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Football at Four: Quick Preview of Eagles Upcoming Camp Battles · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Football for is powered by the Inside of the Birds Podcast.
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  Speaker 1: It's brought you by the Fanatics Sportsbook at Ocean Casino
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  Speaker 1: Resort in Atlantic City, Big screens, Big bets, Game Day
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  Speaker 1: hits different at Ocean. It's the Phillies and the Dodgers.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: You can watch that tonight at Ocean Casino Resort. And
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  Speaker 1: of course it is time for football at four and
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  Speaker 1: this time next week it will be the eve of
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  Speaker 1: Eagles training camp and who is Eagles training camp? Ultimately
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  Speaker 1: most important for Jeff Boscher from the Inside the Birds Podcast,
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  Speaker 1: they talked about some of the battles that we're gonna
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  Speaker 1: be looking at at training camp, which is coming up
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  Speaker 1: on the twenty eighth of July, is when they report.
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  Speaker 1: The twenty ninth is likely when they will be back
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  Speaker 1: on the field, and Jeff Boscher from the Inside the
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  Speaker 1: Birds podcast and Philly Voice dot Com joined us now
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  Speaker 1: to take a look at some of those battles that
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  Speaker 1: will be watching as they get ready to hit the
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  Speaker 1: I was the Novacare Center, now it is the Jefferson
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  Speaker 1: Health Training Complex in almost a week from now. Mosher,
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  Speaker 1: what's up.
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  Speaker 2: Buddy, what's going on? Good weekend?
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  Speaker 1: I did have a good weekend. I spent most of
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  Speaker 1: my weekend down in Cape May, which is a lovely
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  Speaker 1: town to be at in the middle of the summer,
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  Speaker 1: although I don't know, Uh, Saturday and around six thirty,
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  Speaker 1: the amount of rain that I saw was intense. Where
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  Speaker 1: what was it like where you were?
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  Speaker 3: Uh? Gosh, where was a self full tournament in my
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  Speaker 3: in my neck of the winds? And yeah, we got
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  Speaker 3: a we got a truckload of rain.
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  Speaker 2: It was bad.
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  Speaker 1: It was unbelievable. But here we are getting ready and
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  Speaker 1: we're just having this discussion. You know, when Eagles training
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  Speaker 1: camp starts, that is like the unofficial end of the summer.
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  Speaker 2: Is it not?
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  Speaker 3: Uh for me?
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  Speaker 2: It is.
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  Speaker 3: For you, it is for some most people, it's still
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  Speaker 3: it's still that appetizer, you know, a long appetizer before
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  Speaker 3: a main course. But yeah, for us, it's just like
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  Speaker 3: diving back in.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you guys dove into some offensive players fighting for
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  Speaker 1: roster spots on the latest Inside the Birds podcast. This
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  Speaker 1: one I liked the because, you know, let's kind of
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  Speaker 1: throw some of the guys out there that you discussed.
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  Speaker 1: One of them is Damian Pierce and Elijah Moore, both
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  Speaker 1: running backs. Here and every time a team signs a
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  Speaker 1: guy that you've heard of or had a one good season.
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  Speaker 1: Damian Pierce was a rookie, had a big year in Houston.
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  Speaker 1: Elijah Moore is a guy that people have heard of,
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  Speaker 1: you know when you signed guys like Eliji Mitchell.
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  Speaker 2: Elijah Moore is the wide receiver.
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  Speaker 3: Did you mean Elijah Mitchell.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, the running back. Yeah. Both guys have had some
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  Speaker 1: microcosm of success or have been heard of. Do you
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  Speaker 1: feel that either of those two running backs have a
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  Speaker 1: shot to do anything on this particular roster where they
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  Speaker 1: here mainly to fill a training camp roster spot.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean mainly as camp bodies.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 3: Obviously, Pierce is a Florida Gator, so you know how
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  Speaker 3: he loves his Florida Gators.
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  Speaker 2: And gives him a shot.
