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Speaker 1: I've been a fan of the system with these guys

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Speaker 1: have done offensively for a while as a player and

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Speaker 1: even as a coach. Huge part of me coming here

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Speaker 1: to just to kind of expand my horizon as a coach,

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Speaker 1: just kind of learned this way of doing football coach.

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Speaker 1: In high school. I ran my own business doing private

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Speaker 1: quarterback training. I lived in the Guru space with Jordan

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Speaker 1: Palmer and George Woodfield and Quincy Avery, and so I

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Speaker 1: think I have a unique fresh perspective. You know that,

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Speaker 1: you know I'm thankful for. This is episode one fifty

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Speaker 1: two of the Minnesota Vikings podcast, and we're bringing the

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Speaker 1: heat this week. We figured we'd have to match those

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Speaker 1: record high tempts. Jay, I'm not gonna lie to you.

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Speaker 1: You moved to Minnesota and everyone asks you about how

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Speaker 1: cold it is, and then it hits a hundred on

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Speaker 1: the day that you move into a new house, and

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Speaker 1: you're like, this is a very cruel joke. The best

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Speaker 1: part for me is that we've been kind of chiding

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Speaker 1: you a little bit, saying, hey, just wait in the summer,

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Speaker 1: it's gonna get hot, and you're like, yeah, it's never

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Speaker 1: gonna be here what it was in my car it

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Speaker 1: said one hundred and five. The other day when I

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Speaker 1: was driving, I'm like, yeah, this is oppressively hot. So

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Speaker 1: I will say on that day, though, I did go

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Speaker 1: out to the driving range and hit some balls a

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Speaker 1: little bit for golf, and it was hot and it

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Speaker 1: was definitely steamy, but it was something that it actually

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Speaker 1: felt kind of good just to kind of be in

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Speaker 1: that warm weather and just kind of keep moving. I

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Speaker 1: had cracked a joke to my wife, and I said,

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Speaker 1: these are the days when I used to do manual

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Speaker 1: labor jobs that actually you hated but you loved at

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Speaker 1: the same time because you just felt disgusting all day

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Speaker 1: and doing work and stuff. But you come home and

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Speaker 1: you step on the scale and you lose a couple

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Speaker 1: of pomps, it's all worth it. It's good for me. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: now that didn't happen to us, even though we moved. Actually,

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Speaker 1: I can't even find my scale right now, but it's

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Speaker 1: so nice. I just love being like feeling it on

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Speaker 1: my skin. And it was a really strange thing to say,

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Speaker 1: but there's just something about just being in the sun

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Speaker 1: that I just love. And so for me, I loved it.

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Speaker 1: I just thought how ironic that the hottest day of

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Speaker 1: the year is my move out day. You know. Sorry,

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Speaker 1: It's one of those things too, where when we kind

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Speaker 1: of correct jokes in the winter too, saying just waited,

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Speaker 1: it'll be about a one hundred and thirty degree temperature

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Speaker 1: difference in this something like, what are you talking about?

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Speaker 1: And this is one of those days. You know, I

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Speaker 1: don't envy people that have to move in the middle

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Speaker 1: of the snow. I'd rather definitely do it on one

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Speaker 1: hundred degree temperature. Sure for sure. Yeah, well, we kind

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Speaker 1: of got things going earlier. That's our producer, Jay Nelson.

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Speaker 1: I'm Tatum Embert Weeger host today as we're cooling off

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Speaker 1: inside the TCO Radio studio right now. In this week's episode,

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Speaker 1: we're talking training camp. It's almost exactly a month away.

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Speaker 1: We'll go more in depth on the position battles and

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Speaker 1: what our camp expectations are. Plus, we continue our chats

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Speaker 1: with the new coaching staff. Last week's episode, we featured

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Speaker 1: assistant Special Teams coach Ben Katweka, and this week we've

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Speaker 1: got assistant quarterbacks coach Gerard Johnson, who talks about his

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Speaker 1: relationships with the guys in the room and why he

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Speaker 1: wanted to come coach in Minnesota. It's a great chat.

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Speaker 1: Be sure to us tune in in just a second

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Speaker 1: before we do that, though, Jay, we were perusing the

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Speaker 1: interwebs reading all the latest Vikings articles and earlier this

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Speaker 1: week ESPN's Kevin Seffert, who is the new but the

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Speaker 1: old at the same time. It always feels weird saying

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Speaker 1: that he's like the new Vikings Beat reporter when he's

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Speaker 1: already kind of done it before. Oh he's been here

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Speaker 1: for I am multiple decades at this point, writing for

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Speaker 1: multiple publications, but he was, you know, kind of the

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Speaker 1: lead NFL writer, and then you know, when there was

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Speaker 1: an opening here, they've kind of assigned him Minnesota again

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Speaker 1: because he knows us so well, and so to have

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Speaker 1: a guy like Kevin Seffert in this market and to

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Speaker 1: pay attention. He's done a ton of stuff with Vin

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Speaker 1: as well over the years. He's great, and so he's

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Speaker 1: always somebody that whenever he writes something that you pay

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Speaker 1: attention to just to see what his take is on things.

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Speaker 1: You know, I think I'm going to have to start

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Speaker 1: saying he's returning as the Vikings Beat reporter. That's probably

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Speaker 1: why I should say not new he's returning to the

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Speaker 1: Vikings beat. He posted an article with his projected fifty

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Speaker 1: three man roster, which I mean I saw him out

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Speaker 1: here during all of the practices, So this is based

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Speaker 1: on solely his observations and how things were ran by

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Speaker 1: coach O'Connell during Mini camp and OTA. So I thought

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Speaker 1: it'd be a good time to kind of go through

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Speaker 1: position by positions see if we see any wild cards

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Speaker 1: or any names that maybe were shocked to maybe not

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Speaker 1: see on the fifty three man roster. But also let's

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Speaker 1: talk more about just the battles themselves, like if a

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Speaker 1: guy's left off, who's fighting him for that bubble spot? Right? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: I mean the hard part with this is you get

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Speaker 1: to this time of year, you haven't even hit training

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Speaker 1: camp yet. You don't know what happens with injuries, you

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Speaker 1: don't know what happens with even outside moves. There's talk

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Speaker 1: of free agents still out there, you know, just trying

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Speaker 1: to figure out what's going on. But when a guy

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Speaker 1: like Seaford kind of puts his list together, you start

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Speaker 1: to kind of pay attention a little bit more to

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Speaker 1: these positions, and it's going to be a talker all

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Speaker 1: through training camp. You know, I went through this too

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Speaker 1: ahead of time obviously and looked around and there were

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Speaker 1: some names I think that I was like, oh, you know,

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Speaker 1: in my head I had them. But then you also

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Speaker 1: that when you actually go through position by position, you

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Speaker 1: start to realize how many people have to you have

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Speaker 1: to say goodbye to at the end of it. Like

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Speaker 1: it kind of puts it into perspective. Well, that's the

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Speaker 1: hard part too. When it comes to general managers and

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Speaker 1: coaches having to make those decisions. There's a ton of

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Speaker 1: different things that come in. It's is it somebody we

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Speaker 1: could put on practice squad, is it a veteran salary?

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Speaker 1: Is it something where they're trying to massage the cap, Like,

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Speaker 1: there's all of these reasons why they make some decisions.

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Speaker 1: And you know, sometimes there's veterans who are guys that

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Speaker 1: they want to give a shot just knowing they're not

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Speaker 1: going to make it, and they tend to cut them

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Speaker 1: early to give them that opportunity to jump on somewhere else.

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Speaker 1: There's so many different things and so many variables, so

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Speaker 1: all of this is going to change within a month,

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Speaker 1: basically a month and a half. But you know, it's

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Speaker 1: a good list to look through and just kind of

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Speaker 1: see if there's any names here that jump out at you. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean it's fun to talk about this kind of stuff,

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Speaker 1: and it's fun to talk about the quarterback position. That's

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Speaker 1: the first one we'll get going with. It's it's pretty standard.

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Speaker 1: I think Kevin has Kirk, Cousins, Sean Manion, and kelln

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Speaker 1: man three qbs on the roster. There's no there's there's

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Speaker 1: nothing shocking here. It's the three main people that you

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Speaker 1: really think about here at quarterback and you know, barring

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Speaker 1: some sort of craziness that's happened in the past during

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Speaker 1: training camp, you know, some sort of a quarterback move

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Speaker 1: that would have to be made, these are the three

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Speaker 1: guys that you just look at and say, Cousins, Manning,

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Speaker 1: and Mond these are who you expect to be on

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Speaker 1: the roster. Yeah. Right now there are four quarterbacks in

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Speaker 1: the roster, with Nate Stanley who's been here before, fighting

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Speaker 1: for some playing time as well. Moving to running back,

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Speaker 1: Kevin has Dalvin Cook, Alex Madison, kna Wong Wu, C. J.

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Speaker 1: Hamm and Tie Chandler, which you have to think they're

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Speaker 1: going to give the rookie, oh for sure, a chance

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Speaker 1: to be on this list, but I mean it's a

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Speaker 1: big running back room though. That's the thing. It's it's

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Speaker 1: five on that list, you know. I think the ideas

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Speaker 1: is Tie Chandler somebody that you could potentially slide through

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Speaker 1: two practice squad. I think he is a prime candidate

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Speaker 1: for people since he was a draft pick, for us

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Speaker 1: to want to poach a guy like that, or to

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Speaker 1: reach out to him if he gets cut, to say Yo,

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Speaker 1: we want to bring you in and give you a

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Speaker 1: shot with our room. I've seen a bunch of stuff

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Speaker 1: even recently online talking about kind of the most in

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Speaker 1: depth running back rooms in the league. There's kind of

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Speaker 1: a list of the top eight teams Vikings were hovering

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Speaker 1: in that like three to four range as far as rankings.

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Speaker 1: There is a glut of riches here, and it is

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Speaker 1: exciting to think about, you know, Kenay as fast as

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Speaker 1: he is and Ty Chandler now having that speed. CJ. Hamm.

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Speaker 1: There's a ton of discussion we've even had on this

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Speaker 1: show about what is his role going to be. And

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Speaker 1: he's somebody that could be kind of a secret weapon.

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Speaker 1: So all five of these guys make sense, and I

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Speaker 1: think there's some really good talent there in that room. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: Jake Bargas is a guy that I think Minnesota's used

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Speaker 1: to hearing from as well. He's been through camp here before.

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Speaker 1: He's on the roster currently to fighting for I guess

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Speaker 1: practice squad something like that, because you know, as long

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Speaker 1: as CJ can stay healthy. Yeah. And that's the other

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Speaker 1: thing too, is like I said before, barring injuries or

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Speaker 1: something crazy happening, you know, there's a good list here

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Speaker 1: and Bargas said he's going to get his shot as well.

