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Speaker 1: It's Friday, September first, and Ravens general manager Eric Tacosta

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Speaker 1: met with reporters today to look ahead to the upcoming season.

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Speaker 1: He talked about quarterback Lamar Jackson, wide receiver Odell Beckham Junior,

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Speaker 1: some of the other new additions to this team, and

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Speaker 1: his mentality going into this year with this new look

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Speaker 1: Ravens offense. Here's what the Costa had to say in

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Speaker 1: his time with reporters.

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Speaker 2: First of all, I knew with Gil Brandt you might EMPLOYE.

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Speaker 2: Can you just talk about the passing of Gil.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's great question. I'm glad you brought that up obviously.

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Speaker 3: You know me growing up child of the seventies, you know,

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Speaker 3: I became a Cowboys fan in seventy eight.

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Speaker 2: Really just admired the way they built that team.

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Speaker 3: Gil Brandt, coach Landry tech Shram, very innovative, really kind

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Speaker 3: of set the standard for scouting as we know it.

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Speaker 3: Our actual grading scale that we use, our system goes

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Speaker 3: back to that original gil Brandt system that they use

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Speaker 3: out of We've tweaked it, but it's still the same system.

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Speaker 3: Just a very innovative, deep thinking person just really set

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Speaker 3: the stage basically for scouting as we know it big

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Speaker 3: loss in the NFL community. I'm glad that he got

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Speaker 3: into the Hall of Fame a couple of years ago,

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Speaker 3: well deserved in my opinion, and just one of the best.

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Speaker 1: Is a big picture, Eric, kind of what's your thought

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Speaker 1: mindset of where the team stands going into the season.

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Speaker 1: Certainly a lot of excitement and optimism.

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Speaker 2: Feel good, you know.

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Speaker 3: I think coach Harbard did a great job getting us

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Speaker 3: out of training camp relatively healthy, which is awesome compared

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Speaker 3: to the recent past. And I think the team is

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Speaker 3: an excellent mindset. I'm excited about some of the changes

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Speaker 3: we've made personnel.

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Speaker 2: Wise, you know. Just I think we're very, very excited

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Speaker 2: and ready to go.

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Speaker 4: Eric, I guess what happened with the jay Gats off

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Speaker 4: season and is there any hesitation at all from the

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Speaker 4: organization in terms of you know him or with his

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Speaker 4: entry history.

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Speaker 2: We love JK. But when he's played, he's been a warrior.

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Speaker 3: He's uh played through injuries when he's been able to

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Speaker 3: very talented guy, great attitude, he's a leader.

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Speaker 2: I think he's respected.

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Speaker 3: Uh, I've got a strong affinity for him personally, and uh, we're.

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Speaker 2: Very excited he's back. He's healthy this year, he looks

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Speaker 2: great and he's ready to go.

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Speaker 4: Rick's contract Just what's the what's the plan is it?

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Speaker 2: Well, it'll be ongoing discussions through the year.

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Speaker 1: Uh he you know, w what's what sort.

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Speaker 3: Of your Yeah, I mean that's kind of you know,

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Speaker 3: try to keep that stuff in house. We're excited to

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Speaker 3: see what he's gonna do this year. You know, he's

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Speaker 3: a talented player.

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Speaker 5: Uh.

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Speaker 2: I know he wants to be here. We want him here.

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Speaker 2: I have a lot of respect.

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Speaker 3: For him as a person also as a competitor, the

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Speaker 3: way he takes care of his business, the way he

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Speaker 3: rehabed his injury, the way he plays on Sundays.

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Speaker 2: And uh, I think we've shown.

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Speaker 3: That over the last five years we've really tried hard

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Speaker 3: to bring back as many of our own players as

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Speaker 3: possible and that will continue to be what we do.

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Speaker 5: Eric, what clinched the decision of three quarterbacks on the

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Speaker 5: fifty three And do you think that's something that likely

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Speaker 5: could persist for the entire year?

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Speaker 3: You know, that's a a good question. I think every

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Speaker 3: team is adjusting to the new.

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Speaker 2: Rule this year, which allows you to keep three quarterbacks active.

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Speaker 3: On Sundays if you have three quarterbacks on the active roster,

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Speaker 3: allowing you then to uh to dress forty nine players.

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Speaker 3: So I think every team's gonna attack that differently. I

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Speaker 3: think in our situation it's complicated a little bit by

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Speaker 3: the health of our quarterbacks of.