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  Speaker 3: Mitchell is different. He knows the scheme from his time
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  Speaker 3: with the forty nine ers. I believe he spent some
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  Speaker 3: with the Dolphins, although I don't know how much he
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  Speaker 3: got on the field with them, but he knows the
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  Speaker 3: new scheme that Sean Mannion is implementing. But you've got
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  Speaker 3: your top three. You have, say Kwon Barkley of Tank Bigsby,
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  Speaker 3: you have Will Shipley, And the question is, is any
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  Speaker 3: of them, as in the spirit of our podcast, is
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  Speaker 3: who is most.
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  Speaker 2: On the bubble?
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  Speaker 3: Are any of those three guys at all pushable.
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  Speaker 2: To be off the fifty three. I don't see it.
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  Speaker 3: Will Shipley, you could say, has not been really what
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  Speaker 3: they expected. Yet after two years, you know, a pass
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  Speaker 3: catching running back who had some juice, Could he be
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  Speaker 3: potentially be pushed I don't think so. He's still a
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  Speaker 3: valuable kick returner. Damian Pierce is a guy who had
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  Speaker 3: a really.
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  Speaker 2: Nice rookie year.
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  Speaker 3: We've seen that from running backs, though really high volume
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  Speaker 3: running backs on teams that weren't very good. He doesn't
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  Speaker 3: really fit a wide zone scheme or a zone blocking
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  Speaker 3: scheme in general. Such just founded inside the gut, which
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  Speaker 3: is not what the Eagles are going to be predominantly
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  Speaker 3: like they used to be. So he's there. He's a
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  Speaker 3: guy that even if you loved him coming out of camp,
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  Speaker 3: you could probably get him back on your practice squad.
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  Speaker 2: No needs to keep him on the fifty three. And
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  Speaker 2: I would say the.
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  Speaker 3: Same thing about Mitchell, who's had to do a lot
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  Speaker 3: of injuries. He's there because he knows the scheme. But
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  Speaker 3: no one's going to push those top three guys for spots.
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  Speaker 2: That's like that.
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  Speaker 1: Pierce is probably like, hey, can I beat Bigsby? And
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  Speaker 1: Mitchell would be like can I beat out Shipley? Right?
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  Speaker 1: Like that's who they would be in battle with.
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  Speaker 3: I'm sure in their minds, yes, that is the question
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  Speaker 3: they are asking, but realistically the answer is already No.
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  Speaker 1: Let's go to Elijah Moore, because we did reference Elijah Mitchell.
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  Speaker 1: But Elijah Moore is also here. He was a guy
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  Speaker 1: they signed. He's had some success. I think he was
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  Speaker 1: a second round pick. You got Smith, you got Lemon,
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  Speaker 1: Hollywood Brown, Darius Cooper, Covey, you know, maybe Danny Gray's
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  Speaker 1: been around. I mean, you've got some guy Johnny Wilson,
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  Speaker 1: Datavian Wick, Quez Watkins. But as a guy like Elijah
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  Speaker 1: Moore even Quez Watkins, do you look at those guys
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  Speaker 1: as having any shot of making a team like this?
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  Speaker 3: No, almost none, because the Eagles are going to be
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  Speaker 3: going heavy at other positions, and just as.
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  Speaker 2: You mentioned now, they have four.
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  Speaker 3: Wide receivers who are pretty much locked in the spot,
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  Speaker 3: the Body Smith, the Dontavian Wicks, Makai Lemon, and Marquise Brown.
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  Speaker 3: So most teams will keep. If they're gonna go more
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  Speaker 3: than four, they're gonna keep five or six. And those
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  Speaker 3: two extra guys are going to be guys who mostly
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  Speaker 3: contribute on special teams. And then every once in a while,
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  Speaker 3: you're gonna run some ten personnel, you're gonna go five wide. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: you want some guy who can stretch the field. There.
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  Speaker 3: The Eagles do have some guys among those reserves that
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  Speaker 3: you mentioned who can stretch the field, but not really
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  Speaker 3: special teamers, not really punt returners that they're gonna consider.
