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Speaker 1: You are tuned about Drive on Home of the Black

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Speaker 1: and Goals Steelers Nation Radio. Welcome back. I'm Dale Ali

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Speaker 1: here with Matt Williamson. This is the Drive on Steelers

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Speaker 1: Nation Radio and Matt Um. ESPN has a piece here

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Speaker 1: by field Yates. One last offseason move for all thirty

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Speaker 1: two NFL teams, final free agent signings, extensions and trades,

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Speaker 1: the complete training camp rosters, and I'm gonna for the

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Speaker 1: Steelers here. His one final move is to extend wide

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Speaker 1: receiver Deante Johnson. Now, the Steelers have the cap space

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Speaker 1: to deuce. Yeah, but you do have to wonder if

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Speaker 1: if that I I'm of the belief they'll make an

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Speaker 1: attempt to get that done. Hum. I just don't know

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Speaker 1: that it will get done right, because you don't know

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Speaker 1: if there's tons of motivation to get it done. I

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Speaker 1: think there's some motivation. You know, people who talk about

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Speaker 1: what he's not a true number one, he's not this,

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Speaker 1: he's not that well. First of all, he's the best

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Speaker 1: guy that you have at the position. Secondly, the teammates

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Speaker 1: in the locker room, Like I've yet to see teammates

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Speaker 1: get upset about one of somebody getting one of their

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Speaker 1: own getting a contract extension, most certainly when that guy

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Speaker 1: is somebody who works his butt off and gets better

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Speaker 1: and keeps his head down and does the work. Because

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Speaker 1: that's as Antonio Brown I mean, but people that that's

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Speaker 1: an I'm talking about it. You're talking about the Hall

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Speaker 1: of Fame wide receiver, right, one of the best that's

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Speaker 1: ever done, you know. I mean, I we've talked about

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Speaker 1: this a lot that I think Johnson is probably better

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Speaker 1: than our audience realizes. I mean, especially his ability to

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Speaker 1: get off press coverage, route runner. The hands thing does

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Speaker 1: not worry me. And it's a couple of little pockets

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Speaker 1: in his career where he struggled catching the football. But

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Speaker 1: that's because he demands a lot of targets. If you're

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Speaker 1: getting targeted a lot, you've earned it and he earns it. Um.

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't give him a J. Brown money. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I'm sure that's what he'll asked for. I wouldn't go there, though. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean they haven't even had a contract, any contract

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Speaker 1: talks to this point. I mean that was the other

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Speaker 1: thing about the make of its. Patrick deal came together

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Speaker 1: very quickly and it was really realistically about two to

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Speaker 1: three weeks. Uh, it took them to get that deal

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Speaker 1: done folks. For Yeah, there were some reports out there

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Speaker 1: that you know, they were close two months ago, complete hogwash.

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Speaker 1: They hadn't even talked complete not somebody just made something up. Okay,

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Speaker 1: Um it was it just wasn't true. Yeah, uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: I mean they knew was on the horizon. I mean

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Speaker 1: everyone knows when contracts are coming up. But the fact

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Speaker 1: that the Steelers were able to get that one done

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Speaker 1: quickly now opens the door for Deante Johnson contract talks

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Speaker 1: for christ I expect, like Chris Boswell is doing probably

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Speaker 1: a new contract as well. Here he's going into his

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Speaker 1: final season of his deal. You could probably get that

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Speaker 1: done pretty quickly. He said. Okay, here's what Justin Tucker

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Speaker 1: is making. We're gonna give you, give you yeah, we'll

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Speaker 1: give you nine with Justin Tucker is making. Okay, done deal.

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Speaker 1: I signed his designing and that's done. Deante Johnson or anything. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: Deante Johnson situation is a little bit different because of

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Speaker 1: the way that the free free agent are not even

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Speaker 1: free agent, but the wide receiver market as a whole

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Speaker 1: kind of blew up here. Crazy Sas for what, don't

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Speaker 1: blame Deonte Johnson for that. No, No, people have people

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Speaker 1: out there track Shane Deonte Johnson. First of all, they

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Speaker 1: haven't haven't exchanged any numbers. Well Doante Johnson's once once? No,

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Speaker 1: he doesn't. You don't know that. He hasn't said that

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Speaker 1: to anybody. I have seen nothing from I've you know,

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Speaker 1: tried to contact his agent. Um, I've talked to him.

