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Speaker 1: by JD Power for JD Power two Award Information visit

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Speaker 1: JD power dot com. Slash Awards is The Drive with

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Speaker 1: Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on your home of the

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Speaker 1: Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio. Welcome to the Drive.

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Speaker 1: I'm Dale Ally here with Matt Williamson. It is Wednesday.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the new league. Here it is now in

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Speaker 1: the NFL. How about that officially? Yeah, didn't even think

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Speaker 1: of that, but draft order came out officially. I mean

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Speaker 1: those pixel change with trades, but we got the comp picks.

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Speaker 1: Um dudes are officially signing, you know. So here we

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Speaker 1: are happy new year, happy new league. Here. Absolutely, very

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Speaker 1: very much uh happy to uh to announce that one,

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Speaker 1: and the Steelers will be very happy to announce well

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Speaker 1: a whole bunch of new signings here. This is as

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Speaker 1: active as I can remember the Steelers ever being oh

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Speaker 1: Man in free agency they had more money, obviously, but

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Speaker 1: they've been active signing their own guys, they've been active

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Speaker 1: signing our agreeing to terms with outside guys. Those contracts

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Speaker 1: can now become official starting today. Obviously we were on

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Speaker 1: the air Monday when all the Mitch Robiski news happened,

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Speaker 1: and also then uh he had the Mason Cole information

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Speaker 1: as well. But since then, well they've signed another one

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Speaker 1: of our targets, Matt. How about that James Daniel Now

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Speaker 1: in the full are are they listening to the show?

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Speaker 1: Is Kevin Colbert? Hey, Kevin, how you doing? Good to

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Speaker 1: hear you. I'm glad you're tuning in. Glad you're taking

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Speaker 1: a little advice, because boy, this offseason more or less,

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Speaker 1: Dale basically has gone exactly how we drew it up

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Speaker 1: months ago. You know, I mean even chupkor for you know,

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Speaker 1: every bit of the every step of the way. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think they've they've you know, Phil obviously filled a

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Speaker 1: bunch of their needs, also signing Levi Wallace uh yesterday

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Speaker 1: as well or agreeing to terms with Levi Wallace. He

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Speaker 1: was a guy that I mentioned, um, you know, in

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Speaker 1: my piece I did twenty five free agents. I look

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Speaker 1: at twenty five free agents that the Steelers should look

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Speaker 1: at signing, okay, in a bunch of different you know,

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Speaker 1: several different positions, and the Steelers have signed three of

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Speaker 1: those guys. That's pretty good, pretty good hit, right, I

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Speaker 1: mean there's over eight hundred guys who are free agents, right,

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Speaker 1: I'd say you only got three, right, Well, there there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of right signed A four five? Right? Yeah? So, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, I know we talked about the cornerback position.

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Speaker 1: What does James Daniels bring to the table here. I

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Speaker 1: know we've talked about him a lot on this show,

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Speaker 1: But for people who are new to the show, what

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Speaker 1: does James Daniels bring to the Steelers? I loved them

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Speaker 1: coming out of school, the very explosive player, um center

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Speaker 1: slash guard. I don't want to say he's struggled early

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Speaker 1: in his career, but strangely enough, the Bears had a

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Speaker 1: couple of those guys like Cody white Hair, and they

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Speaker 1: had a really tough time figure it out who should

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Speaker 1: be a guard, who should be the center? Yeah, right,

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Speaker 1: right right, And they were all young, and it was

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Speaker 1: a whole sort of dysfunctional situation which we have mentioned

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Speaker 1: with Rabinsky and same situation basically, And it wasn't that

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Speaker 1: he struggled, but he was kind of I'm not sure

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Speaker 1: where he's gonna be type of situation and still extremely young.

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Speaker 1: Had his best year by far and had a really

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Speaker 1: good year of this past season as a pure guard. Um.

