WEBVTT

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Hey everybody, this is your GM, your back row

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dumbass, your GM who currently is not on the

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team right now, but don't you worry about it.

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K .O. here to bring you episode 8 of the Stack

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and Shed series. Now in this series, we're covering

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all 32 teams, so everybody gets a chance to be

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talked about, all right? Now we're covering a

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few different topics. They include what went

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wrong, what do they need, stack or shed, their

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draft picks, one move I would do, and their cap

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space. Now in this episode, we're talking about

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the Vikings. So buckle up, it's going to get

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a little bit crazy. All right, let's get into

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it. So what went wrong in the Vikings season?

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And I will eventually say it was inconsistent

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quarterback play. With the departure of Sam Darnold,

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there were a lot of questions on if J .J. McCarthy

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would be able to carry that same momentum that

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Sam Darnold had in the previous season. Now,

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unfortunately, that didn't happen, and now the

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Vikings are at a crossroads where they need to

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figure out if they're going to give J .J. McCarthy

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another chance or if they're going to go in a

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different direction at quarterback. Now, I wasn't

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expecting J .J. McCarthy to light it up on the

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field every single week, but what I was expecting

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was for him to show that he's progressing in

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all the right areas, that he's comfortable in

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the pocket, that he's comfortable with his receivers

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tight ends and running backs and that he's able

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to execute the routine things but instead all

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we saw was inconsistencies week after week after

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week and that quarterback the most important

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position on the field you can't be inconsistent

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now can you go through a dry spell where you're

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not playing your best ball sure everybody does

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but what you can't do is go through an entire

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season of being inconsistent and the 10 games

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that J .J. McCarthy played He was 243 attempts

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for 140 completions, 1 ,632 passing yards, 11

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touchdowns, 12 interceptions, 6 .7 yards per

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attempt, and a 57 .6 completion percentage. Now

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with that being said, what do the Vikings need?

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And that is better quarterback play. You guys

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know that old saying that your mom or your dad

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would tell you, your attitude dictates your altitude?

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We're going to tweak that a little bit, okay?

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Your quarterback play dictates your altitude.

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But right now, the Vikings' altitude is low,

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but it can change. As long as J .J. McCarthy

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can provide average to slightly above average

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play, they have a chance. But if J .J. McCarthy

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can't reach that level, then the Vikings need

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to go back to the drawing board and figure out

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what they need to do moving forward. Now, with

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that being said, the question we all need to

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ask ourselves is stack or shed? And I will eventually

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say stack. And the reason why I say that is because

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this team is just a quarterback away from being

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in the Super Bowl. They have a really good offense.

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They have a really good defense. All they need

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is just average to slightly above average quarterback

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play. Now, when we look at their draft picks,

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they have their first, their second, they have

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two third round picks, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth,

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and three seventh round picks, which isn't bad.

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You have the 18th pick in the first round, which,

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I mean, that's a really good spot. Now, the question

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is this, what are you going to address in the

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first round? The two positions that come to mind

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is either safety or defensive tackle. Now, if

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the Vikings want to go after the safety, the

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three names that come to mind is Adam Thienemann,

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Caleb Downs, and Emmanuel McNeil -Warren. Now,

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out of those three options, you may have to trade

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up to get Caleb Downs or Emmanuel McNeil -Warren.

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now the question is this would you be willing

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to trade up and how high would you be willing

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to trade up to get one of those safeties now

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i think defensive tackle is probably a more realistic

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option because you won't have to trade up in

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order to get one of the top guys now me personally

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i would go after someone like a caleb banks or

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lee hunter now that's mainly in part because

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javon hargrave and jonathan allen may be cut

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or trade candidates so with that being said you

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may need to address that position high up in

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the first round Now, me personally, I think Caleb

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Banks is a really good option. 6 '6", can plug

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up the middle. That's somebody that you want

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in your team. Now, if you want to go after Lee

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Hunter, I still think that's a really good option

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as well. And since we're talking about draft

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prospects and the combine and all things related

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to the draft, I need to go on a little bit of

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a rant, okay? If you are someone that accepted

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an invite to the Combine, but you're not participating

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at all, then why the hell are you there? I understand

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the Combine is the hub for all of these players

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to meet these GMs and head coaches and organizations

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just to get a feel for who they are, do a little

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bit of testing, do a little bit of medical work

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and all that other stuff, right? But if you're

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not participating in the drills, then why are

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you there? And I'm only bringing this up because

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by you accepting an invite and not participating

