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Speaker 1: I think the big thing about the Combine is that

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Speaker 1: you just want to disprove or approve some of the

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Speaker 1: things that you saw and take physically, you can go

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Speaker 1: over things on the whiteboard. Now with them, it's just

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Speaker 1: a better vibe overall. With that, they need some help

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Speaker 1: a pass rusher and the young guys are still waiting

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Speaker 1: for them to develop. But alongside the new Hunter, they

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Speaker 1: need that one beat type of guy to play alongside.

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Speaker 1: They need to find their rob and they already have

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Speaker 1: their batman in place. The first official event of the

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Speaker 1: NFL offseason is underway. The NFL Combine returned to Indianapolis

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Speaker 1: to kick off the twenty twenty two season. Welcome into

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Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings Podcast, Episode one hundred thirty three. I'm

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Speaker 1: your host Tatum Everett, alongside producer Jane Nelson. Gabe Henderson's

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Speaker 1: on location at the Combine. He will sit down with

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Speaker 1: ESPN NFL Draft analyst Jordan Reed a little later in

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Speaker 1: the pod, but before we get to that, this new

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Speaker 1: Viking staff is an indie evaluating the best college prospects

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Speaker 1: as we gear up for the twenty twenty two Draft.

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Speaker 1: It's the first for Quasia Dopha Mensa as an NFL

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Speaker 1: GM and Kevin O'Connell as an NFL head coach, both

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Speaker 1: spoke earlier this week at the podium. Yeah, I think

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Speaker 1: a system thinker, to me is what you just said.

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Speaker 1: It's a process thinker, and you put value in that process,

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Speaker 1: the consistency in that process to treat each and every

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Speaker 1: week as its own entity when you're playing games and opponents.

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Speaker 1: How you evaluate in the draft, you can't you know,

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Speaker 1: you might have your core principles and characteristics and factors

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Speaker 1: you look for for a position, but you cannot, you know,

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Speaker 1: just put everybody into a box and say this is

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Speaker 1: what we're looking for. Because if you're gonna miss on

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Speaker 1: some players that ultimately maybe don't fit a core characteristic,

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Speaker 1: but you can find a way to use that player

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Speaker 1: in a way that their potentials maximize and it fits

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Speaker 1: in with the other ten guys. It's about all eleven

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Speaker 1: out there and the process of a coach and that

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Speaker 1: kind of system thinking mindset I really look at it

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Speaker 1: is how are you putting the eleven guys in the

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Speaker 1: huddle in whatever phase you're playing, offense, defense, or special teams?

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Speaker 1: How are you putting those guys in the best possible

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Speaker 1: situation to have success, snap in and snap out, and

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Speaker 1: then what are you building upon that to kind of

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Speaker 1: continue to gain that advantage as games go on, seasons

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Speaker 1: go on, and you just build that sustained success from there. Ultimately,

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Speaker 1: you're trying to analyze something you don't know right now.

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Speaker 1: You're trying to guess. As an interviewer, Mark Wilf is

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Speaker 1: trying to guess what I'm going to be like as

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Speaker 1: a general manager, just like I'm trying to guess what

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Speaker 1: Anthony Schwartz is going to be like as a player.

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Speaker 1: And you have information, You get to watch his film,

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Speaker 1: you get to watch his testing, and get to hear

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Speaker 1: from his college coach, and ultimately you're just putting that

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Speaker 1: together just like anything else, and trying to figure out

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Speaker 1: your best way for it. You've only got so many bullets,

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Speaker 1: right You've only got so many first round pick, second

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Speaker 1: round picks and money. So you want to use all

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Speaker 1: your best bullets on the things that are the most

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Speaker 1: certain and come out that in that way. I think

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Speaker 1: it's safe to say that this combo is great at

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Speaker 1: a press conference. I know, you know, you take the

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Speaker 1: w's while you can right now, because Obviously things may

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Speaker 1: change a little bit as the season goes on, and

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Speaker 1: it's obviously a results driven process, but so far, they

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Speaker 1: seem to say a lot of a lot of great things. Jay,

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Speaker 1: what were your two major takeaways from what Quasi said

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Speaker 1: at the podium? Mainly for these two guys. I will

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Speaker 1: start by saying, it feels like the honeymoon is still

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Speaker 1: still happening. Yeah, things are going well. Everything that they're

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Speaker 1: talking about still feels fresh and new, exciting ideas. There's

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Speaker 1: still kind of you know, selling hope for those guys

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Speaker 1: and just kind of getting into their roles and feeling

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Speaker 1: like things are going well. I think one of my

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Speaker 1: favorite nuggets was the old Wall Street types that he

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Speaker 1: still talks to and friends and colleagues and just kind

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Speaker 1: of mentioning that they would all be taking our jobs.

