Latest / AFR Saints / Alvin Kamara Washed?!? PFF Thinks So! | Will Saints RB Find Fountain Of Youth?

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Alvin Kamara Washed?!? PFF Thinks So! | Will Saints RB Find Fountain Of Youth? · AFR Saints

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  Speaker 1: dot org. Golf dot Brek dot org. People do message
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  Speaker 1: me from time to time, and sometimes you have nice
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  Speaker 1: things to say. Most of the times you only message
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  Speaker 1: me when you disagree with me. You're mad at me,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: you want to yell at me, you want to curse
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  Speaker 1: at me, and that's fine. It's part of the gig.
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  Speaker 1: I got a message from this fellow on Instagram and
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  Speaker 1: he said, I hope you're praise for our beloved Saints
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  Speaker 1: is just as loud as some of your bewildering criticisms.
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  Speaker 1: If when they prove everybody wrong, would anybody characterize my
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  Speaker 1: criticisms as bewildering? Would you say, like, is there anything
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  Speaker 1: I've done? You listen to me every day that it
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  Speaker 1: would be bewildering, not bewildering, Paulie, you're a Saints fan,
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  Speaker 1: bewildering criticisms. I don't think so, I went on to
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  Speaker 1: say to myself, I replied, I said, you must have
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  Speaker 1: followed me long praise when earned, criticism when warranted. My
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  Speaker 1: job is to give honest opinions. I'll never be as
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  Speaker 1: my audience. You may not like what I have to say,
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  Speaker 1: but you'll never question if I'm being honest. He comes back.
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  Speaker 1: I hear you, and I respect, but you recently called
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  Speaker 1: the receiving group trash. Fact check? Fact check muse, Polly.
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  Speaker 1: Have I called the New Orleans Saints receivers trash? Not?
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  Speaker 1: To my knowledge, Paullie, trash, Not that I can remember.
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  Speaker 1: I have criticized this group at a Lave's been a
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  Speaker 1: thousand yard receiver twice, but he's got serious concussion issues
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  Speaker 1: and there's long term questions. Rashidhi Heat's coming off an injury,
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  Speaker 1: and while he is an excellent deep threat, he's also
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  Speaker 1: a one trick pony and he's small. What I very
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  Speaker 1: consistently said is they need a big bodied receiver and
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  Speaker 1: then he depth, because after those two guys, they've got
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  Speaker 1: nobody else. With respect to Dante Pettis with respect. Is
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  Speaker 1: the is the other Saint Brown, not al Monro like
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  Speaker 1: the oh Equanemius. Yes he's still around. Yeah, point being,
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  Speaker 1: they stink like they don't have a good it's arguably
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  Speaker 1: the worst receiving core in the NFL, Like you don't
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  Speaker 1: have a true legit number one game breaker. I think
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  Speaker 1: the Lave is a very good player. I think he'd
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  Speaker 1: be a better number two, somewhere behind a guy that's
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  Speaker 1: the legit number one. Anyway, he went on to praise
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  Speaker 1: Shiheda Lave and Cooks, and I also said about Cooks
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  Speaker 1: is the problemt with Brandon Cooks is he's the same
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  Speaker 1: guys you have with the Lave and Shaheed, except he's
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  Speaker 1: old and he's been declining the last three years. That's undeniable.
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  Speaker 1: Like that, that is a fact. That's not a bewildering criticism. Anyway.
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  Speaker 1: He goes on to say, I'm just saying, sometimes you
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  Speaker 1: sound like you're not a fan of the franchise. They've
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  Speaker 1: made some questionable and downright terrible moves, but I think
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  Speaker 1: this is the most refreshing off season we've had since
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  Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. Now. I have said that Dennis Allen needed
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  Speaker 1: to go and I wanted a full reset. They weren't
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  Speaker 1: going to reset because they restructured Derek Carr. They were
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  Speaker 1: going to proceed as they always did. They were forced
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  Speaker 1: into this reset now because of Derek Carr's retirement, which
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  Speaker 1: they bungled. Anyway, all that to say, yes, I have
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  Speaker 1: lobbed a lot of criticism and I believe it has
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  Speaker 1: all been warranted. I think Mickey Loomis is proving to
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  Speaker 1: be an awful general manager who continues to bury this
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  Speaker 1: team in an awful salary cap situations. They have drafted poorly.
