Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Nick Cross, Rodney Thomas II Entering Pivotal 2024 Season
Episode Date: June 21, 2024Indianapolis Colts safeties Nick Cross and Rodney Thomas II are entering make-or-break territory in 2024. If it doesn't happen for either player this season, it could be the end of the road for these ...young players in Indy. Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOColts?sid=YouTube📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL Follow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOnFN! Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET. That’s TWO HUNDRED BUCKS you can use to bet everything from the Finals MVP to who's going to hit one out of the park! Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON and add a big win to your summer bucket list!FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)
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The Indianapolis Colts safety position still appears to be in dire straits heading into training camp. Let's get to it.
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Hello, everyone. I'm Zach Hicks of HorseshoeHuddle.com, your favorite film nerd in the local market and hopefully in the surrounding markets as well. We are talking safety today on this Colts roster to
finalize our positional preview series that we've been doing over the course of the past month,
I believe, here on this channel. We spread them out just a little bit there just to get them all
in here before training camp. And yeah, we're talking the safety position, which is probably
the most volatile or controversial position on the roster right now. The starters look okay on paper,
the depth less okay on paper. And then ultimately we have that big question of should the Colts go
out there and grab a veteran to really solidify what they have on the back end of this defense.
So today we're going to break it up by talking about the starters, talk about the key backups
and reserves on the team, and then round it out by just going over our overall expectations for this,
this position group.
And ultimately,
again,
do we think they need to go out there and get somebody else just to add some,
some top end talent to the group?
Well,
let's start with the starters and the guy who ultimately,
you know,
if he were not to have returned to the team in free agency this year,
we'd be talking about even more dire position group, and that is Julian Blackman.
Julian Blackman was a free agent this offseason.
The Colts waited a couple weeks to re-sign him in the open market.
He actually visited a couple teams.
I believe he visited or had interest from the Buffalo Bills,
and I believe the San Francisco 49ers were in there as well on him,
but ultimately comes back to the Colts on a one-year $3.19 million contract.
That's a great contract, honestly, for the Colts.
I mean, if I'm being very frank here, $3.19 million over one year for a player who had just a breakout season,
a career-high season in so many different categories.
I know the safety market was a bit watered down and has been a bit lackluster so far this offseason,
but Blackman, a really good player for this Colts team last year, I know the safety market was a bit watered down and has been a bit lackluster so far this offseason,
but Blackman, a really good player for this Colts team last year,
and the Colts getting back on a very, very small one-year contract.
I mean, you can't ask for much more from this Colts management. But Julian Blackman last year made the move to free safety for this Colts defense,
hit career highs at interceptions, in which he had four last year,
had career high in snaps on defense, which is massive for aceptions, which in which he had four last year, had career high
in snaps on defense, which is massive for a player with him and his injury history. He hit 987 snaps
last year, which barely beat out his rookie number for snaps on defense. He had his most tackles was
career 72 had the most stops overall in his career 30. he also had the lowest missed tackle rate of his career, which was below 10%, which when I talk about the other safeties on this Colts roster, that's going
to feel like a more important metric there when we're talking about these other guys. But yeah,
Julian Blackman did a lot of really good things for this Colts team. I know, you know, when Gus
Bradley first came in in 2022, it was a bit interesting to see what the Colts were going to do with him because
Blackman was initially supposed to be that free safety over the top. And then he made the
transition to strong safety after he came back from injury. And it just didn't really flow super
well. They had Rodney McLeod in here as well. And McLeod was getting a little bit more of the snaps.
They tried Blackman at slot corner at times, and it just wasn't working super well. So, you know, you could argue in a lot of ways
that 2022 was his worst season as a pro. Then he comes into this season, he's taking over for
McLeod at strong safety. I believe I said earlier free safety. I meant to say that they moved him
to strong safety prior to this past season. So forgive me for that. But they moved him to strong
safety to take over for Rodney McLeod. And he just thrived in that role all season long. I mean, he was really, really effective in
that strong safety role when there were moments where he would flip back and play some free safety.
