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Speaker 1: I'm Lance Meadow and welcome to another edition of the

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Speaker 1: Giants Huddle podcast, which you can find on Giants dot com,

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Speaker 1: the Giants Mobile app, and also all your favorite podcast platforms.

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Speaker 1: Make sure you subscribe and if you were on Apple Podcast,

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Speaker 1: please leave a positive review five star review if you

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Speaker 1: like what you hear. For all the Giants podcast offerings,

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Speaker 1: go to Giants dot com slash podcast. Today, our guest

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Speaker 1: is Giants quarterback Daniel Jones. Daniel, appreciate you giving us

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Speaker 1: some time. Hope everything is well. So why don't we

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Speaker 1: start off with the combine and tell us about your

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Speaker 1: experience when you went through that. What was that process

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Speaker 1: like for you? So my combine UM experience this time

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Speaker 1: a year ago. UM, you know, I remember, uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: there's you have a couple of months you're getting uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, we finished up our bowl game into December,

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Speaker 1: and you're kind of straight into combine training. You're into UM.

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Speaker 1: You know, you're you're you're you have your on the

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Speaker 1: field component and you're you're running, you're cutting, and then

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Speaker 1: for me, you know, you're throwing and drill work, but

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Speaker 1: also the interview part of that and and preparing to um,

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Speaker 1: you know, answer questions, preparing to try to you know,

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Speaker 1: present yourself as as well as you possibly can. And

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Speaker 1: and UM you know that that element of it too

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Speaker 1: is is uh you know, probably more important than UM.

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Speaker 1: You know a lot of things you do on the field,

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Speaker 1: particularly UM for a quarterback. So you know, there's a

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Speaker 1: lot that goes into it, and and there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of uh you know, preparation leading up to UM you know,

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Speaker 1: those those days in in Indianapolis. There are many different

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Speaker 1: aspects to the combine. What were the most challenging ones

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Speaker 1: for you? To me, the most challenging part of the

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Speaker 1: combine is just um, you know, I think it's four

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Speaker 1: days and it's back to back to back, UM. You know,

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Speaker 1: every minute of your day is filled with some kind

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Speaker 1: of evaluation or some kind of UM, you know test

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Speaker 1: really so UM to me, the challenging part was just

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Speaker 1: just uh, you know, staying on and being able to

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Speaker 1: um you know, be at your best really constantly for

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Speaker 1: four days. You don't get you know, a whole lot

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Speaker 1: of sleep. And UM you know you're you're trying to,

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Speaker 1: like I said, stay on and stay uh, stay ready

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Speaker 1: and continue to um present yourself as well as you

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Speaker 1: possibly can. I mean it's a really a you know,

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Speaker 1: a four day job interview, and that's kind of how

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Speaker 1: you have to approach it. What was it like competing

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Speaker 1: against other top prospects on an individual level as opposed

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Speaker 1: to a team level. It's an interesting dynamic where, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, you're you're competing with with those guys and

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Speaker 1: and really, um, you know, the only time you're head

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Speaker 1: to head against uh, you know, with them is on

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Speaker 1: the field and the drill portion of it and throwing

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Speaker 1: and running and um, you know, it's fun to be

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Speaker 1: out there with everyone and see how, um, how everyone

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Speaker 1: stacks up. But you know, kind of through the whole

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Speaker 1: four days, you want to put together the best combine

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Speaker 1: you know you can personally and understand what your strengths

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Speaker 1: are and and um, you know, present yourself, you know,

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Speaker 1: individually as well as you can. It's not you know,

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Speaker 1: as much really a competition, um you know, with with

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Speaker 1: those other guys, but it's a you know, it's a

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Speaker 1: cool element to to all be out there together and

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Speaker 1: throwing it and and uh you know, there's definitely some

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Speaker 1: some competition there. You had an opportunity to interact with

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Speaker 1: the giants in Indianapolis, describe that one on one meeting.

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Speaker 1: Did you have any nerves going into it? So the

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Speaker 1: one on one meeting I had with the giants, Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, you go into a hotel room, um, and

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Speaker 1: you know there's probably ten or twelve different uh you know,

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Speaker 1: people decision makers really in that room, and UM, you

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Speaker 1: know I went down and and you know you're immediately uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, talking football. That they put up film on

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Speaker 1: the screen of of you know, my Duke film and

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Speaker 1: asked me to you know, talking talking through it, talk

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Speaker 1: through um, you know what I was thinking about good plays,

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Speaker 1: bad plays. You know, you've got to prepare to um,

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Speaker 1: answer the questions. Um, you know kind of I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, trying to get an understanding of of uh

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Speaker 1: you know, how well you understand your system, how well

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Speaker 1: you can understand or how well you can explain the

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Speaker 1: decisions you made, good or bad, and and you know,

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Speaker 1: looking for things like, um, you know, if you're gonna

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Speaker 1: throw a teammate under the bus, or if you're gonna

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Speaker 1: take all the credit for something. You know, kind of

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Speaker 1: looking for for those little things. So, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: a lot goes into preparing to answer those questions and

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Speaker 1: have those conversations. Yeah, I mean I think you have

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Speaker 1: you have nerves to it all. You want to you

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Speaker 1: want to do well, you want to present yourself well.

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Speaker 1: And um, you know, like I said, come across is

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Speaker 1: the best prospect you can you know, the best prospect uh,

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Speaker 1: you know available. So that was you know, the goal.