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Speaker 2: This training camp. That being the case, we're trying to

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Speaker 2: keep all of our good players. And you all saw

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Speaker 2: the games. Uh. Josh had an excellent preseason, played.

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Speaker 3: Very very well in the games. Snoop in the one

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Speaker 3: game that he played, played very well in that game.

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Speaker 3: So we think we're dealing with a position of strength

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Speaker 3: at the quarterback position, with three guys that have shown

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Speaker 3: they can play winning football for us, and we're excited

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Speaker 3: about that. Eric. Eric was a.

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Speaker 2: Report that, uh, the Ravens showed interest in Trey Lance.

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Speaker 2: Can you come in on that?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say that's just bad reporting. If somebody

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Speaker 3: calls you and asks about if you're interested in the

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Speaker 3: player and you say no, does that mean you're interested

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Speaker 3: in that player? You know, it's just one of those things.

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Speaker 3: I think there's a lot in term Koibono, who does

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Speaker 3: it benefit?

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Speaker 2: And you know, when you.

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Speaker 3: See a report like that, We've got good quarterbacks. We

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Speaker 3: love our quarterbacks. We weren't looking to add any quarterbacks

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Speaker 3: at all this training camp. That's what I would say

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Speaker 3: on that.

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Speaker 2: Eric help challenging.

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Speaker 5: Has the evaluation for the cornerback position been this summer?

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Speaker 5: Just guys on and off the field? And where do

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Speaker 5: you think you are there right now? Knowing that you

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Speaker 5: know Marlon status is iffy at least early in the season.

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Speaker 3: Well, we've certainly thrown out a big net. You know,

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Speaker 3: we have a lot of guys right now at that position.

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Speaker 3: I think the health has been somewhat problematic at various

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Speaker 3: times throughout camp at that position, as we've seen it

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Speaker 3: in the past. That being said, we do think we

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Speaker 3: have a lot of talented guys back there. We're anxious

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Speaker 3: to see when we finally get everybody out there on

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Speaker 3: the field together what it looks like. But I think

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Speaker 3: that some of the younger guys have emerged. A couple

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Speaker 3: other guys that have been on the team in the

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Speaker 3: last couple of years look like they've taken a step

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Speaker 3: in the right direction. Obviously, we know that when we

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Speaker 3: get Marlin back, we'll have a premier player out there,

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Speaker 3: and you know, remains to be seen. There's always going

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Speaker 3: to be one position that every team has that's challenging

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Speaker 3: at times throughout the course of any season, and you know,

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Speaker 3: we'll address those positions. We've tried to do that every

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Speaker 3: single year. There's always one position that seems to just

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Speaker 3: kind of be an outlier force depth wise.

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Speaker 2: The good thing I would.

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Speaker 3: Say with the corner position this year is we haven't

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Speaker 3: suffered any serious injuries, catastrophic injuries. They are all injuries

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Speaker 3: that are more in some ways annoying type of injuries

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Speaker 3: to soft tissue whatever, and we think will be healthy

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Speaker 3: pretty quickly.

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Speaker 4: How do you like value the running back position?

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Speaker 3: As a general manager? We value good players really, I

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Speaker 3: think you know how teams I I can't speak to

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Speaker 3: how other teams do it, but we want guys at

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Speaker 3: every position who can make plays and help us win

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Speaker 3: football games at the right time.

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Speaker 2: And uh, that's across the board, y, you know, And

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Speaker 2: I think you know.

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Speaker 3: We've paid inside linebackers, We've drafted safeties in the first round.

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Speaker 3: We've drafted a center in the first round. Those aren't

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Speaker 3: your typical, you know, most important positions. We've paid left

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Speaker 3: tackles a lot of money. We've paid corners a lot

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Speaker 3: of money. We've paid quarterbacks a lot of money.

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Speaker 2: So I do it based on how good is the player.

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Speaker 3: Not necessarily well, this position you should give a ton

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Speaker 3: of money to. In this position you can't give any

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Speaker 3: money to. For me, it really does depend on how

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Speaker 3: good the player is. I guess what I was growing

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Speaker 3: up as a young scout. I had the chance to

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Speaker 3: see players like Ray Lewis and Ed Reid and Jamal

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Speaker 3: Lewis and guys like that, and I could s see

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Speaker 3: how those guys could take over games. And so I

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Speaker 3: understand the argument, uh about running backs and mother positions

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Speaker 3: as well. I think there's definitely some wisdom to who

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Speaker 3: you pay and when you pay those players. On the

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Speaker 3: other hand, we want to try and get as many

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Speaker 3: good players as we count of the.

