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Speaker 1: And the the slot. As Henry left, I've got a linebacker

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Speaker 1: on Eckler and here comes to quick blitz. There's Eckler

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Speaker 1: gets a block twenty twenty five thirty it's a foot

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Speaker 1: race forty fifty into Jack's territory. Thirty twenty Austin Eckler

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Speaker 1: to the end, Zoe touchdown Chargers. Austin Eckler is having

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Speaker 1: himself a day. Austin Eckler has agreed to a multi

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Speaker 1: year extension. Here with Haley Elwood and on the phone

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Speaker 1: ESPN's Eric Williams, Eric, this is a big deal for

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Speaker 1: a team that really relied on Austin last year, and

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Speaker 1: I think he's just scratching the surface. Yeah. I think

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Speaker 1: it's a huge deal in terms of, like he said,

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Speaker 1: Austin his playmaking ability and the fact that I think

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Speaker 1: he's going to continue to get better in the role

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Speaker 1: that they're using him, which is as a playmaker that's

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Speaker 1: just as a running back, but a guy that can

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Speaker 1: also catch the ball out of the backfields and line

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Speaker 1: up as a receiver and make things happen there. And

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Speaker 1: also if they need to use and in return game

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Speaker 1: can do that as well. And it kind of follows

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Speaker 1: TM Tom Flesto's philosophy of drafting or in this case,

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Speaker 1: signing the guys and undrafted rookie developed in them and

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Speaker 1: then retaining them by resigning them and keeping them the

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Speaker 1: program and kind of keeping those foundational guys that you

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Speaker 1: found early on in the process. So a big signing

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Speaker 1: for the Chargers and in keeping one of their talented

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Speaker 1: playmakers in the whole for four years. And I would

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Speaker 1: kind of tag off that four year thing. I think

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Speaker 1: that that's so great. And to also get this done

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Speaker 1: before Eckler was set to become a restricted free agent

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Speaker 1: on March eighteenth, so you take care of it and

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Speaker 1: the guy gets a multi year contract instead of having

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Speaker 1: to deal with the tender and maybe playing it out

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Speaker 1: on a one year and all that comes with that.

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Speaker 1: So it's just it's one of those very nicely you know,

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Speaker 1: those things that are very nicely wrapped up before free

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Speaker 1: agency hits. And think about this, Hailey, I mean, I

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Speaker 1: think Austin made six hundred and forty five thousand last year.

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Speaker 1: He's getting be moving into a different tap bracket. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: exactly is going to be on that. I think it'll

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Speaker 1: be fine with it though. Yeah, yeah, I think he'll

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Speaker 1: be okay with that. I just think it's kind of

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Speaker 1: a cool story. A guy that comes from a small

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Speaker 1: town in eastern Colorado, UM, you know, didn't get a

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Speaker 1: lot of shine coming out of high school, worked hard

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Speaker 1: and now I kind of talked about him a little

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Speaker 1: talked with him a little bit about ice fishing and

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Speaker 1: his dreams of buying a home on a lake. Um.

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Speaker 1: I think it was in the brast where his family

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Speaker 1: goes to in the off season, and now he has

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Speaker 1: the ability to do that and er just what he

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Speaker 1: meant to the team last year. He carried the load

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Speaker 1: at the beginning of the season, and then you saw

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Speaker 1: him in this role where caught ninety two balls seven

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Speaker 1: yards short of a thousand yards, but he caught ninety

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Speaker 1: two passes on one hundred and eight targets, so he

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Speaker 1: was extremely efficient. When the ball went his way, he

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Speaker 1: caught it. And then you use him complimentary as a

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Speaker 1: running back in the backfield four point two yards for

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Speaker 1: yet about just over. I think eight carries a game,

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Speaker 1: which is a nice mix when you're you're looking at

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Speaker 1: this offense, a multidimensional offense with weapons on the outside

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Speaker 1: like Keenan and Mike Austen is the perfect compliment to

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Speaker 1: all these guys. Yeah, I agree with you, because he's

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Speaker 1: a chess piece. You know, when we're at the combine,

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Speaker 1: you know, people are asking national guys, you know, is

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Speaker 1: Austen going to be the guy that's going to be

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Speaker 1: their workhorse running back? And I think they're kind of

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Speaker 1: missing the points. They never used them that way. They've

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Speaker 1: already used him as more of a complimentary piece. But

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Speaker 1: a guy that, hey, he's gonna get sixteen twenty touches

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Speaker 1: and we don't care how he gets them, but he's

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Speaker 1: gonna get his touches, and he's going to be an

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Speaker 1: impact and defenses are gonna have to account for him

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Speaker 1: whether he's lined up in the dot and the eye

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Speaker 1: is a running back or he's a slot, or if

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Speaker 1: he's out in the perimeter on the edge and I

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Speaker 1: gotta move a linebacker out there and have to deal

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Speaker 1: with him one on one on the perimeter as a receiver.

