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

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Speaker 1: show on your twenty four to seven home of the

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Speaker 1: Black and Gold SNR Steelers Nation Radio.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Drive. I'm Dale Lollie.

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Speaker 3: He is Matt Williamson, and it is a Wednesday here

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Speaker 3: in Pittsburgh and it was a busy Wednesday for the

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Speaker 3: Pittsburgh Steelers, the Steelers signing linebacker Alex high Smith to

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Speaker 3: a four year extension, essentially a five year deal because

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Speaker 3: you added the year.

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Speaker 2: He already had a year left on his deal.

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Speaker 3: And Matt, I've already seen people complaining about this, mostly

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Speaker 3: the complainers who complain about everything, i e. Basically all

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Speaker 3: the other radio shows out there were like, if they

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Speaker 3: sign Alex high Smith, they're being stupid because they're spending

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Speaker 3: all this money on the defense. If they don't resign

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Speaker 3: Alex high Smith, how could they let a good player

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Speaker 3: like that walk out the door.

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Speaker 2: You can't win. That's being contrarian, just to be contrarian.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, if that's the case, which I'm sure

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Speaker 1: it is, because there's a lot of media folks that

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Speaker 1: take that approach, let's just stir the pot as opposed

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Speaker 1: to analyzing things rationally. Then yes, I mean obviously you

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Speaker 1: could say just what you did?

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Speaker 2: You know that?

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Speaker 1: Wow, why would they do that? The defense is already

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Speaker 1: too old and super expensive, most expensive defense in the

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Speaker 1: league last year. You got to start putting resources on offense.

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Speaker 1: Or boy, they just let a good guy walk. That's terrible.

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Speaker 1: They're cheap. Blah blah blah blah.

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Speaker 2: Like win, you can't win, I'll you win. Here's the

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Speaker 2: thing that these people need to understand. The offense is

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Speaker 2: cheap because they're not paying their quarterback anything yet, and

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Speaker 2: they're very very young, and they're very young at the

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Speaker 2: other spots they're paying. The offensive line is actually getting

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Speaker 2: paid pretty well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it is. It is, so I think it's like

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Speaker 1: thirteenth most spending in the league or something along those lines.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, on their offensive line.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, your skill position guys are still cheap, so you

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Speaker 3: could afford to do deals.

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Speaker 2: Like this with guys like Alex high Smith.

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Speaker 1: Right, this is the beauty of the rookie quarterback move,

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Speaker 1: you know. I mean, this is I'm not saying he's

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Speaker 1: gonna be as good as Burrow or Herbert Pickett, but

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Speaker 1: it doesn't matter who your rookie quarterback is. You can

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Speaker 1: go get things like the Bengals build an entire defense

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Speaker 1: on a quarterback with a rookie rookie contract. The Chargers

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Speaker 1: it hasn't worked out, so well, go get Khalil Mack

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Speaker 1: and J. C. Jackson and all these expensive dudes because

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Speaker 1: they have a quarterback on a rookie deal. You know.

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Speaker 1: So that's what you should do. Whether it's keeping your

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Speaker 1: own or going outside the organization really doesn't matter. But

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Speaker 1: get things while you can. I mean, Ben in his

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Speaker 1: prime eating up a big cap number. Maybe you don't

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Speaker 1: have this luxury.

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Speaker 3: Well I've also seen the argument out there, and we've

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Speaker 3: talked about this before in the past. Well, this doesn't

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Speaker 3: help you beat the Kansas City chief because you're spending

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Speaker 3: all this money on defense and it's not a defense

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Speaker 3: doesn't matter anymore. Did you watch the Eagles play last year,

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Speaker 3: right right, right right, because they played a lot of defense.

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Speaker 3: Did you watch forty nine Ers play last year because

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Speaker 3: they played a lot of defense.

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Speaker 2: You have a lot of money invested in that side

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Speaker 2: of the ball.

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Speaker 3: That just because the Kansas City Chiefs don't have a

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Speaker 3: lot of money spending, they're not spending a lot of

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Speaker 3: money on the defensive side of the ball.

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Speaker 2: That's an outlier.

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Speaker 3: They've got Patrick Mahomes and you want to be able

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Speaker 3: to stop every once in a while. You have to

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Speaker 3: be able to stop Patrick Mahomes once or twice in

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Speaker 3: a game.

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Speaker 2: You can't just say, oh, we're going to get into

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Speaker 2: a shootout.

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Speaker 3: With Patrick Mahomes. That sounds like a great idea. That's

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Speaker 3: what the Chiefs want you to do. They want you

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Speaker 3: to try to go up.