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Speaker 1: Team are police. Have you been with Odell from what

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Speaker 1: he's done on the field, from a culture standpoint, just

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Speaker 1: everything that he's brought so.

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Speaker 2: Far been great.

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Speaker 3: He's uh, I would say he's probably exceeded my expectations

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Speaker 3: to this point.

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Speaker 4: Regarding to placing Kyuk Kelly on waivers or not on

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Speaker 4: the fifty three man roster and your reaction to seeing.

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Speaker 3: Him get claimed, Well, he didn't make the team because

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Speaker 3: he didn't make the team, disappointed that he got claimed.

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Speaker 2: Definitely eric.

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Speaker 4: According to David Clowney, what prompted that signing was the

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Speaker 4: type Bowser injury part of that.

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Speaker 2: And what do you where do you see David Ajabo

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Speaker 2: right now? Uh?

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Speaker 3: Well, Clowney first of all, as a player that we've

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Speaker 3: admired for a long time. We've scouted him in the past,

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Speaker 3: we've played against him many times. We felt like he

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Speaker 3: could be a guy that's been uh like Jason was

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Speaker 3: last year here, Paul and Justin and guys like that

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Speaker 3: for us this year. And uh, he wanted to play here,

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Speaker 3: which for me, when we're talking to players and we're

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Speaker 3: trying to bring players in, when a guy expresses an

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Speaker 3: interest in coming here, that resonates with me. You know,

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Speaker 3: we really we we want guys that wanna be here,

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Speaker 3: and he wanted to get it done.

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Speaker 2: We were happy to work with him and we were

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Speaker 2: able to do it. I think that.

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Speaker 3: Uh, regarding all the other outside linebackers, they're all good

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Speaker 3: young players that were very excited to see. They're gonna

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Speaker 3: all improve at their own uh pace. Uh, David's a

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Speaker 3: guy that you know, obviously missed a lot of football

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Speaker 3: last year. I think that, Uh, he's shown us what

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Speaker 3: he can do in practice this year so far in

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Speaker 3: training camp, we've seen it.

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Speaker 2: Uh.

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Speaker 3: Eventually, Uh, I think when he gets w in in

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Speaker 3: games nfl R regular season games, I think he and

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Speaker 3: o'dafay both are gonna have very very good seasons for us.

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Speaker 4: Because of your where you're at salary wise, salary cat wise.

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Speaker 4: Do you feel like you're gonna have to do some

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Speaker 4: restructures here to create some more flexibility so you have that,

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Speaker 4: you know, availability and make moves going forward.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean you always want to have more money, Jeff.

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Speaker 3: We have different ways of doing that, you know. I

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Speaker 3: think that we've shown that we'll spend up to the

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Speaker 3: cap every single year, and we'll do that. I think

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Speaker 3: that the the the landscape for this team has changed

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Speaker 3: a little bit because we struck a contract with Lamar,

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Speaker 3: and so the way that we operate will probably be

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Speaker 3: a little bit different in the future. I think we'll

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Speaker 3: continue to try and do early signs as much as possible.

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Speaker 2: The draft will continue to be very very important as well.

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Speaker 3: We're blessed to have Nick Matteo and Pat Moriarty working here.

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Speaker 2: They're very creative with the.

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Speaker 3: Salary cap, finding ways for us to find additional money

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Speaker 3: to sign players, and uh, we'll continue to do that

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Speaker 3: and hopefully have a little bit so that we can

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Speaker 3: get to the trade deadline and maybe make a trade. Eric,

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Speaker 3: you've been here since ninety six.

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Speaker 5: A lot of soaprolos being thrown around about this wide

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Speaker 5: receiver group do you have Are you comfortable kind of

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Speaker 5: assessing where this group stands into the previous group team?

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Speaker 2: Ah, Jonas, that's a good question. You know, I'm really not.

