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Speaker 1: Hey everybody, Chris Harry with you on a new episode

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Speaker 1: of Chargers Weekend. My guests this week is ESPN's Eric Williams.

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Speaker 1: We'll recap the first two weeks of free agency and

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Speaker 1: discuss the importance of retaining your own guys. Eric and

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Speaker 1: I also look ahead to NFL owners meetings next week

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Speaker 1: in Arizona and discuss options for the Chargers in the

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Speaker 1: twenty nineteen NFL Draft. ESPN's Eric Williams joins me on

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Speaker 1: Chargers Weekly front of the program, and we're taping this

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Speaker 1: right before the NCAA tournament begins. So I hope this

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Speaker 1: is not an inconvenient time for you, Eric, No, it's not,

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Speaker 1: although I definitely am gonna watch some some basketball. It

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Speaker 1: is one of my favorite times of the year. I

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Speaker 1: like watching the tournament just because of the story lines

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Speaker 1: in the drama, So looking forward to that, but also

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Speaker 1: looking forward to our conversation. Let's kick off this conversation

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Speaker 1: with the final four prediction. Huh okay, I don't even

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Speaker 1: know who's in the brackets. To be honest with you, UM,

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Speaker 1: I think you can't can't go on picking Duke, right,

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Speaker 1: I think everybody has Yeah, and then you know I'm

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Speaker 1: a Washington native, so I gotta throw the zags in

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Speaker 1: there so to rep my hood. That's smart. Um. You know,

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Speaker 1: I like Michigan State in the way they play, but

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Speaker 1: Michigan State in Gonzagon's see. That's the that's the problem, Eric,

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Speaker 1: is Michigan State is in Duke's bracket. And what I

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Speaker 1: did was I tried to to zag when everybody's ziggs right,

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Speaker 1: and I took Michigan State to beat Duke in the

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Speaker 1: Elite eight. So I had Michigan State, I had Florida State,

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Speaker 1: I had Virginia, and I had UNC. So I had

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Speaker 1: three teams from the ac SEE and not Duke. I

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Speaker 1: think the ACC is clearly the best conference. Just watching

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Speaker 1: a lot of their games, it just seems like every

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Speaker 1: year they have five or six teams that can can

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Speaker 1: get in determined and win games. And I've seen Forest

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Speaker 1: didn't play a couple of times, and I like them. Kansas,

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Speaker 1: y'allways got to be you know, leary of Kansas and

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Speaker 1: where they sit in the bracket, just because they're there

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Speaker 1: every year. Saying with North Carolina. So yeah, I guess

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Speaker 1: those are some of the teams. You know, I'm probably

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Speaker 1: gonna root for Gonzaga just because of the Northwest allegiance. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's it's amazing how strong they've been, just so consistent

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Speaker 1: with Mark Few and they're always in a conversation man.

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Speaker 1: So we'll see. I ultimately think we'll probably see UNC

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Speaker 1: Duke four in the National Championship. But you never know

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Speaker 1: with March. But I guess the NFL's version of march

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Speaker 1: Mann has took place last week with free agency, with

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Speaker 1: just so many headlines, right A B to the Raiders,

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Speaker 1: Odell to Cleveland. What are you going to remember most

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Speaker 1: about last week when it comes to just all the

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Speaker 1: movement we saw. It's the soap opera for men, right,

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Speaker 1: I mean, all this stuff happened and you can't help

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Speaker 1: but pay attention to it. It's why the NFL is

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Speaker 1: the most popular sport and remains the most popular sport

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Speaker 1: in America, just because of all the different things that

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Speaker 1: can happen during the offseason. You know, and maybe, like

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Speaker 1: you said, going to the Raiders of all places and

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Speaker 1: John Gruden, what's that going to look like? You know,

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Speaker 1: now you have O'Dell going to Cleveland with back to Mayfield,

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Speaker 1: and now you're kind of interested in that. I can

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Speaker 1: we just have both of those teams on hard knocks?

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Speaker 1: I'd like to see both of those situations. And honestly, yes, yes,

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Speaker 1: let's let's run back Cleveland back to back years and

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Speaker 1: then let's throw in Oakland. Maybe maybe have a preseason

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Speaker 1: game against Cleveland and Oakland and make that an episode.

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Speaker 1: That would be fantastic. Yea, I would like to see that.

