Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Ryan Fowler on the NFL Draft, 1st round tomorrow, How high will Spencer Fano go (?), Other Utes and Cougs + more

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Ryan Fowler on the NFL Draft, 1st round tomorrow, How high will Spencer Fano go (?), Other Utes and Cougs + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

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  Speaker 1: Yo, you attune to the Sean O'Connell Show for the
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  Speaker 1: Murdoch Chevrolet Studio of ESPN seven hundred at ninety two
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  Speaker 1: to one a half.
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  Speaker 2: N Welcome back to the Sean O'Connell Show. Welcome in
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  Speaker 2: Ryan Fowler, NFL Draft Insider, a day ahead of the
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  Speaker 2: first round in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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  Speaker 3: Ryan Fowler, Welcome back to the show.
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  Speaker 4: How are you doing well, Son Adage? I could set
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  Speaker 4: me all man best time of the year.
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  Speaker 2: Best time of the year, indeed, especially if you are
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  Speaker 2: a draft junkie, this one in Pittsburgh. I love the
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  Speaker 2: idea that the NFL likes to tour this thing around. Now,
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  Speaker 2: will the Pittsburgh flavor be unique in any way?
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  Speaker 4: Well, I think as you look as far as the
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  Speaker 4: passionate football city, I don't think there's any questions that
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  Speaker 4: Pittsburgh obviously is a talent, that that lot of success
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  Speaker 4: and in the decades that Steelers have been in town.
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  Speaker 4: So I think there's gonna be tons of fans. Well,
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  Speaker 4: we have the crowd that we had maybe in Detroit
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  Speaker 4: a couple of years ago, a million people. We'll see
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  Speaker 4: what happens, but thin it's gonna be a lot of
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  Speaker 4: fun this weekend.
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  Speaker 2: So uh, the foregone conclusion with the number one pick
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  Speaker 2: is that Banana Mendoza will be selected and become a
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  Speaker 2: franchise guy for the Raiders.
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  Speaker 3: How much of that do you believe in?
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  Speaker 2: Are you buying or selling on somebody like Fernana Mendoza,
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  Speaker 2: who obviously has been incredibly impressive at the at Indiana.
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  Speaker 2: I followed him even when he was in the Bay
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  Speaker 2: Area because I was working in the Pac twelve country
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  Speaker 2: at that time. When he becomes an NFL player and
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  Speaker 2: the aushucks boy scout type thing is not you know,
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  Speaker 2: maybe as well received by a particular fan base or
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  Speaker 2: in the locker room, or is not as easy to
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  Speaker 2: pull off because you're losing a bunch instead of dominating
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  Speaker 2: your way through college football.
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  Speaker 3: Do you think it's going to work out for Fernana Mendoza.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah? I think he definitely is interesting individual, right, interesting
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  Speaker 4: young man. I wish the absolute best for him. But
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  Speaker 4: as you said, you know, the boy scout type of
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  Speaker 4: characters thing with him, it's a little corny at times.
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  Speaker 4: I think that may not work in techt NFL locker room,
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  Speaker 4: specifically if it does go bad quickly. However, Sean, I
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  Speaker 4: will say that when looking at Vegas and looking at
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  Speaker 4: any team across football that searched for quarterbacks since the
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  Speaker 4: really good donated football is either you gotta guy or
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  Speaker 4: you're looking for a guy. And I think when you
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  Speaker 4: look at Vegas, when you look at brock Bauers, you
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  Speaker 4: look at Ashton GenZ and now adding Mendoza, you have
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  Speaker 4: for cousins in the building, you have to Tom Brady
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  Speaker 4: to lean on. As far as just getting some tips
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  Speaker 4: and trips here along the trade. I think Bernana Mendoza
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  Speaker 4: at his ceiling is probably a top fifteen quarterbacks in football.
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  Speaker 4: For me. He's a mid first round grade for me.
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  Speaker 4: He's not a guy and a lot of different classes
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  Speaker 4: that I would have at the number one bona Fide
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  Speaker 4: overall selection. But again, Vegas wants their guy Klint Koopix
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  Speaker 4: now in the building. They're going to get the ball
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  Speaker 4: out of his hands quickly. He's Banana. Mendoza is tough
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  Speaker 4: as nails walking his tape over the middle of a field.
