Latest / AFR Saints / Saints Add Hunter Dekkers, Kellen Moore Discusses Cam Jordan's Return

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Saints Add Hunter Dekkers, Kellen Moore Discusses Cam Jordan's Return · AFR Saints

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  Speaker 2: Additions that were signing Jalen Mareno cropper receiver. He was
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  Speaker 2: with the Cowboys, he was in the UFL. He played
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  Speaker 2: at Fresno State. Hunter Deckers quarterback was in the UFL,
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  Speaker 2: so we had Hunter last year. And then Tanner Brown kicker,
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  Speaker 2: he was in the UFL with the King. The King's
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  Speaker 2: played Oky Steak, so we signed him. We had and
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  Speaker 2: then obviously Camp Jordan.
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  Speaker 1: How about that? Three editions for Kellen Moore in the
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  Speaker 1: Saints to announce here on Wednesday, the second day of
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  Speaker 1: mandatory mini camp. And it's interesting also remember today's the
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  Speaker 1: second day of mandatory mini camp. After mandatory Mini Camp,
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  Speaker 1: the Saints going on to hiatus until July when they're
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  Speaker 1: here for training camp. So you got about a month
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  Speaker 1: to sort of shell axe. So interesting that this is
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  Speaker 1: the moment when they decide to do this just very
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  Speaker 1: quickly to run through those of Tanner Brown, the placekicker
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  Speaker 1: was the UFL Special Teams Player of the Year. Now
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  Speaker 1: I have a soft place in the subcoccles of my
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  Speaker 1: heart for Charlie Smith, who came on AFR at the
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  Speaker 1: Super Bowl and Radio Row now a year ago at
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  Speaker 1: Radio Row in New Orleans. Like Groupie came on AFR. So, uh,
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  Speaker 1: maybe not a great omen if you're a kicker on
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  Speaker 1: AFR group he comes on the show is all we
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  Speaker 1: talked about. Afar Karma Group became on the show, then
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  Speaker 1: got axed. Charlie Smith comes on the show. Go find out,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, might be Charlie cut me find out. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: so Tanner Brown's coming in. Listen. That's life in the NFL.
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  Speaker 1: Mike D had a great line. He would say it
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  Speaker 1: all the time. Mike Detillier, who came on the show
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  Speaker 1: for you know, every Thursday for a decade, so decided
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  Speaker 1: to go get his own radio show and couldn't come
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  Speaker 1: on anymore. Mike D quit your radio show and come
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  Speaker 1: back on with us. Do it for the kids, Mike.
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  Speaker 1: But Mike would say, all the time you're getting better,
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  Speaker 1: you're getting worse. You're never staying the same in the NFL,
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  Speaker 1: so you always have to be looking at options and
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  Speaker 1: opportunities to get better. And so you can like Charlie Smith,
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  Speaker 1: but here's the UFL Special Teams Player of the year.
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  Speaker 1: What if What if Tanner Brown comes in and beats
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  Speaker 1: Charlie Smith for the job. If that's the case, great
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  Speaker 1: you got better. Hunter Deckers is interesting for one very
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  Speaker 1: obvious reason. Of course, Hunter Deckers was with the Saints
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  Speaker 1: a year ago, but he was a quarterback, and I
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  Speaker 1: always said, if you don't recall whose college career ended
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  Speaker 1: because he bet on sports and so he was ineligible
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  Speaker 1: to continue his college career in the NCAA, went and
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  Speaker 1: played JUCO or an ai A, whatever it was, and
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  Speaker 1: then had an opportunity as a as a free agent,
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  Speaker 1: signed with Saints, was with the Saints for a part
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  Speaker 1: of last year, and now is back, very likely as
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  Speaker 1: nothing more than a camp arm. Remember the Saints have
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  Speaker 1: added Zach Wilson, you still got Spencer Rattler hanging around.
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  Speaker 1: So Deckers is the fourth He's a camp arm and
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  Speaker 1: likely nothing more than that unless the Saints do manage
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  Speaker 1: to execute a trade for Spencer Rattler, which I don't
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  Speaker 1: know that that necessarily really feels likely in any way.