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Speaker 1: When he was referencing the competitive nature of NFL athletes,

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Speaker 1: I thought, I just it made me chuckle when he

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Speaker 1: was kind of, you know, feeling like, hey, just so

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Speaker 1: you guys understand what I'm dealing with right now, these

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Speaker 1: guys are all a bunch of killers. And so it

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Speaker 1: was just kind of a fun nugget that I took

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Speaker 1: out of his press conference. On top of that, he

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Speaker 1: cited the ability for everyone within the organization, it's kind

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Speaker 1: of work together to get ready for the start of

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Speaker 1: the league year, namely the combine this week and free

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Speaker 1: agency next week. So it again, Quasy just kind of

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Speaker 1: keeps talking about this is my first time as the GM,

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Speaker 1: and people are asking him what's it feel like. He

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Speaker 1: keeps talking about the process and learning something new every

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Speaker 1: day and getting to know the people that he's working

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Speaker 1: with and really having to kind of hit the ground running.

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Speaker 1: And so it just felt with Quasy that you know,

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Speaker 1: he's just getting comfortable in the job and kind of

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Speaker 1: the shoes that he's having to fill right now. I

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Speaker 1: used to come into town, you know, plan my vendor meetings,

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Speaker 1: you know, have a couple of things. Honestly, I'd kind

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Speaker 1: of get in here being in and out in two

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Speaker 1: or three days, you know, because people don't realize this

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Speaker 1: is a veryly critical part of this NFL schedule. So

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Speaker 1: when you're when you're not up here, I'm in my

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Speaker 1: room working and kind of getting ready for things. But

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Speaker 1: you know, it's great. Everything's a challenge, everything's new, and

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Speaker 1: that's kind of what I when I'm interested in love

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Speaker 1: about this job, so excited to do it. Yeah. I mean,

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Speaker 1: this is the first big NFL event. He is the

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Speaker 1: face of the Vikings front office right now, in front

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Speaker 1: of all of the other teams, in front of the

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Speaker 1: league front office itself, and so this is a good

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Speaker 1: time for him to make a great impression. And the

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Speaker 1: process thing, I think is great. I mean when you

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Speaker 1: talk about you know, the Wall Street guys like he's

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Speaker 1: even approaching it, and I think you got a little

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Speaker 1: bit of a glimpse into it when he talks about

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Speaker 1: the puzzle of the salary cap. Sure. Yeah, and that

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Speaker 1: was even you know, one of the questions they were

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Speaker 1: talking about Grigson and just kind of how he's relying

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Speaker 1: on him and working with him to deal with some

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Speaker 1: of the other pieces that he might not necessarily be

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Speaker 1: as familiar with. Even the discussion on his end about

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Speaker 1: being GM and kind of the newness of it and

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Speaker 1: even the idea of the combine, saying, you know, the

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Speaker 1: last time I was here was a couple of years

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Speaker 1: ago with the Niners, and for him the familiarity of it.

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Speaker 1: But he's kind of citing the fact that yeah, this

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Speaker 1: is different, this is this is a different role this

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Speaker 1: is a different responsibility and kind of his focus is

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Speaker 1: going to be in a different place. So I think

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Speaker 1: the refreshing part is on his end too, just kind

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Speaker 1: of admitting like there's a lot of stuff that we're

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Speaker 1: still working through as a group and being able to

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Speaker 1: rely on the professionals that you've hired to handle some

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Speaker 1: of these jobs. I think people would be a little

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Speaker 1: more nervous if you just walked in and said, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I know, it all on him, not really, you know,

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Speaker 1: dealing with it. It's it's more of a I think

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Speaker 1: you can be a veteran as a GM for a

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Speaker 1: long time still come into the combine and free agency

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Speaker 1: process and feel like there are a ton of moving

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Speaker 1: parts and so for someone like him, he's just trying

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Speaker 1: to get up to speed. Yeah, that's a great point

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Speaker 1: because he said the NFL puzzle is different the NFL

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Speaker 1: team buildings. It's a big puzzle, right. We're trying to

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Speaker 1: we're trying to figure it out together how to sustainably

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Speaker 1: put together a championship team, and you know, salary cap

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Speaker 1: is one of the challenges and obstacles to be facing

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Speaker 1: that puzzle, and we're working together night and day to

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Speaker 1: figure out the best way to put our team for

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Speaker 1: when you look at the NFL like there's no rhyme

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Speaker 1: or reason sometimes as to how things work out, and

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Speaker 1: you're constantly trying to figure out that puzzle. And I

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Speaker 1: think he I mean, he said it. He said it

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Speaker 1: this week. That's what drew him to changing his career

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Speaker 1: paths in a sense to this because this is a

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Speaker 1: puzzle where he could apply his economics background. But that

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Speaker 1: is it's always evolving and change and extremely challenging, and

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Speaker 1: the Vikings cap situation is extremely challenging this season. So

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Speaker 1: he's going to get some experience right out of the gate.

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Speaker 1: One of the kind of unsung heroes that's always mentioned

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Speaker 1: in this stuff, and we've had him on the pod

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Speaker 1: last year, Robert Zinski. At least you have somebody in

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Speaker 1: rob who knows the drill of what we've done, and

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Speaker 1: even talking about last week's show when you were talking

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Speaker 1: to the scouts, kind of the idea of here's our process,

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Speaker 1: getting him up to speed and then having him challenge them.