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Speaker 1: He's never said million dollars. He's gonna want to be

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Speaker 1: fairly compensated though, you know, I mean from the table

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Speaker 1: and say that's the first offer, and they'll say no.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I mean a lot of mixed feelings

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Speaker 1: on this one, because I think he's worth I don't know,

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Speaker 1: seventeen eighteen something like that, and probably we'll get it somewhere,

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Speaker 1: and sooner than later. The Steelers don't pay him, somebody

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Speaker 1: else will. And if they have an awful season, I

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Speaker 1: guess you could trade him at the trade deadline and

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Speaker 1: get something nice for him or whatever. I don't think

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Speaker 1: that's in the cars. I think they're looking at him

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Speaker 1: as a long term Steeler. I think that franchise tag

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Speaker 1: those alluring. If I'm the Steelers. See here's why I

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Speaker 1: don't think it is Okay, this year, the franchise tag,

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Speaker 1: I'm trying to pull off the top of my head.

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Speaker 1: It was it was like it was like eighteen some

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Speaker 1: million dollars this year. Adams and Hill and those just

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Speaker 1: saw a bunch of guys signed twenty five million dollar deals.

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Speaker 1: The franchise tag is the average of the top five

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Speaker 1: top five salaries at the position. Well, the top five

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Speaker 1: salaries at the position changed considerably this year, So now

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Speaker 1: the franchise tag didna cost you? Yeah, and you can

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Speaker 1: pay them cheaper than that, and probably it's probably gonna

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Speaker 1: be like twenty three million. Okay, see, yeah, it's a

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Speaker 1: good point. So I'm gonna take that back. You have

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Speaker 1: a good point there, because the franchise tag would be

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Speaker 1: great for someone in his shoes if you were coming

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Speaker 1: off an injury or is he about to turn the

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Speaker 1: corner and become a lot better, Like I think we

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Speaker 1: know what he is, you know, and it's really good.

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Speaker 1: You know. It's not like he's never gonna, I don't

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Speaker 1: think to be a top five receiver. I don't think

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Speaker 1: he's gonna be the thirtie receiver, you know, Like I

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Speaker 1: think he's gonna be somewhere from twelve to twenty two

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Speaker 1: for the upcoming for you know, his next contract. He's

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Speaker 1: gonna be a really good player, a contributor and worth

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Speaker 1: the money. There's every team in the league would love

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Speaker 1: to have Deonte Johnson, right right, you know, like the

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Speaker 1: Jets that hoped Corey Davis would be someone like him

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Speaker 1: when they gave him big money. They're hoping Garrett Wilson

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Speaker 1: is that guy, you know, like the Jaguars. The Jaguars

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Speaker 1: would would would love it if Kirk Kirk becomes Dente

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Speaker 1: Johnson or again, he would help any team in the league.

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Speaker 1: So I think he's a long term fixture. My only

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Speaker 1: reservation though, is they've drafted so well and they've gotten

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Speaker 1: so much cheap labor out of rookie contracts. I don't

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Speaker 1: know what that's sustainable though. I mean, do we know

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Speaker 1: the Steelers have the key to the unlocking magic wide receivers?

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Speaker 1: You know, Like I'm not saying they got lucky, but

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Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not sure I can count that as

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Speaker 1: my strategy at the wide receiver position until the end

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Speaker 1: of time. And quite frankly, you've still had mrs there,

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Speaker 1: and you've had mrs to like I mean, James Washington

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Speaker 1: wasn't bad, but you don't want that, you know, right,

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Speaker 1: I mean you use the second round pick. I mean

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Speaker 1: he's he's an NFL player, but he's not a star.

