker 1: that they played in this game here. Well, you figure

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Speaker 1: if you're in the Senior Bowl, you were a four

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Speaker 1: year college player. Um, he didn't leave college early. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: So most of the players that were here, you know,

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Speaker 1: full four years are playing in college. You know, probably

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Speaker 1: twenty one, twenty two years old, probably little more mature

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Speaker 1: than a junior that who declares early. So yeah. Some

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Speaker 1: of the players that you get here, you know, they've

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Speaker 1: been multi year captains at their colleges U So yeah,

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Speaker 1: so these guys are gonna be a little bit older,

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Speaker 1: little bit more mature than a junior that declares early.

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Speaker 1: Characteristics of guys you look for. Name a few chief

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Speaker 1: characteristics that you want in a Charger. Well, one, you

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Speaker 1: have to love to play the game. This is a

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Speaker 1: hard game. I mean it's hard. It's it's hard. Practice

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Speaker 1: is hard, The games are tough. There's a lot of scrutinies,

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Speaker 1: a lot of pressure to perform, So you really have

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Speaker 1: to love the play I mean, this is an easy example,

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Speaker 1: but when you watch Derwin James practice, you can tell

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Speaker 1: how much he loves to play the game of football,

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Speaker 1: and he's got a smile on his face. Now, he

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Speaker 1: practices hard, he practices with an edge, but man, he's

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Speaker 1: having a good time doing it. And that rubs off

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Speaker 1: on people. But you really have to love to play.

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Speaker 1: So we talk about that having that drive to succeed

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Speaker 1: is really important. And then you know, football intelligence is

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Speaker 1: really important. This is a very complicated game, especially when

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Speaker 1: you get to the pro level on offense and defense,

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Speaker 1: and you have to be able to learn concepts, pick

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Speaker 1: them up, pick them up relatively quickly, and then process

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Speaker 1: them in game speed. And that that's hard to do

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Speaker 1: and it's hard to scout. It's hard to determine that

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Speaker 1: many times. So and that's all the work we have

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Speaker 1: to do kind of behind the scenes and try and see,

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Speaker 1: you know, who loves the game and find examples how

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Speaker 1: It's one thing to say, oh, yeah, he loves to play, Well,

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Speaker 1: tell me why how an example demonstrate that for me?

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Speaker 1: So um, same thing with the drive to drive to

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Speaker 1: be better, to drive to win. Again, it's easy to

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Speaker 1: say that stuff, but you know, I want to I

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Speaker 1: want examples, I just don't want words. So, like I said,

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Speaker 1: you know when he watched Derwin James practice and play

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Speaker 1: that that's the kind of enthusiasm for playing a game.

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Speaker 1: And by the way he takes that into the weight room,

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Speaker 1: he takes that in the meeting rooms. He's the blueprint. Yes,

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Speaker 1: he's the blueprint. Now they're not all like that, but

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Speaker 1: everyone has different personalities. But if you can have those characteristics,

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Speaker 1: you got a chance to succeed. What's cool about this

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Speaker 1: week is so the Bengals and the Lions or the

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Speaker 1: coach steps this almost kind of simulates a game week, right.

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Speaker 1: You have you have three practice during the week, you

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Speaker 1: have you have meetings at night. I'll bet these are

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Speaker 1: more interviews with teams, but you get to know some

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Speaker 1: of these guys. It's a short amount of time, but

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Speaker 1: some of those characteristics can shine through in a week

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Speaker 1: like this. It does, and then the teams that coaches

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Speaker 1: get a chance to see these players a lot. You know,

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Speaker 1: all day long in the meeting room, how quickly they

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Speaker 1: picked up their playbook, WHI obviously is a very watered

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Speaker 1: down playbook, and then how they process it in practice.

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Speaker 1: Then how they end up processing it in the game.

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Speaker 1: And this is always a unique not just dis game,

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Speaker 1: but all All Star games because you have players playing

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Speaker 1: with teammates they've never played with before, so the timing

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Speaker 1: isn't always there. They're playing with the playbook of plays

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Speaker 1: that I mean, there's some universal plays that everybody runs,

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Speaker 1: but you know there's a different terminology to call it them,

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Speaker 1: so they have to learn that. And then you know,

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Speaker 1: we really in office and defense, you're limited on what

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Speaker 1: you can do. So if you're a quarterback, you don't

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Speaker 1: have to worry about anybody blitz in you. You don't

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Speaker 1: have to worry about changing coverage. You can only play

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Speaker 1: two different coverages. So um, you know. It's so there's

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Speaker 1: something that should be easier to do. But it's great

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Speaker 1: to see one on one You get a chance to

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Speaker 1: see one on one battles. Really, who can win a

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Speaker 1: one on one battle? I get the player who we

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Speaker 1: know he's a good player. You get the chance to

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Speaker 1: see that. All that's all this week. Yeah, you can

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Speaker 1: see that with wide receivers and corners. That's always fun

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Speaker 1: during the week. The quarterback position you mentioned, we ask

