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Speaker 1: Emotion is soul. Got to throw, wants to throw to

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Speaker 1: show down the thirty one yard line. Oh that is beautiful.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to a special edition of the twenty Men in

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Speaker 1: the Huddle podcast. It's special because I am joined by

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Speaker 1: Lyon's offensive corner Ben Johnson. Ben, welcome to the podcast.

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Speaker 1: Appreciate you coming on. Thanks for having me. Well, Ben,

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Speaker 1: let's start with this right away. You went through the

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Speaker 1: interview process in this head coaching cycle interviewed with Caroline

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Speaker 1: at Indianapolis Houston. M. I'm just curious what did you

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Speaker 1: learn about that process going through it this year? Well,

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Speaker 1: it was it was a great experience. You know, Coach

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Speaker 1: Campbell came in immediately when the request started coming in

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Speaker 1: and he was phenomenal through the whole thing. Um I

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Speaker 1: would start there. He very much encouraged me to start

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Speaker 1: exploring it and uh and U was a great supportive

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Speaker 1: character really behind the scenes for me to lean on

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Speaker 1: because he's gone through it a few times and and

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Speaker 1: it was really a great resource. Um So, more than anything,

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Speaker 1: the experience was was critical. Just find out what types

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Speaker 1: of questions we're gonna be asked in those in those meetings,

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Speaker 1: getting to know some some GM some owners. Um, you

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Speaker 1: know he was. It was really a good informational time.

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Speaker 1: But ultimately you took your name out of the running

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Speaker 1: for that you decided to come back here. I'm just curious,

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Speaker 1: why was that the right decision for you? What was

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Speaker 1: what was your reason behind just one come back and

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Speaker 1: run this again. Uh, It's really simple for me. Um.

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Speaker 1: It starts with this place, in these people. You know,

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Speaker 1: Uh been here four years now, and I believe in

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Speaker 1: Sheila what she's doing, Rodwood, Dan Brad starts at the top,

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Speaker 1: and I think it's trickled down. This is as encouraged

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Speaker 1: I've been in my four years with the direction of

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Speaker 1: the lines and where we're headed. You know, I always

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Speaker 1: go back to this story. Right before COVID hit. It

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Speaker 1: was one of the first off seasons I had here,

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Speaker 1: Garth Brooks had a concert down at ford Field and

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Speaker 1: I remember sitting there thinking at the time, I was

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Speaker 1: just soaking it in the atmosphere and it was like,

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Speaker 1: Holy cow, this is what a home playoff game is

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Speaker 1: going to be like. And this is what I want

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Speaker 1: to be a part of. This is why I want

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Speaker 1: to feel, this is why I want to experience, And

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Speaker 1: it made me feel some type of way, and I

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Speaker 1: kept going back to that as as part of the process.

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Speaker 1: And you know what, there's so many good things going

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Speaker 1: on here that so many good people, coaches, players, I

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Speaker 1: love the offensive staff, everyone that we have on board there.

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Speaker 1: I love the players, I love coming into work every day.

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Speaker 1: Coach Campbell is incredible. And so ended the day talking

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Speaker 1: with my family just it made sense. It made sense.

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Speaker 1: Don't don't ruin a good thing, you know, a little

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Speaker 1: unfin finished business. It sounds like that's right, that's one

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Speaker 1: hundred percent true. You also have continuity with this staff

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Speaker 1: coming back. And how big is that for you to ben?

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Speaker 1: I mean, obviously you lose deucee and and that's a

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Speaker 1: big loss, but um, you know, with guys like Mark

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Speaker 1: Burnell and Antoine and and and um you know Tanner

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Speaker 1: and strand Um, just having that continuity with the offensive staff,

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Speaker 1: how much it is an easy decision that too, knowing

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Speaker 1: that you guys can just kind of hit the bround

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Speaker 1: run and raping the sinking. We're joking about it today

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Speaker 1: because we're doing our self scout process. We're evaluating the

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Speaker 1: scheme and going over our personnel and just how far

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Speaker 1: along we've come we're compared to this year or last

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Speaker 1: year at this time. Uh, and where we're at this point.