He showed great range and athleticism, did a really good job in the box. And again,
took those missed tackles down as low as it could go. Did some really good things for this Colts team.
Had some really great flashes.
And for a defense that really struggled to force turnovers,
especially on the back end, him having four interceptions last year
and leading the way on this defensive secondary, I mean, it was just massive.
He was that closer that the Colts really didn't have, you know,
from anyone else last season whatsoever.
So Julian Blackman, the Colts getting him back on a $3.19 million contract,
solidify that strong safety spot.
The Colts have already kind of confirmed that he's going to be the starting strong safety
yet again this season.
Big, big re-signing, and I expect another really big season from him
as long as he can stay healthy.
That's really always been the biggest thing for him.
It was a really positive sign last year to see that he hit 987 snaps, you know, nearly hit that thousand snap mark on
defense. But can he go a full season without missing any games? Like it's fine to get some
nicks and bruises here throughout the season. But when the Colts really needed him in those final
games of the season, he was out with that injury. He suffered against the Atlanta Falcons and he
missed the final two games, which were essentially playoff games for the Colts.
Now I'm not going to hold that against the player because injuries happen,
but you know,
health is health is a virtue when it comes to the NFL health is a,
is a massive thing for defensive players or for just players in general.
So Julian Blackman missing those games certainly hurt.
And it might've contributed to him only getting this $3.19 million contract on the open market.
But at the end of the day, Julian Blackman coming back is a positive thing for the Colts.
Did some really good things last year, and hopefully, just hopefully, he can stay healthy and improve on these career highs that he set last year at that strong safety position.
The other presumed starter as of right now is third-year safety Nick Cross, who's going to take over at free safety uh Cross was a
player who his rookie season he got the first start of the season as a rookie as like a 20 year old
rookie 21 year old rookie whatever it was a super young player the Colts traded up to get him a lot
of expectations uh and it just did not go super well uh he was actually starting at strong safety
I believe in his first couple games and then he got supplanted by Rodney McLeod, and he just didn't see the field again, really, at all during his rookie season.
Then we flash forward to last year with this Colts team, and Nick Cross was again finding
himself in that safety three, safety four role as Ronnie Thomas was starting alongside
Julian Blackman to start the year, and then Cross had to slowly work his way into the
starting lineup.
Now, when he did get into the starting lineup. Now,
when he did get into that starting lineup later in the season, it was hit or miss. It wasn't bad.
There were some bad moments, especially in that final game against the Houston Texans,
where he allowed a touchdown in the back of the end zone. There was a tight end, I believe,
that caught it for the Texans in that game. It was like a one-yard touchdown. And then also,
he blew the coverage on that big opening play to Nico Collins. It should have been quarters coverage. He didn't get deep
in his zone. And Juju Brents was left on an island to look foolish in front of a national audience.
You know, those mistakes happen, but we also saw the very positive flashes like the Pittsburgh
Steelers interception, like a couple of the big time tackles he made as a third safety or coming
down in the box when he was coming out there for his couple starts last year. So I don't want to sound
too negative on Nick Cross because overall, it wasn't a terrible season from him by any means.
It's just still another question mark at this safety position. Like Julian Blackman,
we feel good about. That's a good starting strong safety. He's going to do good things
for the Colts next year. As long as Blackman's on the field, the Colts have one really good starter.
When it comes to Nick Cross, it's more so like, are we going to get positive progression? Are we
going to get positive play from him next year? Or is it going to be a bit volatile again like it was
last year and some hit or miss moments? Now, again, it's hard to hold a ton of it against him
because when he had his down moments last year, that was when he was playing alongside a linebacker playing safety and Ronnie Harrison. Ronnie Harrison was his running mate those final two games of the year. And that's really where Cross struggled when he had to be the primary playmaker and cover a lot more ground in those final two games. When he was out there with Julian Blackman, it was pretty positive. Like it was a pretty positive showing from him. So
it's really hard to say exactly what we're going to be getting from Nick Cross next year. I'm
going to lean a little more optimistic because it is the off season and because he is a young
ascending player. And if he can put it together, we could see some good things. But ultimately,
he's not the guy where, you know, if you're competing for a playoff spot, you're going to
feel 100% perfect about him going into the season.
