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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it’s time. It is cut down time. As
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Speaker 1: the third preseason game, the Chiefs will meet the Seahawks,
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Speaker 1: but then after that, it’s a flurry of activity as
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Speaker 1: decisions are made by 32 teams around the National Football League.
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Speaker 1: That sets a ripple effect all the way through the
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Speaker 1: National Football League. So it’s 96 hours. Dash, make it
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Speaker 1: hard to cut you. Mahomes in the pocket, he’ll step up,
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Speaker 1: he’ll scramble, 10, 5, Mahomes, diving, touchdown, Kansas City. 10x. ai
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Speaker 1: is the official cybersecurity partner of the Kansas City Chiefs.
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Speaker 1: In this city, we know that championship success starts with defense.
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Speaker 1: 10x. ai is the AI security operations provider protecting organizations from
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Speaker 1: against every threat. Visit 10x. ai for details. Hi, everyone. I’m
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Speaker 1: Mitch Holtis, voice of the Chiefs, along with senior team
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Speaker 1: reporter and chief editorial director.
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Speaker 2: This is becoming a bit. I need to write down
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Speaker 2: all of these attempts.
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Speaker 1: It’s vice president for not president or vice president. That’d
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Speaker 1: be great. Director of… Editorial content.
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Speaker 2: You got it. Yes, that’s it.
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Speaker 1: Thank you. Yeah. On the fifth try. Many of our
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Speaker 1: Chiefs Kingdom Defenders have chuckled about it. Just know he’s
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Speaker 1: extremely valuable. And so any title we give him, he’ll
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Speaker 1: live up to. But it’s great.
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Speaker 2: I just like when during camp one day we were
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Speaker 2: walking down and the guy looked at you and said,
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Speaker 2: Batman and? And I’m like, Robin. I’ll be Robin. That’s
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Speaker 2: my official title. I’m happy to be that.
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Speaker 1: No, it’s sometimes we flip it. You know, we’re just
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Speaker 1: the Avengers. So anyway, yeah, here we are. This is.
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Speaker 1: In many ways, the most interesting time of the National
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Speaker 1: Football League. But it’s also a time I never get
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Speaker 1: used to. I got asked on a show today. During
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Speaker 1: training camp, I’m on 10 times a day. And I
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Speaker 1: got asked on a show today, do you ever get
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Speaker 1: used to it? And I said, if I do, I
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Speaker 1: need to get out. Because have you ever been fired?
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Speaker 1: Have you ever been told no in trying to get
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Speaker 1: a job? Have you ever been fired?
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Speaker 2: No, the Chiefs was my first full-time job. And I
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Speaker 2: just haven’t left.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, but you’ve had some really interesting jobs.
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Speaker 2: I was an intern. I was a professional intern there
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Speaker 2: for a while, bouncing around. But fortunately, I’ve not been fired. No.
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Speaker 2: Fingers crossed.
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Speaker 1: I came to a mutual agreement once in my career,
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Speaker 1: but it really didn’t feel very mutual. But that’s okay.
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Speaker 1: It’s another matter. But I’ve also been at the altar
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Speaker 1: in thinking I had a job out of 300 applicants
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Speaker 1: and get it down to two or three, and you
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Speaker 1: don’t get it. So it’s an interesting dynamic. Fans, I think,
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Speaker 1: can become callous to it or we start to look
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Speaker 1: at it as just a spreadsheet or something on a
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Speaker 1: Word doc of names cut, names making it. And these
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Speaker 1: are human beings. Until this is all AI in 100
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Speaker 1: years or robotic, then it’s still human beings. This is
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Speaker 1: very difficult. I just talked to Coach. Coach was talking
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Speaker 1: about it. He never gets used to it. And the
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Speaker 1: fact that some will make it, some will not. And
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Speaker 1: then we’re going to bring up later here in the podcast,
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Speaker 1: a dynamic where you think you make it and you don’t.
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Speaker 1: And that’s really something to take into account. But anyway,
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Speaker 1: it’s a very difficult time.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it’s what, like 1,100 guys are without a job.
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Speaker 2: It’s tough because one of the things we really enjoy
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Speaker 2: during the spring and summer is all the stories of
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Speaker 2: players that they’re living out their dream. And the reality
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Speaker 2: of it is the preseason game on Friday, that’ll be
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Speaker 2: the last chance for vast majority of these guys to
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Speaker 2: ever play professional football. Like that’s it. And for the
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Speaker 2: rest of their lives, they can say, Hey, I played
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Speaker 2: for the chiefs. I played at Arrowhead stadium, but that’s it.
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Speaker 2: Some stories will continue. And there’s some really great ones
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Speaker 2: that we’ve seen and we’ll talk about them and they’re
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Speaker 2: going to hopefully help us win. But for a lot
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Speaker 2: of these guys on our team and around the league,
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Speaker 2: this is it. And, uh, it is tough and we
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Speaker 2: need to keep in mind the sacrifices they’ve made and
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Speaker 2: how difficult that is. But At the same time, it’s
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Speaker 2: an opportunity for our team to get better. And who’s
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Speaker 2: going to elevate? Who’s going to make this team? We
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Speaker 2: were just talking about it a minute ago. I went
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Speaker 2: through the roster and tried to kind of see who
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Speaker 2: the 53 might be. We’re going to find out on
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Speaker 2: Sunday when all these cuts are made. But I’m with you.