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Speaker 1: And so again, it just kind of continues to build

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Speaker 1: interest in the league during the off season and kind

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Speaker 1: of enticing you and teasing you for what you're going

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Speaker 1: to see in the fall. And I think it seemed

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Speaker 1: like the last couple of years there's been a lot

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Speaker 1: more player movement of big names, and again that that

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Speaker 1: kind of perk's interest around the league and around the

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Speaker 1: country on what's going to happen in the fall. Is

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Speaker 1: just every year in the last couple of years, you've

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Speaker 1: had these big names players move, you know, Eric, And

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Speaker 1: I'm not seeing this about Chargers fans. I think it's

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Speaker 1: at all NFL fans. They want action in the offseason,

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Speaker 1: they want movement. We live in this twenty four hour

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Speaker 1: news cycle where big headlines are seemingly made every day.

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Speaker 1: But the thing about free agency is that the teams

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Speaker 1: who consistently rely on it don't have consistent success in

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Speaker 1: the fall. So, you know, I look at a team

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Speaker 1: like the Chargers. They're not typically very active during this

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Speaker 1: time of year, but when it comes to developing a team,

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Speaker 1: it starts through the draft, and they've done such a

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Speaker 1: great job of drafting in early rounds and then also

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Speaker 1: identifying guys who have been contributors on their roster, from

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Speaker 1: Desmond King to Isaac Rochelle to undrafted guys like Michael

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Speaker 1: Davis and Austin Eckler. So while it's not the splashiest

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Speaker 1: time of year for the Chargers, I think they get

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Speaker 1: better by just retaining some of their own guys. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and it's the philosophy that's worked well from some of

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Speaker 1: the perennial playoffs contenders. When you look at the Patriots,

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Speaker 1: the Seahawks, Packers. Traditionally they're not making a big splash

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Speaker 1: in free agency, but they do a great job of

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Speaker 1: evaluating players coming through the draft and then retaining their

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Speaker 1: core players that they feel like they're going to help

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Speaker 1: them year and a year out make the playoffs. And

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Speaker 1: certainly the Chargers are part of that. Like you said,

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Speaker 1: they didn't make any big splashes in free agency. They

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Speaker 1: signed a couple solid play players, and I think for

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Speaker 1: the Chargers, they're really trying to find answers for what's

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Speaker 1: going to happen regular season should guys go down. And

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Speaker 1: a big part of that was at the quarterback position,

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Speaker 1: where Philip Rivers again the most durable guy in the league,

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Speaker 1: but hey, he's not getting any younger in case something happens.

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Speaker 1: They add Tyrod Taylor, so they still feel like they

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Speaker 1: could compete for a postseason birth on the off chance

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Speaker 1: that Rivers gets hurt and they get Tyrod decent money

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Speaker 1: to come in and be the backup. So I thought

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Speaker 1: that was really one of the most interesting news of

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Speaker 1: free agency that maybe got a little bit under reporter

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Speaker 1: or people didn't pay attention to. I agree with you,

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Speaker 1: and I love this signing for a lot of reasons. First,

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Speaker 1: you had that familiarity with coach Lynn, So Tyrod's stepping

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Speaker 1: into a situation that isn't really foreign to him. He

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Speaker 1: knows coach from their time in Buffalo, his forty six

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Speaker 1: starts the last four seasons. He was a Pro Bowl

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Speaker 1: quarterback in twenty fifteen. So you mentioned it. You need

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Speaker 1: security at the most important position on the field. So

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Speaker 1: you get security behind Philip, and what do you have

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Speaker 1: a team as talented as this one. I think it's

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Speaker 1: so important to have a veteran presence behind Philip that

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Speaker 1: could step in and win you some games. Not only that,

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Speaker 1: but he's been around the league. He's been on a

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Speaker 1: couple of different teams, He's played under Flacco, and so

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Speaker 1: he has that that resume and he's while he does

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Speaker 1: want to start, he's certainly going to be comfortable as

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Speaker 1: a backup and kind of helping Philip prepared during the week.