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Speaker 1: And it's just hard when you have a ton of

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Speaker 1: talent in that room just to you know, eventually someone's

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Speaker 1: going to be the odd man out if if Jake

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Speaker 1: really whiles I'm here in camp, you know who knows

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Speaker 1: here is where I got a little interesting okay wide receiver.

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Speaker 1: We know how talented these guys are, and you got

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Speaker 1: to think justin Jefferson, Adam Feelin, kg Asbourne locks. But

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Speaker 1: then you've also got B. C. Johnson out there, who

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Speaker 1: was a stunnard during a training camp last year before

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Speaker 1: his injury. Kevin has him making the roster along with

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Speaker 1: Jalen Naylor, the rookie out of Michigan State, and Albert Wilson,

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Speaker 1: the free agent signing that was made I guess a

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Speaker 1: month ago or so. Now that leaves a Mere Smith

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Speaker 1: Marsett off of this list. In Kevin's opinion, I'm curious

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Speaker 1: me too. But at the same point, I'm curious if

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Speaker 1: there's something in there where he's kind of thinking about

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Speaker 1: that due to the injury that he had had here

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Speaker 1: this offseason. I don't know if he's taking that into account. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but that is a surprise just in that he was

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Speaker 1: a guy that people were pointing at to say, you know,

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Speaker 1: what can he do as a returner, whether it's punt

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Speaker 1: or kick returner or something. I think there's a ton

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Speaker 1: of options here at the wide receiver spots, and it

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Speaker 1: just really comes down to Kevin O'Connell scheme and what

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Speaker 1: he really wants to do. That's a good point, I think.

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Speaker 1: Also part of it. I mean, Kevin did mention, Kevin

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Speaker 1: Sefert did mention that he will probably be battle Naylor

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Speaker 1: and Wilson for punt return ability. So if you're a

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Speaker 1: mere Mark Smith Marsette, you see you know Jefferson, thelan

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Speaker 1: Osbourne as kind of locks right now, you've got to

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Speaker 1: make it known that you can be on special teams.

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Speaker 1: You're competing against BC Johnson, who's had big games before,

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Speaker 1: who's a more of a more season vet. But you

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Speaker 1: can't let a talent like a Miror Smith Smarsette hit

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Speaker 1: waivers either well. And that's the thing is if he

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Speaker 1: does still have an injury designation, there's all these other

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Speaker 1: rules and apply to that kind of stuff too, So

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Speaker 1: it just depends on how long they're going to expect

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Speaker 1: him to potentially be out. So a guy like I

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Speaker 1: think a guy like a Mere Smith Marsette, everyone has

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Speaker 1: seen the talent. I think there's going to be a

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Speaker 1: feeling that he's definitely going to get a fair shake.

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Speaker 1: But it just depends on if he can be out there.

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Speaker 1: You know. It's the kind of the Pete Bursas. She

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Speaker 1: used to always talk about it and say, you can't,

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Speaker 1: you know, make the club in the tub, and it's

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Speaker 1: like you just you have to get out there and

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Speaker 1: take all this time basically between all of the OTAs

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Speaker 1: and the mini camp and then with training camp coming

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Speaker 1: and just doing as much of the rehab as you can.

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Speaker 1: So I'm sure for a guy like him, he's he's

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Speaker 1: itching to get back out there. Oh, for sure. I

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Speaker 1: mean there's twelve guys competing for you know, if you're

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Speaker 1: going off of Kevin's list six spots, right, there's twelve guys.

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Speaker 1: I mean you're missing out on names like a mere

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Speaker 1: Blake Prole, who's coming back from an injury as well,

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Speaker 1: looked great at camp last year. Until then Dan Chisenna

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Speaker 1: who he's speed is unmatched, and he's been on special

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Speaker 1: teams as a you know, a gunner and he's done

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Speaker 1: a ton of work there too. So again, the guy

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Speaker 1: like Dan, you're looking at it saying, you know, where's

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Speaker 1: his role? What's he going to be is that they're

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Speaker 1: going to put him out there as a special teamer.

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Speaker 1: You know, what are they going to do? Is he

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Speaker 1: going to make the roster or not. There's just a

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Speaker 1: lot of questions, Like you said that, that room is

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Speaker 1: absolutely a little bit twelve people twelve, Yeah, it's kind

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Speaker 1: of crazy a room that's a bit on the smaller side.

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Speaker 1: Tight ends. There are five of them on the roster.

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Speaker 1: Kevin has four of them making the final fifty three

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Speaker 1: man list. Don't forget guys, this is this pre pre preseason.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely predictions. We've got Irv Smith, Junior, Ben Ellefson, Johnny Mutt,

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Speaker 1: and Nick Muse, which leaves Zack Davidson off of the

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Speaker 1: main fifty three man roster draft picked from two years ago.

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Speaker 1: And then I mean, he's I'll say this about Zach.

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Speaker 1: You know, it is a very crowded tight end room,

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Speaker 1: but he is here at the facility all the time,

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Speaker 1: working like he is here so much so it should

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Speaker 1: be a really interesting competition. I just remember a guy

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Speaker 1: like Tyler Conklin that this is where, this is where

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Speaker 1: he shined. Was everyone kind of had him as kind

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Speaker 1: of an odd man out. They're just kind of a

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Speaker 1: bit player. And then training camp hit last year and man,

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Speaker 1: he was making some circus catches. He was one of

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Speaker 1: those guys that was a grinder who was constantly its facility,

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Speaker 1: working really hard. And all I know is within that

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Speaker 1: tight end room, if they've got five and they're potentially

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Speaker 1: on this list keeping four, there's going to be a

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Speaker 1: lot of work that's going to have to happen during

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Speaker 1: training camp. And I think a guy like mus coming

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Speaker 1: in here and then yeah, yeah, I think he makes

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Speaker 1: it for the special team's role more than likely, right,

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Speaker 1: most likely, you know, I think it's one of those

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Speaker 1: things where they We've even had you know, cut week

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Speaker 1: of talking about it, saying it doesn't hurt. You know,

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Speaker 1: that's where these guys really shine. And if they can

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Speaker 1: make the roster that way and then progress in their

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Speaker 1: position group, it's going to be a big help. We

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Speaker 1: all assumed that Irv Smith was going to be the

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Speaker 1: guy last year. He got hurt, Tyler jumped in there,

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Speaker 1: and you know, it just kind of shows you what

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Speaker 1: if something were to happen again, knock on wood for IRV.

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Speaker 1: But if something were to happen again, which one of

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Speaker 1: these guys is going to jump up? I know, I'm

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Speaker 1: just saying in event like that, it just shows you

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Speaker 1: depth wise, these guys need to step up and make

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Speaker 1: make their head. Yeah. I mean, I think I'm most

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Speaker 1: excited to see IRV just out there and to see

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Speaker 1: the difference he can make, because you know, he was

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Speaker 1: quote unquote wide receiver number three last year. Heading into

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Speaker 1: training camp and watching him and things like that, and

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Speaker 1: that's when a guy like Tyler Conklin and even kJ

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Speaker 1: Asbourne really had to step up, and so you see

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Speaker 1: these guys emerge. I just hope he can return to

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Speaker 1: that same spark because he is just fun to watch.

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Speaker 1: I know this Ben Elfson, guys, Minnesota, there you go.

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Speaker 1: He is more of a blocking tight end, so he

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Speaker 1: could be more of that utility player who could do more.

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Speaker 1: Johnny Munt spent time in the Rams with O'Connell last season,

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Speaker 1: so he brings in a little bit of knowledge and

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Speaker 1: experience within there. So yeah, that's a really interesting one.

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Speaker 1: Another one that's gonna be fun to watch the offensive

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Speaker 1: line Minnesota. Everyone loves talking about the offensive line, but

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Speaker 1: it's it's kind of interesting though. You go into camp

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Speaker 1: and you have to assume four of the five positions

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Speaker 1: are locked in by starters who have experienced in those

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Speaker 1: roles together, barring some sort of a crazy differing of

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Speaker 1: opinions by the offensive line coaching staff and even you know,

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Speaker 1: O'Connell himself and whatever they've been discussing, I think that

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Speaker 1: we all assume at this point, like you said, four

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Speaker 1: of those five positions are set. The fifth position, the

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Speaker 1: guard position, is going to be the one that's going

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Speaker 1: to be a huge battle. And with the changeover of

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Speaker 1: the position group, with a bunch of extra new talent

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Speaker 1: that has come in this offseason, I am curious who's

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Speaker 1: going to step in and take that role. Yeah, we've

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Speaker 1: got Garrett brad Berry as the center, and then Ezra

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Speaker 1: Cleveland as a guard. Christian dar Saw tackle. You've got

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Speaker 1: Bryan O'Neill tackle. So you've got your bookends there and

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Speaker 1: so it's really that right guard spot, like you said,

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Speaker 1: that's up for grabs. Jesse Davis is someone who is

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Speaker 1: experienced at that position. He took the first team reps.

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Speaker 1: He switched out a lot with Chris Reid. They do

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Speaker 1: not have Wyatt Davis on this list, the draft pick

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Speaker 1: who we haven't seen much of. But you have to

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Speaker 1: keep in mind that they've got two guys in the

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Speaker 1: draft as well, add ingram Vadarian Lowe that are also

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Speaker 1: they're probably they're just needing to earn their spot and

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Speaker 1: need to get that time. They're not going to make

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Speaker 1: necessarily let them go to waivers just yet, especially that's

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Speaker 1: how high they picked them. And then you've got a

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Speaker 1: guy like Austin Schlottman who is really versatile and plays

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Speaker 1: multiple positions. So those are the names that we see

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Speaker 1: on this list by mister Seyffert, and a couple of

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Speaker 1: the names that you know the offensive line injuries happen,

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Speaker 1: You're gonna have to shuffle things around a lot more

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Speaker 1: than I guess you really expect. So we do see

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Speaker 1: guys like Kyle Hinton, oli Udo, Whyatt Davis, Guys that

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Speaker 1: may not make the fifty three, but they're not going

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Speaker 1: to be unheard of. You're going to hear from these

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Speaker 1: guys again. Offensive line is also a position where when

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Speaker 1: there are usually cuts that happen in camp from other

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Speaker 1: teams and everything. Teams really pay attention to that because

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Speaker 1: the biggest thing, like you've mentioned, is just depth at

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Speaker 1: that position. We haven't had a solid depth at that

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Speaker 1: position here, which has caused the angst over the years

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Speaker 1: at this point, and so there has there's been a

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Speaker 1: feeling of we're trying to kind of restock the shelves

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Speaker 1: at this point, and hopefully the right guard gets solidified

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Speaker 1: early and we'll really start to know once those preseason

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Speaker 1: games happen if everything looks kind of clean. But that

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Speaker 1: is the sixty four thousand dollar question, is what's going

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Speaker 1: to happen at that right guard position. You also Blake

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Speaker 1: Brandell and timon Paris as some tackles that are fighting

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Speaker 1: for positions in playing time roster spots whatnot, this offseason,

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Speaker 1: this training camp. So moving on, let's go to the

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Speaker 1: defensive side of things. We'll kick that one off with

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Speaker 1: the defensive line. The guys looking at the uglies in

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Speaker 1: the middle. Now, they're not ugly, I don't mean it. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: we used to our team we're we're the Cougars, and

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Speaker 1: in college were we called ourselves the fat Cats. That's good.