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Speaker 1: you every year it's a it's a tired question. You know,

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Speaker 1: are you looking at a quarterback? You know, the evaluation

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Speaker 1: process I know is ongoing, but I guess I can

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Speaker 1: ask you this way. The benefit for guys like Jordan Love, Justin,

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Speaker 1: Herbert Jalen Hurts, guys that are here to participate in

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Speaker 1: a week like this where you do get hands on

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Speaker 1: coaching by NFL coaches and you get to meet executives

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Speaker 1: like yourself and other scouts throughout the NFL. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: mean it's always important. I mean, really it's more important

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Speaker 1: what they did at their college for three or four years.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, the All Star Game is great and it's

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Speaker 1: great to see guys when I come and compete and play,

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Speaker 1: no matter where you think he may be drafted, you know,

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Speaker 1: to come compete. So the quarterback position, yeah, I mean

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Speaker 1: we've scouted it every year. It's not like we go

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Speaker 1: into a year so you know what, we're all good

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Speaker 1: at that position. Let's not even worry about watch practice. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: we'll do work. Have somebody else worry about. That's not

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Speaker 1: how that works. So but I love seeing players that

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Speaker 1: are you know, quote unquote projected to go high and

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Speaker 1: still want to come play in this game. That's great

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Speaker 1: to see, you know with this game, Drew Tranquil last year,

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Speaker 1: somebody who contributed on special teams had three starts, really

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Speaker 1: came on at the end of last year. Do you

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Speaker 1: remember Drew at this game or in the combine and

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Speaker 1: what stood out that made you say, hey, let's make

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Speaker 1: this guy at charger. You know, I don't specifically, I

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Speaker 1: don't remember talking to him, but I do remember this.

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Speaker 1: I have some close friends that work on the staff

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Speaker 1: at Notre Dame and they've been raving about Drew since

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Speaker 1: he walked on campus there. And one good thing about

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Speaker 1: you know, if you have some good, strong contact contacts

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Speaker 1: at schools, which our scouts do and have it for

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Speaker 1: a number of years. When he talked to people you

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Speaker 1: know well who recruited that player, who have been with

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Speaker 1: them for three or four years, they really know that

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Speaker 1: player well. So they've known him for not only the

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Speaker 1: three or four years in college, but then into high

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Speaker 1: school junior year or senior year, and then they see

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Speaker 1: him every day. And our evaluation process we see them

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Speaker 1: for five minutes here, fifteen minutes to combine, ten minutes

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Speaker 1: at the Senior Bowl. It's not a lot of time.

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Speaker 1: So you have to rely a lot on people you

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Speaker 1: trust and what they tell you. And I remember the

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Speaker 1: people in her Dame were just saying, you know, from

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Speaker 1: the time that he came here from Fort Wayne, Indiana,

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Speaker 1: like the kid was a stud I mean, just mature, tough,

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Speaker 1: love to play the game, going to be a captain

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Speaker 1: by the time he's towards the end of his career

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Speaker 1: in ner name, which he was. And I remember all

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Speaker 1: that and that always stuck with me. And then when

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Speaker 1: we met Drew, you can see how mature he is

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Speaker 1: and how much he loves to play the game. All

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Speaker 1: the things I just talked about, intangible wise you're looking for,

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Speaker 1: he has all those. So you know, you have to

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Speaker 1: have talent at this level. You just can't be a

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Speaker 1: you know, love the game of football and I work

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Speaker 1: real hard, and you know I've got a drive to succeed.

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Speaker 1: We gotta have talent too, and he has to. You know,

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Speaker 1: he's got that package. I remember talking to his defensive

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Speaker 1: quarter to Clark Lee after the draft and specifically this

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Speaker 1: this one lad study. He said he will now relent

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Speaker 1: until he is a starter in the NFL. And sure

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Speaker 1: enough he got to get to do that, which is

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Speaker 1: really cool. A few more for you. We talk about

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Speaker 1: the division. Do you guys scout players based on the

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Speaker 1: personnel in the division, knowing that those games you play

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Speaker 1: some premium on those during the regular season each time

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Speaker 1: you play a division foe accounts twice. Yeah, yeah, certainly.

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Speaker 1: Where we are right now, I mean you look at

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Speaker 1: the super Bowl. The Chiefs are in the Super Bowl.

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Speaker 1: The Chiefs are from our division, so they're the team

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Speaker 1: to beat. And uh, you know right now, we can't

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Speaker 1: win our division without going through Kansas City. So as

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Speaker 1: you put your team together, you do have to look

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Speaker 1: at your whole division and what do we play against,

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Speaker 1: how we match up against them, how they match up

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Speaker 1: against us. That is really key of how you're going

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Speaker 1: to sign players, either in freedency or the draft or

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Speaker 1: their draft players. Is your division. It's the most important

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Speaker 1: games you play all year, and you play them twice.

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Speaker 1: So um, yes, as you build your football team, you

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Speaker 1: gotta look at your division. And we got to look

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Speaker 1: hard at Kansas City because that's the team that we

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Speaker 1: You know, we haven't done that well against the man.

