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Are Saints Targeting SURPRISE Position In The NFL Draft?! | New Orleans Saints Football News · AFR Saints

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  Speaker 1: AFR on Demand is brought to you by Breck Golf.
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  Speaker 1: dot org. Golf dot Breck dot org. As we inch
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  Speaker 1: closer to the NFL Draft next month, and certainly with
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  Speaker 1: NFL free agency in full swing, the first big wave
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  Speaker 1: of free agency has passed with the biggest names really
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  Speaker 1: off the board. Now it's sort of the it's called
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  Speaker 1: the bargain shopping, but you understand like that the next
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  Speaker 1: wave of free agents as you're filling out your roster.
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  Speaker 1: There's one position that we haven't spent a ton of
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  Speaker 1: time on with the New Orleans Saints that maybe it's
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  Speaker 1: starting to crystallize, is actually going to be a pretty
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  Speaker 1: big need either either in this second wave of free
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  Speaker 1: agent and see or in the NFL Draft. Now, as
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  Speaker 1: you go position by position with the Saints, it's pretty
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  Speaker 1: understandable why they need everything right. We've talked at nauseam
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  Speaker 1: about quarterback and there's a lot of discussion there, but
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  Speaker 1: financially they're stuck with Derek Carr for another year. Do
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  Speaker 1: you try to get some reinforcement behind him? Big question
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  Speaker 1: we've had that convo. Running back's pretty obviously got an
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  Speaker 1: aging Alvin Kamara. You've resigned Clyde Edwards d layer, but
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  Speaker 1: Kendre Miller's future with the Saints very much up in
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  Speaker 1: the air. Seems like that's been a draft bust at
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  Speaker 1: this point. Obviously, you've got a need for a dynamic
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  Speaker 1: tight end. The offensive line last year was a revolving
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  Speaker 1: door of injuries and also not very good defensive end.
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  Speaker 1: Interior defensive lineman, you were second worst in the NFL
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  Speaker 1: and rush defense, your middle of the pack in sacks.
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  Speaker 1: You obviously saw one of your top cornerbacks in Paulson
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  Speaker 1: Adebo leaving free agency this year. You're old at safety.
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  Speaker 1: I mean you yeadded Justin Reed and Tyron's still there though.
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  Speaker 1: But point being, we've looked at every spot and you
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  Speaker 1: could see why they're a need there, but we look
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  Speaker 1: at linebacker and go, well, you got the Mario Davis
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  Speaker 1: and Pete Warner. So you're pretty good there. But the
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  Speaker 1: more you look at the Saints' actions and some of
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  Speaker 1: the other circumstantial evidence, linebacker might actually be be it
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  Speaker 1: might be becoming more of a need spot. I'm not
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  Speaker 1: saying a must. Remember there's musts and needs, and there's wants.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not saying linebacker's a must, but I think it's
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  Speaker 1: probably crystallizing to be more of a need. And there's
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  Speaker 1: two pieces of information, two circumstantial things that happened here
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  Speaker 1: with the last week that might illustrate that one. Not
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  Speaker 1: sure if you saw, but Willy Gay last week signed
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  Speaker 1: with the Miami Dolphins. So the Saints. After Gay spent
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  Speaker 1: four years with the Kansas City Chiefs had won a
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  Speaker 1: couple of Super Bowls. Saint signed Willie Gay last year
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  Speaker 1: and he spent one season with the Saints. Played in
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  Speaker 1: fifteen games, had twenty eight tackles, was really a rotational
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  Speaker 1: player as to Mario Davis and Pete Warner had outstanding
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  Speaker 1: seasons to Mario had one hundred and thirty six tackles
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  Speaker 1: last year to lead the team. Pete Warner had ninety
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  Speaker 1: two tackles. He was second on the team. So those
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  Speaker 1: two dudes really gobbled up most of the playing time.
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  Speaker 1: But Willie Gay was that veteran depth piece that they added,
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  Speaker 1: and we've seen the Saints do this over time, even
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  Speaker 1: with Do Mario and Pete Warner in place. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: there was a time where he had Alex Angeloni as
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  Speaker 1: part of the linebacker rotation. Kwan Alexander was another guy
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  Speaker 1: that the Saints added in the mid season trade in
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  Speaker 1: the COVID year. Then he got injured and of course
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  Speaker 1: was lost. They brought it back and kind of flirted
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  Speaker 1: a little bit, but Willy Gay was one of those guys.
