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Speaker 1: You're listening to Falcons Vel podcast presented by AT and T.

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Speaker 1: And I'm in a chair right now where most Falcons

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Speaker 1: fans would love to be in. I'm sitting with Falcons

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Speaker 1: GM Thomas Mitchroff and head coach Dan Quinn, and we

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Speaker 1: are talking some NFL combine. Before we get into combine,

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Speaker 1: just I would be remiss if I didn't bring up

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Speaker 1: the fact that you've got your coaching staff all buttoned

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Speaker 1: up yep, head into Indie with the complete staff, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and when you get some new group of guys together,

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Speaker 1: you know, finding the right chemistry and that connection together.

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Speaker 1: And when you go to Indianapolis, there's really some things

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Speaker 1: that you want to get accomplished as a staff too.

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Speaker 1: And the medical portion that doesn't apply to any assistant coaches,

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Speaker 1: but what does apply to them is measurables being there

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Speaker 1: for way In's get a chansie the guys, and then

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Speaker 1: the most important thing is the interviews, yeah, and those

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Speaker 1: connections with the players. That's where it goes down. There's

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Speaker 1: so many that Thomas and I will do with prospects privately,

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Speaker 1: but there's also a number that the assistant coaches do

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Speaker 1: with the players. And so during those four days you're

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Speaker 1: really trying to connect with some players, say this guy

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Speaker 1: would really fit in well from our team his makeup,

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Speaker 1: his maturity, his football smarts or which is also something

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Speaker 1: that you find out. I don't think this guy would

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Speaker 1: fit in so well, you know, with the group. And

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Speaker 1: both things are important to find out. Thomas, You guys

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Speaker 1: you talk, you know, with your scouts and this coaching staff.

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Speaker 1: You guys all speak the same language pretty much when

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Speaker 1: it comes to evaluating players. Did you have a lot

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Speaker 1: of input, you know, did Dan? Did you guys talk

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Speaker 1: to each other when this staff was kind of coming

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Speaker 1: together a lot and these coaches too, this isn't their

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Speaker 1: first rodeo. With the combine, you brought in tons of experience, Malarchy,

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Speaker 1: Carter Kawka and of course the difference. I'll go back

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Speaker 1: to finish up on that, but I think you know,

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Speaker 1: certainly we wanted you know, Thomas's insight on it. Not

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Speaker 1: only has he seen me for four years interact and

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Speaker 1: know what would be good fits with me, but also

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Speaker 1: you always want another person's perspective, and if we're always

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Speaker 1: seeing things exactly the same way, that would that's not normal.

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Speaker 1: You know, there's some things well, have you thought about

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Speaker 1: this point of view or have you thought about that side?

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Speaker 1: So sometimes you need somebody to see the other point

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Speaker 1: of view or the other side of things, and that

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Speaker 1: helps because to say you'd see everything exactly right all

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Speaker 1: the time, that would be incorrect. So we are really

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Speaker 1: pumped about the staff. There's an energy about him, there's

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Speaker 1: a experience obviously about him. But the connection they have.

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Speaker 1: The best teams we all talked about that we've been

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Speaker 1: a part of had a really good connection and the

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Speaker 1: players see it from the coaches first. Man, like, these

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Speaker 1: guys are connected, they're on it the details. And if

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Speaker 1: you can play for coaches like that who are really

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Speaker 1: consistent and have their stuff together, you got a chance

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Speaker 1: to do some good stuff. To that point, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I thought it was a really really good process. You know,

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Speaker 1: Dan and I talked a lot about coaches. Of course,

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Speaker 1: ultimately a head coach, he's got to feel comfortable with

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Speaker 1: his guys. Dan's got such an acute awareness of what

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Speaker 1: he wants on his staff. And it was really interesting

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Speaker 1: and fun being a part of that because we could

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Speaker 1: talk about it at so many levels, not only fun enjoyable,

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Speaker 1: but fun educational. Right, It was really good that way.

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Speaker 1: I will say, like we've said many times with players

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Speaker 1: who just rave about how much they want to play

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Speaker 1: for Dan. Here, I am giving you the you know,

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Speaker 1: the rub and everything. But that's the same way with

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Speaker 1: the coaches around this country. Like it is. It is

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Speaker 1: a really cool thing to see how many people are

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Speaker 1: knocking on the door that want to be a part

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Speaker 1: of this organization and want to be a part of

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Speaker 1: a staff coached headed up like Dan does. Right. It's

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Speaker 1: and I've seen him many many times interacting with the coaches.

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Speaker 1: It's it's it's it's a really interesting thing to see it.

