WEBVTT

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You can find it at PFF dot
com. Our good friend and his weekly

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hit here with us. It's Max
Chadwick from Pro Football Focus. Max.

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Welcome back, brother, thanks for
having me on. Guys, you bet

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man, have you recovered from the
US Open? I know you're a big

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golf guy. Let's just get your
perspective as a football guy first, who

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loves golf? Man. Wow,
Yeah, it was an incredible weekend of

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golf honestly. Obviously, Rory choking
it away at the end was pretty brutal

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to watch, and Bryson getting it
again was pretty cool to see. But

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yeah, it was. It was
a tough watch at the end. Honestly,

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I felt really awful for Rory.
Honestly I did too. I mean,

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you know, as a golfer,
you know that last butt is I

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mean, that's no cupcake. It's
downhill three feet left the right. Just

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bad scene there for Rory and you
know he's got four majors. But the

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time is ticket on that, Okay. Turning our attention to the NFL here,

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Max Chadwick covers that league as well
as college football for PFF, so

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we continue to see things that are
evolving here in the NFL and we now

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learned over the past couple of days
here that T. Higgins has in fact

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signed his franchise tag no long term
deal yet when you look at that team

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long term, is there a way
they can lock up both Chase and Higgins?

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Is there way they should do that? Or is it pretty inevitable that

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this is a one year bet on
himself deal and see what he can do

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in the open market T Higgins.
Yeah, it seems there certainly is a

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way for it to happen. But
I think for if they were to sign

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T. Higgins and Jamar Chase,
and obviously they already signed Joe Burrow as

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well, that means they probably have
to sacrifice a lot else on their roster,

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and I don't know if they're willing
to do that, honestly. So

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I imagine this it might be the
last year that we get at P Higgins

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in Cincinnati, and I think there's
probably a good chance and he hits the

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open market and signs a big contract
with someone else after the season. The

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scote but continues in San Francisco about
Brandon Ayuk. There's been some conversations and

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some rumors flowed around, including comments
he's made himself about you know, his

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relationship with Jaden Daniels, that situation
seemed to be fluid. But from what

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you're hearing and just your own perspective, you feel like Mike get traded this

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offseason. If not, do you
think he's going to stay long term in

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San Francisco. Uh, that's a
good question as well. You know,

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I don't know if it's gonna happen
this offseason. I do know obviously a

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lot of teams would be interested in
his services. I think the big point

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is right now that San Francisco wants
to bring him back, they just aren't

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at the price that he wants right
now. So I think that's the really

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interesting dilemma that they're in right now. And yeah, obviously the number of

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teams that are interested in him,
including the Commanders who obviously have his former

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college quarterback and Jayden Daniels there.
So yeah, I think, yeah,

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it'd be really interesting to see what
happens within this Austin. Like I said,

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that's another guy like Tiggans that a
lot of NFL teams would be lining

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up to pay him top dollar after
How could he have been San Francisco?

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I think the obvious question for me
would have been, Hey, you think

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Brandon AUT's gonna come to the Steelers, But I'm gonna steer away from that.

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I want to talk specifically Mike Tomlin
right now, obviously getting a three

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year contract extension. And this is
a man that has never had a losing

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season, so that I mean,
but there is a large kind of vocal

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I don't know, minority, maybe
a majority of Steelers fans that we do

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not like Mike Tomlin. They're tired
of this never having a losing season.

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Hell if you will, And for
you in your perspective this season, what

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does that mean for Mike Tomlin?
Does this kind of approve it? Like,

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Okay, we need to get into
the playoffs now because people are obviously

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upset that we haven't won a playoff
game in I don't know, like seven

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years. What are your thoughts on
Mike Tomland getting that extension and what does

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it mean for this team? I
guess as success for this season? Yeah,

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I think honestly, the Stewers fans
that won Mike Colin fired. I

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mean, the grass is always greener, right, and I think he's a

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really good head coach in this league. And the problem with the Steelers over

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last number of years. Honestly,
he's been at the quarterback position, with

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Ben Roethlisberger obviously not looking like a
show of himself at the end of his

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career, Kenny Pickett not working out
at all for Pittsburgh, and now you

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have Russell Wilson and Justin Fields.
I think they're hoping that that's going to

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be at least a lot better.
And you know, Grandon and the Steers

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have done a great job in the
draft as well building up that team,

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So I think there's a chance that
could be better. But until he gets

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that quarterback position figured out. I
think Mike tom was a really damn good

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head coach and I think firing him
would be a massive mistake, honestly,

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And that's you know, I think
firing him just basically tells your fan base,

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Hey, we want to be a
terrible team for a little bit so

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we can get a top quarterback,
which that's another way to go about your

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franchise. But I just I don't
agree as firing a head coach as I

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think one of the better head coaches
that we have in the NFL right now.