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  Speaker 3: The guys who can excel on special teams are your
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  Speaker 3: Darius Cooper's and you're Johnny Wilson's. Johnny Wilson can also
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  Speaker 3: play a role as a blocker, you know, he's kind
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  Speaker 3: of a pseudo tight end in a wide receiver body.
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  Speaker 3: They're younger, they're cost control, they have better days ahead potentially,
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  Speaker 3: So those would be the guys that you would look
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  Speaker 3: to really push for those kind of spots. Elijah Moore
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  Speaker 3: is only twenty six, which is surprising because it feels
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  Speaker 3: like he's been around forever. He's been on a couple
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  Speaker 3: of different teams already. Everybody remember him as a second
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  Speaker 3: round pick out of all miss But the reality is,
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  Speaker 3: if he's not going to contribute on special teams, how
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  Speaker 3: is he going to get himself into that top four
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  Speaker 3: in the pecking order, And without a bunch of injuries
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  Speaker 3: in camp, it's just hard to see it.
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  Speaker 1: He's the guy too most over a two year span,
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  Speaker 1: had two hundred and six targets. He had sixty catches,
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  Speaker 1: fifty nine knds. I mean, that's a pretty productive player,
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  Speaker 1: much more productive than any third receiver the in recent years.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's this strange dynamic that he's been more productive
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  Speaker 3: than any third receiver that he has had in years,
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  Speaker 3: and yet you would say he's been an unproductive player.
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  Speaker 3: Given his draft pedigree, right for as a high second
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  Speaker 3: round pick, you would have probably expected more. But he's
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  Speaker 3: been on some bad teams too, some bad quarterback play.
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  Speaker 1: You're playing with the Jets.
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  Speaker 3: In Cleveland, and the potential there.
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  Speaker 1: Right, you're playing with the Jets in Cleveland, it's like, hey,
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  Speaker 1: can I get you in a much better environment nowan
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  Speaker 1: Buffalo last year? Obviously he didn't do anything with them,
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  Speaker 1: But he's an interesting guy for everybody to keep an
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  Speaker 1: eye on as we get ready for camp. Let's go
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  Speaker 1: to another.
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  Speaker 3: Sto, that's gonna be a red flag by the way
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  Speaker 3: that you go. You went to Buffalo who had like
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  Speaker 3: no wide receivers. You know they're they're they're basically rioting
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  Speaker 3: Brandon Cooks there at the end and doing a lot
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  Speaker 3: of that, And he couldn't even really carve his nich there,
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  Speaker 3: So that that's got to be a red flag as too.
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  Speaker 3: Maybe it's not always just a quarterback in the offense.
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  Speaker 3: Maybe the player himself just hasn't fulfilled the potential.
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  Speaker 1: Most of your football four. Let's go to Calcata. He
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  Speaker 1: almost seems like it's to write a passage that he
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  Speaker 1: has made this team. Is he in a battle with
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  Speaker 1: Munt who's a blocker? Is he in a battle with
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  Speaker 1: Stours who's a draft pick? Or is he not here?
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  Speaker 3: I mean yes to all of that, potentially all of that.
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  Speaker 3: I made the point in the podcast this morning that
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  Speaker 3: sometimes people get hung up on when a player signs,
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  Speaker 3: and he signed very early in the process. In fact,
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  Speaker 3: he either signed like a day before or a day
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  Speaker 3: after the new league year began. I can't exactly remember.
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  Speaker 3: And I think that that makes people think, oh, he
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  Speaker 3: must have been a top priority to bring back, but no,
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  Speaker 3: the Eagles.
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  Speaker 2: Just didn't have a lot of bodies.
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  Speaker 3: At tight end, and they still don't have a lot
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  Speaker 3: of bodies who are beyond one year deals, right. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: it's basically just their second round pick Elis Stours, who
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  Speaker 3: you can guarantee is going to be on the team
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  Speaker 3: at this time next year, So they needed to have bodies.
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  Speaker 3: He's a guy they're familiar with now. Adam made a
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  Speaker 3: great point. They didn't really have to bring him back there.
