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Speaker 1: Can you take us through the process of when you

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Speaker 1: found out and what your reaction was and how much

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Speaker 1: of a whirlwind it's been the last twenty four so hours. Uh. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I was wrapping up with my physical therapist in Las

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Speaker 1: Vegas yesterday, probably around eleven am. I got a call

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Speaker 1: from our general the general manager of the Raiders, and

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Speaker 1: he was just letting me know that I was going

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Speaker 1: to be traded, and uh, you know, we just kind

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Speaker 1: of reflected on, you know, the last season with the

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Speaker 1: Raiders and uh, you know, just expressing respect for one another, uh,

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Speaker 1: and what we did to try to make it work.

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Speaker 1: But from there, got a FaceTime call from Dave's and

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Speaker 1: Joe shortly after that, and was finding my way on

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Speaker 1: a flight, uh to to Newark at by four pm.

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Speaker 1: So it's it's been pretty crazy. Phones been going nuts

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Speaker 1: and you know, trying to you know, just say goodbyes

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Speaker 1: to Las Vegas people and uh, you know, get introduced

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Speaker 1: to people with the Giants. So it's been a lot

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Speaker 1: of it's been high octane in the last twenty four hours.

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Speaker 1: Let's say that one last thing, did you see this coming?

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Speaker 1: I did not see this coming. I was I was

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Speaker 1: getting ready to you know, just do everything I could

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Speaker 1: to make myself available for the Raiders and get ready

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Speaker 1: for everything that was going to start in mid April.

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Speaker 1: So it caught me off guard, but it's nature of

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Speaker 1: the business. Thanks man, Dan Talgain, Hey, Darren, welcome. Curious

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Speaker 1: what your emotions are like, you know, obviously the Raiders

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Speaker 1: with the organization where kind of you know, save your

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Speaker 1: career and obviously have some great success there. You come

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Speaker 1: to a new organization. Just what's what's your feelings right now? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's a lot of positive emotions, a lot of gratitude.

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Speaker 1: Like you said, getting a clean start, clean slate with

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Speaker 1: the Raiders was amazing for me. Moving to Vegas and

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Speaker 1: setting up roots there and just getting involved with the community,

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Speaker 1: making friends outside of football and just great people inside

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Speaker 1: the game of football. Has been a great place for

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Speaker 1: me to continue to be home for me and my wife.

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Speaker 1: So grateful for my time spent there, Grateful everything that

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Speaker 1: they've ever done for me, supporting me and my causes,

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Speaker 1: my foundation, my interests. So just grateful. I've tried I

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Speaker 1: focus on that as I move forward, and now I'm

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Speaker 1: grateful to be here. That's a thanks. Brian don Levy Hey, Darren,

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Speaker 1: thanks for doing us no problem. A couple of things

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Speaker 1: for you your last couple of years. Obviously you were

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Speaker 1: the two years ago you were right there with Travis

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Speaker 1: Kelsey probably as one of the best receiving tight ends

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Speaker 1: in the NFL, and then injuries the last two years.

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Speaker 1: How are you feeling at this point and how sure

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Speaker 1: are you you can be that guy again here three

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Speaker 1: years older. I'm feeling great right now. I know for

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Speaker 1: me the biggest adjustment I've had to make going into

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Speaker 1: this office season is, you know, making sure that I'm

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Speaker 1: peeking at the right time. I feel like something for

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Speaker 1: me that helped me elevate my game such a high

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Speaker 1: level was working myself so hard in those nineteen twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty off seasons to where it was almost too hard,

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Speaker 1: and that became my norm. So now it's about how

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Speaker 1: do I become more efficient with it and making sure

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Speaker 1: I'm peeking when the season starts, not showing up to

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Speaker 1: training camp, you know, having worked so hard that I'm

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Speaker 1: almost exhausted, and that doesn't set me up for success

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Speaker 1: or the team up for success. So for me, it's