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Speaker 1: I have heard that I don't know if you and

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Speaker 1: I've ever brought up Duke Mayweather, but he is an

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Speaker 1: old line aficionado, and saw him tweeting out that he

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Speaker 1: would just put Daniels back at center and and let

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Speaker 1: everybody else fight out the guard situation. I understand that

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Speaker 1: logic in a in a harding type of way. You know,

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Speaker 1: I don't even care how that sorts out. But now

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Speaker 1: they have three eyes I think not fighting because Daniels

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Speaker 1: is gonna be a starter, but they have three options

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Speaker 1: at center and right guard if you assume Dotson's the

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Speaker 1: left guard. And you know, I just wrote this this

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Speaker 1: one for Steelers dot Com, and I know you're gonna

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Speaker 1: do something similar. Take a step back and look at

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Speaker 1: their old line right now. It's remarkable that if we

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Speaker 1: assume left the right, they go chookes dots and green Daniels.

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Speaker 1: Oh wait, I got all wrong there, left the right,

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Speaker 1: more dots in green Daniels chooks. All those guys are

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Speaker 1: basically twenty three four, maybe twent five, really really young,

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Speaker 1: but collectively they have a lot of experience. So and

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Speaker 1: making it even better, all those guys are under contract

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Speaker 1: for a couple of years now, so they could have

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Speaker 1: remarkable young continuity growing together and throw a draft pick

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Speaker 1: in to get even younger. You know, like, I really

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Speaker 1: like where this offensive line is. And how many times

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Speaker 1: now if we said, just give me an old line

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Speaker 1: that doesn't have gaping holes and has some depth to

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Speaker 1: make up for things when it goes bad. Well that's

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Speaker 1: what they have right now. Yeah, it definitely is, you know.

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Speaker 1: And when we talked to Kevin Colbert a couple of

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Speaker 1: weeks ago when he had his his UH pre combine

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Speaker 1: uh meeting with the media, he talked about the one

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Speaker 1: thing that he probably he felt like he should have

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Speaker 1: done last year that he didn't do and probably wasn't

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Speaker 1: really capable of doing until late in the process, was

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Speaker 1: having that extra offensive lineman. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they had.

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Speaker 1: You know, we talked about this in the offseason. They

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Speaker 1: had extra guys. What they didn't have was it was

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Speaker 1: a bunch of extra guys because as we saw, you know,

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Speaker 1: from week ten on, they started five different guys at

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Speaker 1: that left guard spot. Um, you know before finally settling

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Speaker 1: on the glue. Now, when you start to look at this,

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Speaker 1: adding Mason Cole and James Can Daniels to the equation here, Um,

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Speaker 1: you've got all kinds of flexibility there. You've got you've

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Speaker 1: got essentially four guys on your roster five counting the

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Speaker 1: glue who could play center. Yeah, right, right right, I mean,

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Speaker 1: so I'm sure Green we'll get first crack at I

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Speaker 1: do you agree, And if he doesn't look like that's

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Speaker 1: gonna work, he'll get moved the guard and somebody else

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Speaker 1: will be available and masonally, Mason Cole probably steps in there,

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Speaker 1: or they moved you know, they take James Daniel and

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Speaker 1: slide him over. They've got options at all hours. Back

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Speaker 1: to Yeah, you've got hausin hour there you know, so

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Speaker 1: you've got all kinds of guys that that you can

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Speaker 1: do different things with. Um, you know, if they have

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Speaker 1: one spot that's still open on that offensive line, maybe

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Speaker 1: bringing another offensive tackle. But I really think this takes

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Speaker 1: you out of the interior offensive line market in the draft.

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Speaker 1: I tend to agree. I mean, maybe a fifth rounder

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Speaker 1: or something like that that you love the play if

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Speaker 1: there's just somebody there that you can't pass on, you

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Speaker 1: know exactly exactly. I mean really, if you look at Haig, Hawson,

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Speaker 1: Hower and Leglue, now there you're what seventh, eighth, and

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Speaker 1: ninth guys, and I think Leglue and Hawson how approved

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Speaker 1: that they're NFL players. You know that they're gonna be

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Speaker 1: on a team next year, probably this one. And Haig

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Speaker 1: was valuable. Um. I didn't mention Banner, but he is

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Speaker 1: on the team as we speak. Is he gonna get restructured?

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Speaker 1: Is he gonna get cut? Um, he's the one that

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Speaker 1: I don't know will be in the in camp this year.

