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Press Pass | Tashaun Gipson Sr. On What It Means To Return Back to Jacksonville · Press Pass

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Man, No, I'll be honest with you, just just the
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: way that the league work obviously. You know it's hard
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: to kind of, uh kind of circle back where you
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: come from. Uh, but this was always one of my
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: favorite places, the favorite one of my most favorite places
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  Speaker 1: that I've played in. I had nothing but the most
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  Speaker 1: respect and love for the city, my family.
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  Speaker 2: Uh, it was just a place that you.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Don't help me turn me into a man coming off
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  Speaker 1: of Cleveland, City welcomed me. So it's always fun to
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  Speaker 1: come back to a familiar place, and you know, I'm
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  Speaker 1: excited to be back for sure. Oh different because I
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: don't I don't recognize the city now.
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  Speaker 2: I don't recognize the stadium. Man, it's too much light,
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  Speaker 2: you know.
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  Speaker 1: Back over there it was it wasn't enough sunlight over there,
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  Speaker 1: So us beautiful obviously, what they've done to the facilities,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of things have.
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  Speaker 2: Changed in five years.
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  Speaker 1: So uh, as soon as I got off the plane,
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  Speaker 1: man pulling into the stadium, it was just it was
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  Speaker 1: just a whole different ball game.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I came here last year.
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  Speaker 1: We didn't see this side of the stadium obviously, so
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  Speaker 1: just seeing this is just super cool. Man, You could
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  Speaker 1: see that things that turn around here. Obviously on a
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  Speaker 1: few off the.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Field would have been there.
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  Speaker 1: About the energy, I know, it's only been two days
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  Speaker 1: just around the team.
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  Speaker 2: What's that.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it's the youth obviously, and you know, just
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  Speaker 1: just just the energy around here, man, and the guys
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  Speaker 1: have welcomed me in.
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  Speaker 2: I think that a.
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  Speaker 1: Lot of these guys, man, they I'm old enough to
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  Speaker 1: be some of these guys dads.
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  Speaker 2: Man. So some of these guys.
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  Speaker 1: Man, I remember, God was just like I used to
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  Speaker 1: watch you in seventh grade and I was just like, men,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: don't tell me that no more. Man.
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  Speaker 2: It's like I was in the sixth grade when you
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: came in the league.
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  Speaker 1: So man, obviously, it's just it's it's humbling that, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the respect that the guys have given me since I
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  Speaker 1: stepp foot in this locker room.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, obviously just being being any sort of
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  Speaker 2: assistant to these guys.
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  Speaker 1: Man, got a lot of great young players, man, So
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  Speaker 1: I'm excited to just be able to give those guys
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  Speaker 1: what I got physically and mentally.
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  Speaker 2: For sure. You got six weeks for six weeks out,
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  Speaker 2: so how valuable are these next two weeks for you?
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  Speaker 2: Considering that you're gonna be out for a little while. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: obviously they're huge. They're huge. Just getting back into the
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  Speaker 2: groove of things.
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  Speaker 1: Obviously, it was a long season last year, you know,
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  Speaker 1: coming off of the the Super Bowl loss. But coming here, man,
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  Speaker 1: just get my body back acclimated to football and things
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  Speaker 1: of that. No matter how much you train to you
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  Speaker 1: just can never get ready for football shape or Florida weather.
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  Speaker 2: Being here obviously the old.
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  Speaker 1: Days back in the day, Man, you just can't duplicate
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  Speaker 1: this Florida heat. So obviously this is huge. Just getting
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  Speaker 1: myself acclimated with the playbook, familiar with the team, you know,
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  Speaker 1: and just kind of breaking bread with these guys man,
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  Speaker 1: showing face.
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  Speaker 2: Man, just you know, tapping in with.
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  Speaker 1: A lot of the guys, man and just getting letting
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  Speaker 1: them guys get a feel for me and getting a
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  Speaker 1: feel for these guys, man. So just moving forward, man,
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  Speaker 1: just being a resource for everybody. The majority of the
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  Speaker 1: guys they added, including yourself, help a lot of playoff experience.
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  Speaker 1: You and Eric. What does that do for a young
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  Speaker 1: team that's trying to get over the hump a little bit.
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  Speaker 2: It's huge. I think that it is huge.
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  Speaker 1: I look back on at the time when myself, when
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  Speaker 1: I was a young guy here and we had that
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  Speaker 1: push in twenty seventeen.