There is a question mark there.
But the big thing for him is turning the flashes into more consistency next year, finishing tackles.
I know the missed tackle rate jumped up a little bit late in the season.
Once Blackman was out of the lineup, especially in those final two games of the year, he started missing a lot more tackles.
And it started hurting the Colts in a lot of different ways.
So if he can just clean up the tackling,
play a little bit more in control,
take positive steps as that center fielder over the top,
he can be a solid starter.
I mean, again, he's got a really good running mate
next to him in Julian Blackman.
Just lean on that running mate.
Just keep building yourself up in the system
and let's see where it goes from there.
So while I'm ultimately a big fan of going out there and grabbing one of these
veteran free agents on the market, as long as Nick Cross can stay healthy and stay on
the field, I think this can be a positive starter for the Colts.
It's all about him taking those necessary steps forward though.
But you guys let us know in the comment section what you think about Nick Cross potentially
starting all 17 games next year.
Is this a big thing for the Colts? Is this a worrying thing for the Colts? Let us know
in the comment section below. We're going to transition now into some depth safeties on the
team, which maybe just depth safety at this point on the team. That's worth talking about because
there's really only one other guy that factors into this safety race here in training camp.
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All right, Locked On Colts fans, we're continuing this talk about the Colts safety depth chart,
which is not the prettiest right now on the Colts roster.
I mean, look, two weeks ago or two shows ago, whatever it was, we talked about defensive ends
and how it's a very difficult cut at the very bottom of the defensive end group.
When it comes to safety, it's not the hardest cut in the whole world. We have three guys who we think are going to make it, a fourth guy who has
a decent chance, and then there's the rest on the roster right now. The third guy that we're talking
about with this group, though, who is maybe the biggest question mark on the whole roster, because
who knows what's going on with him at this point, is Rodney Thomas II. Now, Rodney Thomas, a former seventh-round pick out
of Yale two years ago, he took over that starting role from Nick Cross. He took it from Julian
Blackman in 2022, had a breakout rookie campaign where he had four interceptions and had some
really good high-level moments as a rookie. It all kind of came crashing down to earth in his
second year this past year. I mean, we have to remember this guy was entrenched as the starter
alongside Julian Blackman going into the season last year.
Like he was that guy.
It wasn't even a question if Nick Cross was going to take the role from him
in the eyes of the coaches.
And then it got to the point, though, in terms of his play on the field last year
where come week 17 come week 18 the
Colts had the chance to start him alongside Nick Cross in those final couple games and instead
they ultimately put out Ronnie Harrison at safety a guy who they've been working at linebacker all
season long so instead of putting Thomas out there in those final two games those playoff type games
in some capacity he played a total of three defensive snaps in those two games, those playoff type games, in some capacity, he played a total of three
defensive snaps in those two games. And those were in two games where Julian Blackman was out.
So he had the opportunity to get out there, but the coaching staff had just lost that much trust
in him or wanted to do something differently. Whatever it was, he didn't see the field in two
games where your third safety probably should see the field. So from being benched last season for
Nick Cross to just being a guy where the coaching staff isn't even looking your way into must-win
games, you know, Ronnie Thompson's had a big fall from grace in this Colts organization. Now, I'm
not going to say it's all over for him. He's still a fairly young player. I think he's only 25 years
old, 26 years old. So there is still room for him to win back what he lost in the
coach's eyes. But we're at the point now with Ronnie Thomas, where again, going into last year,
we're saying, okay, cool. This is a nice, interesting young starter at free safety
who had four interceptions as a rookie. And we can see what he can do to now looking at him as like,
if it weren't for the weakness of this overall depth at safety,
would he even be making the roster right now?