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Speaker 2: It’s important to keep in mind that dreams are coming
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Speaker 2: to an end. And while it’s an exciting time, it’s
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Speaker 2: also kind of a somber one.
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Speaker 1: I was at an event earlier this week in Wichita,
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Speaker 1: and we’re talking about youth football and middle school. You
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Speaker 1: know I love football at all levels. I love six-man
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Speaker 1: football all the way to the biggest classes throughout our nation,
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Speaker 1: especially in the Chiefs’ kingdom. But there was people talking
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Speaker 1: about youth football in middle school and high school. And, yeah,
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Speaker 1: those dreams are there. But there’s an end point many times.
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Speaker 1: And some of these players that will be cut will
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Speaker 1: go to the UFL. They might go to the Canadian League.
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Speaker 1: They might play for the St. Louis Goats or St. Louis,
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Speaker 1: the St. Joseph Goats in the indoor football league of
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Speaker 1: the Western Kansas Cowboys or some of the other indoor teams.
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Speaker 1: But for many, it’ll be this is it. And so
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Speaker 1: you stated it very well. And that’s why it’s a
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Speaker 1: difficult time. Those that will have the ecstatic feeling of
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Speaker 1: making it. We’re going to get into that here in
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Speaker 1: a little bit. Before we do all that, let’s go
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Speaker 1: around the world. It’s been a bit. We got the machine,
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Speaker 1: the time, the space machine cranked up and Let’s launch it.
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Speaker 1: Where are we at?
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Speaker 2: You know, I hadn’t looked at my Twitter DMs in
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Speaker 2: quite a while because Twitter can get kind of weird
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Speaker 2: with the DMs now. You can just miss stuff. It’s
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Speaker 2: kind of weird. I missed some from like weeks and
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Speaker 2: weeks and weeks ago, so I scribbled a few down.
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Speaker 2: So shout out to John in Enterprise, Alabama. That’s in
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Speaker 2: southeast Alabama, home of the Army Aviation Center of Excellence
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Speaker 2: at Fort Rucker. Pretty cool. So shout out to you, John.
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Speaker 2: Sorry it took forever to get back to you. I
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Speaker 2: heard from Keno in Oldenburg, Germany. Yeah. Not always easy
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Speaker 2: for Keno to watch games due to the time difference,
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Speaker 2: but catches as many games as he can. So shout
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Speaker 2: out to you, Keno. Once again, sorry it took like
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Speaker 2: eight weeks to get back to you. And then Kelton
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Speaker 2: is in Denton, Texas, but originally from Johnson City, Kansas,
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Speaker 2: home of the?
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Speaker 1: Trojans.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, you got it.
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Speaker 1: The Stanton County Trojans. You got it. Story of the
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Speaker 1: Smith Center, you know, my hometown. was in the same district,
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Speaker 1: this was two years ago or three years ago, same district, okay,
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Speaker 1: think this now, district, with the Stanton County Trojans in
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Speaker 1: Johnson City. And by the way, Johnson City is nowhere
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Speaker 1: near Johnson County. Johnson City is 400 miles from Johnson County.
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Speaker 2: He put city in all caps in the.
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Speaker 1: Message just to make sure he didn’t get confused. They
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Speaker 1: get mad at this. 290 miles in the same district.
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Speaker 2: That’s crazy.
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Speaker 1: One way. It’s a 600-mile round trip to play a
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Speaker 1: district game. I don’t know what district they’re, anyway how
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Speaker 1: long is that bus ride um like of weeks i
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Speaker 1: don’t know it’s it’s pretty crazy when i saw that
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Speaker 1: i’m like wow uh for sure but johnson johnson city
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Speaker 1: actually stanton county trojans now they’re eight men they were
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Speaker 1: 11 men but a lot of athletes have come out
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Speaker 1: of that area my daughter played college basketball and she
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Speaker 1: had some teammates from uh johnson city so out there
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Speaker 1: on the colorado border but great uh chiefs kingdomites.
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Speaker 2: Out there shout out to the oasis on the plains
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Speaker 2: and uh Colby, Kansas.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Stopped there a few times. One more small thing.
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Speaker 1: Prairie Dog Museum.
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Speaker 2: Got to do it. Got to go to the fish
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Speaker 2: within a fish in Hays. As a kid, I loved that.
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Speaker 2: Speaking of things I loved as a kid, this game
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Speaker 2: coming up is our– one of the things that’s being
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Speaker 2: celebrated is backyard football. Do you have that game in
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Speaker 2: your house when your kids were growing up?
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Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
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Speaker 2: I used to play that a ton. We’re going to
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Speaker 2: celebrate it at Arrowhead on Friday, which is kind of cool.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that. Again– any way, shape, or form, virtual, real, yes,
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Speaker 1: love the game. And that’s why this weekend coming up
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Speaker 1: is so tough because it’s at the least for some
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Speaker 1: a derailment. For the most for some, it’s the end.
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Speaker 1: And so here we are. But it’ll be an interesting
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Speaker 1: 96 hours.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely.
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Speaker 1: And you mentioned if we’ll know the 53 by Sunday,
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Speaker 1: And we may not.
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Speaker 2: Kind of.
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Speaker 1: And here’s why. With the Chiefs in the ninth position
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Speaker 1: on waiver claims, we haven’t been here in a while.
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Speaker 1: I’ll take you back to the ancient days of the
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Speaker 1: 2013 cut down. There were seven guys that thought they
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Speaker 1: made our team. Now remember who got cut that year?
