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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Colts Free Agent Preview podcast. Look at

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Speaker 1: some key in house free agents this offseason. Now here's

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Speaker 1: the voice of the Colts, Matt Taylor from the Indiana

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Speaker 1: Union Construction Industry Radio Studio.

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Speaker 2: Yes, indeed, welcome back again. Hello everybody, Welcome back to

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Speaker 2: our free agency preview podcast series today, joined by JJ Stangobitz,

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Speaker 2: Casey Valie. Fresh off the combine, here we're back in

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Speaker 2: the studio. College basketball about to head down the stretch.

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Speaker 2: The month of March is here. We got March Madness,

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Speaker 2: we got the NFL about to heat up again with

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Speaker 2: free agency on the near horizon. And that's why we

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Speaker 2: are here today continuing to talk about free agency in

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Speaker 2: our Free Agent Spotlights. This is our eighth podcast in

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Speaker 2: this series. We've already talked about Michael Pittman, Junior Gardner,

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Speaker 2: Minshew Zach Moss, Grover Stewart, Kenny Moore, the second Julian Blackman,

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Speaker 2: we did Rigaberto Sanchez right before the combine, and today

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Speaker 2: we're a double up on the defensive line fellas, focusing

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Speaker 2: on Tavan Bryan and Taekwon Lewis, who are both free

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Speaker 2: agents as well. So that was a mouthful case, how

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Speaker 2: we doing over there.

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Speaker 1: Packer, We're good.

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Speaker 3: I mean, did you guys enjoy your off season because

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Speaker 3: it's over now.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, there's there's no say that's it. There was like

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Speaker 4: one week in January and then that week before the

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Speaker 4: Combine was maybe a little bit down, you know, a

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Speaker 4: little bit of downtime. But the it's it. Also, it's

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Speaker 4: so funny this time of year where being in this

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Speaker 4: state where everyone's gearing up for college basketball, but then

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Speaker 4: all the headlines are going to be about what the

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Speaker 4: cults are going to do in free agency.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the best part. You watch all these college

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Speaker 2: basketball tournaments, like on Thursday night, Friday night, you stay

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Speaker 2: up till, you know, one o'clock in the morning watching

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Speaker 2: the PAC twelve. And all you do is you just

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Speaker 2: watch the scroll. Yeah. By the way, right, all right,

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Speaker 2: be to the PAC twelve. Soak it in while you

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Speaker 2: can fallace. But you just watched the scroll saying the

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Speaker 2: Ravens have signed this, the forty nine ers have done that.

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Speaker 4: It's like, whoa, well, you know, it's always funny, Like

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Speaker 4: a couple of my friends have like a March Madness

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Speaker 4: party that first fry of the bracket. Yeah, and I'm like,

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Speaker 4: I can't go. Well, this is my busy week right here.

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Speaker 2: I don't know.

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Speaker 1: I don't know.

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Speaker 4: Someone might be walking in the door of the facility

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Speaker 4: right now to sign a contract. I gotta be in exactly.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the shame of it is we don't get

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Speaker 2: to experience the glory of seventeen TVs going on at

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Speaker 2: one time watching college basketball with the conference tournament games

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Speaker 2: and of course the playing games in the first round games.

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Speaker 2: We make up for it another way. So let's talk

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Speaker 2: about some key rotational players, if you will, for the

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Speaker 2: Colts along that defensive line. Let's talk about Tavan Brian

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Speaker 2: and Taekwon Lewis. Tavan Brian signed a one year deal

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Speaker 2: with the Colts last year in the offseason. He's been

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Speaker 2: on three teams in the last three years. Hits free

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Speaker 2: agency here again. Last year, played in every game, played

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Speaker 2: in over twenty percent of the snaps. In nine games,

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Speaker 2: he had twenty two tackles, two sacks, four tackles for loss,

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Speaker 2: and one force fumble. He started seven games last year,

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Speaker 2: including all six of the games where Grover Stewart was suspended.

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Speaker 2: So we'll talk about about Taekwon Lewis in just a second,

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Speaker 2: go over that capsule when we get to Taekwon's portion

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Speaker 2: of this podcast, but let's leave it there with Tavan JJ.

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Speaker 2: What kind of season did Tavan have? What was his

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Speaker 2: role for the Colts?