Just because last year was such a downgrade in his play.
So it's really interesting to see what will happen with him this offseason.
There are some positives with Rodney Thomas, don't get me wrong.
Six interceptions through two years as a seventh round pick is very fantastic.
I don't want to slight him in any
way for that production, six interceptions in two years for a guy who was maybe not going to make
the roster. Fantastic for him. Great for him. I think there have been some good flashes in coverage.
Overall, it's that deep free safety. He finds the ball well, he tracks the ball well, and he comes
away with some interceptions. But last year, I think the biggest issue that just really broke him in terms of the trust in the coach's eyes
really came down to that mistackling. The mistackles were, for lack of a better term,
abhorrent. I mean, they were abhorrent last year, the mistackles. He had 23.3% mistackle percentage,
by far and away the most on the team. It felt like, you know, again, just by percentage-wise,
we're talking one out of every four tackle attempts he had last season,
we're going to end in him missing the tackle or just falling off the guy.
Like, he was just such a liability in terms of tackling.
And I know at free safety it's not as pressing as it is at strong safety,
but we're talking about the last line of the defense
especially in this cover three defense where you're going to have your free safety over the top
you can't have a guy who's that big of a liability I mean when we look at Nick Cross
Nick Cross missed some tackles late last season too but his missed tackle percentage was closer
to like 11 I believe it was 11 or 12 that's a pretty big difference than 23.3%, which is what it was with Rodney Thomas.
So if Thomas can figure out the tackling, I don't think it's as big of an issue having him on the
roster. But if he's going to miss all these tackles like he did last year, it's very, very
hard to play him on defense because that's such a liability on the back end of your defense.
But again, I don't think that the book is completely closed on Thomas. And part of that
is due to the overall lack of depth at the position.
Like maybe if Daniel Scott is healthy, which, you know, we can talk about that too real
quick that Daniel Scott tore his Achilles and he's going to be out.
So that just lessens the competition a little bit right there.
But maybe if Scott is healthy, he can push Thomas like off the roster or towards like
the backer end of the roster.
But at this point, like it's Thomas or, or nobody, you know, it's really Thomas is the only guy who can
be that third safety right now for the Colts. So he's gonna have to step up and really improve over
what he did last year. Again, I'm not going to say it's done for him because he's a bigger player.
He's still kind of young in terms of his NFL play, six interceptions through two years,
very positive. It's not completely out for him, but he definitely needs to turn it around in terms of his NFL play, six interceptions through two years, very positive. It's not
completely out for him, but he definitely needs to turn it around in terms of that tackling and
that reliability there on the back end if he wants to see any snaps this next season.
The other player that we're talking about here in this segment, not really to be a threat to start
on defense or to even really play on defense at all, but we have to talk about him because he has
a good chance of making the roster.
And that is Trevor Denbo.
Again, another player where if we're talking bottom end of the roster guys that I love,
I love me some Trevor Denbo, a former undrafted free agent who I believe he made the roster
as a rookie, but then was placed on IR and then kind of got waived and was on and off
the roster his entire rookie season. Was on the roster for basically all of last year.
Led the Colts with 13 special teams tackles.
He was, I believe, third on the team in special team snaps with 324.
The tackles that he led the team with was 13.
Yeah, if I didn't mention that there.
Did a lot of good things as a core four guy.