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Speaker 1: about making sure I'm peaking at the right time and

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Speaker 1: having those conversations with the organization so far. Just being

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Speaker 1: here today, I really feel like it's gonna set me

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Speaker 1: up to get back on the trajectory I was on

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Speaker 1: and then I know you it's been a whirlwind. But

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Speaker 1: even from Afar or if you've had a chance that

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Speaker 1: looks like you met Daniel, your thoughts on joining this offense,

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Speaker 1: on playing with your new forty million dollars a year

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Speaker 1: QB say quon, what's here in the potential for this offense? Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Meeting some guys today in the cafeteria, in the locker room,

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Speaker 1: just they just radiate with humility. I really respect that.

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Speaker 1: M guys that are so talented and that have a

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Speaker 1: lot of upside and are just you know, really stepping

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Speaker 1: into their primes as players. I'm excited to be with them,

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Speaker 1: to be friends of theirs, to just grow and to

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Speaker 1: do whatever it takes to go where everybody knows this

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Speaker 1: team can go. And it's just really cool to meet

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Speaker 1: them and get a feel for their personalities and know

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Speaker 1: that these are guys that I'm gonna enjoy showing up

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Speaker 1: to work with every day. Thanks Jordan ran On, Hey

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Speaker 1: Darren with something man, congratulations, Thank you Man. I appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: From a personal perspective, I'm wondering how hard is it

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Speaker 1: for you knowing I mean we also, you just got married,

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Speaker 1: your wife is there, and then you get traded, you know,

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Speaker 1: right after basically you just got married. Yeah, it's a

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Speaker 1: bit of a curveball coming back one day from the honeymoon.

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Speaker 1: But you know, she supports me and wants to see

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Speaker 1: me shine to my ultimate potential as a player while

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Speaker 1: I still have the opportunity. So I'm grateful to have

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Speaker 1: her support, and you know, we're gonna do whatever it

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Speaker 1: takes to remain strong together, whatever the distance looks like,

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Speaker 1: the timing of it. Um. So I'm grateful to have

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Speaker 1: somebody that understands how things work in an industry like this,

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Speaker 1: and uh, you know, we just go forward and make

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Speaker 1: the best of it what we can. And from a

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Speaker 1: football perspective, how much do you know and what do

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Speaker 1: you know about Dave Ball and Cofco's offense for this

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Speaker 1: offense in general, and sort of how you envision yourself

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Speaker 1: fitting in that in that regard? Um? Yeah, with Dave's

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Speaker 1: I mean just seeing him from when he was in Buffalo,

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Speaker 1: you just see a high octane offense a lot of playmakers.

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Speaker 1: Ball just flying around the yard, um, no matter the

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Speaker 1: weather conditions, you know, and it's just an exciting brand

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Speaker 1: of football. And you can tell by the way that

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Speaker 1: he's come here. I feel like he's really empowered players.

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Speaker 1: And you can tell by um, you know, just me

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Speaker 1: looking at the tiding group they had from the outside

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Speaker 1: looking in receivers at you know, the casual fan may

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Speaker 1: not know a lot about them, but they're making clutch

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Speaker 1: plays and clutch moments. So to see him and how

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Speaker 1: he gets everybody involved in the creativity which he does that,

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Speaker 1: I'm excited to just be in the mix and be

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Speaker 1: a part of what this offense is going to try

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Speaker 1: to do. Good luck man, Patty Trainer. Hi, Darren, how

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Speaker 1: are you. I'm doing great. How are you doing? I'm

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Speaker 1: doing well. Thank you for asking, Darren. You know, I

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Speaker 1: think we can all agree that you know, Sorry, sorry,

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Speaker 1: I think I got immune. I apologize. I think we

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Speaker 1: can all agree that, you know, no matter how many

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Speaker 1: years you've been in the league's always room for growth.