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Speaker 1: Within that process, it's being able to take the things

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Speaker 1: that we do and the comforts that we have, the

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Speaker 1: things that have worked, and then tweaking them in ways

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Speaker 1: that fit some of the new ideas and people walking

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Speaker 1: into buildings, so again just feels like from quasi side,

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Speaker 1: he's coming from a different angle. The processes that we

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Speaker 1: and the people that we have already set in stone

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Speaker 1: here within the building, all of those people bringing their expertise,

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Speaker 1: and just kind of you melding it all together into

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Speaker 1: a nice big pot of stew. In his opening remarks,

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Speaker 1: Quacy talked about a good friend theory, which I just

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Speaker 1: thought kind of makes so much sense. You can see

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Speaker 1: it apply in your life a lot of times, where

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Speaker 1: you know you have different friends from different stages of

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Speaker 1: your life, but when you get them all together, sometimes

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Speaker 1: they become better friends behind your back, oh yeah, or

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Speaker 1: they all get along because they're just quality people. And

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Speaker 1: he said that's what he really thought about when he

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Speaker 1: was putting together this coaching staff. And you can tell

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Speaker 1: the bond between Quacy and Kevin O'Connell immediately when you

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Speaker 1: see them interact that opening press conference, all those kinds

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Speaker 1: of things. I thought it was funny how you shared

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Speaker 1: a story like you're gonna make Kevin wear suit all

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Speaker 1: day and they both show up in sweats, and that's

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Speaker 1: just like even small things like that just kind of

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Speaker 1: show this relaxed change of pace, I guess you could say,

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Speaker 1: of what's going around here. Ultimately, you're making a guess

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Speaker 1: as the person that you're gonna be working with and

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Speaker 1: sharing that hallway with. And man, I can't tell every

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Speaker 1: day you feel so good about the decision you made

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Speaker 1: just learning more about them, the little things. You know,

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Speaker 1: when we first met, when he got to Minnesota and

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Speaker 1: you know, they were preparing his day for him, and

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Speaker 1: I was asking everybody, Hey, are you gonna make it

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Speaker 1: wear a suit all day? Like that? I feel like

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Speaker 1: that's not a good idea. And so we meet down

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Speaker 1: at the at the garage lobby and he sees me

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Speaker 1: pull up in sweats and he's like, you wear sweats

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Speaker 1: like meets. You know, It's like this little little things,

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Speaker 1: and so you know, when you're in that process, you

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Speaker 1: want to make sure you've got the major things covered

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Speaker 1: in in terms of how we views team building and

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Speaker 1: philosophy and vision. But then those little things are kind

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Speaker 1: of cool to learn about somebody and figure out as

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Speaker 1: you go along. And the collaboration has been incredible. He

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Speaker 1: is a consistent persons. He's positive, competitive driven, thoughtful, um

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Speaker 1: It's just it's been great sharing the hallway with him,

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Speaker 1: and I'm excited to continue. It's the idea of how

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Speaker 1: are you comfortable? You know, you're trying to understand who

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Speaker 1: you're essentially your work partner is here and to figure out,

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Speaker 1: you know, what makes him tick and how are they

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Speaker 1: comfortable and what gets the best out of them. And

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Speaker 1: you know, like it's the idea of Quacy and Kevin

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Speaker 1: for years to come. You have to keep thinking. This

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Speaker 1: staff has not been together for very long. Kevin has

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Speaker 1: he's already out there evaluating players. And I think that

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Speaker 1: a lot of his questions were based on what his

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Speaker 1: like specific things. Of course, you can catch both of

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Speaker 1: dot com, or you can just listen to us talk

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Speaker 1: about Kevin Connell a little bit next. He was able

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Speaker 1: to speak at the podium, touching on a lot of

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Speaker 1: different things on all sides of the ball really. But Jay,

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Speaker 1: about what he said? Just to cite what you were

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Speaker 1: just talking about here too. Yeah, Quasy got more of

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Speaker 1: the theoretical what's it like to be a GM and

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Speaker 1: the ethereal stuff. Kevin definitely got more of the evaluate

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Speaker 1: your personnel and tell us how you're going to use them.

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Speaker 1: And everybody uses the phrase the marriage of the run

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Speaker 1: in the past, but really what that means in my

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Speaker 1: mind is an identity of you know, doing a lot

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Speaker 1: of things to make it hard on the defense, but

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Speaker 1: in all reality they're simple for us. You know, we

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Speaker 1: use the term the illusion of complexity, and what does

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Speaker 1: that mean. It really means we do as many things,

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Speaker 1: like I said, to make it start out looking the same,

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Speaker 1: but they're different. To defend personnel groupings, you know, different formations,

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Speaker 1: different motions, different shifts. It's important that we play with

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Speaker 1: great ball security. It's important that you know we're able

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Speaker 1: to establish the run with physicality, toughness, kind of set

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Speaker 1: the tone for everything that we want to do as

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Speaker 1: an offense. And then I think you gotta be great Situationally,

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Speaker 1: you hear him all over the place, but again side

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Speaker 1: of the idea, he likes to run a lot of

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Speaker 1: eleven personnel, like the plan to run a tight end,

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Speaker 1: run a running back and then have like three wide

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Speaker 1: receiver sets. And the biggest thing that he jumped out

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Speaker 1: again and just kind of hammered home and reiterated was

