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Saints Camp: Final Roster Decisions & Biggest Questions Before the Preseason Finale · AFR Saints

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• 0:25
  Speaker 1: we calling an audible? That's a football pun. uh, Kat
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: was supposed to be on with us in 15 minutes. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: then Alondra called her and she's.
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  Speaker 2: Like, I can do it now.
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  Speaker 1: So we're going to talk to Kat Terrell now, uh,
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  Speaker 1: ESPN NFL nation reporter covering the saints.
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  Speaker 2: Kat, how are you?
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  Speaker 3: I'm great. I just wanted to show our audience that
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  Speaker 3: I'm capable of, you know, thinking on my feet and, uh,
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  Speaker 3: changing at the last minute.
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  Speaker 2: On the fly. Love it. Hey, do you love the, uh,
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  Speaker 2: do you love the Yeoman practice?
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  Speaker 3: I do like it. I think it's a nice change. One,
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  Speaker 3: because every time I stepped outside today, I wanted to
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  Speaker 3: die a little because it's a thousand degrees. And two,
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  Speaker 3: I think it's cool that it's one more chance for
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  Speaker 3: the fans to see the team. I think it's hard
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  Speaker 3: for fans to be able to attend training camp practice
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  Speaker 3: because they tend to change on the fly when it
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  Speaker 3: rains and things like that. So it kind of feels
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  Speaker 3: like it's like one last time for fans to see
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  Speaker 3: the team before the regular season starts.
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  Speaker 1: My hope, Kat, is that they just find a way
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  Speaker 1: to make it through each passing day without another injury.
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  Speaker 2: Do you have an update on Chris Alave?
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  Speaker 3: I don't yet. I was trying to decide whether or
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  Speaker 3: not I would take what Kellen said at face value
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  Speaker 3: because it happened for like eight minutes before he talked
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  Speaker 3: to the media. He was at the podium so fast.
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  Speaker 3: It was crazy, by the way. But he brought a
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  Speaker 3: deep pass or was attempting to catch a deep pass.
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  Speaker 3: It was actually a flag on the defensive line play.
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  Speaker 3: And he kind of hit the ground hard, took a
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  Speaker 3: minute to get up. They get up, then walked all
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  Speaker 3: the way down to the opposite side of the indoor
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  Speaker 3: facility with athletic trainers, and they left. And so practice,
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  Speaker 3: it went on to the third team for the next
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  Speaker 3: set of team drills, and practice ended four plays later.
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  Speaker 3: So we don't know if he would have come back.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, obviously, whether he practices tonight will be a
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  Speaker 3: huge sign as to whether things are good or else
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  Speaker 3: it's something we need to be concerned about.
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  Speaker 1: You said there was like eight minutes. Give me some
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  Speaker 1: context if you would. Like, why is that significant?
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  Speaker 3: Because it happened so fast that I would think that
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  Speaker 3: Moore would only have time to get a brief update
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  Speaker 3: from the athletic trainers and medical staff before talking to us.
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  Speaker 3: So there wasn't really much time because he was still
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  Speaker 3: running practice for him to go get an in-depth update.
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  Speaker 3: So I did ask, did they tell you they're running more?
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  Speaker 3: Did they tell you it's going to be more serious?
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  Speaker 3: Anything like that. He said they didn't. But again, you know,
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  Speaker 3: because it happened so fast, just because they didn't tell
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  Speaker 3: him we're running more tests at that time doesn't mean
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  Speaker 3: that something can't come up. I mean, I think you
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  Speaker 3: just never know. I mean, wasn't there a whole uproar
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  Speaker 3: about Jamar Chase being injured in Cincinnati yesterday and then
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  Speaker 3: he was fine and then I think he didn't practice today.
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  Speaker 3: And so these things do tend to change from day
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  Speaker 3: to day, but hopefully everything's okay and we'll see in
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  Speaker 3: about two and a half hours.