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Speaker 1: And I think the most encouraging thing is where we

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Speaker 1: can get to because I think it will make a

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Speaker 1: huge jump here between year one and year two in

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Speaker 1: this offense. As we clean up the details, um, the

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Speaker 1: players start to understand and they'll be less thinking and

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Speaker 1: more reacting. Um. So that's going to be critical. But

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Speaker 1: it doesn't get done without a great coaching staff around you.

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Speaker 1: And so the conversations we're having now is a coaching

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Speaker 1: staff are called a calculus as compared to the pre

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Speaker 1: algebro that we were doing a year ago at this time.

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Speaker 1: So it's it's a look at you. You's all math. Hey,

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Speaker 1: you got the backgrounds there with the math a degree

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Speaker 1: that I don't use, So I got to trickle it

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Speaker 1: in there every now and then. How much is Dan

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Speaker 1: being the the you know, the head guy, the grounding

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Speaker 1: force on that staff? How important was he to that

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Speaker 1: decision to and and because you talk about the continuity

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Speaker 1: and just what is it about Dan that that not

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Speaker 1: only players but coaches like working under him. Yeah, it's

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Speaker 1: a He's a rock man. And we're so fortunate to

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Speaker 1: have him and the guys, the players, the coaches that

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Speaker 1: maybe don't have the same experience. I think one day

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Speaker 1: they'll come to appreciate how special he really is. Um,

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Speaker 1: but no, everything that we're doing here is within his

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Speaker 1: vision offensively as a team. He's really critical to the

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Speaker 1: whole the whole process. I know personally, on a personal level,

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Speaker 1: I value my friendship with him, probably probably more than

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Speaker 1: any I've known him for a long time, but now

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Speaker 1: it's a little bit different. It's my boss as well,

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Speaker 1: so respecting those boundaries and making sure I'm doing right

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Speaker 1: by him. You know, you started as a tight end coach,

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Speaker 1: you were elevated to the passing game coordinator, then obviously

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Speaker 1: the officsive coordinator. I'm just sure that passing game coordinator

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Speaker 1: job in Tanner in grand has that job now. Just

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Speaker 1: how important was that to your development? And how important

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Speaker 1: is is that to an offensive coordinator? Can maybe just

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Speaker 1: talk about what that job entails? How much did that

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Speaker 1: help you along in your process going through that? You

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Speaker 1: know the second half of last year well, I would

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Speaker 1: say just yeah, this year in particular for me as

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Speaker 1: a coordinator was challenging because I'm trying to manage my time.

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Speaker 1: It's my first time doing it. I want to make

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Speaker 1: sure I'm delegating, but at the same time, I want

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Speaker 1: to make sure it's done the way I want it done.

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Speaker 1: So it's there's a fine line there. Um. But a

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Speaker 1: guy like Tanna really came through in a big way

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Speaker 1: for us last year because I can trust them. I

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Speaker 1: know what he's going to relate to the players is

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Speaker 1: going to be within my voice, within Dan's voice. We're

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Speaker 1: all saying the same thing. So I think that's that's

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Speaker 1: the biggest thing with not only Tanner, but with the

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Speaker 1: rest of the staff. As long as you can trust

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Speaker 1: these guys, you're you're in that same boat together, was

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Speaker 1: rowing the same direction, You're going to have a chance.

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Speaker 1: And and I really think Tanner grew as we as

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Speaker 1: we went along too. I could trust him to run

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Speaker 1: some meetings where maybe I'm trying to get a jump

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Speaker 1: ahead for the next day or the next practice, what

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Speaker 1: would be And then he could take that pass game

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Speaker 1: pod the receivers of quarterbacks at tight ends and make

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Speaker 1: sure that they're you know, crossing the t's and dot

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Speaker 1: in the ice. There was no one happier than Jared

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Speaker 1: guff I talked to him at the Super Bowl last

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Speaker 1: week about you coming back and that continuity, and really

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Speaker 1: he talked about the friendship that he has with you,

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Speaker 1: and when when you sat down, when you became the

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Speaker 1: offensive coordinator, you decided to build this offense. You made

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Speaker 1: Jared a big part of that and it kind of

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Speaker 1: made him feel like he had ownership of it. And

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Speaker 1: then you watched the season that he had because of that,

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Speaker 1: In the season that you guys had together offensively, I

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Speaker 1: was pride. Did you take in the fact that that

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Speaker 1: Jared played the way he did, that the offense played

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Speaker 1: the way he did, and you guys built that thing

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Speaker 1: really together. Yeah, it's it's a testament to him. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's he's he's gone through a lot through his career.