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  Speaker 1: They like Spencer Rattler and this guy who seems like
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  Speaker 1: he's gonna stick around in New Orleans at least for
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  Speaker 1: the immediate short term unless someone's willing to give up
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  Speaker 1: an asset for him. Maybe an injury or something in
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  Speaker 1: camp could force their hand there. And then wide receiver
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  Speaker 1: Jalen Moreno Cropper is the other. He played for Houston
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  Speaker 1: during the UFL season this past year so and also
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  Speaker 1: played in three games for the Dallas Cowboys a season ago.
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  Speaker 1: So some depth that wide receiver in some competition. So
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  Speaker 1: just a few to watch and worth keeping an eye
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  Speaker 1: and also worth mentioning at place kicker. Remember the Saints
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  Speaker 1: added Mason Shipley as a UDFA, and Mason Shipley came
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  Speaker 1: on on AFR after he signed with New Orleans. That's
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  Speaker 1: another guy who there bringing in for competition. So h
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  Speaker 1: as good a story as Charlie Smith is strong legged,
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  Speaker 1: and I mean you know his first game hit a
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  Speaker 1: h one against Carolina, a big time kick game winner
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  Speaker 1: against Carolina. He's twenty four years old, is as optimistic
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  Speaker 1: as we are, as good a story as he is,
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  Speaker 1: Saint Soul, looking for opportunities to get better. If they
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  Speaker 1: can find it, they will. So that's sort of the news.
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  Speaker 1: The reaction part today was that Kellen Moore met When
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  Speaker 1: he met with reporters, this was his first opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: talk about Cam Jordan's edition after Cam signed a day ago,
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  Speaker 1: so Kellen has had pre practice media availability. The Cam
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  Speaker 1: announcement of press conference came after Kellen's media availability on Tuesday.
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  Speaker 1: So Kellen was asked kind of point blank, what what
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  Speaker 1: having Cam back means to him this year?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, excitement obviously. You know, guys in his situation have
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  Speaker 2: to go through a process during the off seasons to
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  Speaker 2: to make the decisions there best for them. And uh,
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  Speaker 2: obviously we feel fortunate and excited that, you know, the
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  Speaker 2: opportunity present itself and it was the right alignment as
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  Speaker 2: far as getting him back. And yeah, I'm excited.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, Kellen Moore continues to be the most boring SoundBite
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  Speaker 1: in football, so sounds super pumped. Let's talk specifics about
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  Speaker 1: Cam's role, especially remember we talked about the San Diego
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  Speaker 1: and we all wax poetic. I'm in that number, you
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  Speaker 1: are as well. Everyone's excited that Cam is back. He's
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  Speaker 1: going to finish his career in New Orleans. He's going
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  Speaker 1: to go in the Ring of Honor, He's going to
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  Speaker 1: go in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He's gonna
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  Speaker 1: play for one team his whole career and that's awesome.
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  Speaker 1: And hopefully, in what is very likely his final season
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  Speaker 1: in the NFL, he has another productive season. They get
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  Speaker 1: back to the playoffs for the first time since the
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  Speaker 1: COVID year, Drew's last season in the NFL, that'd be awesome.
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  Speaker 1: What about snapcount? When the Saints announced they're resigning Cam,
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  Speaker 1: we kind of went through the sadego. The last two seasons,
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  Speaker 1: Cam Jordan's snapcount has been in the five hundreds, when
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  Speaker 1: he was routinely double that number, meaning Cam has basically
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  Speaker 1: been playing fifty percent of the defensive snap apps the
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  Speaker 1: last two years. He's a rotational piece, that's what he
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  Speaker 1: has become at this point in his career. So Kellen
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  Speaker 1: Moore was asked if that snap count is expected to
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  Speaker 1: be the same as last season.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he'll definitely be part of that rotation.
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  Speaker 2: I think to our advantage as a football team, we
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  Speaker 2: have added some depth in that group. That's going to
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  Speaker 2: be a benefit for us. And so what those numbers
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  Speaker 2: look like, you know, hey, they're all going to contribute.