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  Speaker 4: The processing, the arm challenge very average, but he's just
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  Speaker 4: someone that gets it under center, and I think that's
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  Speaker 4: going to translate into an offense. Whether there are some
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  Speaker 4: decent correlating surroundings right now. I just don't think right now, Sean,
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  Speaker 4: he's going to be a guy that's going to be
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  Speaker 4: ever a top five to seven quarterback in the NFL,
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  Speaker 4: which teams obviously look for. Potentially if you're drafting a
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  Speaker 4: guy number one overall, what.
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  Speaker 2: I do like or I think I'm going to like,
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  Speaker 2: we'll see how the draft actually plays out, is that
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  Speaker 2: you know, there's a lot of questions almost immediately after
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  Speaker 2: that number one spot, and you know we're seeing is
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  Speaker 2: it rbl Rees or David Bailey? And where does Jeremiah
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  Speaker 2: Love go? Because he's best player available on a lot
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  Speaker 2: of people's boards. But you can't spend number two or
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  Speaker 2: even maybe number four on a running back, but maybe
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  Speaker 2: you should. I love these conversations in the modern NFL.
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  Speaker 2: So I turn it over to you once we get
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  Speaker 2: past number one. Where do we see a run? What
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  Speaker 2: position gets valued in the first round? Are we getting
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  Speaker 2: surprises and Trey and is this going to be kind
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  Speaker 2: of a free for all?
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  Speaker 4: I think it is. And the draft does start at
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  Speaker 4: two with New York. I do think it is one
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  Speaker 4: of Reserveillia. I know that's not breaking any news there,
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  Speaker 4: but I would be miscided and say, hey, look, we're
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  Speaker 4: twenty four hours in this thing. I'm not really sure
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  Speaker 4: exactly where they're going to go. But right now, I
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  Speaker 4: do think you're going to see some trades. I think
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  Speaker 4: there's some teams in the top ten that would like
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  Speaker 4: to trade out. Specifically when you look at Cleveland at six,
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  Speaker 4: you look at Washington at seven, New Orleans at eight,
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  Speaker 4: maybe adding some more capital, but you've got to have
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  Speaker 4: two to thing go right. You've got to have some
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  Speaker 4: teams to come up. But as of right now, there's
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  Speaker 4: just not a lot of teams looking to come up.
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  Speaker 4: I think there's going to be a run on the
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  Speaker 4: tackles in that ten to fifteen range where you could
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  Speaker 4: see a guy, you know, like a Spencer Fono come
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  Speaker 4: off the borders, potentially a top guy in this class.
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  Speaker 4: The herniated disc information with CC now we knowa from
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  Speaker 4: Miami is making its way around teams, and that absolutely
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  Speaker 4: will I expect it to affect his stock a little bit.
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  Speaker 4: I don't expect him to be the guy right now
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  Speaker 4: that go at three to the Arizona Cardinals if they
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  Speaker 4: in fact stay there. So I think it's going to
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  Speaker 4: be an act give fast, heavy first round, and there
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  Speaker 4: are going to be some moves. And I think as
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  Speaker 4: far as some names even working into the back end
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  Speaker 4: of round one that you'd expect maybe go in the
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  Speaker 4: forties or fifties, like a Heelan Rutledge from Georgia Tech
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  Speaker 4: takes the Santis and secus A and m maybe a
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  Speaker 4: couple of those guys you could sneak into the back
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  Speaker 4: end of round one. I think it's gonna be a
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  Speaker 4: lot of fun tomorrow night.
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  Speaker 2: There are several teams with several with a couple of
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  Speaker 2: first round picks, or with a nice little haul of
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  Speaker 2: first round and maybe second round picks they could they
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  Speaker 2: could put together to potentially move up. And we see
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  Speaker 2: that happen for franchise players. We see that happen for
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  Speaker 2: once in a lifetime quarterbacks or maybe even a once
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  Speaker 2: in a lifetime tackle. There's not even a lot of
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  Speaker 2: agreement on who I think you just made this point
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  Speaker 2: on who the best tackle in this class is. We
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  Speaker 2: know that we're biased towards Spencer Fano and he won
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  Speaker 2: the Outland Trophy, but some teams see him more as
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  Speaker 2: an interior alignment and things like that. Regarding the teams
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  Speaker 2: that have draft assets and draft capital. Tomorrow night, do
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  Speaker 2: we see someone package a couple of first round picks
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  Speaker 2: to climb up into the top ten. Potentially maybe the Cowboys.