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Speaker 1: So he's a very important his offense. Um, he's very versatile,

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Speaker 1: and he's the guy that you want to stay healthy,

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Speaker 1: so you kind of want to make sure you don't

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Speaker 1: get him too many touches so he can he can

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Speaker 1: be the same guy he was in Week one in

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Speaker 1: Week sixteen. Eric, back in twenty seventeen, I was just

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Speaker 1: kind of going through some articles and you wrote a

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Speaker 1: piece on him sort of following the path of Danny Woodhead,

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Speaker 1: And I think Chargers fans have now seen that in

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Speaker 1: Austin over these last few years, and what wood had

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Speaker 1: brought to the Chargers when he was with the team.

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Speaker 1: Would you say you've seen that out of him? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: no doubt. I mean I think he's similar in terms

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Speaker 1: of the way he plays his place, be his bill.

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Speaker 1: Certainly you look at him five eight, two hundred pounds,

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Speaker 1: he's built similarly to Danny. And then they have a

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Speaker 1: similar story too. You look at how they've made it

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Speaker 1: to the league and really had to kind of fight

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Speaker 1: each step and really prove people wrong. And that's kind

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Speaker 1: of fueled to Austin, and certainly it filled Danny, you know,

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Speaker 1: when he was in the NFL. So yeah, I definitely

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Speaker 1: see similar paths. And I also think it's kind of

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Speaker 1: cool because I think it is st was the pass

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Speaker 1: for guys that are life Austin. Again, they can look

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Speaker 1: at those those players and say, Okay, I might not

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Speaker 1: be six to twenty the traditional big bruising running backs.

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Speaker 1: But I could still play in the league because those

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Speaker 1: guys have been successful. Eric twenty seventeen preseason game number four,

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Speaker 1: Austin Eckler's wearing a number three Jersey's he's making his

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Speaker 1: money on special teams, but he had a He had

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Speaker 1: a three catch fifty eight yard performance and fifty yards

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Speaker 1: on the ground on eight carries. I think it was

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Speaker 1: safe to say he made the team on the fourth

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Speaker 1: preseason game, where really that's kind of like the Super

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Speaker 1: Bowl for these undrafted free agents to to make the

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Speaker 1: fifty three. It's just amazing to see what he did

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Speaker 1: in that game and how that propelled him to where

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Speaker 1: he is today. I agree with you, and I would

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Speaker 1: be doing a disservice to Dan Wilkee if I didn't

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Speaker 1: give him a shout out former Chargers. I saw him

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Speaker 1: asking for it on Twitter today. He was one of

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Speaker 1: the guys early on. I'll give him credit, even though

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Speaker 1: it's hard for me to do that. I've pointed out

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Speaker 1: Austin as a guy that was making plays um during

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Speaker 1: off season work. This was before training camp, and I

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Speaker 1: kind of took note of that and continue to watch him.

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Speaker 1: I think at that point Austin didn't know that the

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Speaker 1: offense very well, so it was doing a lot of

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Speaker 1: thinking his way through routes and in terms of where

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Speaker 1: he's supposed to be in the run game. But you're right,

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Speaker 1: that final preseason game he really possed and and he

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Speaker 1: just played fast and made a bunch of plays, and

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Speaker 1: it was kind of a no doubt or at that

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Speaker 1: point that yeah, this guy should be on a roster

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Speaker 1: in some form or fashion. Early on, he was a

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Speaker 1: special team guy. You know, a gunner could make plays

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Speaker 1: in terms of coverage and also could make plays in

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Speaker 1: the return game. And I just think the more they

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Speaker 1: gave him, the better he played and certainly earned the

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Speaker 1: right to be out there on a regular base. I

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Speaker 1: remember last offseason when special teams coordinator George Stewart spoke.