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Speaker 1: Marcus Wheaton was an NFL player, but not a star. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know, we tend to look at these a lot

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Speaker 1: of picks on Day two receivers. Yeah, we just we

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Speaker 1: tell just the guys who have worked out, But there

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Speaker 1: have been others who have been fine players. They haven't

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Speaker 1: been complete, but they haven't been lying with Swede. But

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Speaker 1: you know, it doesn't always work out that way, you know,

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Speaker 1: Sammy coach was sprinkled in there. I mean they they've

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Speaker 1: had more hits than misses, but every team misses on

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Speaker 1: those guys. Yes, and this is gonna sound like a

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Speaker 1: knock on Ben. I don't mean it to be, you

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Speaker 1: know it. But mentally, from what I understand, this offense

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Speaker 1: was easier on rookie and second year players than a

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Speaker 1: team like New England. You know, like a the fewer

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Speaker 1: option routes and reading the coverage on the fly and

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Speaker 1: things like that. You know, so people don't think about

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Speaker 1: the mental aspects of a wide receiver. A big reason

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Speaker 1: New England wide receivers bust all the time. Is they

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Speaker 1: asked them to think and do so much that they

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Speaker 1: can't just react. So give us to know his coaching

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Speaker 1: staff credit. But I also think that the job of

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Speaker 1: the wide receiver is going forward will probably be a

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Speaker 1: little more taxing mentally and in their scheme. Yeah. Um,

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Speaker 1: looking here at some of the other a f C

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Speaker 1: North teams and what they what Field Yates believes they

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Speaker 1: need to get done. Okay, for the Ravens, it's break

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Speaker 1: the bank. For quarterback Lamar Jackson, I want to get

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Speaker 1: to that one second. I'm like, I'm one could get ugly,

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Speaker 1: could get ugly. Um. I like Field a lot, and

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Speaker 1: he was there when I was there, and we get

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Speaker 1: along rode well and I like him. Um. And I'm

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Speaker 1: sure his job was not I'm sure the editor didn't say,

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Speaker 1: you know, right, whatever you want. They probably told him,

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Speaker 1: you know, here, here's pick on because I the last

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Speaker 1: thing I want to say about Stelers is I think

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Speaker 1: they have three more moves coming, you know, like there's

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Speaker 1: not just one more big Maybe there's one more big move,

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Speaker 1: but they're gonna do a couple more little things. Because

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Speaker 1: it's a great time to shop. Um As for Lamar,

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Speaker 1: I think you have to go all it. Yeah, but

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Speaker 1: I mean you've you've invested this much, he's been this good,

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Speaker 1: changed people the whole deal. So yeah, you're you're married

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Speaker 1: to him, though you're married to him now. Now, I

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Speaker 1: would rather give him a lot of money up front

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Speaker 1: and be able to get out of the deal if

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Speaker 1: he blows on an achilles, or his ankles aren't the same,

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Speaker 1: or he's now runs a four six five, you know

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Speaker 1: what I mean, three or four or five years from now,

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Speaker 1: because he's a unique player. The other thing. First of all,

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Speaker 1: I think he's also an underrated passer and has dealt

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Speaker 1: with a lot. And their offense was much much better

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Speaker 1: last year when he was healthy verse not and they're

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Speaker 1: pushing the ball down the field. But and coach Flora's

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Speaker 1: Ryan Flora as exemplified this. He now has a new

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Speaker 1: ward Lamar. Man coverage and heavy blitzes destroyed him last

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Speaker 1: year and it's not all him. His old line was

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Speaker 1: terrible and they don't have man beating receivers, but they

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Speaker 1: still don't have man beating receivers, and his numbers, his

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Speaker 1: metrics verse five and six, man pressures with man coverage

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Speaker 1: behind it are like the worst in the league. So

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Speaker 1: he's gonna get that week one like crazy until he

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Speaker 1: can prove different. And he hasn't proved anything. Part of

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Speaker 1: the reason why he struggles with that is because he

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Speaker 1: never sees it or hadn't nobody play a man to

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Speaker 1: man defense against him. If I blitz six and play man,

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Speaker 1: he's gonna run for eighty yards. Well, what he really

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Speaker 1: does is he packs the ball one time too many

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Speaker 1: and he gets sacked. You know, he just doesn't process

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Speaker 1: of and his guys don't get open. Right. Yeah, there's

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Speaker 1: no there's there's no real hot to get to because

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Speaker 1: they just they don't They're not built that way. It's

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Speaker 1: also one of the problems of their scheme, to which yeah,

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Speaker 1: I know people want to give them a ton of

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Speaker 1: credit for revamping the scheme. It's a it's kind of rudimentary.

