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Alright, hello

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everyone, and welcome to the first

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edition of NFL Draft

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Trip will Take First edition

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twenty twenty four. We

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are, as always sponsored by UPMC.

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I'm Mike Pursuita, joined as always by

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Dale Lawley and Matt Williamson.

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We've been doing this for a while now, discussing

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an upcoming draft and how we think the pieces

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may fall into place. But we're doing things

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a little bit different this year. And one of

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the differences the opinions we are

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about to express, the wrong opinions

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that Matt and Dale are going to provide

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and the insight that will be forthcoming from

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me. It's all our own opinions.

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We are not trumpeting with the

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Steelers may or may not do. We are not,

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for these purposes, affiliated with the Steelers.

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This is three guys sitting

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around talking NFL Draft, so fellas,

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welcome back, ready

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to get at it. Let's just shout that they had us back

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our upsets in every draft. We're

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gonna start today with our mock

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first round, and Dale, you're on the

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screen first, so let's take a look

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at your picks one through ten. Anything

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on here that you had to wrestle with

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or that you think is I don't know, especially

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enlightening.

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Yeah, I think the first five guys are

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pretty chalky when you start looking at

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mock drafts. Whatever order those guys go in.

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To me, I think one of the real wild

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cards in this draft goes at

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six tight end Brock Bowers,

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because typically you don't see tight ends go that

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high. But you can't just look at him as a tight

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end. You have to look at him as a pass catcher. And

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so to me, you know, I know

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the Giants that may not be a screaming

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need for the Giants another tight end, but you

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have to look at him like he's just a big wide receiver.

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One of the caveats that we decided on before

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doing this was we weren't including potential

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trades. So that being the case,

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I think the Bears are, you

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know, for our purposes, not trading their quarterback

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and not trading the pick. So if they

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end up with Justin Fields throwing, who

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better to be on the receiving end than Marvin

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Harrison junior guys, he is my head

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and shoulders best receiver available.

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And that's just the old eye test. Just watch

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some college football on Saturdays.

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What conference did he play?

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He played the Big Ten Conference. Yeah, just checking

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Drake May is my second quarterback

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to the Commanders, and I like him better than the other

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two. I might be a little bit on

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an island regarding that, but based

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on our no trade scenario and Harrison

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going one, I think the Atlanta Falcons would

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love this because Jade Daniels of LSU

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would fall down to the Falcons at

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number eight and the rest of it.

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As you said, Dale Chalking, Matt, let's take a

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look at what you've got cooked up for picks

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one through ten.

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Yeah, you mentioned the Falcons at eight, and this

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might be a little controversial as we sit here

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in the middle of February, but I

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think JJ McCarthy stock could really be

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on the rise in the media circles when

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he goes to the Combine. Really really

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good athlete, phenomenal

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in terms of you know, interviews, leadership,

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all that type of thing. But I do think the Falcons

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are going to be aggressive with the quarterback spot. So I didn't

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know exactly what to do with them.

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All right, Well I have. I mean, I think Terry

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and Arnold is the best cornerback

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in this draft. I think he's really good at

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twelve. Then you know, I got bow Nicks

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going to the Denver Broncos,

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and I think the reason

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I went with that, I think he kind of fits into

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what Sean Payton does offensively, getting the ball

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out quick, a lot of the shorter stuff. You

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know, It's what he ran with Drew

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Brees to a certain degree. So I

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just I don't know if he's the next best quarterback,

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but I think that's where a good landing spot

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for him. And then you know you're looking

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on down there love Jackson Powers

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Johnson the center out of Oregon,

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but he goes at seventeen, and then that means

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the Steelers get Cooper dejen do

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everything, cornerback, safety return

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guy.

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And you said do everything. You are not exaggerating.

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What conference did he play?

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The Big Ten Conference?

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Yeah?

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I saw too much of that guy in Iowa

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City. Mike pursuits picks eleven

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through twenty out jump right down to the bottom. I have

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Jackson Powers Johnson coming to Pittsburgh

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with the twentieth overall pick, and

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Dale, I'm with you on bow Nicks. I

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got him going to the Raiders at thirteen.

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You had him to Denver at twelve.

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But I think he's gonna go higher than people think.