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Speaker 1: He speak once a year. He spoke right after rookie

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Speaker 1: minicamp or right around that time, and someone had asked

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Speaker 1: him about the undrafted guys, and he goes, we're looking

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Speaker 1: at everyone over these days, not just the guys who

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Speaker 1: are selected actually in the draft, and he cited Austin

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Speaker 1: as a guy who he called him a pest And

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Speaker 1: I loved that so much because he said he was

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Speaker 1: in his office every day, coach do, coach do, coach do?

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Speaker 1: But it worked and here we are years later, and

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Speaker 1: it just goes to show you he's such a great

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Speaker 1: story in that sense of doing the hard work and

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Speaker 1: trying to figure it all out and then performing well

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Speaker 1: and then earning a contract off of it. And then

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Speaker 1: to your point, Chris, coach Lynn did say last year

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Speaker 1: that that fourth preseason game that did it for him,

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Speaker 1: Austin earned a spot. So I'm dubbing that fourth game

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Speaker 1: the Austin Eckler Game now. And Eric, isn't it funny?

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Speaker 1: Like Haley and I were talking about just the Combine,

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Speaker 1: Austin wasn't invited to an event like that. You know,

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Speaker 1: he slipped through the cracks. So we make a big,

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Speaker 1: huge production out of the Combine and obviously it's a

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Speaker 1: it's a big event for football fans and really the

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Speaker 1: whole NFL community alike. But you forget that sometimes he's

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Speaker 1: undrafted free agents. They may not be an indie, and

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Speaker 1: Austin wasn't an indie and look at him now. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think that's what's so cool about football is there's

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Speaker 1: so many guys playing at so many different levels, whether

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Speaker 1: it's you know Division one or you know Division one

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Speaker 1: double A forget what they call it now as an

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Speaker 1: FBS Division two and Division three. And so if you're

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Speaker 1: talented UM and you're persistent and relentless, you have the

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Speaker 1: opportunity to earn um you know, a chance to play

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Speaker 1: in the league. And certainly Austin kind of represents that

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Speaker 1: with what he's accomplished. Whoever the quarterback is going to

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Speaker 1: be is going to have a best friend in Austin

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Speaker 1: Eckler because he is a guy. You know they talking

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Speaker 1: to the NFL matchup guys great Casello Matteo, and he

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Speaker 1: can detach from a formation you could split him out.

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Speaker 1: Why he's he's your best friend in the screen game

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Speaker 1: and running flats. So whoever the quarterback is, whether it's

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Speaker 1: Tyrod Taylor, where whether it's a rookie, wither it's a

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Speaker 1: free agent number thirty, is going to be really valuable

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Speaker 1: to this offense. Yeah, and to kind of put a

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Speaker 1: bow on it, I think one of the things we

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Speaker 1: didn't talk about, and he's kind of known for his

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Speaker 1: ability to make plays after the run or after the catch.

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Speaker 1: I think that's where he really kind of earns his money.

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Speaker 1: He usually makes the first guy miss. And it's so

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Speaker 1: hard in this league to create explosive plays, but it's

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Speaker 1: so important because it really helps you get in the

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Speaker 1: scoring position and ultimately put points on the scoreboard. And

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Speaker 1: if you have a guy like Austin that can create

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Speaker 1: explosive plays, or when you're in the red zone in

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Speaker 1: that compact area and you have a guy like Austin

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Speaker 1: that can make one person miss and get to the

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Speaker 1: edge or dive in the end zone, it just makes

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Speaker 1: it easier to score. That Jacksonville game, Haley, we were

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Speaker 1: in that press box together. Eric was right in front

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Speaker 1: of us. Eight for one on one on ground and

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Speaker 1: four catches for one hundred and twelve yards. That's the

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Speaker 1: example that you would probably point to Eric in terms

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Speaker 1: of just the big playability. I think he had was

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Speaker 1: like an eighty four yard catching run in that game. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: he's a home run in And I think every team

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Speaker 1: is looking for guys like that. I mean, look at

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Speaker 1: the Chiefs and all the guys they have on offense

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Speaker 1: that can just they can score from anywhere on the field,

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Speaker 1: led by my home and so anytime you can find

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Speaker 1: a guy that can do that for you, you want

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Speaker 1: to lock him up. Eric, I didn't get to talk

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Speaker 1: to you in Indy. We talked to Popper for a

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Speaker 1: little bit on Thursday. I got in late. I wanted

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Speaker 1: to get your takeaways outside of Austin, just what you

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Speaker 1: saw in Indianapolis and the first Domino to falls free agency.