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Speaker 1: the idea that your offense should be able to take

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Speaker 1: advantage of situations that stress a defense that you can dictate,

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Speaker 1: and that is the ultimate goal of a offense is

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Speaker 1: to get certain matchups. And why when you play certain

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Speaker 1: defenses and you're getting these weird one on ones, those

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Speaker 1: are the things that they wanted to kind of scheme

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Speaker 1: and to figure out what our personnel, what we can

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Speaker 1: do to make that happen. You know, there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of praise when he got asked about the O line

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Speaker 1: situation and the different kind of people we have there

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Speaker 1: and what they did last year, and kind of the

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Speaker 1: idea just to say, we have a bunch of talented

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Speaker 1: people at the O line position. We're going to try

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Speaker 1: to put them in different situations in order to make

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Speaker 1: sure that we get the best out of them. And

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Speaker 1: I'm just interested in seeing what kind of schemes they

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Speaker 1: unveil and what adjustments are going to be made even

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Speaker 1: next week, starting with free agency, just on this roster.

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's that I think is the biggest question

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Speaker 1: mark of salary cap, free agency, draft. This is this

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Speaker 1: big speculation time, and everyone all season long definitely had

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Speaker 1: tons of opinions on the roster and kind of where

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Speaker 1: the direction of the team was going. Now that you

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Speaker 1: have new leadership, it's a giant wildcard. And so yeah,

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Speaker 1: sure with Kevin, I'm just I like the fact that

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Speaker 1: he's reiterating the fact of we have a roster that's

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Speaker 1: full of talent, we're not starting with a bear cupboard,

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Speaker 1: and just being able to once again, not only with

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Speaker 1: the locals, but on the national stage, tell them here's

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Speaker 1: kind of our philosophy, here's what we want to do,

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Speaker 1: and we're still evaluating. I think the quote that we

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Speaker 1: used or the SoundBite that we used in this podcast

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Speaker 1: kind of plays off of that as well. When you

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Speaker 1: talk about the eleven personnel point being able to use

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Speaker 1: c J. Ham as a weapon and not just be

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Speaker 1: closed minded to the fact that he doesn't fit an

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Speaker 1: eleven personnel. I hope to be more multiple, just based

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Speaker 1: on the fact that we have the personnel to do that.

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Speaker 1: From the tight ends to CJ. Like you mentioned, the

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Speaker 1: different variations to how you can attack people in the

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Speaker 1: run game just forces them to have to defend a

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Speaker 1: lot more offense that we can then marry with play

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Speaker 1: pass keepers, drop back pass screens to try to generate explosives,

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Speaker 1: and that's really what we'll do. There'll be some things

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Speaker 1: that will look new, there will some things that will

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Speaker 1: carry over based upon comfort levels for the players, because

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Speaker 1: that's important too. And the idea is just to build

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Speaker 1: the best possible version of our offense, not only to

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Speaker 1: help you know, our players and the guys we're gonna

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Speaker 1: be out there, but help our entire football team to

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Speaker 1: play complimentary football in all three phases. It all works together.

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Speaker 1: I'm really excited about putting that together. It kind of

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Speaker 1: goes back to that sure this is what I run,

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Speaker 1: this is my scheme. But if this is the type

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Speaker 1: of players I have, how can I move them in

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Speaker 1: different spots to make them the most successful. It's adapting

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Speaker 1: your coaching style to your players as opposed to trying

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Speaker 1: to make your scheme work well. Even think about last season,

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Speaker 1: how many times all of a sudden CJ. Hamm would

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Speaker 1: be wide open On any given play, There'd be a

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Speaker 1: lot of clear out happening downfield, and then all of

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Speaker 1: a sudden, CJ. Hamm is getting a pass and breaking

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Speaker 1: a tackle for a first down, or he's getting a

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Speaker 1: pass and wide open because they just didn't account for now.

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Speaker 1: You have to think they saw that and that excites

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Speaker 1: them a little bit. And that's the thing. CJ's talent

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Speaker 1: is more than just lead blocker to block for Delvin.

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Speaker 1: He can get in space, he can make someone miss,

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Speaker 1: he can bulldog through a tackle, and so being able

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Speaker 1: to take advantage of a guy like CJ ham on

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Speaker 1: your roster, I think if you look at what happened

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Speaker 1: in San Francisco with us check they'll do the exact

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Speaker 1: same kind of thing. And so I just think they

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Speaker 1: look at CJ. As he's more than just a fullback.

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Speaker 1: He was a full on running back in college, and

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Speaker 1: we're going to utilize the skill set to benefit this team,

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Speaker 1: especially on offense when we're in short yardage situations. You

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Speaker 1: would think CJ's definitely a weapon that they're going to

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Speaker 1: turn to. It sounds like Kevin has definitely done his

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Speaker 1: research on his roster as he heads here into the

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Speaker 1: combine and watching all of these prospects perform and evaluate

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Speaker 1: their talent for what's to come and who they want

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Speaker 1: to add and who they think is a good fit.