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Speaker 4: Kind of that rotational defensive end or defensive tackle who

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Speaker 4: could play the three tech in relief of Divorce Buckner

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Speaker 4: or at the nose in relief of Grover Stewart. You know,

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Speaker 4: guy's a former first round pick, has some talent. You know,

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Speaker 4: you look at just kind of how the Colts used

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Speaker 4: him this year. He played twenty nine point three percent

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Speaker 4: of the Colts defensive snaps in those seventeen games. That

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Speaker 4: was his lowest defensive snap percentage of his career. And

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Speaker 4: you know, he started off the season pretty good. You know,

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Speaker 4: he was getting some sacks early on, he had that

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Speaker 4: stripsack against Baltimore. You know, made some plays against the run,

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Speaker 4: and then you know, his production certainly faded as the

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Speaker 4: season went on. He didn't have a TfL after week ten.

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Speaker 4: He didn't have a sack after week three. So, you know,

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Speaker 4: a guy who the Colts needed to play quite a bit,

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Speaker 4: especially when Grover Stewart went out with his suspension, which

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Speaker 4: we'll talk about here in a little bit, but a

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Speaker 4: guy who you know, maybe wasn't he was more of

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Speaker 4: that kind of rotational guy who gets in there, gives

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Speaker 4: everyone a rest, but wasn't out there making a ton

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Speaker 4: of plays against the running, against the pass.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's kind of right where I was as well.

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Speaker 3: You know, you watched when when Tavin was in there

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Speaker 3: and essentially it was just to kind of give you know,

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Speaker 3: those two big dogs just to breath. But you talked

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Speaker 3: about his playing time did go up when when Grover

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Speaker 3: was out, and that's where I think, you know, you

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Speaker 3: kind of saw the no stab at Tavan Brian, but

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Speaker 3: that's where you really saw how important a guy like

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Speaker 3: Grover Stewart was to the defense, you know, especially you

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Speaker 3: know when you kind of you're trying to fill in

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Speaker 3: with Tavan Brian and Eric Johnson and you know a

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Speaker 3: little ada Tom Wabare. You know, ultimately you realized with

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Speaker 3: seeing the amount of playing time with Tavan Brian, the

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Speaker 3: importance of a guy like Grover Stewart and de Forrest

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Speaker 3: Buckner r. And that's kind of what Tavan Brian was,

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Speaker 3: just kind of that serviceable veteran when you need you know,

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Speaker 3: a splash here and there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, to your point, the Colts gave up an average

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Speaker 2: of one hundred and fifty three rushing yard cards per

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Speaker 2: game when Brian started for Grover Stewart during that six

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Speaker 2: game suspension. And it wasn't just those games too. To

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Speaker 2: your point, Casey, I mean we talked about this when

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Speaker 2: we did Grover spotlight. I mean when when Grover was

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Speaker 2: out of the ballgame in the games that he was

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Speaker 2: healthy for I should say, not suspended for when he

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Speaker 2: was over on the sidelines getting a blow like you did.

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Speaker 2: Have to be a football savant to know that. The

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Speaker 2: running defense it's just different. The offensive lines, ability to

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Speaker 2: penetrate upfield, it's just different. It looks different. Is that

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Speaker 2: all Tavan Brian or does that just prove that, you know,

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Speaker 2: Brian's a rotational player at this stage in his career

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Speaker 2: and there is a difference between a guy like Grover

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Speaker 2: Stewart and Tavan Brian in terms of the role that

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Speaker 2: they play.

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Speaker 3: No, I don't think it's all on Tavan. I think

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Speaker 3: that just kind of shows the importance as I kind

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Speaker 3: of mentioned in the last part, you know, the importance

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Speaker 3: that Grover Stewart has and that ultimately, I think Tavan

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Speaker 3: Brian is kind of what he is. He is just

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Speaker 3: a rotational guy at this point in his career. I know,

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Speaker 3: he's still a younger guy and he's not like he's

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Speaker 3: you know, into his thirties yet. But ultimately, he is

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Speaker 3: a guy that probably at this point is just that

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Speaker 3: back in depth piece when you need, you know, a

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Speaker 3: splash here and there.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, give the guys a rest, you know,

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Speaker 4: get in there. I think you would have liked to

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Speaker 4: see a little more playmaking from him. You know, the

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Speaker 4: Colts very much do hold their rotational guys to a

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Speaker 4: high stand. Oh yeah, you know, you don't have that

