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Are New Orleans Saints Headed For Full Rebuild Amid Coaching Search? · AFR Saints

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  Speaker 1: dot org. Golf dot Breck dot org. Mike, how are
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  Speaker 1: you man?
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  Speaker 2: Good?
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  Speaker 3: How are you doing great?
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  Speaker 1: Glad the NFL of the Saints season anyway?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah? Uh?
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  Speaker 1: And the Saints are to one in twenty twenty five,
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  Speaker 1: but at least there's reasonably there's reasonably twenty twenty five
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  Speaker 1: will be Uh, could be better than twenty twenty four.
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  Speaker 1: Hope springs eternal. Before we get to the coaching search up,
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  Speaker 1: just ask you we'll do the post mortem on the season.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, you've covered a lot of these for the
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  Speaker 1: New Orleans Saints. I mean, is this the absolute bottom
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  Speaker 1: of the barrel of what you can imagine? Remember, I'm
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  Speaker 1: not saying your first season was the year after the
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  Speaker 1: Katrina year.
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  Speaker 4: Correct, No, my first season was Katrina year apartment living
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  Speaker 4: in an apartment in San Antonio, and uh and cover
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  Speaker 4: that bath. Yeah, I covered a coaching search in January
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  Speaker 4: after that that led to Sean Paton. Pretty interesting.
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  Speaker 2: That led to Drew Brees. So could all happen again?
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  Speaker 3: So is this one.
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  Speaker 2: Bottom? No?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, that was no, that was way worse. That was
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  Speaker 4: way worse because there was you know, that team had
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  Speaker 4: nothing going for it, that didn't you know, it had
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  Speaker 4: Will Smith and duce McAllister, a couple of good players
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  Speaker 4: to build off of. But you know, coming back from Katrina,
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  Speaker 4: we didn't know until actually, I remember we found out
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  Speaker 4: like before the Week eighteen game, which was also our
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  Speaker 4: Week seventeen game at that time, which was also in Tampa.
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  Speaker 2: We found out the day.
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  Speaker 4: Before that they were actually going to move back to
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  Speaker 4: New Orleans. We didn't know into January fourth that year
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  Speaker 4: that they were going to.
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  Speaker 2: Move back to New Orleans.
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  Speaker 4: So that that got things off to a good start.
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  Speaker 4: But obviously they were they were facing much more of
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  Speaker 4: an uphill battle than even then now. But yeah, this
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  Speaker 4: is the bleakest it's been since then, obviously, And and
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  Speaker 4: you know, people want to point to all the main
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  Speaker 4: reasons why.
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  Speaker 2: The main reason why is they don't have Sean Payton,
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  Speaker 2: the true breeze anymore.
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  Speaker 4: So you need to find another Sean Payton. You need
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  Speaker 4: to find another Drew Brees or or as reasonable effects
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  Speaker 4: similes as you can. Otherwise you're going to be one
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  Speaker 4: of the half nuts in the NFL, and they are
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  Speaker 4: I have not right now.
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  Speaker 1: Apparently coaches in the and quarterbacks in the NFL are
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  Speaker 1: pretty important, uh as as we've.
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  Speaker 3: Learned, So.
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  Speaker 1: All right, the obvious next step is so as you
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  Speaker 1: sort of try to piece this thing back together into
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  Speaker 1: something that can resemble a respectful franchise and organization. Again, Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: and how do you start doing this?
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  Speaker 2: Mic?
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  Speaker 3: I mean, that's a good leaping off point, because I.
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  Speaker 2: Mean there's only one way.
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  Speaker 4: There's only one way, and you can you can believe, well,
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  Speaker 4: it's two ways, but you can believe in anything you
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  Speaker 4: want as far as how the Saints managed the cap.
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  Speaker 4: But it doesn't matter, like you can try to win
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  Speaker 4: ten games this year, you can.
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  Speaker 2: Try to win two games this year. You have to
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  Speaker 2: draft better.
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  Speaker 4: You can't get out of this if you don't draft better.
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  Speaker 4: It's why they're it's it's my number one reason why
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  Speaker 4: they're on this mask that's outside of you know, losing
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  Speaker 4: Breeze and Peyton, but they just they don't have any
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  Speaker 4: All Pros right now anywhere on the roster, No Pro
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  Speaker 4: Bowlers and the only ones who even come close to
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  Speaker 4: qualifying are you know, Tyron Matthew, Damia Davis, Cam Jordan
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  Speaker 4: Alvin Kamara. And they don't have All Pros and Pro
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  Speaker 4: Bowls in their future. So they need more talent. They're
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  Speaker 4: they're not getting out of it with more without more talent,
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  Speaker 4: and then they need a really good coach.
