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Ross Jackson Previews Saints OTA's · AFR Saints

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  Speaker 1: Saints hit the practice field Wednesday open up their first
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  Speaker 1: round of OTAs. Ross Jackson, Louisiana Sports dot Net locked
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  Speaker 1: on Saints. He'll be out there, he joins us now
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  Speaker 1: to give a little bit of a look ahead.
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  Speaker 2: Ross. We appreciate you as always, man. How are you so?
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  Speaker 3: I'm doing great, man, Thanks for for having me. Glad
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  Speaker 3: to be here with you.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely appreciate you making the time. Let's start here. Kellen
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  Speaker 2: Moore year two.
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  Speaker 1: Have you noticed any differences in the head coach here
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  Speaker 1: in his second off season with the Saints.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'd think he's a little bit more kind of
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  Speaker 3: settled in and comfortable. I think what I'm really looking
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  Speaker 3: forward to seeing is what do those differences look like
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  Speaker 3: when he gets to practices and all these other things.
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  Speaker 3: Like the only thing we've seen so far is kind
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  Speaker 3: of the couple of rookie mini camp practices which allow
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  Speaker 3: a little bit of a look into what's going on,
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  Speaker 3: but not really a full kind of deep dive available
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  Speaker 3: coming from those, And so really interested to see what else,
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  Speaker 3: you know, kind of changes things like that that he's
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  Speaker 3: going to be implementing going into his second year and
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  Speaker 3: seeing how the scheme and how his offense evolves as well.
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  Speaker 3: I think those things will probably be a little bit
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  Speaker 3: more telling.
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  Speaker 1: Would the changes be, like schedule wise, would the changes
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  Speaker 1: be like I'm just curious. You said he's more settled in,
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  Speaker 1: so like, what really would you.
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  Speaker 2: Look for there?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that the scheduling would be interesting to
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  Speaker 3: see kind of how he goes about. You know, are
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  Speaker 3: we just going to see longer practices or were going
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  Speaker 3: to see different, you know, types of practices integrated? Do
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  Speaker 3: we see you know, new drills things like that, like
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  Speaker 3: how do you change that environment to keep people engaged
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  Speaker 3: going into a second year? And what have you learned
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  Speaker 3: and how do you apply it? I think it's it's
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  Speaker 3: those types of kind of more intricate things that will
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  Speaker 3: be interesting to see, and then the rest of it
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  Speaker 3: happens on the football field when the games actually begin.
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  Speaker 3: But I would certainly say that he you know, he
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  Speaker 3: he's settled in. He feels a little bit more comfortable,
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  Speaker 3: you know, speaking to the media, feels a little bit
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  Speaker 3: more comfortable in terms of the way that he conducts
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  Speaker 3: himself in those ways as well, you knowing nothing out
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  Speaker 3: of the ordinary from what you would usually see from
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  Speaker 3: a head coach, that's going from year one to year two.
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  Speaker 1: Another thing we'll get to see here in Otash is
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  Speaker 1: the free agents on the field for the first time.
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  Speaker 2: Let's let's start on defense ross.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, they added plenty, Martin Emerson, they added kay Nellis,
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  Speaker 1: obviously Tyre Wilson, like they added at every level there.
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  Speaker 1: Which free agent defensively are you most looking forward to
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  Speaker 1: seeing for the first time in.
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  Speaker 3: OTAs defensively specifically, I think it's probably going to be
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  Speaker 3: kay Nellis. You know, look training camp environments, there's no contact,
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  Speaker 3: particularly Ota. The competitions kind of throttled down a little bit.