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Speaker 1: But all those others, you have nine professional offensive lineman,

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Speaker 1: maybe a a rookie tackle in the mix as well,

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Speaker 1: maybe Banner. I think that's a pretty good situation. I

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Speaker 1: mean I don't think they're out of the tackle market

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Speaker 1: in the draft, but for the most part, I think

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Speaker 1: they're out of the interior market. Yeah, and I think

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Speaker 1: at some point they probably will release Zack Banner. That's

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Speaker 1: a five million dollar savings for a guy who hasn't

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Speaker 1: played the last two years. Essentially. Um, you know, I

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Speaker 1: don't know what kind of market there would be for

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Speaker 1: Zach on the on the free agent market, you know,

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Speaker 1: maybe bringing back on a much cheaper deal because you know, now,

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Speaker 1: you know, everybody looked at the numbers they could the

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Speaker 1: overall contract numbers that they gave James Daniels and Choos

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Speaker 1: of Corps for and so well, they're they're paying them

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Speaker 1: ten million dollars a year. They're not. They both called.

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Speaker 1: They both they to combine this year combined their cost

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Speaker 1: is eight point four million dollars. Wow. Okay, I didn't

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Speaker 1: look at that light either. That's good information, you know,

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Speaker 1: So you're you're looking at two guys who are really cheap.

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Speaker 1: This year, the salary cap is going to go up

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Speaker 1: up a lot dramatically. I'm I've heard as much is

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Speaker 1: thirty million dollars, forty million dollars over the next two

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Speaker 1: seasons and teams are spending accordingly. Look at with Jacksonville

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Speaker 1: and Christian Kirk and those guys are when you start

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Speaker 1: looking at some of these deals in that light, um,

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Speaker 1: you know that that the real money is going to

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Speaker 1: kick in down the road. Um. You know, I'd say

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Speaker 1: I didn't realize that about Choops. I had just kind

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Speaker 1: of read with a lot of these people that didn't

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Speaker 1: put a lot of thought into it, said like, oh,

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Speaker 1: I understand bringing back a corps for he's only twenty four,

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Speaker 1: he knows the system, but I wouldn't have made him

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Speaker 1: the tenth overall paid tackle in the league. And I

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Speaker 1: three million dollars this year? Yeah, right, right right? And

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Speaker 1: I really thought, well, even he is the tenth paid

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Speaker 1: tackle in the league, this time next year, he'll be

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Speaker 1: the thirtie paid tackle in the league. Right. So it's

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Speaker 1: it's not you know, it doesn't break the bank. He's

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Speaker 1: a guy that you've worked with, a guy that you've developed, Um,

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Speaker 1: a guy that you know you know, and that that

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Speaker 1: matters too. I think you know so often when you

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Speaker 1: when you bring in guys in free agency, um, you

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Speaker 1: know you're you don't know what their mentality is. You

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Speaker 1: don't know what their data they work, work had, it's

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Speaker 1: are and things of that nature. They know all that

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Speaker 1: about shoos. I think that's really valuable. And you know,

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Speaker 1: they know how he learns, they know all that, you know,

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Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff. You know, I mentioned that,

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Speaker 1: I you know, three of these guys who are on

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Speaker 1: my list were signed by the Steelers, and they're all

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Speaker 1: guys who were younger type free agents. You know again

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Speaker 1: James Daniels twenty four years old. And still in turn,

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Speaker 1: that's amazing. Um, the Steelers just aren't in the they've

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Speaker 1: they're very rarely gone out and signed guys or certainly

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Speaker 1: not early in the process. Guys who are you know,

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Speaker 1: twenty nine thirty thirty one years old two to free

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Speaker 1: agency deals because you're gonna you end up having to

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Speaker 1: overpay a little bit early in the process. Um oftentimes. Now,

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Speaker 1: I don't think the Steelers did that in this situation.

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Speaker 1: Maybe Daniel signed I think a deal that you know

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Speaker 1: you're looking at, going, well, I think it's three years,

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Speaker 1: twenty six point five million. Well, that's that that, you know,

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Speaker 1: that's kind of what some of the other guards, the

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Speaker 1: big name guards were signing for. Um, you know, right

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Speaker 1: around ten million or so. We're just under that that number. Um,

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Speaker 1: but this makes more sense because you're you know, it's

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Speaker 1: a three year deal with a player who's he's gonna

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Speaker 1: turn five, uh, you know, sometime after you assigned him, right,

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Speaker 1: all right, I mean you really should get the extent

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Speaker 1: of his contract, even another one possibly. And I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: people are gonna get sick of it because in the

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Speaker 1: next couple of months, I'm gonna use these three words

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Speaker 1: for the Steelers offensive line over and over and over,

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Speaker 1: and that is youth experience and rarely you get to

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Speaker 1: see those two things together and continuity, you know, like

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Speaker 1: we had an amazing run of continuity in this town

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Speaker 1: on the offensive line with Ramon and Villain, a Wave

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Speaker 1: to let Alone, to Castro and Pouncy and those guys.