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Speaker 1: When I covered the Seahawks, they had a similar situation

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Speaker 1: with Matt Hasselback when they were competing for a Super

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Speaker 1: Bowl title, that Seneca Wallace behind Matt Hasselback, so when

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Speaker 1: Matt got hurt, Seneca could come in and still be

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Speaker 1: competent and still run the offense. And Holmgren lights having

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Speaker 1: an athletic quarterback as the backup because he figured if

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Speaker 1: the backups in there, there's probably some issues going on

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Speaker 1: the offensive line, and you're gonna need a guy that

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Speaker 1: can move a little bit and create some plays on

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Speaker 1: his own outside of the pocket. So he always liked

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Speaker 1: to have a mobile backup, and I kind look at

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Speaker 1: ty Rod in a similar Vain and Eric. I look

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Speaker 1: at ty Rod's past stops right in Baltimore and Buffalo

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Speaker 1: and Cleveland. I think it's pretty safe to say that

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Speaker 1: this is the most talented offense that he'll be a

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Speaker 1: part of. You know, if he were to get thrust

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Speaker 1: into action, I don't think he's ever had guys like

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Speaker 1: Keenan Allen and Mike Williams and Melvin Gordon in the backfield.

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Speaker 1: So I think that just further amplifies what he's already

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Speaker 1: done in this league. If he's sprung into action, knock

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Speaker 1: on Wood, Yeah, no doubt. He can just kind of

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Speaker 1: be a distributor, get the ball out quick and let

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Speaker 1: those guys make plays. And when you're surrounded by talented players,

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Speaker 1: it certainly makes the game easier. We've seen that from

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Speaker 1: Phillip the last years. He hits his back foot the

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Speaker 1: balls out and then he let Melvin Gordon go get

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Speaker 1: a first down for your Austin Ekeler or Keenan Allen,

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Speaker 1: And certainly, yeah, if ty Rod is thrust in there,

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Speaker 1: I do think it would be a little bit easier

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Speaker 1: for him. Thomas davis fifteenth season, He's going to be

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Speaker 1: entering as member of the Charge, and I know all

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Speaker 1: about the experience and the leadership, but they're not going

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Speaker 1: to bring a guy in here just for that. He

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Speaker 1: still has some jews. Three time Pro bowler over the

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Speaker 1: last four years, a first team All Pro in twenty fifteen.

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Speaker 1: Thomas Davis can still get a dunk. Oh yeah, no doubt.

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Speaker 1: He's not freeing brought in here to coach. He's being

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Speaker 1: brid in here to play yea and certainly be a

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Speaker 1: leader on the field. But yeah, again, it's kind of

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Speaker 1: the same kind of situation when when we look at

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Speaker 1: his pedigree playing with Luke Keakley, playing with a dominant

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Speaker 1: defense at times in Carolina, his ability to stop the run.

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Speaker 1: One of the things I was surprised when I met

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Speaker 1: him was how lean he was. I mean, he's six three,

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Speaker 1: two hundred and thirty five pounds. He's long, and he

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Speaker 1: kind of fits the prototype of what Des Bradley had

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Speaker 1: in Seattle in terms of long, lanky linebackers that could

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Speaker 1: run and can also cover. You know, I thought kg

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Speaker 1: Wright would have been a great fit for the Chargers

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Speaker 1: and free agency, and I reached out and talked to him,

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Speaker 1: and I know there was some interest, but obviously he

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Speaker 1: went back to Seattle. But I think Thomas Davis gives

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Speaker 1: you something similar. He gives you a veteran leader in

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Speaker 1: there and a guy that has had a lot of

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Speaker 1: production and should help a young linebacker group. When you

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Speaker 1: look at Denzel Perriman, j Tavis Brown, Kaiser White, some

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Speaker 1: guys that are still kind of learning the game and

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Speaker 1: evolved it in that defense, he just just throw him

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Speaker 1: in there and let him go to work. I saw

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Speaker 1: you Chenna at USC's pro day on Wednesday and talked

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Speaker 1: to him about Thomas and just having that that added

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Speaker 1: leadership and even for a guy like Denzel Eric fifth year,

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Speaker 1: a guy who has he's had to overcome injuries as well.

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Speaker 1: You know, Thomas Davis talked openly about just overcoming his

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Speaker 1: aco injuries. I mean had he had to put screws

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Speaker 1: in his arm to play in the Super Bowl. So

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Speaker 1: it's not just the leadership, is also I think a mentality, uh,

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Speaker 1: and he's going to be able to help a lot

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Speaker 1: of these younger guys on this defense. That was one

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Speaker 1: of the things that for Brandon Mebane he had to

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Speaker 1: learn from other trends was how to stay healthy and

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Speaker 1: how to maintain your body and take care of your body,

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Speaker 1: because your body is kind of what gets you through

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Speaker 1: the league, gets you to those next contracts. So that

