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The DiCecco Daily: Four NFL Draft Prospects Who Will Go Higher Than Projected · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: What's happened? Everyone? Welcome into another episode of The check
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: O Daily. It's Andrew de Checko, Eagles beat reporter for
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: insidethebirds dot com and today we're going to do something
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  Speaker 1: a little different on the podcast. I'm going to name
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  Speaker 1: four players, the first two of which I believe are
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  Speaker 1: going to go a little bit higher than expected and
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  Speaker 1: could even fight their way into the first round. The
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  Speaker 1: other two players who are projected widely to be Day
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  Speaker 1: two players who I'm expecting to go a little bit
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  Speaker 1: higher than what the consensus currently has them slotted at.
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  Speaker 1: So we'll start with the first player, and that's UCF
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  Speaker 1: edge rusher Malachi Lawrence. Really long arms. He has an
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  Speaker 1: eighty one and five eight inch wingspan, six four and
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  Speaker 1: three eights, two hundred and fifty three pounds, had eleven
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  Speaker 1: tackles for lost, seven sacks, and two forced fumbles last season.
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  Speaker 1: Was a two year starter for the Knights. He turns
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  Speaker 1: twenty three years old in July. But man, when you
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  Speaker 1: watch his tape, the long arms and length he uses
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  Speaker 1: to his advantage. He's a finisher. He plays with good
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  Speaker 1: urgency and tenacity, and I believe that his frame and
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  Speaker 1: his quickness and power all are going to blend together
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  Speaker 1: and give some team a high impact edge rusher, and
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  Speaker 1: in a class that doesn't have a ton of definitive
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  Speaker 1: options beyond the top of the draft class, then you
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  Speaker 1: have your Keldric Fox, and you have your A Key Messadors, TJ. Parker,
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  Speaker 1: cash Is Howe. Well, I think Malachi Lawrence has a
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  Speaker 1: chance to sneak his way into the back end of
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  Speaker 1: the first round due to the short supply of early
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  Speaker 1: impact edge rushers or some that have qualities that lend
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  Speaker 1: itself to having a favorable start or an impactful type
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  Speaker 1: of career. And so I look at Malachi Lawrence and
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  Speaker 1: he was a player that I had a second round
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  Speaker 1: grade on mid second round grade to start the process,
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  Speaker 1: and that as things wore on, you double back, you
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  Speaker 1: cross reference and things like that. It wouldn't be at
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  Speaker 1: all surprising to me. And it was very clear as
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  Speaker 1: we were doing our entire first round mock draft myself,
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  Speaker 1: Jeff Moscher and Adam Kaplan that you can make a
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  Speaker 1: case for a Cassius Howe or a Malachai Lawrence. I
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  Speaker 1: happen to like Malchai Lawrence a little bit more than
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: I like Cashius Howe. We had Casius Howe going to
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  Speaker 1: one of the teams in the late twenties. I think
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  Speaker 1: it was hard to remember right now, but that's a
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  Speaker 1: player that I could see fighting his way into the
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  Speaker 1: conversation there, and that wouldn't be at all surprising to
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  Speaker 1: me the other player, and it probably won't be a
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  Speaker 1: surprise to those listeners listening. And that's San Diego State
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  Speaker 1: co owner back Chris Johnson. And I like him better
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  Speaker 1: than Avion Terrell. And depending on how you feel about him,
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  Speaker 1: he's widely considered to be a first round prospect. It's
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: just personal preference, but I think he's a cleaner prospect.
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  Speaker 1: I believe that he has he transcends scheme in his background.
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  Speaker 1: He can play zone or man and just a natural
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  Speaker 1: fluid athlete who can flip his hips and run with
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  Speaker 1: any receiver out there. Has good size at six foot one,
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  Speaker 1: one hundred and ninety three pounds. He ran a four
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  Speaker 1: to four, had a thirty eight inch vertical, a ten
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  Speaker 1: to six in the broad jump, So you like the
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  Speaker 1: explosiveness that he brings from that regard and the ball skills.
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  Speaker 1: Five interceptions and nine pass breakups over the last two seasons.