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Speaker 1: I had not seen that before. I've been around a

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Speaker 1: lot of really interesting and good coaches. I've also been

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Speaker 1: around a lot of egos in coaching, and Dan does

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Speaker 1: a really good job of managing and all that and

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Speaker 1: navigating all that. So it'll be fun to watch it

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Speaker 1: and interesting to watch how it all comes together with

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Speaker 1: some veteran guys that you know, Dan has some great

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Speaker 1: respect for over the years, and they have great respect

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Speaker 1: for Dan. I mean to bring in back in you know,

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Speaker 1: my own involvement, meaning in the past years with Dirk

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Speaker 1: and Mike Malarkey. It's It's fun to watch them interact

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Speaker 1: with Dan and this this setting here, it's it's going

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Speaker 1: to be really interesting and beneficial to this this organization.

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Speaker 1: I would say Thomas probably has perspective on this. He's

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Speaker 1: been on, you know, the job longer than me. From

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Speaker 1: a leadership standpoint. The things that I thought were really

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Speaker 1: important now with this team needs were different from me

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Speaker 1: when I first got here, and so I have a

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Speaker 1: much better sense of what the team needs most right now.

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Speaker 1: From the coaching side, and when you're first coming in

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Speaker 1: trying to collect twenty guys together on the same vision.

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Speaker 1: Now you know, years into the job, you're really specific

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Speaker 1: about what you're looking for, almost like with Thomas picking

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Speaker 1: a player. You know, when we were adding coaches in,

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Speaker 1: fortunately we had some really good candidates to choose from,

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Speaker 1: and they were hard decisions, and that's what you want,

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Speaker 1: much like a draft or a free agent where you're like, man,

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Speaker 1: this is a tough call. Both these guys are really

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Speaker 1: good or both these coaches were really talented. In some cases,

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Speaker 1: you know, two or three guys for the same spot.

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Speaker 1: And I learned a lot through that process. But I

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Speaker 1: was really clear now of what we're looking for for

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Speaker 1: what the team needs right now. When you're first coming

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Speaker 1: into an organization, you probably don't have that perspective because

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Speaker 1: you don't know the team that you're going to coach.

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Speaker 1: And so it was a lot different going adding, you know,

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Speaker 1: because we had a you know, three new coordinators basically

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Speaker 1: this year, and so that was the first time we

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Speaker 1: did that since I arrived. And what does the team

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Speaker 1: need now? I thought was really clear for me to say,

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Speaker 1: based on what the team needs, these are the type

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Speaker 1: of coaches that will fit right now. Speaking of what

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Speaker 1: the team needs right now, when I talk to you

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Speaker 1: after that season ending press conference, you said, I want

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Speaker 1: some nastiness. I want some I want to find some

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Speaker 1: players who are nasty. What does when you talk about

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Speaker 1: evaluating players and what this team needs player wise, When

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Speaker 1: you say, hey, I want nastiness, what does that mean

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Speaker 1: when you have conversations with Thomas and say, hey, I

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Speaker 1: need these kinds of players, How does that translate in

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Speaker 1: the player evaluation process when you get to the combine. Well,

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Speaker 1: the good news for us, it's not I need, it's

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Speaker 1: we need right Yes, So that's a big difference from

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Speaker 1: you know, some organizations. I think probably we both admire

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Speaker 1: the really physical teams, and so we felt like maybe

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Speaker 1: our compass was off a little bit and if we

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Speaker 1: could add some players that had the traits of physicality

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Speaker 1: and toughness, we thought that would add to the overall

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Speaker 1: group toughness that would help. And so we've been specific

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Speaker 1: about what we're looking for in that space, and I'll

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Speaker 1: let Thomas hit on some of the two. But it's

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Speaker 1: always an important part of who we are. But I

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Speaker 1: guess when our season didn't go like we liked and

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Speaker 1: we looked at the film and it wasn't quite as

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Speaker 1: nasty as we'd like it to be, uh, we were

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Speaker 1: going to make sure that that was going to get recaptured. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, to Dan's point, tough, tough ass urgent football

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Speaker 1: players that fall into his world and embody what he

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Speaker 1: is about Dan and our staff is big. I mean

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Speaker 1: Ben Cutt Week, our new our new special teams coach

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Speaker 1: who hasn't really prize military background. What was his line

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Speaker 1: the other day at the front end or the front

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Speaker 1: side of the foxholes right? Meaning and yeah, so love it.

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Speaker 1: There's such a fun group to be a part of.

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Speaker 1: But we do feel like, um, that part of our

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Speaker 1: game can get recaptured where you need to strike the

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Speaker 1: fear of God into some people a little bit. You know.