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Speaker 3: I you know, I just think this group is good

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Speaker 3: and we've seen these guys make plays, and it's encouraging

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Speaker 3: for us to see him every single day. Guys are

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Speaker 3: stepping out, making contesting catches, making big explosive plays. The

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Speaker 3: attitude and the energy is very very good. I think

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Speaker 3: our coaches have done a great job with those guys,

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Speaker 3: and just the leadership with the veteran players Nelson and

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Speaker 3: and Odell has really been superb. And the younger guys

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Speaker 3: have really brought their game every single day. So I

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Speaker 3: think it's just, uh, it's encouraging to have so much depth.

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Speaker 2: This was the first year.

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Speaker 3: I will say this, This the first year that other

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Speaker 3: teams called us looking for receivers and h I actually

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Speaker 3: I was a joke at first, but so that you know,

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Speaker 3: so that's kind of cool.

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Speaker 2: Eric, who you thought about Odell exceeding?

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Speaker 4: You have to take it in some ways.

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Speaker 2: Can you talk about kind of and how he's done that? Well?

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Speaker 3: His body he's in very good shape. That takes care

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Speaker 3: of his body. I think he worked extremely hard this offseason.

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Speaker 3: His attitude is awesome. He's a leader, he's a first

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Speaker 3: in line guy, he's a do the right thing guy.

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Speaker 3: He's just been great. I just I just really don't

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Speaker 3: know how to explain it, you know. Uh So I

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Speaker 3: have two boys at Gilman and just before camp started

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Speaker 3: there was a football camp that Odell had a Gilman

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Speaker 3: And to see the entire community that seemed like there

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Speaker 3: were thousands of boys and girls there. And to see that,

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Speaker 3: to see that impact in a very short span of time,

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Speaker 3: to see the impact that he's having on this community,

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Speaker 3: it's a powerful thing.

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Speaker 2: And we're excited about that.

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Speaker 4: Are you intrigued to a greater degree than usual to

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Speaker 4: see how this offense looks when when you get the

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Speaker 4: games and that you have all these new pieces who

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Speaker 4: haven't actually been in a game together.

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Speaker 5: Yet you have the new coordinator all all that stuff together.

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Speaker 3: Well, I was intrigued in nineteen because I knew that

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Speaker 3: we were gonna do something that was different and it

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Speaker 3: was gonna be a very very tough offense to defend.

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Speaker 3: But you know, I think you go into every season excited.

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Speaker 3: I mean, if you're doing your job the right way

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Speaker 3: and you're excited about it, you know, you bringing players

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Speaker 3: that you like, you're always excited. I do think this

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Speaker 3: is ex's a It could be a really cool thing

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Speaker 3: to see this group kind of come together. You know,

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Speaker 3: if you look at just across the board and offense,

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Speaker 3: all the different position groups were pretty strong.

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Speaker 2: We have pretty good depth, and.

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Speaker 3: I know that because other teams will calling us on

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Speaker 3: all these offensive guys, looking at.

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Speaker 2: How you have a lot of tight ends, You've got.

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Speaker 3: An extra running back, You've got a lot of offensive

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Speaker 3: linement receivers. So I think that boats well for the season. Obviously,

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Speaker 3: these guys have to play and we expect them to.

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Speaker 3: Got a lot of faith and Todd and the coaches

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Speaker 3: and the players. You've got to stay healthy. But on

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Speaker 3: paper it pretty good. Do you think the offense will

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Speaker 3: look compared to the previous years. Oh man, that's a

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Speaker 3: that's more of a coaching question. I just want to

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Speaker 3: see touchdowns.

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Speaker 5: Did those conversations happen right up till the roster cutdown?

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Speaker 2: People calling you?

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Speaker 5: Did you entertain trades, either adding or some tracking players

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Speaker 5: right up until the cutdown?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: You know, people call me because we do a lot

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Speaker 3: of trades. We love trades, and so we get a

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Speaker 3: lot of calls.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 3: It used to be easier for me to do trades

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Speaker 3: than it is now. I think people they're always a

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Speaker 3: little more suspicious now that I've been in the league

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Speaker 3: as a general manager for five years. But yeah, you

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Speaker 3: get a lot of calls and you look at it

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Speaker 3: and you just have to basically assess the way that

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Speaker 3: I think of it is, Okay, yeah, sure we could

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Speaker 3: flip a pick and maybe get some additional value in

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Speaker 3: a late round next year. Is that worth you know,

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Speaker 3: giving up your tenth offensive lineman or your seventh wide

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Speaker 3: out who might make it to your practice squad, those

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Speaker 3: kind of things, And you just have to go back

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Speaker 3: and forth and look at it.