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Speaker 1: is something that he'll be able to kind of talk

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Speaker 1: to the other guys about, you know, getting in the

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Speaker 1: cold tub and what you need to do in terms

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Speaker 1: of preventative measures throughout the week in order to make

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Speaker 1: sure that your body's right so you can perform up

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Speaker 1: to your potential on game names and you can stay

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Speaker 1: healthy throughout the course of the year. You know, that's

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Speaker 1: obviously been something that Denzel struggled with the last couple

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Speaker 1: of years. You know, you can't keep everybody in free agency,

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Speaker 1: and of course Tyroll Williams is onto Oakland got a

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Speaker 1: really good contract on him. I'm very happy for Tyroll

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Speaker 1: because I think he's worked extremely hard. And there's a

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Speaker 1: report now that Darius Philon could be on his way

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Speaker 1: to Arizona. But they did the Chargers, they did take

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Speaker 1: care of their own and Denzel Perryman, Adrian Phillips is back,

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Speaker 1: Brandon Mebane is back, and I think the theme here

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Speaker 1: with those three guys is just the leadership, the toughness

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Speaker 1: and the continuity on defense. Yeah, no doubt when you

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Speaker 1: when you look at those players and what they bring

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Speaker 1: the table. Obviously, run defense is something that you'd like

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Speaker 1: to see a little more consistent. Brand is one of

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Speaker 1: their best run defenders, and you know, I had to

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Speaker 1: deal with the tragic lots of his daughter throughout the

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Speaker 1: year but still play it at a high level when

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Speaker 1: he was available, and so they wanted to make sure

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Speaker 1: to bring him back. Adrian Phillips is just his versatility

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Speaker 1: because of all the different positions he can play, and

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Speaker 1: he's your best special teams players, So it makes sense

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Speaker 1: to bring him back just so you have again, you

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Speaker 1: want to have as many answers as you can in

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Speaker 1: case guys get hurt and then Denzel your defense is

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Speaker 1: just better when he's in there. You saw that throughout

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Speaker 1: the last two years, was particularly the run defense, and

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Speaker 1: so it makes sense to have Denzel back there as

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Speaker 1: a tone setter for that defense. And I think the

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Speaker 1: other guy that maybe is getting overlooked again is Jalen Watsons. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: he's a guy that potentially could have been their starter

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Speaker 1: at free safety, and you're able to bring him back

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Speaker 1: on a one year deal. Hopefully he can stay healthy

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Speaker 1: after having the ACL knee injury in the preseason game

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Speaker 1: against the Seahawks, and you let him compete now with

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Speaker 1: ray Shawn Jenkins, who actually looked okay those last two

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Speaker 1: games in the playoffs at free safety. So you ask

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Speaker 1: some film on him. Let those two guys can beat

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Speaker 1: at free safety and see who can be the winner

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Speaker 1: that if you don't like some of the possibilities in

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Speaker 1: the draft, and Rayshaw got a lot of snaps in

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Speaker 1: the playoffs, and also that that last game of the

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Speaker 1: regular season, and if you look at the defense that

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Speaker 1: was on the field in New England, and you talk

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Speaker 1: about guys like Kaiser White, who's coming back. You talk

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Speaker 1: about guys like Denzel Perriman who's back in the fold.

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Speaker 1: Jalen Watkins. Another guy who I agree with you, yeah,

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Speaker 1: Jatavis Brown, who is not on the field during that

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Speaker 1: game against the Patriots. It looks like a markedly different

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Speaker 1: defense without having to do too much. Obviously, you take

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Speaker 1: care of some of your own guys. But Kaisier's coming back,

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Speaker 1: Jetavis is coming back, and then Jalen Watkins. You're right,

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Speaker 1: that season injury was a very underrated injury. To start

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Speaker 1: the year. Yeah, I think that's one of the things

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Speaker 1: that fans maybe have to understand is year to year

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Speaker 1: guys to develop and get better. And that's one thing

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Speaker 1: that you don't kind of put in that equation is

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Speaker 1: these guys coming into the system are going to be

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Speaker 1: a year forward into it. They have more experience, and

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Speaker 1: somebody like Racheon Jenkins is going to be a better

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Speaker 1: player because of all the meaningful snaps he played at

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Speaker 1: the end of the last year. And so while you're

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Speaker 1: paying attention to all these splashy moves, you're not thinking

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Speaker 1: about the development of guys currently on the roster, how

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Speaker 1: they can take on more meaningful roles within the defense,

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Speaker 1: and the continuity you have because those guys that have

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Speaker 1: been there the entire time and they're going to continue

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Speaker 1: to get coached and get better and not should make

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Speaker 1: your defense better. That's why the Patriots are better because

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Speaker 1: they continue to develop their guys and guys get better

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Speaker 1: positions that the Chargers should be focused on. In the draft,

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Speaker 1: when you have the twenty the overall pick, you were

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Speaker 1: at the mercy of twenty seven other teams, so you're

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Speaker 1: probably gonna take the best available guy. Really in any situation,

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Speaker 1: but there are certainly areas where this team could further improve.