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Speaker 1: It's almost like the wing tea as opposed to you know,

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Speaker 1: having hot routes and you know, changing protections and things

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Speaker 1: like that. For the Bengals, it's give safety Jesse Bates

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Speaker 1: a new contract. And they hate to make a deal though,

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Speaker 1: they absolutely because now they're gonna have I mean Jesse Bates.

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Speaker 1: If I'm going in there, I want to I want

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Speaker 1: at least eight teen point five million a year. Right,

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Speaker 1: and he's not as good as makeup. He's also hasn't

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Speaker 1: signed his franchise tender yet. Right, he's not currently a

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Speaker 1: football player. He's not current. He can hold out. Mhm,

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Speaker 1: well it's actually it's not even a holdout. He doesn't

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Speaker 1: have a contract, so he could This could linger into

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Speaker 1: training camp for them where he just doesn't show up

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Speaker 1: because he's not under contract. This could be a Levy

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Speaker 1: on Bell type situation. I mean, looking around the division,

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Speaker 1: nothing is is distracting as it is a Cleveland obviously,

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Speaker 1: but these two subjects, with these other rivals or have

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Speaker 1: a chance to get harry, you know, they have a

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Speaker 1: chance to be distracting. They have a chance to not

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Speaker 1: necessarily be all roses when it's all said and done.

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Speaker 1: And again, I can't give bait to make the money.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it would kind of be like that bosswell conversation,

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Speaker 1: here's to make a contract will give you, But he's

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Speaker 1: not gonna want to hear that. He's I don't want

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Speaker 1: to hear that. And you just draft the safety in

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Speaker 1: the first round. You know that that might not be

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Speaker 1: an accident, you know, so I'm not sure that gets done. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: in which case I'm not sure that the player plays

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Speaker 1: for them this year. Yeah, but I can't imagine I'm

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Speaker 1: not signing the tenure. I mean, what is that fifteen million?

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Speaker 1: I'm guessing that he just leave on the table to

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Speaker 1: stay home. It's that's not it's not that high. It

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Speaker 1: might be a one and done. You know the the

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Speaker 1: safety franchise tender this year, Um, it's probably not. It's

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Speaker 1: I think it's like twelve or thirteam, which sounds like

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Speaker 1: a lot. But if you're wanting more than that, um,

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Speaker 1: I'm just thinking, if I'm in his shoes, by NFL standards,

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Speaker 1: he has not made much money yet. He has not

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Speaker 1: and he's worth more than twelve fifth safety still got

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Speaker 1: a couple of million back Safety was twelve nine one

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Speaker 1: this year. So if if I'm looking at okay, I

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Speaker 1: just saw making Fitzpatrick's gets a seventeen and a half

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Speaker 1: million dollar signing bonus and his salary this year. So

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Speaker 1: making Fitzpatrick realistically took home is taking home this year

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Speaker 1: about twenty two million dollars in new money. If I

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Speaker 1: get that if I'm Jesse Bates, I I want something

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Speaker 1: close to that. Yeah, I don't think you're gonna get

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Speaker 1: it from that organization either. Well that's the problem more lately,

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Speaker 1: but still Yeah, and we just saw with the Leva

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Speaker 1: Levy on Bell set the bar here with this you

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Speaker 1: can you can now not show up and and it

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Speaker 1: doesn't it doesn't affect mh your long term future. That's

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Speaker 1: the only version of a holdout that exists anymore in

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Speaker 1: the league, correct, without any without any kind of financial penalties. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: right right right now. And I think he will is

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Speaker 1: he gonna be any hurry to come in? But the

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Speaker 1: other the other thing about it is he gonna be