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Speaker 1: So it was basically, yeah, the fat cats were they are?

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Speaker 1: All right, well, the fat cats on the defensive line.

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Speaker 1: This will be the really, this will be the probably

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Speaker 1: the most interesting because maybe we're not used to seeing

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Speaker 1: the numbers that they're normally keeping at each of these

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Speaker 1: positions between defensive line, outside linebacker, and inside linebacker. So

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Speaker 1: what they what Kevin has right here is five defensive

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Speaker 1: linemen Issasio, Tomy, Woe, Harrison, Phillips, Dalvin, Tomlinson, armand Watts.

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Speaker 1: It said five, but I'd listed for it says five

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Speaker 1: on his doc. Yeah, okay, well you know, maybe that

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Speaker 1: fifth position is still up for a little bit of debate.

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Speaker 1: I think that those guys bring in so much experience.

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Speaker 1: Then you have Assasi, who has the intangibles that are

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Speaker 1: just ready to go from just down the road in Minnesota,

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Speaker 1: and so though he's got the right guys bringing him up,

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Speaker 1: it's going to be exciting to see Harrison, Phillips and

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Speaker 1: Dalman Tomlinson right there in the middle and armand showed

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Speaker 1: a lot of promise last year. I think the discussion

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Speaker 1: with this being a three four centered defense, that is

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Speaker 1: where your defensive line group here is a little bit

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Speaker 1: smaller because you're basically looking at what's happening on the

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Speaker 1: interior of that defensive line. There's going to be a

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Speaker 1: larger trunk of linebackers here as part of that group.

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Speaker 1: But we've all kind of had that discussion as well

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Speaker 1: in the offseason, saying, well, as it going to be

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Speaker 1: a three four, is gonna be four three? Coaches have

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Speaker 1: basically said it's gonna be whatever the offensive Yeah, like,

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Speaker 1: whatever it dictates will put them out there. Luckily, your

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Speaker 1: your quote unquote outside linebackers, you have some serious athleticism

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Speaker 1: there with guys that are traditionally defensive ends that can

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Speaker 1: also play that linebacker position. So when it comes to

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Speaker 1: the defensive line Atomy, Will, Phillips, Tomlinson, and Watts, all

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Speaker 1: four of those guys, they're they're going to be exciting

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Speaker 1: to watch with Harrison Phillips being added. Delvin has been

390
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Speaker 1: a you know here and and has kind of proven himself,

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Speaker 1: and Urban Watts was really coming on last season, so

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Speaker 1: I'm curious to see what he's gonna be. Yeah, I

393
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Speaker 1: think this will be your four for armand so he's

394
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Speaker 1: kind of really clicked on last season and now now

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Speaker 1: getting another chance. Uh. It's interesting because there are like

396
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Speaker 1: eleven guys on the defensive line roster right now, so

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Speaker 1: like that's where another like the receiver position, that where

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Speaker 1: another chunk of guys you're going to see practice squad

399
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Speaker 1: or hit the hit the waiver wire. But a couple

400
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Speaker 1: of names that we're used to seeing around here. Jonathan

401
00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:32,440
Speaker 1: Bullard was an off season pickup, so he's going to

402
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Speaker 1: be competing during camp. James Lynch, Tie McGill and Jaylen

403
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Speaker 1: Twyman who couldn't play last season after his offseason injury

404
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Speaker 1: or his off season incident rather and so you know,

405
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Speaker 1: it's exciting. I mean, I know he's excited to be back.

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Speaker 1: We've heard him talk and he's like it's been a

407
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Speaker 1: rough road here, so it'd be great to see, you know,

408
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Speaker 1: where he stands in all of this as well. That's

409
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Speaker 1: a guy who was extremely motivated when he got here,

410
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Speaker 1: had the incident, couldn't play. I have a hard time

411
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Speaker 1: leaving that that guy is not going to give it

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Speaker 1: his all. Coming up, we're in training camp. So I

413
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Speaker 1: think he's a guy that could raise some eyebrows just

414
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Speaker 1: given his motivation. The bigger question is, you know, in

415
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Speaker 1: a Dontel defense kind of what is his role potentially

416
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Speaker 1: going to be. Given the list of names that we

417
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Speaker 1: already had here with the Toomo, ol Phillips, Thomlinson, and Watts,

418
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Speaker 1: that's going to be a tough. Yeah, tough way to

419
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Speaker 1: crack that that defensive line group. But you never know.

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Speaker 1: And I wouldn't put anything past him. He was very

421
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Speaker 1: motivated when he got here, and I think he's gonna

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Speaker 1: utilize that's the thing. That's the thing I think. You know,

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Speaker 1: a guy like that, if he's putting the time in

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Speaker 1: and culture, Yeah, putting the time in and putting the

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Speaker 1: effort in, I think he's going to raise some eyebrows.

426
00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:41,680
Speaker 1: I like that. Well, outside linebacker we've got, I mean,

427
00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:44,440
Speaker 1: this list is just ridiculous. I feel like this should

428
00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:46,879
Speaker 1: be like a list of here here is what a

429
00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:49,439
Speaker 1: freek athlete looks like. And here are the five names,

430
00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:54,280
Speaker 1: Daniel Hunter, Patrick Jones, the Second, Jenarius Robinson, Zadarius Smith,

431
00:20:54,359 --> 00:20:59,200
Speaker 1: and DJ Wanham Freaks. That is some long, long, speedy,

432
00:21:00,359 --> 00:21:04,000
Speaker 1: quote unquote outside linebackers, right, yeah, right, you know that

433
00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:05,920
Speaker 1: kind of a joke with Daniel as he's kind of

434
00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:08,119
Speaker 1: the Greek god. Well, yea, all of the rest of

435
00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:10,680
Speaker 1: the four album on that list are all that similar

436
00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:16,240
Speaker 1: body type, that that prototypical defensive end outside linebacker body type,

437
00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:19,919
Speaker 1: super long, super lengthy, quick and great hands. And I

438
00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:22,080
Speaker 1: think that is a like you said a little bit,

439
00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:25,680
Speaker 1: it's an embarrassment of riches. It is with that list

440
00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:27,800
Speaker 1: of people. It is and there are you know, there

441
00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:30,320
Speaker 1: are three other names on here competing against them, a

442
00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:35,280
Speaker 1: couple of guys with playing experience, but knowing that this

443
00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:39,480
Speaker 1: group has had a history with injury, it's probably great

444
00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:43,280
Speaker 1: to have this much competition. And I'm just really excited

445
00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:47,080
Speaker 1: to see guys like like the effect of Desi, Darius

446
00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:50,160
Speaker 1: in a room like that where you have Genarius Robinson

447
00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:53,760
Speaker 1: and Dj Wantam who especially DJ really had glimmers last

448
00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:57,480
Speaker 1: season or bright spots if they can like learn from

449
00:21:57,520 --> 00:22:00,520
Speaker 1: someone who learned from someone been, you know, under him,

450
00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:02,520
Speaker 1: like he was with Terrell Sucks. He was in a

451
00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:04,719
Speaker 1: room before he really came on and could be a

452
00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:07,719
Speaker 1: really nice mentor for those guys. He talked about that

453
00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:10,639
Speaker 1: role and understanding what that meant when he got into

454
00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:13,600
Speaker 1: Baltimore and when he got his shot, and just kind

455
00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:16,000
Speaker 1: of understanding that, you know, I'm going to learn from

456
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,840
Speaker 1: a guy like Suggs who was an All Pro, and

457
00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:21,320
Speaker 1: learn from the best of the best, and when I

458
00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:23,600
Speaker 1: get my shot, I'm going to take it on the

459
00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:26,560
Speaker 1: flip side. Now, he's the elder statesman in that room

460
00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:29,040
Speaker 1: with a bunch of younger guys looking at him. The

461
00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:31,520
Speaker 1: depth part of it, I mean, we can't sugarcoat it.

462
00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:33,720
Speaker 1: He and Denil Hunter both were out with injuries for

463
00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:37,040
Speaker 1: the majority, if not all, of last season. Zadarius came

464
00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:40,040
Speaker 1: back for that playoff game. Those two guys, you just

465
00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:42,320
Speaker 1: want to see him stay healthy. But if not, then

466
00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:44,639
Speaker 1: you have some of these younger guys who are going

467
00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:46,359
Speaker 1: to be able to step in. And you know, given

468
00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:48,600
Speaker 1: the depth that you said, there's even more guys that

469
00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:51,280
Speaker 1: could potentially play those roles that are going to potentially

470
00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:53,359
Speaker 1: need to jump in there. If something were to happen.

471
00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:57,720
Speaker 1: But if these five guys can stay healthy during the season,

472
00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:00,800
Speaker 1: watch out. It's an exciting room to that list of

473
00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:04,520
Speaker 1: names as pretty special. The next one is the inside linebackers.

474
00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:09,320
Speaker 1: We have Brian Assamoa, Eric Kendricks, Jordan Hicks, and Troy Die.

475
00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:12,960
Speaker 1: So Kevin has four names on that one. Again, not

476
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,960
Speaker 1: really knowing too much how things are going to go,

477
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:21,000
Speaker 1: this sounds like a solid list. Brian Asimoa obviously the

478
00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:25,240
Speaker 1: draft pick from this season, Jordan Hicks the offseason acquisition

479
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:28,080
Speaker 1: from the Cardinals. He brings in a lot of experience.

480
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,440
Speaker 1: Troy Dye has flashed here and there. I mean, these

481
00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:36,000
Speaker 1: guys are good. You know that they're solid moving forward.

482
00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:39,080
Speaker 1: I think I think it's a position that Eric Kendricks

483
00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:40,679
Speaker 1: is going to have to really step up. I mean,

484
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:44,720
Speaker 1: I know Jordan Hicks has the experience, but Eric is

485
00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:47,800
Speaker 1: pretty much almost like the quarterback of this defense. So

486
00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:50,560
Speaker 1: the elder statesman and Eric Kendricks and Jordan Hicks within

487
00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:52,840
Speaker 1: this group, they're working with the younger guys of Osimo

488
00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:56,720
Speaker 1: and Troy Die. Those guys, to me, the Troy Dies

489
00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:58,960
Speaker 1: and Brian Assamoa has had that similar kind of long

490
00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:02,840
Speaker 1: lanky body types. That is where I think those guys.