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Speaker 1: Tony Moyeke. Tyson Hartman played at Wichita Cape in high
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Speaker 1: school and at K-State and had played for us. And
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Speaker 1: I see Tyson. He’s done a great job. Super bright guy.
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Speaker 1: now involved in the financial industry, they thought they made
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Speaker 1: the team on Saturday. On Sunday, they were told they
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Speaker 1: were cut. Seven guys. And the reason was we had
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Speaker 1: first waiver position. Anybody that got cut in the league,
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Speaker 1: we were sifting through it and had the first claim.
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Speaker 1: With the ninth claim, it’s not like having the first, Matt,
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Speaker 1: but you catch my drift. There could be one, maybe
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Speaker 1: two players. As you sift through the sand, they’re going, no,
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Speaker 1: we’re going to claim that guy. particularly in a position
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Speaker 1: of perceived need. That’s why I think one of the
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Speaker 1: reasons this is a real interesting time.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, so we’ll come out with an initial 53-man roster
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Speaker 2: on Sunday, and then to your point, it might look
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Speaker 2: a little bit different on Tuesday. The Magnificent Seven is
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Speaker 2: fun to talk about, thinking about some of those guys.
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Speaker 2: Sean McGrath, he was fun.
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Speaker 1: Duck Dynasty.
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Speaker 2: Duck Dynasty.
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Speaker 1: The only healthy tight end when we played the New
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Speaker 1: York Giants.
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Speaker 2: Unbelievable.
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Speaker 1: He was the only healthy tight end.
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Speaker 2: And he scored, right?
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Speaker 1: He scored.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: That was great.
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Speaker 2: Ron Parker. Ron Parker’s the valedictorian of that.
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Speaker 1: He was. Division II guy. Yeah. Didn’t play Division I football.
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Speaker 1: We even had a feature of Ron Parker says, right?
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Speaker 1: He was just always quoted kind of like Socrates or
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Speaker 1: Plato before a game all the time. He just became
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Speaker 1: very verbose.
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Speaker 2: Marcus Cooper was pretty good for a minute.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, fumble recovery or forced fumble, I think, against Tennessee
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Speaker 1: that led to a touchdown in the end zone.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that’s right. The point is you can find these players,
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Speaker 2: and when you have a higher spot in that waiver order,
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Speaker 2: there might be a team that has too many of
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Speaker 2: a position group, and they just can’t hold on to
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Speaker 2: a guy. They’re hoping maybe they can stick him through
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Speaker 2: to their practice squad, and we’re able to pounce on him.
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Speaker 2: So we’ll see. So it’s a long way of saying
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Speaker 2: that it’s a little bit tricky. It’s a bummer for
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Speaker 2: those guys that think they make the team. They end
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Speaker 2: up not making the team, but also– from a team
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Speaker 2: building perspective, we have a chance to get better even
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Speaker 2: beyond just roster cuts on Sunday.
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Speaker 1: I’ll give you another example of the other side of this,
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Speaker 1: and this is pre-Coach Reed, but Ryan Lilja played at
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Speaker 1: Shawnee Mission Northwest High School here in Kansas City, was
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Speaker 1: a great player for K-State. We tried to slip him through.
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Speaker 1: The Colts claimed him. He became an immediate starter for
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Speaker 1: the Colts and a Super Bowl champion with Peyton Manning.
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Speaker 1: And that’s another example of, well, let’s try to slip
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Speaker 1: him through and Everybody’s looking at everybody during this time.
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Speaker 1: And again, just fascinating. But I’ll be stunned if there’s
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Speaker 1: not one or two players that we look at and
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Speaker 1: claim on Sunday that’s not on our roster right now.
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Speaker 2: And who knows what will happen. This is me just spitballing.
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Speaker 2: But we’ve played the Rams, and we’re going to play
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Speaker 2: the Seahawks in the preseason. Those are two of the
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Speaker 2: deepest rosters in the NFL. You get an up-close-and-personal evaluation
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Speaker 2: of those teams. Not a bad thing.
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Speaker 1: One thing is to watch it on video. Another one
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Speaker 1: is to see them in the flesh. And you can
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Speaker 1: argue the two deepest rosters in the National Football League.
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Speaker 2: Might be.
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Speaker 1: And so, yeah, that might be the blessing in disguise
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Speaker 1: of playing these two teams in the preseason. So 96
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Speaker 1: hours where it’s going to be interesting, some surprises, some
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Speaker 1: things maybe you haven’t thought about or we’ve thought about.
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Speaker 1: But it’s also the, and I just talked again with Coach,
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Speaker 1: make it hard to cut you. And I’m going to
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Speaker 1: give you a double meaning on that. But let’s start
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Speaker 1: with the meaning that pretty obvious is that be so
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Speaker 1: good that it’s boiling down to one or two or
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Speaker 1: three guys at a position, and it’s very difficult to
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Speaker 1: make that decision.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, 100%. I mean, so I look through the roster here.
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Speaker 2: When you have 53 guys on your roster, you’re going
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Speaker 2: from 91 to 53. You’re going to have to make
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Speaker 2: some really tough decisions. And where do you invest a
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Speaker 2: lot in position group-wise? Is there a position where you
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Speaker 2: usually keep a defensive back, for example? We normally keep
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Speaker 2: between 9 and 10. If there’s one extra guy that
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Speaker 2: you like a lot and you don’t think you can
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Speaker 2: sneak him through, you think he’ll be like Ryan Lilja,
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Speaker 2: you can’t cut him. You have to keep him. And
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Speaker 2: you end up being at 11 DBs. That means you
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Speaker 2: have to go lighter somewhere else. That’s where this gets
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Speaker 2: so fascinating. So I’m going to zip through this really quick.