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  Speaker 2: They brought guys in like Khalais.
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  Speaker 1: Campbell, and you think about those guys with huge for
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  Speaker 1: this team, those guys you bring in guys like Khalaiz
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  Speaker 1: and like Malik who had that playoff experience, man, and
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: that was huge for us.
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  Speaker 2: Man. We was young guys.
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  Speaker 1: I was the oldest guy in the room at twenty
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  Speaker 1: five years old at the time. So you know, looking
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  Speaker 1: back on that, just the knowledge of the game. Everybody's
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  Speaker 1: physically gifted, but the thing about it, man is mentally
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  Speaker 1: is just the understanding of how the game.
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  Speaker 2: Man.
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  Speaker 1: Just the little tidbits that you can get these young guys. Man,
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  Speaker 1: they are physically talented, or they wouldn't be here, man,
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  Speaker 1: But a lot of the things is above the shoulders
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  Speaker 1: and some things you just talent can't do. You know,
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  Speaker 1: age and wisdom And I'm a little long in the tooth,
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  Speaker 1: so you know, I try to spread wisdom as much
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  Speaker 1: as I can to these young guys and hopefully it
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  Speaker 1: stick to them. And and it could just be that
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  Speaker 1: that extra play that might be a game changer, that
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  Speaker 1: could get us to where we need to go.
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  Speaker 2: You have missed a lot of games in your career.
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  Speaker 1: What do you have you thought about what it's going
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  Speaker 1: to be like to sit out six of them?
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  Speaker 2: Oh?
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  Speaker 1: Man, you know, I've been thinking about it ever since
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  Speaker 1: you know it came out. You know, just want wanted
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  Speaker 1: to know what it'll be like watching football from the
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  Speaker 1: house in the fall. You know, I had a scare
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  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two. I got signed a couple of
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  Speaker 1: days before the last preseason game. That was probably the
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  Speaker 1: closest I've had to this. But besides that, you know,
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  Speaker 1: to be unfamiliar territory for me. But obviously I'm grateful
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  Speaker 1: for the opportunity. I'm grateful that they had enough respect
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  Speaker 1: for me as a man, as a player, as a
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  Speaker 1: person to bring me in.
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  Speaker 2: Here and give me an opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: And like I said, nothing but love for to see
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  Speaker 1: the organization from the bottom of my heart. So we're
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  Speaker 1: just gonna approach this thing, man, And right now we're
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  Speaker 1: in a building. So I'm just gonna try to be
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  Speaker 1: a resource and try to pick these guys brain and
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  Speaker 1: kind of go from there.
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  Speaker 2: Can you get your old number back?
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  Speaker 1: I wish, but you know, I don't know like this
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  Speaker 1: right here, y'all not used to this. I'm not used
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  Speaker 1: to this, and don't get used to this, all right.
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  Speaker 1: Forty seven I don't know, man, but you know I
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  Speaker 1: would like to get it back.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, at this point, man, if if it's
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  Speaker 2: if he.
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  Speaker 1: Have ties to a man, I think i'ma have to
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  Speaker 1: find another number.
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  Speaker 2: Man. But you know, thirty nine always got a special
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  Speaker 2: place in my heart for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Seventeen were you were part of the defense that from
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  Speaker 1: a ballharking standpoint, that is good.
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  Speaker 2: What was it about about that defense? And have you
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  Speaker 2: ever been on one life that you know?
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  Speaker 1: I say, I tell people that I was asked this
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  Speaker 1: question in tw two thousand and twenty two in San Francisco. Man,
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  Speaker 1: that that was a collection of some of the best
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  Speaker 1: football players I played against, played with, And uh, people
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  Speaker 1: aksed me all the time, man, and I say, it's
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  Speaker 1: hard to compare it, man, because that twenty seventeen, that
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  Speaker 1: twenty seventeen team was special.
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  Speaker 2: Man.
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  Speaker 1: A lot of those guys as lifelong friends that I
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  Speaker 1: still keep in contact with, I'm neighbors, were Barry church Man,
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  Speaker 1: So you know I was my running mate back then. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: I still talk to Jay Ram Man. He still he
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  Speaker 1: still is a angry dude all the time. Man. And
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  Speaker 1: uh so you know, uh but you know that th
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  Speaker 1: we we just came in here with attitude. It was
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  Speaker 1: just a a bunch of guys with attitudes, man, and
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  Speaker 1: and we wanted to prove ourselves and we was hungry.