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Speaker 2: And down the field against their offense.

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Speaker 1: So I'm just wanting to pull up the Chiefs real quick,

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Speaker 1: because hey, I give them all the credit in the world,

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Speaker 1: but it was there were Super Bowl champs. They're the outliers.

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Speaker 1: They have the most special football player on the plane.

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Speaker 1: It that sure helps, and that's an excuse for the

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Speaker 1: way they built their team. They're very, very smart, but

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Speaker 1: they had to make a tough decision in do we

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Speaker 1: keep Tyreek or not? And by trading Tyreek, they didn't

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Speaker 1: invest a lot of cap money and cash on defense.

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Speaker 1: But they're using draft picks now on defense. You know,

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Speaker 1: a Duke wa Azama is the first round pick this year.

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Speaker 1: Edge Guy two first rounders last year, McDuffie and Carl

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Speaker 1: Loftis both defensive players. Nick Bolton was their first pick

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Speaker 1: the year before defensive player. So they're doing the resources

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Speaker 1: aren't all created equal, but they're putting more resources on

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Speaker 1: the defense than the offense right now. It's just in

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Speaker 1: terms of draft picks, whether than other than cap space.

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Speaker 1: And guess what, folks, just like high Smith and everyone

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Speaker 1: else on the planet, assuming they're good enough, you get

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Speaker 1: to the end of the contract and you have to

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Speaker 1: make decision on Carl Loftis and mcduffee and those guys.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just such a flawed logic that we you

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Speaker 3: have to be able to go out there and outscore

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Speaker 3: these seams.

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Speaker 2: I'm no kidding. You have to score one more point

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Speaker 2: than they have. But if you stop them.

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Speaker 3: A few times, like the playoff game. We've talked about

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Speaker 3: this in the best the playoff game the Steelers played

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Speaker 3: out there two years ago against Kansas City. The defense

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Speaker 3: got six consecutive stops against that offense. Yeah, yeah, the

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Speaker 3: problem was the Steelers offense did nothing with those six trips.

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Speaker 3: The defense actually scored a touchdown on that Watte force

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Speaker 3: to fumble and they so they're up seven to nothing

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Speaker 3: after holding the Chiefs scoreless on six consecutive possessions. That

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Speaker 3: should be more than an entire half's worth of possessions

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Speaker 3: against the Kansas City Chiefs. That's how you beat the Chiefs.

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Speaker 3: You turned it out.

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Speaker 2: If you turned it into an eight or nine possession

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Speaker 2: game instead of instead of it being a twelve or

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Speaker 2: fourteen possession game, you're not going to hold them down.

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Speaker 2: For if you give the Chiefs or the Bank or

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Speaker 2: the Bills, or one of these teams with these with

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Speaker 2: these high flying offenses, if you in great quarterbacks, if

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Speaker 2: you give them twelve to fourteen possessions, right, they're gonna

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Speaker 2: they're gonna put thirty five forty points on the board.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, they're gonna score on seventy percent of them or whatever. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: field especially touchdowns, without question.

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Speaker 3: But if you limit it, if you limit it to

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Speaker 3: eight possessions in the game, or seven possessions in the game,

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Speaker 3: by possessing the ball yourself and then scoring at the

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Speaker 3: end of your possession and then you get some stops,

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Speaker 3: now you've got a chance to beat them.

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Speaker 1: Yes, and I do get the logic of and just

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Speaker 1: invest in offense and turn into the Dan Fouts chargers

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Speaker 1: and try.

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Speaker 2: Money on my Super Bowls are the damn fouts Chargers.

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Speaker 1: Win exactly exactly, you know, and I understand that logic.

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Speaker 1: In today's NFL, however, scoring is down dramatically in each

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Speaker 1: of the last two years, and it's not shootout galore

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Speaker 1: like people think it is. And I also think in

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Speaker 1: this sport, no matter it's run verse pass or secondary

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Speaker 1: versus front line of your defense, you have to be balanced.

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Speaker 1: I mean, any massive weakness is a problem, you know,

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Speaker 1: Like you don't have to be have Pro bowlers everywhere.

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Speaker 1: You don't have to be the seventy Steelers with Hall

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Speaker 1: of Famers all over the place. But you can't have

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Speaker 1: multiple holes because maybe you do beat Mahomes and then

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Speaker 1: the Ravens come to town and run for eight hundred

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Speaker 1: yards on you. You know what I mean, Like, in

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Speaker 1: order to win the Super Bowl, you have to be

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Speaker 1: more than one team.