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Speaker 1: And this organization understands how important that is for the

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Speaker 1: offensive line. They're gonna have these starting five pretty much

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Speaker 1: as long as they want them, you know, at least

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Speaker 1: at least in the next two years. Dotson. Dotson has

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Speaker 1: two more years left on his contract, you know, they

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Speaker 1: can they can choose to extend him, uh you know

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Speaker 1: more and Green just played their first the first year

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Speaker 1: of their deals, So they're gonna be around three more years.

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Speaker 1: Daniels is here for three more years. A quarter four

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Speaker 1: has got a three year deal. Now see, you effectively

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Speaker 1: can keep this group together as long as you want, because, yeah,

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Speaker 1: it should only be getting better. I mean again, youth

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Speaker 1: and they already have experience. And I know a lot

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Speaker 1: of Steeler fans we're frustrated with the offensive line last year,

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Speaker 1: But how many times do we tell you that was

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Speaker 1: part of the plan. I mean, the snaps that green

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Speaker 1: and more and dots and would have gotten as well

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Speaker 1: as Jukes, but he had been here a little longer

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Speaker 1: are going to be extremely valuable next year and going forward. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's like you know in uh Avengers Infinity War, when

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Speaker 1: when when Loki says, I'll go back to Earth and

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Speaker 1: be be your uh you know, I've got experience there

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Speaker 1: in Daniels says, you have losing experience. I don't. I don't.

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Speaker 1: I don't consider you know, loser losing experience, he said,

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Speaker 1: I consider experience experience. You've been right, You've been through

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Speaker 1: a lot of the trials and tribulations already. You know

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Speaker 1: what to expect. Yeah, Hey, damn Moore, He's blocked Biles

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Speaker 1: Garrett on two occasions. You know, I mean knows what

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Speaker 1: that's all about. You know, those type of things, gone

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Speaker 1: into some hostile environments. Played in a playoff game last year, right, right, right, right,

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Speaker 1: I don't think that stuff doesn't matter. Just lose tag,

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Speaker 1: you're nuts. Yeah, you know again. You know, your two

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Speaker 1: most experienced guys on the offensive line now are James

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Speaker 1: Daniels and Chooks A core for Daniels has fifty starts

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Speaker 1: in his career at twenty four, Chook says. Chook says

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Speaker 1: two straight years of starting experience at twenty four. And

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Speaker 1: these guys, you know, these guys were all high. Daniels

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Speaker 1: was a second round draft pick. Mason Cole was a three.

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Speaker 1: I mean you're bringing yeah, I mean, these aren't just

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Speaker 1: you know, some some slappy's that you're bringing in off

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Speaker 1: the street to play these spots. These are guys with pedigree.

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Speaker 1: It's easy to overlook the coal signing. But he's still

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Speaker 1: twenty five for a couple more days or something if

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Speaker 1: he turns toy sixty end of the month. But he's

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Speaker 1: played over two hundred STAPs in his career. He's a

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Speaker 1: guard slash center. How many times have we say, boy,

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Speaker 1: a better version of b J. Finney would be nice.

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Speaker 1: That's exactly what he is. He's insurance. He may think

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Speaker 1: about last year when you know, again, when when Dodson

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Speaker 1: got hurt last year, you're gonna killed for Cole last year. Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: you know, you shuffled, you shuffled Finny in there, you

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Speaker 1: shuffled Hassin Hour in there. Uh you know, it's just

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Speaker 1: a constant guy. And they ended up suddenly on the glue,

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Speaker 1: and they stuck with the glue even when those other

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Speaker 1: guys came back because of the continuity factor. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: mean they maybe even if Cole would have been on

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Speaker 1: that team last year, he may have been the opening

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Speaker 1: day center. I mean, just because instead of throwing Green

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Speaker 1: to the wolves, you let Cole in there until Green's ready.