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  Speaker 1: And now after one season in New Orleans, Willie Gay
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  Speaker 1: signs with the Miami Dolphins. So that really leaves a
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  Speaker 1: gap there because with Willy Gay now in Miami, after
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  Speaker 1: Davis and Werner, this is what you have left at linebacker.
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  Speaker 1: Jalen Ford, who you drafted a year ago. He's entering
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  Speaker 1: his second season. You've got Isaiah Stallbird, who is an
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  Speaker 1: undrafted free agent who they had cut signing back going
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  Speaker 1: into his second season. Then you've got young guys like
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  Speaker 1: Anthony Orgy Nephi Sewell who are both going into their
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  Speaker 1: third seasons and DeMarco Jackson, a former draft pick as well,
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  Speaker 1: going into his fourth season in the NFL. So you've
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  Speaker 1: got some numbers there, but none of those guys have
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  Speaker 1: been rotational players for you. Orgy played in sixteen games
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  Speaker 1: a season ago, but he was a special teamer and
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  Speaker 1: a backup rotational linebacker player. If you're looking at someone
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  Speaker 1: who can actually get on the field and give you
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  Speaker 1: a three linebacker rotation, none of those guys fits the bill,
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  Speaker 1: at least not today. Now. Could they win a job, sure,
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  Speaker 1: but you haven't seen it to this point. You'd certainly
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  Speaker 1: like to have a little bit of reinforcement, either from
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  Speaker 1: a high draft pick or from a veteran at that spot.
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  Speaker 1: And when you look at the two guys you have
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  Speaker 1: there in the forefront, their time in New Orleans on
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  Speaker 1: its face looks like it could be several more seasons,
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  Speaker 1: but maybe not. I'll remind you we sat down at
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  Speaker 1: Super Bowl media row with the Mario Davis and he
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  Speaker 1: told us, and know un certain terms, how much longer
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  Speaker 1: he plans to play.
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  Speaker 2: My goal is through three more years that I'm out here,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm not playing on no drop off going out
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  Speaker 2: of here. I would love to bring a super Bowl
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  Speaker 2: to New Orleans. And that's what my focus is, and
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  Speaker 2: how do we get back to dominant defense and bring
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  Speaker 2: that Super Bowl here? And I believe that could be
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  Speaker 2: done inside of three years. And you want to go
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  Speaker 2: out on top, I mean it can happen anytime. You know,
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  Speaker 2: it's like God say it's time to go home, going home.
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  Speaker 2: But I have to have my mindset to where it's
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  Speaker 2: like I'm not slowing down. I'm not trying to go
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  Speaker 2: out on the dcline. I'm trying to go out on
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  Speaker 2: the incline. So the set if it's only one year left,
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  Speaker 2: I have to be able to see, you know, additional year.
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to ball out this year and come back
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  Speaker 2: the next year. I can't be like, oh, this is
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  Speaker 2: the final. If anybody's like, you know, this is the
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  Speaker 2: last year, you're not gonna give everything you got, like
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  Speaker 2: you're gonna be thinking about what's nickt And so I
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  Speaker 2: don't want to. I don't want that to be me.
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  Speaker 1: It's an interesting perspective from the Mario Davis, but he
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  Speaker 1: said he wants to play three more years for what
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  Speaker 1: it's worth. Pete Werner is under contract through twenty twenty seven,
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  Speaker 1: so he's an I'm not you know, he's got fake
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  Speaker 1: years voidable years in the back of the contract as
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  Speaker 1: everybody does. But he's got three like legitimate years left
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  Speaker 1: twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven. So Werner's still there
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  Speaker 1: to Mario says he wants to play three more years.
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  Speaker 1: But you also, nothing's given. You're talking about a linebacker
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  Speaker 1: in his middle thirties and a guy Pete Werner who
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  Speaker 1: has never played a full season in the NFL. He
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  Speaker 1: has never played a full seventeen or sixteen game schedule
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  Speaker 1: during his entire NFL career. So you have you have
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  Speaker 1: health and longevity questions that are fair with Pete Werner.