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Speaker 1: I think that's how you play really good defense, and

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Speaker 1: UM like, oh and the fans see that, and uh,

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Speaker 1: the other teams sees that, and so I want to

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Speaker 1: make sure UM not being reckless, but really in a

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Speaker 1: style that the city and the fan base UM really

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Speaker 1: loves it appreciates because that style a little bit more

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Speaker 1: about the interview process. You know, when the fans watch

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Speaker 1: the combine, they see they immediately think of forty yard dashtimes,

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Speaker 1: three cone drills, bench press, guys running and being timed

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Speaker 1: on TV. And then they see Thomas and coach Quinn

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Speaker 1: sitting in the stands or seeing you chatting or with

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Speaker 1: stop watches. There's a lot that goes on. You bring

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Speaker 1: a lot of people to the combine, don't you, first

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Speaker 1: of all, and then tell us about the interview process,

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Speaker 1: because you're also you're looking at a body of work. Yes,

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Speaker 1: and then you got to protect against or not protect against,

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Speaker 1: but just these guys, some of these guys are training

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Speaker 1: just for the combine. You know, Mike Mamula comes to mind,

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Speaker 1: your workout wonder who was a first round pick it's

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Speaker 1: plain that process a little bit. Thomas, Well, I mean,

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Speaker 1: you're right, there's a lot of people and it's growing

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Speaker 1: year after year. And just so everyone knows, you guys,

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Speaker 1: bring another twenty people. I'm talking to you from a

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Speaker 1: digital media. I mean, it's it's thriving. Now we all

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Speaker 1: know that that's a that's a big thing. I looked

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Speaker 1: at the whole list of people attending and it's unbelievable.

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Speaker 1: From all of our coaches and scouts. It's a big thing.

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Speaker 1: I mean, not only is a bit out and you

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Speaker 1: know the media side of things. I mean it's big.

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Speaker 1: It's huge for us. Like Dan said, the interviews are

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Speaker 1: are are so important for us. The medical elements are

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Speaker 1: so important. We get opportunities to have some psychological testing

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Speaker 1: starting there with certain people we're dealing with. UM. For me,

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Speaker 1: it's always been something to be able to see these players,

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Speaker 1: you know, performing side by side with the best in

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Speaker 1: the country. Yes, they're I understand they're not. They don't

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Speaker 1: have pads on, but it's really interesting. It's interesting to

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Speaker 1: see the mind and the athleticism side. And I I

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Speaker 1: mean it was a big thing. Going back to Julio

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Speaker 1: back in eleven I remember him running his routes and

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Speaker 1: I remember, yes, it's it's in shorts. But to see

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Speaker 1: pure athleticism next to pure athleticism is a great way

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Speaker 1: to juxtapose talent in my mind. And then of course

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Speaker 1: we don't raise anyone massively up or down. It's interesting, okay,

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Speaker 1: just through the combine. Uh, that's that that is gauged

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Speaker 1: off of our video work. That said, if a guy

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Speaker 1: is a certain position he needs to run fast and

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Speaker 1: he completely plummets, well, then would affect them a lot.

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Speaker 1: But there are so many things that are going on there,

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Speaker 1: and not only that, there's a lot of other information

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Speaker 1: that's passed along their interaction with you know, Dan with

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Speaker 1: his cohorts in the on the contemporaries on the coaching side,

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Speaker 1: and mine on the GM side, our personnel directors interacting.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of information flowing around. You're you're learning

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Speaker 1: new information about players, and you're you're just taking in

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Speaker 1: so many different elements within that combine. And I, you know,

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Speaker 1: I love the fact that we're still thriving in it.

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Speaker 1: It'll be interest interesting to see how it evolves over

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Speaker 1: the next while, you know, from a from a media

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Speaker 1: standpoint and what's happening, because that is a big, big

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Speaker 1: topic as well for us. It's definitely the lifeblood of

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Speaker 1: the program. So that's where your players come from. The

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Speaker 1: draft and why do you put so much time and

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Speaker 1: effort into it Because the decisions made on those Thursday, Friday,

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Speaker 1: Saturday in April are going to affect the seasons of nineteen,

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty one and beyond. So yeah, you go through

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Speaker 1: every you know possible to find the right fits for you,

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Speaker 1: and some of it has to line up correctly. Sometimes

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Speaker 1: Thomas has to make a move to go you know,

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Speaker 1: target a player in a certain spot, or move back

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Speaker 1: to acquire more. So they're strategy involved, there's evaluation evolved,

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Speaker 1: but the decision making at the end of it is

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Speaker 1: really impactful because it's not just the decision for just

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Speaker 1: this year. Their impacts are generally felt in the years

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Speaker 1: to come, like rookies play. I mean, all the draft

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Speaker 1: picks we had played in twenty eighteen from the eighteen class,

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Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean that their impact is going to

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Speaker 1: be felt stronger in nineteen and likely stronger again in

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty one as we move forward. So it's a

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Speaker 1: big deal because if you keep stacking good classes together,

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Speaker 1: you've got a chance to have depth and you know,

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Speaker 1: bring guys up through the ranks. And we love developing players,

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Speaker 1: so like Thomas and I see that in the same way.