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Speaker 2: I just looked through it. I’m not going to mention names,
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Speaker 2: but just looking at position groups. So quarterbacks, presumably you
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Speaker 2: keep three, right? Keep three quarterbacks. Probably keep four running backs.
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Speaker 2: But that means you could probably only keep six receivers.
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Speaker 1: You’re heavy now, too. On a normal template, you usually
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Speaker 1: would keep two quarterbacks and three running backs. So you’re
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Speaker 1: plus two. Already.
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Speaker 2: But that’s where the discourse out there is talking about
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Speaker 2: keeping seven receivers like we have in the past. I
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Speaker 2: just don’t know if you can, if you keep three
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Speaker 2: quarterbacks and four running backs. You can’t then keep seven receivers,
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Speaker 2: I don’t think. So six receivers. You probably can’t keep
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Speaker 2: four tight ends. You probably only keep three tight ends.
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Speaker 2: Maybe you find a way to keep four, but I
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Speaker 2: think you only keep three. It sets up quite a
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Speaker 2: battle there for that third spot.
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Speaker 1: And what you’re doing here in this exercise, let’s say
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Speaker 1: you keep four tight ends. You’re robbing defensive players. You
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Speaker 1: can’t go to spags and go, you’re going to have
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Speaker 1: 20 guys. And many times that’s what happens. In a
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Speaker 1: perfect world, and we talked about it, you have 25 offense,
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Speaker 1: 25 defense, and three specialists. That’s a perfect world. But
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Speaker 1: right now, and I’m with you in this discussion, you’re
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Speaker 1: at plus three. But you only have three tight ends.
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Speaker 2: Only three tight ends. So that would be plus one now, right?
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Speaker 1: You’re plus one because you took only six wide receivers.
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Speaker 1: You had an extra quarterback, extra running back, one less
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Speaker 1: wide receiver, and tight ends are the same. All right,
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Speaker 1: you’re plus one.
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Speaker 2: So then you look at O-line. I think you keep nine.
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Speaker 2: Does that get you back to even?
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Speaker 1: That gets you to even. Okay, so you’re even. Now
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Speaker 1: you’re at 25 guys.
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Speaker 2: Going into the defense. Looking at linebacker, I think you
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Speaker 2: keep five. That’s really light, though. That’s really light. yeah
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Speaker 2: that’s really light i don’t know.
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Speaker 1: Um special teams man i know that’s that sixth guy
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Speaker 1: is your special teams guy hopefully and.
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Speaker 2: This is this is where maybe you use the practice
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Speaker 2: squad and those vested veteran spots to try to elevate
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Speaker 2: a guy i don’t know but.
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Speaker 1: You have to get four elevations that’s why sometimes we
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Speaker 1: burned up four elevations by columbus week.
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Speaker 2: Four um i think you keep Probably 10 defensive backs
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Speaker 2: like we have in the past. Only nine last year,
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Speaker 2: but 10 the three years prior.
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Speaker 1: Six corners, four safeties.
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Speaker 2: I think I went five safeties, five corners. But it’s
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Speaker 2: tricky because there’s some players that are safeties, but basically
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Speaker 2: slot corners here. Blurry line.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: And then nine defensive linemen, three specialists. So if you
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Speaker 2: do all of that, that leaves you one spot left
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Speaker 2: in the 53, and you can put it wherever you want.
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Speaker 2: But the point is it shows how difficult these decisions are.
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Speaker 2: I wish I could keep four or five more of
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Speaker 2: these players, but you can’t. So to go back to
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Speaker 2: your original point, make it impossible to cut you. Play
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Speaker 2: so well that they cannot cut you. They can’t risk
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Speaker 2: putting you on waivers. They have to have you part
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Speaker 2: of this system. And who is that player going to be?
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Speaker 2: And it’s always kind of fun to see who that
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Speaker 2: is because in the past, like Chris Roland Wallace comes
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Speaker 2: to mind. I remember I might have mentioned this in
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Speaker 2: the pod before or just privately to you. I was
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Speaker 2: doing a sideline interview with Drew Tranquil during the final
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Speaker 2: preseason game. And the Chiefs had done a great job
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Speaker 2: of kind of hiding Chris Roland Wallace. There had been
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Speaker 2: no real discussion about him. And I’m interviewing Drew on
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Speaker 2: the sideline, just asking about the defense in general. And
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Speaker 2: I’m like, who are some of the guys that have
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Speaker 2: really impressed you and stood out to be leaders on
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Speaker 2: this defense?
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Speaker 1: Leaders, right?
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Speaker 2: And he’s like, oh, man, you’re out here with guys
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Speaker 2: like Nick Bolton, Chris Jones, Chris Roland Wallace. And I
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Speaker 2: remember thinking to myself, what? Why did he mention Chris
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Speaker 2: Roland Wallace in that context? Well, what do you know?
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Speaker 2: A few days later, CRW makes this team and now
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Speaker 2: he’s been here for a couple of years. And now
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Speaker 2: I think he’s going to be our starting slot corner
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Speaker 2: this season. So it goes to show, make it impossible
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Speaker 2: to cut you. And you’re going to end up having
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Speaker 2: a role on this team, maybe for years to come.