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  Speaker 3: They could have waited. It's not like there was going
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  Speaker 3: to be a huge demand for Calcatara. And then you
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  Speaker 3: may have even got him for less of a signing
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  Speaker 3: bonus than he already got, but it was a small
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  Speaker 3: signing bonus. He's part of a group of bodies that
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  Speaker 3: the team has to figure out what they need. They
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  Speaker 3: need blockers, they need pass catchers. They seem to have
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  Speaker 3: one or the other. They don't have a lot of
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  Speaker 3: guys who can do both, and so there'll be an
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  Speaker 3: opportunity for him to make the team, but there's also
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  Speaker 3: an equal opportunity for him to not make the team.
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  Speaker 3: If they're comfortable with what they have in Goddard in
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  Speaker 3: Sotours and then maybe a month or a Cam Latsu
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  Speaker 3: Watsu being one of the few guys who can do both.
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  Speaker 3: Even if he doesn't do any one of those extraordinarily, well,
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  Speaker 3: he can at least do both.
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  Speaker 2: Of those things. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you almost wonder with Eli Stowers being a second
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  Speaker 1: round pick, how do you keep two guys that are
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  Speaker 1: past catching tight ends first that aren't the starter over
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  Speaker 1: a guy that blocks, right.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, especially if you're not sure that Dallas Goddard is
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  Speaker 3: going to get become a good blocker again. I mean
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  Speaker 3: really regress in that area last year, and if you
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  Speaker 3: have doubts that it's going to be that good or
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  Speaker 3: if it's gonna be like last or even worse.
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  Speaker 2: If you feel that way, then you.
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  Speaker 3: May want assure your number three tight end is a
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  Speaker 3: guy who can definitely block. And obviously that's not Grank Calcutta.
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  Speaker 1: All right, the other spots, all right, I would have
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  Speaker 1: break these down like tap. So my Latta and Lane
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  Speaker 1: Lane obviously missed a lot of time last year. They
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  Speaker 1: had to go trade for Fred Johnson and bring him
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  Speaker 1: in so that he could handle plane some more spots here,
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  Speaker 1: But they did draft two guys, Miles Hinton and Cam Williams.
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  Speaker 1: So are those guys in the battle to be behind
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  Speaker 1: Fred Johnson? Are they battling each other and one makes
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  Speaker 1: the team? How do you look at the tackle spot
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  Speaker 1: behind the starters?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and those two guys, since the tackle spot is
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  Speaker 3: you've got lane, you've got my lot, and you've got
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  Speaker 3: the third round pick, Mark hel Bell.
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  Speaker 2: You have Fred Johnson.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, So anybody else has to prove that they cannot.
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  Speaker 3: I guess essentially Fred Johnson because the other first three
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  Speaker 3: are guaranteed spots. Can you knock Fred Johnson out? Can
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  Speaker 3: the Eagles agree with Fred's agent? I think it's Drew
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  Speaker 3: Rosenhouse to say, hey, we want to keep some guy here,
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  Speaker 3: we're going to release you. You're a vested Vets, so
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  Speaker 3: you don't You're not subject to waivers, and we can
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  Speaker 3: just reshine into the practice squad, decent salary, pay him
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  Speaker 3: more than anybody else, and when in the first three
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  Speaker 3: weeks we know there'll be some injuries or some movement,
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  Speaker 3: we'll have you back on the fifty three. So that's
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  Speaker 3: up to whether or not they feel a hinting who
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  Speaker 3: they're also cross training at guard or Cameron Williams, who
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  Speaker 3: played in that season finale and actually did okay for expectations.
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  Speaker 3: Did they make enough of progress in year two that
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  Speaker 3: it's even worth having that conversation with Fred Johnson and
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  Speaker 3: his agent? Or is it those guys just didn't impress
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  Speaker 3: and we've got our four guys and we can probably
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  Speaker 3: bring those guys both back on a practice squad hitting
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  Speaker 3: Williams and try to continue to develop them.
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  Speaker 1: All right, interior spots. I find this to be very interesting.