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  Speaker 3: You know, you will see some competitive drills and things
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  Speaker 3: like that. But what you really get, no matter what,
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  Speaker 3: is you get to see the communication. You get to
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  Speaker 3: see how these guys fit, run fits, how they follow
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  Speaker 3: the flow playflow of the offense, how they read and
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  Speaker 3: react to what the offense is doing, can they get
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  Speaker 3: in position, all these other things, so you kind of
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  Speaker 3: get to see the I discipline, all these pieces. You
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  Speaker 3: still get to see and evaluate all of that and
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  Speaker 3: to see sort of you know, a leadership loss for
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  Speaker 3: the Saints with if they had in Tomorrio Davis, You're
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  Speaker 3: not really looking for somebody to come in and do
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  Speaker 3: the exact same thing into Mario Davis', you know, was
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  Speaker 3: leader style of leadership was you're looking for somebody to
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  Speaker 3: come in and sort of begin a new kind of
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  Speaker 3: direction of leadership. And Kate Ellis is going to be
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  Speaker 3: one of the core fundamental pieces, is too, exactly that
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  Speaker 3: along with safety justin Reid and so very very intrigued
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  Speaker 3: to see, you know, and look, we've gotten to see
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  Speaker 3: Kate Nellis in New Orleans before, right, so now what
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  Speaker 3: if he looks like after three years away as a
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  Speaker 3: starter and a team captain coming in and commanding a
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  Speaker 3: defense a little bit differently than maybe what we saw before.
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  Speaker 3: So really really intrigued to see what he brings to
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  Speaker 3: a limited exposure opportunity when it comes to OTAs, but
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  Speaker 3: definitely an opportunity to be vocal and make calls all.
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  Speaker 2: These other things.
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  Speaker 1: I'm asking you this in May Ross, that's kind of tough,
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  Speaker 1: But do you think rotations at line back or change
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  Speaker 1: any without Mario Davis or is this all right? Kay Nells?
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  Speaker 1: We brought you in to go do that role. You're
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  Speaker 1: going to go be on the field every single down
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  Speaker 1: and every single game Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I do think that the rotation looks a lot different
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  Speaker 3: going into twenty twenty six, And really the big one
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  Speaker 3: of the biggest reasons why is I mean, we saw
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  Speaker 3: pretty heavy rotation at linebacker last year, with Pete Werner
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  Speaker 3: rotating out on third downs for Isaiah Stalberg pretty often.
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  Speaker 3: We saw every third possession in each half we would
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  Speaker 3: see Danny Stutsman come in and take over that role
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  Speaker 3: next to Mario Davis as well. So now I think
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  Speaker 3: what you're looking at is, Okay, are there more specific
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  Speaker 3: game situations where Danny Stutsman comes in as opposed to
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  Speaker 3: the rhythm of the third possession of each you know,
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  Speaker 3: half and things like that where they were just kind
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  Speaker 3: of trying to get a look at the guy, you know,
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  Speaker 3: are there is there a specific game situation now that
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  Speaker 3: he's involved in, sort of like what we saw with
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  Speaker 3: Isaiah Stalbert on third downs. And then the other piece
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  Speaker 3: to it too is does Kate Ellis's pass rushing acumen
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  Speaker 3: allow him to be able to come down and play
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  Speaker 3: sort of that outside linebacker role while somebody else moves
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  Speaker 3: into that mike or will linebacker role right where they
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  Speaker 3: are kind of one of the inside linebackers in coverage.
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  Speaker 3: Does you know a third down opportunity give you the
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  Speaker 3: chance to get both Danny Stutzman and Isaiah Stalbert on
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  Speaker 3: the field while you move Kate Nellis down to what
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  Speaker 3: we would typically look at as a defensive end edge
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  Speaker 3: rusher spot. And so I think his ability and versatility
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  Speaker 3: as a pass rusher where he has all of these
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  Speaker 3: incentives built into his contract, really creates a greater opportunity
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  Speaker 3: for more rotation and more kind of specific game planning
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  Speaker 3: that's tailored to the situation.
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  Speaker 2: That the offensive flip sides of the ball.
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  Speaker 1: Free agent you're most excited to see on the field offensively.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's got to be Travis A. Chanson here.
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  Speaker 1: Man.