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Speaker 2: And he’s a great example. And I think we’ll have
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Speaker 2: another example of that here in just a few days.
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Speaker 1: Yep. And you see any of this breakthrough plays, the
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Speaker 1: interception against San Francisco, I believe is a breakthrough play.
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Speaker 1: And so you saw CRW continue to climb as a
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Speaker 1: guy who had kind of pushed his way up the roster.
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Speaker 1: You think of an Xavier Wampa, maybe on this 2026
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Speaker 1: version that kind of fills that role, Khalil Benson on
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Speaker 1: the other side. But now I’m going to flip this,
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Speaker 1: and I’m going to use the same phrase, just different inflection,
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Speaker 1: but just follow me through this. You’re a graduate of
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Speaker 1: the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism. You’re a wordsmith.
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Speaker 1: Make it tough for me to cut you. Now, let
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Speaker 1: me give you a double meaning. Okay. Make it tough
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Speaker 1: for me to cut you. Meaning? You’ve been a veteran.
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Speaker 1: You’ve been around for a while. You’ve been in this
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Speaker 1: building two, three years. But you’ve got to continue to progress.
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Speaker 1: You’ve got to continue to move forward. You have to
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Speaker 1: show improvement. This isn’t earning points to get a merit
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Speaker 1: badge in the NFL. So when I say make it
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Speaker 1: tough to cut you, meaning maybe you’re a draft pick.
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Speaker 1: Maybe you’re a free agent that we’ve invested a lot
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Speaker 1: of time and effort into. But it’ll be tough to
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Speaker 1: cut you. But you’re still going to be cut. So
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Speaker 1: this is where it gets to be, I think, really tricky,
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Speaker 1: especially with, like, I see nine rookies come firing through here,
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Speaker 1: the seven draftees and two undrafted free agents that could
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Speaker 1: be on the 53-man roster. And when that happens, people
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Speaker 1: that have been here for a while get pushed away.
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Speaker 1: You’ve got to continue to improve in this league. even
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Speaker 1: though you’re around for a while, does not mean or
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Speaker 1: guarantee anything. And there will be, I think, some folks
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Speaker 1: that might be surprised. Just a thought. But make it
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Speaker 1: tough to cut you also means this is going to
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Speaker 1: be tough, but I’ve got to cut you. And it’s
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Speaker 1: not because you’re rising. It’s because you’ve stayed the same
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Speaker 1: or slipped.
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Speaker 2: I think the last time we were confronted with this
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Speaker 2: kind of decision-making process is probably going into the 2022 season.
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Speaker 2: Because the 2021 season, even though it ended up in
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Speaker 2: the conference title game, still fell short of expectations. And
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Speaker 2: a lot of changes were made after that season. And
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Speaker 2: a lot of players that were here previously, many of
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Speaker 2: which that had had a lot of success, we had
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Speaker 2: to say goodbye to. And there was a total youth movement.
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Speaker 2: And we really fully committed to it. Well, what was
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Speaker 2: the result of that? Well, we went to three Super
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Speaker 2: Bowls in a row. But we had to commit to
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Speaker 2: that youth movement. And I think we’re kind of seeing
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Speaker 2: that right now where a lot of young players are
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Speaker 2: going to have an opportunity to to go and play
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Speaker 2: and not just be starters, but also be depth guys.
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Speaker 2: And the other side of that is it means that
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Speaker 2: you’re saying goodbye to players that have been around here
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Speaker 2: a while. So we’ll see who those guys are, but
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Speaker 2: I’m with you on that.
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Speaker 1: So do you think monster Delane makes the team, Peter Woods,
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Speaker 1: our Mason Thomas, let’s go right down the line.
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Speaker 2: I think, I think monster makes the team.
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Speaker 1: Yeah. It feels like it’s Cyrus Allen. Maybe we talked
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Speaker 1: about Jaden Kennedy. We talked about Nussmeyer. You’re going to
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Speaker 1: keep three quarterbacks. That’s the seventh round pick quarterback. Who’s
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00:19:34,980 –> 00:19:37,159
Speaker 1: the third quarterback on this roster? Who am I leaving out?
418
00:19:37,180 –> 00:19:39,669
Speaker 1: I always leave somebody out here. That’s seven draftees.
419
00:19:39,830 –> 00:19:40,790
Speaker 2: Well, how about Emmitt Johnson?
420
00:19:41,430 –> 00:19:43,070
Speaker 1: Don’t want to leave Emmitt out because here comes all
421
00:19:43,090 –> 00:19:47,720
Speaker 1: my Lincoln texts and folks on social media. I featured
422
00:19:48,100 –> 00:19:51,340
Speaker 1: all week long. I mean, for months here I’ve featured
423
00:19:51,400 –> 00:19:54,760
Speaker 1: Emmitt Johnson ever since we’ve drafted him. But, yeah, throw
424
00:19:54,800 –> 00:19:57,270
Speaker 1: him in there. It’s right down the line. Very similar
425
00:19:57,770 –> 00:20:00,250
Speaker 1: when we were in 22 going right down the line going, ooh,
426
00:20:00,890 –> 00:20:02,070
Speaker 1: these guys could all make the team.