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Speaker 1: in a hurry. Let's say, okay, he's it's week seven,

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Speaker 1: he does come in, he's playing on the franchise tag. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: my knee is a little store this week. I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: sit these next two weeks out. That's what I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: say too. I don't have a contract next year. I mean,

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Speaker 1: Mike Thomas is kind of Michael Thomas has kind of

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Speaker 1: played that game. Kenny Golladay's last year in Detroit, I

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Speaker 1: mean Alan Robinson last year at the Bear. My contracts

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Speaker 1: up things aren't going great, ums, and it's again back

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Speaker 1: to the Deonte Johnson. It sends a message in your

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Speaker 1: locker room. M hmm, well, wait, you're not gonna pay

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Speaker 1: that guy. He's our best player on defense. You're not

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Speaker 1: gonna pay him, right, right, right? What's gonna happen when

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Speaker 1: I'm a free agent? What's from Arrow, Chase and Hagan?

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Speaker 1: You're okay? You know you have to pay somebody. You

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Speaker 1: have to pay somebody. Yeah, and they have spent more, right,

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Speaker 1: and not implying that they're the pirates, you know they're not.

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Speaker 1: They've come a long way. But my hunts, just a

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Speaker 1: prediction is Bates plays on the franchise tag and then

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Speaker 1: he's somewhere else yere after. Wouldn't surprise me if he

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Speaker 1: skips in's her training camp though, right, I was gonna

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Speaker 1: say that too, and probably doesn't play one preseason game,

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Speaker 1: gets there right before. Yeah. Yeah, and that's okay. I

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Speaker 1: mean they can still win the super Bowl that way,

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Speaker 1: but it's not ideal for the Browns. They could go.

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Speaker 1: They could go a lot of different ways here. Field

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Speaker 1: Field could go a lot of different ways with this one.

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Speaker 1: But his thing has resolved the situation with quarterback Baker Mayfield. Well,

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Speaker 1: they need some kind of clarity on what's gonna happen

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Speaker 1: with the Shawn Watson not to do something with Baker

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Speaker 1: maker Baker Mayfield is never going to play another down

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Speaker 1: for the for the Browns. See, yeah, that's the thing

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Speaker 1: is I did the bigger deal to go with that.

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Speaker 1: The bigger deal to me is get something resolved on

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Speaker 1: this to Shaun Watson's situation. But you know where you stand,

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Speaker 1: and I honestly think it's it's going to at least

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Speaker 1: be a year long suspension. I don't think the Shawn

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Speaker 1: Watson plays football in two Yeah. Today's podcast, my co

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Speaker 1: host said, if you had to put a chip down,

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Speaker 1: if it is more or less than a full season,

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Speaker 1: where would you put your chip? I said more Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean I really think it will be a year,

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Speaker 1: But I think there's a better chance it's more than

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Speaker 1: that than it is ten games. They get suspended for

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Speaker 1: the year and then and then make him his return,

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Speaker 1: contingus in upon him a bunch of different things that

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Speaker 1: he has to do and then he has to reapply,

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Speaker 1: right right, They did come back like Josh Gordon, and Yeah,

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Speaker 1: this is a serious situation. And the Browns. I'm sorry

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Speaker 1: they screwed the pooch on this one. They screwed themselves,

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Speaker 1: I mean, just overly aggressive. And then they kind of

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Speaker 1: gave the finger to the league with his contract, especially

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Speaker 1: the one million for the year and being all guaranteed.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's kind of rubbing it in the face

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Speaker 1: of the rest of the league, which they all take notice,

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Speaker 1: and you know that that ain't cool. I mean, think

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Speaker 1: about it this way, like, here's one example we haven't

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Speaker 1: used about watching We've talked about the picture in baseball.

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Speaker 1: Who's got two years or people in years past that

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Speaker 1: have had some sort of alley, you know, things against them.

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Speaker 1: But they just suspended Calvin Ridley for the entire year

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Speaker 1: for betting a thousand bucks on an NFL all game.

