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Speaker 1: Hey, Vikings fans, been over here. I'm so excited to

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Speaker 1: be a new Lifetime member, and so are my kids.

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Speaker 1: They love the tennis, the pickaball the basketball, and of

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Speaker 1: course the yummy cafe. Check them out at Lifetime dot

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Speaker 1: life to find a club nearest you.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to Schools Stories, presented by three M, the official

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Speaker 2: science partner of the Minnesota Vikings. Tonight, we're joined by

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Speaker 2: Vikings legendary safety Andrew Sendejo. Thanks again for tuning into

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Speaker 2: another episode of school Stories. Tonight's guest was a hard

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Speaker 2: hitting safety with a nose for the big play. Nowadays,

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Speaker 2: he's back home in state of Texas, but took a

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Speaker 2: few minutes to catch up with all of us here

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Speaker 2: on school Stories. Please enjoy tonight's conversation with former Vikings

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Speaker 2: safety Andrew Sendejo.

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Speaker 3: Well, Andrew, thank you so much. Welcome to the show.

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Speaker 3: It's great to hear from you again. Of course, the

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Speaker 3: fans always want to know and get a quick update

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Speaker 3: on how you're doing these days.

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Speaker 4: I'm doing great.

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Speaker 5: I am down in Austin, Texas. I've been working full

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Speaker 5: time on my brain health supplement company, brain Tree Nutrition,

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Speaker 5: and just going through the phases of life, getting married

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Speaker 5: here soon in February, and just enjoying all the things

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Speaker 5: that I couldn't do while I was playing football, So

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Speaker 5: catching up on a lot of family time, traveling and

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Speaker 5: things like that.

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Speaker 4: So he made that.

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Speaker 2: You've made that obviously made the transition. We'll begin at

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Speaker 2: the beginnings, as they say. But growing up, you grew

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Speaker 2: up in the greater San Antonio area. What was it

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Speaker 2: like growing up and being an athlete down in Texas?

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Speaker 2: I mean, Texas is it's the spot. There are a

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Speaker 2: lot of options, a lot of a lot of competition.

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Speaker 2: What was it like for you growing up as a

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Speaker 2: high school athlete?

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Speaker 5: So I grew up a soccer player, but if you

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Speaker 5: grow up in South Texas, you kind of have no

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Speaker 5: choice but to play football at some point. And so

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Speaker 5: around middle school, I was finally able to play football

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Speaker 5: for the school while I could still play club soccer

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Speaker 5: after practice. So got into football, and I soon realized

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Speaker 5: it was the sport for me. It was the only

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Speaker 5: sport where you were actually allowed to hit other people.

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Speaker 5: All my previous experiences in soccer and AAU basketball, I

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Speaker 5: either fouled out or I got red carded. So I

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Speaker 5: played football and you were actually allowed to hit people,

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Speaker 5: and they praised you, and I was like, you know

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Speaker 5: what this is. I think this is the sport for me.

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Speaker 5: And I grew up at a school where football was

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Speaker 5: a really big deal, like your kind of typical Friday

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Speaker 5: night lights type high school, big time five A football,

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Speaker 5: went to State a couple of times.

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Speaker 3: You were you had a lot of options for college.

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Speaker 3: You end up going to a Rice University of the

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Speaker 3: famous home of Tommy Kramer, a longtime Minnesota Viking quarterback.

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Speaker 3: So what went into your decision to choose Rice. I

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Speaker 3: know you had up other options, I mean Army among them, Northwestern,

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Speaker 3: some real academic schools.

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Speaker 4: You got there. Yeah, I wasn't a highly tired guy

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Speaker 4: coming out. I was like a two star recruit.

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Speaker 5: Obviously, NFL was not even on my radar at all.

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Speaker 5: So my thought process was going to a university where

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Speaker 5: I could get the best degree. I originally chose Rice

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Speaker 5: because I thought I was gonna get an engineering degree there,

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Speaker 5: and my ap Cactulus teacher told me, hey, if you

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Speaker 5: get an engineering degree from Rice, like you are set,

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Speaker 5: and that was kind of all I needed to hear.

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Speaker 5: It was close to home, It's like three hours away.

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Speaker 5: Was still far enough away. It was in Texas, so

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Speaker 5: just a lot of things that made sense. And I

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Speaker 5: actually committed to Rice when they were one in ten,

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Speaker 5: so the program was not where it needed to be,

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Speaker 5: and it was really kind of special to go there

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Speaker 5: my first year, true freshman, starting playing, go to a

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Speaker 5: bowl game for the first time in like fifty years,

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Speaker 5: and then two years later won a bowl game for

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Speaker 5: the first time, and however long so in my first

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Speaker 5: in my four years there was able to kind of

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Speaker 5: help put Rice back on the map a little bit,

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Speaker 5: so to speak.

