Latest / AFR Saints / Derek Carr Won't Take Pay Cut To Help Saints | What Options Remain For New Orleans?

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Derek Carr Won't Take Pay Cut To Help Saints | What Options Remain For New Orleans? · AFR Saints

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  Speaker 1: AFR on Demand is brought to you by Breck Golf.
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  Speaker 1: dot org. Golf dot Breck dot org. The New Orleans
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  Speaker 1: Saints are embarking on, as we have sort of documented here,
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  Speaker 1: their most critical offseason since two thousand and six when
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  Speaker 1: they hired Sean Payton and were rebuilding post Katrina and
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  Speaker 1: everything involved there. Even when Sean Payton left, remember it
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  Speaker 1: was still a very stable organization with good culture and
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  Speaker 1: a good roster, a team that had won the division
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  Speaker 1: and had gone to the playoffs, and obviously they missed
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  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one, but still what you were handing
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  Speaker 1: Dennis Allen was a very stable situation. This is anything
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  Speaker 1: but for the next head coach, and Derek Carr apparently
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  Speaker 1: is determined not to make this any easier for whoever
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  Speaker 1: the new head coach is Car met with reporters on Monday,
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  Speaker 1: but he also had a one on one with our
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  Speaker 1: friend Kat Terrell from ESPN, and he told a Kat
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  Speaker 1: in no uncertain terms that he will not help the Saints.
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  Speaker 2: With the pay cut.
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  Speaker 1: The quote directly is I wouldn't And this was a
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  Speaker 1: this is a print quote, so I do not have
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  Speaker 1: the audio or the video. This was a one on
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  Speaker 1: one interview that Kat did with Derek Carr. Derek Carr said, quote,
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  Speaker 1: I wouldn't take a pay cut. Yeah, I wouldn't do that,
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  Speaker 1: especially with what I put on tape, what I restructure. Absolutely,
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  Speaker 1: I'll always help the team that way, but there's some
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  Speaker 1: things that you put out there that you earned. Even
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  Speaker 1: in some cases it could be even worse. But I
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  Speaker 1: felt confident when I signed it that this would give
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  Speaker 1: the team the best flexibility at the time.
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  Speaker 2: But there's always kind of respect.
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  Speaker 1: As a quarterback, you're like, well still we're in that
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  Speaker 1: respectful length. We're good build a team. But yeah, I
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't take anything less to do this. It's hard enough
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  Speaker 1: putting our bodies through it, and you're trying to get
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  Speaker 1: everything you can for your family for it. Okay, So
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  Speaker 1: that's the quote from Derek Carr, he will not take
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  Speaker 1: a pay cut. So this is why this is.
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  Speaker 2: Important.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, I don't fault Derek Carr.
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  Speaker 2: Now. I believe.
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  Speaker 1: That contract should be given as a projection, not as
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  Speaker 1: what you've done. There's a little bit of a happy medium.
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  Speaker 1: But sort of infamously, late in his career, the Lakers
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  Speaker 1: paid the late Kobe Bryant an absurd amount of money
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  Speaker 1: that was nowhere near his at the time competency, but
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  Speaker 1: it was the means of keeping him a Laker for
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  Speaker 1: the rest of his career. And sometimes organizations make the
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  Speaker 1: decision to do that. That doesn't really happen as much
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  Speaker 1: in the NFL. That's why you see great players like
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  Speaker 1: JJ Watt finish his career with the Cardinals or Joe
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  Speaker 1: Montana finished his career with the Chiefs or Jerry Rice
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  Speaker 1: where a Seahawks uniform. It just happens as guys want
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  Speaker 1: to continue play. Maybe they ring Chase. But I hated
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  Speaker 1: the contract they gave Derek Carr when they did it.
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  Speaker 1: I hated the restructure this past offseason, and my point
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  Speaker 1: at the time ended up being prophetic, which was you
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  Speaker 1: restructured Derek Carr last season and in so doing you
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  Speaker 1: financially bound yourself to Derek Carr for two more seasons
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  Speaker 1: after twenty twenty four. And I hated the decision because
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  Speaker 1: my point today about Derek Carr is the same point
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  Speaker 1: I made the day they signed him, which is he
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  Speaker 1: is a low middle tier, upper bottom tier starting quarterback
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  Speaker 1: in the NFL. It's literally the thing I've told you
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  Speaker 1: now from the day he signed with the New Orleans Saints.