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  Speaker 3: You know, it's just he's just he's such a dynamic
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  Speaker 3: piece that this team was able to land in this
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  Speaker 3: free agency process. And I know that the Draft has
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  Speaker 3: happened since then, and so some of the excitement around
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  Speaker 3: the free agency class has kind of been overshadowed or
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  Speaker 3: at least like, you know, maneuvered in a certain way,
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  Speaker 3: refocused in a certain way. That free agency class on
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  Speaker 3: the offensive side is going to do a lot for
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  Speaker 3: New Orleans screen Travis chan as well as tight end
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  Speaker 3: Noah Fan and then you're adding as well David Edwards
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  Speaker 3: over in the offensive line. But man Han's ability to
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  Speaker 3: produce as a rusher has run for over one thousand
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  Speaker 3: yards in each other and you're sorry. For three of
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  Speaker 3: the last four seasons, the Things Happened had a thousand
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  Speaker 3: yard running back since the twenty seventeen season, which is
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  Speaker 3: when mark Ingram went for over one thousand yards, So
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  Speaker 3: it's been nearly ten seasons they've had that. Alvin Kamara
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  Speaker 3: has gotten very close to He had like a nine
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  Speaker 3: to ten thirty seven yard year. Two years ago he
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  Speaker 3: had an a fifty yard year. But now you add
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  Speaker 3: in a guy like Travis han' junior, who feels like
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  Speaker 3: a lock to get a thousand rushing yards, and then
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  Speaker 3: you add in his ability to catch out of the back,
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  Speaker 3: his ability as a pass protector. There's just a lot
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  Speaker 3: of reasons to be excited about what it is he
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  Speaker 3: can do. And even in an OTA format where the
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  Speaker 3: run game isn't necessarily easy to evaluate, it'll still be
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  Speaker 3: really interesting to just sort of see, you know, how
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  Speaker 3: does he process, how does he hit his blocks or
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  Speaker 3: excuse me, hit his hit the hole where the blocks are,
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  Speaker 3: how does he get involved in the passing game all
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  Speaker 3: of that. I think he's probably the guy on offense
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  Speaker 3: it's most exciting to watch.
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  Speaker 1: I can't really talk about him without talking about Alvin Kamara,
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  Speaker 1: his supposed running mate in the backfield.
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  Speaker 2: Look, they don't really.
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  Speaker 1: Feel like they're in any hurry to make any type
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  Speaker 1: of announcements or get this thing resolved with Alvin.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, Ota Star.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know if they're even really expecting
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  Speaker 1: Alvin Kamara there.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not, But is there any.
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  Speaker 1: Real reason to expect some finality during this Ota period
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  Speaker 1: with the Camara situation.
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  Speaker 3: I think the only thing that maybe brings some finality
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  Speaker 3: to it, or at least some progress to it is
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  Speaker 3: the logistics of if Alvin Kamara tens in Ota, he'll
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  Speaker 3: be in the building there for the conversations can happen.
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  Speaker 3: But I mean, like, is that conversation really happening with
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  Speaker 3: Alvin or is that conversation happening with his his you know,
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  Speaker 3: management and his his representation and so what's really you know,
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  Speaker 3: is that does that really move the needle just because
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  Speaker 3: he's in the building, right, So you know, Look, he's
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  Speaker 3: not a guy that often or that that consistently participated
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  Speaker 3: in in OTAs he did. But you know, it's not
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  Speaker 3: like a Cam Jordan situation where Cam hadn't missed the
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  Speaker 3: single ota in his fifteen seasons and all. And so
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  Speaker 3: I think it says more if Alvinkmier is present than
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  Speaker 3: it says if he's not present, because that would kind
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  Speaker 3: of be par for the course in that way. Maybe
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  Speaker 3: mandatory mini camp is where things can get a little
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  Speaker 3: spicier and more interesting since that is mandatory while ta's
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  Speaker 3: are voluntary. So maybe that tells you a little bit
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  Speaker 3: more at that point. But you know, look, everything that
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  Speaker 3: the Saints have said since the Hall of Fame Golf
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  Speaker 3: Classic that they had about a week ago is that
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  Speaker 3: they were hoping to have some to kind of figure
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  Speaker 3: things out in the next week or two.