427
00:20:02,190 –> 00:20:05,669
Speaker 2: And here’s the thing. 22, immediately those rookies stood out
428
00:20:05,690 –> 00:20:08,380
Speaker 2: to us. Like right away they had like a certain–
429
00:20:08,990 –> 00:20:11,840
Speaker 2: presence about them where they didn’t feel like rookies they
430
00:20:11,859 –> 00:20:13,560
Speaker 2: felt like players that were brought in here to help
431
00:20:13,619 –> 00:20:15,820
Speaker 2: us win and i think emmett’s a great example of
432
00:20:15,880 –> 00:20:19,139
Speaker 2: that because there’s so many stories with him he’s impressed
433
00:20:19,160 –> 00:20:21,060
Speaker 2: me so much but if you look at his preseason
434
00:20:21,100 –> 00:20:23,510
Speaker 2: performance i know the preseason is what it is but
435
00:20:23,550 –> 00:20:25,429
Speaker 2: it is an opportunity good to go out there and
436
00:20:25,570 –> 00:20:27,550
Speaker 2: show what you can do and emmett as of this
437
00:20:27,590 –> 00:20:30,730
Speaker 2: recording leads all running backs with 10 forced missed tackles
438
00:20:31,150 –> 00:20:34,119
Speaker 2: during the preseason. Think about that. 10 forced missed tackles.
439
00:20:34,160 –> 00:20:36,199
Speaker 2: He’s taking every carry and running as hard as he
440
00:20:36,220 –> 00:20:39,199
Speaker 2: possibly can because he knows this is my opportunity to
441
00:20:39,240 –> 00:20:41,320
Speaker 2: show what I can do. So here’s the fun thing.
442
00:20:42,220 –> 00:20:44,760
Speaker 2: He had seven of those in the first preseason game.
443
00:20:44,800 –> 00:20:46,400
Speaker 2: And we, of course, went back to camp after that.
444
00:20:46,820 –> 00:20:48,820
Speaker 2: He’s walking down the hill and I’m like, hey, Emmett,
445
00:20:48,840 –> 00:20:50,840
Speaker 2: you know, a heck of a game on Saturday. He
446
00:20:50,859 –> 00:20:52,399
Speaker 2: just kind of shakes his head and says, I have
447
00:20:52,420 –> 00:20:53,450
Speaker 2: to be so much better.
448
00:20:53,470 –> 00:20:54,330
Speaker 1: He was serious.
449
00:20:54,369 –> 00:20:55,889
Speaker 2: He wasn’t just, you know, joking about it.
450
00:20:55,890 –> 00:20:56,490
Speaker 1: He was serious.
451
00:20:57,000 –> 00:20:59,780
Speaker 2: So it says everything about his attitude, and we’ll see
452
00:20:59,800 –> 00:21:01,399
Speaker 2: what he can do in this game, but he has
453
00:21:01,440 –> 00:21:03,220
Speaker 2: a great shot to help us win this year.
454
00:21:03,400 –> 00:21:05,600
Speaker 1: And let me add something here, because you’ve seen this
455
00:21:06,359 –> 00:21:09,740
Speaker 1: as the weeks have gone on with Emmett. Stuff keeps
456
00:21:09,760 –> 00:21:13,720
Speaker 1: getting added to his plate. Yeah. Kick return? What? That’s
457
00:21:13,760 –> 00:21:17,909
Speaker 1: like Amir Abdullah. That’s like his mentor. Oh, kind of
458
00:21:17,950 –> 00:21:21,770
Speaker 1: snuck in there, maybe past the naked eye. Personal protector
459
00:21:21,810 –> 00:21:25,010
Speaker 1: on punt? Uh-huh. Not that he’ll do it. That’s Jaden Hicks’
460
00:21:25,030 –> 00:21:30,140
Speaker 1: job right now. But If Jaden Hicks goes down, he’d
461
00:21:30,400 –> 00:21:33,330
Speaker 1: be right there. They just keep putting more on Emmitt’s plate.
462
00:21:33,970 –> 00:21:36,389
Speaker 1: And I love to see it because that tells me
463
00:21:36,450 –> 00:21:39,740
Speaker 1: what they think he can be And Emmitt so far
464
00:21:39,760 –> 00:21:42,080
Speaker 1: has shown he can be a pro. For sure.
465
00:21:42,380 –> 00:21:44,540
Speaker 2: And, you know, force missed tackles to me are a
466
00:21:44,600 –> 00:21:46,379
Speaker 2: fun stat in the preseason because a lot of it
467
00:21:46,480 –> 00:21:49,440
Speaker 2: is want to. It’s how badly do you want to
468
00:21:49,540 –> 00:21:51,359
Speaker 2: be on this team? How badly do you want to
469
00:21:51,400 –> 00:21:53,879
Speaker 2: show what you can do in a preseason setting? Because
470
00:21:54,240 –> 00:21:56,060
Speaker 2: think about a force missed tackle. It means that you’re
471
00:21:56,100 –> 00:21:58,939
Speaker 2: having to put your body on the line. There’s no
472
00:21:59,000 –> 00:22:01,560
Speaker 2: business decisions being made when you do that. And in
473
00:22:01,600 –> 00:22:03,560
Speaker 2: the preseason, that takes a certain kind of guy. And
474
00:22:03,980 –> 00:22:05,000
Speaker 2: Emmitt clearly is that guy.
475
00:22:05,690 –> 00:22:08,000
Speaker 1: And Ken Walker, by the way, says hold my beer
476
00:22:08,040 –> 00:22:08,699
Speaker 1: on that stats.
