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Football at Four: Explaining How NFL Teams Build Roster by Positional Value · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We Board four powered by the Inside the Birds podcast.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Adam Kaplan joins us to gig into teams like the Eagles.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: What is the process of their roster building and the
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: value of each position for NFL teams.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Adam Welkaman, How you doing today, Josh.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: I hope you're well.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: So Mikeill and I over the years, Mike would come
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: into free agency and say, hey, like, how did the
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: Eagles prioritize these signings? That I always joke with them, Well, Mike,
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  Speaker 3: it's who they feel like could sign. But the reality is, Josh,
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  Speaker 3: that it comes down to positional value and how they
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: put it together their their value board. So the late
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  Speaker 3: great Jill Brown, the Hall of Fame personnel man, longtime
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  Speaker 3: personnel man for over thirty years with the Cowboys, told
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  Speaker 3: me many years ago when I started my career. I sat,
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: we were speaking in the Fantasy Football Conference of all things,
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: and so Gil was great, He's like, you ask me
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  Speaker 3: anything I want. I said, how in the world did
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: you put these Remember the great, the great Cowboys teams
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: of the seventies. Gill was the architect of those teams.
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  Speaker 3: He said, how did you do it? He goes, well,
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  Speaker 3: we came up with a value system. I said, well,
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: can you explain that? He goes, well, you I'm sure,
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: he goes, I'm sure you know that quarterback's most important.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: I said, yeah, you guy said Roger stallback Danny White.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: I get that. But he goes, Look it's quarterback first,
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  Speaker 3: it's offensive left tackle second. I said, well, how did
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  Speaker 3: you come up with that? He goes, because you have
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  Speaker 3: to protect your right handed quarterbacks blind side. I said,
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  Speaker 3: and then you need the guy who will go up
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  Speaker 3: against him, the right defensive end. I said, well, how
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: did you come up with all this? He said, It's
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: all about the quarterback of the most value in what
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  Speaker 3: you have to do to protect them. And then how
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  Speaker 3: did you get after the quarterback? Well, you get a
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  Speaker 3: right defensive end to go against the offensive left tackle.
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  Speaker 3: And then he said cornerback was next. Because Josh it
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  Speaker 3: was so hard to get and I, you know, I
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  Speaker 3: was kind of sitting there and he was explained to him.
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  Speaker 3: I was like, wow, this is really interesting. I kept
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  Speaker 3: that in my mind for a number of years, and
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  Speaker 3: I started to see, Josh, how different teams build differently.
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  Speaker 3: The Eagles. Every team has quarterback at the top, or
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  Speaker 3: they should sometimes you wonder when you see what they've
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  Speaker 3: put out there, but left tackle, I mean, look at it.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: When when the Eagles gave up what they got to
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  Speaker 3: get Jason Peters, that turned out to be an unbelievable trade.
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  Speaker 3: Then Jordan Mylata became their next franchise left tackle. Well
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: he was a seventh round pick. Where it's they made
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: a big trade. They give a first round pick to Buffalo.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: So clearly, Josh, when the Eagles gave up what they
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: got what they did, which by the way, was seen
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: as a bargain, Jason Peters made it clear. He told
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: them he wanted out and that hurt the Bills value.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: But what a great trade that was. Of many that
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: was one of how his best moves in his career.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: So really quick, let's hit on a little bit down
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  Speaker 1: the line. Is we all know the quarterback is important.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: We understand the value around the quarterback. I want to
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  Speaker 1: jump the defense really quick, So Adam for the positional ranking,
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  Speaker 1: how what is the gap between the defensive end, the
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  Speaker 1: right defensive end and the corner, because is it like
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  Speaker 1: a big gap for teams? Is it a small gap
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  Speaker 1: like for example, if you have if you have two
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  Speaker 1: comparal players.
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  Speaker 2: Let's say on someone's draft.
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  Speaker 3: Board, it's a great question. It comes down to the
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  Speaker 3: positional scarcity. So let let's say that this is a
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  Speaker 3: really bad draft for edge, which it's not, by the way.
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  Speaker 3: My early word I got is it's actually gonna be
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  Speaker 3: very good. And let's say corner is let's say corners remarkable.
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  Speaker 3: Those d ms are going to be pushed up, that
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  Speaker 3: the edges are going to be pushed off of the
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  Speaker 3: bad edge group and a great cornerback group. Now, it's
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  Speaker 3: much harder to find elite corners than it is to
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  Speaker 3: find the lead pass rushers. I know it depends on
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  Speaker 3: the draft, but overall when you talk to personnel people,
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: it's really hard to find great cornerbacks. I mean just
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  Speaker 3: it just is that getting a guy that coiny on
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  Speaker 3: Mitchell right as the Eagles have had so far. You
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  Speaker 3: know how, Josh, you and I've talked about this and
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  Speaker 3: with Michael Football for for several years. We would joke
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  Speaker 3: before that before for Quinnon and Koop, all the coops
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: and Nickel, you have to go back, really in terms
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  Speaker 3: of two quality players like that, you got to go
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  Speaker 3: back to Alito Shepherd and Sheldon Brown. And Sheldon Brown
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  Speaker 3: was a third round pick where Leito was the first.
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  Speaker 3: But you have to that shows you how many times
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  Speaker 3: Eagles missed a corner, but the positional value edges higher
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  Speaker 3: than corner. Now, this one, Jeff and I have talked,
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  Speaker 3: but Jeff motion I have talked about this and inside
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: Bird inside the birds, the next position, Josh's defensive tackle.