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Speaker 1: So which of these guys can develop and what can

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Speaker 1: they turn into? And how would you feature him on

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Speaker 1: your team? And sometimes the player doesn't even though how

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Speaker 1: good he can be, you know, and you got to

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Speaker 1: put him in the right space just because he chose

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Speaker 1: that college. I mean, it was even the best system

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Speaker 1: for him, Like I want to go to college X,

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Speaker 1: you know, like girls are hot, school look good, you know,

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Speaker 1: like and they're like, yeah, it's a thirty four defense.

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Speaker 1: I'm a pass rusher. Like yeah, maybe not the best choice,

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Speaker 1: you know, but that guy's got traits. And then he

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Speaker 1: gets the NFL is like, man, what kind of career

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Speaker 1: that guy have in college? Like why didn't he blow up?

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Speaker 1: It's like, well, you know, he was playing a position

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Speaker 1: I didn't do that, or they didn't run the ball

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Speaker 1: a lot, you know, like but it was still a

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Speaker 1: cool school, you know, and all sorts of things factor in.

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Speaker 1: But it's an awesome thing. I love the combine and

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Speaker 1: although they are not you don't you know, pick the

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Speaker 1: players based on the combine. They're still competing against one

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Speaker 1: another against the time, and so like you can tell

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Speaker 1: who's out there competing, it still shows and so like

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Speaker 1: that still shows competitiveness. Like I want the top jump,

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Speaker 1: I want the top run, I want the top lift,

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Speaker 1: like I want to nail it. That's still a guy

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Speaker 1: who's competing. The only other thing that I think needs

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Speaker 1: to be folded into this, and I think maybe your

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Speaker 1: listeners know or don't know, is yes, it's all based

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Speaker 1: on collegiate and we're talking draft. I'm not saying there's

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Speaker 1: a dirty little secret to it, but the idea of

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Speaker 1: agents being there on mass and that they all of

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Speaker 1: the football intelligencia being there, meaning you got coaches, you

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Speaker 1: got your personnel, people, you've got you know, you got

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Speaker 1: your GMS, you got your you have your management, you

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Speaker 1: have all other parts of football around there. There's rumors

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Speaker 1: are rampant, I mean about who's coming available potentially, because

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Speaker 1: right around the corner is free agency. It's not based

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Speaker 1: on free agency. But like we often say, you're there

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Speaker 1: watching college guys. All of us are thinking about team building.

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Speaker 1: We're thinking about how are we going to put it

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Speaker 1: all together, and you're comparing what's out running around on

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Speaker 1: the field through all the combined drills, and then you're

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Speaker 1: also hearing the scuttle butt and you know your lists

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Speaker 1: of who may becoming available in free agency. It's a

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Speaker 1: really interesting think tank element there. And mind, I'm going

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Speaker 1: to ask you about that process in a second, but

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Speaker 1: while we're still on the combine itself, you talk about

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Speaker 1: all this information from the coaches, from the scouts, to

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Speaker 1: the gms, to the rumors, and then the physicals. Guys,

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Speaker 1: will you know, have injuries that that surface, right, Yes,

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Speaker 1: you talk about guys in the past like a Rob Gronkowski.

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Speaker 1: I guess he's a guy who transferred from pitt to Arizona.

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Speaker 1: He had some back issues and you know his back

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Speaker 1: he slid to a second day. How that explained that

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Speaker 1: process if you can in a general sense of how

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Speaker 1: does all that come together? Is that come together from

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Speaker 1: the moment the combine ends to draft day or does

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Speaker 1: that something that you guys have been building a rolodex

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Speaker 1: from the entire year or and then and then we'll

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Speaker 1: get into the process a little bit more. How you

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Speaker 1: balance it all? Well, So think about this, I mean,

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Speaker 1: right now, we're already into next year's draft. Some of

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Speaker 1: our scouts, I mean they've we've had our some of

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Speaker 1: our position crosscheck meetings, so they are already starting their

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Speaker 1: work on the next year's group. You know that from

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Speaker 1: having interviewed some of them. They're still focused on this

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Speaker 1: year's draft, of course, but that is actually when all

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Speaker 1: this the research starts, because look, I think one of

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Speaker 1: the things that needs to be talked about, and we

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Speaker 1: talk about all the time. You're not just hiring a

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Speaker 1: scout for his ability to evaluate in his eye. That's

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Speaker 1: obviously number one, But the other elements are you have

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Speaker 1: to be a good researcher. Back in the days, they

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Speaker 1: used to call that, you know, information gatherer or whatever.

