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Is Saints Erik McCoy Still A Top 10 Center In The NFL? · AFR Saints

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  Speaker 1: dot org. Golf dot Breck dot org. Eric McCoy's coming
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  Speaker 1: off of injury and I am one of the reasons
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  Speaker 1: that I'm kind of bullish on this Saints offense this
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  Speaker 1: year is because something that's not isn't a unique thought.
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  Speaker 1: I think a lot of us share this feeling. Schuck
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  Speaker 1: was good at the end of the season. Yes, against
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  Speaker 1: bad competition. It was the Titans and the Jets and
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  Speaker 1: the Dolphins, I get it. But he was good nine
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  Speaker 1: game sample, and that was with a makeship offensive line,
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  Speaker 1: including a rookie left tackle. Without your starting center. You
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  Speaker 1: had like Aldrich Estimay at running back, and I think
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  Speaker 1: I was playing receiver. I mean, Ronnie Bell, Samari Torre.
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  Speaker 1: What are we talking about? So you look at this year,
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  Speaker 1: and you get all these guys back, right, You added
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  Speaker 1: David Edwards, Your young tackles are a year older. Eric
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  Speaker 1: McCoy's coming off of injury, all the stuff we've talked about.
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  Speaker 1: You bring in Travis Achen, Yeah, Jordan Tyson. All the
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  Speaker 1: reasons we're excited, right, we all get it. But I
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  Speaker 1: look at McCoy and I kind of wonder what a
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  Speaker 1: realistic expectation should be for Eric McCoy because at his best,
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  Speaker 1: like he's been awesome. At his best, he's been arguably
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  Speaker 1: the best center in the NFL. I said at his best,
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  Speaker 1: But we always say the best of ability is availability,
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  Speaker 1: and man, he has not been available. McCoy played every
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  Speaker 1: game his first two seasons in twenty nineteen and twenty twenty.
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  Speaker 1: He has not played a full season since. In twenty one,
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  Speaker 1: he played in twelve games. In twenty two, he played
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  Speaker 1: in thirteen games. Forgive me, forgive me. In twenty three
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  Speaker 1: he did play a full season. My apologies, but the
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  Speaker 1: last two years. Each of the last two years he's
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  Speaker 1: played in seven games apiece. So in his seven NFL seasons,
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  Speaker 1: four of those have been limited in the last two,
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  Speaker 1: and four of the last five have been limited, so
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  Speaker 1: can he stay healthy? McCoy was asked this on Sunday
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  Speaker 1: by the way, like, is he confident he can finally
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  Speaker 1: stay healthy?
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  Speaker 2: I don't think my confidence ever waivered. Like I trust
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  Speaker 2: my process, I trust my plan, and I mean I
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  Speaker 2: think we've implemented into a few extra things in the
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  Speaker 2: weight room to kind of supplement, But my confidence never
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  Speaker 2: waivered in who I am as a player, who I'm
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  Speaker 2: as a person, and what I can do on the
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  Speaker 2: football field.
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  Speaker 1: Love to hear that, and I don't know that you'd
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  Speaker 1: expect him to say anything else. And for whatever it's worth,
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  Speaker 1: Tyler Shuck clearly is excited about having his starters starting
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  Speaker 1: center back.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I think he just adds an extra veteran
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  Speaker 3: element where he's seen a lot of football. He's been
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  Speaker 3: great for me because him and I, even though we
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  Speaker 3: didn't get to play together, we were around each other
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  Speaker 3: every single day going to O line dinners. And I
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  Speaker 3: mean we had our son born within twenty four hours
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  Speaker 3: of each other, so we had the hospital together, and
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  Speaker 3: you know, I loved him. So he's been great for
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  Speaker 3: me to be able to learn and talk with him
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  Speaker 3: for the whole line group, I think it's kind of
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  Speaker 3: just that solidified position.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, all that is awesome, sounds great. I
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  Speaker 1: believe him. Like what we just said, it at his
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  Speaker 1: best when he's available, McCoy's one of the best. But
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  Speaker 1: at this point in his career, after playing just fourteen
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  Speaker 1: games combined each of the last two seasons, is he
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  Speaker 1: still elite or are we living on what he was
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  Speaker 1: at one point in his career? So PFF put it there.
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  Speaker 1: Grades for the centers in the NFL this season. Creed
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  Speaker 1: Humphrey Kansas City's number one. I think that's not a surprise.
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  Speaker 1: Aaron Brewer with Miami is number two, Tyler Linderbaum with
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  Speaker 1: the Raiders is three, Zach Frasier with the Steelers is four,
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  Speaker 1: Tanner Bordolini with the Colts is five, and then when
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  Speaker 1: you know it, Eric McCoy six. They have Eric McCoy
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  Speaker 1: as still this Pro Football Focus Now, okay, this isn't
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  Speaker 1: like Matt Moscona's list of the best centers in the NFL.
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  Speaker 1: Like this is PFF, and they note that although injuries
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  Speaker 1: have limited McCoy to just seven hundred and forty two
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  Speaker 1: snaps over the past two seasons, there's no doubt the
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  Speaker 1: veteran has the talent to war on a high placement
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  Speaker 1: on the list before going down with a torn bysep
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  Speaker 1: Last season, McCoy posted eighty four point one PFF pass
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  Speaker 1: block and grade, the highest by any center through Week seven.
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  Speaker 1: As long as McCoy can stay healthy in twenty twenty six,
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  Speaker 1: he's more than capable of being a difference maker at
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  Speaker 1: the center position. So while we have talked so much
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  Speaker 1: about adding David Edwards at guard, adding Chent at running back,
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  Speaker 1: drafting Jordan Tyson, all the stuff, we probably haven't spent
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  Speaker 1: enough time talking about the importance of having Eric McCoy
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  Speaker 1: back because it makes up the battery the center quarterback
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  Speaker 1: exchange and being right there and making all the calls,
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  Speaker 1: and it's a it's notable when that center's not there.
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  Speaker 1: We've talked about, I mean the old line Mike Attillier
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  Speaker 1: had forever betting the week a team loses their starting center,
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  Speaker 1: they lose. They fail to cover eighty percent of the time.
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  Speaker 1: It's a big deal when you lose your starting center.
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  Speaker 1: And the New Orleans Saints have had McCoy for just
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  Speaker 1: seven games each of the last two seasons. I'm not
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  Speaker 1: sitting here trying to tell you that if McCoy played
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  Speaker 1: a full season, the last two years are a playoff team.
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  Speaker 1: But clearly there's a trickle down effect, and especially the
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  Speaker 1: last two years when you've had young quarterbacks with Rattler
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  Speaker 1: and Schuck. So I am really I have a renewed
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  Speaker 1: sense of encouragement about McCoy after for hearing and reading
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  Speaker 1: that to say, yeah, man, even last year when he played,
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  Speaker 1: he was the highest graded pass blocking center in the NFL.
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  Speaker 1: It's not a question of can he still do it?
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  Speaker 1: The only question is can he stay healthy? And if
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  Speaker 1: he can, you're talking about a guy who's still super
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  Speaker 1: elite and one of the best in the game. Pretty
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  Speaker 1: encourage seeing that there from a PFF about Eric McCoy.
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  Speaker 1: Saints have the day off today, but they'll be back
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  Speaker 1: at it on Wednesday, getting rolled in there in a
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  Speaker 1: training camp, and of course next weekend will be the
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  Speaker 1: well they'll they'll have joint practices with Jacksonville and then
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  Speaker 1: next weekend will be the first preseason game. We gotta
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  Speaker 1: look at these New Orleans Saints