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Speaker 1: Nathan's Gera Girod Cherry and joining us right now. Assistant

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Speaker 1: general manager Katheryne Hickman joining us tonight. Catherine, thanks for joining.

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Speaker 2: Us, Thanks for having me. Always great to speak with

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Speaker 2: you guys every year.

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Speaker 1: Yes, ma'am. So you looked at Carson Swestinger and what

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Speaker 1: were you guys seeing?

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Speaker 2: I mean, you're seeing just starting with his personality, You're

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Speaker 2: seeing a player who has this walk on chip on

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Speaker 2: his shoulder mentality. You think of toughness, you think of

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Speaker 2: what he's been able to accomplish to you know, his

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Speaker 2: story is just fantastic to today being you know, thirty

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Speaker 2: third overall pick. And then you look at what he

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Speaker 2: did on the field, like his production this past season

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Speaker 2: is undeniable. He's been a really strong contributor on special

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Speaker 2: teams as well prior to this year. So you're really

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Speaker 2: looking at a very athletic, instinctive, good feel player that's

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Speaker 2: going to be able to make an impact in both

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Speaker 2: phases of the game that we look very much forward

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Speaker 2: to work with.

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Speaker 3: Was there temptation to move out of thirty three and

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Speaker 3: was there maybe some also intel that your player would

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Speaker 3: might not have been there at thirty six?

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Speaker 2: I mean, every time we get on the clock. You

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Speaker 2: know how Andrew operates, so we look at every single

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Speaker 2: possibility as well. You did exactly, so you definitely consider

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Speaker 2: all options. But when you got you have a player

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Speaker 2: like Carson sitting there looking at you, it's really it's

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Speaker 2: really hard not to pull the trigger.

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Speaker 3: Should we read anything into this pick in regards to

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Speaker 3: j Okay.

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Speaker 2: Uh No, Like this is about uh this is really

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Speaker 2: about getting the best player we can get on this

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Speaker 2: football team, and we have wonderful coaches that are going

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Speaker 2: to find a way to maximize all of these player straints.

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Speaker 3: Is he a mic in our eyes? Or is he

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Speaker 3: a will?

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Speaker 2: I think what's beautiful about him is his versatility, So

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Speaker 2: you will be able to offer flexibility at multiple position

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Speaker 2: and I think that's also a beauty of what coach

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Speaker 2: Tarv is doing is making sure that he prepares these

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Speaker 2: guys for all positions. So I'd say, like everything's on

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Speaker 2: the table at this point.

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Speaker 4: Yes, And obviously we got to running back with the

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Speaker 4: second pick in this second round. What was the thought

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Speaker 4: process behind because one will say why not Henderson as

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Speaker 4: opposed to Jekins. What's the difference between you guys and

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Speaker 4: your evaluation.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, both tremendous players. I think when we were looking

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Speaker 2: at their style, their skill set and what we were

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Speaker 2: looking to bring here in terms of in terms of

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Speaker 2: it adding to our room, quinch On was just a

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Speaker 2: natural fit and really someone that's going to bring physicality, toughness,

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Speaker 2: and someone that has value on throw it down as well.

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Speaker 2: Excellent past pro and I think very dependable when it

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Speaker 2: comes to catching the football. So really a well rounded

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Speaker 2: skill set that will be very very helpful to this

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Speaker 2: football team.

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Speaker 4: And it seems right now based upon the picks, I

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Speaker 4: love character guys. I think you build culture through character guys.

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Speaker 4: Not to say we don't have those guys on the

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Speaker 4: roster already, but it seems like it's almost a concerted

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Speaker 4: effort to make sure we find guys that have a

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Speaker 4: certain attitude approach to playing football in a way of life.

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Speaker 2: That's such a great point. We're building a team, not

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Speaker 2: collecting talent, and the character is huge part of that.

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Speaker 2: We want to bring tough and competitive players here, we

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Speaker 2: want to work hard, and those are all things that

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Speaker 2: we're looking for when we evaluate these prospects holistically, and

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Speaker 2: so far we're just fortunate that they all have those qualities.

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Speaker 3: I got two big picture questions for you. The first

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Speaker 3: is it feels like Mason Graham, Sweeshaner Judkins, these are

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Speaker 3: physical players. Are we trying? Was that something said we

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Speaker 3: need to become a more physical football team.

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Speaker 2: I think we are, But I mean, hey, this is

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Speaker 2: the AFC North, Like, there's nothing but physically physicality in

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Speaker 2: our division. So we have to remain tough and competitive.