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Speaker 1: They had all these derogatory names. We've changed that definitely

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Speaker 1: to research because it is vital for our scouting staff

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Speaker 1: to go out and start gathering all the information that

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Speaker 1: we need that Dan and I continue to be can

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Speaker 1: be teed up with so that we're making the right

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Speaker 1: decisions ultimately on draft day, our scouts are you know,

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Speaker 1: we want to talk about the lifeblood of gathering and building.

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Speaker 1: I can't say I'm I'm so proud of our scouting staff,

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Speaker 1: you know, with Scott Pioli and Steve Sabo and you

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Speaker 1: know Rust and Webster and Phil Emory and the rest

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Speaker 1: of our guys. We have such a really good, focused

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Speaker 1: football group who really understand football players. And again they

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Speaker 1: do such a great job of providing us with the

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Speaker 1: insight that we need to take it the final steps.

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Speaker 1: I think it's vital all this information that we're gathering,

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Speaker 1: all the background information, you know, character information to scholastic

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Speaker 1: you know, academic information, to injury information. We start to

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Speaker 1: gather it now through different sources, and we continue to

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Speaker 1: gather that all the way through the process, and it

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Speaker 1: culminates at the combine. Basically, you get there and then

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Speaker 1: you get those players in there, and you continue to

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Speaker 1: talk to them and interview them. Of course, you gain

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Speaker 1: more and more information on their background, and you're also

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Speaker 1: getting the medical and psychological information that we're getting from

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Speaker 1: the combine. So it continues to build all the way

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Speaker 1: through the year until you finally get to the combine,

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Speaker 1: and then you do some finishing touches leading up until

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Speaker 1: you know the third week of April. What would this

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Speaker 1: scouts have said about you going too Morgantown? Like what

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Speaker 1: they have said, Wow, wow, coach, you know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 1: I was a grinder. Yeah, I was whatever grinder partier. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: well I knew yeah, I knew how to work hard

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Speaker 1: and play hard. Okay, I had balance in my life.

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Speaker 1: That's good. I can balance competitor, Oh for sure. For sure.

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Speaker 1: Speed used to be well. Position, I'd say full back, linebacker?

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Speaker 1: Was this that was a wingback? Yet say that I

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Speaker 1: did play outside linebacker? That was my favorite. Um, okay,

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Speaker 1: outside we got you shook a little bit, a little good.

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Speaker 1: It's good that I would take a break. Are you okay?

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Speaker 1: I'm all right, I'm all right. This is Thomas amtrov

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Speaker 1: GM Atlanta Falcons. You are listening to the Falcons Audible podcast,

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Speaker 1: brought to you by AT and T. Let me ask

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Speaker 1: you this of because I want to get to the

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Speaker 1: interviews and you don't have to name a player that's

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Speaker 1: currently on the team or or what. But in that

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Speaker 1: interview process, has there been or maybe it was an

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Speaker 1: interview process, maybe it was a workout. I'm asking to

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Speaker 1: eat you this was there? Is there one moment that

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Speaker 1: just sticks out with you to you in all your

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Speaker 1: years ago into the combine where a guy just made

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Speaker 1: an impression and indellible impression on you, positive or negatively. Um,

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Speaker 1: and what were some of those stories or what were

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Speaker 1: some of those moments? What was that aha moment? Whether

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Speaker 1: it was in an interview or you just you mentioned

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Speaker 1: Julio the eye test and he just said you have

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Speaker 1: to see it, or maybe it was a you know,

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Speaker 1: a guy said something and you just like a boy,

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Speaker 1: he wouldn't fit on my team. Um, what do you chat?

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Speaker 1: Do you too have a story like that? I would

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Speaker 1: say there's one last year. We won't name the player.

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Speaker 1: This would be on the negative side. So as we're

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Speaker 1: going through the process, Um, you know I remember talking.

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Speaker 1: We're trying to get some information out of him. And

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Speaker 1: this guy had played a number of different positions and

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Speaker 1: you know it's okay, let's you know, I was trying

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Speaker 1: anything at this point, like all right, let's reverse the roles.

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Speaker 1: If you were me, you know, where would you play

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Speaker 1: you you know, or your defensive tackle or your defensive end.

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Speaker 1: Where are you he said? You know he did. We

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Speaker 1: just couldn't get at of me, you know, wherever you

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Speaker 1: need me to be. I'm doing like you would, trying

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Speaker 1: to like be so cool that like there was literally

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Speaker 1: I was at the end. There was still five minutes

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Speaker 1: to go, and I just remember, like I used to

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Speaker 1: good luck man, Like like I knew this guy was

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Speaker 1: not going to fit on our team. So I was like,

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Speaker 1: let him have his extra five minutes to go to

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Speaker 1: the next meeting. So like we had about twenty more questions.