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Speaker 4: drop off, which we'll get into, uh with the next

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Speaker 4: guy we're going to talk about, who I don't think

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Speaker 4: had much of a drop off when he was in sure,

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Speaker 4: but yeah, I mean, you know, the Colts signed Tavan

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Speaker 4: Brian to be a rotational guy. That's who he is,

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Speaker 4: and uh, that's who he probably will be for the

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Speaker 4: course of his NFL career.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, just food for thought. I mean, can the Colts

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Speaker 2: can they afford to lose both guys Grover Stewart and

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Speaker 2: Tavan Brian in the offseason. I mean, Grover obviously is

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Speaker 2: going to be higher on the pecking order, the priority list.

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Speaker 2: But can can you lose Tavan Brian and Grover Stewart

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Speaker 2: in the same offseason with you know, only having seven

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Speaker 2: draft picks.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think you can find a Tavan Brian in

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Speaker 4: free agency. You know, whether it's you know you, you

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Speaker 4: either bring him back or you find someone else you

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Speaker 4: know out there. Those guys are going to be available

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Speaker 4: every year. It's the Grover Stewart is not available every year.

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Speaker 4: Yeah right, And you know we talked about him on

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Speaker 4: the previous podcast. But a guy who is such an

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Speaker 4: outsize impact on your run defense, those guys are not

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Speaker 4: available in free agency every year.

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Speaker 2: All right, Let's go to Taekwon Lewis. Taekwon finished his

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Speaker 2: sixth NFL season, all with the Colts. He had four sacks,

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Speaker 2: tying his career high. He added a career high thirteen

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Speaker 2: quarterback hits last year as well. Played in all seventeen games,

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Speaker 2: mark just the second time in his career that he

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Speaker 2: played double digit games in a season. Had a tremendous

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Speaker 2: comeback year after tearing the pateller tendon and his right

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Speaker 2: and left knees respectively. In twenty twenty one in twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty two. Both of those years were contract years for him,

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Speaker 2: and still came back to the Colts both times, which

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Speaker 2: obviously speaks to how much they they like him and

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Speaker 2: appreciate his leadership. We'll get into that in just a moment,

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Speaker 2: but picking up there, Casey, how impressed were you with

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Speaker 2: Taekwon us in his season considering all that he's been through.

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Speaker 2: You know, his last two years have come up short,

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Speaker 2: dramatically short, with those injuries that have happened in each

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Speaker 2: of the last two octobers.

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Speaker 3: No, it's pretty awesome. I Mean one of the things

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Speaker 3: that we get the benefit of doing is in some

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Speaker 3: ways not saying we're best friends with these guys, but

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Speaker 3: you get to know these guys in Taekwon Lewis, he's

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Speaker 3: just a different breed. I mean, he's the kind of

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Speaker 3: guy that you talk to him about the injury and

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Speaker 3: he always talks that, oh, when it happened, I just

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Speaker 3: thought about the recovery and not at all sulking and

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Speaker 3: why this happened. It's all this is going to better

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Speaker 3: me down the road, which anybody with that kind of

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Speaker 3: mentality much different than me, I'm sure I would have

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Speaker 3: been crying and you know, complaining about everything. But so

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Speaker 3: you see all of that that led into him coming

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Speaker 3: into twenty three and him being able to play all

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Speaker 3: seventeen games. I know there's a part of me that,

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Speaker 3: you know, he kind of brings a smile to me

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Speaker 3: because you know what a guy, you know outside of

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Speaker 3: the football field that Taekwon Lewis is. So for him

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Speaker 3: to be able to play an entire year and ultimately,

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Speaker 3: as JJ alluded to a little while ago, I mean,

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Speaker 3: when he was out there, he made an impact every

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Speaker 3: time he was on the field. Now, I know he

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Speaker 3: didn't play a huge amount of snaps, but he was

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Speaker 3: an impact player when he was out there. So it

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Speaker 3: was really really good to see Taekwon play all seventeen.

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Speaker 4: So when you pull up the most efficient pass rushers

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Speaker 4: in the NFL last year, Pro Football focus as a

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Speaker 4: stat pass rushing productivity, which is essentially it spits out

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Speaker 4: a number where it looks at your sacks, hits and

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Speaker 4: hurries relative to how many pass rushing snaps you played.