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  Speaker 2: I know the Giants have too, but it seems like
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  Speaker 2: they want to use both of those two where they're
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  Speaker 2: at number five and number ten. Do you see upward
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  Speaker 2: mobility for teams that are capital heavy.
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  Speaker 4: I think there's one team to keep an eye on,
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  Speaker 4: and you mentioned them with the Dallas Cowboys. You know,
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  Speaker 4: as long as Jerry Jones is in town, he will
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  Speaker 4: always be about splash and that's going to get a guy. Now,
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  Speaker 4: how far do they move up? And who four? I
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  Speaker 4: think if there's two names to know there that they
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  Speaker 4: would like to move up and try to get is
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  Speaker 4: if you see a little bit of a fly from
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  Speaker 4: analrel Reef or at Sunny Styles. Those are really the
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  Speaker 4: two names floating around the Dallas Cowboys really here over
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  Speaker 4: the past few days. But I will say this, and
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  Speaker 4: just talking to teams here over the past few days
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  Speaker 4: or so, it's going to be very interesting. Even if
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  Speaker 4: you have a lot of capital here on night one,
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  Speaker 4: or even a lot of picks inside the top hundred,
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  Speaker 4: looking towards the twenty twenty seven draft and the talent
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  Speaker 4: that is expected to come out specifically in the top
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  Speaker 4: fifty for next year, I expect teams to be very
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  Speaker 4: frugal as far as trying to trade up and relinquishing
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  Speaker 4: capital for next year's draft, even if it's on Day
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  Speaker 4: one or day two next year. And how does that
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  Speaker 4: affect Night one Tomorrow night? So that's something to keep
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  Speaker 4: an eye on. And also, you now have eight minutes,
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  Speaker 4: you don't have ten minutes on the clock for first
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  Speaker 4: John picks. Does that two minutes affect anything as far
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  Speaker 4: as trying to iron out and finalize those deals. So
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  Speaker 4: those are just a couple of things to keep an
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  Speaker 4: eye on there for movement up and down the bold
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  Speaker 4: Tomorrow Knight. But again, to answer your question, Sehn blankly says, really,
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  Speaker 4: Dallas Cowboys at twelve and twenty going maybe to get
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  Speaker 4: their guy in the Sunny Style when RVL reachs, just
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  Speaker 4: how high will they have to go up? We'll see
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  Speaker 4: what happens.
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  Speaker 2: When you see guys like Sunny Styles who have production,
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  Speaker 2: but then they go to the combine and that production
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  Speaker 2: takes a back seat to the upside, to the freak
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  Speaker 2: athleticism to the Oh my gosh, I didn't know where
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  Speaker 2: they build the lab that creates these types of individuals.
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  Speaker 2: Are you a buyer on him being an elite NFL
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  Speaker 2: prospect the same way some of these teams might view him.
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  Speaker 4: I'll say this, I mean, I think in his game
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  Speaker 4: right now, Sean is a great question. I see a
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  Speaker 4: lot more freak athlete than outstanding football player right now.
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  Speaker 4: I'm not going to sit here and say that I
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  Speaker 4: see Isaiah Simmons or I see Tyrie Wilson in a
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  Speaker 4: different position just in recent memory. But when I watch
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  Speaker 4: his tape at his size and the speed and athleticism,
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  Speaker 4: and watching that Ohio State tape where of course they
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  Speaker 4: had tons of ballplayers everywhere, four and five star recruits
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  Speaker 4: at every single level of that defense, I just see
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  Speaker 4: a little bit more ability as far as in the
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  Speaker 4: first few years of his career, he'll match NFL athletes,
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  Speaker 4: But as a football player at potential green dot in
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  Speaker 4: the middle of your defense, I want to see some
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  Speaker 4: more progression there as far as identifying the IQ in
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  Speaker 4: the middle of the field. That's why Caleb Downs potentially
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  Speaker 4: on that same defense to really serve that same role
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  Speaker 4: inside the middle of your defense and why teams have
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  Speaker 4: downs higher than a sonny style. So again, more so
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  Speaker 4: an athlete right now for me than a really darn
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  Speaker 4: good football player. But I think if than he could
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  Speaker 4: just find a decent happy medium in his game, I
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  Speaker 4: think he's still has the Pro Bowl type of ceilings.