491
00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:06,040
Speaker 1: You've seen Troy when he has flashed, it's been in moments,

492
00:24:06,119 --> 00:24:08,840
Speaker 1: especially on special teams. I'm curious to see what they're

493
00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:10,679
Speaker 1: gonna do here with Brian Asimoa and just kind of

494
00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:12,760
Speaker 1: how they're gonna want to utilize him, and even just

495
00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:14,720
Speaker 1: to see what Troy does, you know, how he kind

496
00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:17,320
Speaker 1: of can take a next step here this season because

497
00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:20,359
Speaker 1: he hasn't necessarily played a ton. He did play and

498
00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:22,400
Speaker 1: fill in duty during some of the injuries that were

499
00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:26,560
Speaker 1: going on last season. But this group of four guys,

500
00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:29,440
Speaker 1: I think there's your your elder statesman, and your younger players.

501
00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:31,840
Speaker 1: And I'm just curious to see what those younger players,

502
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:35,000
Speaker 1: how much they play, how much they would would step

503
00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:38,120
Speaker 1: up into those roles, and you know, like these other

504
00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:41,840
Speaker 1: positions depth wise, you know what happens if a Kendricks

505
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:44,080
Speaker 1: or a Hicks or somebody goes down, which one of

506
00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:46,280
Speaker 1: those other two guys steps up, you know, if not

507
00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:47,760
Speaker 1: some of the other people that are competing for that

508
00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:50,879
Speaker 1: inside linebacker position. And check this out, there are a

509
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:55,640
Speaker 1: couple of names of younger guys, Blake Lynch who had

510
00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:58,240
Speaker 1: to step up with all the injuries last season and

511
00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:01,199
Speaker 1: chat Serrat whose names aren't on Kevin's list, But that

512
00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:04,800
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that they can't fight for spots or still

513
00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:07,280
Speaker 1: really be around, because I think both Chaz and Blake

514
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:14,120
Speaker 1: we're really starting to approach making a difference here. Those

515
00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:16,560
Speaker 1: two guys are both, like you said, they've they've had

516
00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:21,160
Speaker 1: some sort of utilization within this defense in the past.

517
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:23,680
Speaker 1: So it's again, it's not like there's the cupboards Bear.

518
00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:25,439
Speaker 1: I think you know, he's looking at Asamoa saying they

519
00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:27,480
Speaker 1: won't draft him if they weren't going to keep him,

520
00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:29,480
Speaker 1: and then a guy like Troy Dye had filled in,

521
00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:32,320
Speaker 1: and maybe he's looking at it schematically from a three

522
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:35,840
Speaker 1: four kind of that long, quick linebacker style. Maybe that's

523
00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:38,359
Speaker 1: where he's he's kind of picking these two guys specifically

524
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:41,080
Speaker 1: out of you know, yeah, outside of the other two people.

525
00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:44,239
Speaker 1: But you know, I am curious to see kind of

526
00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:47,280
Speaker 1: what happens where, especially on the special team side with

527
00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:50,479
Speaker 1: I mean, you got to make decisions Rad and Lynch, like,

528
00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:52,439
Speaker 1: you know, those are guys that have been utilized that

529
00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:53,960
Speaker 1: way too in the past. Yeah, a lot of these

530
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,200
Speaker 1: guys I feel like that maybe haven't made this preliminary

531
00:25:57,280 --> 00:25:59,840
Speaker 1: list are guys that we have seen so much from

532
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:02,520
Speaker 1: this special teams side of things. So how much do

533
00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:07,359
Speaker 1: these younger players show up in training camp to try

534
00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:09,840
Speaker 1: and take those spots or how much do these older

535
00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:11,479
Speaker 1: guys and by older, I mean like two or three

536
00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:15,960
Speaker 1: years older really claim, you know, where they're supposed to

537
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:18,320
Speaker 1: be on this roster. It's going to be really interesting.

538
00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:20,560
Speaker 1: There's going to be a ton of parody going on

539
00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:24,520
Speaker 1: during training camp, and I think your traditional you know, well,

540
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:26,239
Speaker 1: who's going to make the wide receiver and who's going

541
00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:29,399
Speaker 1: to make the quarterback? Shock us, I mean all of

542
00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:34,159
Speaker 1: there's usually there's usually at least probably half a dozen

543
00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:38,520
Speaker 1: additions on rosters typically at the end of every training

544
00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:41,399
Speaker 1: camp that are not necessarily eyebrow raising, but they weren't

545
00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:44,680
Speaker 1: necessarily the front runners on the first list when when

546
00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:46,920
Speaker 1: you went into training camp. I think there's everyone assumes

547
00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:49,080
Speaker 1: a lot of times that some of these veterans and

548
00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:50,480
Speaker 1: some of these guys that have been around a while

549
00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:53,119
Speaker 1: are going to have that you know, guaranteed spot on

550
00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:55,160
Speaker 1: the roster, and that is just not the case, especially

551
00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:58,119
Speaker 1: with a new GM and a new head coaching, that

552
00:26:58,119 --> 00:26:59,960
Speaker 1: that is definitely going to be the current fall, isn't it?

553
00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:02,760
Speaker 1: What are they going to do with cornerback? Jay Kevin

554
00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:06,840
Speaker 1: has six names on here, Andrew Booth junior, Cameron danceler A,

555
00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:13,440
Speaker 1: Caleb Evans, Patrick Peterson, Shandon Sullivan, and Ty Smith. We're

556
00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:15,920
Speaker 1: not seeing a Harrison hand who's the special teams guy.

557
00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:18,840
Speaker 1: We're not seeing Perry Nickerson, who's battling for the job

558
00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:24,000
Speaker 1: as well. Nate Hairston the offseason free agent acquisition from

559
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:29,080
Speaker 1: the Packers, and Chris Boyd another gunner. So who you know,

560
00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:31,320
Speaker 1: if this is, if this was what the roster looks like,

561
00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:34,760
Speaker 1: who takes these positions? Who takes these spots? So it

562
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:37,119
Speaker 1: really is going to be like we like, I keep

563
00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:40,040
Speaker 1: just driving this point home. It's going to be very interesting.

564
00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:44,240
Speaker 1: It's always harder when it is a known veteran versus

565
00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:48,879
Speaker 1: a rookie and trying to understand, you know, what is

566
00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:51,359
Speaker 1: the what have they been doing in the classroom, what

567
00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:54,199
Speaker 1: have they been doing to impress their coaches to say,

568
00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:56,440
Speaker 1: this guy gets it. We need to have him here.

569
00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:59,560
Speaker 1: You know. And Andrew Booth jor high draft pick, he's

570
00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:03,000
Speaker 1: going to that roster. Patrick Peterson, we all assume at

571
00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:04,840
Speaker 1: this point being the veteran in that room, he's going

572
00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:07,840
Speaker 1: to make this roster. You know, Caleb Evans was a

573
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:11,320
Speaker 1: draft pack. Cam Danceler is a guy who got some

574
00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:14,680
Speaker 1: service to the last you know, last year, especially a

575
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:16,840
Speaker 1: guy like Cam Danceler or somebody that you assume is

576
00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:19,560
Speaker 1: going to be part of that group. So Channon Sullivan

577
00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:22,560
Speaker 1: and Ti Smith are on this list, I mean, barring

578
00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:25,360
Speaker 1: some sort of craziness that happens, you know, there are

579
00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:28,200
Speaker 1: a bunch of names that are in that other position room.

580
00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:30,159
Speaker 1: It's going to be a lot of competition at camp,

581
00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:34,720
Speaker 1: and you really aren't going to know anything like sure

582
00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:38,160
Speaker 1: this this was helpful to see who maybe the coaches

583
00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:40,400
Speaker 1: were thinking or in the league in these certain spots,

584
00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:42,000
Speaker 1: but the pats haven't even come on yet, or who

585
00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:46,360
Speaker 1: is Seaffert thinks the coaches. That's also true because I

586
00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:49,960
Speaker 1: think also the hardest part about this is that even

587
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:53,880
Speaker 1: when you're the media, you're not sitting at the entire practice, no,

588
00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:57,320
Speaker 1: or you're just not like they The periods that you

589
00:28:57,400 --> 00:28:58,960
Speaker 1: have are what they want you to see, in what

590
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,520
Speaker 1: they allow you to see, and then you walk away.

591
00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:04,600
Speaker 1: So so a lot of times you're not even really

592
00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:07,880
Speaker 1: seeing what competitions are going on at camp. And that's

593
00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:10,320
Speaker 1: the thing, is that whether it's the camp competition or

594
00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:12,920
Speaker 1: you know, as he talking to coaches, who knows who

595
00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:14,760
Speaker 1: he talked to and kind of told him kind of

596
00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:17,680
Speaker 1: what the thoughts are. But if he's, if he's, it's

597
00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:20,360
Speaker 1: his job as a reporter who covers the vikings to

598
00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:22,600
Speaker 1: know and to put out something like this, you know,

599
00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:25,360
Speaker 1: speculative a month before camp when people and here we

600
00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:28,120
Speaker 1: are we're talking about it. Yes, it's something that I

601
00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:31,800
Speaker 1: think with his list there, you kind of understand the logic,

602
00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:34,960
Speaker 1: but there's always some wild cards. I like the thought provocation.

603
00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:37,960
Speaker 1: Keep it coming, Kevin, Uh, there's a lot. One of

604
00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:40,760
Speaker 1: the last positions we'll talk about safety, he has Cam

605
00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:44,760
Speaker 1: buying him, Lewis seen, Harrison Smith, and Josh Mattellis. I mean,

606
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:47,960
Speaker 1: you can't see those first three guys, Cam, Lewis or

607
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:51,320
Speaker 1: Harrison really going anywhere. Yeah, those those first three guys

608
00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:54,840
Speaker 1: are definitely someone that you see. It makes total sense.

609
00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:57,400
Speaker 1: Josh Mattellis is a name that's been thrown out there

610
00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:01,080
Speaker 1: a ton, and all four of those guys make sense

611
00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:04,440
Speaker 1: at this point. And you know, here's the thing. Everyone

612
00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:07,200
Speaker 1: kind of assumes Harrison Smith is going to be out

613
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:10,440
Speaker 1: there for shore. What is Lewis scene going to be

614
00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:12,400
Speaker 1: being the number one draft pick. How quickly is he

615
00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:14,200
Speaker 1: picking it up? How quickly are they going to trust

616
00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:16,400
Speaker 1: him to be out there? Because if he is, the

617
00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:17,840
Speaker 1: old guy and the new guy are going to be

618
00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:20,840
Speaker 1: out there patrol in that safety position and look out.

619
00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:23,960
Speaker 1: Two man wrecking crew, the Bash Brothers. You know, to

620
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:28,200
Speaker 1: go back to the old Oakland Athletics with Maguire and Conseco. Yeah,

621
00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:30,640
Speaker 1: you know, Harrison Smith and Louis Scene. It's like, just

622
00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:34,320
Speaker 1: keep him on the field. No no fines, no no penalties.