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  Speaker 2: And a really good direction.
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  Speaker 4: Now the one the one good thing is I mean,
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  Speaker 4: look at a team like the Denver Broncos and Sean
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  Speaker 4: Payton speaking of him again, but you know, they went
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  Speaker 4: and it kind of seemed like a joke when they
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  Speaker 4: cut Russell Wilson and took on like his eighty five
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  Speaker 4: million dollars dead hit or whatever, and there's the biggest
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  Speaker 4: dead money hit of any player ever. But he had
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  Speaker 4: a plan and he picked a quarterback that fit his
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  Speaker 4: playing and nobody thought. You know, they had an overwhelming
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  Speaker 4: amount of talent there and they made it work. So
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  Speaker 4: maybe you hire the right coach, it can come together
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  Speaker 4: pretty quickly, But you gotta draft another you gotta you
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  Speaker 4: gotta not only find a quarterback, you gotta find a
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  Speaker 4: couple of probs, which they had done for fifteen years
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  Speaker 4: around here, and they haven't done recently.
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  Speaker 1: Mike can I argue that they have actually drafted pretty well,
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  Speaker 1: But what they've done poorly is retention Trey Hendrickson, Kaden Ello,
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  Speaker 1: David Namonta, Chauncey Garner, Johnson. I mean, I could run
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  Speaker 1: through a whole bunch of dudes who are good NFL.
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  Speaker 4: Players, and you didn't mention Zach Bond. But exactly, I
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  Speaker 4: think Hendrick Hendrickson's don't the only one on that list
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  Speaker 4: that is like an you know, true that level of player. Uh,
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  Speaker 4: you know, I don't know that Chauncey Gardner, Johnson or
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  Speaker 4: kay Nellis is turning this franchise around.
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  Speaker 2: And I cannot explain that bought. I really can't.
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  Speaker 4: Like, I don't know how I became the best linebacker
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  Speaker 4: in the NFL. But yeah, obviously, obviously they missed on
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  Speaker 4: those guys, but but mostly they've they've you know, they've
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  Speaker 4: missed on on the first rounders like and and and
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  Speaker 4: their use of first and second round picks to package
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  Speaker 4: them up and trade them up. They gave one away
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  Speaker 4: and a first rounder away. In the Davenport deal, they
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  Speaker 4: gave away a second rounder or maybe even a third rounder.
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  Speaker 4: I can't even remember how all the map added up.
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  Speaker 2: When they when they got a lot of Penning, and then.
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  Speaker 4: They missed on Davenport, Peyton Turner, Trevor Penning to an extent.
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  Speaker 4: You know, Caesar Ruiz wasn't a home run. Yeah, you know,
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  Speaker 4: it's you know, you need four or five new young
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  Speaker 4: corner storms on the team.
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  Speaker 2: That they just don't have right now. Mike, You've gotta
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  Speaker 2: you gotta start having those guys.
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  Speaker 1: Are they committed as an organization to a to a
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  Speaker 1: full on rebuild.
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  Speaker 2: I don't.
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  Speaker 4: We'll find out. I think they'll be close through to
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  Speaker 4: that than they've ever been before. Bull on rebuild, I'd
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  Speaker 4: say yes and no. I mean, I don't think they
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  Speaker 4: are going to stop pile fourteen draft picks to trade
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  Speaker 4: away everyone on the roster. I don't think they're going
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  Speaker 4: to tank to try to get the first pick in
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  Speaker 4: the draft.
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  Speaker 2: But I mean they have no choice but to rebuild.
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  Speaker 2: That's where they are.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, there's two schools of thought on whether you
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  Speaker 4: try to keep winning along the way and whether you
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  Speaker 4: try to speed up the process.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think they're going to speed up the process.
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  Speaker 4: I think the major decision in my mind is what
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  Speaker 4: to do with Derek Carr. I think you can rebuild
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  Speaker 4: an organization while without ever fully bottoming them out. But
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  Speaker 4: my opinion on this is it kind of looks like
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  Speaker 4: you're going to bottom out anyway. You have no way
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  Speaker 4: around it, so you might as well save the money
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  Speaker 4: in the meantime and catch up on the cap even
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  Speaker 4: more while doing so.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, this isn't the bottom, by the way, I think
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  Speaker 1: to the point you're saying, I agree with you, like, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: there there is still room to go to the very
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  Speaker 1: bottom of this. So and Mike Triplet's our Guess New
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  Speaker 1: Orleans dot Football with his Curtesy every Thursday during football
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  Speaker 1: season of Benny's car Wash Benny's car Wash dot Com. So,
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  Speaker 1: you mentioned Derek Carr, but my preference was that they
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  Speaker 1: didn't restructure him last year and he was done after
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  Speaker 1: this year.