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Speaker 4: Taekwon Lewis was sixteenth in the NFL among defensive ends,

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Speaker 4: with a pass rushing productivity number of nine point eight.

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Speaker 4: Don't worry about what that means. Worry about who he's

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Speaker 4: ahead of in that. Bradley Chubb is one spot right

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Speaker 4: behind him, pretty good, the great Dolphins ads rusher. He's

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Speaker 4: ahead of Will Anderson Junior, the defensive rookie of the year.

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Speaker 2: Pretty good.

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Speaker 4: Sean Garry just got a big contract from the Green

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Speaker 4: Bay Packers. Jadavian Clowney's the name we know down the list,

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Speaker 4: Max Crosby, George car Loftis, Jonathan Grenard, Daniil Hunter. He's

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Speaker 4: ahead of all these guys. Now, granted he played fewer snaps,

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Speaker 4: right because he was more of a rotational guy. So

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Speaker 4: if you look at also pass rush win rate, which

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Speaker 4: is essentially how many times did you beat the guy

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Speaker 4: in front of you a percentage of that, Taekwan Lewis's

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Speaker 4: pass rush win rate, which is hard to say, was

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Speaker 4: seventeen point one percent. That is fifteenth among defensive ends

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Speaker 4: last year, ahead of TJ. Watt, Bradley Chubb, Will Anderson,

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Speaker 4: Joey Bosa, Rashan Gary, Danil Hunter, Max Crosby, Shaquille Barrett,

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Speaker 4: and go, you know, on and on on that. So

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Speaker 4: what that just shows you is that when taekwon was

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Speaker 4: on the field. He was playing not just at a

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Speaker 4: high level, but probably at the highest level of his career,

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Speaker 4: which then coming on two injuries, right, that was the

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Speaker 4: the context case. He brought up, right, two potella injuries,

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Speaker 4: one on each knee, basically one year apart.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it was like the exact same essentially, we came weak.

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Speaker 4: Yeah for him to if you come back from one

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Speaker 4: patella injury and play as well as Taekwan did, that

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Speaker 4: would be impressive. But he came back from two.

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Speaker 2: I mean he played thirty to your point case, he

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Speaker 2: played thirty six and a half percent of the snaps

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Speaker 2: last year. And we talked about his numbers. We talked

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Speaker 2: about the production. Nine tackles for loss, four sacks, thirteen

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Speaker 2: quarterback hits. I mean, from an efficiency standpoint, that's way

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Speaker 2: more efficient than a lot of the players on the

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Speaker 2: Colts roster that are playing way more consistently. Dioa, Dangbo

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Speaker 2: and Quitty Pay. Quitty Pay had eight tackles for loss,

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Speaker 2: nine quarterback hits and played two hundred and sixty four

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Speaker 2: more snaps on the season. What are we to make

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Speaker 2: of that?

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Speaker 3: You know, it's it's one of those things that man,

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Speaker 3: why is he so efficient, And that's one of the

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Speaker 3: things that being a part of the radio broadcast. You know,

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Speaker 3: your partner in Rick Van Turrey, he loves Taekwon Lewis

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Speaker 3: and he makes a note of it every time the

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Speaker 3: Taekwon Lewis subsitted the game because of you know what

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Speaker 3: we talk about. It seems like he's always making a

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Speaker 3: play with hiss out there, and that is the case.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it seems like anytime Taekwon was on the field,

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Speaker 3: he is in the backfield, he's creating some sort of

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Speaker 3: you know of pressure, or he's just making offenses. Really

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Speaker 3: pay attention to where he was on the field, and

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Speaker 3: it's hard to do when you play that few of snaps.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I've talked to and coaches about this about how

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Speaker 4: difficult it is to be a rotational pass rusher where right,

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Speaker 4: because like you know, when you talk to DeForest Buckner

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Speaker 4: about it, he's kind of he's kind of doing a dance.

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Speaker 4: It's like a pitcher setting up a change up to

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Speaker 4: get a strikeout, like he's you know, fastball fastball, and

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Speaker 4: then bam, hit him with the change up and he

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Speaker 4: gets swing in a mess and you get a sack

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Speaker 4: for Taekwon. When he comes in, you might get one

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Speaker 4: or two reps at a time, so you don't have

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Speaker 4: time to say, I'm going to set up power by

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Speaker 4: going speed. You know, He's just I got to go

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Speaker 4: beat the guy in front of me however I can.