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Speaker 1: More on that as obviously, this whole entire process evolves

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Speaker 1: as we head towards the twenty twenty two draft at

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Speaker 1: the end of April, but before Quacy and Kevin arrived

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Speaker 1: in Indy, they announced the final coaching staff hires. There's

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Speaker 1: a pass game specialist, game management coordinator, Ryan Cordell, quality

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Speaker 1: control defense coach Steve Donntell. Greg Monusky is the inside

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Speaker 1: linebackers coach Darren Montgomery, quality control on offense, Tony Sorrentino

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Speaker 1: assistant wide receivers coach, and a Leak Terry the assistant

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Speaker 1: defensive line coach. I know that's just a list of

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Speaker 1: names at this point, but to learn more about them,

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Speaker 1: feel free to check out their bios on Vikings dot com. Also,

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Speaker 1: jay I wanted to take one note that that there

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Speaker 1: were three coaches retain from the twenty twenty one staff,

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Speaker 1: wide receivers coach Keena McCardell, assistant linebackers Sam Sifkus, and

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Speaker 1: assistant defensive backs coach Roy Anderson, as well as the

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Speaker 1: entire strength staff that was with the team this past season.

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Speaker 1: The nice thing about the strength staff is they're at

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Speaker 1: the combine as well, helping out. I saw a nugget

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Speaker 1: saying Thursday morning they were already helping with the bench

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Speaker 1: press station with all the tight ends. The nice thing

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Speaker 1: is when you do watch the coverage of the combine

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Speaker 1: and you start to really evaluate and see. I love

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Speaker 1: to see the fact that you have coaches of all

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Speaker 1: different teams, different styles, different areas that are all getting

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Speaker 1: in here because all of them are also going to

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Speaker 1: be able to provide notes to the scouting staff and

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Speaker 1: the draft staff on what they saw, even just behind

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Speaker 1: the scenes. You know, what's a guy like, is he

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Speaker 1: hanging out by himself as he kind of the life

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Speaker 1: of the party with everybody else. All of those notes,

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Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff tends to factor in when

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Speaker 1: they do their evaluations as well. So I like seeing

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Speaker 1: our coaches being used in different areas just to get

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Speaker 1: as much information as possible in this process. That coaching staff,

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Speaker 1: as Jay said, is all at the combine right now

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Speaker 1: to evaluate these prospects, but so is Vikings Entertainment Networks

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Speaker 1: Gabe Henderson. He had the chance to sit down with

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Speaker 1: ESPN NFL Draft analyst Jordan Read all right here Indianapolis

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Speaker 1: with my guy Jay Reid. Jordan Reid from the ESPN

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Speaker 1: and Jordan. First things first, congratulations on a new gag.

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Speaker 1: Congratulate you in person and what a what a first

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Speaker 1: defense is for you here right, I mean first time

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Speaker 1: we yes, first year with ESPN NFL Combines back in person.

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Speaker 1: What's been your initial just thoughts and reaction to the

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Speaker 1: first day. Well, first, thank you first and foremost, it's

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Speaker 1: a blessing to being a position that I am and

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Speaker 1: being with the ESPN has been great. The adjustment period

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Speaker 1: has been great. Being with Todd Mill and also Matt

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Speaker 1: Miller now has been great too. Just working with a

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Speaker 1: great group of guys. But as far as just being

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Speaker 1: at the combines is great to have it back, you know,

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Speaker 1: being back in this situation, being here in front of

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Speaker 1: you and then all these other people on radio roads.

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Speaker 1: Just a different feeling when you have all of this

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Speaker 1: energy and everybody's rejuvenated. It's kind of like Christmas. We

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Speaker 1: haven't opened up those presidents. We don't know what's going

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Speaker 1: to be in it yet, but we're excited to actually

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Speaker 1: be back and be in it. I feel like it's

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Speaker 1: the shuffling of gifts, right. I mean, after you get

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Speaker 1: you know, past the first five picks, it's I mean,

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Speaker 1: it's pretty much fair game. I mean, everybody knows what

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Speaker 1: the needs are certain teams. But you've been on record

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Speaker 1: saying that the pass rushing class this year is second

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Speaker 1: to nine. Why is that the case? Yeah, I mean

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Speaker 1: everybody knows about Kvon Thibon, Aidan Hudginson at the top,

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Speaker 1: but after that, we saw what Jermaine Johnson the second

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Speaker 1: was able to do with the Senior Bowl. You have

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Speaker 1: day with a Job Bowl. You have George karl Loft

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Speaker 1: this you have plenty of other players at the position too,

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Speaker 1: Not just in the first round. We're talking about second

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Speaker 1: round guys. D'Angelo Malone from West to Kentucky The list

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Speaker 1: goes on and on of these pass rushers that you're

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Speaker 1: able to real off. And the Viking's crazy stat when

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Speaker 1: researching them, we haven't taken a pass rusher since two

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Speaker 1: thousand and five in the first two rounds, which was

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Speaker 1: a Rasmus James, which is a blast from the past.

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Speaker 1: Everybody remembers that name, unfortunately. But you know, they need

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Speaker 1: some help a pass rusher, and the young guys are

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Speaker 1: still waiting for them to develop. But alongside the Neil Hunter,

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Speaker 1: they need that one bat type of guy to play alongside.