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  Speaker 2: He is Andy Dalton.
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  Speaker 1: You can roll your eyes at that, but we broke
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  Speaker 1: down the numbers two years ago.
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  Speaker 2: It's what he is.
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  Speaker 1: A guy was drafted by a team to be their franchise.
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  Speaker 1: He started for a long time. Their stats are almost
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  Speaker 1: almost identical. The team that made him their franchise decided,
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  Speaker 1: we've gone as far as we can with you. They
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  Speaker 1: moved on, and Andy Dalton jumped. He's been with a
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  Speaker 1: different team every year since. And Derek Carr effectively would
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  Speaker 1: be the same. But for the fact that Saints game
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  Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty million dollars and restructuring last year
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  Speaker 1: was stupid. And now you're in a really tough spot
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  Speaker 1: because you have a veteran quarterback who has underperformed his contract,
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  Speaker 1: who has now been injured. Who is not going to
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  Speaker 1: be any better next year amid a rebuild with a
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  Speaker 1: new coach, and you're up a creek. The great thing
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  Speaker 1: would be if Derek Carr agreed to take less so
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  Speaker 1: you could help reset your cap situation. It doesn't hurt
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  Speaker 1: to ask to shoot your shot, but he's not going
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  Speaker 1: to do it. I don't necessarily say that I blame him.
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  Speaker 1: The Saints contractually owe him this money. It's not his fault.
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  Speaker 1: They did a terrible deal. That's why Mickey Loomis is
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  Speaker 1: an awful general manager. I don't even know that there
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  Speaker 1: is an argument to the contrary at this point, the
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  Speaker 1: larger the sample size grows, the more The championship in
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  Speaker 1: two thousand and nine, in that window before Bountygate looks
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  Speaker 1: like the outlier. Not it looks like the exception, not
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  Speaker 1: the rule. I mean, hell, the Saints have even drafted
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  Speaker 1: pretty well at times. Do you notice that Kayden Ellis
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  Speaker 1: and Zach Bond tied for the sixth most tackles in
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  Speaker 1: the NFL this year. That's two guys you drafted that
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  Speaker 1: are now playing for other teams. Trey Hendrickson led the
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  Speaker 1: NFL in sacks playing for you drafted him, he's playing
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  Speaker 1: for another team, like because of your competent, your incompetence,
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  Speaker 1: your inability to manage your roster and your salary cap.
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  Speaker 1: That's why the Saints are what they are and Derek
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  Speaker 1: Carr is just the and he's the crown jewel of
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  Speaker 1: that because you sunk one hundred and fifty million dollars
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  Speaker 1: into a bad quarterback and you made it even worse
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  Speaker 1: by restructuring him last year when you should have just
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  Speaker 1: understood what.
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  Speaker 2: You were and what he was.
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  Speaker 1: So now here you go again, and you have a
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  Speaker 1: decision to make, and really your decision about what to
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  Speaker 1: do with Derek Carr, you have. You have two choices
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  Speaker 1: because whether Mickey loomis in the Saints organization that the
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  Speaker 1: brass want to acknowledge it or not, a rebuild is coming,
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  Speaker 1: either accepted or forced. It is coming, like a bottoming
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  Speaker 1: out for this organization is coming. And the question is
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  Speaker 1: do you want to cannonball into the deep end of
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  Speaker 1: the rebuild or do you want to wade into a
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  Speaker 1: zero entry pool of the rebuild? Like sometimes it's easier,
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  Speaker 1: like I cold plunge every morning. I've told you this.
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  Speaker 1: I don't mean to bore you with this, but I
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  Speaker 1: love it. It's it's awesome. But there ain't no easy
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  Speaker 1: way at five twenty five in the morning to get
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  Speaker 1: into a cold plunge, you know what I mean. Like,
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  Speaker 1: you don't dip your toe, you just brother, You just
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  Speaker 1: get in it. Get in it, take some deep breaths
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  Speaker 1: and then let it absorb your body and you settle
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  Speaker 1: in and you get through it. Like that's my opinion
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  Speaker 1: of where the Saints are right now. With Derek carrs
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  Speaker 1: you got two options. One is you cut his cap number.