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Speaker 1: We were on the edge of I see, and he

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Speaker 1: got up and we're like yeah. I was just like,

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Speaker 1: this guy's not gonna fit with us, like you know,

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Speaker 1: he was just there was a lot of bs going on,

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Speaker 1: and it was like, you know, like when you're having

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Speaker 1: a conversation, this is not going yeah, So I thought

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Speaker 1: I'd cut the chord and save him some embarrassment and

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Speaker 1: like this is going really bad one. You can sense it,

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Speaker 1: you know, I hope, So yeah, I think so because okay,

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Speaker 1: just thanks, And it was like okay, thirty one other teams,

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Speaker 1: you know, so sometimes h you know, they would be

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Speaker 1: better at another team. So that's a bad one. Maybe

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Speaker 1: times sure, tons of good in the interview together. Then yes, yeah,

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Speaker 1: we we have a we have pretty intri good set

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Speaker 1: up there, and should we grill him on the one?

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Speaker 1: Should we I feel like I was kind of interviewed

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Speaker 1: a second ago. I probably we Oh, no, we could

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Speaker 1: get we could get some interviews going so so very

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Speaker 1: quickly before we get an interview. I mean, Dan, we

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Speaker 1: we touch on it, you know, we do the interview part,

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Speaker 1: which is important. Now that's changed, and Dan and I

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Speaker 1: know that over the years we used to be really

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Speaker 1: really driving right at it and candid. You have to

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Speaker 1: go on with a much more politically correct approach. You've

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Speaker 1: heard about players talk. Now well players talk. It's it's

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Speaker 1: it's kind of wild. You you have to tiptoe around

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Speaker 1: some of the questions that you might have asked many

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Speaker 1: years ago. It's just we all know things have changed.

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Speaker 1: So that's one part that has changed. You have to

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Speaker 1: glean information in a certain way, and you kind of

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Speaker 1: it's it's unfortunate for some of us who want to

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Speaker 1: be nice and and sort of empathically direct, but but

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Speaker 1: you're you're you're jumping all over things at times. So

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Speaker 1: Dan was there. I think it was like I was

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Speaker 1: three years ago. I remember I was asking some questions.

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Speaker 1: We're asking questions. I said, okay, um, you look around here,

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Speaker 1: I said, who do you think the biggest a hole

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Speaker 1: is in this group? Taught us a player. I asked

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Speaker 1: us to a player, like meaning all the coaches that

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Speaker 1: were in there, and Arthur and whoever else it was.

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00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:09,119
Speaker 1: The guy looked right at me, said, you for asking

428
00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:13,760
Speaker 1: me that question, that good candid candidate response. Did you laugh?

429
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:16,200
Speaker 1: I laughed, Yeah, I got laughed out of the room.

430
00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:19,080
Speaker 1: Everyone said, well, he serves you right for asking that

431
00:21:19,119 --> 00:21:21,600
Speaker 1: kind of a question. I usually don't ask those questions,

432
00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:23,640
Speaker 1: but he was. He had a side to him. Point

433
00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:25,720
Speaker 1: is we have fun with it, and we can we

434
00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:28,359
Speaker 1: sense their personalities and it and it and it honestly

435
00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:31,320
Speaker 1: stimulates certain questions that we might not ask someone. Of course,

436
00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:34,040
Speaker 1: it was really, you know serious. I remember another time

437
00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:36,960
Speaker 1: a player was like Jim Carrey and liar, liar, like

438
00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:39,040
Speaker 1: you know, like I am going to be forthright about

439
00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:41,240
Speaker 1: what took place. I remember Arthur's son was in the meeting.

440
00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:43,199
Speaker 1: He was like fourteen or fifteen at a time. I

441
00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:47,520
Speaker 1: was like, oh, this isn't like, this is uncomfortable. And

442
00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:52,800
Speaker 1: I was like, okay, have a good night. You know, yeah,

443
00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:55,960
Speaker 1: you do you bring Russ Bollinger into your questions. No,

444
00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:58,840
Speaker 1: we would never do that one, No, of course we would. Yeah.

445
00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:02,199
Speaker 1: So he he's so much fun that he has an

446
00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:06,120
Speaker 1: easy way to make people feel comfortable. He served us,

447
00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:08,480
Speaker 1: you know, right around him. And so sometimes in the

448
00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:10,840
Speaker 1: interview process and you're doing it here, you disarm the

449
00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:12,920
Speaker 1: people that you're there and like know, like okay, man,

450
00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:15,440
Speaker 1: like we only get fifteen minutes. And some people would

451
00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:17,919
Speaker 1: compare it to like speed dating, because let's say you

452
00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:20,720
Speaker 1: were coming from Morgantown and on this night you might

453
00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:24,280
Speaker 1: have fifteen interviews in fifteen minutes segments. So you can

454
00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:27,119
Speaker 1: imagine how challenging that would be to tell the same story,

455
00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:29,560
Speaker 1: especially if you had an issue from college, you know,