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Speaker 4: And that's really impressive. That speaks to the veteran experience

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Speaker 4: that he brings, and and just that such a great

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Speaker 4: mentality for that entire room of like, Hey, you know what,

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Speaker 4: I'm just gonna go beat the guy in front of me.

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Speaker 4: I don't have time to set it up. I think

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Speaker 4: it's great for you know, especially a guy like Diou

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Speaker 4: Dangbo to see from Taekwon, where you know, Dio coming

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Speaker 4: along started his career as a rotational pass rusher still

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Speaker 4: may be in that role. You know, just go beat

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Speaker 4: the guy in front of you, figure out how to

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Speaker 4: do it, and you you want, don't have as much

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Speaker 4: time as you know Quitty or Samson or Buck or

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Speaker 4: any of those guys, but just go do it. And

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Speaker 4: Taekwon's done a really good job of that.

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Speaker 2: And towards the end of the season, we saw a

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Speaker 2: lot of Taekwon Lewis playing more on third down and

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Speaker 2: key situations. High leverage situations. During the game that Week

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Speaker 2: eighteen game against the Houston Texans, in the fourth quarter,

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Speaker 2: I distinctly remember seeing Taekwon Lewis out there getting some

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Speaker 2: run on third down. It was Taekwon, it was Buckner,

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Speaker 2: a dang Bo and Ebacom on third down. You know,

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Speaker 2: playing in the stead of quitty pay at times. But

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Speaker 2: Casey going back to, you know, the intangible stuff off

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Speaker 2: the field, the leadership there with Taekwon Lewis, how much

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Speaker 2: is that worth in free agency going into a seventh season.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if there's anybody else in that locker

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Speaker 2: room that has seen more highs and more lows from

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Speaker 2: a team standpoint, and certainly from a personal standpoint, with

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Speaker 2: all the adversity that's been thrown his way.

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Speaker 3: Now, you're not You're not wrong there. I mean, he's

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Speaker 3: definitely one of those glue guys. I mean he is

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Speaker 3: a guy that you go in that locker room and

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Speaker 3: everybody has a good thing to say about Taekwon, and

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Speaker 3: it's hard to find that. You can't you can't just

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Speaker 3: sign somebody or draft somebody who automatically is gonna come

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Speaker 3: in and have that type of you talk about leadership.

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Speaker 3: That's what Taekwon Lewis is. I mean, he is a

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Speaker 3: guy in that room where people just flock to to

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Speaker 3: what Taekwon is doing. And so it's gonna be really

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Speaker 3: hard if that's the route they go. If if Taekwon Lewis,

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Speaker 3: you know it gets a job somewhere else, you've got

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Speaker 3: You've got a lot of things you've got to replace,

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Speaker 3: because not only is you know, is he great off

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Speaker 3: the field, but on the field, he's got that versatility

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Speaker 3: where he guys can trust him to play in multiple

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Speaker 3: spots and that that plays into it as well. So,

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Speaker 3: I mean there's a lot that Taekwon Lewis brings. He

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Speaker 3: We talked about this with I want to say it

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Speaker 3: was with Rigoberto Sanchez, where you look at your priority

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Speaker 3: list of free agents and he may not be on

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Speaker 3: the top, but when you get to him, you kind

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Speaker 3: of have to take a step back and go, Wow,

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Speaker 3: he's pretty important to what we're trying to do because

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Speaker 3: he fits this one, this one, and this one.

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Speaker 2: So it's you know, no one is opposed to bring

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Speaker 2: him back as long as it makes sense from a

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Speaker 2: dollar stamp exactly.

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Speaker 4: So when you go and you look at what Taekwon

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Speaker 4: did on third down to kind of go back to

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Speaker 4: what you're saying, mate, A lot of what he did

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Speaker 4: rushing was from the interior where the Colts will kind

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Speaker 4: of bring that package on. But I was just rewatching

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Speaker 4: a play as case you were talking here against Pittsburgh.

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Speaker 4: It was a third and four where Pittsburgh was backed

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Speaker 4: up toward the Colts end zone. Taekwan took a double

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Speaker 4: team on and he just kept moving his feet, moving

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Speaker 4: his hands, and he pushed two guys to kind of

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Speaker 4: move Mitch Trubisky off his spot a little bit. The

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Speaker 4: pass is still completed, there's a penalty on the play.

