Latest / AFR Saints / Saints Lose Kelvin Banks: Who Steps In at Left Tackle?

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Saints Lose Kelvin Banks: Who Steps In at Left Tackle? · AFR Saints

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  Speaker 1: AFR On Demand is brought to you by Breck Golf.
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  Speaker 1: full round. Book your tee time today. Golf.breck.org. Golf.breck.org. Well,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: we were all watching on Sunday when the Baltimore Ravens
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: and the Saints tangled up in Baltimore, and the unfortunate news,
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  Speaker 1: in spite of the Saints' win, was that Saints' second-year
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  Speaker 1: left tackle, Kelvin Banks, was carted off. We found out
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  Speaker 1: ankle injury, high ankle sprain. Well, Kellen Moore, when he
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  Speaker 1: met with reporters on Monday, confirmed a little more serious
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  Speaker 1: than we thought.
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  Speaker 2: Is there.
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  Speaker 2: Surgery will happen... next few days. Um, and then we'll
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  Speaker 2: just kind of see what the timeline looks like after that. So, uh, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: unfortunate thing for Kelvin, but, uh, you know, we'll just
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  Speaker 2: take this thing step by step and then figure out
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  Speaker 2: the timeline after that.
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  Speaker 1: So it'll be surgery, uh, for Kelvin banks. Initially they
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  Speaker 1: thought four to six weeks for the high ankle sprain
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  Speaker 1: that has now been altered to being an indefinite, uh,
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  Speaker 1: injury for Kelvin banks. Um, more was asked if there's
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  Speaker 1: a possibility that banks could be back. Is there a,
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  Speaker 1: the possibility of him returning this season like.
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  Speaker 2: Is the door open for that yeah yeah and we'll
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  Speaker 2: just kind of see again we'll see how this thing
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  Speaker 2: goes but uh yeah obviously there'll be a lot of
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  Speaker 2: work that has to go into this thing but we'll
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  Speaker 2: see how it all turns out.
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  Speaker 1: Okay um this was the the gigantic crappy poop show
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  Speaker 1: that was a saint's training camp with respect to injuries
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  Speaker 1: are we okay with that technical term Gigantic crappy poop show?
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  Speaker 1: I think it describes it perfectly, actually, yes. That's exactly right.
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  Speaker 1: Gigantic crappy poop show. If we just hit the high points,
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  Speaker 1: the low points, you have now lost your 2023 first-round
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  Speaker 1: draft pick, Brian Brazee, for the season. You have lost
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  Speaker 1: your 2025 first-round draft pick, your starting left tackle, Kelvin Banks,
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  Speaker 1: for an indefinite amount of time. And your 2026 first-round
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  Speaker 1: draft picks, Jordan Tyson, is out for two months. Get
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  Speaker 1: him back at some point. We don't know when. That's
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  Speaker 1: just the high points or the low points. We haven't
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  Speaker 1: even mentioned Cam Jordan missing the game, Alvin Kamara missing
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  Speaker 1: the game. I don't need to run through the list.
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  Speaker 1: You all know it at this point. It's what it is.
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  Speaker 1: They've been snakebitten with injuries, and this continues it. It
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  Speaker 1: sucks because, as we talked about, this off season reasons
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  Speaker 1: for optimism with the offense. And there's still plenty of
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  Speaker 1: reasons for optimism with the offense. A giant part of
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  Speaker 1: that was knowing what you had invested around Tyler Shuck,
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  Speaker 1: two first round picks at left tackle, Eric McCoy coming
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  Speaker 1: back at center from injury. You went and spent on
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  Speaker 1: David Edwards to get the highest price, offensive guard, free
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  Speaker 1: agent in the market, the first round pick in Jordan Tyson. We've,
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  Speaker 1: Oscar Dell, Noah Fant. We've gone through it all, right?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, they went and really invested around Tyler Shuck
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  Speaker 1: to give him the best opportunity to make this offense great.
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  Speaker 1: And when you invest first-round draft picks on your bookend tackles,
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  Speaker 1: and now one of them is lost for an indefinite
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  Speaker 1: amount of time, it was a former top-ten pick, that sucks.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, first-round picks are expected to be starters. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: there's Brian Brzee, Jordan Tyson, Calvin Banks. These are starters
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  Speaker 1: that you're now losing to. due to injury, which just sucks.