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Speaker 1: How we beat them last year, but we lost twice

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Speaker 1: this year. They won their division. They're in the Super Bowl.

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Speaker 1: It's a heck of a team with the quarterbacks going

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Speaker 1: to be there a long time. It looks like he's

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Speaker 1: not going unfortunately. So we got to have a plan,

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Speaker 1: you know, for all of our division teams, but certainly

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Speaker 1: for Kansas City and for that quarterback, and so we

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Speaker 1: can beat them listen, five and eleven. I know, obviously

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Speaker 1: not the ideal result. But when you look at Championship

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Speaker 1: Sunday and you see the Green Bay Packers there a

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Speaker 1: team that you guys allowed one hundred eighty four total

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Speaker 1: yards too. You see a team like the Tennessee Titans

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Speaker 1: there one play away from from beating the Titans earlier

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Speaker 1: this year. This team won twelve games last season. I

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Speaker 1: think it's just a clear example how the margin for

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Speaker 1: air it's so thin. You have to be encouraged knowing

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Speaker 1: that you did a lot of good things last year

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Speaker 1: despite just winning five games. Yeah, I mean there's two

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Speaker 1: sides of this. I mean, what we did the year

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Speaker 1: before twelve twelve wins meant nothing for this past year.

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Speaker 1: And when you play sixteen games and you only win five,

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Speaker 1: that tells you what you are. So that wasn't like

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Speaker 1: it was just a little bit here, a little bit there,

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Speaker 1: and you know, we could have been the playoffs. It

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Speaker 1: wasn't that So but I do think, like I said,

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Speaker 1: I said this at the end of the season, like

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Speaker 1: I'm not discouraged about where we are. I think we

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Speaker 1: have a great core of football players. I love our

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Speaker 1: coaching staff, I love our head coach, Anthony Lynn. So

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Speaker 1: there's a lot that's here. There's a culture that's been

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Speaker 1: built that that Anthony's brought here, that that I think

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Speaker 1: is a championship level culture. Now it's about trying to

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Speaker 1: fix some different things and getting back on the right

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Speaker 1: track because this year, obviously, you know, five wins isn't

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Speaker 1: nearly good enough. We weren't even close to the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: So but it's it's there, and it is there. And

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Speaker 1: you know, if I didn't, if I thought the coaching

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Speaker 1: staff had a lot of holes and the head coach,

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure it'd be different. But man, we got

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Speaker 1: a really good coaching staff. Shane Steiken is a really bright,

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Speaker 1: young offensive mind. And Gus Browley is it more of

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Speaker 1: a veteran coach, but an excellent defensive coach who can

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Speaker 1: teach and communicate and motivate people. And then our head

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Speaker 1: coach overseas at all. So we have that there. We

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Speaker 1: have a culture, and we have a base of players,

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Speaker 1: and now it's about adding some here and trying to

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Speaker 1: get it back on the right track. That's right, And

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Speaker 1: obviously they'll be changes over the next few months with

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Speaker 1: draft and free agency. Well end on this though. So far,

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Speaker 1: stadium it's going to be a palace. I know when

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Speaker 1: you were in Indianapolis, you guys open Lucas Old Stadium

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Speaker 1: two thousand and eight. I think you went twelve games

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Speaker 1: that year. What was it like opening a building like

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Speaker 1: that in India? And it has to be refreshing for

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Speaker 1: the players and really the whole organization to kind of

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Speaker 1: move into a new home. It's funny because they've been

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Speaker 1: building the stadium for three years and you know, I

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Speaker 1: just haven't thought about a whole lot because it had

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Speaker 1: nothing to do. It started to get real time, yeah,

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Speaker 1: but now it's now it's real. I mean it was

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Speaker 1: always kind of there. I haven't been up there in

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Speaker 1: two years. Last time was up there was literally just

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Speaker 1: a hole in the ground. But now it's real, and

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Speaker 1: I think it's exciting for our organization and our players

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Speaker 1: to see this stadium and this. Hey, this we're gonna

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Speaker 1: move into and it is exciting. I can't wait to

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Speaker 1: see if I'm gonna go up in a couple of weeks.

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Speaker 1: I think this Tennessee where it is, but it does

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Speaker 1: bring some energy and some enthusiasm. I mean it should,

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Speaker 1: and we're excited about that. I mean, they need to health.

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Speaker 1: Was was good for what it was, what we had

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Speaker 1: to use it for. It was great for the fan standpoint.

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Speaker 1: But to move into you know, this stadium which you

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Speaker 1: call the Palace, you know it is the eighth wonder

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Speaker 1: of the world. Um, it's gonna be pretty exciting. It

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Speaker 1: really is. I think our players are gonna feed off that. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's gonna be fun. Well, hey, we're just getting started

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Speaker 1: on this draft process. I'm sure I'll see it the

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Speaker 1: combine and throughout hope performance that. I appreciate your time

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Speaker 1: any time. Thanks,