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Speaker 1: Where do you see for yourself you would like to grow,

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Speaker 1: not only in this offense but as a as a player.

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Speaker 1: For me, number one is growth starts with just being

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Speaker 1: available as much as possible for the team, and then

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Speaker 1: for me from there, it's uh, just route running technique

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Speaker 1: is something I always feel like I can grow in.

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Speaker 1: I feel like I've grown tremendously from coming into the

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Speaker 1: league and moving to tight end. But for me, being

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Speaker 1: such a big guy, I feel like just keeping my

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Speaker 1: pads low, being crisp in and out of breaks, not

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Speaker 1: taking so many steps to get out of routes. There's

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Speaker 1: always a work in progress in the craft for me,

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Speaker 1: and then for me, it's just not limiting myself to

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Speaker 1: lining up in certain positions and running certain routes, like

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Speaker 1: looking at everything that this opposer is trying to do

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Speaker 1: and being like I can do that. For this team,

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Speaker 1: I can do whatever they're gonna ask of me, and

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Speaker 1: then just being reliable in the run game. Fuck, I've

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Speaker 1: had moments where I've been there, and there's moments where

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Speaker 1: I haven't performed as well as I would have liked to.

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Speaker 1: So it's just finding consistency in that aspect of my

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Speaker 1: game as well and trying to be as well rounded

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Speaker 1: as possible. Thanks so much, No problem, Kim Jones, Hey Darren,

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Speaker 1: thanks for doing this. I read a little bit about

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Speaker 1: your backstory, and I'm just wondering over the last couple

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Speaker 1: of years with injuries, and then I'll be up also

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Speaker 1: with some personal things that I think so many of

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Speaker 1: us and our families can relate to. How have you

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Speaker 1: learned to now be a better player because of all

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Speaker 1: of those other experiences. Wow, that's a great question, U.

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Speaker 1: I feel like the greatest lessons I've taken from, you know,

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Speaker 1: my recovery journey to the field is you know, just

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Speaker 1: to be centered in the present moment, to take things

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Speaker 1: one day at a time. When I got reinstated and

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Speaker 1: got an opportunity to start for the Raiders, I wasn't

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Speaker 1: envisioning these huge statistical seasons or you know my name

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Speaker 1: in headlines and lights. You know, I was just trying

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Speaker 1: to be as consistent a player as I possibly could,

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Speaker 1: from period to period, from practice to practice, from week

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Speaker 1: to week. And you know, for me like I'm I'm

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Speaker 1: just for today, taded on my wrists, and you know,

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Speaker 1: messages like that just keep me centered to know, like

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Speaker 1: if I'm handling each and every moment like that moment

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Speaker 1: in the future that I wanted to happen at success,

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Speaker 1: that where the team wants to go where I want

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Speaker 1: to go. It's going to be a present moment when

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Speaker 1: it comes. And if I handle every moment that way

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Speaker 1: with a sense of urgency and with gratitude, then I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna make most of it. I'm gonna like the results,

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Speaker 1: whether it I was perfect or imperfect or you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm not going to be perfect. So I just say

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Speaker 1: lessons like those, keeping my mind in the right place where,

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Speaker 1: you know, because during the course of the season, things

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Speaker 1: can go great, things can go not what you expected

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Speaker 1: them to be. So it's a matter of just staying

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Speaker 1: even stay in that place of equanimity and ride it out.

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Speaker 1: I actually covered the game at MetLife Stadium. It was

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Speaker 1: against the Jets, though, where you just dominated that day.

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Speaker 1: You caught everything you know that was in the sky,

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Speaker 1: you know, and you had a great game that day.