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Speaker 1: I think the one thing for me is speed. When

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Speaker 1: you watch the receivers run. When you watch Simmons from

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Speaker 1: Clemson run of four three nine at two hundred and

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Speaker 1: thirty or whatever he is, that really jumped out to me,

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Speaker 1: and I think that's something that the charge that are

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Speaker 1: looking to add on both sides of the football. I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, football is about creating space on offense and

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Speaker 1: taking it away on defense, and I think the Chiefs

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Speaker 1: are probably the top team at doing that when you

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Speaker 1: look at how they play on both sides of the football.

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Speaker 1: I think the Chargers need to get faster on offense, defense,

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Speaker 1: and special teams. And I think there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: guys that are will be available to them in the draft.

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Speaker 1: In terms of the quarterback position, there was a lot

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Speaker 1: of chatter about Jordan Love and the way he threw

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Speaker 1: the football and that's not surprising when you watch him.

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Speaker 1: He just looks like a guy that really feels comfortable

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Speaker 1: throwing the football and can throw it from a number

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Speaker 1: of different platforms. But I still think scouts are going

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Speaker 1: to go back to the tape and see how he

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Speaker 1: played over the last two seasons and that's being a

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Speaker 1: factor on where he goes. And then lastly, you know,

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Speaker 1: justin Herbert, I think just kind of continue to kind

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Speaker 1: of check off boxes in terms of, you know, having

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Speaker 1: the athleticism that you want at the quarterback position and

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Speaker 1: how they're playing it in two and twenty and the

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Speaker 1: arm talent LB to see where those guys shake out

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Speaker 1: once they have the draft in anpril helly, I think

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Speaker 1: what's intriguing at the top is obviously the quarterbacks we

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Speaker 1: all talked about, but also the guys like Isaiah Simmons

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Speaker 1: that Eric mentioned, a Couda from Ohio State. Outside of

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Speaker 1: the quarterback position, it is very top heavy with blue

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Speaker 1: chip type prospects, and I think that's what makes these

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Speaker 1: next five to six weeks so intriguing, because we don't

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Speaker 1: know who's gonna maybe move up, move down where some

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Speaker 1: of these guys are gonna go. We won't truly know

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Speaker 1: until draft day, but I don't remember seeing a wide

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Speaker 1: receiver class as loaded as this one. And then you know, defensively,

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Speaker 1: you mentioned guys like Chase Young, Akuda and Isaiah Simmons.

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Speaker 1: If you don't get a quarterback, you're probably gonna get

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Speaker 1: a perennial Pro bowler, maybe an All Pro. Yeah, you

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Speaker 1: can definitely get one of those guys. And also, this

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Speaker 1: is a great tackle draft, which everyone's talking about too.

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Speaker 1: There are a lot of great options out there. And

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Speaker 1: the interesting thing, you know, in talking abundance at the combine,

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Speaker 1: which I'm sure you heard this as well, it's like, okay, well,

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Speaker 1: if the Chargers go with what they have at quarterback

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Speaker 1: with Tyrod Taylor or go to free agency, then that

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Speaker 1: sixth pick becomes very interesting with what they can do

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Speaker 1: with other options besides QB save. You know, they don't

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Speaker 1: draft a quarterback just to sit or something like that,

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Speaker 1: so it's going to be very very interesting. I mean,

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Speaker 1: the last time the Chargers had a pick this high

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Speaker 1: was when they took Bosa third overall. But really you

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Speaker 1: knew that those two quarterbacks were going one and two,

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Speaker 1: so essentially the team had the pick of the best

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Speaker 1: player in that draft. That's right, that's right. So this

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Speaker 1: is just such an interesting chess match, if you will,

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Speaker 1: of not only what this team is going to do,

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Speaker 1: but what other teams are going to do. Will we

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Speaker 1: hear movement over these next few weeks before the draft hits,

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Speaker 1: and obviously once we get to free agency and things happen.

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Speaker 1: But it's exciting. There's no off season, there's the off season.

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Speaker 1: There's no offseason. Eric, have you seen a more kind

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Speaker 1: of intriguing top five, top ten in your years covering

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Speaker 1: the draft? No? And I think it's because of everything

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Speaker 1: that you mentioned. The quarterback position, I think it's solid,

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Speaker 1: and then obviously quarterbacks get pushed up because of the

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Speaker 1: need for them. But along with that, there's a bunch

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Speaker 1: of talented guys at different positions. Like you said, Chase

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Speaker 1: Young aclude to the cornerback. There's a lot of receivers,

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Speaker 1: talented receivers and the offensive lineman. You know, you have

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Speaker 1: a guy like Beckton running by one four at fifty pounds.