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  Speaker 1: So do you go looking free agency or do you
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  Speaker 1: look in the draft. Well, one name to keep an
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  Speaker 1: eye on is Nick Martin. If you don't know this name.
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  Speaker 1: Aaron Wilson of KPRC two in Houston shared that the
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  Speaker 1: Saints have visited with Oklahoma State linebacker Nick Martin and
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  Speaker 1: were the only team to have a private workout so
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  Speaker 1: far with Martin. Now, Martin's a very interesting prospect because
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  Speaker 1: this was a dude who in twenty twenty three was
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  Speaker 1: otherworldly exceptional at Oklahoma State. He had one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: forty tackles. He had sixteen TFLs, six sacks, two interceptions,
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  Speaker 1: a forced fumble, a fumble recovery. He was everywhere all
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  Speaker 1: over the field in twenty twenty three for Oklahoma State.
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  Speaker 1: In twenty twenty four, he misses almost the whole season
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  Speaker 1: with an injury. So you're talking about a guy who
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  Speaker 1: has been massively productive, but Whostock may be little lower
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  Speaker 1: because he missed twenty four with an injury. However, at
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  Speaker 1: the combine he went ran a four to five to
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  Speaker 1: three in the forty And my goodness, this thing that
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  Speaker 1: just jumped off the page that you know is gonna
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  Speaker 1: be absolutely candy for muse, what is it candy for
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  Speaker 1: the New Orleans Saints? The relative athletics school.
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  Speaker 3: Baby a eight point five two relative athletics score.
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  Speaker 1: Remember that's out of ten.
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  Speaker 3: So you're talking about a dude north of eight and
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  Speaker 3: a half on the RAS. I mean, might as well
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  Speaker 3: start fitting him in that black and gold UNI right now,
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  Speaker 3: Bright pick out chinnumba nick Anyway, the point being I'm
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  Speaker 3: joking a little bit, but not really.
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  Speaker 1: You're talking about a dude that checks a lot of boxes.
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  Speaker 1: The one question He's only five eleven, so he's a
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  Speaker 1: little bit of a shorter linebacker five eleven, two twenty one,
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  Speaker 1: but huge athleticism, huge upside, hugely productive coming off of
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  Speaker 1: an injury. Do you find some value may be in
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  Speaker 1: day two with a guy like Nick Martin, one worth
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  Speaker 1: keeping an eye on. But as we've seen, the Saints
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  Speaker 1: go and add Radden's the offensive lineman from the Tennessee Titans.
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  Speaker 1: They've added Justin Reid at safety. Almost inexplicably, they gave
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  Speaker 1: Brandon Cooks a two year, thirteen million dollar contract for
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  Speaker 1: a guy that's been the sending and decreasing production declining
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  Speaker 1: over the last three years. I don't have a small
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  Speaker 1: wide receiver who's not as good as the other two
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  Speaker 1: you have. Nonetheless, they've gone out they they made the
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  Speaker 1: trade for Devon Gotshaw, they re signed Jase Young, they
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  Speaker 1: re signed Juwan Johnson. You can look around see what
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  Speaker 1: they've done in free agency. The one spot they haven't
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  Speaker 1: addressed so far is a linebacker. And while you feel
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  Speaker 1: good about your your two starters, you got one guy
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  Speaker 1: in his mid thirties, another guy who's never shown the
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  Speaker 1: ability to stay healthy. So and Willie Gay's gone so
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  Speaker 1: do you address it in free agency with a veteran
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  Speaker 1: or do you go use maybe one of your top
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  Speaker 1: picks in the draft on linebacker to fortify that spot,
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  Speaker 1: not only for depth this year, but to take the
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  Speaker 1: baton from the two guys that you have spot. We
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  Speaker 1: haven't talked a bunch about who we need to start.
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  Speaker 1: Linebacker could very well be a spot on they showing you.
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  Speaker 1: It's the only team to have a private workout so
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  Speaker 1: far with Nick Martin.