623
00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:37,720
Speaker 1: But it will be fun to see two guys like

624
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:39,480
Speaker 1: that that you could trust, that you know, are going

625
00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:41,600
Speaker 1: to bring bring the lumber when they get the chance.

626
00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:44,400
Speaker 1: Allows for a guy like a Harrison Smith or even

627
00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:47,000
Speaker 1: a Lewis Scene to kind of go rover. Let the

628
00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:48,720
Speaker 1: other guy be able to, you know, cover the back

629
00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:51,840
Speaker 1: end of the defense. But the excitement of what potentially

630
00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:54,040
Speaker 1: Lewis scene could be and what he could mean playing

631
00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:56,560
Speaker 1: alongside Harrison Smith, that's gonna be a lot of fun

632
00:30:56,560 --> 00:31:01,520
Speaker 1: to watch. Josh Mattellas is someone who has been a

633
00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:04,120
Speaker 1: big part of the team over the last couple of seasons.

634
00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:07,120
Speaker 1: He also would be competing against Miles Dorn, Who's someone

635
00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:11,240
Speaker 1: that I think we're familiar hearing, someone who this coaching

636
00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:13,720
Speaker 1: staff wants to see more from take the next step.

637
00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:16,640
Speaker 1: And so yeah, I think as much as you love

638
00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:19,480
Speaker 1: the Cam Bidams of the world, who really had a

639
00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:22,640
Speaker 1: great who stepped up in big moments last year when

640
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:25,320
Speaker 1: Harrison Smith was out, you hope he can take a

641
00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:28,240
Speaker 1: step up and then Miles and Josh kind of square

642
00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:30,880
Speaker 1: off on that last spot, you hope. So that's the goal.

643
00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:33,000
Speaker 1: You know, You've got some factors here. I mean, we

644
00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:35,959
Speaker 1: talk about Lewis and Harrison. Cam can have a big

645
00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:37,920
Speaker 1: year exactly. And that's the thing. I don't think Cam's

646
00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:40,960
Speaker 1: gonna just willingly give up that position. You know, Cam's

647
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:43,200
Speaker 1: going to fight too to prove there's a reason why

648
00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:46,320
Speaker 1: I'm here. Um, you know, a guy like Josh, he's

649
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:49,840
Speaker 1: another name that he's when he's filled in and spot

650
00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:52,640
Speaker 1: duty and other positions. When it comes to special teams

651
00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:55,200
Speaker 1: and things like he's he's flashed too. So that is

652
00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:57,480
Speaker 1: a good group. That's a good, good, good quad and

653
00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:01,120
Speaker 1: hopefully they can see the super Bowl team. Jay, why

654
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:03,840
Speaker 1: not everybody at this point, all thirty two teams say

655
00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:07,680
Speaker 1: why not? Why not? Yep? Well, just rounding things out, Um,

656
00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:11,600
Speaker 1: Kevin has the same specialists from last season. Andrew Powela

657
00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:16,320
Speaker 1: as the long snapper, Jordan Berry punter, Greg Joseph as

658
00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:19,800
Speaker 1: the kicker. There's only one other punter on the roster

659
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:22,680
Speaker 1: right now. They could add some guys during camp, there

660
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:26,680
Speaker 1: could be other workout who knows, but no, Greg became

661
00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:29,040
Speaker 1: so reliable down the stretch and I think that they

662
00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:33,040
Speaker 1: like what they see and you know those guys have

663
00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:37,160
Speaker 1: a great relationship with each other as well. But you know,

664
00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:39,920
Speaker 1: you never know what will happen at training camp. The

665
00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:43,200
Speaker 1: feeling in that position, Typic or that group of specialists

666
00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:47,560
Speaker 1: is consistency. If you can have consistency and they can

667
00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:50,680
Speaker 1: feel the camaraderie and feel comfortable with each other, have

668
00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:53,400
Speaker 1: everything be kind of second nature, you know, that is

669
00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:55,480
Speaker 1: a good thing to have. And if they can just

670
00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:57,680
Speaker 1: continue to build on what they what they were doing

671
00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:00,360
Speaker 1: last year, I think it'll be good to I think

672
00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:02,000
Speaker 1: group slidified and not have to ask a lot of

673
00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:05,640
Speaker 1: questions going into the season. I agree, I agree consistency

674
00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:10,120
Speaker 1: isn't always a bad thing. Especially in special teams. Hit

675
00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:13,360
Speaker 1: some punts, flip the field, some kicks, win some games

676
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:15,640
Speaker 1: and goal. Well, great job, Kevin, that was a really

677
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:19,040
Speaker 1: fun article. Thanks you know for putting that together. Um,

678
00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:23,280
Speaker 1: it's always crazy to me to think that most of

679
00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:27,080
Speaker 1: those guys that we mentioned like won't be around. Really,

680
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,600
Speaker 1: that's the thing, that's Kevin's that's Kevin's speculation. That's the

681
00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:34,400
Speaker 1: hardest part is when you have nine, you know, ninety

682
00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:37,000
Speaker 1: people around the building and you see how much they work,

683
00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:40,840
Speaker 1: so how hard they work rookie rookie camps. That's why

684
00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:43,200
Speaker 1: it's hard on our end, Why right, Well, that's the thing.

685
00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:48,360
Speaker 1: It's it's the hardest part is when you have camaraderie

686
00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:51,680
Speaker 1: with these guys, when you know them as people, you

687
00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:56,360
Speaker 1: realize very quickly how much of a business this is

688
00:33:56,800 --> 00:33:59,239
Speaker 1: when it comes to those moments. So hopefully we can

689
00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:01,120
Speaker 1: keep as many around as we can, because it seems

690
00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:03,880
Speaker 1: like there's a really good group of guys in this building. Look,

691
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:06,840
Speaker 1: and these are the tough decisions. We've kind of been

692
00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:09,960
Speaker 1: in this honeymoon period where everything is great. Look at

693
00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:12,640
Speaker 1: this new coach, Look at this new GM, Look at

694
00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:14,720
Speaker 1: all these new guys. We're adding and now it's time

695
00:34:14,760 --> 00:34:17,080
Speaker 1: to get to the nitty gritty, right, Like the honeymoon

696
00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:19,239
Speaker 1: period is going to start to wear off. You're going

697
00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:22,120
Speaker 1: to start going into training camp, cuts are made, the

698
00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:25,560
Speaker 1: season starts, hopefully there's wins like those kinds of things,

699
00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:27,600
Speaker 1: and then it kind of starts to feel less honeymoon

700
00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:30,280
Speaker 1: and more like the real world. You start to really

701
00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:33,520
Speaker 1: notice it when it comes to preseason games. Yeah, and

702
00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:35,560
Speaker 1: when you start to see those initial cuts and then

703
00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:37,800
Speaker 1: you see the final cuts, that is where the rubber

704
00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:40,920
Speaker 1: meets the road. These guys have about a two month

705
00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:43,959
Speaker 1: two and a half month chunk of time to really

706
00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:47,400
Speaker 1: impress these coaches and show that they belong here. And

707
00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:49,919
Speaker 1: I think for all of them this time of year,

708
00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:53,720
Speaker 1: they're saying, hey, great, I get my time off quote unquote,

709
00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:57,480
Speaker 1: but I still need to take care of my diet, exercise,

710
00:34:57,600 --> 00:34:59,360
Speaker 1: do all of the things to get ready so that

711
00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:01,680
Speaker 1: when I do in the door, there is no time

712
00:35:01,719 --> 00:35:04,000
Speaker 1: to kind of catch up. You have to be able

713
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:07,800
Speaker 1: to go immediately, otherwise you're potentially sitting on the outside

714
00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:11,040
Speaker 1: looking in. That's right. They are off right now, still

715
00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:13,400
Speaker 1: staying healthy like you said, Jay, but the players do

716
00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:16,480
Speaker 1: have some time off right now and enjoying his first

717
00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:19,960
Speaker 1: offseason with the Vikings is assistant quarterbacks coach Graw Johnson.

718
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:22,840
Speaker 1: He has such a unique background. He's played at the

719
00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:27,600
Speaker 1: highest level, he's coached on the private level fundamental skills

720
00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:32,200
Speaker 1: quarterback coaching, and now he's here in Minnesota coaching our quarterbacks.

721
00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:36,160
Speaker 1: He's an NFL assistant quarterbacks coach, Graw Johnson. Let's bring

722
00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:38,080
Speaker 1: him in to get to know him a little bit better.

723
00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:42,640
Speaker 1: And joining us now on the Minnesota Vikings podcast. First

724
00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:44,760
Speaker 1: time that we've really heard from you is Grad Johnson,

725
00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:48,560
Speaker 1: our assistant quarterbacks coach here for the Vikings. Welcome to Minnesota.

726
00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:51,040
Speaker 1: How has it been treating you so far? Oh? Well, yeah,

727
00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:53,120
Speaker 1: thank you all for having me. Minnesota has been great.

728
00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:55,360
Speaker 1: You know, got in I guess when it was pretty cold,

729
00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:57,319
Speaker 1: but now I'm seeing the weather kind of warm up

730
00:35:57,320 --> 00:35:59,120
Speaker 1: a little bit. But I really enjoyed the city and

731
00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:01,160
Speaker 1: kind of enjoyed we've got going on here, and it's

732
00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:03,239
Speaker 1: been been all good for me. It's got to help

733
00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:06,240
Speaker 1: having your brother here too, right, your older brother, Marquis Johnson,

734
00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:08,759
Speaker 1: assistant strength coach here. It does it really does? You know?

735
00:36:08,840 --> 00:36:10,319
Speaker 1: One from just to lay the land, but too, just

736
00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:12,480
Speaker 1: the same every day getting to work. You know, we uh,

737
00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:14,360
Speaker 1: you know, our dad with a football coach growing up,

738
00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:16,480
Speaker 1: and so we spent a lot of time talking about

739
00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:17,759
Speaker 1: what we want to do when we get older, and

740
00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:20,120
Speaker 1: so for that dream to become fruition. Both know we

741
00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:22,360
Speaker 1: want to coach, and it's been pretty cool. I guess

742
00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:25,480
Speaker 1: your mom says she wasn't coming up here regardless of

743
00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:27,600
Speaker 1: if y'all both got a job here or not, because

744
00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:29,200
Speaker 1: she's from Houston and she's like, she doesn't want to

745
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:31,120
Speaker 1: get going, you know. She she's kind of so so

746
00:36:31,280 --> 00:36:33,200
Speaker 1: about the snow. You know, we're trying to convince her.