477
00:22:09,100 –> 00:22:10,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, Ken Walker, I’m looking forward to seeing his missed
478
00:22:10,940 –> 00:22:13,240
Speaker 2: force tackle stats once the season gets going. But you
479
00:22:13,260 –> 00:22:16,220
Speaker 2: were talking about second and third year guys that need
480
00:22:16,260 –> 00:22:18,919
Speaker 2: to elevate because the pressure is on. Well, in the
481
00:22:18,960 –> 00:22:21,700
Speaker 2: same context of missed force tackles, you know who leads
482
00:22:21,780 –> 00:22:24,600
Speaker 2: all pass catchers in that category in the preseason right
483
00:22:24,640 –> 00:22:26,040
Speaker 2: now in forced missed tackles is five?
484
00:22:26,869 –> 00:22:30,690
Speaker 1: Jalen Royals. Yeah, and we’ve seen every target be caught
485
00:22:30,730 –> 00:22:34,149
Speaker 1: by him in two games. So there’s an example of
486
00:22:34,210 –> 00:22:37,929
Speaker 1: the Second phrase, hey, make it hard for me to
487
00:22:37,990 –> 00:22:41,450
Speaker 1: cut you. You’ve been around, but we’ll cut you. But
488
00:22:41,820 –> 00:22:45,280
Speaker 1: he now has been the antithesis of that, and he’s
489
00:22:45,300 –> 00:22:47,020
Speaker 1: been better almost in the games than he has been
490
00:22:47,060 –> 00:22:49,780
Speaker 1: in practice. Definitely, yeah. And that’s a good sign, actually.
491
00:22:51,160 –> 00:22:52,300
Speaker 1: But this is what we thought we were going to
492
00:22:52,320 –> 00:22:52,820
Speaker 1: get a year ago.
493
00:22:53,560 –> 00:22:55,860
Speaker 2: This is what it was at Utah State. Yeah, absolutely.
494
00:22:56,180 –> 00:22:58,200
Speaker 2: And it’s cool to see that actually translate to games,
495
00:22:58,240 –> 00:23:01,879
Speaker 2: and it’s clear that Jalen is– trying to make it
496
00:23:01,960 –> 00:23:03,820
Speaker 2: clear like i can be not only on this team
497
00:23:03,859 –> 00:23:06,220
Speaker 2: but a contributor on this team so we’ll see what
498
00:23:06,240 –> 00:23:07,650
Speaker 2: he can do in this last game but that stands
499
00:23:07,690 –> 00:23:09,770
Speaker 2: out to me as well And then Brashard Smith actually
500
00:23:09,850 –> 00:23:12,489
Speaker 2: ranks second in that category among all pass catchers, not
501
00:23:12,530 –> 00:23:16,480
Speaker 2: running backs, but pass catchers with four Smiths tackles. Same
502
00:23:16,500 –> 00:23:18,439
Speaker 2: thing with Brashard. I mean, we’ve been talking about Brashard
503
00:23:18,480 –> 00:23:21,240
Speaker 2: really since camp began because he looks far more comfortable
504
00:23:21,280 –> 00:23:24,220
Speaker 2: at running back now. But anyway, it’s all to illustrate
505
00:23:24,260 –> 00:23:26,680
Speaker 2: that I’m excited about not only our rookies, but also
506
00:23:26,700 –> 00:23:28,440
Speaker 2: some of our younger guys that have been here for
507
00:23:28,480 –> 00:23:31,940
Speaker 2: a minute, that they’re taking this preseason seriously. And it
508
00:23:31,980 –> 00:23:35,430
Speaker 2: really starts from the ground up of saying last season
509
00:23:35,470 –> 00:23:37,350
Speaker 2: was not acceptable because And we’re going to make sure
510
00:23:37,390 –> 00:23:39,800
Speaker 2: we turn things around this year. And for players like
511
00:23:39,910 –> 00:23:42,239
Speaker 2: Emmitt that weren’t even here last season, to have that
512
00:23:42,280 –> 00:23:43,300
Speaker 2: mindset is pretty cool.
513
00:23:44,600 –> 00:23:46,740
Speaker 1: And I think to me, Brashard Smith, every time I
514
00:23:46,780 –> 00:23:49,139
Speaker 1: see him in practice or a game, I think of
515
00:23:49,160 –> 00:23:53,750
Speaker 1: DeMarco Murray. I think DeMarco Murray has really, really, really,
516
00:23:53,830 –> 00:23:57,190
Speaker 1: our running backs coach, former Cowboy star, OU star, has really,
517
00:23:57,230 –> 00:24:00,470
Speaker 1: really helped Brashard Smith. And some of it is Brashard Smith,
518
00:24:00,810 –> 00:24:03,070
Speaker 1: he didn’t have enough reps of time at running back.