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Speaker 1: They need to find that rob and they already have

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Speaker 1: their batman in place with the twelfth overall pick in

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Speaker 1: the NFL draft and your latest mock draft, you have

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Speaker 1: the Vikings taking David the jaball defensive vand from Michigan.

432
00:20:17,359 --> 00:20:19,520
Speaker 1: Why is that the case? Why does he fit with

433
00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:22,040
Speaker 1: this Minnesota team? If that's throut, they go well with

434
00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:24,640
Speaker 1: Ed Donotell's defense, he really runs what's called a four

435
00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:27,439
Speaker 1: three under, so you need that weak side defensive end

436
00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:28,960
Speaker 1: they already have. If he already came out and said

437
00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:30,520
Speaker 1: the Neil is probably gonna stand up and have his

438
00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:31,960
Speaker 1: hand in the dirt a little bit go back and

439
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:34,080
Speaker 1: forth with that. But I think the Neil with his

440
00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:36,160
Speaker 1: strength and his power and his length, he can play

441
00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:38,240
Speaker 1: on that strong side. We know he's a very good

442
00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:41,080
Speaker 1: run defender as well as a very gifted pass rusher. Two,

443
00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:43,040
Speaker 1: but you need that guy opposite of him. And I

444
00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:45,840
Speaker 1: think David A. Jabo just as naturally gifted as he

445
00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:47,800
Speaker 1: is already as a pass rusher. I think he's an

446
00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:50,679
Speaker 1: underrated run defender. Two. He still has some developing that

447
00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:52,600
Speaker 1: he needs to do in that area, but as far

448
00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:55,440
Speaker 1: as being ready as a pass rusher right away, right now,

449
00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:58,320
Speaker 1: and Dontell's defense, we know the most important pieces are

450
00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:00,119
Speaker 1: the edge rushers in the safeties. Those are the two

451
00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:02,480
Speaker 1: positions that he even came out and said are the

452
00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:05,600
Speaker 1: very most prevalent in that defense. So having a Jobo

453
00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:08,680
Speaker 1: opposite of the Neil Hunter, yeah, let's go hunt some quarterbacks.

454
00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:11,639
Speaker 1: I mean, Vikings fans would love that. But you know

455
00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:14,679
Speaker 1: what that said, It's like, Okay, the pass rush and

456
00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:18,280
Speaker 1: the pass defense goes hand in hand. So your corners

457
00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:19,919
Speaker 1: are only as good as your pass rushers, and your

458
00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:21,879
Speaker 1: pass rushers is only as good as your corners. Because

459
00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:24,600
Speaker 1: if somebody's getting beat, you know on a long on

460
00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:27,600
Speaker 1: a long pass on if person who's getting I can

461
00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:29,200
Speaker 1: talk ball with you. If the person's getting beat on

462
00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:31,679
Speaker 1: the fade right, Like, what's what's the point of having

463
00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:33,640
Speaker 1: a good pass rush? Why should the Neil Hunter get

464
00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:35,840
Speaker 1: back there in two seconds if nobody can cover. Well,

465
00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:37,879
Speaker 1: the thing with pass rush is that you like to

466
00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:39,520
Speaker 1: kind of send it in waves. And I think what

467
00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:41,640
Speaker 1: the Vikings have right now, they kind of have those

468
00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:45,240
Speaker 1: developmental projects right now, whether it's Genarius Robinson or DJ

469
00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:47,960
Speaker 1: want them. They have those those players that can play

470
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:50,080
Speaker 1: on third down, and you can send those guys probably

471
00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:52,800
Speaker 1: as your third or your fourth rusher. But having that

472
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:54,760
Speaker 1: first guy they already have with the Neil Hunter, they

473
00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:57,080
Speaker 1: need that number two type of relief pitcher guy that

474
00:21:57,119 --> 00:21:59,440
Speaker 1: can take some of the pressure off of the Neil Hunter.

475
00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:01,680
Speaker 1: And then I think with the situation that a Jobo

476
00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:04,360
Speaker 1: played in that Michigan with Aidan Hudginson receiving a lot

477
00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:06,320
Speaker 1: of attention, a lot of double teams, he was kind

478
00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:07,840
Speaker 1: of able to feast off with him a little bit

479
00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:09,200
Speaker 1: and it was a little bit of a chain reaction.

480
00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:11,080
Speaker 1: They really fed off of each other. But we know

481
00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:13,640
Speaker 1: Aidan Hudginson was the guy at Michigan. I mean, that's

482
00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:15,879
Speaker 1: not sugarcoat that he was the guy on that defense

483
00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:18,440
Speaker 1: that everybody game playing for. And that's not taking anything

484
00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:20,320
Speaker 1: away from a job or a job was very much

485
00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:23,239
Speaker 1: gifted and very talented as a pass rusher. But just

486
00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:26,040
Speaker 1: imagine now him on the next level with the Neil Hunter,

487
00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:28,399
Speaker 1: and we're talking about a player that's only a one

488
00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:31,080
Speaker 1: year starter. So there's a lot as far as him

489
00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:33,639
Speaker 1: just scratching the service of his potential. He only started

490
00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:36,399
Speaker 1: playing football in twenty seventeen, so we're talking about not