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  Speaker 3: But they did it. So do you do it again?
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  Speaker 3: What do you do with Derek Carr?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah?
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  Speaker 4: Well, I mean the first question is do you keep him?
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  Speaker 4: Do you pay him like you will find a way
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  Speaker 4: around the salary cap. You know, it might mean you're
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  Speaker 4: taking the whole year off, You're not signing any new
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  Speaker 4: free agency restruction everybody else.
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  Speaker 2: You have to take a dead money hit.
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  Speaker 4: If you decide you're willing to do that, I say,
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  Speaker 4: go for that. But the big question isn't whether a
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  Speaker 4: restructure or not. It's whether to pay him forty million
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  Speaker 4: more dollars, Like that's what he's doing this year. I
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  Speaker 4: believe ten of it is guaranteed. Thirty million is not guaranteed.
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  Speaker 4: So yeah, there's a huge salary cap hit. His salary
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  Speaker 4: cap hit is fifty million dollars, but that's debt money
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  Speaker 4: from previous bonuses already paid out. It becomes ninety million
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  Speaker 4: dollars that you have to count for over the next
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  Speaker 4: couple of years, or eighty million.
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  Speaker 2: Actually I'm already counting the ten million dollars bonus.
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  Speaker 4: But like you save future cap money and you save cash,
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  Speaker 4: is you cut up so like that? That's the big question.
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  Speaker 4: Is you have to treat it like is this guy
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  Speaker 4: worth forty million dollars or is he And I don't
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  Speaker 4: want the cap dictating that decision. I want is this
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  Speaker 4: guy worth forty million.
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  Speaker 2: Dollars dictating that decision?
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  Speaker 3: What do you think?
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  Speaker 2: I don't think he had.
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  Speaker 4: I shouldn't say that. I shouldn't say he's not worth
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  Speaker 4: forty million. The way NFL salaries are right now, Baker
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  Speaker 4: Mayfield signed the exact same contract as Derek carr Gino.
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  Speaker 4: Smith's is close. Her cousins was bigger, and we're talking
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  Speaker 4: about like the eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth biggest contracts in the NFL.
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  Speaker 4: So he he's kind of getting paid, you know where
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  Speaker 4: he deserves to be paid. I think he's kind of underrated.
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  Speaker 4: I don't think the Saints should be paying any quarterback
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  Speaker 4: anywhere near that much money.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think they should go.
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  Speaker 4: After Sam Darnold and free agency. I don't think they
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  Speaker 4: should want to pay any quarterback forty million with their
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  Speaker 4: current state.
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  Speaker 1: Of the team. Okay, so what do they do at
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  Speaker 1: quarterback next year? Cause I'm with you, and I'm assuming,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm I'm just being blindy and willfully ignorant here
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  Speaker 1: and hoping that the New Orleans Saints cut Derek cars
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  Speaker 1: So what do they do at quarterback?
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  Speaker 4: Well, I mean the first thing is, if you do it,
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  Speaker 4: you really have. You're restructuring everyone else on the content
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  Speaker 4: on the cap just to sit under the cap. You
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  Speaker 4: really don't have much money to play there, so you
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  Speaker 4: really can't spend any new money at all. You would
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  Speaker 4: have to sign a veteran. But that is one of
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  Speaker 4: the good things is veterans come really cheap, you know,
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  Speaker 4: five million dollars or less. Maybe it's Jimmy Garoppolo, maybe
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  Speaker 4: it's bringing Andy Dalton back. Maybe it's Justin Fields or
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  Speaker 4: Zach Wilson that you're taking a stab on. But you're
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  Speaker 4: also probably going to Spencer for a year and saying, hey,
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  Speaker 4: we're taking this year.
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  Speaker 2: Off and retooling.
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  Speaker 4: Let's go ahead and throw them out there and let
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  Speaker 4: them learn under fire. So I think those two decisions
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  Speaker 4: would go hand in hand.
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  Speaker 3: Cup more for you, we always do the exercise.
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  Speaker 1: We'll have more time to do this, but they'll have
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  Speaker 1: to get within cap compliance. Who are the primary candidates
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  Speaker 1: for a restructure?