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  Speaker 2: They're all going to contribute, and that's an important aspect
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  Speaker 2: of this thing. And because of the versatility of these guys,
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  Speaker 2: I think you're gonna be able to utilize more than
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  Speaker 2: just two of them at times when you want to
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  Speaker 2: in some third down situations, which is a positive thing
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  Speaker 2: for us. And came will contained to, you know, carry
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  Speaker 2: a very valuable role with that.
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  Speaker 1: I we had my triplet here a day ago and
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  Speaker 1: Mike said it well and probably best when you look
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  Speaker 1: at Chase Young, Carl Granderson, adding Tyrie Wilson, Anthony Jennings
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  Speaker 1: and now resigning him, that's five. Now knock on for Micah.
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  Speaker 1: You don't want an injury, but an injury could rectify that.
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  Speaker 1: But aside from that, and you add Chris Rump to
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  Speaker 1: the mixes well, a little bit of an undersize more
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  Speaker 1: than three four outside linebacker. All six of those guys
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  Speaker 1: aren't making the team. They're not all gonna be on
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  Speaker 1: the active roster. So someone among that group isn't gonna
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  Speaker 1: make this team. So Kellen was asked about anthrety Jennings
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  Speaker 1: and the guy that was a top ten pick in
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  Speaker 1: the draft didn't have a great start to his career
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  Speaker 1: in Las Vegas with the Raiders draft a trade to
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  Speaker 1: New Orleans and sort of what stands out about Jennings.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think obviously strength, stoutness, physical play. I think
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  Speaker 2: he's got a really high IQ. He can tell. He
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  Speaker 2: just processes the game in a very easy manner. I
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  Speaker 2: think what's cool is watching him just hop in there
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  Speaker 2: and try and find every opportunity he can to help
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  Speaker 2: this team. You know, I think the special teams component
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  Speaker 2: is kind of cool. To talk about that with Tyree yesterday.
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  Speaker 2: These guys are just trying to find roles and find opportunities,
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  Speaker 2: which is great. And you know, he's played a whole
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  Speaker 2: bunch of games for reason because he's a really consistent,
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  Speaker 2: physical football player.
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  Speaker 1: I love that. And that's probably the way Anthony Jennings
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  Speaker 1: and Tyree Wilson make this team. You have two young players,
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  Speaker 1: you know, Jennings's twenty eight years both guys in their twenties.
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  Speaker 1: Jennings is twenty eight years old. Two guys that, despite
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  Speaker 1: their productivity already in the NFL, are both willing to
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  Speaker 1: play special teams and do whatever they have to do. Listen,
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  Speaker 1: Jennings came into the league in twenty twenty, so now
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  Speaker 1: he missed the twenty one season, so this is seven
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  Speaker 1: years in the NFL. But this will be his sixth
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  Speaker 1: season because he missed twenty twenty one but with injury.
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  Speaker 1: But this guy's played in seventy five games already in
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  Speaker 1: his career, going into year seven out in the NFL,
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  Speaker 1: twenty eight years old and still wanting to commit him
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  Speaker 1: willing to commit himself to special teams. You know, you
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  Speaker 1: wonder if those are going to be the differentiators. I
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  Speaker 1: also look just at size and skill set, Whereas when
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  Speaker 1: you look at Chase Young and Granderson and Cam Jordan
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  Speaker 1: Bigger three four ends and Ford Jennings is six two,
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  Speaker 1: two fifty five similar to Chris Rump, I kind of
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  Speaker 1: look at Jennings and Rumph in that category and go,
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  Speaker 1: you're probably only keeping one of those guys, and jennings
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  Speaker 1: willingness to play special teams and the skins on the
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  Speaker 1: wall he has may very well give him a leg up.