747
00:36:33,239 --> 00:36:35,200
Speaker 1: I think I'm close. I'm gonna spending the whole summer

748
00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:36,839
Speaker 1: trying to convince her to come up here. But uh,

749
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:39,680
Speaker 1: but she's got some fears about the snow. But it

750
00:36:39,719 --> 00:36:41,840
Speaker 1: ain't that bad. It's a great place. Like my family's

751
00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:44,160
Speaker 1: in Louisiana. They had the same thing. They came up

752
00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:46,440
Speaker 1: here in December and they, you know, they braved it.

753
00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:48,560
Speaker 1: I guess you could say, no that we'll get her jacket.

754
00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:51,280
Speaker 1: She'll be good. That's all you need, right, A good jacket.

755
00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:53,520
Speaker 1: You got yours. Yet I got a couple. Yeah, Okay,

756
00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:55,719
Speaker 1: that's good. I got a couple. Yeah. Man, this this

757
00:36:55,800 --> 00:36:59,239
Speaker 1: quarterback room. You got a quarterback room that is very experienced,

758
00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:01,520
Speaker 1: but then you got Kellen Mond and then you got

759
00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:07,719
Speaker 1: Sean Mayon. Just the dynamic of having this room described

760
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:10,960
Speaker 1: that it's been really good. You know, all those guys

761
00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:12,759
Speaker 1: have played a lot of football, you know, and that's

762
00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:14,799
Speaker 1: the thing. Even Kellen had so many college starts that

763
00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:17,360
Speaker 1: he's played a lot of football. So as a staff

764
00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:19,560
Speaker 1: coming in bringing a new offense, you know, it's been

765
00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:21,480
Speaker 1: really good to be around guys who picked things up

766
00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:24,480
Speaker 1: fast to who study, they take notes, they work well together,

767
00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:26,960
Speaker 1: you know. So from a from a standpoint of understanding

768
00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:29,040
Speaker 1: what we're trying to get done, the direction we're trying

769
00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:30,799
Speaker 1: to take the offense, those guys done a really good

770
00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:33,520
Speaker 1: job to spring leading it. You know. I think Kevin

771
00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:35,040
Speaker 1: set up our you know a lot of our practice

772
00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:37,840
Speaker 1: where we're going two fields, so where everybody's getting reps

773
00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:39,799
Speaker 1: and I'm on the second field with some of the

774
00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:42,160
Speaker 1: younger guys or Kellen and Sean, and man, I tell

775
00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:44,560
Speaker 1: you what, those guys have really taken an ownership of

776
00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:46,560
Speaker 1: the offense. And you can't do a lot of those

777
00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:48,840
Speaker 1: things unless the quarterback position is kind of on point.

778
00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:51,360
Speaker 1: And so those guys taking a leadership role and teaching

779
00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:53,239
Speaker 1: the offense to the younger guys, and that's I mean,

780
00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:55,880
Speaker 1: it's gone great. It's what has it been like to

781
00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:58,920
Speaker 1: be reunited with Kellen. I know Texas A and M

782
00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:02,000
Speaker 1: ties broke a couple of records, and so being able

783
00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:04,160
Speaker 1: to kind of to come here and be a part

784
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:06,319
Speaker 1: of his career right now, it's been awesome. You know,

785
00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:08,560
Speaker 1: of course I love Texas and M. My dad played

786
00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:10,840
Speaker 1: football there, I played there. You know, I have a

787
00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:12,680
Speaker 1: lot of love for university, and so I didn't really

788
00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:14,279
Speaker 1: know Kelling that well. We had met a couple of

789
00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:16,480
Speaker 1: times through alumni events, but I didn't know him personally

790
00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:18,759
Speaker 1: that well. I had a lot of respect for who

791
00:38:18,760 --> 00:38:20,480
Speaker 1: he is the person, you know, what he's done there,

792
00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:22,279
Speaker 1: his career there, and so I've been excited to work

793
00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:23,879
Speaker 1: with him. And I mean, he's got a lot of talent.

794
00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:27,000
Speaker 1: He's really smart. I think can be a really good player,

795
00:38:27,040 --> 00:38:28,480
Speaker 1: and so it's been fun to work with him. But

796
00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:30,759
Speaker 1: knowing those that common bond and having some things to

797
00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:34,439
Speaker 1: a foundation of bill from has been pretty cool. Working

798
00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:36,280
Speaker 1: with him. How would they describe you as a coach.

799
00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:39,359
Speaker 1: I guess they'd say, I'm I'm I try to just

800
00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:41,839
Speaker 1: put it in terms, like from being a former player.

801
00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:43,319
Speaker 1: I try to put it in terms and try to

802
00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:45,960
Speaker 1: always as I talk to them, as I directed him,

803
00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:47,480
Speaker 1: I try to think, how would I want to be

804
00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:50,520
Speaker 1: spoken to? And so I think in our room, No,

805
00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:52,719
Speaker 1: Chris so here, our quarterback coach, done a great job

806
00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:56,480
Speaker 1: setting everything up. He's on point, he's very organized, you know.

807
00:38:56,480 --> 00:38:58,200
Speaker 1: Our meetings have been great, you know, and I just

808
00:38:58,239 --> 00:38:59,920
Speaker 1: try to find my niche on like what can I

809
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:01,799
Speaker 1: do to kind of add value to the room. And

810
00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:04,400
Speaker 1: so I guess they say I'm detailed. I guess they say,

811
00:39:04,480 --> 00:39:07,600
Speaker 1: I'm pretty meticulous about the mechanics and fundamentals of the position,

812
00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:09,920
Speaker 1: and that's kind of been my focus with the things

813
00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:11,680
Speaker 1: we've been doing. But yeah, I guess I say that.

814
00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:15,560
Speaker 1: How would you say your coaching style compliments alongside Chris

815
00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:19,520
Speaker 1: O'Hara's coaching stuff, Um, I think I think, like I

816
00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:21,480
Speaker 1: think the biggest thing is so Chris came from LA

817
00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:23,920
Speaker 1: you know, and he really knows what Kevin wants. I

818
00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:25,800
Speaker 1: think that's the big thing. As they have an offensive

819
00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:28,759
Speaker 1: head coach with making sure we can echo what he

820
00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:30,759
Speaker 1: wants done, and it starts in the quarterback room. I

821
00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:33,719
Speaker 1: think Chris's a really good job of that and their relationship.

822
00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:35,919
Speaker 1: And so for me, I was in Indianapolis the last

823
00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:37,960
Speaker 1: three years, and so for me, I'm learning the system

824
00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:40,760
Speaker 1: slightly before the players did. So I've just been sitting

825
00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:42,719
Speaker 1: back and and kind of let, you know, letting Chris

826
00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:44,320
Speaker 1: take charge and run the room and just kind of

827
00:39:44,360 --> 00:39:46,560
Speaker 1: really learn the way that they want to do things

828
00:39:46,640 --> 00:39:48,840
Speaker 1: and then take that and give it to the players.

829
00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:51,000
Speaker 1: And so as somebody who is my first year in

830
00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:53,520
Speaker 1: the system, which I think is a great system of

831
00:39:53,640 --> 00:39:56,000
Speaker 1: really unique cutting it on the cutting edge side of

832
00:39:56,480 --> 00:39:59,359
Speaker 1: the game, I think my role has really been trying

833
00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:01,920
Speaker 1: to really focus on those fundamental things a physical aspect

834
00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:04,799
Speaker 1: of playing the position, your footwork, your mechanics, your balancer base,

835
00:40:05,160 --> 00:40:07,920
Speaker 1: those things that go beyond scheme. And I think it's

836
00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:10,360
Speaker 1: a really good mesh between the two for Chris to

837
00:40:10,440 --> 00:40:12,960
Speaker 1: kind of know exactly what the system needs to have success,

838
00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:15,320
Speaker 1: and then me to kind of be from my background

839
00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:18,440
Speaker 1: in the kind of quarterback mechanics space to really kind

840
00:40:18,440 --> 00:40:20,719
Speaker 1: of help the guys physically. Was that part of the

841
00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:26,200
Speaker 1: appeal to this playbook that working with this this next

842
00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:28,520
Speaker 1: NFL type of style. That was that part of the

843
00:40:28,560 --> 00:40:30,839
Speaker 1: appeal of coming here. Absolutely, you know, I've been I've

844
00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:32,440
Speaker 1: been a fan of the system with these guys have

845
00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:34,920
Speaker 1: done offensively for a while as a player and even

846
00:40:34,960 --> 00:40:36,840
Speaker 1: as a coach when I as an Indianapolis just watching

847
00:40:36,880 --> 00:40:39,719
Speaker 1: this system and the success it's had, I've been very

848
00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:41,799
Speaker 1: curious about how it runs, the ins and outs of it,

849
00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:44,080
Speaker 1: and so an opportunity to learn from Kevin and Chris

850
00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:45,880
Speaker 1: and all the guys you know who've been in this

851
00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:47,799
Speaker 1: system and had a lot of success. To me, that

852
00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:49,880
Speaker 1: was a huge, huge part of me coming here to

853
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:51,960
Speaker 1: just to kind of expand my horizon as a coach.

854
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:54,520
Speaker 1: It's kind of learned this way of doing football. We

855
00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:56,759
Speaker 1: talked to Coach Band, assistant special teams coach, and he

856
00:40:56,800 --> 00:40:59,120
Speaker 1: basically said, you know, you have to unlearn some things

857
00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:02,280
Speaker 1: to relearn things as a coach. How was that process

858
00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:04,600
Speaker 1: for you trying to teach these guys to learn things,

859
00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:07,319
Speaker 1: but still trying to learn it yourself. I mean, it

860
00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:09,279
Speaker 1: can be challenging your time, but I think that's that's

861
00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:11,279
Speaker 1: the beauty of this game. I think there's a there's

862
00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:13,960
Speaker 1: a shared respect in the NFL for every team is

863
00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:16,719
Speaker 1: showing up every day with their own unique ideas and

864
00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:19,000
Speaker 1: their view of football, you know. And so at the

865
00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:20,319
Speaker 1: end of the day, I think a lot of the

866
00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:23,640
Speaker 1: terms and concepts and schemes are relative. It's just minor

867
00:41:23,719 --> 00:41:25,880
Speaker 1: details that change or what you call things is the

868
00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:29,399
Speaker 1: biggest difference. So so yeah, it can be a little

869
00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:31,800
Speaker 1: tough to unlearn something because you were setting your ways

870
00:41:31,800 --> 00:41:33,640
Speaker 1: and you know, come from Indianapolis, I was setting how

871
00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:36,200
Speaker 1: we did things there. But to hear the differences and

872
00:41:36,600 --> 00:41:39,360
Speaker 1: why things are done, and I've said, I've learned a

873
00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:41,359
Speaker 1: lot has been very positive for me to be like, wow,

874
00:41:41,360 --> 00:41:43,279
Speaker 1: I've watched that play and we've put that in from

875
00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:45,080
Speaker 1: watching it all last week, like you know, last year,

876
00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:47,880
Speaker 1: and we were not putting in correctly or you know,

877
00:41:47,960 --> 00:41:50,560
Speaker 1: there's a detail we left out or whatnot. So I

878
00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:52,440
Speaker 1: think that's the beauty of the NFL. It's because I

879
00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:54,080
Speaker 1: think a lot of the plays are similar, but there's

880
00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:57,759
Speaker 1: little details and just small things and adjustments that can

881
00:41:57,760 --> 00:42:00,239
Speaker 1: make a play completely different. And so as a just

882
00:42:00,239 --> 00:42:02,640
Speaker 1: an opportunity to expand your knowledge base, you know. And

883
00:42:02,680 --> 00:42:05,160
Speaker 1: so you got to study and learn and and you know,

884
00:42:05,239 --> 00:42:07,239
Speaker 1: to find those make sure you know well enough to

885
00:42:07,239 --> 00:42:08,960
Speaker 1: teach the players. But at the end of the day,

886
00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:10,520
Speaker 1: I think it makes you grow. It's a young coach,

887
00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:13,600
Speaker 1: it makes you grow. And I've been excited about the opportunity.