He played on all four special teams
units. And he very much seems like one of those guys that Brian Mason is going to say, hey,
you know, if I get to keep four or five guys, it's going to be the Denbos and the stewards
and those type of guys that I need on my special teams. So Denbo seems like a guy who is like a
soft lock for the roster just because of that special teams ability that he
brings to the team. Denbo will be a big player on the new special teams unit as well. I mean,
again, we don't know what's really going to play into that, but Denbo with his size, good physical
safety, a little over 200 pounds, who's done some good things. I really think that he's going to be
a big asset on the new special teams units too. So yeah, I think Denbo is going to be a part of this roster next year. I don't think he's a player who
factors in, in any capacity on defense, but at this current moment, when you're looking at the
Colts safeties, if, if Julian Blackman goes down, it's either Denbo or Ronnie Harrison, right? Going
at strong safety. Maybe you look at, you know,
Carlisle at strong safety or something like that.
I'm not too sure,
but you're not putting Ronnie Thomas at strong safety.
And they showed last year when Blackman went down,
they didn't want to move crossover to strong safety
and put Thomas at free safety.
So, I mean, if Julian Blackman goes down,
it might be Denbo at strong safety on Sundays.
So I don't know.
We're one injury away from maybe Trevor Denbo being a starter on this team.
If that doesn't just sum up the safety group perfectly right there.
But yeah, I mean, Trevor Denbo, I do think is going to make the team big time special
team or did a lot of good things last year.
I just don't think he factors too much into, you know, the race for snaps on defense in
any regard.
I think he had a total of like six defensive snaps last year,
and they were mostly in mop-up duty.
So he's not really going to be a threat on defense,
but Trevor Denbo, really good special teamer.
We love to have him.
We love ourselves in special teamers there on the Colts roster.
Coming up, we're going to finalize this group
by talking about the other contenders on the roster
or kind of contender on the roster,
some interesting things the Colts could do at safety, and ultimately,
please just sign somebody. Just sign somebody for this group, please.
All right, Locked On Colts fans, we are back with our final segment on safety in the final group of
our positional preview series. Again, there's no special teamers in my eyes.
They don't exist in terms of kickers and punters.
They're fake.
So this is the final positional group of the position preview series.
Marcel Dabo is the final safety I wanted to talk about today because,
I mean, maybe it's just a throwing a dart at the dartboard at this point.
I don't know if he really factors into this too much,
but the Colts clearly have some kind of interest in Marcel Dabo. He's a player they've had in the
organization for a couple years now. He came over on the international pathway system. They've had
him on the practice squad as that kind of extra practice squad body for a couple years. We saw
some positive improvement from him last year in camp, So maybe in year three, he takes another bigger step to
just be a rosterable player. And maybe he can be that guy who pushes Rodney Thomas off the roster
or into more of a safety five role. I don't know. I don't know if that's going to happen.
But Marcelo Dabo is someone to mention, at least because the Colts have had interest in him for
the last couple of years. And maybe he does factor into this in some kind of way. But besides that, I mean, we're looking at Kendall Brooks, Michael Tootsie. I don't think
either of those guys really factor in too much when it comes to this safety race. So really,
I mean, you're looking at five guys, four of which have made the Colts before. One of them is not
really going to play on defense. So you're looking at three guys who could maybe play on defense and of those three guys one of those guys didn't see the field when
Blackman went down last year so it's pretty dire at safety it's pretty dire at safety
now before we talk about them going out and signing someone which you know we've done that
all off season on this podcast you know There are some interesting things they could do at the safety position.
Again, you could have Ronnie Harrison be a linebacker slash safety
and put Harrison back there if something were to happen to Julian Blackman.
I don't recommend that because it didn't really work
in the final two games of last season, but that is an option.
You could also do that with Jalen Carlisle as well,
but again,
young player, do you really want to stunt his development by making him go between two positions?
I don't think that's the best plan of action, but again, if it comes down to it, you might have to
do it. But the other one is Jalen Simpson, who I believe Jake talked about yesterday on the
cornerback preview series or preview episode. Simpson is a player who
played safety for a majority of his college career, a little bit undersized. So maybe the tackling
would be a big issue there at safety as well. But, you know, if something were to happen across
at free safety and you don't trust Ronnie Thomas or something happens across and Thomas, I mean,
God forbid something happens to both those guys, then Simpson could be an in-house body who could go back there and offer some range and some athleticism and some production that he had at college at that free safety position.