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Speaker 2: Now, once you got done with Rice and with college,

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Speaker 2: your transition to the NFL wasn't the normal experience, if

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Speaker 2: I'm not mistaken. You spent some time, or at least

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Speaker 2: initially you joined the Sacramento Mountain Lions under the UFL,

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Speaker 2: and that was that was my guy, Denny Green. I

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Speaker 2: played here for Denny Green. What was that like? And

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Speaker 2: what did you think a coach Green? Because he was

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Speaker 2: one of them he recruited me coming when he was

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Speaker 2: at Stanford. I was in high school. I just I'm

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Speaker 2: one of the biggest Denny Green fans you're going to meet,

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Speaker 2: and hopefully you feel the same way.

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Speaker 5: Yes, It was definitely a great introduction into what it

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Speaker 5: means to be a pro. So at that time, my

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Speaker 5: kind of only options.

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Speaker 4: Were to go play in the CFL or this.

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Speaker 5: New league called the UFL, and it had been around

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Speaker 5: for a year, so they're still figuring some things out.

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Speaker 5: But the pay was just as good as the CFL.

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Speaker 5: It was in America. I got to go to California,

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Speaker 5: and so my agent at the time was like, Hey,

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Speaker 5: this is kind of the best fit. It's NFL coaches,

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Speaker 5: NFL systems, these guys are all connected to the NFL.

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Speaker 5: This is going to be kind of your best path

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Speaker 5: to get picked up out of that league. And so

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Speaker 5: I had the privilege of playing with Culpepper as well.

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Speaker 5: So coach Green was you know, he really early on

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Speaker 5: in my career, kind of showed me what it was

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Speaker 5: like to be a pro because guys that were lates

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Speaker 5: and meetings or you know, we're doing what they were

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Speaker 5: supposed to were either cut fine and you never saw

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Speaker 5: them again. So I realized kind of the business side

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Speaker 5: early on of professional sports, and so that was good

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Speaker 5: to kind of experience like right out of the gate,

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Speaker 5: and was very fortunate got to play there, played well

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Speaker 5: it was only eight game season, so we finished that

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Speaker 5: season early November and allowed me to have time to

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Speaker 5: get picked up out of there to the NFL for

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Speaker 5: the remainder of the twenty ten season. And interestingly enough,

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Speaker 5: I was going back and forth between Minnesota and Dallas

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Speaker 5: to sign with out of the UFL, and at the time,

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Speaker 5: the depth was a better opportunity for me in Dallas

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Speaker 5: to stick on the team, which ironically I got cut

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Speaker 5: from there and then I ended up in Minnesota anyway,

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Speaker 5: so I should have just freaking done out of.

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Speaker 4: The gate, you know.

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Speaker 2: And then once and then once you got here to Minnesota,

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Speaker 2: you were part of a you know, a coaching staff

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Speaker 2: with Zimmer and and just the guys that were around

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Speaker 2: you and listening to Xavier Rhoads and talking to Harrison Smith.

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Speaker 2: You guys had a very unique group. It was a

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Speaker 2: special group. What about that defensive backfield that you played

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Speaker 2: with here in Minnesota was so special?

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Speaker 5: I think a lot of times it's just getting a

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Speaker 5: lot of reps together and being around each other for

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Speaker 5: a long time, and your personalities have to click. There's

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Speaker 5: kind of a lot of things that go into really

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Speaker 5: gelling as a secondary We you know, the more you

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Speaker 5: see offenses together and how they ac you in certain plays,

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Speaker 5: you start to all think the same way, and so

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Speaker 5: I think that was a big part of it. I

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Speaker 5: think also, you know, in the meetings. In the dB meetings,

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Speaker 5: we all sat next to each other, so it was

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Speaker 5: like me Harrison and Xavier was right on the other side,

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Speaker 5: So we were kind of always there, always talking to

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Speaker 5: each other. Even within the meeting where you're kind of

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Speaker 5: taking in information, you're also like on having a side

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Speaker 5: discussion on how you're gonna uh like approach certain how

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Speaker 5: you're going to play certain plays, certain problem areas and

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Speaker 5: things like that. Also, I just think that we, you know,

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Speaker 5: as the safety is you're kind of quarterbacking and controlling things,

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Speaker 5: and I think we just had a really good way

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Speaker 5: of like getting to guys and communicating with guys and

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Speaker 5: you know, everybody kind of keeping each other accountable. You know,

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Speaker 5: some guys like Xavier can kind of get hot headed

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Speaker 5: at times. I think having guys like Harry and I