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  Speaker 1: Derek Carr's cap number for twenty twenty five is fifty
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  Speaker 1: one million dollars. If you cut him and post him
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  Speaker 1: and designate him as a post June one release, his
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  Speaker 1: cap number would drop to eleven million dollars this year
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  Speaker 1: and then twenty eight million in dead money next year.
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  Speaker 1: So the problem is you're kicking the can down the road.
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  Speaker 1: But you get rid of Derek Carr, you get a
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  Speaker 1: new quarterback with a new coach, and you get cap
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  Speaker 1: relief this year when you're seventy eight million dollars over
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  Speaker 1: the cap, or you keep Derek Carr and he counts
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  Speaker 1: fifty million dollars against your cap next year, and it'll
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  Speaker 1: be his last year in New Orleans, and then your
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  Speaker 1: new coach will have a lame duck quarterback who will
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  Speaker 1: be gone after next year. And you figure it out
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  Speaker 1: from me. Do you draft your quarterback next year? Is
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  Speaker 1: it Spencer Rattler? Do you let Rattler grow? Do you
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  Speaker 1: draft a quarterback this year. There's all these different types
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  Speaker 1: of questions that you'd have to answer, but my preference
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  Speaker 1: this is easy for me. Cut Derek Carr right now,
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  Speaker 1: well not today, but cut him before the start of
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  Speaker 1: the league year. Designate him as a post June first release,
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  Speaker 1: reduce that cap number to eleven million this year. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: it's twenty eight million next year. But this year, I'm
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  Speaker 1: getting rid of all the expensive veterans and I'm gonna
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  Speaker 1: have a roster full of undrafted free agent rookies and
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  Speaker 1: we are gonna suck to Holy Hell and back.
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  Speaker 2: That's what I'm doing.
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  Speaker 1: And that sucks, and it sucks to acknowledge, but that's
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  Speaker 1: your reality because you ain't You're not winning anything. So
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  Speaker 1: you bring Derek Carr back, you win nine games, eight games,
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  Speaker 1: seven games whatever. You're drafting in the middle of Round
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  Speaker 1: one again, and where are you now?
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  Speaker 2: You're moving on from Derek Carr. Your cap situation still stinks.
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  Speaker 1: You got a new coach now with a new quarterback
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  Speaker 1: and a pick somewhere in the middle a round one.
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  Speaker 2: Where are you? You're nowhere?
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  Speaker 1: Cannonball into the deep end. Cut Derek Carr. Take the
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  Speaker 1: big savings this year. Yes, you'll have a big cap
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  Speaker 1: number next year. Bring in your new coach. Let your
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  Speaker 1: coach pick his quarterback. Maybe it's rattler. Maybe you find
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  Speaker 1: a one year stopgap. Go sign Daniel Jones for a year.
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  Speaker 1: I don't care. You're gonna suck either way. And then
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  Speaker 1: next year and you're gonna suck so bad that you're
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  Speaker 1: picking in the top five of the twenty twenty six draft,
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  Speaker 1: a draft that will have, by the way, likely Arch Manning,
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  Speaker 1: Garrett Nussmeyer.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe Nico's in that draft.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps Leonora Sellers if he improves, I mean, Jackson Arnold
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  Speaker 1: will see what he does. Drew Aller from Penn State
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  Speaker 1: will be in next year's draft. You'll have a much
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  Speaker 1: better draft class than twenty twenty six, and you'll be
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  Speaker 1: picking at the top of that draft. So twenty twenty five,
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  Speaker 1: that's gonna suck. Y'all, there's no way around me. But
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  Speaker 1: are you gonna suck.
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  Speaker 3: But not be the worst with Derek Carr, or you're
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  Speaker 3: gonna get rid of Derek Carr, suck all the way
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  Speaker 3: like suck hard, but get a top tier pick, get
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  Speaker 3: your franchise quarterback in the twenty twenty six draft, and
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  Speaker 3: then start building from there.
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  Speaker 2: That's my preference.
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  Speaker 1: But then again, the guy who smacks on gum and
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  Speaker 1: preaches to everybody about how a terrible quarterback with one
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  Speaker 1: of the worst winning percentages of all time is comparable
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  Speaker 1: to Chuck Noll freaking loser. Can't wait to see what
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  Speaker 1: Mickey does with this one.