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Speaker 3: You can't well, that's you know, and that's the problem

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Speaker 3: the Steelers ran into in twenty seventeen, so I was

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Speaker 3: gone with it, right.

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Speaker 2: They built their team to beat the Patriots, the high

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Speaker 2: flying offense of the Patriots.

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Speaker 3: They're gonna go They're gonna dink and dunk us and

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Speaker 3: so we got to get quicker at the second level.

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Speaker 3: So they went and they got quicker at the second level,

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Speaker 3: and then guess what happens here?

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Speaker 2: Come to Jacksonville Jaguars trotting.

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Speaker 3: In with a big back and a big offensive line,

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Speaker 3: and they ran the dope ball down your throat and

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Speaker 3: you lose and you say, wow, we could have beaten

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Speaker 3: the Patriots.

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Speaker 2: That doesn't it doesn't matter. You gotta get there, burst.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you have to be able to do it all.

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Speaker 1: And I will say I will never give a team

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Speaker 1: a hard time as a blanket rule of thumb of

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Speaker 1: investing in defensive front people. I mean that is that's

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Speaker 1: the way I would build a team. You know, like

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Speaker 1: I w was so jealous of Georgia and Alabama that

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Speaker 1: can just bring out hockey lines worth of freaks on

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Speaker 1: the defensive front. And if you can get yourself anywhere

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Speaker 1: resembling that as an NFL parallel kind of like where

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Speaker 1: the Eagles are now the Niners have been. I mean,

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Speaker 1: they're the two teams that invest the most in defensive

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Speaker 1: linemen is the Eagles and the Niners, whether it's draft

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Speaker 1: picks or money, and they've both been very successful. And

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Speaker 1: it's easy to say it's because of Shanahan, it doesn't

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Speaker 1: matter whose quarterback is, or because the Eagles offense is

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Speaker 1: so good. Yeah, but d line is ultra important to me.

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Speaker 1: It's right behind quarterback.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree.

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Speaker 3: I think it's just a very short sighted And again,

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Speaker 3: you're just taking a contrarian stance if you believe that's

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Speaker 3: the all the Steelers shouldn't spend on defense. The problem is,

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Speaker 3: so everybody watches, uh, you know, the playoff games, and

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Speaker 3: well the you know, the Bills and Chiefs they had

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Speaker 3: a shootout.

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Speaker 2: That's great, They've got the quarterbacks to do that.

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Speaker 3: I'm not saying Kenny Pickett can't be that, but he's

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Speaker 3: not that right now.

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Speaker 2: That's like taking a knife into a gunfight.

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Speaker 1: Right right now.

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Speaker 2: You know, why would you do that?

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Speaker 3: Why would you Why would you play the way that

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Speaker 3: the Chiefs want you to play?

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Speaker 1: Right right right?

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Speaker 3: Why would you play the way that the Bills want

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Speaker 3: you to play? Why would you play the way that

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Speaker 3: the Bengals want you to play? No, you turn it

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Speaker 3: into a knockdown, drag out battle. You make them you know,

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Speaker 3: it's it's the same thing as when you know, back

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Speaker 3: in the days when you're playing Brady. Brady's admitted over

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Speaker 3: the you know, over the time that you know, when

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Speaker 3: teams are playing keep away from him, he'd start watching

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Speaker 3: the clock. Okay, I've got this many possessions left. I

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Speaker 3: got to do that, you know. So you're putting pressure

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Speaker 3: on those guys to you know, it's for them to

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Speaker 3: do it. Like any we're we're running out of possessions here.

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Speaker 1: It reminds me of the opening line Nicholson in The Departed,

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Speaker 1: where I don't want I don't want to be a

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Speaker 1: product of my environment. I want my environment to be

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Speaker 1: a product of me, you know, Like I don't want

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Speaker 1: to walk into Kansas City and give them thirteen possessions

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Speaker 1: and say the first one to fifty wins, you know

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Speaker 1: what I mean. Like, I can't win that way. So

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Speaker 1: I need to change the way the game is structured

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Speaker 1: and play it my way. And that's coaching, and that's

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Speaker 1: you know, team building, and maybe Kenny can win duels

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Speaker 1: with those guys. I think that's not crazy talk. I'm

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Speaker 1: not saying every time, but if you can limit it

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Speaker 1: to play to your advantage, that's what any sport is about,

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Speaker 1: you know, I mean, growing up the Saint Louis Cardinals

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Speaker 1: had a huge turf field, so everyone they got were

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Speaker 1: these speed guys.