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I think they're gonna love what they see of

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them in the workout stage of this. And

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he's got some ridiculous statistics and

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I think he has the size and

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the experience. Quinnon Mitchell

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really interesting player to me. I got him going to

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Denver at number twelve, one

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of, if not the best cornerback available. Matt,

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what do you have in this particular third of the

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first round.

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Yeah, I have Geiton, who you had gon fourteen

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going to the Steelers. He looks like a left

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tackle, he moves like a left tackle. He actually looks

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like a power forward. He was really impressed with the Senior

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Bowl. He's really only played on the right side.

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Steers will figure that out. Powers

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Johnson's a guy we've brought up a couple times. I

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think he'd really stabilize that Jacksonville

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line. And then Byron Murphy I wanted to

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mention too. He's an extreme athlete. And

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you got to realize Seattle just you know signed

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or hired, you know, Baltimore's defensive coordinator.

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They won versatile, explosive defensive

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front guys. So I think that would be a good fit with the Seahawks.

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Still one more third to get to

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as we continue, taking a

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projection at the first round at Dale,

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your picks twenty one through thirty two.

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Yeah, I mean you start looking here and you're gonna get

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to Obviously, Cleveland

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does not have a first round draft pick

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because they traded that away. But then you look at

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the Baltimore Ravens and they take Graham

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Barton here at the thirtieth pick,

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and they get some offensive line

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issues there. Some of their guys are getting

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a little bit old Zeitler, They're one

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of their guards is a free agent upcoming.

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So I think it makes a lot of sense for them to take a guy

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in Barton who could play all over that line

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for them and just give them a little more versatility

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there. And you know some of these

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other picks you mentioned geton.

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I have him going to Dallas. We know Jerry

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Jones loves those Oklahoma guys. That would

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make some sense there. And then one

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of the other guys, Lad McConkie,

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going to Buffalo.

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That's a little at tension getting.

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Yeah, I think he's going

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to maybe go a little bit

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higher than some of the draftnicks have him going round.

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They have him going early second round. I think he can sneak

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into that first round. He's really good and

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just he just does

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everything well and I like to like

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why to solve him at the Senior Bowl.

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Dale, you and I both have the same pick at

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thirty second overall, Keon Coleman

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going to the Chiefs. Really

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good athlete, played basketball as

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well as football at Michigan State before he went

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to Florida State.

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And he came to his census and transferred

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right there.

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Is I think if he'd had gotten to play

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in the college playoff, there'd be a whole lot more buzz

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about him than there is right now. But he's

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a big receiver who's incredibly

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athlete. Nothing really

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surprising in my twenty one

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through thirty one. I

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have a degene going a little bit lower

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than you guys at twenty five,

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but for the most part, and Matt He's

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will probably confirm the same. We've basically got

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the same names here, just in different order.

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Yeah, and actually with mine, I want to

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have the same spot with Baltimore.

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D got a twenty eighth.

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Yeah, I mean I want to mention that one too. Diggs's

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production really fell in the second

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half of the season, gave Davis is a free

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agent to be, so that makes a lot of sense to me. Well,

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you and I both had Darius Robinson going to the

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Ravens. They won versatility in

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that front. They want explosiveness, and he plays

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all up and down the line.

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He's the first guy to me. It will get to a number

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of these guys. But you look at him and you say, that

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guy's a blank a raven, and that

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guy's a raving that particular

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guy. But there will be some other players where we

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think, oh, so and so he should be a packer or whatever.

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Yeah, that guy's a Raven.

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I think, and then position, you know, positionally,

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at twenty nine, I feel really confident that that's

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going to be a cornerback. And there's a lot of them in this

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class that fit the mold. I'm not sure

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which one will end up at twenty nine, but they

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need a corner to put in extacidon.

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That's gonna do it for us. For this first

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edition of the NFL Draft

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Triple take Matt Williamson,

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Dale Lawley, and me, Mike Pursuda. We're

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gonna be cranking this stuff out between

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now and the actual NFL Draft, which is

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scheduled for the end of April. In

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Detroit, So you're gonna want to keep

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it here for well, just too

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many updates and insightful pieces

8:29

of content to mention, But just

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keep checking back with Steelers dot com

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and all of your Steelers social media

8:36

platforms and you'll find out what we think

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as the twenty twenty four NFL

8:41

Draft approaches for Matt

8:43

and Dale Mike. This has been the NFL

8:45

Draft Triple Take, sponsored

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by UPMC