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Speaker 1: That's ridiculous, um, And so there's there's talented guys and

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Speaker 1: a number of different positions. The quarterbacks are going to

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Speaker 1: be pushed up and who's going to be involved with

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Speaker 1: the quarterbacks, who's gonna move up to get the guy? Um?

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Speaker 1: It just makes the draft, you know, so interesting every

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Speaker 1: year because you just don't know how things are going

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Speaker 1: to shake out, and there's all this chatter and then

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden moves happened. You're like, wow, I

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Speaker 1: didn't expect that or didn't see that coming. Um, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's it's so proper time. It's so fascinating too, because

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Speaker 1: we look at all these mock drafts. They're all wrong.

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Speaker 1: They're all gonna be wrong. Like I mean, it's it's

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Speaker 1: it's fun to look at it. It's speculate, but nobody

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Speaker 1: has a clue. Uh, you're gonna have to rip them

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Speaker 1: all up by April. But I think that's what makes

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Speaker 1: it so fun is there's probably gonna be a dark

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Speaker 1: horse team that maybe moves up or moves back. And

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Speaker 1: by the way, free agency needs to happen first. I

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Speaker 1: think once that picture settles a little bit, we'll have

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Speaker 1: a much clearer idea of what teams really want to

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Speaker 1: home in on. Yeah, I think you're right. I think

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Speaker 1: free agency definitely brings clarity to kind of what teams

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Speaker 1: want going into the draft and maybe tips their hand

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Speaker 1: a little bit and give it kind of you know,

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Speaker 1: gives you more of a focus on what teams are

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Speaker 1: going to be looking for in terms of specific positions,

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Speaker 1: if they're able to sign the guys that they want.

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Speaker 1: And the other hand, I mean sometimes free agency will

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Speaker 1: tip the fact that they maybe want a quarterback. Maybe

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Speaker 1: they take a quarterback in the agency, but they're actually

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Speaker 1: looking to get a quarterback in the draft, and they're

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Speaker 1: just ensuring that they ask somebody in the fold if

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Speaker 1: they don't get the guy that they want. So you

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Speaker 1: can kind of look at it a couple of different winners.

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Speaker 1: I will say it was very interesting actually going to

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Speaker 1: the combine and talking about quarterback for the first time. Really,

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Speaker 1: I mean in other years you always ask like, oh,

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Speaker 1: you know, is this the year they draft? Does this

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Speaker 1: a year they take the air appearance of Philip Rivers

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Speaker 1: bo with Rivers not in the picture. It was very

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Speaker 1: interesting to have conversations with people around the league and

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Speaker 1: I think, you know, obviously this team had a disappointing

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Speaker 1: twenty nineteen season, but people are saying, but they're also

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Speaker 1: probably the most interesting team because of what is going

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Speaker 1: to happen, and what they're going to do over these

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Speaker 1: next few six weeks, there's going to I think that's

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Speaker 1: because people nationally realize how talented their rosters. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: if they get the quarterback position right, they could get

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Speaker 1: things turned around pretty quickly. They get h you know,

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Speaker 1: good play at the quarterback position in two twenty because

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Speaker 1: of the talent to pieces they have on defense like

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Speaker 1: Derwin James, Joey Bosa, Melbourne Ingram and in our offense,

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Speaker 1: you know, you resigned Eckler. I think they're going to

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Speaker 1: try to, you know, resign Hunter Henry, you have Keenan Allen,

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Speaker 1: Mike Williams. You just have to get some other positions

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Speaker 1: sorted out. Yeah, a retooling this offseason could pay dividends

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Speaker 1: for the Chargers, a big offseason ahead. And what I

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Speaker 1: love about Eric Williams he picks up the phone when

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Speaker 1: news breaks. Literally he picked it up. We appreciate it, man.

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Speaker 1: It was good to get this this Austin news before

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Speaker 1: the weekend. And uh, we didn't get to see you

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Speaker 1: in Indy, so I appreciate you sharing your thoughts. Sure,

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Speaker 1: no problem, Thanks for having me, guys, I really appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: We'll see you soon.