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  Speaker 2: What's the best case for Spencer Fano and what's maybe
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  Speaker 2: the worst case for Spencer Fano in your mind?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's really where the run is going to start
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  Speaker 4: on these offensive linemen. Does that start at at three?
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  Speaker 4: Deserves going to stay and grab a guy or does
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  Speaker 4: Cleveland rerely have the run at six? Is that Fano?
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  Speaker 4: Is that CDC MALANOA? Is that Monroe freeling? Is that
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  Speaker 4: Caden Proctor? I think for Spencer, even if he's not
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  Speaker 4: the first lineman off the board, the earlier the other
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  Speaker 4: linemen go, the better off and higher he will go
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  Speaker 4: ultimately for teams trying to get their run on the
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  Speaker 4: Monroe feelings and names along those lines, and even guys
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  Speaker 4: like Maxi Hanatcho or and Blake Miller are those names
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  Speaker 4: that will go on later on in round one. So
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  Speaker 4: I think he's in a good spot. I still expect
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  Speaker 4: him to come off the board. He could go up
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  Speaker 4: six to Cleveland, or he could go even as far
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  Speaker 4: as in the late teams. Keep an eye on Baltimore
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  Speaker 4: seems like as well, Miami of course as well, or
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  Speaker 4: early portions of Day two. If sometimes the slip happens,
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  Speaker 4: which has as crazy things as we know Shawn has
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  Speaker 4: happened on draft Day. But I think he's in a
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  Speaker 4: really nice spot.
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  Speaker 2: A lot of the mock drafts have got me in
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  Speaker 2: love with the idea of Caleb Lomo to the forty
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  Speaker 2: nine ers, as I'm a Niners fan and obviously we've
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  Speaker 2: been following his entire career at the University of Utah.
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  Speaker 3: Is that a likely landing spot for Caleb Lomo.
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  Speaker 4: I think it'd be a nice landing spot. I think
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  Speaker 4: when you look at the future for the Niners up
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  Speaker 4: front and the Trent Williams situation kind of very similar
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  Speaker 4: to where he could also go at twenty three to
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  Speaker 4: the Philadelphia Eagles, right when you look at the Lane
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  Speaker 4: Johnson situation, I think either spot for him will be excellent.
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  Speaker 4: I think when you look at both schemes, specifically San
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  Speaker 4: Francisco with Kyle Shanahan having just elite athletes at the
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  Speaker 4: position to expand your ground game, the footwork, the ability
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  Speaker 4: to skip and pull get to the second level. I
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  Speaker 4: think at times Caleb Blomo a little bit too much
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  Speaker 4: for me, got rocked back a little bit by power.
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  Speaker 4: I think that's something to work on. He will get bigger, faster,
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  Speaker 4: stronger as he continues to mature still a young player.
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  Speaker 4: That athletic profile in San Francisco is exactly why they
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  Speaker 4: prioritize Trent Williams years ago from Washington. I think Caleb
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  Speaker 4: bloom will be a really nice sit there, whether he
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  Speaker 4: plays either tackles bought right away.
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  Speaker 2: Every draft analyst that I talked to, I feel like
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  Speaker 2: you've got somebody in the back of your mind, maybe
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  Speaker 2: the front of your mind, that you feel is being
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  Speaker 2: underappreciated or you're just fascinated by for whatever reason.