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So they have to figure out quarterback
and I think they're really trying to

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do that now with Russell Wilson and
Justin Fields, and if they do and

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Mike Tomins a great coach and they
have the pieces defensively, I think,

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yeah, they could be competing for
a playoff spot and maybe even playoff wins

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in the future. But it is
a brutal AFC conference right now for sure.

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Speaking to the grass being green,
or let me remind young Trey Falco

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at thirty years old to your lifetime
Steelers fan, then in his lifetime he

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has had as many head coach as
coach his team is the Panthers have had

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Actually it's half as many ass had
in the past four years. So yeah,

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grass, where's the grass? We're
trying to find the damn Gretz down

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here. We'll touch on the Panthers
in a minute. Max Chadwick is our

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guest here from PFF dot Com.
We'll give him a chance to promote all

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he's doing right now. He also
college covers the college game as well,

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so might get his take on Clemson
in a minute. Who brought in some

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guys to this NFL class. I
want to ask you about these receivers,

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not necessarily the guys that went early
in the first round. I'm looking at

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maybe from twenty three down, like
Brian Thomas Junior, of course, Xavier

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Worthy, Ricky Piersoh, Xavier leg
Guette, and you've got some guys in

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the second round that I really like. Are there a couple that you're looking

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at from that maybe twenty to fifty
rangs that could have a breakout type of

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season that we're not expecting. Uh? Yeah. I think Brian Thomas Junior

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is probably in for a big season
this upcoming year at Jacksonville. Think he

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fits in really well with Trevor Lawrence
who loves to push a ball down the

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field, and Brian Thomas, He's
a vertical receivers. I think that's gonna

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be really good in there. Obviously, Zavey, you're worthy to be relied

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on a lot, Ricky Piersoll the
forty nine Ers. If brand now You

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does get traded, Ricky Pierson's immediately
gonna be one of their top weapons,

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so that he could have a big
year. And then obviously key on Coleman

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off the Bills as well. It's
gonna be relying on his maybe the number

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one receiver immediately as a second round
rookie. So that's another guy that I

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think will be relied on a lot
for them this year in Buffalo. And

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I think I got like Ady Mitchell, who's taken later in the second round

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from the Colts, he I would
have taken him in the first round,

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So I love that value there.
I'm excited to see what he can do

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in Indianapolis. But you know,
there's a few of the other receivers that

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are not you know, the big
names like Harrison and Neighbors and Adusee.

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There's still a really good receiver cross
after them. And then are some of

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the guys that think could make immediate
impacts in the NFL. Between JJ McCarthy

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for the course, the Vikings and
then bo Nix with the Sean Payton's Broncos.

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Do you have a read or a
feeling or sense of which one may

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be starting first or will they both
start week one? Do you think I'm

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sorry, we said Jajon Rarthen,
who else Bonnix, McCarthy and Knicks drafted

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their ten Would you get the sense
that they'll both be starting week one?

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Or maybe Sam donald and and Stidham
gets some of the one reps for the

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first few weeks. Any scuttle butt
on that. Yeah, I think Sam

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Donald it ay. Kevin O'Connell already
announced Sam Donold is the starting quarterback heading

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into training camp, So I think
it's more likely than not that we see

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San Donald to start Week one for
the Minnesota Vikings, and potentially even more

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than that. And I think Denver, I think it's a better chance.

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At Denver, Bonex is immediate starter, but I wouldn't be surprised if Jared

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Stidham, Zach Wilson, maybe one
of them take over that job and let

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bone Necks sit on the bench for
a little bit before you know, throwing

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him into the fire really in Denver, but I think it's a much better

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chance. But Bonnick is the week
one starter for Denver than there is for

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Jason McCarthy be the league one starter
for Minnesota. Max Chadwick. We have

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talked before about Bryce Young, and
obviously there's a lot of conversation in Carolina

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about that, the goal being to
get him up to where he needs to

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be as the franchise quarterback. That
can be a very abstract way of looking

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at it in my view, and
I want to get your perspective on what

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is important for Bryce when you watched
him last year. Obviously, the surroundings

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were not ideal. There were some
bad habits that creep back in define success

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for me, if you will,
for Bryce Young year two, but also

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for this entire team, because it
takes twenty two guys to make it happen.