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Speaker 1: He's seen a lot of coaches come in and come out,

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Speaker 1: and you know, he's really been steady throughout. I think

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Speaker 1: it's helped him grow as a player and as a teammate.

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Speaker 1: So it's it's been encouraging. There's been plenty that we

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Speaker 1: took from his past that we knew that he did

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Speaker 1: really well, and he he opened up and he was

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Speaker 1: willing to be challenged in some areas as well, so

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Speaker 1: we saw him make tremendous growth from the end of

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Speaker 1: last year through training camp. By week, we we dove

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Speaker 1: in on how he could improve as a player and

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Speaker 1: thought we saw the dividends of that second half of

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Speaker 1: the season, you know. And the good news is this,

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Speaker 1: when he comes back in the building, we're going to

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Speaker 1: have another plan of action for him to take another

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Speaker 1: few steps forward to where he can continue to progress

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Speaker 1: and be an even better player than he was this

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Speaker 1: past year. So that that's the exciting thing. And knowing him,

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Speaker 1: he's gonna embrace it and run with it. And you'd

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Speaker 1: look at this offense top five in points scored, top

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Speaker 1: five in total offense. But again, talk with Jared last week,

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Speaker 1: he talked about maybe consistency being the next step. There

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Speaker 1: were sometimes when you know, way we threw the ball

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Speaker 1: really well, but weren't as consistent running vice versa. I'm

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Speaker 1: just curious from your perspective, what's the next step for

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Speaker 1: this offense in twenty twenty three. It's it's the best

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Speaker 1: part of doing what we're doing right now. We're very thorough.

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Speaker 1: I joke about it with the staff because I go slow,

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Speaker 1: so it'll we'll go for three hours in the morning.

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Speaker 1: We make it through about thirty plays. You know, it's

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Speaker 1: it's yes, and it's just say it's it's ever been

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Speaker 1: that I've been around, and it's uh, I mean, it's methodical.

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Speaker 1: Let's say it's it's a good way to say it.

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Speaker 1: But I think at the end of it, we just

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Speaker 1: finished one game last week, and I think at the

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Speaker 1: end of it, you look at it and and you're like,

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Speaker 1: holy cow, how much better can we really become? And

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Speaker 1: it's across the board. It's not just one position group.

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Speaker 1: It's the running backs. If we just tweak this, or

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Speaker 1: we ask them to do this a little bit there,

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Speaker 1: or with the offensive line, if we just techniques just

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Speaker 1: a little bit different. You know, it all adds up

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Speaker 1: and I think I think the staff certainly sees it,

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Speaker 1: and it's just the challenge will be getting the players

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Speaker 1: back in and learning from what we put on tape

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Speaker 1: last year to take the next step. I don't know

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Speaker 1: if it's reinventing the wheel and coming up with all

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Speaker 1: these brand new plays, that's not that's not it. It's

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Speaker 1: it's the secret sauce is really the teaching and the

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Speaker 1: executing just a little bit better than what we did

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Speaker 1: a year ago. So how do you take this time

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Speaker 1: period where there's no players here. You know you're going

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Speaker 1: through that, you're going through the places you probably just

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Speaker 1: want to roll out on the indoor field and run

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Speaker 1: through some stuff. Is that the hard part about the

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Speaker 1: offseason a little bit because you want to get the

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Speaker 1: players in here and kind of get rolling. What we'll

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Speaker 1: do is we'll take the new coaches on staff and

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Speaker 1: we'll get them out on the field and we'll force

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Speaker 1: them to learn the playboof that way. So we'll throw

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Speaker 1: them in the huddle and get them to break the

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Speaker 1: huddle and get lined up and all a lot of

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Speaker 1: guys that can run around still on this that we

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Speaker 1: got a lot of former players, which which is awesome.

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Speaker 1: One of the things Jared does is get all those

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Speaker 1: wide receivers together in the offseason, kind of his start

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Speaker 1: to this before um. You know, they'll do it in

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Speaker 1: the spring, they'll do it in the summer. Um. And

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Speaker 1: he gets those guys together in California. I joked with him,

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Speaker 1: is one of the first college you're gonna make to

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Speaker 1: Jamo and get him out there, and you know, he smiled.