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Speaker 5: we could like kind of calm them down and keep

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Speaker 5: them in check, was always good and can kind of

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Speaker 5: like get the best out of him. But I think

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Speaker 5: as far as like a secondary when you really like

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Speaker 5: gel together. It's just is like I said, just you

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Speaker 5: have a lot of reps together, and you've seen so

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Speaker 5: many plays together that you can almost kind of just

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Speaker 5: communicate on the field just by looking at each other

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Speaker 5: and by kind of giving a little head nod of like, hey,

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Speaker 5: do you see what I'm saying, And then they look

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Speaker 5: at you back and you both can kind of agree

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Speaker 5: that you've kind of seen the same thing, and so

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Speaker 5: it kind of becomes this like Jedi level communication at

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Speaker 5: a certain point. That's when you know you're really clicking again.

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Speaker 3: We're talking with Andrews in Dayjo longtime Minnesota Viking, And

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Speaker 3: in twenty sixteen, speaking of the Vikings, they gave you

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Speaker 3: a four year contract and the full time starting role.

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Speaker 3: Was that kind of a validation moment for you? We

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Speaker 3: recall that to say, man, I mean my long road

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Speaker 3: to get to this point has honestly just been validated,

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Speaker 3: all the grinds and the hard work you put through.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean it did valsee a little bit. But

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Speaker 5: then they also that off season brought in like first

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Speaker 5: rounds veteran Mike griff who's a ut guy, Austin guys

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Speaker 5: every now and then down.

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Speaker 4: In Texas, but it was kind of like it was

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Speaker 4: an interesting kind.

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Speaker 2: Of uh dynamic, I don't know, like move where.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, it was like okay, well we're bringing in this

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Speaker 5: like certified first round Pro Bowl like type player. So

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Speaker 5: it was like, okay, maybe, so there was still competition

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Speaker 5: even with the contract, So you know, I was I

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Speaker 5: was fortunate to stay healthy, play well, and kind of

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Speaker 5: like earn that spot. And you know, I think the

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Speaker 5: other part was just each season, uh, played better, had

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Speaker 5: better numbers to where, you know, kind of later in

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Speaker 5: that contract, even though there's always competition in the NFL,

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Speaker 5: you're kind of more of like slotted in that spot

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Speaker 5: after that and not really like it's not coming down

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Speaker 5: to the last preseason game before they decide who's going

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Speaker 5: to be the other starting safety besides Harrison.

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Speaker 4: So it did feel good.

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Speaker 5: Obviously, like you know, being an undrafted guy and like

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Speaker 5: playing on a minimal one year deal every single year

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Speaker 5: to get in like a four year deal, it's kind

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Speaker 5: of the objective financially as a NFL player or any

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Speaker 5: pro athlete to get kind of that big contract. And

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Speaker 5: so you know, for me, I just as.

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Speaker 4: An undrafted free agent guy that bounced around I was just.

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Speaker 5: Always happy to be there. I'd play whatever position they

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Speaker 5: needed me to, special teams, you know, defense, offense, kicker.

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Speaker 5: I don't care like I just I love the game.

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Speaker 5: And so I just always played as hard as I could,

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Speaker 5: regardless of the money. And I would just always think

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Speaker 5: back to when I played in the UFL, and I

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Speaker 5: was like, shoot, I used to play for way less

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Speaker 5: than this, and I would play just as hard. So

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Speaker 5: like you kind of start to forget about the money

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Speaker 5: at that point, You're just really just playing because you

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Speaker 5: love to play.

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Speaker 2: Well, speaking of an aspect of the game that you loved,

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Speaker 2: was was the physicality of it? In the hitting?

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Speaker 4: Uh?

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Speaker 2: Known for your make football violent again hats and uh,

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Speaker 2: you know, other other equips and and things. What h

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Speaker 2: What do you think of the game, let's say just

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Speaker 2: today in as a safety? Why is it? Why is

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Speaker 2: the physicality so important for that position?

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Speaker 3: You know?

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Speaker 5: I always looked at it like each player has to

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Speaker 5: kind of have their niche that they're they're good at, right,

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Speaker 5: And I think for me, I kind of realized like, Okay,

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Speaker 5: I'm not necessarily going to be this manna man cover

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Speaker 5: guy that's going to be you know, covering tight ends

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Speaker 5: and receivers all the time. You know, I had my

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Speaker 5: fair share of interceptions, but not I. You know, I

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Speaker 5: wasn't getting like five or six interceptions a season, And

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Speaker 5: so I knew what I was good at, and I

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Speaker 5: just played to those strengths. So I knew, Okay, I'm smart.