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Speaker 1: I mean, like, that's the other part of the equation.

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Speaker 1: That's the other part of the equation that everybody forgets.

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Speaker 1: They think they feel like the Steelers just handed Green

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Speaker 1: the starting job and said, hey, go run with it.

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Speaker 1: That wasn't the case. No, Finney got hurt early in

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Speaker 1: training camp, has got hurt early in training camp. Green

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Speaker 1: was the only the glue, only made the roster because

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Speaker 1: he showed he could play center. He was an offensive tackle.

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Speaker 1: When training camp opened and they were they were completely

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Speaker 1: out of centers. They only had they had once one

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Speaker 1: guy centering the football for about two two straight weeks.

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Speaker 1: They only helped was Kendrick Green's and so they moved

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Speaker 1: the glue there because he had He said, I can

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Speaker 1: do it. I'll i'll, you know, I've I've snapped the

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Speaker 1: football before. That's how he ended up making the roster.

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Speaker 1: So those other guys, I'll take any path I possibly

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Speaker 1: can to impress coaches, absolutely right, And so we don't

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Speaker 1: know that Green would have been handed the job on

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Speaker 1: day one had the other guys stayed healthy, but they didn't.

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Speaker 1: Hassan Our missed most of training camp with that nat

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Speaker 1: with that knee injury that he he could have been

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Speaker 1: the opening day start. He could have been the opening

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Speaker 1: day starter. We don't know, but we know that because

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Speaker 1: he missed so much time, they decided, Okay, Green's gonna

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Speaker 1: be the guy. We gotta get him ready to go,

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Speaker 1: and then they lived with the results. Um. I know

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Speaker 1: it's not earth shatter anything to talk about, but I

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Speaker 1: think it's also important that Hawson, Howard and Leglue did

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Speaker 1: get that time late in the year, not by design,

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Speaker 1: but didn't fall in their face. You know, like, if

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Speaker 1: those guys are my eighth and ninth lineman, you're doing okay, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: guys who have you know, instead of instead of having

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Speaker 1: some fifth round draft pick who's never played before right

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Speaker 1: in that spot, you've got guys who have played NFL snaps.

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Speaker 1: You know what they are. You know, you know when

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Speaker 1: they when they you know, again, the Glue started the

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Speaker 1: playoff game right right right? I mean where have they

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Speaker 1: been without both those guys in the last month or

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Speaker 1: so of the season. Yeah, So I think that's interesting.

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Speaker 1: We haven't talked yet about uh Levi Pallas Uh. They

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Speaker 1: signed him to a two year, eight million dollar deal,

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Speaker 1: not a not a bank breaker. I know a lot

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Speaker 1: of people are looking at this and saying, well, that

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Speaker 1: means that you know, they're out of the Acello Weatherspooner.

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Speaker 1: They're not gonna resigned Joe Hayden, I don't think that

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Speaker 1: at all. I think you know, when you look at

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Speaker 1: that signing, that's a that's a that's a pure Kevin Colbert,

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Speaker 1: classic Kevin Colbert signing sign A guy who if we

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Speaker 1: had to line up and play tomorrow, can be the

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Speaker 1: starter in there and if if, if something shows itself

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Speaker 1: down the road, whether that be in the draft or

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Speaker 1: free agency, where we can out, you know, either get

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Speaker 1: somebody to outperform that guy. We're gonna make that move.

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Speaker 1: I liked Wallace coming out of school as a mid

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Speaker 1: round pick like he did. He went, you know, I mean,

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Speaker 1: and I thought he might be a safety. To be

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Speaker 1: honest with you, kind of in that ball Bills safety

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Speaker 1: former cornerback mold That's that's not what they chose to

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Speaker 1: do with them. I don't think the Seers and chose

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Speaker 1: to do that with him. But I say that because

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Speaker 1: he's well built in his physics goal when he's smart. Um.

