Latest / Football Junkies podcast / Stack or Shed Ep.11 Texans edition

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Stack or Shed Ep.11 Texans edition · Football Junkies podcast

• 0:00
  Hey everybody, this is your GM, your back row
• 0:01
  dominance, your hopium, hopium, hopium, hopium,
• 0:04
  hopium dealer, your GM who currently is not on
• 0:06
  a team right now, but don't you worry about it,
• 0:07
  Kale. Here to bring you episode 11 of the Stack
• 0:10
  and Shed series. Now in this series, we're covering
• 0:12
  all 32 teams, so everybody gets a chance to be
• 0:15
  talked about, all right? Now in this series,
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  we're covering a few different topics, and they
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  include what went wrong, what do they need, stack
• 0:22
  or shed, their draft picks. One move I would
• 0:26
  do in their cap space, all right? Now, in this
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  episode, we're going to the Dirty South, all
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  right? We're stopping by the Trill Burgers. We're
• 0:32
  stopping by the Screw Shop. We're stopping by
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  a few different landmarks in H -Town, all right?
• 0:36
  We're getting ourselves a couple things to get
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  ourselves acquainted with the culture and everything
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  because we're talking about the Texans, all right?
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  So make sure you guys go to Bucky's and get yourself
• 0:44
  and me a t -shirt. Get us some brisket. Get us
• 0:48
  some chips. Get us some snacks because we got
• 0:50
  a lot to cover with this team. So let's lock
• 0:53
  in. All right, let's get into it. So what went
• 1:02
  wrong in the Texan season? And I will eventually
• 1:05
  say it was regressing quarterback play. Going
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  into last season, I had a lot of questions about
• 1:10
  C .J. Stroud due in part to his regression that
• 1:12
  we have seen within the last few years. And this
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  isn't the type of regression that only former
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  players or coaches or former offensive coordinators
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  or people who've been around the sport of football
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  can only see. This is the type of regression
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  that everyone can see. He's not throwing the
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  ball like how he used to. He's not executing
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  the plays like how he used to. He hasn't been
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  super consistent. When comparing CJ Stroud from
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  2024 to 2025, this is what you have according
• 1:39
  to Sumer Sports. So in 2024, CJ Stroud was 532
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  passing attempts for 336 completions, 3 ,727
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  passing yards, 219 .2 passing yards per game,
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  7 yards per attempt, 20 touchdowns, 12 interceptions,
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  a 63 .2 % completion percentage. Now in that
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  season, they made it to the playoffs and these
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  are his stats. He was 41. for 51 which is 67
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  .2 percent 527 passing yards one touchdown one
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  interception and 8 .6 yards per attempt now when
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  you look at his stats this past season this is
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  what we have 423 passing attempts for 273 completions,
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  3 ,041 passing yards, 217 .2 passing yards per
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  game, 7 .1 yards per attempt, 19 touchdowns,
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  8 interceptions, and a 64 .5 % completion percentage.
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  Now when you look at his playoff stats, it's
• 2:33
  actually really bad. 41 for 79, which is 51 .9%,
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  462 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, 5 interceptions,
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  and 5 .8 yards per attempt. Now, I'm not saying
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  that CJ Stroud needs to be in the same stratosphere
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  as a Burrow or Allen or Lamar or Mahomes, but
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  CJ Stroud has the talent to be a really good
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  quarterback. And in the past few years, we have
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  not seen that in CJ Stroud. And there's nobody
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  that he can point the finger at but himself.
• 3:05
  Going into the playoffs last season, the Texans
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  were primed to go on a crazy run. Their first
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  opponent was the Steelers, a Steelers team that
• 3:14
  hobbled themselves into the playoffs. And for
• 3:17
  a majority of the game, it was the Texas defense
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  that was keeping the game close. Then your next
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  opponent was the Patriots, a Patriots offense
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  that wasn't playing their best ball. And you
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  mean to tell me you wasn't able to capitalize
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  off of the defensive plays and try to put some
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  points on the board? Now, I wasn't expecting
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  CJ Stroud to just light it up for four quarters
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  straight, but what I was expecting was for CJ
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  Stroud to capitalize every single time the defense
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  put them in a great field position. But that's
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  not what we saw. Instead, we saw a quarterback
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  that looked like a deer in headlights. Understand
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  this, my fellow football junkies. It is the playoffs
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  that defines a quarterback's career, not the
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  regular season. Jared Goff looks fine in the
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  regular season, but when he gets to the playoffs,
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  he folds. But guess what? When Mahomes gets into
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  the playoffs, he is a completely different beast.