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Speaker 2: So I think, to me is really adding to our core,

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Speaker 2: our core of players and making sure those remain our

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Speaker 2: core values when it comes to how we want to

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Speaker 2: play the game. We've got to be physical.

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Speaker 3: And then the second was just looking at how this

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Speaker 3: has played out, I think it's I don't think I'm overstepping.

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Speaker 3: It feels safe to say that you guys were not

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Speaker 3: enamored with the quarterback selections. It is obviously a massive

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Speaker 3: need for this football team. You pick at five, you

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Speaker 3: picked the thirty two, you picked the thirty six. A

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Speaker 3: quarterback has not been selected. What's kind of the plan

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Speaker 3: for fans at that position, given that we did an

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Speaker 3: opt to take one with one of those picks.

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Speaker 2: That's a great question. I think ultimately we there's still

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Speaker 2: quality quarterbacks that are on the board right now that

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Speaker 2: we will have an opportunity. We're still picking twice tonight.

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Speaker 2: And not to say, you know, that's not for me

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Speaker 2: to say a direction, but when I but but we

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Speaker 2: really just look at it from a player quality, holistic

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Speaker 2: profile relative to you know, drafts up value in where

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Speaker 2: we felt it was best for this football team was

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Speaker 2: to go the way we went so far. But that's

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Speaker 2: not to say that there will not be some you know,

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Speaker 2: some more in play. Yeah, exactly, and there's always again,

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Speaker 2: multiple multiple ways. Sorry to skin that cat when it

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Speaker 2: comes to bring people in.

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Speaker 1: Assistant general manager Katherine Hickman joining us here on the show. So,

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Speaker 1: how do you meet need with best player available? It's

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Speaker 1: a classic question because you know a lot of people go,

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Speaker 1: we need weapons, we need weapons, we need weapons, we

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Speaker 1: need to score the football. I wasn't trying to put

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Speaker 1: your name out there, but yeah, they're saying, but we

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Speaker 1: go defense in this draft. How do you guys go

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Speaker 1: about putting that puzzle together?

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Speaker 2: I mean, I mean when you think of Jim Schwartz defense,

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Speaker 2: I mean we have an excellent unit. Our D line

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Speaker 2: is the engine of our defense on that side of

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Speaker 2: the ball. So when you have a player like Mason

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Speaker 2: that's right there available for the impact that he can make,

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Speaker 2: and this scheme is invaluable and really like you win

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Speaker 2: games with all sides of the ball, and we just

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Speaker 2: think that adding as many high impact player on our

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Speaker 2: football team was the best way to go moving forward.

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Speaker 3: When you are going back or at least it will appear

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Speaker 3: to kind of what Kevin Stefanci had done very very well.

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Speaker 3: Twelve personnel is a big part of that. This is

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Speaker 3: a very good tight end draft. There are still very

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Speaker 3: good tight ends on the board out there, and I'm

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Speaker 3: sure you guys are looking to pair one with David Ajoku?

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Speaker 3: Is that are those part of when it Ke's kind

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Speaker 3: of asked about how you kind of looking things in

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Speaker 3: terms of scheme thing and what we want to do.

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Speaker 3: How important is it that that becomes It seems like

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Speaker 3: it's a need. It meshes with the talent. Is that

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Speaker 3: something you guys will be aggressive with.

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Speaker 2: I mean, especially when it's that deep of a class.

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Speaker 2: You know, when you think of the running by class

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Speaker 2: this year, you think of the tiny class you just

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Speaker 2: said it, there's a bunch there's a few excellent candidates

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Speaker 2: that are still on the board right now, so it

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Speaker 2: gives you some nice optionality when you head into the

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Speaker 2: third round to think about you know what's best available

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Speaker 2: and to your point, feel and neat as well, because

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Speaker 2: to your question earlier, those are very very you want

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Speaker 2: a draft obviously for the future development best available, but

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Speaker 2: it's it's very close to what you need to do

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Speaker 2: as well to win in a short end in the

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Speaker 2: long term.

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Speaker 3: Can we expect maybe some more movement?

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Speaker 4: We do a lot.

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Speaker 3: There's usually a lot of movement in this part of

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Speaker 3: the draft with the Cleveland Browns.

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Speaker 2: I will steal Andrew's line, never say ever and you

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Speaker 2: know how you operate.

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Speaker 1: Catherine, thank you so much for the time, good luck

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Speaker 1: the rest of the night.

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Speaker 2: Thank you