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Speaker 5: I can study film like like hell and know what

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Speaker 5: they're going to do, and I can play hard and

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Speaker 5: play physical, and so I kind of just made myself

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Speaker 5: as that kind of enforcer physical role to where you

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Speaker 5: kind of had this do of like Harrison that you know,

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Speaker 5: ballhawk and Blitz like physical. Then you have this other

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Speaker 5: guy that's like he literally doesn't care about his own

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Speaker 5: like well being and well it will knock himself out

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Speaker 5: if he has to in order to knock you out,

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Speaker 5: and that he's gonna if you get the ball, like

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Speaker 5: you're gonna get hit. And so that's kind of the

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Speaker 5: way I played the game. But I think I just

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Speaker 5: the way I grew up where you know, how we

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Speaker 5: grew up playing ball, that was the way that.

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Speaker 4: I was taught.

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Speaker 5: And back when I was playing, you know, there was

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Speaker 5: still a lot more like heavy run game and two

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Speaker 5: that kind of base their entire offense on the run.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 5: Now it's you know, everything's kind of evolving into this

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Speaker 5: past heavy game, you know, and so now just you

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Speaker 5: have to be able to combat that with players that

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Speaker 5: can cover, and so you know, now the secondaries are

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Speaker 5: basically all corners in a way. So the game's evolving.

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Speaker 5: It will continue to do that. It'll eventually, after time,

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Speaker 5: evolve the other way around to where everyone on the

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Speaker 5: defense is going to be these kind of small cover

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Speaker 5: guys and someone's going to come in with a big,

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Speaker 5: heavy package and run the ball down the throat, and

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Speaker 5: then they're going to have to start kind of catering

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Speaker 5: back to that and bringing in bigger like downhill players.

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Speaker 2: Stick around for more Skulls stories presented by three M

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Speaker 2: from the field to the roof and everywhere in between.

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Speaker 2: Three M, the official science partner of the Minnesota Vikings,

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00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:53,240
Speaker 2: is here because at Vikings dot com slash skull Science

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Speaker 2: to learn more. We'll be right back with more from

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Speaker 2: Andrews and Dajo, but first Unreal is back with their

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Speaker 2: more details. Ready to have your spirits lifted than the

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Speaker 2: laugh out Loud comedy Ghosts is for You. Ghost is

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Speaker 2: all new every Thursday night at seven thirty Central over

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Speaker 2: on CBS. Welcome back to tonight's edition of Skulls Stories,

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Speaker 2: presented by three M. Let's get back into our conversation

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Speaker 2: with Vikings legend Andrew Sindejo.

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Speaker 3: Andrew, at the beginning of a conversation, you mentioned you're

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Speaker 3: involved in a company involving the brain. I know you've

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Speaker 3: been involved in nutrition. Could you elaborate a little bit

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Speaker 3: about what that company is all about.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, So, while I was playing, you know, in the

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Speaker 5: most violent sport in the world, we still as players

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Speaker 5: did not have access to ban substance free, effectively dosed

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Speaker 5: products that could improve your cognitive health. I was always

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Speaker 5: kind of the locker room nutritionists to help guys ensure

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Speaker 5: they weren't taking band supplements banded ingredients. So it was

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Speaker 5: kind of this running joke and lockroom that all the

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Speaker 5: supplements had to run through me first. So I was

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Speaker 5: always kind of the supplement guy, always kind of was

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Speaker 5: ahead of the curve on new innovative kind of ingredients

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Speaker 5: and whatnot. And so I needed something while I was

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Speaker 5: playing that I could help with the kind of repetitive

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Speaker 5: head trauma the mental part of the game. I mean,

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Speaker 5: there's so much that goes into it that involves you know,

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Speaker 5: focused memory, just being able to adapt each week to

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Speaker 5: new information. You have to be able to make decisions

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Speaker 5: instantly on the fly under pressure. There's so much that

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Speaker 5: involves the brain. And that's why I set out to

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Speaker 5: start brain.

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Speaker 4: Tree Nutrition, which is just a line.

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Speaker 5: Of pharmaceutical grade products that address these key areas of

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Speaker 5: brain health so that you can improve your cognitive health.

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Speaker 5: So we have everything from products to help focus, memory, neuroprotection,

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Speaker 5: improve the gut brain connection that help with the stress anxiety.

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Speaker 5: We have products for sleep, and then we have products

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Speaker 5: that are more of our functional beverage that is for

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Speaker 5: or hydration, focus and energy. So really just kind of

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Speaker 5: addressing these kind of key areas, uh, these foundational areas

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Speaker 5: of cognitive health to give people effectively those products that

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Speaker 5: we know are safe. And like I said, we kind

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Speaker 5: of originally started it for ourselves and our teammates, and

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Speaker 5: now how has evolved in It's become kind of my

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Speaker 5: full time career post football. So it's kind of interesting

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Speaker 5: where I was to make football violent again, but now

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Speaker 5: I'm making brain health supplements cool again.