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  Speaker 1: She's at Kat underscore Terrell if you want to give
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  Speaker 1: her a follow. Okay, aside from Jordan Tyson, what would
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  Speaker 1: you say is the most significant injury to this roster
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  Speaker 1: so far in camp?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, that's a good question. I think it kind of
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  Speaker 3: depends just on how you're viewing each position. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: Alvin Kamara is always going to be considered a big injury, but,
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  Speaker 3: you know, Travis A. Chan, just the majority of the
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  Speaker 3: first team snaps and practice this training. So, you know,
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  Speaker 3: that's not changing. Cam Jordan, I think, was significant. But again,
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  Speaker 3: you know, how many snaps is Cam Jordan getting versus...
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  Speaker 3: You know, Chase Young or Carl Granderson. And so those
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  Speaker 3: two are big. But I do think that Quincy Riley
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  Speaker 3: being injured is a significant one simply because I don't
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  Speaker 3: know what that depth looks like at the bottom of
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  Speaker 3: the cornerbacks room once the regular season starts and how
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  Speaker 3: those guys are going to play.
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  Speaker 1: So I left that question intentionally open-ended because I wanted
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  Speaker 1: that to lead me into the next question, which was, okay,
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  Speaker 1: so if it's Quincy Riley, then walk me through your
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  Speaker 1: thoughts at the cornerback position with one preseason game left,
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  Speaker 1: how the Saints are.
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  Speaker 3: I think that they have played better as training camp
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  Speaker 3: has gone on. I think Martin Emerson didn't look great
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  Speaker 3: early in camp, but you know, he's a guy with
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  Speaker 3: a lot of experience. I think he's played well lately.
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  Speaker 3: I know Isaac Yottam has become the scapegoat of camp.
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  Speaker 3: You know, there's always one, but I think he's been
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  Speaker 3: okay recently too. I mean, it, it kind of, I mean,
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  Speaker 3: in campus, one of those things where you can look
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  Speaker 3: terrible one day and find an act and they're still
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  Speaker 3: always in the back of your mind. How are they
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  Speaker 3: actually going to play when the regular season starts? I mean,
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  Speaker 3: I know this is a different position, but a year
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  Speaker 3: ago we were saying, this can lead you to another
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  Speaker 3: question if you want. But a year ago we were
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  Speaker 3: saying Blake groupie has won this kicker battle running away.
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  Speaker 3: He has missed one kick all of camp. He looks great.
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  Speaker 3: And he goes to the regular season and it's, he
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  Speaker 3: just can't kick with any consistency. So, I mean, sometimes you,
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  Speaker 3: sometimes you know, but other times players surprise you and
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  Speaker 3: the lights come on.
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  Speaker 1: Um, okay. I, uh, I, by the way, I'm, I
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  Speaker 1: am mortified and terrified about this team at cornerback. I
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  Speaker 1: can't believe they didn't do more to address it in
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  Speaker 1: the off season.
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  Speaker 3: And I think that's fair. I think that's fair. Um,
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  Speaker 3: just a lot of inconsistency. So if I'm worrying about
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  Speaker 3: this now, what's it going to look like when they're
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  Speaker 3: playing against the lions and, uh, not for 17 days,
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  Speaker 3: something like that.
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  Speaker 2: I don't math.
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  Speaker 1: I was told there was no math. That's why I
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  Speaker 1: went to journalism school. I don't have to do math.
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  Speaker 1: If you, if I wanted to do math, I would
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  Speaker 1: have been an engineer or a mathematician, but I'm not
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  Speaker 1: any of those things. I said, I just get paid
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  Speaker 1: to talk about sports, which is a good gig. If
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  Speaker 1: you can, if you can get it.
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  Speaker 2: Okay. Flip it over.
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  Speaker 1: Flip it over to offense. Um, So Jordan Tyson, we
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  Speaker 1: know the injury there. We just talked about Alave. I
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  Speaker 1: was so optimistic about this offense because of all that
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  Speaker 1: this team invested to build around Tyler Shuck. And it
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  Speaker 1: feels like camp has made that erode. Make me feel
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  Speaker 1: better about that situation.
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  Speaker 3: About Alave specifically or just the offense?
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  Speaker 2: The offense because of all the injuries.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, well, I can start with Olave. Say that everything's
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  Speaker 3: fine today, any practices is normal. I think Olave in
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  Speaker 3: the last week has looked fantastic. You can ask Ross
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  Speaker 3: Jackson this, you can ask my other things writers around me.