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Speaker 1: He was excited about that too. But how excited are

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Speaker 1: you to work with Jamison Williams. A healthy Jamison Williams.

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Speaker 1: You didn't have that benefit last year he was rehabbing

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Speaker 1: this point, you didn't have them to the last six

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Speaker 1: games of the year. To have a healthy Jamison Williams.

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Speaker 1: How much are you looking forward to that this offseason? Well,

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Speaker 1: let me ask you a question too. What happened when

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Speaker 1: the ball got in his hands last year? Explosion exposed

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Speaker 1: to take it to the house. Yeah, there's a few

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Speaker 1: guys that can do it in the league, and I

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Speaker 1: think he's one of them. And so that that's where

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Speaker 1: we see it. You see it, everyone sees it. It's

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Speaker 1: there and we Jared said it before. Consistency, that's really

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Speaker 1: the name of the game. And and uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: we've had some great conversation with Jamo even since the

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Speaker 1: season ended, and I know his mind is going to

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Speaker 1: be right when he gets back in there in the

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Speaker 1: springtime's he's really looking forward to taking that next step

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Speaker 1: as a player and really make a big impact on

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Speaker 1: this league. Is he an X or is he a

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Speaker 1: guy you can move around? Or I guess how do

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Speaker 1: you view him around you moving around a little bit? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it'll be all over the place for us. I know this.

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Speaker 1: When you get speed in the slot, it's that's very

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Speaker 1: hard to defend for defense. So there'll be times we

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Speaker 1: do that. There'll be times he's X, he'll be Z.

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Speaker 1: But um, there's a lot he can do. Since you

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Speaker 1: brought it up, let's talk about the slot a little

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Speaker 1: bit and what we've seen from aman Ross Brown the

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Speaker 1: hundred catches a thousand yards. This smile comes across your

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Speaker 1: face and it leads to my question, because how much

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Speaker 1: easier does it make an offensive play color an offense

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Speaker 1: a guy who creates a scheme. When you have a

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Speaker 1: guy like that in the slot, how does it change everything,

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Speaker 1: make everything that you do easier? But Brad and Dan

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Speaker 1: talk about it all the time. We just want the

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Speaker 1: best football players that we can find, and that's what

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Speaker 1: Alm and Roy is. He's he's a phenomenal for ball player.

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Speaker 1: Take the receiver part out of it. He is just

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Speaker 1: a natural football player and we can't get enough of

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Speaker 1: him there. I mean, we want to line him up

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Speaker 1: as the lead blocker, we want to line him up

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Speaker 1: with the ball in his hands. We want to have

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Speaker 1: him running all the right you know, and he can

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Speaker 1: do all that, which has to be so fun for you.

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Speaker 1: I mean, are you just sitting there is like a

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Speaker 1: mad scientist wondering how you can get the ball in

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Speaker 1: his hands something. He's an ultimate chess piece that that

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Speaker 1: it's fun and we're going to continue to push the

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Speaker 1: limits with him. Um. I think he's made it well

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Speaker 1: known he wants to get that deep ball going a

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Speaker 1: little bit this year. So we'll see what we can.

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Speaker 1: We can do. Ye, how much better do you sleep

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Speaker 1: at night, Bend, knowing that all five of those big

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Speaker 1: guys are under contract for next It's it's it's everything

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Speaker 1: I'm telling you right now. That's when we did the

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Speaker 1: run game last week. I kept saying it over each surge, surge, surge,

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Speaker 1: it didn't matter what scheme we were running, displacement of

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Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage was happening on a regular basis.

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Speaker 1: So Um, and that's a testament to them. They're they're phenomenal.

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Speaker 1: Coach Frayley does a great job with them, and like

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Speaker 1: I said before, there's still room for growth in that room,

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Speaker 1: and so we'll be hard. We'll coach them hard when

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Speaker 1: they get back, and we will continue to take that

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Speaker 1: next step, but not just from a run blocking standpoint,

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Speaker 1: but from protection. We were one of the least sacked

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Speaker 1: teams in the NFL last year, which is once again

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Speaker 1: on them first and foremost. But then Jared was doing

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Speaker 1: a great job getting the ball out on time as well.