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Yeah, I think, honestly,
more than wins and losses for Carolina,

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I think the one thing Panta finan
should be hoping for the most is

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just going into twenty twenty five with
the idea of, Okay, we have

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our franchise quarterback in Bryce. Because
I'm still up in the air right now,

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I think he's done a much better
job of building around him this Auste

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and I still think there's a lot
of work to do it. Who gonna

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be wrong, but I think he's
done a really good job of at least

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adding some pieces like Deontay Johnson,
drafting Xavier Loguette, obviously hiring Dave Canalis

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I really like as the head coach. So they've done at least a better

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job of surrounding Bryce Young with a
better environment. So yeah, I think

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I'm not if I'm a Pantos fan, I'm not even concerned with wins and

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losses. They're obviously going to still
be one of the worst teams in the

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league probably, But I think the
most important thing is just allowing Bryce Young

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to show what he's got and hopefully
you end up at the end of the

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year thinking, Okay, we have
our franchise quarterback and we can move on

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to the rest of this roster that
still needs a lot of work. So

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that's I think the most important thing. And I think Bryce Young it's a

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really big year two for him now
and showing and improving, because if he

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doesn't improve, then all of a
sudden, if you're a PANTOFS fan,

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you start to have questions about whether
or not he can be the franchise guy.

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You know, two straight years of
not playing very well and what is

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now a better environment than at least
last year. And on the college side,

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we know you cover college extensively for
PFF dot com. The Clemson Tigers,

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a team that I cover half covered
since twenty twenty were their pregame show

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and other things I'm doing down there
for those guys, you know, last

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year was disappointing, the year before, every hell, they're not in the

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playoffs, it's disappointing. Let's just
face it, but the fact that Kate

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Klubnick showed some moxie there in that
bowl game, had some good moments,

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had some not so good moments,
And do you see him bouncing back this

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year and fulfilling some of those initial
expectations And your thought on their defense if

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you will, because you know,
as you know, there are some guys

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like Peter Woods and others up on
that front four that are just going to

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be really hard to manage if you're
an offensive line. Yeah, I think

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the best thing at Clemson is by
far their defense. I think they have

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one of the best defenses we have
in college football right now, and I

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think that's what's keeping them as a
top fifteen team now. The questions are

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obviously along the offense and mainly in
their passing game with Kate Clubnick and what

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has been an underwhelming group of receivers
for clan that's kind of a few years

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honestly, and remaining the same right
now because frankly, there's not hitting a

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transportal at all to alleviate that.
But yeah, there's a huge question marks

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from me around Kate Clubnick. I
still you know, he was a five

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star quarterback coming out of high school. But he hasn't really shown that he's

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lived up to that yet through two
years so far. So it's a big,

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big year three for him, and
I think he is going to be

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the biggest X factor for how far
Clemson could go. And Garrett Riley and

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his partnership, you know, that
was really hyped up last year didn't really

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come to fruition. That's gonna be
a huge thing in your three. And

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you're three for Club Nickdown, you're
two for Garrett Riley. So yeah,

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that's a that's a big part of
it. If Clebston's offense can catch up

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to the defense a little bit,
I think it could absolutely be the favorite

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in the agency and be one of
the top teams in college football. Honestly,

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I think the defense would be that
good. All right, are you

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counting down the days for Ya's release
of the College Football Game? Be honest,

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You've got you've got something on your
phone like alerts every day. Right,

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We're exciting, We're stoked about this
game. Thanks. Honestly, I

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just bought an EA College Fable twenty
five poster. It's actually with the pop

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tart, the pop tar and the
cover of it's the pop Tart Bowls.

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Yeah, that PFF graphic and we
actually someone actually turned the PFF graphic we

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had into a poster and I bought
it. I'm gonna had it up pretty

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soon, So that should answer your
question. That's how excited I am for

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this game coming up. We'll get
each other's gamer tags here. How young

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kids? How you doing it?
Like interactively on this show because we're in

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the same boat as you, buddy, Next Chadwick, PFF dot com promote

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stuff. Man, what's going on
this summer leading up as we're less than

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eighty days away from the NFL season. Yeah, I appreciate that. So

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obviously I cover collgootball for PFF.
So right now we actually are publishing full

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team previews for all seventy Power four
teams, power five teams, whatever you

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want to say, yes, and
also ten Group of five teams as well,

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So full team previews are going up
on PFF dot com really soon,

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honestly. And then the PFF College
Football Show that I host as well.

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You can find a YouTube anyway you
can podcast. We're putting out a number

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of videos every week covering college football, previewing the twenty twenty four season.

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And full team previews for every team
in COLLG football. We'll be going up

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on the YouTube channel as well,
and anyway your your podcast, so check

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out all this stuff at PFF dot
com and article form and then in video

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and audio for we can check out
the PF College Football Show as well.

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My show prep will be done when
I have that guide that you're talking about

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from a college football show that I
do in the fall. Thanks for all

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you do, man. We can't
wait to talk to you again, and

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we'll keep promoting to find work you
do out there at PFF bud. I

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really appreciate that, guys. Thank
you