888
00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:15,160
Speaker 1: How would you say you've grown as a coach? I

889
00:42:15,160 --> 00:42:17,760
Speaker 1: mean forty nine ers seventeen as a Bill Wash Diversity

890
00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:21,640
Speaker 1: Coaching Fellowship Indianapolis cost nineteen twenty, well, the last three

891
00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:24,319
Speaker 1: years in Indianapolis. So just from all those years up

892
00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:27,279
Speaker 1: until now, it's finally being you know, having that role.

893
00:42:27,320 --> 00:42:29,960
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, I got a room. Now, how how

894
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:32,520
Speaker 1: have you developed? I think it's all helped in my

895
00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:34,480
Speaker 1: develop me, you know, And for me, I think I

896
00:42:34,480 --> 00:42:37,239
Speaker 1: have a very unique perspective on coaching and coaching in

897
00:42:37,239 --> 00:42:39,880
Speaker 1: the NFL. I've coaching high school, I ran my own business.

898
00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:42,400
Speaker 1: During private quarterback training, I lived in the Guru space

899
00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:44,920
Speaker 1: with Jordan Palmer and George Woodfield and Quincy Avery and

900
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:46,920
Speaker 1: that kind of world and the private side of things.

901
00:42:47,640 --> 00:42:49,839
Speaker 1: And then coming in my internship with the forty nine

902
00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:52,200
Speaker 1: ers and the last three years with the Colts, learning

903
00:42:52,239 --> 00:42:55,399
Speaker 1: that scheme and football and what it takes to break

904
00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:57,480
Speaker 1: down tape and the hours you spend, so I think

905
00:42:57,520 --> 00:43:01,000
Speaker 1: I have a unique fresh perspective. I'm playing the position

906
00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:03,719
Speaker 1: you know that you know I'm thankful for, you know.

907
00:43:03,840 --> 00:43:05,919
Speaker 1: So I'm thankful for saying times high school where I coached.

908
00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:08,920
Speaker 1: I'm thankful to work with those kids because working with

909
00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:11,920
Speaker 1: younger kids, to me, makes you learn how to put

910
00:43:11,960 --> 00:43:15,960
Speaker 1: complicated things in very simple terms. And I think that

911
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:18,919
Speaker 1: even though they're professional athletes, you still need to find

912
00:43:19,040 --> 00:43:20,799
Speaker 1: ways to make it as simple as possible so they

913
00:43:20,800 --> 00:43:23,040
Speaker 1: can be the best version of themselves. And so for me,

914
00:43:23,080 --> 00:43:25,160
Speaker 1: I'm thankful for every step in my journey to get here,

915
00:43:25,239 --> 00:43:28,239
Speaker 1: the playing up and downs, all the different levels I've

916
00:43:28,239 --> 00:43:29,800
Speaker 1: coached on. But it's all kind of led me to

917
00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:32,280
Speaker 1: become the coach that I am. And I'm steady growing,

918
00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:34,000
Speaker 1: and I'm you know, very happy to be here and

919
00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:37,040
Speaker 1: excited to learn from everybody here. Kirk has talked a

920
00:43:37,080 --> 00:43:40,160
Speaker 1: lot about learning the system using flash cards, having to

921
00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:43,640
Speaker 1: like remember everything. What excites you about putting him into

922
00:43:43,680 --> 00:43:46,480
Speaker 1: this system. He's a natural thrower of the football, you know,

923
00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:48,800
Speaker 1: And so Kirk's doing a really good job learning the system.

924
00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:51,279
Speaker 1: And I think as coaches first, were teachers first, So

925
00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:54,240
Speaker 1: how can we find ways to get him to play fast?

926
00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:56,320
Speaker 1: Putting him in a situation where he can just react,

927
00:43:56,600 --> 00:43:58,400
Speaker 1: you know, just see it. If you see something, good

928
00:43:58,480 --> 00:44:00,160
Speaker 1: chance he's going to hit it because he has he's

929
00:44:01,239 --> 00:44:03,200
Speaker 1: the best thing he does to be accurate with the football,

930
00:44:03,280 --> 00:44:04,960
Speaker 1: you know. And so I think for us, we're excited

931
00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:07,480
Speaker 1: to see him in this system. But but he's learned

932
00:44:07,520 --> 00:44:09,319
Speaker 1: a lot and he's he's worked really hard at it,

933
00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:11,000
Speaker 1: and you know, you kind of take it for granted

934
00:44:11,080 --> 00:44:14,239
Speaker 1: sometimes with veterans, you know, at the same times it's

935
00:44:14,239 --> 00:44:16,120
Speaker 1: a new system for him as well. But he's he's

936
00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:18,960
Speaker 1: taking it. He's done great with it, and you know,

937
00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:21,239
Speaker 1: you can definitely see him playing fast and well to spring.

938
00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:24,080
Speaker 1: You guys in the same draft class we might have

939
00:44:24,239 --> 00:44:26,839
Speaker 1: been doing Kirk, So you were. I was twenty ten

940
00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:29,560
Speaker 1: draft class, I believe, and Kirk was what I just

941
00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:32,000
Speaker 1: was thinking about eleven. I think he's one year old. Yes,

942
00:44:32,360 --> 00:44:35,520
Speaker 1: so me and Kurt had Yeah, we so we have

943
00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:38,200
Speaker 1: cross passed and I me and Kurt were both counselors

944
00:44:38,200 --> 00:44:40,520
Speaker 1: of an Elite eleven camp. We're in college at one point.

945
00:44:40,600 --> 00:44:42,680
Speaker 1: That's the first time we met and weren't complete strangers

946
00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:45,440
Speaker 1: only saw him again. So whenever I'm in the building,

947
00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:48,319
Speaker 1: like on Saturdays and Sundays, um you probably already know this,

948
00:44:48,520 --> 00:44:51,600
Speaker 1: but I usually try to get my work done before

949
00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:54,400
Speaker 1: people come in. And one person that I always see,

950
00:44:54,440 --> 00:44:56,279
Speaker 1: at least the last three times I've been here, it's

951
00:44:56,360 --> 00:44:58,879
Speaker 1: Kellen Mott. He's been in the meeting rooms, whether he's

952
00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:01,759
Speaker 1: watching film or just like literally in the hallways, just

953
00:45:01,880 --> 00:45:05,320
Speaker 1: like going three step drops, like you see a progression

954
00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:07,600
Speaker 1: from year one to year two. Being able to coach

955
00:45:07,680 --> 00:45:10,680
Speaker 1: him now as his coach, but also seeing how he's grown.

956
00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:14,640
Speaker 1: Is that encouraging for a guy in his position where

957
00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:16,520
Speaker 1: he knows he's not going to be the starting quarterback.

958
00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:18,719
Speaker 1: I mean it is encouraging, you know, because I think

959
00:45:18,840 --> 00:45:20,920
Speaker 1: Kellen and I think what any player wants is to

960
00:45:20,960 --> 00:45:22,960
Speaker 1: try to be the best version of themselves. And so

961
00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:25,920
Speaker 1: you can see Kellen's work ethic in that. You know,

962
00:45:26,000 --> 00:45:29,560
Speaker 1: he takes really good notes. You know, he's really organized,

963
00:45:29,600 --> 00:45:32,160
Speaker 1: he's detailed, he asked good questions, you know, he asks

964
00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:34,640
Speaker 1: challenging questions, and so you can just see that Kellen

965
00:45:34,760 --> 00:45:37,319
Speaker 1: wants to be great. You know, he understands that you know,

966
00:45:37,440 --> 00:45:39,480
Speaker 1: all you can do in this league, especially if you're

967
00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:42,200
Speaker 1: a backup quarterback, you know you're competing to become a

968
00:45:42,239 --> 00:45:44,319
Speaker 1: starting quarterback to something point in your career is make

969
00:45:44,320 --> 00:45:46,160
Speaker 1: sure you're ready when your time comes. And so all

970
00:45:46,200 --> 00:45:48,239
Speaker 1: you can do is study and try to get time

971
00:45:48,239 --> 00:45:50,440
Speaker 1: after and try to get those mental reps so that

972
00:45:50,440 --> 00:45:52,239
Speaker 1: when you do get those opportunities you can make the

973
00:45:52,280 --> 00:45:53,840
Speaker 1: most of it. And so for me, you have a

974
00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:56,560
Speaker 1: lot of respect for how Kelen's handed himself and he's

975
00:45:56,560 --> 00:45:58,120
Speaker 1: come in every single day and try to put his

976
00:45:58,160 --> 00:46:01,560
Speaker 1: best Before did you know that this guy has a

977
00:46:01,600 --> 00:46:05,360
Speaker 1: cover on Spotify? No, but I did know that he

978
00:46:05,400 --> 00:46:08,160
Speaker 1: played basketball at Texas and him. Yeah, but you got

979
00:46:08,160 --> 00:46:11,720
Speaker 1: a cover on Spotify. Yeah. Before you say anything, Gabe,

980
00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:13,560
Speaker 1: guess the song, because I want him to see if

981
00:46:13,560 --> 00:46:15,319
Speaker 1: he can guess. I can't guess the song. I don't

982
00:46:15,320 --> 00:46:18,000
Speaker 1: think I'm gonna bit of guessing. But Steve Donnittel was saying,

983
00:46:18,120 --> 00:46:23,040
Speaker 1: get him to sing, no diggity, it's it's a hobby. Yeah.

984
00:46:23,080 --> 00:46:26,120
Speaker 1: So in college, you know, I wrote some music and uh,

985
00:46:26,160 --> 00:46:27,960
Speaker 1: you know, I recorded a couple of things, and so

986
00:46:28,040 --> 00:46:30,319
Speaker 1: it's been it's been a hobby of mine. And it's

987
00:46:30,320 --> 00:46:32,000
Speaker 1: something fun to do to get your mind off football.