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  Speaker 3: I've come to the personnel people I'm close with around
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  Speaker 3: the league who said to me that I find this
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  Speaker 3: hard to believe, but that a couple of guys I
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  Speaker 3: trust told me this. They would rather have a guy
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  Speaker 3: could collapse the pocket from the inside than an edge
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  Speaker 3: rusher because quarterbacks hate they cannot stand when they get
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  Speaker 3: into when they can't step the step up in the pocket.
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  Speaker 3: Like you could avoid an outside pass rusher, but you
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  Speaker 3: can't really avoid a guy who comes up the middle.
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  Speaker 3: You don't You're boxed in, you don't know where to go.
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  Speaker 3: And I understand that, And that's just why depending on
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: the team that they'll take an edge over excuse me,
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  Speaker 3: a tackle over an edge, but I think more often
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  Speaker 3: than not it's edge over tackle.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Calinmoort Hill with Adam Kaplan here for Football at four
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  Speaker 1: Power up by the Inside the Birds podcasts Inside the
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Birds dot Com give him a following ex that Kaplan
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: NFL the positional value board that NFL teams follow because
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  Speaker 1: right after that detackle is wide receiver and right tackle.
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  Speaker 1: And what's interesting about this, Adam, is we know how
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: valuable Lane Johnson is to the Eagles, like it's it's
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: one of the most insane things in the world.
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  Speaker 2: It's a unicorn in his value.
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  Speaker 1: But if you have a situation where a team could
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  Speaker 1: get an upgrade a right tackle versus upgrading wide receiver,
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  Speaker 1: according to the board, it says you take the receiver
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  Speaker 1: over the right tackle.
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  Speaker 3: Now I understand something. When Lane Johnson Josh, this is
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: where context matters. When Lane Johnson was drafted, he was
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  Speaker 3: drafted to replace Jason Peters right in twenty thirteen. They
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: didn't know that a Peters would get hurt and he
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: got hurt a lot, unfortunately, but they didn't know that
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: Lane would do so well that Lane told them My
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  Speaker 3: understanding was at the time, hey, listen, I know it's
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: not my call, but I'd prefer to stay at right tackle.
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  Speaker 3: And Staltlin agreed. But he was not drafted to play
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  Speaker 3: right tackle. It just turned out to be. He did it,
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  Speaker 3: and he did it elite. He'll go to the Hall
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  Speaker 3: of Fame someday. Now here's what I would tell you.
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  Speaker 3: If you have a left handed quarterback, the right tackle
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  Speaker 3: protects the blind set and that's different. So that means
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: you definitely take your right if he's a franchise quarterback,
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  Speaker 3: like if Michael Vick, you could have made the case
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  Speaker 3: if Michael Vick was the EG he was the Eagles
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  Speaker 3: quarterback at one point, but definitely the franchise quarterback then
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  Speaker 3: having a right to Let's say they didn't have Lane Johnson,
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  Speaker 3: drafting a right tackle over a left tackle would have
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  Speaker 3: more value to them.
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  Speaker 2: Let's bump down the list here.
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  Speaker 1: I'm a little surprised at him because I understand linebacker
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  Speaker 1: and running back being low. Those are two positions that
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: are very dependent on the coaching staff and their schemes
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  Speaker 1: and how the organization dies them. But to have tight
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  Speaker 1: end as low as it is actually surprising me.
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  Speaker 3: Well, Josh safety and tight end rarely going the first round.
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  Speaker 3: There's a reason. He just you have to have a
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  Speaker 3: game changer. Tight Ends don't typically touch the ball as
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  Speaker 3: many the ball as much as receivers. There are some
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: unicorns Travis Kelce, Tony Gonzalez and others over the years,
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  Speaker 3: but it's more receiver having more value because they get
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  Speaker 3: the ballmore. It's all about involvement in the offense. So
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: that's why tight ends down there. Now again, that's why
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: Kyle Pitts was seen as a unicorn, as it turned
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  Speaker 3: out to be that way. He hasn't been as good
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  Speaker 3: as I think most people thought he would be. He's been,
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  Speaker 3: he proved last season, but he hasn't not been nearly
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  Speaker 3: as good. And then safety in guard safety, look Nick Ammanoir.
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  Speaker 3: You look at how the heck was Nick ammin Ware
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  Speaker 3: not a first round safety. He didn't fit what offensive
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  Speaker 3: coordinators like their safety compact at five ten and five eleven.
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  Speaker 3: So I'd say, well, do you think they really cared
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  Speaker 3: about Kyle Hamilton being as tall as he is? Em
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  Speaker 3: and Ware should have gone in the first round. That
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  Speaker 3: that's a bad job. Great job by John Shnider the Seahawks.
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  Speaker 3: Do you have to take him the second? But yeah,
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  Speaker 3: that I just that was bad that that that that
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  Speaker 3: every team passed them in the first round. And then
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  Speaker 3: at guard, it's a position first of all, where it
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  Speaker 3: doesn't have a lot of versatility. It's that's why a
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  Speaker 3: lot of teams will not drafted a guy just as
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  Speaker 3: a guard. He's got to be in play center or
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  Speaker 3: be a guard, right tackle. It's never been a valuable position.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, gus like Steve Hutchinson is in the Hall
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  Speaker 3: of Fame. You rarely see that. So it's quarterback, offensive,
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  Speaker 3: left tackle, right defensive end, corner, dtackle, receiver, right tackle, linebacker,
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  Speaker 3: running back, now linebacker. One thing before we get out
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  Speaker 3: of here. You know, you don't want to tell the
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  Speaker 3: Ravens that that I have them this low. But the
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: Ravens are a rare breed. Most teams don't put the
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  Speaker 3: value linebackers that the Ravens do.
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  Speaker 1: He's Adam Kaplay Kaplin NFL on the X platform Inside
• 8:46
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• 8:49
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• 8:51
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• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Adam Gray stuff today.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Thank you