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  Speaker 1: There's no way around it. So now the question kind
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  Speaker 1: of becomes what to do at left tackle and what
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  Speaker 1: it looks like for whatever amount of time that Kelvin
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  Speaker 1: Banks is out. Before we get to that, for what
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  Speaker 1: it's worth, Tyler Shuck was a guest today on Wake
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  Speaker 1: Up Barstool with our guy T-Bob. Had to be a
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  Speaker 1: great moment for T-Bob to get the Saints quarterback on
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  Speaker 1: the show. But this was what Tyler Shuck had to
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  Speaker 1: say about losing Kelvin Banks.
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  Speaker 3: Man, it's obviously tough. You know, I came in same
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  Speaker 3: class with him. First round guy. He's probably one of
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  Speaker 3: the hardest workers and most humble guys. You wouldn't ever
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  Speaker 3: think what he puts on tape every single week, how
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  Speaker 3: he acts in the locker room, who he is as
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  Speaker 3: a teammate. So it's a definite big loss. But at
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  Speaker 3: the same time, we have a next man up mentality.
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  Speaker 3: I think Austin Richards, our whole entire O-line has done
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  Speaker 3: a really good job stepping up. So we're going to
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  Speaker 3: be prepared. We're going to be ready to go. We
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  Speaker 3: got a long season ahead to where we're going to
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  Speaker 3: keep climbing. And, you know, there's going to be stuff
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  Speaker 3: that happens and Kelvin's going to get back right for us.
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  Speaker 3: But At the end of the day, we've got to
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  Speaker 3: keep going, and we're going to keep climbing.
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  Speaker 1: I know PFF grades are not everything. We say it
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  Speaker 1: all the time. It's a metric. It's not the metric.
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  Speaker 1: It's something to consider and don't even know how accurate
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  Speaker 1: it can be at times because the PFF graders maybe
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  Speaker 1: don't know the assignments or whatever the case may be.
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  Speaker 1: But against Baltimore, Banks graded out at a 45. Not
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  Speaker 1: very good. The week before against Detroit, he graded out
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  Speaker 1: a 72, a 78.8 pass blocking, which was outstanding. She
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  Speaker 1: had a great week one, not so great there in
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  Speaker 1: Baltimore week two. But Asim Richards filled in admirably for
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  Speaker 1: Kelvin Banks once he went out. Richards, his PFF grade
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  Speaker 1: wasn't much better, but Teron Armstead pointed out on the
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  Speaker 1: big third down play to Juwan Johnson, Asim Richards was
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  Speaker 1: there taking on two defenders at one time, one in
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  Speaker 1: his left hand, one in his right, giving Tyler Shuck
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  Speaker 1: time to play. So, time to make the pass. So
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  Speaker 1: the question becomes, so what do you do at left tackle?
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  Speaker 1: And really, as of right now, as you move through
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  Speaker 1: this week to get ready to play the Raiders at
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  Speaker 1: home on Sunday, you've got two options. One is Asim
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  Speaker 1: Richards plays at left tackle, where he went in for
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  Speaker 1: Kelvin Banks after the injury. The other is you move
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  Speaker 1: Taliesin Fuaga from right tackle to left. Now, Fuaga came in, obviously,
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  Speaker 1: as a first-rounder from Oregon State, and as a rookie
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  Speaker 1: in 2024, played every game at left tackle for the Saints.
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  Speaker 1: He took 1,070 snaps in 2024 at left tackle. Then,
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  Speaker 1: of course, the Saints went and drafted Kelvin Banks, Fuwaga
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  Speaker 1: flipped to right. Now, he missed five games last year,
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  Speaker 1: but when he was out there, he took 812 snaps
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  Speaker 1: at right tackle. So you have a guy that in
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  Speaker 1: two seasons in the league, and Fuwaga has played a
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  Speaker 1: full season at left and a full season at right,
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  Speaker 1: and that's where they're entrenched. The question always becomes, if
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  Speaker 1: you were to take Fouaga and move him from right
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  Speaker 1: to left, if you were to do that, then you're
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  Speaker 1: not only just losing your left tackle, you're also losing
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  Speaker 1: your right tackle. You're basically disrupting both sides of the
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  Speaker 1: line of scrimmage if you were to flip him. So
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  Speaker 1: the theory generally is you don't want to move a
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  Speaker 1: starter out of his spot to replace another starter because
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  Speaker 1: now you're affecting two spots on your line, if that
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  Speaker 1: makes sense. And when Kellen Moore was asked about that, Well,
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  Speaker 1: he was asked about that Monday, and his answer was definitive.