491
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,200
Speaker 1: even five years that he's fully played and been engaged

492
00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:41,199
Speaker 1: in the game of football. So I just really like

493
00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:43,439
Speaker 1: the upside there with the job bo. You always hear

494
00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:46,720
Speaker 1: about general manager saying when they build a defense, you

495
00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:49,640
Speaker 1: build inside out. So you start with your in terror,

496
00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:52,440
Speaker 1: your middle linebackers or defensive tackles, your safeties, and then

497
00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:56,159
Speaker 1: you go outside your defensive van outside linebackers, corners. It

498
00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:58,120
Speaker 1: looks like the Vikings right now are trying to build

499
00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:02,040
Speaker 1: outside and do you feel like that is beneficial for

500
00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:04,600
Speaker 1: a new GM that understands like, you have your core

501
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:06,240
Speaker 1: in the middle, but all you gotta do is just

502
00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:09,000
Speaker 1: protect the outside well, I mean it kind of goes

503
00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:11,959
Speaker 1: hand in hand, especially when you're talking about Donna Tell's defense,

504
00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:14,040
Speaker 1: and you know in years past he's been a part

505
00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:16,160
Speaker 1: of some defense that have had some really good defensive

506
00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:18,520
Speaker 1: tackles and you know previous stops that he has had.

507
00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:20,359
Speaker 1: But with the Vikings, I think they already have a

508
00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:22,760
Speaker 1: very solid interior as far as their front line starters

509
00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:25,360
Speaker 1: with Dalvin Thomlinson and then Michael Pierce, who I think

510
00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:27,800
Speaker 1: fit the new scheme very well. So we'll see what

511
00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:30,119
Speaker 1: does happen with that, But as far as building from

512
00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:31,960
Speaker 1: the outside end, I do think they need some corners.

513
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:34,320
Speaker 1: I think Cam Dansler is probably a long term solution

514
00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:36,879
Speaker 1: possibly there. We'll see what happens with Pat Pete on

515
00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:39,199
Speaker 1: the perimeter and if he's back Harrison we know who

516
00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:41,160
Speaker 1: he's a stud on the back end, but Cam buying him,

517
00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:43,159
Speaker 1: I think he's an underrated player. That thing's gonna take

518
00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:44,960
Speaker 1: a big step up next year. We saw what he

519
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:47,160
Speaker 1: was able to do in limited action, so I think

520
00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:49,600
Speaker 1: the foundation is there for Minnesota now, it's kind of

521
00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:52,800
Speaker 1: just sprinkling in those those complimentary pieces that they need.

522
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:55,280
Speaker 1: Of course, he was a corner in college moved to safety,

523
00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:59,320
Speaker 1: got you know, playing time this year and unforeseen circumstances

524
00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:01,800
Speaker 1: and balled out With a guy like that, do you

525
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:03,240
Speaker 1: try to move him back to the corner or do

526
00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:05,760
Speaker 1: you try to address the cornerback situation earlier in the

527
00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:08,359
Speaker 1: first or second round. I think you keep him at safety,

528
00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:11,240
Speaker 1: just because you know he can play safety. You've already

529
00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:13,040
Speaker 1: seen it, it's already on tape, and he's already had

530
00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:15,400
Speaker 1: success playing there. Especially with a young player. The worst

531
00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:17,560
Speaker 1: thing that you can do is give him a new position,

532
00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:19,719
Speaker 1: just because it's kind of starting him back over at

533
00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:22,399
Speaker 1: that rookie stage, especially mentally. He is already learning a

534
00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:24,280
Speaker 1: new playbook, so you don't want on top of that,

535
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:26,720
Speaker 1: learning a new position too. So I would keep him

536
00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:28,920
Speaker 1: at safety. I think we'll see what happens with Zavy Woods.

537
00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:30,800
Speaker 1: We'll see if he ends up being back. But if

538
00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:33,159
Speaker 1: they don't bring Xavier back, I think Cam Bindham can

539
00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:35,080
Speaker 1: step up and feel that role. All right, role get

540
00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:37,520
Speaker 1: you out of here with a couple more. What is

541
00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:41,119
Speaker 1: a win for the Vikings here at this combine? We

542
00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:43,560
Speaker 1: know it's kind of a not a free for all,

543
00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:46,240
Speaker 1: but you're looking at so many different athletes, so many

544
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:49,239
Speaker 1: different meetings. There's so much going on, like, well, how

545
00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:52,080
Speaker 1: would you define a win for this new front officer

546
00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:54,679
Speaker 1: for Jim, Well, I wouldn't necessarily say come out of

547
00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:56,399
Speaker 1: it with a win. I think the big thing about

548
00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:59,040
Speaker 1: the combine is that you just want to disprove or

549
00:24:59,119 --> 00:25:00,920
Speaker 1: approve some of the thing that you saw on tape.

550
00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:02,639
Speaker 1: And the great thing about the combine and having it

551
00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:05,639
Speaker 1: back in person now is that it's just a different interaction.