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  Tom Brady can struggle the entire regular season,
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  but if he gets into the playoffs, it is hell
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  to pay for any team that has to face him, regardless
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  if it's home or away. That's what defines who
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  you are. And so far, what can we say about CJ
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  Stroud in the playoffs? What can we say about
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  CJ Stroud in the regular season? Because everything
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  that I have to say about him really isn't that
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  good. And I know that he has the potential to
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  do it. You just have to put it together. Now,
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  I'm not saying this was a Super Bowl roster,
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  but this was the closest thing to it. This should
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  have been the year that you would have went on
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  that run. Because at that time, guess what? Mahomes
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  was in the playoffs. Lamar was in the playoffs.
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  Justin Herbert was in the playoffs. It was wide
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  open for you. The only team that was a true threat
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  in the playoffs for the AFC was the Broncos.
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  So the only thing that you had to worry about
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  was the defense. And as long as you kept the
• 5:01
  defense in check, you had a legitimate chance.
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  And that's not what we saw. We saw somebody that
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  folded under pressure when the team needed him
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  the most. And that's not what you need in a quarterback.
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  You need your quarterback to elevate their play
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  when all the pressure is on their shoulders.
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  And you can't say that Texas haven't done their
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  job because they've surrounded you with endless
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  weapons. You have a really good receiving core.
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  You have a productive tight end. You just got
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  David Montgomery. They just signed Braden Smith.
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  They just signed Wyatt Teller. You have everything
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  that you need to be successful. All you have
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  to do is just deliver. If you made it to the
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  AFC Championship this past season, nobody would
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  say anything about you. But because you guys
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  failed to make it to that point, and because
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  you guys failed to capitalize on a year where
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  Patrick Mahomes was not in the playoffs, now
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  everybody is looking at you, asking the question,
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  is CJ Stroud the franchise guy, or is he just
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  the bridge for somebody else to come in? Now,
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  with that being said, what do the Texans need?
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  And that is more consistency from CJ Stroud.
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  I don't know if they need to bring in somebody
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  to just refine CJ Stroud. I don't know what it
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  is. But whatever the Texans need to do to maximize
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  CJ Stroud's potential, do it at this point. Because
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  this is a very loaded roster. And this roster
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  can go to the Super Bowl. All they need is for
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  CJ Stroud to get his act together. As long as
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  C .J. Stroud can play to where he's either the
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  best or the second best quarterback in his division
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  and maybe the 10th or 15th best quarterback in
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  the AFC, I think the Texans have a chance. But
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  if he fails to reach that point, then we need
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  to have an honest conversation about C .J. Stroud.
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  Especially with next year coming up where everybody
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  is saying there's supposed to be a robust amount
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  of quarterbacks that are going to be available.
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  And we also have to remember that the Texans
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  have a major financial decision that they have
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  to make with CJ Stroup because they either have
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  to pick up his fifth year option or they're going
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  to have to pay him 60 plus million a year. And
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  at this point, I would venture to say the Texans
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  are probably going to let this thing play out
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  all the way to the end. Now, with that being
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  said, the question we all need to ask ourselves
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  is stack or shed. And I would venture to say
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  stack. And the reason why I say that is because
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  this is a very loaded roster. I would venture
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  to say this is the best roster in their division.