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  Speaker 1: Now.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know if that means figuring out the contract
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  Speaker 3: in that time or figuring out what his fit is
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  Speaker 3: on the roster at that time, but whatever it is,
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  Speaker 3: they wanted to have things figured it out. I do
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  Speaker 3: think that when you get into OTAs, you'd like to
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  Speaker 3: know at least an idea of okay be so to
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  Speaker 3: the players who were looking at in these situations and
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  Speaker 3: in these roles, and so maybe that's the piece of
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  Speaker 3: the conversation that gets settled by then, But that doesn't
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  Speaker 3: necessarily mean that the entire situation has resolution by then,
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  Speaker 3: as those OTA practices aren't mandatory. So maybe the mandatory
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  Speaker 3: mini camp going into June would probably be more more
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  Speaker 3: solid date to aim for.
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  Speaker 1: I have a couple more for you, Ross from Ross Jackson,
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  Speaker 1: Louisiana sports dot Net, locked on Saints on Twitter x
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: at Ross Jackson, Nola. So what am I supposed to
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  Speaker 1: make of the Saints running back room then? Because I
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  Speaker 1: feel like this has been a conversation really for the
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  Speaker 1: last I don't know, handful of off seasons.
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  Speaker 2: What do they have there? At that point it was
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  Speaker 2: behind Alvin Kamara.
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  Speaker 1: Now it's behind Travis a Chen because I mean, we've
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  Speaker 1: seen the struggles of Kendre Miller. Devin Neo has promised,
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  Speaker 1: but he struggled to stay on the field. Audrick estime at
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  Speaker 1: the end of last season and showed some promise. They
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  Speaker 1: have bodies there, but I mean the room just kind
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  Speaker 1: of feels like a hodgepodge.
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  Speaker 2: In a sense.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think maybe that's part of why the Saints
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  Speaker 3: are have spent so much time or at least you know,
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  Speaker 3: have have noted that they're spending so much time in
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  Speaker 3: evaluating where Alvin Kamara Fitz is because they got to
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  Speaker 3: figure out what that room, yeah actually is. And you're right,
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  Speaker 3: it's kind of Travis y Chan junior. And then a
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  Speaker 3: lot of guys start waiting to prove themselves more than
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  Speaker 3: anything else. I mean, you know, Kendre Miller has dealt
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  Speaker 3: with I think it's like seven different injuries that have
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  Speaker 3: cost him games since he entered the NFL, including last
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  Speaker 3: year's a SDL tear which ended his season in the
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  Speaker 3: seventh week of the year, which in which he had
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  Speaker 3: career highs and carries but as well as rushing yards.
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  Speaker 3: We were talking about forty plus carries for one hundred
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  Speaker 3: and ninety three rushing yards and I'm talking about huge
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  Speaker 3: career highs here. And then you know, you saw some
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  Speaker 3: promise with Devin Neil, but because the timing of his
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  Speaker 3: hamstring injury, which was something he also dealt with during
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  Speaker 3: training camp, you're kind of hoping that getting an actual
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  Speaker 3: off season maybe helps him in you know, shape and
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  Speaker 3: ready to go. Not in shape, but you know, have
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  Speaker 3: the sort of body comp needs, and you know that
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  Speaker 3: he's not I think as Kellen Moore called it, like
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  Speaker 3: not a track athlete coming into the NFL. And so
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  Speaker 3: he can you know, be ready for an NFL season,
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  Speaker 3: how without having worried about running a forty and kind
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  Speaker 3: of doing all this other offs and stuff that maybe
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  Speaker 3: that that brings him into a new stratosphere. And then
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  Speaker 3: you're hoping that Audric Estimate maybe can you know, continue
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  Speaker 3: some of the promise that he showed at the end
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  Speaker 3: of last season. I think you're if Alvin Kamary ends
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  Speaker 3: up not being a part of the picture or whatever,
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  Speaker 3: I think your two most promising guys behind ah Han
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  Speaker 3: are Neil and Estimate. Right now, I think it's such
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  Speaker 3: a massive question mark about Kendre Miller. You know the
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  Speaker 3: talents there, but can he stay on the field is
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  Speaker 3: such a such a massive question mark. And we're talking
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  Speaker 3: about a guy like Devin Neil who dealt with hamstring
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  Speaker 3: injuries twice last season but going back to training camp
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  Speaker 3: included but hadn't missed a single game due to injury
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  Speaker 3: and his fifty something games that he played over it
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  Speaker 3: with Kansas, And so what can you do to get
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  Speaker 3: him back to that and staying on the field. Maybe
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  Speaker 3: those are the two guys that end up kind of
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  Speaker 3: populating that room if Alvin Bear is not a part
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  Speaker 3: of the equation. But I definitely think that this team is.