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  Speaker 3: Is there any discussion in-game or after the game where
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  Speaker 3: you're always assessing everything about putting Fulaga back on the
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  Speaker 3: left side.
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  Speaker 2: While he's recovering? No. Left tackle, right tackle. I'm down
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  Speaker 2: the shirt. They're both. Yeah, they're both. They're both hard positions,
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  Speaker 2: so I don't care too much.
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  Speaker 1: I actually love his answer. I think we... sometimes focus
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  Speaker 1: so much on left tackle because it's with your blind
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  Speaker 1: side and all that stuff. He's right. And a lot
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  Speaker 1: of times the left end that the right tackle is
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  Speaker 1: facing sometimes can even be the more dangerous pass rusher.
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  Speaker 1: So I would leave Fuaga where he is and leave
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  Speaker 1: four-fifths of your offensive line intact and try to get
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  Speaker 1: a Seam Richards up to speed as quickly as you
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  Speaker 1: can to play as best he can and give help
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  Speaker 1: if you have to give him help. Now, the other
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  Speaker 1: big question, of course, is if you do, in fact,
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  Speaker 1: put Kelvin Banks on IR, which I presume they will,
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  Speaker 1: as of right now at 3.10 Central Time on Tuesday,
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  Speaker 1: that hasn't happened, but I would presume that will happen.
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  Speaker 1: You're going to put Kelvin Banks on short-term IR because
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  Speaker 1: if you don't, then he takes up a spot on
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  Speaker 1: the 53. If you put him on short-term IR, that
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  Speaker 1: opens up the spot to be able to replace him.
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  Speaker 1: And you want that extra roster spot. So the question becomes,
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  Speaker 1: is there someone on the practice squad that you like
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  Speaker 1: that you might be able to sign to the active
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  Speaker 1: roster that can give depth? Or do you need to
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  Speaker 1: go try out veteran free agents right now to see
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  Speaker 1: if there's someone you can bring in who might be
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  Speaker 1: a better option to give you depth on Sunday against
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  Speaker 1: the Raiders or moving forward? It's an unenviable situation. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: this is your starting left tackle, a top 10 pick.
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  Speaker 1: that in week two now is injured and is out.
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  Speaker 1: So you still don't have Jordan Tyson. You're going to
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  Speaker 1: be without Kelvin Banks for an indefinite amount of time.
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  Speaker 1: And Brian Brzee is lost for the year. That's three
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  Speaker 1: first-round picks that are not contributing right now due to injury.
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  Speaker 1: So if you want the glass half full, looks like
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  Speaker 1: you'll get Banks back at some point. We're expecting they'll
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  Speaker 1: get Tyson at some point. And you'll be whole. And hopefully,
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  Speaker 1: in the meantime, they're able to sort of hold it
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  Speaker 1: together And it's obviously at a point in the schedule
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  Speaker 1: where you get three straight home games and three straight
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  Speaker 1: home games that are, in theory, in a way, very winnable.
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  Speaker 1: Your home favorite against the Raiders. Falcons might be the
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  Speaker 1: worst team in the NFL. And you get them here
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  Speaker 1: in New Orleans in a couple of weeks. So it's
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  Speaker 1: a thing where, not that it's ever a good thing,
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  Speaker 1: but where it falls on the schedule timing-wise, you would
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  Speaker 1: much rather have this injury to Kelvin Banks now, when
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  Speaker 1: you've got these three straight home games coming, as opposed
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  Speaker 1: to later on in the schedule when you have to make...
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  Speaker 1: There's the brutal stretch where you're going to play at Cincinnati,
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  Speaker 1: you're going to play at Chicago. It's at Chicago, at Cincinnati,
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  Speaker 1: home against the Packers. Boom, boom, boom. That's a brutal stretch.
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  Speaker 1: You would rather this stretch, where you go Raiders, Falcons,
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  Speaker 1: Vikings all at home. I'm trying to paint you sunshine
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  Speaker 1: and rainbows here in a situation that actually just sucks.
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  Speaker 1: We'll get you a timeline on Kelvin Banks when we
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  Speaker 1: learn more, but surgery for the Saints starting left tackle.