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Speaker 3: You know, I mean they're leading home run guy would

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Speaker 3: hit twelve home runs and they go out and score

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Speaker 3: six runs a game because they're running like crazy.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and the home run walls are longer there the

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Speaker 1: outfields cho so they lead the league in stolen bases.

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Speaker 1: You know, if he was short right field, porch, go

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Speaker 1: get a left handed power hitter that bangs him over

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Speaker 1: there time and time again. You know, not everyone's dealt

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Speaker 1: the same hand and real quick. Because we just talked

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Speaker 1: about with the chiefs the Bills talking about teams that

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Speaker 1: invest in defensive linemen. At Oliver's a one, Rousseau's a one,

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Speaker 1: Shaq Lawson was a one. Jordan Phillips is making good money.

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Speaker 1: Von Miller and Leonard Floyd are making a ton of money.

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Speaker 1: Eponos is a two boogie, Basham's a two day. Kwan

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Speaker 1: Jones is making big money. They just signed Settle and

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Speaker 1: poon Afford. They just keep putting resource and resource into

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Speaker 1: defensive line. So that's what the good teams are doing, folks, Philly,

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Speaker 1: San Fran you know, Buffalo, I mean, Bengals just drafted

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Speaker 1: another one in the first round.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And I'll say this, like, so, if you don't

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Speaker 3: resign a guy like Alex high it also sends a

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Speaker 3: bad message to.

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Speaker 2: Your locker room.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, because you know, these other guys see

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Speaker 3: Alex high Smith working, they see him doing the right things,

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Speaker 3: they see him saying the right things, producing.

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Speaker 2: In the production.

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Speaker 3: So you look at that, and if you don't pay

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Speaker 3: a guy like that, he's got these other guys are

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Speaker 3: going well.

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Speaker 2: Doesn't make any difference whether I work real hard or not.

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Speaker 3: They're not gonna expend, They're not gonna pay for it

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Speaker 3: here I'm making I'm gonna end up somewhere.

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Speaker 1: Else, especially as a third round pick out of Charlotte.

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Speaker 1: You know, I'm not taking front of Roderick Jones, but

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Speaker 1: I mean he's not a first round pick from the

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Speaker 1: National Champions you know that, or from Ohio State, you know,

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Speaker 1: or whatever. His path to playing time isn't just handed

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Speaker 1: to him. So he's earned everything he's gotten since he's

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Speaker 1: been here. He's developed. That's who you keep, I mean,

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Speaker 1: not only because you have a lot invested in that player,

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Speaker 1: and it's certainly cheaper just purely finances to keep a

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Speaker 1: high Smith than to buy one in the open market

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Speaker 1: next February or whatever. I mean, it's not even close

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Speaker 1: to buy it. If you're gonna let him walk and say, oh,

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Speaker 1: we'll just get the same guy in free agency, you're

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Speaker 1: gonna pay him more than you did just now, or.

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Speaker 3: You'd have to draft that guy, which means you're probably drafted,

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Speaker 3: taking one in the first round.

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Speaker 1: Right, certainly the first two rounds, or you're getting someone

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Speaker 1: else's warts, you know, right, so.

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Speaker 3: You know, you know what you have, You know the player,

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Speaker 3: you know his work ethic. He's twenty five years old.

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Speaker 3: He's still getting better. He's gotten better every year.

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Speaker 2: You know, you look at it, you know, look at

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Speaker 2: bud Dupree.

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Speaker 3: It took bud Dupree five years to get to the

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Speaker 3: level and he still didn't get to the level that

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Speaker 3: Alex Highsmith is at right now. Correct, he had an

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Speaker 3: eleven and a half sax season. High Smith had fourteen

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Speaker 3: and a half. Now people may say, well he's a

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Speaker 3: product to TJ. Want. Okay, that's fine, that helps, But

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Speaker 3: even without wat last year, the seven games he played

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Speaker 3: with out what he had three and a half sacks

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Speaker 3: and of force fumble he had five quarterback hits in

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Speaker 3: those games. Well, I mean I'm no mathematician here, that

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Speaker 3: still works out to eight and a half sacks a game.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And I'm not with the season. I'm not taking

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Speaker 1: anything away from what. But I have seen the stats,

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Speaker 1: especially since he signed, what high Smith has done with

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Speaker 1: and without What on the field last year, and as

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Speaker 1: you mentioned, without What, the numbers are very good. I

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Speaker 1: mean they're not quite as good as the whole season

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Speaker 1: extrapolated out. But I'm not again, I'm not taking anything

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Speaker 1: away from what. But when What returned, he wasn't what,

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Speaker 1: and other teams quickly figured that out. I think it

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Speaker 1: was a Colts game that's just off the top of

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Speaker 1: my head, where they're leaving a right tackle who's just

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Speaker 1: a dude one on one with TJ. You know, like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: he's out there, but he's not Batman yet, you know

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Speaker 1: what I mean. He's he's still working his way back.