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Speaker 3: Who knows better than you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and there and with with the brain health and

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Speaker 2: with the focus and those areas you're talking about. There's

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Speaker 2: nutrition is part of it, but there's also techniques and

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Speaker 2: uh practices that can also help with those things. You

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Speaker 2: guys delve into that area as well, not just the supplements,

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Speaker 2: but routines and focus.

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Speaker 5: And really and you know, we tell people first office

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Speaker 5: is supplements are there to supplement your diet. They should

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Speaker 5: not be your entire existence. And there's so many kind

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Speaker 5: of natural ways that you can improve these key areas

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Speaker 5: with sleep, proper nutrition, exercise, a lot of different things

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Speaker 5: that you can do. But at times when those aren't enough,

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Speaker 5: that's where a supplement comes in. That's where supplements were

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Speaker 5: or created is to supplement your diet, and so we

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Speaker 5: always lead with that first on. You know, how are

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Speaker 5: you sleeping at night? Like what are you doing first

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Speaker 5: thing in the morning? Are you drinking enough water?

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Speaker 4: Are you exercising, are you.

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Speaker 5: Getting enough sunlight? You know, are you doing any type

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Speaker 5: of like meditation practices are kind of mindful practices. So

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Speaker 5: there's all these different areas that for sure you can

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Speaker 5: address these areas, but when those aren't enough, that's where

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Speaker 5: we can bring in these ingredients that have human clinical

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Speaker 5: studies proven to be effective to help in these areas.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, a lot more than just football players you're speaking of,

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Speaker 3: than too, just for the general public that can deal

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Speaker 3: with improving their lifestyle.

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Speaker 5: Absolutely, Yeah, that's I give our products to my own family,

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Speaker 5: my mom, just to help with you know, certain age

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Speaker 5: related mental impairments, anyone dealing with any type of like

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Speaker 5: ADHD symptoms. Really just trying to give people these natural,

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Speaker 5: more holistic approaches to getting off of the prescription drugs

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Speaker 5: and getting out of that kind of vortex of prescription drugs,

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Speaker 5: of taking stuff to make you focus and then you

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Speaker 5: can't sleep tonight, you have to take a prescription drug

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Speaker 5: to make you sleep, and now that's giving you more

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Speaker 5: stress and anxiety. Now you're taking a prescription drug for that,

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Speaker 5: and so you just kind of get in this cycle

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Speaker 5: of taking all these prescription drugs, and before you know it,

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Speaker 5: you have five or six prescription drugs just.

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Speaker 4: Because you didn't do one thing right.

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Speaker 5: It might have just started with just sleeping better, or

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Speaker 5: exercising or just eating better. So there's a lot of

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Speaker 5: those areas in America specifically, are all completely sideways. So

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Speaker 5: we're just on the big, big health movement right now

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Speaker 5: that's going on in America, trying to change the way

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Speaker 5: that we live here.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's amazing. And I think in this day and age,

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Speaker 2: with technology and how much it's invaded our lives, people

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Speaker 2: are constantly distracted. It's it's it's more important now than ever,

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Speaker 2: is it. Not not just with sports, but my goodness

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Speaker 2: is with day to day life.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, there's there's so many inputs coming in nowadays versus

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Speaker 5: you know, the way that we grew up. It is

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Speaker 5: definitely exacerbating kind of the issue and making it more

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Speaker 5: and more difficult every day to just try to like

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Speaker 5: focus and hone in on one thing because you just

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Speaker 5: have so many different distractions all around you all the time.

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Speaker 5: So it's good to kind of check out, get away,

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Speaker 5: and kind of get back to center.

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Speaker 3: Andrew, we're in the midst, of course, of the holiday

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Speaker 3: season right now, and a little birdie told me you

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Speaker 3: were responsible for a lot of the Christmas decorations within

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Speaker 3: the Vikings hallways and locker room. Is that true and

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Speaker 3: how how serious did you take that responsibility?

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Speaker 5: Well, look, that might have been my greatest contribution for

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Speaker 5: the Vikings organizations honestly public It wasn't public facing, so

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Speaker 5: nobody really knew except the people in the organization, you know.

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Speaker 5: But it was always my thing. I was always a

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Speaker 5: big Christmas guy, and late in the year like that,

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Speaker 5: especially in Minnesota, you basically don't see the damn sun, right,

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Speaker 5: So I was like, how do we kind of at

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Speaker 5: the end of the year this last stretch kind of

392
00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:16,280
Speaker 5: bring some life back into the locker room. So I

393
00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:18,520
Speaker 5: started one year and it was a very i would

394
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Speaker 5: say elementary job for the way it escalated over years.