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Speaker 1: How how sure are you and how much should Giants

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Speaker 1: fans believe that those performances from you are still in

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Speaker 1: you and still possible on game days? I believe wholeheartedly

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Speaker 1: and myself and I believe that through action and through

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Speaker 1: uh consistent performance, Giants fans will believe as well. You know,

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Speaker 1: they can have, you know, questions at this moment about

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Speaker 1: my help. Those are legitimate concerns, but I'm somebody that

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Speaker 1: I believe I've addressed those issues and I'm willing to

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Speaker 1: come out here and to you know, be the best

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Speaker 1: I can be, to be a weapon for this team,

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Speaker 1: a tool that this team can use to get to

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Speaker 1: that next level they want to go to. And that's

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Speaker 1: exactly what I'm gonna do. Thank you so much, Darren Well,

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Speaker 1: Charlotte Carroll. Very nice to me too. I hope you're

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Speaker 1: doing well. Just to clarify you that I heard it correctly.

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Speaker 1: You got back from the honeymoon on Monday, and then

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Speaker 1: you found out at the trade yesterday, that is correct.

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Speaker 1: That's crazy. Um. I wanted to ask about kind of

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Speaker 1: reuniting with Andy Bischoff, if you kind of how well

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Speaker 1: you knew him in Baltimore in the prospect of doing that. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: reunited with Andy's pretty cool. It's like one of those

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Speaker 1: full circle moments. He was in Baltimore before I got

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Speaker 1: suspended and after I got reinstated and be on the

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Speaker 1: practice squad there. So he's seen me in low moments.

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Speaker 1: He's seen me in moments where I was, you know,

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Speaker 1: getting my foot back in the door and just trying

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Speaker 1: to you know, be consistent and be reliable as a

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Speaker 1: member of the practice squad in the organization and now

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Speaker 1: from Afar, he's been able to see me and take

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Speaker 1: some of the lessons I've taken from being around him

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Speaker 1: in that culture to help elevate my career. So to

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Speaker 1: meet now and to continue on this journey together as

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Speaker 1: a pretty cool thing. I don't think a lot of

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Speaker 1: things happen like that for people, But I'm excited to,

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Speaker 1: you know, have him be in my corner, help have

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Speaker 1: him helped me elevate my game and all the games

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Speaker 1: of the tight ends in the room. So I think

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Speaker 1: it's gonna be a really cool journey. Have you been

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Speaker 1: able to see him yet in Jersey or did he

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Speaker 1: send you a mass heage at all? Yeah? I had

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Speaker 1: lunch to get today with him and my dad, uh,

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Speaker 1: and so we were just talking over lunch, sat in

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Speaker 1: his office for a little bit, just talking about how

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Speaker 1: we do things, how he envisions, uh you know, the

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Speaker 1: offseason going and just learning the system. So I can

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Speaker 1: just tell he's with me every step with a way,

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Speaker 1: just by how he's showed up for me before and

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Speaker 1: how you know, just feeling his energy. Now I'm excited

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Speaker 1: about it. Thanks so much and welcome. Thank you. We'll

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Speaker 1: take two more. Bob brook over Hey, Darren, welcome. Um.

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Speaker 1: How do you how do you compare coming back from

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Speaker 1: something like the last two years of injuries too? Maybe

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Speaker 1: when you when you conquered what you conquered before that,

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Speaker 1: does this seem like a much easier to come back

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Speaker 1: to you than than having to deal with what you

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Speaker 1: do before? And does that make you feel like you

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Speaker 1: can do anything because you overcame the addictions? Uh? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I believe that. I believe that there was resiliency formed

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Speaker 1: from that day, and I feel like resiliency has been

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Speaker 1: formed in private matters in my life from and then

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Speaker 1: you know, smaller adversities that happened over the course of seasons,

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Speaker 1: whether I'm successful or not as successful as I want

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Speaker 1: to be. I feel like those continue to prepare me

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Speaker 1: for moments where adversity comes again, because I feel like

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Speaker 1: it's always going to show up inferent forms, and I

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Speaker 1: feel like that's what brings the best out of me.