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  Speaker 3: I'm typically more cynical. I'm less likely to come out
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  Speaker 3: of a practice and say, oh my gosh, this player's
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  Speaker 3: having a great camp, you know, until they show it
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  Speaker 3: to me a lot. Olave, I thought last week has
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  Speaker 3: looked fantastic.
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  Speaker 2: Great.
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  Speaker 3: So if he's playing this well, going into the regular season,
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  Speaker 3: stays healthy. I think that that is, you know, you know,
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  Speaker 3: obviously what you want to see after you sign him
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  Speaker 3: to a big contract. I think a Chan has looked
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  Speaker 3: really good. I thought in Cowboys training against the Cowboys,
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  Speaker 3: I thought he was great. Sometimes that is hard to
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  Speaker 3: say about a running back at practice because of the
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  Speaker 3: nature of that practice and not low life tackling. Really
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  Speaker 3: looked good. And I do think if you want some
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  Speaker 3: positivity that their rookie wide receivers have come on much
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  Speaker 3: faster than I anticipated they would at this point. So
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  Speaker 3: that's encouraging.
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  Speaker 2: You haven't sold me completely, but I'll take it under consideration.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I can't tell you completely, but I can
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  Speaker 3: give you reasons for positivity as we head into the
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  Speaker 3: regular season.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, I got two more things for you. Number one,
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  Speaker 1: with one weekend, one preseason game remaining, give me the
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  Speaker 1: most important position battle that you're going to be watching.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, my God.
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  Speaker 3: Well, kicker, obviously.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, do you want a reason for negativity?
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  Speaker 3: The fact that it is days before final cut and
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  Speaker 3: they're bringing in a third kicker to figure this out
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  Speaker 3: is seriously concerning.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, Sean Payton would just bring in kickers whenever,
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  Speaker 1: like you, you, you missed a kick week four. It
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  Speaker 1: doesn't matter. You're out, get out of here and showing
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  Speaker 1: them kickers. I'm conditioned to expecting the saints just to
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  Speaker 1: have rotating kickers.
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  Speaker 2: It's just what they do. That doesn't bother me, I guess.
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  Speaker 3: I think that as much as I like Charlie Smith,
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  Speaker 3: I think after he had those back-to-back three kick days
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  Speaker 3: in practice that Sean probably would have moved on. You know,
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  Speaker 3: for better or worse, sometimes Sean was so maniacal about
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  Speaker 3: the kickers, I think it probably made the kickers worse
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  Speaker 3: because they were so terrified they were going to lose
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  Speaker 3: their job. But I do think in this situation, the
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  Speaker 3: Saints have probably waited too long to try to figure
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  Speaker 3: it out. I mean, they made a move toward that, but...
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  Speaker 3: I would like to know my kicker situation far before
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  Speaker 3: this point, especially when you're talking about an office that
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  Speaker 3: had a lot of red zone issues last year and
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  Speaker 3: at the beginning of the camp as well.
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  Speaker 2: Sean and them kickers, bro. Okay. Last thing.
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  Speaker 1: What's the toughest cut that they're going to have to make?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, that's a great question. You know, I think that
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  Speaker 3: he's kind of maybe cooled down a little, but there
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  Speaker 3: was a week or two where I was standing on
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  Speaker 3: the table for Mike Heldman. I thought I just kept
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  Speaker 3: writing down his number, 63, like 63 out of pressure,
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  Speaker 3: 63 out of pressure. He had that good game the
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  Speaker 3: other day. I thought that that is a guy with
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  Speaker 3: a lot of potential. I'm sure they're going to want
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  Speaker 3: him for the practice squad. I think that.
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  Speaker 3: I think he's made the roster at this point, but
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  Speaker 3: Jaden Price has had a great camp. I think he's
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  Speaker 3: worked his way onto the roster. If they're still deciding
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  Speaker 3: on that, that would probably be one of the tougher cuts.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: She's at Kat underscore Terrell. That's Kat with a K, K-A-T,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: at Kat underscore Terrell. Give her a follow there. Twitter,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: ask your reader, of course, over at ESPN.com.
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  Speaker 2: Kat, we always appreciate it. Thank you.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me on.