395
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Speaker 5: But I would go pick like two or three rookies

396
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Speaker 5: and I would just send them out some different stories.

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Speaker 5: I'm like, hey, I need you to go, you know,

398
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Speaker 5: get some decor get some the core meet me on Tuesday,

399
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Speaker 5: on our off day. So we would usually do it

400
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Speaker 5: the first week of December, the first Tuesday off day,

401
00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:40,080
Speaker 5: so when everyone would come back in on Wednesday, the

402
00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:44,080
Speaker 5: locker room was decorated, and once we got the new facility,

403
00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:48,760
Speaker 5: I had a much bigger canvas to be more creative.

404
00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:52,560
Speaker 5: The budget had to go up about three x so

405
00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:55,280
Speaker 5: that we could cover all the space. But it was

406
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Speaker 5: always something I took pride in and just I was

407
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Speaker 5: always kind of the Christmas guy. I was the one

408
00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:02,040
Speaker 5: that or and as a secret stand as I even started,

409
00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:04,560
Speaker 5: I was such a good gift giver that I even

410
00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:07,440
Speaker 5: had players from other positions that wanted to do a

411
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Speaker 5: gift exchange with me, And.

412
00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:11,640
Speaker 4: So it was always a very expensive Christmas, but you would.

413
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Speaker 5: Walk away with equally if not more money and like

414
00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:17,560
Speaker 5: gifts than what you purchased. So it was always like

415
00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:20,639
Speaker 5: a great way to like bond with other teammates outside

416
00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:23,040
Speaker 5: of your position group. And you just now I have

417
00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:25,399
Speaker 5: kind of all these different gifts from my years that

418
00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:27,560
Speaker 5: now have a special story where I'm like, oh, yeah,

419
00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:30,840
Speaker 5: this bag was a gift from like Anthony Barr or

420
00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:33,440
Speaker 5: Stefan Diggs or whoever it was, or like this jackets

421
00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:35,760
Speaker 5: from Paris and or these shoes are from mcdavier. So

422
00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:38,520
Speaker 5: I mean I got gifts from probably ten different guys

423
00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:41,920
Speaker 5: each Christmas. But yeah, we always did a really good job.

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Speaker 5: That was always kind of one of my things that

425
00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:46,280
Speaker 5: I when I went to other teams that they didn't

426
00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:48,120
Speaker 5: know about me, And so then I would come in

427
00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:51,520
Speaker 5: with all this stuff the first week of December and

428
00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:53,560
Speaker 5: start decorating the locker room, and they're like, what the

429
00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:54,520
Speaker 5: hell is this guy doing.

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00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:55,520
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, you got to.

431
00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:57,600
Speaker 5: Decorate the locker room, like y'all don't do this here.

432
00:20:57,640 --> 00:20:59,840
Speaker 5: And so that was kind of always my deal with

433
00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:02,600
Speaker 5: the Christmas to court in the locker room. So when

434
00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:05,000
Speaker 5: I go up there next week, I might have time

435
00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:06,680
Speaker 5: to pop in the facility. And if I don't see

436
00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:08,480
Speaker 5: enough to core, I'm gonna have to talk to somebody

437
00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:08,919
Speaker 5: about it.

438
00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:10,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, you might have. You might have to. Now when

439
00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:12,960
Speaker 2: it comes to altering the locker room. Did you ever

440
00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:15,439
Speaker 2: run into any resistance from Dennis Ryan or is he

441
00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:17,840
Speaker 2: like an LF for you that would just, you know.

442
00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:18,440
Speaker 4: Help you out.

443
00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:21,760
Speaker 5: Thenny was pro de core. You know that guy. I

444
00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:23,879
Speaker 5: think he needed it too, because that guy was a

445
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:27,000
Speaker 5: grinder for sure. So but yeah, he was. He was

446
00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:28,880
Speaker 5: always okay with it as long as you didn't get

447
00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:31,200
Speaker 5: in the way of like him getting back and forth

448
00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:33,080
Speaker 5: from you know, the back of the equipment room to

449
00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:35,320
Speaker 5: the locker room. He was all good with it. Yeah,

450
00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:37,600
Speaker 5: it was just a you know, this time that time

451
00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:39,159
Speaker 5: of the year, it's like late in the year, especially

452
00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:41,199
Speaker 5: if you're having a good year or if you have

453
00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:43,080
Speaker 5: a badger, you kind of need something like that to

454
00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:44,960
Speaker 5: kind of cheer you up and think and also just

455
00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:48,000
Speaker 5: kind of remind everybody like we're very thankful, very privileged

456
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:51,000
Speaker 5: to be playing this sport. You know, this is our

457
00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:54,280
Speaker 5: family during the during the season, and that's kind of

458
00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:56,040
Speaker 5: your home is a locker room, that's where you're at

459
00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:58,399
Speaker 5: all the time. So it needs to be homing, it

460
00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:01,200
Speaker 5: needs to be the core, like it's your home.