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in any of the drills, that's an invite that could

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have went to somebody that needed that extra

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bump in their draft stock. We've seen players

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go from being a fourth round grade to maybe a

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second or even first round grade by doing well

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at the combine. The only two excuses that I would

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give to prospects is if you're still recovering

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from an injury or your draft stock is super high

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and you have a feeling of where you're going

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to go. Outside of that, you should be participating

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in the combine to some degree. The only person

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in this draft class that I would give an excuse

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for is Fernando Mendoza, and that's solely because

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we all know where he's going, and that's to the

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Raiders. Outside of that... Everybody needs to

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be participating in the combine. Reuben Bain,

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there is no reason why you shouldn't be able

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to participate in the combine unless you're hurt.

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Players such as Sonny Styles didn't have to participate

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in the combine, but he did it just to showcase

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his skill set. And by doing so, he has now locked

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himself in to being a top three pick. But you

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know what? I think I need to break it down in

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a different way so you guys can understand this,

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okay? By not participating in the combine drills,

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that is the difference between making $2 million

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a year to $22 million a year. And I'm bringing

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up money because we all know the difference in

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being drafted in the third, fourth, and fifth.

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round compared to being drafted in the first

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and second round. That should be motivation for

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you to work out in these drills. Now, if you

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don't want to do these drills, again, it's perfectly

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fine. That's your choice. But just know, if you

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don't ball out on your pro day... Oh, you messed

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yourself up. You took an unnecessary risk just

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because you don't want to do it. Now, back to

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the Vikings. Do I think they're going to use

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all 11 picks in this draft class? No. I think

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they're going to use some of these draft picks

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to either trade up or trade down or trade for

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other players in free agency. Now, the one move

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that I would do is bring in a veteran quarterback.

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While I understand the Vikings invested a first

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round pick into J .J. McCarthy, it's time for

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you to go in a different direction. It's time

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for you to maximize this competitive window that

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you have right now because you don't know if

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you're going to be able to replicate this again.

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You need to bring in a veteran quarterback who

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is comfortable working with Kevin O 'Connell.

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Now, the two names that come to mind is either

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Aaron Rodgers or Kirk Cousins. I think if you

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get either one of them, that is a low risk, high

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reward move. And I also think that will provide

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the veteran mentorship that J .J. McCarthy needs.

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I think maybe if you just sit him down for a

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season and let him learn under someone like a

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Kirk Cousins or Aaron Rodgers, I think it'll

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light a fire in him to want to be better. because

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we're reaching a point where there needs to be

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a sense of urgency within the Vikings organization

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to want to win now, especially towards Kevin

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O 'Connell, because he hasn't won a playoff game

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since being the head coach for this team. When

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we look at their cap situation, they have negative

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36 .6 million. Now, I do expect the Vikings to

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get rid of Javon Hargrave and possibly Jonathan

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Allen. I also expect for them to make a couple

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restructures, and I also expect for them to maybe

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get rid of Ryan Kelly as well. So I don't think

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the Vikings are in a really bad spot. I think

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all they need to do is just reshuffle the deck

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like how every other team does and figure out

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who's worth the money and who isn't worth the

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money. Now, do I expect for them to be big players

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in free agency? No. I think at best, the Vikings

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will be players in that second and third wave

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of free agency, but only time will tell. But

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I'm in this episode here. If you guys like what

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you are listening, please, please, please, please,

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please make sure you guys leave a five -star,

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in this episode as well as other episodes all

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right let's have a debate now you can follow

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pod all right football underscore junkies pod

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junkies pod is now what It is together, not spaced,

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okay? It is together, not spaced. Football underscore

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junkies pod. You can follow me on TikTok at footballjunkiespod.

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-O, G -M -K -A -I -L -E, G -M -K -A -I -L -E,

00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:35.379
all right? You can follow us on Twitter at G

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-M -K -O, G -M -K -A -I -L -E. K -A -I -L -E.

00:09:39.330 --> 00:09:43.470
G -M -K -A -I -L -E. As always, I hope I gave

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you guys the fix that you guys need. I love you

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guys. I appreciate you guys so much. Thank you

00:09:46.990 --> 00:09:48.690
guys so much for listening to the best football

00:09:48.690 --> 00:09:50.730
podcast that you can listen to on a week -to

00:09:50.730 --> 00:09:53.169
-week, day -to -day basis. And as always, this

00:09:53.169 --> 00:09:55.330
is your GM Kale signing out. Peace and love.

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Later, guys.