456
00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:32,159
Speaker 1: like how this was a really embarrassing moment and you

457
00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:34,600
Speaker 1: got to tell a few at different times. Like that

458
00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:36,560
Speaker 1: takes a lot of courage from the guy to do

459
00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:40,280
Speaker 1: that if there's an issue, and some people may, you know,

460
00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:43,280
Speaker 1: ask unfair things of a player. I remember a team

461
00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:46,080
Speaker 1: I was with, you know, like a player walked in, Hi,

462
00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:48,600
Speaker 1: I'm Matt, Hi, I'm Dan, Hi, I'm Austin. Hi, I'm Matt,

463
00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:51,800
Speaker 1: And then as us like okay, what's his name, what's

464
00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:53,760
Speaker 1: his name? What's his name? What's his name? And like, man,

465
00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:56,000
Speaker 1: this guy just did that for ten other teams I

466
00:22:56,040 --> 00:22:58,920
Speaker 1: thought like, like, our team is not the most important,

467
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,359
Speaker 1: and it was just like that was kind of cheesy.

468
00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:03,680
Speaker 1: I thought like this dude, just like I'm not sure

469
00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:05,920
Speaker 1: and he was embarrassed, but like we don't need to

470
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:09,720
Speaker 1: embarrass anybody. But it's um, it's an awesome Uh. There's

471
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:12,280
Speaker 1: tons of times that we said, man, we'd really love

472
00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:14,800
Speaker 1: to have that guy on our team. Tons of times

473
00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:17,200
Speaker 1: like that, Man, good luck and keep up. And um.

474
00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:19,119
Speaker 1: Oftentimes a guy I'll come up after the game, Hey

475
00:23:19,119 --> 00:23:20,840
Speaker 1: you remember me or you know, like you know, in

476
00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:27,119
Speaker 1: pregame or something, and sometimes I do. Sometimes they're like yeah, right,

477
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:30,399
Speaker 1: fun that they come up and say, you know, like hey,

478
00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:32,560
Speaker 1: I you know, enjoyed talking to you inde or something.

479
00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:35,000
Speaker 1: You know, we have and and we've talked about this.

480
00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:37,800
Speaker 1: So you asked about Russ. So Russ and and parts

481
00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:40,000
Speaker 1: of our coaching staff are a whole other part at

482
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:42,119
Speaker 1: the Holiday Inn where there's a whole other element of

483
00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:45,160
Speaker 1: interviews going on. It's not in the main interview room.

484
00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:47,520
Speaker 1: So we have interviews going on all over the place

485
00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:49,880
Speaker 1: with our our people if they're not in the main

486
00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:52,040
Speaker 1: interview room, and some of our area scouts are out

487
00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:54,240
Speaker 1: in other places with some of our assistant coaches working

488
00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:57,359
Speaker 1: together on interviewing other people. So it again back to

489
00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:00,600
Speaker 1: think tank or you know, just gleaning information. It's happening

490
00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:05,080
Speaker 1: all the timexer. It's a big deal, that's right. Do

491
00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:11,080
Speaker 1: you guys ever disagree on maybe how you read definitely

492
00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:14,080
Speaker 1: an interview and you know, is that all ironed out

493
00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:17,320
Speaker 1: before you get to the draft room by then or No? Yeah,

494
00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:20,840
Speaker 1: I think definitely. We different course agree on interviews or players,

495
00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:25,240
Speaker 1: and so our responsibile either we go back to watch

496
00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:27,000
Speaker 1: it so we see it together. But if we don't

497
00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:29,480
Speaker 1: see it together, then we shouldn't pull the name off

498
00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:33,879
Speaker 1: the board. Yeah, because one of us doesn't see it

499
00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:36,680
Speaker 1: in the same light. So to say that every single

500
00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:39,280
Speaker 1: player that we see the same No, But um, that's

501
00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:41,199
Speaker 1: when you go back and talk through it again or

502
00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:45,640
Speaker 1: watch more of the player in our perspectives. You know.

503
00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:49,439
Speaker 1: The great thing is we both really appreciate athleticism, We

504
00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:52,720
Speaker 1: appreciate certain elements of of you know, of evaluating players

505
00:24:53,119 --> 00:24:56,160
Speaker 1: on the on the interview side. Yeah, we're coming at

506
00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:59,000
Speaker 1: it from different perspectives too. I mean, Dan's coming from

507
00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:03,200
Speaker 1: a really strong background at Seattle. I'm coming from New England,

508
00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:07,360
Speaker 1: different perspectives, our own different perspectives, and maybe how we're

509
00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:10,600
Speaker 1: seeing someone fit into the team. So when I mean

510
00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:13,200
Speaker 1: when we're talking about interviews and we start hashing out

511
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:14,359
Speaker 1: like what do you think of that guy? Well, I

512
00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:16,000
Speaker 1: thought he was a B and C, and Dan might

513
00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:18,399
Speaker 1: have said X, Y and Z and talk to me

514
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:20,920
Speaker 1: about that, and then again it just continues to open

515
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,240
Speaker 1: up more of a perspective that we might not have had.