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  Speaker 1: We was that young team that nobody gave us respect.
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  Speaker 1: We had to go out there and and demand it.
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  Speaker 2: And uh, that team always have a special place in
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  Speaker 2: my heart. Man. I was talking to one of the trainers, Robbie,
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  Speaker 2: about that team. Man.
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  Speaker 1: I mean that that that year was a special year.
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  Speaker 1: Many you guys witnessed that. Man. It was a it
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  Speaker 1: w It was a year that I always remember. So, uh,
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  Speaker 1: it just was different. It was just we bought into it. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: we bought into it.
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  Speaker 2: Man. That was the hardest training camps of all lives. Man.
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  Speaker 2: We can plain every single day every day.
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  Speaker 1: Uh, but you know, the results paid off and the
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  Speaker 1: success that we had it was just a blessing. So
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  Speaker 1: just to be able to be back where you know,
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  Speaker 1: that kind of thing started, Man, it's just super humbling
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  Speaker 1: and I'm excited for the opportunity.
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  Speaker 2: A couple came into the league with you aren't gonna
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  Speaker 2: be here anymore? Yeah, why are you here? First and foremost?
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  Speaker 1: God, first and foremost, I say that, And I've always
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  Speaker 1: had that chip on my shoulder just being an undrafted god.
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  Speaker 1: I think I thought that that was something that I
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  Speaker 1: used to hate. You know, even after probos and accolades,
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  Speaker 1: they still refer to me as an undrafted free agent.
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  Speaker 2: And that thing just used to always push me.
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  Speaker 1: And it's just something that I always stay humbled and
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  Speaker 1: always work because I always felt like I never would
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  Speaker 1: get the same luxury as those first round gods.
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  Speaker 2: So just staying.
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  Speaker 1: Grounded no matter the accolades, no matter success I've had,
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  Speaker 1: I just always felt like each year could be that year.
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  Speaker 2: So and going through things in.
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  Speaker 1: Your career, you get cut a couple of times and
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  Speaker 1: you look at yourself and sometimes I admit, I gotta
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: question yourself, like, man, why is this happening? And when
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: those things happen, you just gotta put your big boy
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  Speaker 1: pants on. Man, you gotta go back to work. So
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  Speaker 1: I think that everything that I went through in my career,
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  Speaker 1: from the time being undrafted to to to this point,
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  Speaker 1: man made me humble, made me work hard and just
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  Speaker 1: always understanding.
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  Speaker 2: Man. It's a blessing of playing.
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  Speaker 1: The National Football League and being here is a blessing
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  Speaker 1: of a lifetime. Man.
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  Speaker 2: I never take it for granted playing with him, playing
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  Speaker 2: with Eric Herm said the last few years. Yeah, what
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  Speaker 2: was that relationship like and what's it like on? Man?
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  Speaker 1: I love double a man and he was kind of
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  Speaker 1: like that guy who like everybody. He was one of
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  Speaker 1: the guys man that you know, when I first got
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  Speaker 1: to San Francisco, Man, he welcomed me, you know, just
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  Speaker 1: one of those guys that sit at the lock of
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  Speaker 1: break bread with you and just kind of get to
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  Speaker 1: know you as a player as a person.
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  Speaker 2: Man. And that's two years of going San Francisco. So
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  Speaker 2: to be able to be here with him.
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  Speaker 1: Now, the first thing I did, Man, I seen a man,
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  Speaker 1: gave him a hug, man, and you know, we we
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  Speaker 1: we we rapped a little bit, we talked, and man,
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  Speaker 1: I got nothing but the ultimate respect for him, ultimate
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  Speaker 1: pro Jacksonville got a great war with him. And you know,
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  Speaker 1: I'm excited to be back with a guy like that.
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  Speaker 1: Not only is he a great player, man, but he's
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  Speaker 1: he's he's a great teammate.
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  Speaker 2: And even better leader. And uh, these are the type
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  Speaker 2: of guys.
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  Speaker 1: That you want to bring it to your organization to
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  Speaker 1: help turn things around.
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  Speaker 2: Man.
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  Speaker 1: And Jacksonville got a good one. Man, I'm excited to
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  Speaker 1: be back with my guys.
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  Speaker 2: Well, all right, Thanksgiving. Appreciate y'all.