988
00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:36,680
Speaker 1: I get it. Thomas Rhett. Wow, yeah, die a happy man,

989
00:46:36,920 --> 00:46:39,440
Speaker 1: happy man. It's a good song song, right, I'll get

990
00:46:39,480 --> 00:46:42,520
Speaker 1: you to sing. But like, man, like that's crazy because

991
00:46:42,680 --> 00:46:44,839
Speaker 1: your brother Marquis, he was the last person I think

992
00:46:44,960 --> 00:46:48,040
Speaker 1: was sing but like you was like you may not. Yeah.

993
00:46:48,040 --> 00:46:49,799
Speaker 1: I love my brother Ann, but nah I was singing

994
00:46:49,920 --> 00:46:52,360
Speaker 1: that his deal not. I don't know. Just growing up

995
00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:54,839
Speaker 1: it was something I would mimic songs and stuff and so, uh,

996
00:46:55,080 --> 00:46:57,960
Speaker 1: you know, I I liked a bunch of things growing up.

997
00:46:57,960 --> 00:46:59,400
Speaker 1: You know, our music has been a huge part of

998
00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:02,360
Speaker 1: my life. It put to me music. Music is associated

999
00:47:02,360 --> 00:47:05,239
Speaker 1: with memories, you know, And so for me, I love

1000
00:47:05,360 --> 00:47:07,279
Speaker 1: music and that when I hear songs that puts me

1001
00:47:07,320 --> 00:47:09,000
Speaker 1: back into a place in time or it makes me think.

1002
00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:11,080
Speaker 1: And so I think it's a pretty good thing to

1003
00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:13,239
Speaker 1: a hobby to have outside the ball for sure. What's

1004
00:47:13,239 --> 00:47:15,000
Speaker 1: your instrument? Man? Why do you why do you use

1005
00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:19,200
Speaker 1: your instrument to help others? As far as coaching, coaching

1006
00:47:19,280 --> 00:47:22,239
Speaker 1: isn't is an instrument? Voice is an instrument? Yeah? Absolutely?

1007
00:47:22,360 --> 00:47:25,560
Speaker 1: I think for me, my my my kind of focus

1008
00:47:25,680 --> 00:47:27,680
Speaker 1: or goal as a coaches to make sure that I

1009
00:47:27,719 --> 00:47:31,560
Speaker 1: can give someone information to help them m you know,

1010
00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:33,280
Speaker 1: get to where they want to be. You know, I'm

1011
00:47:33,320 --> 00:47:35,760
Speaker 1: a direct result of the people who gave me information

1012
00:47:35,800 --> 00:47:37,279
Speaker 1: to help me, and so I just want to pass

1013
00:47:37,320 --> 00:47:39,640
Speaker 1: that back, you know. And so I knew, I knew

1014
00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:41,800
Speaker 1: all growing up that I'm a product of my environment.

1015
00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:43,359
Speaker 1: I grew up in humble, Texas, and from the high

1016
00:47:43,360 --> 00:47:45,360
Speaker 1: school coaches and teachers and my dad and going to

1017
00:47:45,400 --> 00:47:47,600
Speaker 1: Texas A and M and the counselors and everybody there.

1018
00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:49,840
Speaker 1: You know, all those people pour into you, you know.

1019
00:47:49,880 --> 00:47:52,200
Speaker 1: And so when you have all this information and these experiences,

1020
00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:54,279
Speaker 1: whether they're good or bad, I think that, you know,

1021
00:47:54,320 --> 00:47:56,040
Speaker 1: you get into coaching to try to share those with

1022
00:47:56,080 --> 00:47:58,760
Speaker 1: someone else so that their experience or their their trials

1023
00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:00,719
Speaker 1: and tribulations can hope. But you can give them some

1024
00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:02,680
Speaker 1: information to make their life a little bit easier and

1025
00:48:02,719 --> 00:48:05,080
Speaker 1: they can, you know, get to whatever they're trying to

1026
00:48:05,080 --> 00:48:07,040
Speaker 1: get to. That's awesome. Man. Whenever I hear of like,

1027
00:48:08,040 --> 00:48:10,560
Speaker 1: I just respect the music industry. So whenever I hear

1028
00:48:10,600 --> 00:48:12,920
Speaker 1: of singers, singers or like artists, the first thing I

1029
00:48:13,000 --> 00:48:15,040
Speaker 1: think of is that they're a great listener. Because you

1030
00:48:15,080 --> 00:48:16,880
Speaker 1: have to be listening. You have to listen to yourself,

1031
00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:18,520
Speaker 1: you have to listen to your surroundings. You have to

1032
00:48:18,719 --> 00:48:21,040
Speaker 1: you have to just be aware of everything that's going on.

1033
00:48:21,440 --> 00:48:24,120
Speaker 1: And I just feel like that just makes an easy

1034
00:48:24,160 --> 00:48:26,440
Speaker 1: transition into coaching because I feel like it's a lot

1035
00:48:26,440 --> 00:48:28,480
Speaker 1: of listening involved. Yeah, I guess so. I mean for

1036
00:48:28,600 --> 00:48:31,200
Speaker 1: me when musically, you know, I'm attached to words, So

1037
00:48:31,239 --> 00:48:33,560
Speaker 1: I like storytelling and words, so you know that's what

1038
00:48:33,600 --> 00:48:36,480
Speaker 1: I hear when I hear songs, and so yeah, I

1039
00:48:36,480 --> 00:48:38,359
Speaker 1: guess that all does tight. And I can see that well,

1040
00:48:38,560 --> 00:48:40,560
Speaker 1: you know, being from Houston, I can see a country

1041
00:48:40,560 --> 00:48:42,560
Speaker 1: song being your spot by choice. I guess you know

1042
00:48:43,960 --> 00:48:47,319
Speaker 1: you got bumbat down there too. Yeah. I like a

1043
00:48:47,320 --> 00:48:49,120
Speaker 1: little bit of a lot, you know, it's I like

1044
00:48:49,160 --> 00:48:51,480
Speaker 1: a little bit of a lot. So it's good. Awesome,

1045
00:48:51,600 --> 00:48:54,000
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Coach Johnson. Draw Johnson joining us

1046
00:48:54,040 --> 00:48:56,400
Speaker 1: here on the middle of Likings podcast, looking forward to

1047
00:48:56,440 --> 00:49:00,759
Speaker 1: the season. Awesome, thank you for having again. A big

1048
00:49:00,800 --> 00:49:03,399
Speaker 1: thank you to coach Draw Johnson for taking the time

1049
00:49:03,440 --> 00:49:06,560
Speaker 1: to join us for the podcast. We will continue this

1050
00:49:06,600 --> 00:49:09,960
Speaker 1: series with the coaching staff and support staff next week

1051
00:49:10,200 --> 00:49:12,040
Speaker 1: and tell that if you want to keep getting to

1052
00:49:12,080 --> 00:49:14,480
Speaker 1: know the coaches better at checkout Vikings dot com for

1053
00:49:14,560 --> 00:49:19,319
Speaker 1: Gabe's interview with wide receivers coach Keenan McCardell. Lots of

1054
00:49:19,360 --> 00:49:22,399
Speaker 1: interesting perspectives there because he's one of the few, one

1055
00:49:22,400 --> 00:49:25,520
Speaker 1: of two really that we're retained from the previous coaching

1056
00:49:25,520 --> 00:49:28,799
Speaker 1: staff and someone that the players themselves really fought for

1057
00:49:29,320 --> 00:49:32,920
Speaker 1: to stay in his spots. So I think that's probably

1058
00:49:32,960 --> 00:49:35,160
Speaker 1: the biggest takeaway for me from all that. I think

1059
00:49:35,160 --> 00:49:37,600
Speaker 1: the great part about it is you understand from a

1060
00:49:37,640 --> 00:49:40,600
Speaker 1: guy like that you had talked before, just the breath

1061
00:49:40,640 --> 00:49:44,000
Speaker 1: of everything that he's seen and done as a quarterback

1062
00:49:44,040 --> 00:49:46,680
Speaker 1: and a quarterback coach. He's seen it from tons of

1063
00:49:46,719 --> 00:49:49,520
Speaker 1: different angles. And that's something that this coaching staff has

1064
00:49:49,560 --> 00:49:51,880
Speaker 1: seemed to really push, was to say we want guys

1065
00:49:51,880 --> 00:49:54,759
Speaker 1: with different experiences. This is a guy who has seen

1066
00:49:54,800 --> 00:49:57,319
Speaker 1: it from all different angles, and I'm really curious to

1067
00:49:57,360 --> 00:49:59,959
Speaker 1: see what kind of adjustments are things that we see

1068
00:50:00,080 --> 00:50:03,120
Speaker 1: within that group, especially with Kirk working with a guy

1069
00:50:03,160 --> 00:50:05,880
Speaker 1: like Gerarde, and just to see if anything is noticeably

1070
00:50:05,920 --> 00:50:08,680
Speaker 1: different this year. Yeah, I think the biggest the biggest

1071
00:50:08,680 --> 00:50:12,720
Speaker 1: appeal to me is that he brings that fundamental side

1072
00:50:12,719 --> 00:50:16,239
Speaker 1: of coaching. Like these guys usually have their guy right

1073
00:50:16,360 --> 00:50:18,640
Speaker 1: outside of the coaching staff that they work with in

1074
00:50:18,680 --> 00:50:21,080
Speaker 1: the off season, but now they have a guy they

1075
00:50:21,200 --> 00:50:23,359
Speaker 1: used to be that guy in the room with them

1076
00:50:23,400 --> 00:50:26,840
Speaker 1: every week. I think that's pretty interesting. That'll be super helpful. Yeah,

1077
00:50:26,880 --> 00:50:29,680
Speaker 1: for sure. Well this has been a really fun episode,

1078
00:50:29,680 --> 00:50:32,520
Speaker 1: Episode one fifty two. Thank you so much for listening

1079
00:50:32,520 --> 00:50:36,200
Speaker 1: to the Minnesota Vikings podcast. Be sure to rate review

1080
00:50:36,280 --> 00:50:39,080
Speaker 1: subscribes that we can see how much you love us

1081
00:50:39,120 --> 00:50:44,200
Speaker 1: now I'm just getting just don't be mean right here.

1082
00:50:44,280 --> 00:50:46,360
Speaker 1: We do, we do no, but seriously, thank you so

1083
00:50:46,440 --> 00:50:49,120
Speaker 1: much for listening. We will have episodes continuing all the

1084
00:50:49,120 --> 00:50:51,759
Speaker 1: way through training camp. Like we said, we'll have more

1085
00:50:51,840 --> 00:50:56,040
Speaker 1: interviews with the coaching staff coming very very soon. Until then,

1086
00:50:56,120 --> 00:50:57,120
Speaker 1: enjoy your summer.