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  Speaker 1: So keep an eye on that battle whenever training camp
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  Speaker 1: sort of gets gets underway. The one more from from
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  Speaker 1: Kellen Moore about that edge rusher position, and he talked
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  Speaker 1: at length about Chase Young and the the improvement that
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  Speaker 1: Chase Young has made. And it's sort of cliche to say,
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  Speaker 1: you know, he gets better every day, but it's what
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  Speaker 1: Kellen Moore said. But it's true about Chase Young as
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  Speaker 1: a guy who came into the league as the number
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  Speaker 1: two overall pick, was the defensive rookie of the year,
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  Speaker 1: suffered an injury, bounced to where I went to San
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  Speaker 1: fran came to the Saints, and last year had a
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  Speaker 1: double digit SAX season despite missing the first five games. Well,
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  Speaker 1: the question we all have is what do you do
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  Speaker 1: for an encore?
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  Speaker 2: Feel great about Chase feel like he's gotten better from
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  Speaker 2: my exposure being with him for the last year and
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  Speaker 2: a half now, just the growth he's taken and the
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  Speaker 2: I guess, just the preparation, the work ethic that he's
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  Speaker 2: shown through the offseason is really impressive. Like this guy
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  Speaker 2: loves to work. He loves to work really hard. I
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  Speaker 2: think he's gotten better. You can see as the season
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  Speaker 2: went on, he just kept getting better and I think
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  Speaker 2: this offseason has been a good indication of where he's going,
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  Speaker 2: the leadership that he's provided, the energy he provides, certainly,
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  Speaker 2: but he's just you know, he's looking like he's getting
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  Speaker 2: better each and every day.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, Chase Young just made twenty seven years
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  Speaker 1: old in April. Remember we were talking about Jennings who's
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  Speaker 1: already twenty eight, and they were the same drivet class,
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  Speaker 1: by the way, in the COVID year. But Chase Young
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  Speaker 1: just turned twenty seven in April. So you're talking about
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  Speaker 1: a guy who is healthy. You know, after the disappointing
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  Speaker 1: twenty two season in Washington, where he played in just
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  Speaker 1: three games, he bounced back in twenty three, both in
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  Speaker 1: Washington and San Francisco, played in sixteen games, played all
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  Speaker 1: seventeen games year his first year in New Orleans, and
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  Speaker 1: then last year played in a dozen games, missed five
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  Speaker 1: games the first five games with the calf strain, but
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  Speaker 1: after that played the rest of the season in at
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  Speaker 1: double digit sacks. So can Chase Young stay healthy for
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  Speaker 1: seventeen games and produce at the rate he has? If
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  Speaker 1: he can, then you're talking about a guy that should
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  Speaker 1: push between fifteen and twenty sacks. And is going to
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  Speaker 1: be in the running for All Pro honors if that's
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  Speaker 1: the case, So Candy continue to improve. It's it's gonna
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  Speaker 1: be fascinating to watch this Brandon Staley defense year two,
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  Speaker 1: which you know last season was very good against the pass,
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  Speaker 1: not as good against the run. Ninth in total defense
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  Speaker 1: a season ago, which is a little surprising to say it.
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  Speaker 1: But can you build upon the progress you made a
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  Speaker 1: year ago here in year two with stay with it? Look,
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  Speaker 1: I mean you've lost a couple of guys, right, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: you lose Alonte Taylor, you lose to Mario Davis. But
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  Speaker 1: you've added some guys. We talked about Tyree Wilson, came,
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  Speaker 1: Jordan's coming back. You know, you're you're getting help with safety,
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  Speaker 1: You're moving Jona Sanka to the stars. There's some shifts there.
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  Speaker 1: But can you get better year over year? And if
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  Speaker 1: that's the case, and you get better offensively year two undred,
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  Speaker 1: Tyler shuck, I kind of get it again. I'm not
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  Speaker 1: I'm not pound on the table here today telling you
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  Speaker 1: I think the Saints are or a contender. What I
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  Speaker 1: am telling you is I think the Saints improving both
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  Speaker 1: offensively and defensively. Can get into that eight to nine
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  Speaker 1: win range against this schedule, and if they do that
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  Speaker 1: eight wins won the division a year ago, you get
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  Speaker 1: to nine. I think that wins you your division this
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  Speaker 1: year and gets you back in the playoffs. I think
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  Speaker 1: it's a very attainable goal for these New Orleans Saints