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  Speaker 1: That is also an objective truth. You wasted a first
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  Speaker 1: round pick on Trevor Penning where you actually trade it up,
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  Speaker 1: so you gave up multiple picks to take him, and
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  Speaker 1: it's proven like you've not gotten the value of a
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  Speaker 1: first round pick. There obviously the fortieth pick that you
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  Speaker 1: used on Ed Rusher from Notre Dame what's the name,
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah Foski that you totally just blanked Isaiah. That's problem.
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  Speaker 1: Kendre Miller. You've obviously got nothing out of Kendre Miller,
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  Speaker 1: who's a third round pick. Jordan Howden, you've tried to
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  Speaker 1: make him a starter in the safety. Where's the good?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, that's the point. Like I would love to
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  Speaker 1: say great things, there's just not a lot of great
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  Speaker 1: things to say. For being very honest, but I will
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  Speaker 1: share one with you that I think is encouraging. And
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  Speaker 1: this is somewhat going to be of a contradiction of
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  Speaker 1: sorts because I think when we talk about Alvin Kamara,
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  Speaker 1: there's the illustration here is sort of ironic and that
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to use something that most of you is
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  Speaker 1: negative to explain a positive for the franchise, which does
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  Speaker 1: illustrate that the French is in a very bad place.
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  Speaker 1: Let me explain. Pro Football Focus listed the top thirty
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  Speaker 1: two running backs for the twenty twenty five season and Kamara,
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  Speaker 1: who had a seventy six point six PFF rushing grade
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  Speaker 1: last year, which is good. That means you're good, a
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  Speaker 1: good starting grade. Alvin Kamara number twenty in the NFL.
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  Speaker 1: The write up is Camara was once the gold standard
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  Speaker 1: of versatility, someone who's guaranteed to rack up rushing yards,
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  Speaker 1: produce sufficiently after contact, and provide fantastic outputs as a receiver.
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  Speaker 1: He's still all of those things, just a less impactful
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  Speaker 1: level at thirty years old. Kamara earned a seventy six
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  Speaker 1: point six PFF rushing grade in twenty twenty four, for
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  Speaker 1: whatever it's worth for contexts, he is one spot ahead
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  Speaker 1: of David Montgomery and one spot behind Aaron Jones. So
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  Speaker 1: you could just look at those players and say that's
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  Speaker 1: your sort of comp But I was not in favor
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  Speaker 1: of giving Alvin Kamara a multi year extension a year ago,
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  Speaker 1: and the reason was because Kamara had been declining for
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  Speaker 1: three years. That is an objective fact. Alvin Kamara had
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  Speaker 1: declined for three years before last season, and so you
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  Speaker 1: were talking about a guy who once in his career
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  Speaker 1: as a rookie, played in sixteen games, which at the
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  Speaker 1: time was the full season. He's only played a full
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  Speaker 1: season once as a rookie. He's never played a full
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  Speaker 1: season other than that, and each of the last three years,
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  Speaker 1: when you look at his yards per carry, he had
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  Speaker 1: declined from a guy that was averaging that average five
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  Speaker 1: yards per carry in twenty twenty the COVID year, and
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  Speaker 1: then went to three point seven four point zero, three
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  Speaker 1: point nine. I mean, he was dipping and approaching thirty
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  Speaker 1: and you don't typically see running backs excel into their thirties. Well,
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  Speaker 1: what happened for Alvin Kamara a year ago. Coming off
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  Speaker 1: an injury play season where he only played in thirteen games,
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  Speaker 1: Alvin Kamara had a very nice bounce back year where
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  Speaker 1: he ran for nine hundred and fifty yards, which was,
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  Speaker 1: by the way, a career high nine hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 1: rushing yards. He ended up just fifty yard shy of
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  Speaker 1: his first thousand yard season. He got injured at the
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  Speaker 1: end of the year, missed the final game of the season.