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Speaker 1: If Watson's close to guilty, it's worse than that, you

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Speaker 1: know what I mean. By the way, Calvin Cralvin Ridley

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Speaker 1: was not playing at that point, all right, he was out,

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Speaker 1: you know, Like that suspension looks foolish to me, to

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Speaker 1: be honest with you. But if Watson's guilty of this,

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Speaker 1: what he did is eight million times worse than betting

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Speaker 1: a thousand bucks on a game whatever was, you know, So, yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's gonna be a situation that that's just yeah. And

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Speaker 1: the problem for Cleveland is this next year's salary cap.

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Speaker 1: First of all, there are thirty they're thirty million dollars

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Speaker 1: over next year's cap, and they have eight players next

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Speaker 1: year making more than ten million dollars a year, including

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Speaker 1: if you looked at This part is interesting to me though,

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Speaker 1: is I just went over to the cap dot Com

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Speaker 1: Right now, the Panthers have the second most caps based

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Speaker 1: in the league. They have twenty five million as it

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Speaker 1: stands right now by over the caps calculations. The Browns

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Speaker 1: have the most cap space available with forty two million.

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Speaker 1: But then next year they're like in Saints Land, you know,

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Speaker 1: like the worst in the league. So they could add

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Speaker 1: Jimmy Garoppolo, I guess on like a one year deal

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Speaker 1: or something like that, but you're really kicking the can.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the window is now for this team, is

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Speaker 1: my point. And I don't know that Jimmy Garoppolo makes

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Speaker 1: them a Super Bowl contender and they're in it to

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Speaker 1: win it this year and they're not gonna this year, right,

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Speaker 1: you know, they already moved on from tread or the center.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I think after this year, you're moving on.

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Speaker 1: There's no more clowneys. You know, you're moving on from

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Speaker 1: Conklin Kareem Hunt, those type of deals. All those guys

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Speaker 1: are gonna vanish. And you know what any for us

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Speaker 1: ron picks. Yeah, yeah, it's bad. They've not set themselves

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Speaker 1: up well for the future. But that's the that's the

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Speaker 1: a f C North what those teams need to do.

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Speaker 1: I think for the Steelers, beyond extending Deante Johnson, I

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Speaker 1: would look for a veteran offensive tackle who could be

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Speaker 1: a you know, a swing guy type guy. I would

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Speaker 1: look at obviously a backup running back, sure that's a minor,

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Speaker 1: and then potentially another another edge rusher. Yeah. And I

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Speaker 1: would kind of also just be looking for bargains, like

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Speaker 1: we don't really need that, but we think you're a

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Speaker 1: five million dollar player and you're gonna take two for

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Speaker 1: the year, Okay, you know, we'll add you and maybe

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Speaker 1: turn you into a compact a year from now or

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Speaker 1: figure it out from there. Yeah, yeah, right right. I

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Speaker 1: mean that's the nice position that they're in financially, which

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Speaker 1: is goes back to the Omar Khan hiring. I mean

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Speaker 1: the finances of this this lead now are almost as

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Speaker 1: important as to the eleven guys you tried out there

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Speaker 1: play after play, you know, handling all that. And I

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Speaker 1: think that's a big reason why the Rooney family realized

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Speaker 1: that Omar is a good guy to hire for this.

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Speaker 1: You know, he understands all that. He doesn't have to

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Speaker 1: know how well a linebacker changed his direction or you know,

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Speaker 1: he hires people to do that. Yeah. Yeah, it's all

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Speaker 1: very all very interesting in uh, you know, as as

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Speaker 1: we get closer to training camp, some of these questions

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Speaker 1: will be answered. Here. What about a month from training camp? Mad?

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Speaker 1: What is today? Today's a twenty two, So a little

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Speaker 1: over a month from today, we'll be heading to Latrobe.

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Speaker 1: Oh baby, that could be fun. You should be interesting

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Speaker 1: and can't wait for that. But that is going to

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Speaker 1: do it for the Drive today. So for my partner

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Speaker 1: Matt Williamson, I am Dale Lally. We thank you for

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Speaker 1: listening to this edition of the Drive on Steelers Nation Radio.