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Speaker 2: You know, Uh, I've seen It's happened to me.

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Speaker 3: Actually, you know, Uh, a few years ago, we had

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Speaker 3: a bunch of offensive linemen.

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Speaker 2: We traded a couple guys. I think Ben Brettison might

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Speaker 2: have been one, and and uh.

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Speaker 3: Somebody else Man's and all that, and then you get

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Speaker 3: a couple of injuries and now all of a sudden,

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Speaker 3: all that depth becomes a weakness.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 3: So that's something you always look at me kind of

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Speaker 3: being greedy. I love the idea of getting extra picks.

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Speaker 3: A lot of times coaches will be more reluctant. They

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Speaker 3: don't see how a six round pick or a flop

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Speaker 3: six or a five is gonna benefit you in two

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Speaker 3: thousand twenty five.

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Speaker 2: So they want the players.

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Speaker 3: And so for me, it's kind of like short term

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Speaker 3: versus long term and really kind of being balanced.

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Speaker 5: And how with the team you've assembled, how do you

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Speaker 5: think they stuck out compared to the division and and

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Speaker 5: the rest of the AFC. Just right now going.

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Speaker 3: Into the season, man, I think, uh, and we'll have

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Speaker 3: to we feel good about our team. You know, every

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Speaker 3: team is trying to build the best team they can,

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Speaker 3: you know, I think, uh, we always joke like the

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Speaker 3: the draft, we look at our draft board and we're

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Speaker 3: always excited about the players that we got, and then

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Speaker 3: we look over there and we see what the Steelers

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Speaker 3: did and what the Bengals did and we're like, man,

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Speaker 3: they got better too.

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Speaker 2: So they're great teams. The Browns are an excellent team.

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Speaker 3: We respect all those guys every t Every game is

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Speaker 3: gonna be very very challenging and very tough.

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Speaker 2: But I think John'll have us prepared every week, more prepared.

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Speaker 4: The previous years.

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Speaker 1: Can win in the training camp and leave in the

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Speaker 1: training camp.

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Speaker 3: Oh man, Well, Lamar's attitude has been ex excellent this year.

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Speaker 3: I think last year was a challenging year for a

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Speaker 3: lot of reasons, but obviously just where he was with

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Speaker 3: his contract.

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Speaker 2: But this year is just his attitude. His enthusiasm has

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Speaker 2: been fantastic. He's thrown the ball very very well.

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Speaker 3: He's been able to build a a great rapport with

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Speaker 3: the receivers very very quickly. He's taking care of his body.

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Speaker 3: He seems really into the offense. I think he's excited

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Speaker 3: about it. He has an awesome relationship with his coaches,

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Speaker 3: and uh, you know, he worked very hard this offseason

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Speaker 3: with some of the receivers that we brought in, which

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Speaker 3: was awesome to see.

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Speaker 2: And I think it's showing off and his parent's gonna

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Speaker 2: pay dividends for us.

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Speaker 4: Eric, we talked about different approaches the contract. What did

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Speaker 4: Patrick Queen show you and how he came here? Was

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Speaker 4: that OTA's it's a lot of questions about his contract,

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Speaker 4: but what did he show you with what he's done

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Speaker 4: over the last couple of moments?

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Speaker 3: Oh, man, Patrick's a gym, you know, uh I. I

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Speaker 3: think we've seen in the NFL now y a lot

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Speaker 3: of teams are dealing with it right these players that

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Speaker 3: they're holding in or they're not showing up, or they're

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Speaker 3: holding out, or they're unhappy or they're spouting off publicly.

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Speaker 2: And Patrick's just a guy that shows up.

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Speaker 3: To work every single day. He's a very very talented player,

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Speaker 3: very very selfless, but loved by his teammates. He's a leader,

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Speaker 3: and we expect to have a great season.

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Speaker 1: That was Ravens general manager Erics Costa. You're listening to

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Speaker 1: the Ravens press pass.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 1: The team has a few days off before getting back

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Speaker 1: to work on Monday, and we're gonna have a chance

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Speaker 1: to hear from head coach John Harball coming up on Monday.

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Speaker 1: So enjoy the weekend and come back on Monday as

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Speaker 1: the Ravens really dive into their game prep for the

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Speaker 1: season opener at home against the Houston Texas