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  Speaker 1: That cost him the opportunity to rush for one thousand
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  Speaker 1: yards but six touchdowns rushing receiving, the production was quite
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  Speaker 1: good as well. He had sixty eight receptions for five
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  Speaker 1: hundred and forty three yards. The sixty eight receptions were
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  Speaker 1: the most since the COVID year when he had eighty three,
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  Speaker 1: and the five four forty three receiving also the most
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  Speaker 1: since that COVID year. So you saw Alvin Kamara last
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  Speaker 1: year have a very nice bounce back after three consecutive
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  Speaker 1: year years of declining production. And I would tell you
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  Speaker 1: that is encouraging to think that maybe Alvin Kamara, while
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  Speaker 1: I think the way Pro Football Focus said it is right,
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  Speaker 1: he may not be an elite level back anymore. He's
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  Speaker 1: not a top ten back in the NFL, but he
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  Speaker 1: can still be a very productive player. Now. I also
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  Speaker 1: mentioned as we started, I didn't like the multi year
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  Speaker 1: contract to invest multi years into a veteran player at
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  Speaker 1: that position. And remember they when they extended Kamara, they
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  Speaker 1: did it in October of last year. So during the
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  Speaker 1: season in October is when they gave him the two
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  Speaker 1: year extension which covered twenty twenty five and twenty twenty six,
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  Speaker 1: and in so doing it freed up eighteen million dollars
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  Speaker 1: in cap space this year. So the Saints gave themselves
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  Speaker 1: eighteen million dollars of kaprilely for twenty twenty five, but
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  Speaker 1: it committed them to Kamara financially for twenty five and
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  Speaker 1: twenty six, So he has eighteen million again against the
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  Speaker 1: books next year in twenty twenty six. And that's where
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  Speaker 1: we may look at it and say, if Kamara declines
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  Speaker 1: this year, then you're staring at twenty twenty six going
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  Speaker 1: we got an eighteen million dollar hit coming for a
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  Speaker 1: declining player. So that's kind of where the irony comes
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  Speaker 1: into play in praising Alvin Kamara. I'm praising them for
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  Speaker 1: doing something that actually might end up being a net
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  Speaker 1: negative to the franchise in time. But it is rare
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  Speaker 1: to see your running back that is resurgent after thirty
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  Speaker 1: years old and he's only played one full season. But
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  Speaker 1: if Alvin Kamara can stay healthy, which he has not
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  Speaker 1: shown the ability to do throughout his NFL career, but
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  Speaker 1: if he is able to stay healthy and play a
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  Speaker 1: full seventeen game season, you still have a productive player
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  Speaker 1: on that offense. And remember the New Orleans Saint thier Ago,
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  Speaker 1: despite Kamara's individual success, finished second to last in the
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  Speaker 1: NFL in rush offense. So you really would like to
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  Speaker 1: see this team find a way to regain some of
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  Speaker 1: that ability on the ground. And when you look at
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  Speaker 1: not only Kamara, but also the offensive line, you have
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  Speaker 1: four first round picks on your offensive line. Four and
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  Speaker 1: the other guy is your center, Eric McCoy, who was
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  Speaker 1: a second round pick and in his draft was your
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  Speaker 1: first player taken. You've got to get production out of
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  Speaker 1: that group. Caesar Ruiz, Talisa Fuanga, Trevor Penning, Kelvin Banks
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  Speaker 1: who you just drafted, and then Eric McCoy. You have
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  Speaker 1: so much draft capital invested in that offensive line. You've
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  Speaker 1: got to keep Tyler Shuck upright, and you've got to
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  Speaker 1: be able to run block for Alvin Kamara to let
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  Speaker 1: him continue to be productive. If you do that, maybe
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  Speaker 1: you could start to generate some semblance of a competent offense,
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  Speaker 1: which you were not a season ago. Okay, was that
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  Speaker 1: positive kind of kind of? Yes? It was more positive,
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  Speaker 1: more positive other things. Yeah, I just wanted to, like,
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  Speaker 1: what would people have me do when we talk about
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  Speaker 1: the Saints, Like, tell me the thing that I could
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  Speaker 1: do that that's gonna make you happy. That's just so
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  Speaker 1: overtly positive about this team. You want me to tell
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  Speaker 1: you that. I think Kellen Ellen Ellenore is going to
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  Speaker 1: be a Hall of Fame coach and win multiple Super Bowls.
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  Speaker 1: I can't tell you that coaches in the NFL are
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  Speaker 1: hired to get fired. Coaches get hired every single year
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  Speaker 1: and get fired every single year. Do I think Tyler
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  Speaker 1: Shuck is gonna end up being a Pro Football Hall
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  Speaker 1: of Famer? I don't we rattle off the list of
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  Speaker 1: every second round quarterback taken all the way back to
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  Speaker 1: twenty thirteen. Two became consistent NFL starters. Jalen Hurts and
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  Speaker 1: Derek Carr that's it, that's the list. So the odds
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  Speaker 1: are against you. I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm just
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  Speaker 1: saying it's improbable. But let play out