461
00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:04,320
Speaker 3: Great memories, Andrew, Andrews and Daejo, thank you so much.

462
00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:06,720
Speaker 3: It's been great catching up with you. Thank you for

463
00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:09,440
Speaker 3: sharing your skull stories and look forward to seeing you

464
00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:12,200
Speaker 3: when you get to town. Take care, appreciate your time today.

465
00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:18,360
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Thanks again to Andrews and Daejo for joining the show.

466
00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:20,080
Speaker 2: Always great to catch up with him when we get

467
00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:23,560
Speaker 2: a chance. Just an intense player, hard hitting player. It's

468
00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:26,760
Speaker 2: kind of a you just you don't see much. You

469
00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:28,960
Speaker 2: don't see guys like him much anymore though, Budda Baker

470
00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:33,600
Speaker 2: is kind of that guy, but definitely one of my favorites.

471
00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:36,360
Speaker 2: Always love to see guys kind of defy the odds,

472
00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:40,280
Speaker 2: whether it's playing in an alternative league or you know,

473
00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:43,160
Speaker 2: making like the Robert Criffet story where you just you're

474
00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:45,200
Speaker 2: on a couch for a year technically, and then you

475
00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:49,080
Speaker 2: get that door open just enough to get your butt

476
00:22:49,119 --> 00:22:51,320
Speaker 2: into a training camp, and then you end up becoming

477
00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:53,400
Speaker 2: a pro bowler making a team. I mean, it's it's

478
00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:57,240
Speaker 2: there are a lot of those guys out there, and

479
00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:00,280
Speaker 2: usually those are the guys that play at that level.

480
00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:02,639
Speaker 2: They never take a minute of it for granted. So

481
00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:06,040
Speaker 2: Vikings ten and two. That's our record after the first

482
00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:08,920
Speaker 2: thirteen weeks. And if you remember, this is a team

483
00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:12,360
Speaker 2: I think that was projected the pundits, you know myself,

484
00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:16,040
Speaker 2: maybe with the exception of everybody I know except for

485
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:19,399
Speaker 2: Pa Right, did not pick this team to be you

486
00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:22,639
Speaker 2: know where they are today and another five game winning streak.

487
00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:25,960
Speaker 2: Here's the thing, I think the biggest part of all

488
00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:30,000
Speaker 2: this is Number one, the production of Sam Darnold. He's

489
00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:34,080
Speaker 2: been playing some great football tenth in passing yards, fourth

490
00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:38,239
Speaker 2: and passing touchdowns, seventh and QBR rating. He's just been

491
00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:40,119
Speaker 2: a steady factor for this offense. And then now all

492
00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:41,720
Speaker 2: of a sudden the last couple of weeks, he's got

493
00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:45,680
Speaker 2: this comeback thing to him. We looked at this team

494
00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:47,639
Speaker 2: and we placed it where we did in the preseason

495
00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:50,520
Speaker 2: because of the number of changes, because of the number

496
00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:53,639
Speaker 2: of people that we brought in the you know, the unknowns.

497
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:56,439
Speaker 2: I mean Jerry Tillery, all right, a guy who just

498
00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:58,520
Speaker 2: kind of bounced around in the league.

499
00:23:58,560 --> 00:23:59,120
Speaker 4: You bring in.

500
00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:01,520
Speaker 2: We knew Anaton Gernard was going to be good, but

501
00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:03,240
Speaker 2: in this system, I think he's even better than what

502
00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:07,679
Speaker 2: he was down in Houston. Van Ginkle Nobody expected this

503
00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:10,800
Speaker 2: kind of production out of Van Ginkle. Nobody expected this

504
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:13,480
Speaker 2: kind of production out of Cashman, right, and the things

505
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:16,159
Speaker 2: that he can do. Ivan Pace continued to get better.

506
00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:18,760
Speaker 2: You know, we got old in the secondary pretty quickly,

507
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:22,359
Speaker 2: but they experienced the stuff on gilmour Byron Murphy he's playing.