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Speaker 1: Has Penney dropped his list of plays that he wants

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Speaker 1: to be involved into your office yet? And do you

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Speaker 1: have a few of those? Maybe when you deal with

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Speaker 1: the guy that's that athletic And I know you mentioned it.

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Speaker 1: I think dam meaged it too about scheming to a

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Speaker 1: right tackle, which you normally don't do, but he's such

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Speaker 1: a talent just to get him in space and scheme

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Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff. Do you have some things? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: we got some things in mind. I was texting with

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Speaker 1: Frank right now during the Super Bowl because Philly got

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Speaker 1: known for that quarterback sneak, you know, and Frank said, hey, well,

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Speaker 1: why don't we do one of that quarterback sneak? I'm okay,

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Speaker 1: got it, no problem. I was like, how do you

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Speaker 1: feel about if we put Penna at quarterback and have

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Speaker 1: him to it. He's all boys, that's brilliant. Let's do

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Speaker 1: it so you never we can we can move them

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Speaker 1: all over the place. But uh, Pane, Frank Deck, Jonah,

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Speaker 1: you know we've got well guys in every position. It's

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Speaker 1: that's yeah, it's unheard of. Yeah. It really makes the

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Speaker 1: whole thing go, doesn't it. Then, well that's why I'm back.

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Speaker 1: You're in your free agent process right now. Just curious

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Speaker 1: how that's going. Obviously not going to give any details

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Speaker 1: or anything, but that's a big part of this process

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Speaker 1: in the off season right now. How's that going? And

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Speaker 1: you guys have some draft capital, you have some cast space,

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Speaker 1: so you're excited about what you guys are going to

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Speaker 1: be able to add offensively to what you're already bringing back. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: and that's uh, you always start with evaluating your own first.

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Speaker 1: So we have some free agents that are that are

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Speaker 1: up on offense that we're big time contributors for. And

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Speaker 1: DJ dj um are the first two that come to mind.

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Speaker 1: So we'll see what happens. I know, I know, we

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Speaker 1: certainly value what they were able to bring the table

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Speaker 1: for us offensively last year, and and we'll see what

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Speaker 1: else is out there as well. You know, Brad and Dan,

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Speaker 1: they'll come together, they'll be aligned, and we'll have a

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Speaker 1: great plan for free to see in the draft and

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Speaker 1: our coaches right now they're working in the morning, we're

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Speaker 1: doing ourselves scout. In the afternoon, we're doing personnel and

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Speaker 1: trying to find are are there, what's the next piece

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Speaker 1: for us? Offensively? How can they help us bend the

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Speaker 1: way you guys finished last season? What you have coming back,

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Speaker 1: especially offensively, five picks in the top eighty one, you

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Speaker 1: got cap space. Just how excited is this entire staff?

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Speaker 1: And I know it's just the season is just recently done,

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Speaker 1: But how excited is are you guys down the hall

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Speaker 1: for what could potentially come when you guys put the

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Speaker 1: work in for twenty twenty. I think what you just

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Speaker 1: said it's the most critical part of that. It's it's

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Speaker 1: us putting the work in. You know, we can't count

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Speaker 1: anything before it actually has to You know, we have

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Speaker 1: to still and there should be excitement because we did

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Speaker 1: finish strong. But at the same time, our preparation, how

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Speaker 1: we approach your springtime training camp. We can't regress in

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Speaker 1: any aspect. We got to pick up where we left

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Speaker 1: off at the end of the sea, and at least offensively.

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Speaker 1: That's where I can speak to and because because I

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Speaker 1: really truly believe we could. We can make huge strides

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Speaker 1: of offense over the next season as well. I know

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Speaker 1: that excites Lions fans to hear that, especially with all

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Speaker 1: the success that you guys had last year. I'm very

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Speaker 1: happy that you're sitting next to me and we're talking.

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Speaker 1: I know Lions fans are very excited that you're sitting

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Speaker 1: next to me and talking. Have a great offseason combines. Next,

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Speaker 1: do your work down there, and how about we talk

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Speaker 1: again OTAs or somewhere around there, and we're all glad

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Speaker 1: to have you back. Then sounds good. Appreciate you, yep.