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  Speaker 1: He started out playing sporadically. His first two seasons at
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  Speaker 1: San Diego State, played a lot of special teams. Takes
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  Speaker 1: a lot of pride in that a tough, hard nosed player,
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  Speaker 1: you'd like to see him compete and win some more
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: of those contested cats situations. But yeah, when I look
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: at that, you know, Seattle, I look at the Miami
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  Speaker 1: Dolphins at the back end of round one. He would
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  Speaker 1: be a perfect fit for either one of those teams,
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  Speaker 1: and you could certainly make a case for him going there.
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  Speaker 1: I think his age is also appealing. He's not yet
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  Speaker 1: twenty two years old, and in a draft class where
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  Speaker 1: there's so many older players because it's the final year
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  Speaker 1: of the COVID class. That can sometimes skew things for
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  Speaker 1: teams depending on what your thought, what your process is,
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  Speaker 1: and what your policy is when you're looking at older prospects.
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  Speaker 1: But Chris Johnson is a pretty clean player. And when
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  Speaker 1: you look at his speed, he ran faster than he
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  Speaker 1: was expected to run. He plays a lot faster than
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  Speaker 1: what was widely expected to be his time speed, and
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  Speaker 1: every point across the pre draft cycle he was checking
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  Speaker 1: off by left and right. His football intellect and I
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  Speaker 1: discipline our characteristics or attributes I should say in his
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  Speaker 1: game that to me suggests that he will take to
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  Speaker 1: a defense fairly quickly. He's a willing tackler, just a
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  Speaker 1: really well rounded, selfless, tough football player that I do
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  Speaker 1: believe will absorb whatever defensive system he's in fairly early.
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  Speaker 1: So Chris Johnson is another candidate for me that I
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't be overly surprised if he fights his way into
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  Speaker 1: the back end of the first round, because I believe
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  Speaker 1: in the talent and I think there will be some
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  Speaker 1: team out there that that views him as a high
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  Speaker 1: end corner I mean, I also think of the Dallas
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Cowboys and Christian Parker and what he looks for in
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  Speaker 1: a cornerback. They need a lot of help on defense,
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  Speaker 1: they surrender a ton of points. But when I look
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: at someone like Chris Johnson, not only does he have
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  Speaker 1: all of those positive on field ability, but even interviewing him,
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  Speaker 1: you could it comes across his character and just overall
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  Speaker 1: poise and confidence that it takes to play that position
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  Speaker 1: at a high level. Looking at Day two, there are
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  Speaker 1: two prospects that, depending on where you look, they're projected
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  Speaker 1: to be a third rounder or yeah, Both players are
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  Speaker 1: widely considered to be third rounders. But we'll start with
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  Speaker 1: Texas defensive back trad And Stukes. He can play Nickel.
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  Speaker 1: I view him more as a safety personally, but you
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  Speaker 1: like his size six foot and five days, one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and ninety pounds. He ran a four to three to
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  Speaker 1: three jump the thirty inch vertical ten ten in the
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  Speaker 1: broad explosive athlete. He's twitchy and you know you look
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  Speaker 1: at his college career, he was oh initially a walk on.
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  Speaker 1: He had a scratching claw for everything. When he finally
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  Speaker 1: reached the point where he found his footing in the
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  Speaker 1: Arizona defense, he ended up becoming a three year, three
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  Speaker 1: time I should say captain for that defense. Smart, highly
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  Speaker 1: intelligent football player, someone who processes and plays with anticipation,
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  Speaker 1: drives on the football, uses his eye discipline in football
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  Speaker 1: intellect to get a jump on passes and have sort
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: of be that traffic cop back there, which is highly
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  Speaker 1: important for a coach, even like Vic Fangio. That was
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  Speaker 1: a quality that he really valued in Red Blanketship and
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Tradon Stukes. If you watch him play, this is someone
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  Speaker 1: who is an instinctual back end player. He can play
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  Speaker 1: multiple roles. He's a little bit older, that's the drawback.
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  Speaker 1: He'll be twenty five around the start of the season.