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  Speaker 1: You got Cam Jergens, Stylerstein and Lannon Dickerson. If you
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  Speaker 1: were to ask people who are the backups there, I
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  Speaker 1: don't know that on July twentieth anybody can give you
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  Speaker 1: a real answer there.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I think Drew Kendall has established himself so
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  Speaker 3: far as the top backup. They drafted it to be
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  Speaker 3: a center last year at backup center. They're off training mcguard.
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  Speaker 3: They're pleased with his development. He's been playing a lot
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  Speaker 3: of guard in the OTAs because obviously Cam Jurgens is
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  Speaker 3: expected to be a center and they need more depth
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  Speaker 3: to guard given Landon Dickerson's injury situation, and they like him,
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  Speaker 3: so he's the guy at the top of the chart
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  Speaker 3: for now. They drafted Michael Morris in the sixth round,
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  Speaker 3: right athlete for the position, just not a lot of experience,
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  Speaker 3: but he'll, you know, he'll fight to make the team.
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  Speaker 3: But I would agree with you.
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  Speaker 2: If they're really lacking in.
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  Speaker 3: The kind of veteran presence that they have had there
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  Speaker 3: in the past, whether it's a Steph wiz Newski or
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  Speaker 3: a you know. When they signed McKay Beckton, I don't
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  Speaker 3: think they assumed he was definitely gonna start. They just
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  Speaker 3: figured he would be someone who compete for a job
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  Speaker 3: and maybe be a good backup on a one year deal,
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  Speaker 3: and then he wound up being a starter and that
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  Speaker 3: push steam into a you know, a nice high pick.
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  Speaker 3: Who is your backup?
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  Speaker 2: They don't have that right now. They have to find it,
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  Speaker 2: and it.
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  Speaker 3: Wouldn't surprise me if they still try to. They did
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  Speaker 3: add the veteran guard Michael Jordan, so I should mention that.
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  Speaker 3: But we'll see what he's got.
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  Speaker 2: So they have names, Mike.
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  Speaker 3: They just have to figure out who's going to ride
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  Speaker 3: to the top. But I'm going into camp. Drew Kendall
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  Speaker 3: is certainly a guy who's not I wouldn't say he
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  Speaker 3: should be worried about making the fifty three.
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  Speaker 2: It's the guys below him, all right.
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  Speaker 1: Last guy on the offense of terms of battles, is
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  Speaker 1: Cole Payton battling anybody to try to make this team?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean yes, because he's so raw.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, he's so developmental, he's a project. I mean
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  Speaker 2: he could go out there.
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  Speaker 3: And look like Clayton Force. And you know Circle twenty
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  Speaker 3: nineteen a fourth round pick that the Eagles cut.
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  Speaker 2: It was fourth or fifth, forget what it.
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  Speaker 3: Was, but either way, it wasn't like a throwaway six
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  Speaker 3: or seventh round pick. It was a pick that they
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  Speaker 3: were hoping would work out, and they cut him after
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  Speaker 3: his first year because he just he couldn't play. They
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  Speaker 3: did it with the sixth round quarterback last year. I'm
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  Speaker 3: a cord, So I mean it's very unlikely to me
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  Speaker 3: because they know he's a project, they know he's developmental,
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  Speaker 3: and he has a tremendous amount of athletic ability that
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  Speaker 3: they're gonna want to groom. But if he's terrible, he's
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  Speaker 3: not gonna make it. I mean, they have four quarterbacks
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  Speaker 3: right now, and it's weird for a team.
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  Speaker 2: To keep four.
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  Speaker 3: So he certainly has to prove himself at least worthy
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  Speaker 3: of being on the fifty three, and that he has
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  Speaker 3: to show in camp that he is taking to the
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  Speaker 3: coaching and is not, like, you know, gonna go two
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  Speaker 3: weeks without hitting the broad side of a barn.
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  Speaker 1: Those are some of the things that we're looking at
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  Speaker 1: as camp starts next Tuesday. And of course Football four
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: has you covered, and the guys on the inside the
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Birds podcasts always have you covered on all podcasting platforms.
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  Speaker 1: Jeff Boscher talk to you Wednesday.
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  Speaker 2: Man, all right, Mike, take care. Thanks