519
00:24:03,109 –> 00:24:05,540
Speaker 1: But DeMarco, I think, has kind of taken him under
520
00:24:05,580 –> 00:24:08,630
Speaker 1: his wing. It’s been awesome to see that. But special
521
00:24:08,670 –> 00:24:11,070
Speaker 1: teams comes into play here so much. I know I
522
00:24:11,090 –> 00:24:14,650
Speaker 1: keep harping on it. But honestly, and to be emphatic here,
523
00:24:14,850 –> 00:24:16,770
Speaker 1: we’ve got to be better in special teams. In the
524
00:24:16,830 –> 00:24:19,650
Speaker 1: preseason so far, Coach just talked about it. I asked
525
00:24:19,690 –> 00:24:22,109
Speaker 1: him about it, and we were chatting about it. But
526
00:24:22,130 –> 00:24:25,040
Speaker 1: we saw a 40-yard punt return against the Rams against
527
00:24:25,260 –> 00:24:28,219
Speaker 1: us that flipped the game. That was right after Brownlee
528
00:24:28,260 –> 00:24:30,619
Speaker 1: drops what would have been a 94-yard touchdown pass to
529
00:24:30,680 –> 00:24:34,580
Speaker 1: go up 10 points. Instead, the punt return flips the game.
530
00:24:34,619 –> 00:24:38,230
Speaker 1: We lose. And Matt Ariza, love him, but a 36-yard punt.
531
00:24:38,730 –> 00:24:41,139
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, a short field for Jalen Daniels,
532
00:24:41,180 –> 00:24:44,240
Speaker 1: but it’s a 49-yard drive. Those are automatic points in
533
00:24:44,280 –> 00:24:47,880
Speaker 1: the NFL. So covering them, don’t have penalties, get a return.
534
00:24:48,000 –> 00:24:51,850
Speaker 1: It’s all of those categories that can flip a season
535
00:24:52,369 –> 00:24:55,410
Speaker 1: so quickly and take the Chiefs from 6-11 to a 12-5.
536
00:24:56,030 –> 00:24:58,490
Speaker 2: It’s the margins. We’ve talked about this at length, that
537
00:24:58,510 –> 00:25:00,570
Speaker 2: the Chiefs didn’t get blown out in a bunch of
538
00:25:00,590 –> 00:25:03,330
Speaker 2: games last year when Patrick was healthy. We lost those
539
00:25:03,369 –> 00:25:05,840
Speaker 2: games in the margins. It was in the final two minutes.
540
00:25:05,900 –> 00:25:08,760
Speaker 2: It was penalties. It was a special teams mistake here
541
00:25:08,800 –> 00:25:10,800
Speaker 2: or there. It was missing a field goal here or there,
542
00:25:11,460 –> 00:25:13,920
Speaker 2: missing a block here or there. It was the margins,
543
00:25:13,940 –> 00:25:15,570
Speaker 2: and we have to clean up the margins. And I
544
00:25:15,609 –> 00:25:18,310
Speaker 2: think really after week one of the preseason where we
545
00:25:18,350 –> 00:25:21,570
Speaker 2: had 12 penalties, that’s kind of been the mandate. We
546
00:25:21,609 –> 00:25:24,810
Speaker 2: have to play cleaner football. We have to play disciplined football.
547
00:25:25,430 –> 00:25:28,670
Speaker 2: And that whole idea gets back to special teams as well.
548
00:25:28,750 –> 00:25:30,869
Speaker 2: So hopefully we see an improvement in that area on
549
00:25:30,930 –> 00:25:33,810
Speaker 2: Friday to make us feel better about kicking things off
550
00:25:33,850 –> 00:25:34,470
Speaker 2: against the Broncos.
551
00:25:35,310 –> 00:25:38,449
Speaker 1: And as soon as the game ends Friday, you and
552
00:25:38,530 –> 00:25:40,610
Speaker 1: I are just going to keep everything peeled to what’s
553
00:25:40,630 –> 00:25:42,189
Speaker 1: going to happen because I think it’s going to go
554
00:25:42,210 –> 00:25:45,879
Speaker 1: throughout the weekend. Yeah. Announcing a 53, but that 53
555
00:25:45,880 –> 00:25:47,300
Speaker 1: could change really quickly.
556
00:25:47,440 –> 00:25:50,840
Speaker 2: It sure can. And it’s exciting. You know, we’ve been
557
00:25:50,880 –> 00:25:54,560
Speaker 2: waiting months and months to get through this process. I
558
00:25:54,619 –> 00:25:57,100
Speaker 2: feel for the guys that aren’t going to be here anymore,
559
00:25:57,300 –> 00:25:59,830
Speaker 2: and we appreciate them. And I think that’s important to emphasize,
560
00:26:00,270 –> 00:26:03,420
Speaker 2: like everything they’ve given– This team, if they’ve been here
561
00:26:03,460 –> 00:26:04,920
Speaker 2: for years or if they’ve been here for a couple
562
00:26:04,960 –> 00:26:07,860
Speaker 2: of months, we appreciate it. But it’s also an exciting
563
00:26:07,900 –> 00:26:10,880
Speaker 2: time because I am just so tired about hearing about
564
00:26:10,900 –> 00:26:13,060
Speaker 2: the demise of the Chiefs. And I’m ready to go
565
00:26:13,119 –> 00:26:14,899
Speaker 2: out there and show the world the Chiefs are still here.
566
00:26:15,720 –> 00:26:17,220
Speaker 1: Well, if the Chiefs are still here, and you and
567
00:26:17,260 –> 00:26:19,660
Speaker 1: I believe that they are, it’s going to be having
568
00:26:19,680 –> 00:26:22,360
Speaker 1: the right guys on the field. And over the next
569
00:26:22,380 –> 00:26:26,080
Speaker 1: several days, it’s going to be interesting. So for 96 hours,
570
00:26:27,020 –> 00:26:28,720
Speaker 1: make it tough to cut you.