So they do have a couple guys on the roster who could moonlight at some safeties in practice or, you know, if injuries were to happen, they could go back there and play some safety but ultimately man it it really comes back around to the the
main topic at safety where it's like go just go sign somebody that can play you know again like
even if they are not fully out on thomas which again i really want to clarify i'm not completely
out on thomas even if you're not fully out on him though you still need a backup strong safety or
another guy who could play in the box because if they're not out on thomas as a free safety i know they're out on him as a strong safety
you know like you're not playing him at all at strong safety and they don't want to move cross
around too much so you've got to at least get somebody on the open market that can play some
strong safety it can just be a guy who's played you know five six years in the nfl and has a
couple dozen snaps on defense that you feel better about because like there has to be someone better out there who could play on defense than
Kendall Brooks and Michael Tootsie, Marcel Dabo, and even Trevor Denbo, who I think makes the
roster, but doesn't play much on Sundays. You know, there's got to be somebody out there that
you could play at strong safety as a depth player or just another guy that you can bring in for camp
just to compete with the
guys on the roster and then obviously if you want to go even higher end and move Nick Cross to that
safety three role go get a Justin Simmons go get a Quandre Diggs those guys are still out there
I know Marcus May was taken off of the the free agent pool the other day when he when he signed
with the Dolphins but you know there are still options out there as of right now, but the longer the Colts wait,
the lesser and lesser those options are going to be, and ultimately it's going to be, again,
where you're one injury away in the safety group from it being a complete disaster.
I don't know if there's going to be a Mike Mitchell out there this time for the Colts to sign
just to fix everything if an injury were to occur, because I don't really know what the solution is
if one of these two starters goes down again,
how much do you trust Thomas at this point?
If you're the Colts,
how much do you trust Denbo getting out there?
How much do you trust Dabo getting out there?
Whoever it's going to be.
I don't know where that trust is.
Like you,
you could go into this off season saying,
look,
the two starters,
Blackman,
we feel really good about cross.
We feel fine about like whatever it's going to be we're
optimistic about cross that's perfectly fine the starters you're feeling okay about but what
happens if something happens to those guys at other positions on this roster they have solutions
if something happens to quitty pay they have layout to lot to to throw out there or taekwon
lewis perfectly fine if something happens you know to Bernhard Reimann, which would be awful,
they have Blake Freeland and other guys who they have at least invested in to put out there. But
if something happens to Nick Cross, you got nobody. If something happens to Julian Blackman,
you have nobody on this roster. At least go out there and get somebody that you feel comfortable
putting on the field if an injury were to occur. It doesn't have
to be some star player. It can be just a guy who's been around the league a couple times. That's
fine. Just get somebody who can actually play back there and give you some decent snaps.
So at the end of the day, look, I don't think the Colts need to go get a Justin Simmons. If you
still want to play this kind of slow and see what you can do with Nick Cross and see if Nick Cross can be your cheaper solution to that free safety position.
Then by all means, go with Nick Cross.
But they at least need somebody back here behind them in case something were to happen.
Because the last thing we want with this Colts team again is for them to be one injury away from going from a playoff team to a team that just misses the playoffs.
We've seen this way too many times in the past, you know, where we're especially at
safety to like Andrew Sandejo coming in here and starting games for the Colts, Mike Mitchell
coming in and starting games.
At least he was, you know, a bit of a godsend for this team.
But like, gosh, like we don't want to be one injury away at safety again.
Like go get somebody who can at least give you some decent snaps if he were to get on the field. That's all I ask here when it comes to safety. So you guys can let us
know what you think in the comment section, because I'm exasperated just talking about this
one topic all off season long. Go get a safety, go get a safety, please. Somebody, somebody who
can play on the field or maybe one of these young guys just show me up in training camp, whatever
it's going to be. But yeah, you guys let us know in the comments section what you think there.
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