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  Speaker 1: Not ideal, but in this case, when you're looking for
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  Speaker 1: a difference maker who can take the football away and
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  Speaker 1: really just be a difference maker on the back end,
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  Speaker 1: he has that. And to me, I wouldn't be surprised
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  Speaker 1: at all if he goes in the second round and
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  Speaker 1: I'm talking top fifty fifty two right around there. I
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  Speaker 1: think he has that in him. So we'll say fifty
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  Speaker 1: or fifty five. I could see him going there, and
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: depending on where you're looking, you're looking at him in
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  Speaker 1: the seventies. I think he's a better player than that.
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  Speaker 1: I think there will be a team and a defense
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  Speaker 1: and a scheme that will look at his skill set,
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  Speaker 1: project that over, how that translates into a career, or
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  Speaker 1: how that will translate into their defense, and that will
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  Speaker 1: entice a team enough in my estimation to take him
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  Speaker 1: a little bit higher than anticipate it. So Traydon Stokes
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  Speaker 1: from Arizona is one player.
• 8:34
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• 8:38
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• 9:34
  Speaker 1: And finally, another player who I've talked quite a bit
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: about on this podcast, Georgia State Wide receiver ted Hurst.
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  Speaker 1: Ted Hurst is a small school player coming out of
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Georgia State, and he went to Valdosta State for two
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  Speaker 1: years before that. Another small program much smaller than Georgia State.
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  Speaker 1: So you want to see that player dominate weekend and
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  Speaker 1: week out. He did that. Anyone grabs just over one
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  Speaker 1: thousand yards, six touchdowns, dynamic with the ball in his hands, explosive,
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  Speaker 1: vertical threat six four two oh six, round a four
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  Speaker 1: to four, and what you're looking to see from a
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  Speaker 1: player like that. Okay, he dominated at Georgia State. What
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  Speaker 1: is he going to do under the intense scrutiny that
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  Speaker 1: inevitably accompanies those All Star games? And he was invited
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  Speaker 1: to the Reese's Senior Bowl. Well, he checked off a
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  Speaker 1: ton of boxes there as well, as his stock really
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  Speaker 1: was on an upward trajectory coming off that week, and
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: it was because he was winning. He was catching the
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  Speaker 1: eye of evaluators with his big playability, route running, twitchiness
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  Speaker 1: and all of those things. I think. Oh and ball
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  Speaker 1: tracking ability is very big with ted Hurst. I don't
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  Speaker 1: want to forget that. That really shines through when you
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  Speaker 1: watch his tape. And so when you take a player
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  Speaker 1: like that who is kind of a multiple ball play
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: young has all the athletic traits you look for, the size,
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  Speaker 1: the body control, and he'll go up there and fight
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  Speaker 1: for the football in traffic. That's what you want, and
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  Speaker 1: it's going to take only one team to see that
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  Speaker 1: and try to envision what their career is going to
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  Speaker 1: look like and what kind of impact, what kind of
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  Speaker 1: spice could a player like that add to your offense?
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: It could add another dimension to any offense. You just
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: have to have the right coaches in place, and player
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: development has to be a focal point. So a team
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  Speaker 1: like the Eagles, that would be a perfect match. But
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  Speaker 1: depending on where you look, ted Hurst is sixty five,
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  Speaker 1: the seventy five, Well guess what the longer this process
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  Speaker 1: has worn on for me, I wouldn't be surprised if
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  Speaker 1: he goes late round two. And he's one of my
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: favorite receivers in this draft class. But he's looked at
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: as a third round pick. Now I think he goes
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: potentially in the second round. Players like that have that
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: kind of ability, but that have that kind of ability
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  Speaker 1: are more often than not when you have the attributes
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  Speaker 1: and you can you impressed at every turn in critical
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  Speaker 1: moments of the pre draft process, the Combine, the Senior Bowl,
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  Speaker 1: and yeah, there's a lot of team. There's a lot
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  Speaker 1: of teams depending on what you see and what you're
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: reading out there, that like and are that like Ted Hurst.
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  Speaker 1: So players like that tend to be valued a little
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  Speaker 1: bit more, especially when you get to day two and
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: you just sort of imagine what that fit would be like, Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: he's another player that stock is up for him by
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: all accounts. That's going to do it. For this episode
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: of The Checko Daily, Andrew Decheco will catch you on
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: the next one h