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  Speaker 3: Who is that? For Ryan Fowler?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, for me, it's a guy that I think is
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  Speaker 4: going to come off the board early portions of Day three, Sean,
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  Speaker 4: and that's Eli Heidenreich, the running back, slash receiver, slash
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  Speaker 4: everything for the Navy Midshipman, a guy that's one of
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  Speaker 4: two players ever in Coelish football history to record more
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  Speaker 4: than nine hundred and seventy five receiving yards and four
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  Speaker 4: hundred and twenty five or more rushing yards in a
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  Speaker 4: single season, a guy that had thirty two targets in
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  Speaker 4: his final four games for the Midshipman. Again as a
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  Speaker 4: running back, he's going to come in right away at
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  Speaker 4: six foot two oh six with very similar athletic and
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  Speaker 4: tangibles when Christian McCaffrey was coming out of Stanford. I'm
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  Speaker 4: not comparing the player, but just from an athletic and
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  Speaker 4: tangible perspective and the versatility, the hands, the explosiveness. Watching
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  Speaker 4: him at Shrine against corners and safety, they couldn't cover
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  Speaker 4: him all week long. So if you're an offensive coordinator,
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  Speaker 4: that's going to have a plan for a guy like
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  Speaker 4: this that played that slop back snipe z position is
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  Speaker 4: what they called it at Navy. Eli hyden Wright early
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  Speaker 4: on portions of Day three, I accept him to outplay
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  Speaker 4: his draft blot very quickly.
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  Speaker 2: Is this one of those situations also that he had
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  Speaker 2: to get like military service exemption because he's an academy guy?
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  Speaker 2: Does that still a thing when we talk about Army, Navy,
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  Speaker 2: Air Force players.
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  Speaker 4: I don't think so. I don't think So as of
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  Speaker 4: right now, there's things obviously that could be in there
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  Speaker 4: as far as the Naval Academy and Air Force guys
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  Speaker 4: like as you mentioned, but I'm not sure that that's
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  Speaker 4: actually a singer right now for these Naval Academy guys.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, interesting, Well, I love that you have now planted
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  Speaker 2: that seed in my mind that I'm going to be
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  Speaker 2: looking for where Eli hyden Wright goes awesome. Besides Fano,
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  Speaker 2: besides Lomu, there's a couple of Utah guys that are
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  Speaker 2: a little bit further down, there's also BYU's best players.
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  Speaker 2: In my case, I think Jack Kelly is a guy
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  Speaker 2: who's going to have a success NFL career. I don't
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  Speaker 2: think he's going to make a big splash in the
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  Speaker 2: draft from like a high pick standpoint, But the best player,
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  Speaker 2: best linebacker in the league right now is a BYU
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  Speaker 2: guy in my opinion.
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  Speaker 3: In Fred Warner, where do you think Jack Kelly goes?
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  Speaker 4: I think somewhere on day three, you know, I think
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  Speaker 4: he's someone even talking about him last year with scouts
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  Speaker 4: is a guy that had some late day two grade
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  Speaker 4: for teams. I think when you watched Jack Kelly, you know,
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  Speaker 4: for folks out there listening that know BYU. They know
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  Speaker 4: how explosive right that he is, and I think the
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  Speaker 4: instincts pop off the screen. You just mentioned Fred Warner.
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  Speaker 4: I'm not going to compare Jack Kelly to Fred Warner.
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  Speaker 4: But if you're explosive, you have instincts, and you're consistently
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  Speaker 4: beating guys to the spot, you're beating guards that are
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  Speaker 4: pulling opposite side of the line of scrimmage, that stuff
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  Speaker 4: usually translates. Now it's he going to have to cut
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  Speaker 4: his team teeth on special teams, excuse me, early on
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  Speaker 4: in his career potentially, But I think those instincts and
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  Speaker 4: explosiveness overall are going to allow him to make a
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  Speaker 4: roster And once you get the guy in the football
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  Speaker 4: field like that, this plight a lot of ball in
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  Speaker 4: his career at a lot of different spots. Even can
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  Speaker 4: flash down the edge and put his hand in a
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  Speaker 4: dirt if you have to. I think Jack Kelly's going
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  Speaker 4: to Ty're going to roster somewhere, likely early portions of
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  Speaker 4: Day three.
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  Speaker 3: Ryan.
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  Speaker 2: I know it's a busy, busy time for you, and
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  Speaker 2: I appreciate you giving us a few minutes today.
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  Speaker 3: Enjoy the draft. And we'll chat again soon.
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely, thank you as always, Shan take care.
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  Speaker 2: It's Ryan Fowler, NFL Draft analyst over at NBC Sports