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  Speaker 4: Well, restructure is is if you're gonna play on this
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  Speaker 4: team next year in your contract restructure like you know,
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  Speaker 4: I mean, it just has to be done to get
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  Speaker 4: under the sixty million. So I mean if you keep everybody,
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  Speaker 4: then then you don't necessarily have to do it with everyone,
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  Speaker 4: but it's sort of like Derek Carr for everybody else,
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  Speaker 4: I feel like, but yeah, I mean, if tomorrow Dave's
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  Speaker 4: gonna play the restructure seasonally, is the restructure. I don't
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  Speaker 4: even keep that like, I don't think. I don't think
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  Speaker 4: that kills you for the future. That number actually gets
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  Speaker 4: a little smaller every year. The cap goes up every year.
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  Speaker 4: That that part doesn't worry me as much as who
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  Speaker 4: are you paying new money to? The reason you never
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  Speaker 4: get out of this is if you just keep you know,
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  Speaker 4: if you keep paying players new money. And so the
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  Speaker 4: big decisions to me, I think are Derek Carr number one,
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  Speaker 4: Cam Jordan number two. And he's already said he's willing
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  Speaker 4: to take.
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  Speaker 2: A pay cut.
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  Speaker 4: I think that's a very realistic possibility that he takes
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  Speaker 4: a very significant pay cut that matches the role of
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  Speaker 4: a number three defensive end and a part time player
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  Speaker 4: that is becoming. And Taysom Hill because of the major injury,
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  Speaker 4: and he's got one more year and ten million dollars
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  Speaker 4: left on his deal. I'm curious if if the next coach,
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  Speaker 4: the next coordinator, his health, his age, I wonder if
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  Speaker 4: he's still with ten million. But I think tomorrow is
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  Speaker 4: to be back. I think Tyra Matthew to be back.
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  Speaker 4: I'm very sure Alan Kamara will be back. And then
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  Speaker 4: you're getting down to the lower guys who probably won't
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  Speaker 4: be back, maybe one guy out of Nathan Shephard, Colin Saunders,
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  Speaker 4: Jamal Williams, like Cedric Wilson. You may be cutting a
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  Speaker 4: few of those guys, but make.
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  Speaker 3: A very small fours, like before you go, who should
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  Speaker 3: be the coach? Who will be the coach?
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  Speaker 4: I think Aaron lenn is definitely a front runner, and
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  Speaker 4: I am not worried about the Oh that just means
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  Speaker 4: they're they're lazy and they only want to pick people
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  Speaker 4: who've worked here before. I'm not worried about that with
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  Speaker 4: him because I think there's a main reason. I think
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  Speaker 4: he's probably probably ranked as the number three choice around
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  Speaker 4: the league behind Mike Rabel and Ben Johnson.
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  Speaker 2: For good reason.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, he's coming from the program.
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  Speaker 2: That's doing everything right.
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  Speaker 4: He's, you know, a former post sales guy. He's the
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  Speaker 4: leader of men type respected by players. I feel like
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  Speaker 4: you'll build a culture with him.
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  Speaker 2: And I think that's what.
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  Speaker 4: The Saints need. I personally like the culture builder path.
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  Speaker 4: I think they're going to lead towards the culture builder path.
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  Speaker 4: But a lot of these candidates are offensive coordinator types.
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  Speaker 4: But Kingsbury, Kellen Moore, Mike Kafka that they're bringing in,
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  Speaker 4: so you know, maybe maybe it'll be about it either way.
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  Speaker 4: I hope it brings a new identity to the team,
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  Speaker 4: because that's what they.
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  Speaker 2: Said, bad we need.
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  Speaker 1: That is the concern with bringing in someone with ties
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  Speaker 1: to the Peyton Breeze era is it doesn't change the identity.
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  Speaker 1: But I tend to agree with you.
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  Speaker 4: I feel like Eron Glenn would though, like just because
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  Speaker 4: he worked for them. I don't think it'd be like
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  Speaker 4: hiring Joe Lombardy, you know what I mean.
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  Speaker 2: It's like Eron.
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  Speaker 4: Glenn was here for four years, but I don't think
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  Speaker 4: he is, you know, as Xerox, as Sean Payton.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Mike Triplett New Orleans Dot Football. You'll get him on
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Twitter at Mike Triplett. Of course, our chats all year
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: brought to by Benny's car wash Man. You know, we
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: appreciate you for doing this every Thursday. It's always a
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: lot of fun and insightful and we'll catch up somewhere
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  Speaker 1: down the road.
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  Speaker 2: All right, thanks man, Man,