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  You have all the things that you need in order
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  for this team to be successful and to go on a
• 7:32
  long playoff run, maybe even go to the Super
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  Bowl and win the Super Bowl. All you need is
• 7:37
  for C .J. Stroud to elevate his play. If you
• 7:39
  can play like how Sam Darnold played last season,
• 7:42
  that is enough for the team to make it to the
• 7:44
  Super Bowl. Because Sam Darnold wasn't spectacular
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  last season. Sam Darnold really didn't start
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  cooking until he made it into the playoffs. If
• 7:52
  you don't believe me, look at the stats. The
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  stats don't lie. The play don't lie. The tape
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  don't lie. All right. Now, with that being said,
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  when we look at their draft picks, they have
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  their first. They have two seconds, a third,
• 8:02
  two fourths, two fifths, and a seventh. Now,
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  we all know the Texas GM loves to be fluid when
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  it comes to the draft. Sometimes he'll trade
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  up. Sometimes he'll trade down. Sometimes he'll
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  trade away some picks to get a player. He likes
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  to do it all. All right. But the question is
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  this. Do you believe there is a position of need
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  on your team right now that requires you to be
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  aggressive and trade up? Or do you feel complacent
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  on how your roster is right now and you can trade
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  down? And speaking of that, the one move that
• 8:29
  I would do is entertain trading out of the first
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  round. And the reason why I say that is because
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  this draft class isn't a draft class where you
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  need to take somebody in the first round. Instead,
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  this is a draft class that you can see how the
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  board falls and you can trade out of the first
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  round and still get a high quality player. The
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  Broncos have been looking for a high quality
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  wide receiver. And this is a wide receiver class
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  that's really good. But they said, you know what?
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  We want the proven tech. over the potential talent.
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  And that makes sense. So if you're the Texans,
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  I would trade out of the first round. I would
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  play around in the second and third round, maybe
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  use the fourth or fifth round to, you know, add
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  some depth and maybe some competition for, you
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  know, for certain positions. And then I would
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  just go from there. Because at this point, what
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  do you really need on this roster? You have Will
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  Anderson. You have Daniil Hunter. You have your
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  quarterback for now. You have your wide receivers.
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  You have your running back. You have your offensive
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  line. The only position that I would say the
• 9:28
  Texans... probably need to address is interior
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  defensive line. But even then, there's not a
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  lot of high quality prospects that they can go
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  after. Unless you go after Caleb Banks, unless
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  you go after Daryl Jackson, unless you go after
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  Dante Corleone, or you make a move for Lee Hunter,
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  there's no need for you to allocate a first round
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  pick on a defensive tackle, especially when you
• 9:49
  know that some of these defensive tackles may
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  fall. There's a good chance that Caleb Banks
• 9:54
  may fall because he has a fracture in his foot.
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  There's a good chance that Lee Hunter may just
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  be a high -end second -round pick. There's a
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  good chance that Dante Corleone, Daryl Jackson,
• 10:04
  Zane Durant, and all those defensive linemen
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  may still be available in day two and day three
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  of the draft. And I want to put y 'all on game
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  real quick. There's a lot of teams right now
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  that are preparing for the 27 draft class because
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  a lot of people believe that the 27 draft class
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  is going to be another spectacular draft class
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  because you have people such as Jeremiah Smith,
• 10:25
  Ryan Williams, Lenore Sellers, Archie Manning
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  possibly. So really think about this for a second.
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  If you're the Texans, it's better for you to
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  just trade down, recoup some picks for this draft
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  class as well as the 27 draft class to position
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  yourself. to make a major move if you want to
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  do it in 27 or in 26 at the trade deadline instead
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  of just taking somebody that you're really not
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  high on in the first round looking at the texans
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  cap situation they have 28 .5 million now that
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  number can fluctuate a little bit because we
• 10:56
  all know they're going to pay will anderson and
• 10:58
  we all know that they're probably going to save
• 10:59
  a lot of that money for the draft but my question
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  is this If you're the Texans, do you try to be
• 11:05
  players in that second and third wave of free
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  agency? Because there's a lot of notable players
• 11:10
  that are still available. You can go after Cam
• 11:12
  Jordan if you want to. You can go after Deebo
• 11:15
  Samuel. You can go after Jawan Jennings. You
• 11:17
  have a lot of options, but only time will tell.
• 11:20
  But I'm in this episode here. If you guys like
• 11:22
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• 11:23
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• 12:01
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• 12:03
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• 13:09
  morning, K -A -I -L -E, all right? As always,
• 13:12
  I hope I gave you guys the fix that you guys
• 13:13
  need. I love you guys. I appreciate you guys
• 13:15
  so much. Thank you guys so much for listening
• 13:17
  to the best football podcast that you can listen
• 13:19
  to on a week -to -week. to day basis. And as
• 13:22
  always, this is your GM Kel signing out. Peace
• 13:24
  and love later guys.