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Speaker 1: It's what brought the best out of me before, and

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Speaker 1: I feel like it's going to bring the best out

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Speaker 1: of me this time again, and so I'm excited to, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, just be the best teammate, the best player

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Speaker 1: I can be for the Giants to help them be

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Speaker 1: as successful as possible. And I feel like, yes, the

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Speaker 1: moments of my past have prepared me to rise above

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Speaker 1: what may have been um my current circumstances these past

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Speaker 1: couple of seasons. And how was how was dealing with

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Speaker 1: a hamstring injury maybe different than than anything else? Was

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Speaker 1: one of the tougher injuries you've had to deal with. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: no doubt, it's definitely different. There's a lot of injuries

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Speaker 1: that you can kind of tough your way through and uh,

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Speaker 1: you know and play and play with injury, but the

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Speaker 1: hamstring is literally you you cannot run with a hamstring injury,

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Speaker 1: and when you continue to, you know, reaggravated that practice,

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Speaker 1: trying to come back and trying to be out there

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Speaker 1: for your team as quick as possible. It really limits

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Speaker 1: you because you literally cannot run no matter what you

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Speaker 1: try to do. So it was frustrating for sure, But

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Speaker 1: I feel like in those moment I learned a lot

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Speaker 1: about myself, learned to be patient with myself in times

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Speaker 1: where I wasn't producing or performing the way I wanted

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Speaker 1: to and still, uh, you know, you don't know the

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Speaker 1: confidence that you have into in yourself until when people

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Speaker 1: around you may doubt you. But you got to look

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Speaker 1: in the mirror and know that you believe in yourself.

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Speaker 1: So I feel like that's why I learned from those moments.

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Speaker 1: And one last thing. John Bruden liked to call you

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Speaker 1: a joker and not a tight end. That's what he

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Speaker 1: uses for all the great tight ends. I guess, well,

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Speaker 1: how do you look at yourself? Do you think yourself

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Speaker 1: beyond tight end? Do you like to end? Do you

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Speaker 1: like the moniker of joker? Um? Yeah, I mean I

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Speaker 1: look I love John Gruden to death, and uh, I

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Speaker 1: feel like I'll take that title. Um, I feel like

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Speaker 1: I'm just a football player. You know. I'll line up

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Speaker 1: out wide, I'll line up in the slot, I'll line

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Speaker 1: up in line, I'll block, I'll i'll crack the end

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Speaker 1: if you want me to like, I'll whatever you ask

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Speaker 1: me to do. I feel like I can do it

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Speaker 1: at a high level. And that's what I plan on

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Speaker 1: doing here. Thank you, best luck, thank you last one

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Speaker 1: here pot Leonard, Hey, Darren, welcome. Just something about your

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Speaker 1: contract here because there's no guaranteed money in it. After

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Speaker 1: this season, there's talk about, oh, you know, the Giants

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Speaker 1: can view this as a wait and see situation, you know,

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Speaker 1: see how twenty twenty three goes. I was just wondering

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Speaker 1: if you've had conversations with the Giants already about do

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Speaker 1: they want to make a longer term commitment to you,

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Speaker 1: Will they possibly rework your contract to indicate that, And

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Speaker 1: is that something you want as well. That's not something

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Speaker 1: that's been discussed. I try to leave that to Drew

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Speaker 1: and Joe. I'm focused on just what I can do

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Speaker 1: in this offseason and coming up this season, because without

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Speaker 1: a successful this season, the future doesn't necessarily matter right now.

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Speaker 1: So I'm focused on what I can do this year

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Speaker 1: and putting my best game on display, and I'll let

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Speaker 1: everything else happen the way it happens. And just real quick,

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Speaker 1: I'm assuming, since we're talking to you that you passed

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Speaker 1: your physical, but I just wanted to ask you we're

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Speaker 1: talking to you. Uh yeah, nobody's came and got me

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Speaker 1: and kicked me out of building yet, So I feel

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Speaker 1: like I feel like I'm good