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Speaker 4: I don't remember exactly what wound up happening, but just

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Speaker 4: stuff like that where Okay, I got a double team

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Speaker 4: on the interior, I might be a quote unquote defensive end,

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Speaker 4: still pushes those guys back into the pocket to affect

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Speaker 4: the play like that, That play is like defining for

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Speaker 4: me for Taekwon Lewis, just he doesn't give up. He's

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Speaker 4: got a great motor, he's got great hands, good strength,

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Speaker 4: and just that that attitude that he brings is something

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Speaker 4: that really benefits I think an entire team.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the attitude is there, the production is there, the

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Speaker 2: leadership is there in the personality too. I mean there's

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Speaker 2: always a party at Taekwon Lewis's locker. How many times

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Speaker 2: Casey has Taekwon Lewis grabbed my microphone or your microphone

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Speaker 2: and started freestyle.

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Speaker 4: Yes, all right, so here, here's here's the story.

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Speaker 2: Taikwan, I love you, but I got a job to do.

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Speaker 4: Okay, all right, so Taekwon Taekwon does that with your microphone.

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Speaker 4: So quick, quick little story. I think it's okay.

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Speaker 3: Stories we've read it.

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Speaker 4: Because after I think it was after the Titans game,

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Speaker 4: you know, we we land back here in Indianapolis and

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Speaker 4: I feel a tap on my shoulder and you know,

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Speaker 4: I'm punching away to an article and I turn around

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Speaker 4: and it's Taekwon and goes, hey, give me, give me

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Speaker 4: that computer. So I give it, give it to him,

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Speaker 4: and he starts typing out. He's reading what I'm writing

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Speaker 4: and it's about the defensive line, and he starts typing

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Speaker 4: out right, and he starts, he starts typing out. You know,

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Speaker 4: the Cults are proving themselves to be one of the

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Speaker 4: best defensive lines in the league. And I was like,

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Speaker 4: all right, here you go, buddy, I'll throw your bone

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Speaker 4: and you go. Let me give you a quick out

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Speaker 4: of here. And I took out one of cults are

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Speaker 4: proven to be the best defensive line in the league.

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Speaker 4: But I mean, just like a guy who, like we

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Speaker 4: all love being around, and he's such a leader within

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Speaker 4: that defensive line room too. You know, obviously everyone looks

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Speaker 4: to DeForest Buckner. He's got skins on the wall, he's

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Speaker 4: got you know, all pros, he's been in a Super

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Speaker 4: Bowl of that. But in a way, Taekwan's kind of

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Speaker 4: the emotional leader of that room, and those guys are

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Speaker 4: the best friends too. Well right, yeah, I mean, how

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Speaker 4: could he not be friends of Taekwan if you're in

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Speaker 4: that room. He really does kind of lead from the

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Speaker 4: front in that group.

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Speaker 2: Indeed, well said all around there, that's all you need

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Speaker 2: to know on Tavan Bryan Taekwan Lewis. Both men looking

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Speaker 2: for big things in twenty twenty four as they hit

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Speaker 2: free agency. And we've got one more free agency preview

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Speaker 2: to come that's coming up later on this week. We'll

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Speaker 2: put the final spotlight, if you will, on Ronnie Harrison

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Speaker 2: and Jake Martin, both guys on defense, and both men

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Speaker 2: came to the Colts in the month of August last

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Speaker 2: year and had some fine moments. Martin was part of

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Speaker 2: that defensive line rotation that we've been talking about, and

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Speaker 2: then Harrison did whatever it took to get on the field.

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Speaker 2: I bought in playing lion, playing safety and proved that

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Speaker 2: he can still play here in the National Football League.

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Speaker 2: So we'll take a look at both of those players,

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Speaker 2: and we come back one final time to close out

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Speaker 2: our free agency preview series for Casey Value and JJ Stangowitz, Boys,

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Speaker 2: Buck Loup. It's gonna get juicy. Free agency will be

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Speaker 2: here before you know it.

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Speaker 4: Coming up next around the corner.

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Speaker 2: Check out the latest the authority on the Colts. You

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Speaker 2: got it right here on Colts dot com and the

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Speaker 2: Colts Audio Network for Casey, Jji, Matt, and thanks for

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Speaker 2: listening here on the Colts Audio Network. We'll talk to

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Speaker 2: you soon.