516
00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:26,520
Speaker 1: I love those conversations, you know. As far as the

517
00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:29,320
Speaker 1: talent side, that's a whole other topic of conversation. Of course,

518
00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:32,600
Speaker 1: people are going to see different people differently. The really

519
00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:34,880
Speaker 1: good thing is Dan and I have a I say

520
00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:38,840
Speaker 1: this in a really it's definitely a respectful way. We

521
00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,520
Speaker 1: see athletes in the same way, which is good, right,

522
00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:44,560
Speaker 1: That's a really important part. Some people are an opposite

523
00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:46,920
Speaker 1: ends of the spectrum. They may think someone is athletic,

524
00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:49,400
Speaker 1: but they really don't have the same movement, and it

525
00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:51,959
Speaker 1: gets can get convoluted at the very core of what

526
00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:54,880
Speaker 1: we're doing. I mean, we believe in athleticism and quickness

527
00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:57,240
Speaker 1: and explosiveness, and that's a big thing at a lot

528
00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:01,080
Speaker 1: of levels. And when I think when a GM and

529
00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:03,800
Speaker 1: a head coach head coach GM go into evaluating talent,

530
00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:07,160
Speaker 1: and you have a good, strong understanding of what true

531
00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:10,359
Speaker 1: athleticism is. It's not just jumping high and running fast.

532
00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:15,879
Speaker 1: It's body, it's movement, it's body control, it's balance, it's explosiveness.

533
00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:19,200
Speaker 1: Understanding that whole package together is a really really important

534
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:21,680
Speaker 1: thing to come together when we draft and acquire it

535
00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:25,600
Speaker 1: through free agency. Did you guys have fun doing this time? Yeah?

536
00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:28,359
Speaker 1: It was awesome. Can we do it again? Yeah, we

537
00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:31,880
Speaker 1: can definitely do it again. We got lots more to discuss.

538
00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:34,720
Speaker 1: I guess is just starting scratching the surface on some

539
00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:39,080
Speaker 1: of the topics. I wanted to ask you one fun question,

540
00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:43,119
Speaker 1: and I'm going to give you an out. You guys

541
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:46,119
Speaker 1: walk the field together before every game. I've noticed, I've

542
00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:49,600
Speaker 1: been here two years now. I've said a number of

543
00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:51,760
Speaker 1: times I would give some money to find out what

544
00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:54,080
Speaker 1: these guys are talking about. Are you talking about the weather?

545
00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:56,720
Speaker 1: Are you talking about the roster? Are you talking about

546
00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:01,800
Speaker 1: the kids? Are you talking about you's gonna make an

547
00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:04,280
Speaker 1: offer if you're gonna put some money down? Like, what's

548
00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:06,879
Speaker 1: the offer? Is a top secret? And ten dollars one

549
00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:09,400
Speaker 1: hundred dollars. I don't know, but we see you guys talking.

550
00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:11,600
Speaker 1: That's it seems like it's it's a it's a routine

551
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:13,360
Speaker 1: you guys go through before every game. Is it? Lots

552
00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:17,600
Speaker 1: of stuff? Yeah? Yeah, initiated by Dan Like I love it, Okay,

553
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:19,480
Speaker 1: I mean no, I think it's great. It's been great.

554
00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:20,879
Speaker 1: We have a great time to catch up on a

555
00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:25,600
Speaker 1: lot of different things and game right game regarding regarding

556
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,640
Speaker 1: game regarding you know, Arthur maybe coming in and we're

557
00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:30,720
Speaker 1: talking about, you know, topic that we're gonna be discussing

558
00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:34,399
Speaker 1: with him quickly before way before the game. There are

559
00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:36,960
Speaker 1: so many things. Gratitude, appreciation for the moment, yeah, because

560
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,400
Speaker 1: it's like a zen moment kind of thing, you know. Okay,

561
00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:47,359
Speaker 1: all right, hey cut it's cut, all right, Zen moments,

562
00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:51,000
Speaker 1: But hey, I appreciate coach coming on. Awesome, man, let's

563
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:53,840
Speaker 1: do it again. And that'll do it for Falcon's Audible podcast.

564
00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:57,680
Speaker 1: We think Thomas de Mitroff and Dan Quinn for joining

565
00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:00,680
Speaker 1: us today and for all the NFL combine related news

566
00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:03,800
Speaker 1: and Falcons related news. Make sure you go to Atlanta

567
00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:09,760
Speaker 1: Falcons dot com. M