508
00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:26,000
Speaker 2: He's a free agent guy, so he's playing for his contract,

509
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,159
Speaker 2: you know, Losing darrisaw It left tackle right, and then

510
00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:31,960
Speaker 2: bringing in Cam Robinson. It's like, all of this, what

511
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:34,320
Speaker 2: does that mean? All of it together is a ten

512
00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:36,600
Speaker 2: and two team. But you I think when we talked

513
00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:40,480
Speaker 2: about this this team before the season started, it was

514
00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:42,800
Speaker 2: with that asterisk, right. It's it's like we got an

515
00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:45,119
Speaker 2: army of new guys out there. You know, half the

516
00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:50,159
Speaker 2: defense almost overturned, and so all these question marks have

517
00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:52,919
Speaker 2: to work out for this team to be good, and

518
00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:57,359
Speaker 2: they did right, and it did and so you know,

519
00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:00,199
Speaker 2: now guys like Jalen redmen are making plays, so have

520
00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:03,960
Speaker 2: these names that were just guys it you're you're scratching

521
00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:06,320
Speaker 2: your head going who's this and who's that? And so

522
00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:08,720
Speaker 2: a lot of credit the FLOORA is being able to

523
00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:11,880
Speaker 2: identify the type of talent that fits his system. It's

524
00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:14,399
Speaker 2: one of the benefits if your system's a little different.

525
00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:17,000
Speaker 2: I remember back in the day with Tony Dungee, and

526
00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:20,040
Speaker 2: they didn't need you know, when Tony Dungee would look

527
00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:23,240
Speaker 2: at the linebacker position, he didn't need the proverbial six

528
00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:25,720
Speaker 2: foot four, two hundred and forty five pounds thumper that

529
00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:28,679
Speaker 2: can run. Those are the first round guys. He's like, no,

530
00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:31,560
Speaker 2: give me someone who's six foot two twenty who everybody

531
00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:34,080
Speaker 2: else in the league says is undersized and can run.

532
00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:38,440
Speaker 2: They can play in my system. Allah Eddie McDaniel, perfect example,

533
00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:41,840
Speaker 2: five foot eleven, can run, he can hit, but he's

534
00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:43,919
Speaker 2: just a lot of teams would just say nope, you know,

535
00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:46,000
Speaker 2: we're gonna stay away from because of his size. But

536
00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:48,199
Speaker 2: his speed was there, so he the little guys that

537
00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:50,840
Speaker 2: could run would fit his system, and he can get

538
00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:52,679
Speaker 2: a lot of value out of second and third and

539
00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:55,439
Speaker 2: fourth round picks because he didn't have to have the

540
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:59,080
Speaker 2: ideal height, weight and speed. And I think we're seeing

541
00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:01,119
Speaker 2: a lot of that on our on our defense with

542
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:03,560
Speaker 2: the with the guys that we haven't don't you don't.

543
00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:06,760
Speaker 2: You don't have to be a first round draft pick

544
00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:09,320
Speaker 2: to produce on this defense in the system. And you

545
00:26:09,359 --> 00:26:12,000
Speaker 2: know my opinion, Flora is saving this franchise a hell

546
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:14,440
Speaker 2: of a lot of money. And then having said all

547
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:16,760
Speaker 2: of that, that's what excites me about who's going to

548
00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:18,399
Speaker 2: step up next. And it's going to be fun to

549
00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:21,640
Speaker 2: see who decides to be the next man up again

550
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:24,520
Speaker 2: this Sunday down at US Banks Stadium, another big game,

551
00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:27,919
Speaker 2: this time against Kirk Cousins in the Atlanta Falcons Sunday

552
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:30,280
Speaker 2: at noon. I think we all had this one circled

553
00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:33,199
Speaker 2: when the schedule came out, right. So the TV coverage

554
00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:35,280
Speaker 2: is over on Fox nine here in the Twin Cities,

555
00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:37,560
Speaker 2: but be sure to check out your local listings for details.

556
00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:42,159
Speaker 2: You can also catch Paul Ben and myself yours truly

557
00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:45,080
Speaker 2: with the call right here all across the Vikings Radio network.

558
00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:48,800
Speaker 2: The Vikings Football Sunday pregame show starts at ten am

559
00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:50,800
Speaker 2: on kfa N, so be sure to tune in with

560
00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:53,120
Speaker 2: host Mike Mussman and the rest of the crew leading

561
00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:55,960
Speaker 2: up to kickoff. So thanks again to Andrewson Dajoe for

562
00:26:56,080 --> 00:26:58,439
Speaker 2: joining the show, and thank you fans for tuning in

563
00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:01,880
Speaker 2: to another episode of Skull Stories presented by three M,

564
00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:05,600
Speaker 2: the official science partner of the Minnesota Vikings. From Mark Rosen,

565
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:10,760
Speaker 2: I'm Pete Bursch and we'll all see you again next week.