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Speaker 1: So so there's some nerves there. But um, you know,

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Speaker 1: I think you know, like I said, a lot goes

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Speaker 1: into it. If you're prepared, uh you know, if you're

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Speaker 1: prepared well, you'll you'll you know, do well and be

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Speaker 1: comfortable in it. Quarterbacks have to go through a variety

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Speaker 1: of different drills at the combine. How did you prepare

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Speaker 1: for them? And which drills did you enjoy the most?

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Speaker 1: Which were the most difficult. So I was down in

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Speaker 1: mobile um training with uh, you know, a guy i'd

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Speaker 1: trained with since high school, David Morris, who's uh you know,

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Speaker 1: in my opinion is you know, a really good quarterback coach,

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Speaker 1: quarterback trainer, and and um, so we'd go through all

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Speaker 1: the drills. Um, you know that they do want the

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Speaker 1: combine specific drills, but also you know kind of preparing um,

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Speaker 1: you know, kind of in a larger sense for the

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Speaker 1: next step. And working to improve, um, the things I

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Speaker 1: needed to do. But um, you know, you watch videos

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Speaker 1: of the combine, You're very aware of what exactly those

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Speaker 1: drills will be, and and uh you know I'd go

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Speaker 1: through them a number of times to to try to

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Speaker 1: you know, get ready for it and and um, prepare

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Speaker 1: for it. The combine drills I found the most difficult

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Speaker 1: were you know, just some of like the agility drills

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Speaker 1: and and you know, things that you don't do as much.

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Speaker 1: I guess, um, you know, particularly as a quarterback. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, the five to five or the elder drill,

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Speaker 1: whatever that is. You know, you kind of do it

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Speaker 1: just for the combine and before that and after that

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Speaker 1: you don't really worry about it whole lot. So um,

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Speaker 1: you know those were uh, I don't know, different in

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Speaker 1: that sense. And then you know, I probably enjoyed the

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Speaker 1: throwing and the actual you know, football portion of it

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Speaker 1: more and felt like I was better prepare for that

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Speaker 1: just because you've you've done that more and and to me,

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Speaker 1: that's what's more important for you know, a quarterback. A

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Speaker 1: lot of onlookers in Indianapolis from various different teams. Did

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Speaker 1: you feel the pressure of every team sitting in the

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Speaker 1: stands while you were working out. There's some pressure to it.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you're you're on the field, Um, you know,

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Speaker 1: throwing to two guys you haven't really thrown with. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, with with a lot of eyes on you

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Speaker 1: and and people evaluating. But um, you know, like I said,

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Speaker 1: with with all this stuff, you want to present the

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Speaker 1: best uh you know player you can and um, you know,

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Speaker 1: show what you can do. And you know, um, I

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Speaker 1: feel like I was, you know, pretty prepared to do it.

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Speaker 1: But you know, there there's definitely some some pressure to it.

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Speaker 1: Players can be ultimately the most critical of themselves. How

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Speaker 1: do you think you performed in Indianapolis and did Okay?

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Speaker 1: I didn't run very well. I was disappointed that and

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Speaker 1: I ran again and uh at my pro day, But um,

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Speaker 1: overall I thought I did did all right. And um,

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Speaker 1: you know, I think when you evaluate the combine, there's

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Speaker 1: a lot that that goes into it, kind of leading

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Speaker 1: up to the drills and uh, you know, through the week.

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Speaker 1: When you're a quarterback at the combine, you have an

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Speaker 1: opportunity to work with wide receivers, sometimes players that you

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Speaker 1: don't even have any chemistry with. Did you feel any

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Speaker 1: pressure to help elevate your fellow prospects, particularly the white outs.

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Speaker 1: The white outs are depending on, uh, the quarterbacks throwing

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Speaker 1: good balls and you know, and their individual drills also

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Speaker 1: there you know, gauntlet and uh several different other drills.

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Speaker 1: You know, the quarterbacks are throwing to them, um where

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Speaker 1: it is kind of just a receiver drill. So they are,

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Speaker 1: you know, they're depending on on the quarterbacks to give

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Speaker 1: them opportunity to show what they can do. So UM,

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Speaker 1: you know, I you definitely feel that responsibility to um

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Speaker 1: to give them that opportunity, and um, you know you

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Speaker 1: want to you want to help them do well. Also,

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Speaker 1: the Giants ultimately took you very high in the first round.

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Speaker 1: What impact do you think the combine specifically had on

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Speaker 1: your draft stock? My performance at the combine, uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: hopefully help my my draft draft stock, I think, Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, I think for a quarterback it's a little

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Speaker 1: bit different in in some of the athletic evaluations. Like

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Speaker 1: I said, I didn't didn't run great at the Combine,

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Speaker 1: which was disappointing, But um, you know a lot I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, especially for a quarterback, but for all prospects.

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Speaker 1: The the interviews the uh you know tests, you know

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Speaker 1: certain things where um, you know, people are trying to

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Speaker 1: understand how you think and who you are kind of

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Speaker 1: as a person. I felt like we're, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: we're important for me and and you know are important

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Speaker 1: for for all positions. Daniel, thank you for joining us

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Speaker 1: here on the Giants Huddle Podcast. We appreciate you being

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Speaker 1: with us on giants dot com in the mobile app,

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Speaker 1: and there's a reminder the show is also available on

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Speaker 1: all popular podcast platforms. Make sure you subscribe. To find

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Speaker 1: all our Giants podcast offerings, go to giants dot com

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Speaker 1: slash podcast. I'm Lance Meadow. We'll speak to you next

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Speaker 1: time right here on the Giants Huddle Podcast