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Speaker 1: And with the Batman Robin reference, Robin's a superhero too,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean, not the best one, not

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Speaker 1: my favorite one, but.

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Speaker 2: He can battle evil, you know, he could do things.

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Speaker 1: May not put the Joker in jail, but he'll put

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Speaker 1: some of the other goofy ones in you know well,

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Speaker 1: and you.

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Speaker 3: Know the thing about it is like their defense is

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Speaker 3: set up to have two good guys coming.

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Speaker 2: Off the edge.

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Speaker 1: That always has been, Yeah.

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Speaker 2: It always has been.

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Speaker 3: You had Joey Porter, you had Jason Gilden, you had

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Speaker 3: James Harrison, you had Lamar Woodley, had Kevin Green, you

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Speaker 3: had Greg Lloyd.

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Speaker 2: Nobody said, oh, don't pay those guys.

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Speaker 3: Nobody said a word like they're paying Greg Lloyd and

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Speaker 3: Kevin Kevin Green. They were paying them both big money. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: you were paying Jason Gilden and Joey Porter.

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Speaker 2: You were paying.

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Speaker 3: Contractor Woodley got a Harrison and Woodley were both making

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Speaker 3: good money.

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Speaker 1: Like that is expensive. It always has been.

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Speaker 2: It always has been and always will be.

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Speaker 3: You put the quarterback on the ground, you pay for that.

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Speaker 1: This is new because I haven't studied the contractor even

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Speaker 1: though it's out, But my hunch is too you could

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Speaker 1: rework it if you have to.

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Speaker 3: You know, it's the way the money and it's there's

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Speaker 3: twenty seven and a half million guaranteed.

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Speaker 1: I believe, Yeah, they're guaranteed.

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Speaker 3: Is not huge, So it's it's a typical Steelers contract

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Speaker 3: that if they need to create cap space down the road.

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Speaker 2: They can easily do so.

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Speaker 3: And it's not like al you know, Alex Heismith will

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Speaker 3: be twenty nine thirty years old when that's when this

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Speaker 3: contract is finished.

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Speaker 2: That's perfect.

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Speaker 1: That's what you want, right, I mean, that's the way

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Speaker 1: you draw it up. You know, if every third round

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Speaker 1: pick works out just like that.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, and again if they don't sign him, oh my god,

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Speaker 3: they're letting a good player walk out the door. If

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Speaker 3: they do sign him, all I can't believe they spent

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Speaker 3: that kind of money on that player. It's ridiculous. It's

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Speaker 3: a stupid argument. It's somebody arguing just for the sake

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Speaker 3: of argument.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, for clicks and whatever. And I love to bring

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Speaker 1: up comppics. Okay, maybe you let him go and that

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Speaker 1: equates to a third round compick when he signs for

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Speaker 1: huge money with the Titans or whomever. But you're going

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Speaker 1: to bring people in. You know, the compic thing doesn't

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Speaker 1: work great when you have a rookie quarterback because you're

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Speaker 1: always gonna add you're gonna add next year, Solo Malu

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Speaker 1: or whatever, and so you're not gonna get those compicts.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, but Steelers getting that Alex Highsmith deal done

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Speaker 3: before training camp. Another another proactive move by omar Con

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Speaker 3: this offseason. Who's gotten out out in front of a

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Speaker 3: lot of stuff this year, but signing signing guys early,

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Speaker 3: making a trade in the draft, getting this high Smith

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Speaker 3: deal before before training camp starts. Because now, what's the

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Speaker 3: big question gonna be when you get the training camp?

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Speaker 2: This isn't gonna be a distraction at all.

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Speaker 3: No, there won't be any nobody's gonna you know, nobody's

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Speaker 3: gonna get asked about is he is he gonna practice?

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Speaker 2: Is he gonna hold in any of that goes? No,

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Speaker 2: it's all done.

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Speaker 1: Congratulations, alex Is No, I like it a lot.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely. We're gonna take a break. Here is Matt Williamson.

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Speaker 3: I am Dale, Lollie. You're listening to the drive here

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Speaker 3: on Steelers Nation Radio. We'll be better with more right after

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Speaker 3: this