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Speaker 1: Where do you think the Charges need to focus, especially

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Speaker 1: early in the draft. Well, first of all, I mean

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Speaker 1: you just mentioned it. I mean when you draft that

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Speaker 1: low in the first round, you are at the mercy

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Speaker 1: of other teams and you do have to take the

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Speaker 1: best available player. You look at last year number seventeen.

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Speaker 1: There's no way they thought Dirt was going to be

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Speaker 1: available at seventeen, and so when he got down then

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Speaker 1: they're like, yeah, we're taking Derham. I mean, it too's

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Speaker 1: a no brain. I think they're going to have a

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Speaker 1: similar type decision at twenty eight, where you where other

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Speaker 1: guys are picked and then maybe no offense sitting there

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Speaker 1: at twenty eight, you're like, he really kind of don't

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Speaker 1: need a tight end, but but he's really good, so

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Speaker 1: we're gonna take him, or er Smith or you know

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Speaker 1: a safety is available that you didn't see sliding down

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Speaker 1: the board, and maybe it wasn't you're number one need,

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Speaker 1: but he's just the best player or corner. I think

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Speaker 1: in terms of their positional needs, though obviously offensive line

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Speaker 1: makes sense. You want to continue to build the offensive

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Speaker 1: line and add talented depth there. Offensive line coach Pat

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Speaker 1: Meyer was at Oklahoma's pro day, and they have a

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Speaker 1: number of guys that would make sense. I think the

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Speaker 1: top of the list would be Cody Ford as a guard,

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Speaker 1: so that makes sense. Defensive tackle obviously makes sense as well.

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Speaker 1: Defensive line coach Giff Smith was hot Clemson's Pro day.

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Speaker 1: A lot of mock drafts have Dexter Lawrence going to

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Speaker 1: the Chargers at twenty eight, so that's the possibility. I

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Speaker 1: think O line, d line, potentially linebacker again, depending on

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Speaker 1: who's available. But then best available player if it's a receiver,

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Speaker 1: if it's a tight end, if it's a corner, if

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Speaker 1: it's a quarterback. Potentially you just have to take the

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Speaker 1: best guy available there in the first round, because ultimately

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Speaker 1: it's about adding adding impact players. As we closer to

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Speaker 1: the draft, too, art it seems like teams that need

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Speaker 1: a quarterback will fall in love with a quarterback a

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Speaker 1: little bit more quickly as we get closer to Day

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Speaker 1: one of the draft. And then we talk about this

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Speaker 1: defensive line class and how talented it is. You could

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Speaker 1: have to your point about no offense, let's say, just

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Speaker 1: for the sake of this conversation. You have all this

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Speaker 1: defensive line talent go in the first fifteen twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: five picks. You have four quarterbacks go in the first

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty five picks. That means a really, really, really

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Speaker 1: good player is going to be there at twenty eight.

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Speaker 1: So the board could work to your advantage in that regard. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: no doubt. And like you said, it could be a

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Speaker 1: good offense player pushed down because there's so many talents

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Speaker 1: defensive players. Sorry, my dog had gone out. He's excited

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Speaker 1: about this drafts. Yeah, Case is pretty excited about the

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Speaker 1: draft or our postman delivered. But yeah, it could be

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Speaker 1: an offensive player that drops down that that makes a

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Speaker 1: lot offense for you, all right, Erk, Final thing, which

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Speaker 1: signing in the AFC West do you think is most

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Speaker 1: going to change the landscape of this division? You know,

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Speaker 1: last year Alex Smith gets traded to Washington. That obviously

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Speaker 1: propelled Patrick Mahomes into the starting role in Kansas City.