552
00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:07,359
Speaker 1: When you can meet with somebody face to face as

553
00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:09,720
Speaker 1: opposed to through zoom or through a computer screen, you

554
00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:11,879
Speaker 1: get a little bit more better feel of the person,

555
00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:14,560
Speaker 1: especially emotionally physically. You can go over things on the

556
00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:17,240
Speaker 1: whiteboard now with them, whether it was a positive thing

557
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:20,600
Speaker 1: or somewhere that they messed up, they can go through

558
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:22,359
Speaker 1: or walk you through that place. It's just a better

559
00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:25,760
Speaker 1: vibe overall with that. And lastly, how aggressive should the

560
00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:28,480
Speaker 1: vikings be if free agency versus the draft when it

561
00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:32,320
Speaker 1: comes to addressing both, I guess primarily the defensive side

562
00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:34,480
Speaker 1: of the ball, but then some offensive holes. What we'll

563
00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:36,000
Speaker 1: see they have some work to do as far as

564
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:38,560
Speaker 1: the cap situation. But I mean, in Rob Erzinski, we

565
00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:41,359
Speaker 1: trust we know this is it time to shine every

566
00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:43,560
Speaker 1: single offseason. So I don't. I don't think they're going

567
00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:45,720
Speaker 1: to be very aggressive just because of the situation that

568
00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:47,400
Speaker 1: they're in right now. But there's some things that they

569
00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:49,320
Speaker 1: can do if they want to be aggressive in free agency.

570
00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:51,360
Speaker 1: But we'll see what happens. Jay read always a pleasure.

571
00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:55,640
Speaker 1: Absolutely things always gave Jordan Reid isn't the only expert

572
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:58,320
Speaker 1: we talked to at the NFL Combine. Check out vikings

573
00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:01,119
Speaker 1: dot com or the app for more in depth interviews

574
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:05,600
Speaker 1: with guys like Tom Pella Sero, Daniel Jeremiah, Ian Rappaport,

575
00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:08,680
Speaker 1: Chris Simms, and Jay. There are so many more. Was

576
00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:10,720
Speaker 1: there anyone in particular you were excited to listen to?

577
00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:13,840
Speaker 1: I always like hearing Tom Pella Sero. He's the local guy,

578
00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:17,480
Speaker 1: started with Kafan, etc. Etc. And we all know what

579
00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:20,760
Speaker 1: he's done at this point. Tom is always interesting because

580
00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:22,600
Speaker 1: it feels like he's got his finger on the pulse

581
00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:24,840
Speaker 1: not only of our team but the entire league. But

582
00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:27,720
Speaker 1: it is interesting to me to hear kind of the

583
00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:30,440
Speaker 1: local guys take with the insider information and just to

584
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:34,760
Speaker 1: kind of he understands the mentality of this fan base

585
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:37,400
Speaker 1: and so For me, I like rooting for the local guy,

586
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:38,960
Speaker 1: and I like hearing his takes because he tends to

587
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:41,240
Speaker 1: be pretty honest when it comes to what he sees

588
00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:43,080
Speaker 1: and what he's hearing. So for me, I like Tom.

589
00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:45,920
Speaker 1: But it is always interesting when you get the national

590
00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:49,159
Speaker 1: people one on one for our specific stuff. You know,

591
00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:52,359
Speaker 1: usually it's a sixty second sound bite of xyz is

592
00:26:52,359 --> 00:26:54,159
Speaker 1: happening with the Vikings and then they move on to

593
00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:56,760
Speaker 1: the next thing. But it is kind of nice. That's

594
00:26:56,800 --> 00:26:59,360
Speaker 1: the nice thing about the combine. You can definitely pull

595
00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:01,960
Speaker 1: in these different people and get access to them one

596
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:04,960
Speaker 1: on one, and so again, go check out all the content.

597
00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:07,520
Speaker 1: The van crew that's down there is killing it, and

598
00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:10,520
Speaker 1: it's always fun to kind of hear the initial speculation

599
00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:13,040
Speaker 1: and see what everybody thinks. Plus, be sure to tune

600
00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:16,359
Speaker 1: into Fox nine Friday night at ten thirty five for

601
00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:21,520
Speaker 1: Vikings New Era, the NFL Combine Special Fox nins Hobe

602
00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:24,960
Speaker 1: Artigue joins me, Pete Bursach, Gabe Henderson, and Ben Lieber

603
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:28,960
Speaker 1: as we recap the week for this new Vikings staff.

604
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:32,720
Speaker 1: It's going to be another interesting week in the NFL

605
00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:35,840
Speaker 1: Next week as well, Jay, We've got free agency starting

606
00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:38,960
Speaker 1: March eighth, So I have a feeling we will have

607
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:42,399
Speaker 1: another podcast pretty soon. Yeah. It never stop. It never stops,

608
00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:44,439
Speaker 1: does it. So we'll definitely keep you guys up to

609
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:47,760
Speaker 1: date through vikings dot com, our social channels, the app

610
00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:50,800
Speaker 1: for all of your latest Vikings headlines. For now, thanks

611
00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:53,800
Speaker 1: for listening to the Minnesota Vikings Podcast. For Gabe Henderson,

612
00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:56,840
Speaker 1: Jay Nelson, I'm Tatum Everett. We'll be back again next week.

613
00:27:57,040 --> 00:27:57,359
Speaker 1: Schol