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Speaker 1: When the Steelers made that signing and all I saw

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Speaker 1: was the clip that the Steelers signed Wallace, I wasn't

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Speaker 1: happy with it. I'm like, I hope they're not just

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Speaker 1: settling for him and him and Sutton aren't enough. I

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Speaker 1: hope that's off the end of the plan. Then I

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Speaker 1: saw the contract numbers and thought, this is just a

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Speaker 1: steel I mean, it's even J. C. Jackson. Corners are

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Speaker 1: not making a lot on the market this year for

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Speaker 1: whatever reason. So take advantage of that. If you look

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Speaker 1: at like spot track or Pro Football Focus, the projected

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Speaker 1: salaries before free agency hit, most of them had Wallace

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Speaker 1: is like an eight million years play and they get

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Speaker 1: him at four. And I'm hoping when it's all said

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Speaker 1: and done, Wallace is the third or maybe even fourth

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Speaker 1: most valuable corner on the team. Right now, I think

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Speaker 1: he's the second. I don't know that to be the case,

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Speaker 1: but the first round pick could be a corner. I

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Speaker 1: think Weatherspoon, Witherspoon, and Peydon should still be in conversations,

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Speaker 1: you know. I mean, I don't think this precludes you

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Speaker 1: from doing anything, but you can line up and play

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Speaker 1: with him right now and he'll help the team. Yeah, absolutely.

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Speaker 1: I mean you're talking about a guy who's again has

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Speaker 1: starting experience and a lot of it, who's still relatively young,

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Speaker 1: who's played in National Championship game, so he's he's got

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Speaker 1: that game, he's got that kind of experience as well.

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Speaker 1: Um you know, he's he's played in a lot of

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Speaker 1: NFL playoff games. Um, you know, so he's got that

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Speaker 1: in his back pocket as well. And you know he's

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Speaker 1: he played with Manka before, you know, so it's you know, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, there's there's some there's a lot of familiarity

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Speaker 1: there in terms of that. The Steelers have played the

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Speaker 1: Bills a lot the last couple of years. They played

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Speaker 1: them every year now the last three years. Levi Wallace

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Speaker 1: was a starter in all three of those years. Uh,

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Speaker 1: So you know, there's there's there's nothing. It's it's a

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Speaker 1: it's a win win situation. Again, you cover your butt

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Speaker 1: if you don't get anything else done. You've got somebody

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Speaker 1: who's capable of stepping in there. If you draft one,

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Speaker 1: you you don't have to draft, you know, start the

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Speaker 1: draft pick right away. You can. You know, you can

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Speaker 1: eat them into it. It gives you options. It gives

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Speaker 1: you a lot of options. That's exactly what that signing does.

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Speaker 1: If he's a seventeen game starter on the outside, fine,

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Speaker 1: it's not the end of the world. That's not ideal,

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Speaker 1: But the Bills won a lot of games with him.

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Speaker 1: Is an every day, every week starter, you know. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: playing opposite Tradavious White, So you know he got right,

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Speaker 1: he got targeted a lot. You know that, that's all

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Speaker 1: part of it. So um yeah, I mean I look

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Speaker 1: at that, and he's also I I like a killer Weatherspoon,

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Speaker 1: I do. He's the He's almost the exact opposite of

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Speaker 1: Weatherspoon in terms of the physicality at the position. Yes,

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Speaker 1: the Weatherspoon is not going to safety anytimes, dude, Right,

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Speaker 1: this guy could do that because he is physical, he's

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Speaker 1: you know, he'll he'll stick his nose in there, He'll

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Speaker 1: he'll tackle the runner, you know, on the edge and

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Speaker 1: things of that nature. Again, they want to improve that

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Speaker 1: run defense. That's obvious. Um, you know, so not just

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Speaker 1: sticking the nose tackle in the middle. I mean, yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's a it's eleven guys getting to the football, and

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Speaker 1: Levi Wallace will certainly do that. But uh yeah, interesting

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Speaker 1: signings as well. We'll see what else the Steelers have

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Speaker 1: up their sleeves here as the NFL free agency period

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Speaker 1: is uh begins for real at four o'clock today, right right,

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Speaker 1: Like all this other stuff has just kind of been

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Speaker 1: window dressing to this point. We'll talk about some of

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Speaker 1: these other situations when we come back. He is Matt Williamson.

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Speaker 1: I am Dale Lally. You're listening to the drive here

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Speaker 1: on Steelers Nation Radio. We'll be back with more right

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Speaker 1: after this Life and Adventure and it's waiting. Hi. This

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