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Speaker 1: He ultimately became the league MVP. Is there a signing

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Speaker 1: that you saw over the last week or two that

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Speaker 1: you think will drastically change what this division was in

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Speaker 1: twenty eighteen? Oh, I mean a lot to go with

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Speaker 1: the most important position on the field. With Joe Flacco

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Speaker 1: going to Denver, Yeah, I mean they're counting on him

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Speaker 1: being a better antic quarterback than Keenam was. Obviously, they're

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Speaker 1: going to run a probably a similar style offense, probably

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Speaker 1: what Kubiak what ran there in the past when we

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Speaker 1: talk about the zone running system and play action and

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Speaker 1: being able but work off that. Blacko is a talented

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Speaker 1: player in his past. He hasn't played well the last

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Speaker 1: couple of years, so we'll see if they can get

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Speaker 1: him going. If they get consistent play at the quarterback position,

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Speaker 1: their defense is still bidding up that they can compete

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Speaker 1: for a playoff spot. So I think the fact that

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Speaker 1: they add a quarterback who has won a Super Bowl,

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Speaker 1: has championship caliber play in his past, I think that's

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Speaker 1: that's an intriguing move that they made. Eric, We're the

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Speaker 1: next few weeks looking like for you before draft coverage

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Speaker 1: really ramps up. Yeah, I'm gonna be going to the

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Speaker 1: NFL owners meeting next week, so interested to see, you know,

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Speaker 1: kind of what comes out of there in terms of

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Speaker 1: the conversations, particularly being able to talk to ownership about

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Speaker 1: you know, what they feel about the relocation of the

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Speaker 1: Rams and the Chargers in LA and how that's working.

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Speaker 1: So I'll be there for a couple of days. Uh,

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Speaker 1: San Diego States Pro Day is tomorrow Friday, so I'm

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Speaker 1: probably gonna stop by that just to kind of take

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Speaker 1: a look. They have an interesting tight end prospect that

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Speaker 1: that will be working out there, and I'm sure the

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Speaker 1: Chargers will have representatives down there. Beyond that, I think again,

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Speaker 1: it's just kind of getting ready for the draft and

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Speaker 1: trying to zone in on four or five guys that

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Speaker 1: the Chargers really like and figure out if I can

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Speaker 1: get one of these mock drafts right. For one, Eric

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Speaker 1: quickly on the owners meetings, I didn't realize that you

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Speaker 1: were going to be there. What else do you think

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Speaker 1: is going to be on tap? Because you know, replay

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Speaker 1: is something that I think you're going to look back

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Speaker 1: to that that NFC Championship game, that'll be a hot topic.

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Speaker 1: And then I would just listen to Peter King's podcast

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Speaker 1: with Judy Batista. They were talking about how overtime could

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Speaker 1: potentially change or that may be on the table in

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Speaker 1: the playoffs as well. Yeah, I definitely think those two

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Speaker 1: things we talk about, you know, the impact of the game.

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Speaker 1: Saints fans are still upset with what happened in the

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Speaker 1: playoffs and the fact that they didn't get the Super

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Speaker 1: Bowl based on that that call, that that was incorrectly

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Speaker 1: ruled on the field in terms of path and affair,

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Speaker 1: it's not being called. So imagine going to take a

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Speaker 1: close look at that and something will come out of that,

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Speaker 1: along with the overtime, which, to be honest, I don't

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Speaker 1: have a problem with it. I feel like if your

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Speaker 1: defense goes out there and makes a stop, then you're fine.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the NFL is playing on both sides of

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Speaker 1: the ball, so the fact that you don't get the ball,

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Speaker 1: you still get the opportunity to go out there and

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Speaker 1: stop then. So I think those two things will will

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Speaker 1: be big talking points along with you know, Robert Kratt

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Speaker 1: in his situation. I think they'll they'll be you know,

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Speaker 1: that'll be heavily discussed as well. Eric Williams ESPN enjoy Arizona,

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Speaker 1: my man, and we'll catch up soon. Awesome. Thanks for

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Speaker 1: having me again, Chris. I appreciate it, and that'll do

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Speaker 1: it my Thanks to Eric Williams for joining me, and

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Speaker 1: of course thanks to you all for listening. Don't forget.

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Speaker 1: If you like what you hear this offseason, be sure

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Speaker 1: to give us a rating and review on Apple Podcast.

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Speaker 1: Please help spread the word. Have a great weekend, enjoy

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Speaker 1: all the March Madness games, and until next time, I'm

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Speaker 1: Chris Harry Heard