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  Speaker 3: And I think it's hard to argue that that that
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  Speaker 3: they're not. But I think this team is better with
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  Speaker 3: Travis A. Chang Junior and Alvin Kamara as opposed to
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  Speaker 3: Travis Achan and without Alvin Kumer.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I look, I don't you said it's hard to argue.
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  Speaker 2: I don't.
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  Speaker 1: I don't want to be the personally o them to
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  Speaker 1: that argument because I'm I pletely agree with you.
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  Speaker 2: There off last one for you. What type of schedule
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  Speaker 2: were we.
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  Speaker 1: Expecting to see Jordan Tyson and uh and Christian Miller
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  Speaker 1: on here in OTAs.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I would expect them to probably have some some
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  Speaker 3: days to where they're not participating. Now, it's gonna be
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  Speaker 3: a little tricky to track because there are days, you know,
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  Speaker 3: there's you know, kind of two or three days of
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  Speaker 3: practices in each of these OTA sessions or of course
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  Speaker 3: a couple of weeks, but only one of each of
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  Speaker 3: those days is accessible by the media, and so there
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  Speaker 3: are going to be days to where he's there, but
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  Speaker 3: then he participates the day where media is not present.
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  Speaker 3: There are going to be days to where he doesn't
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  Speaker 3: participate in the days that president that we're present, but
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  Speaker 3: then doesn't spit or then does in days that we're not.
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  Speaker 3: And so it's going to be a little bit of
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  Speaker 3: a you know, kind of a moving target on all
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  Speaker 3: of that. But I wouldn't be surprised if there's one
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  Speaker 3: or two of the practices that that we're in attendance
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  Speaker 3: for that he's not participating, and that's a completely understanable thing.
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  Speaker 3: I was actually surprised going in a rookie mini camp
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  Speaker 3: that he was on the field at all. I was
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  Speaker 3: surprised to see him the first day because I just figured,
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  Speaker 3: you know, you got a guy that is your top
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  Speaker 3: commodity top ten selection and he's got this, you know,
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  Speaker 3: kind of hamstring injury that he really pushed to the
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  Speaker 3: limit thing on the field and playing through the initial
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  Speaker 3: injury again in the win against Texas Tech when he
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  Speaker 3: was still at Arizona State, and so having him out
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  Speaker 3: there to participate in you know, to be thrown at
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  Speaker 3: and thrown to or in the general direction of by
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  Speaker 3: tryout quarterbacks was a bit surprising to me, and so
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  Speaker 3: you want to get him some early exposure with Tyler Shuck.
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  Speaker 3: OTA's making a love of sense, but you don't have
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  Speaker 3: to do it one hundred percent of the time. So
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  Speaker 3: I think for both of those guys, Jordan Tyson and
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  Speaker 3: Christian Millett, I wouldn't be surprised if we see them
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  Speaker 3: maybe once or twice in the three days that we have,
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  Speaker 3: but I would expect to see them at some point.
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  Speaker 3: Wild Media is in attended.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: He is Ross Jackson locked on Saints Louisiana Sports Dot
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: eight and get over there. Rita's stuff. Get subscribed up
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: to the podcast as well. He does a great job
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: and he's always very generous with his time here with
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: us on AFR.
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  Speaker 2: Ross, you appreciate it as always.
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  Speaker 1: Man.
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  Speaker 2: We'll talk soon.
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  Speaker 3: Always a pleasure man, things which are having you take
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  Speaker 3: your stick safe and I'll talk to you soon.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: All right. You do the very same, that is Ross
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: Jackson