Latest / Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast / SATP Ep.40 Pt. 1 feat. Houston Stressans

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SATP Ep.40 Pt. 1 feat. Houston Stressans · Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast

• 0:26
  Welcome to another edition of the Sports Ave.
• 0:28
  Twisted podcast. We have a guest in here today
• 0:31
  who is a expert when it comes to the Texans and the Astros,
• 0:35
  Houston's dressings. Welcome to the show.
• 0:38
  Just let the world know what you do and everything else.
• 0:42
  Yeah, guys, thanks for having me.
• 0:44
  As you mentioned, I'm a avid Texans and Astros fan.
• 0:48
  I basically, you know, born and raised in Houston, been a fan my
• 0:51
  whole life and kind of just created a Twitter about a year
• 0:54
  to two years ago just to kind of get my takes off.
• 0:56
  And it kind of grew into growing across various platforms.
• 1:00
  And yeah, that's pretty much it. So I enjoy just, you know,
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  getting my, you know, sharing content that I see and sharing
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  my analysis, whether it be on plays, you know, I had played
• 1:11
  football in college by by receivers.
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  So I do have some knowledge of the game as well as like
• 1:16
  interviews. I love analyzing, you know,
• 1:17
  answers and speculating stuff like that.
• 1:19
  But as far as where you can find me, you can find me at Texans
• 1:23
  commenter on X and TikTok and YouTube and then on Facebook and
• 1:28
  Instagram. It's at Houston Stressens.
• 1:30
  And I do have a website, houstonstressens.com, with the
• 1:33
  free newsletter and I write articles and and I have plenty
• 1:36
  of content there as well. Thanks for joining us today,
• 1:40
  man. It's been a it's an honor to
• 1:41
  have you. We have a friend who's a Texans
• 1:45
  fan and an Astros fan say all Houston.
• 1:48
  So we, we talk about all this stuff all the time.
• 1:50
  So but we're, we're interested and you came highly recommended,
• 1:54
  by the way. So we're glad to have you today
• 1:57
  And and we're we're excited to talk some football and baseball
• 2:01
  with you, man. Yeah, awesome.
• 2:03
  I appreciate it. And like, you know, I'm a sports
• 2:05
  fan in general. I watch all teams too.
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  And, you know, I may have posts here and there where I kind of
• 2:09
  like, you know, poke fun and tease, but like, I enjoy sports
• 2:14
  and, you know, I'm not like a troll by any means.
• 2:16
  So, I mean, we were just talking, we were just talking
• 2:18
  beforehand about like, y'all are Bills fans.
• 2:20
  Like, that's dope. Like, you know, like I've, you
• 2:22
  know, I've learned a lot about y'all's team and I think y'all
• 2:24
  got a good thing going. So yeah.
• 2:27
  Then we all just get in the same way, right?
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  So yeah, let's let's get right to it.
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  So the first question I want to ask you is how would you look at
• 2:36
  the outlook of the 2024 Texas? I know that CJ Stroud was
• 2:41
  drafted in 23 has set the bar so, so high Rookie of the year
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  and won the division. Nobody expected that to happen.
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  And they did repeat as champions in the AFC South.
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  And you know, he had his ups and downs, but but steadily they
• 3:01
  they did enough to win the division.
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  So what are your thoughts on this past season?
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  It was definitely a surprise. You know, I don't think, you
• 3:10
  know, I did have my concerns about Bobby Sloat going into
• 3:13
  Year 2, but I guess it wasn't enough of a sample size to
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  really, I mean, I don't think anybody could have told you what
• 3:21
  happened was going to happen. I personally don't think it was
• 3:25
  much of A sophomore slump from CJ Stroud as it was a sophomore
• 3:30
  slump from Bobby Slowic. That's not to say that Stroud
• 3:32
  didn't play well, but the environment that he was in was
• 3:35
  just ridiculous. I think if you put a lot of
• 3:38
  other quarterbacks in that same environment, they would do much
• 3:41
  worse. But to me, what was funny is,
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  you know, that first year, you know, you, like you mentioned,
• 3:47
  you know, you make the playoffs rookie of the year and we're
• 3:49
  the, you know, big hot thing. And obviously, you know, we kind
• 3:53
  of get overhyped and everything. But where it all went wrong is,
• 3:57
  you know, that first year we had like a patchwork O line.
• 4:00
  It was guys that were injured and you know, you kind of had
• 4:03
  some guys that weren't expected to play and they played pretty
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  well. And so like all the fans
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  expectations and most media expectations going into the
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  second year, this regime was OK. Now we're getting back all of
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  our highly paid, highly drafted O lineman.
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  Oh, it's going to be 10 times better.
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  And it turns out it was 10 times worse.
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  And a lot of it was, you know, I think that there was
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  complacency. Guys were given jobs and there
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  wasn't competition just just by the nature of not having depth.
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  And so then when did when you did have instances where Kenyon
• 4:34
  Green turned out to be a big flop, where Shaq Mason had this
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  massive regression out of nowhere, you suddenly had no
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  depth. And then that's just to say,
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  like, I would say the biggest reason why the season was bad
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  offensively was the scheme. And there was a lot of
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  dysfunction too. Like you're kind of finding out
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  now in the Houston media, D'amico Ryan's, you know, we
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  fired Bobby Slowic, we fired Chris Strausser, our online
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  coach, and we kept every other, you know, person on staff.
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  We promoted an online coach internally to the new online
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  coach. And most fans are like, well,
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  why would you promote an online coach that was part of one of
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  the worst online? Well, basically everything
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  they've done, including, you know, the Laramie Tunsil trade,
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  cutting Shaq Mason, trading Kenyon Green.
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  You know, most of the move that they've made, in my opinion, has
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  shown us that it's an indictment.
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  Last year was an indictment on Bobby Sloic and Chris Strausser.
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  And that tells me that it was scheme and coaching and the fact
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  that they didn't go and get a big name into your offensive
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  lineman and free agency and then they didn't go draft a big name
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  into your offensive lineman in the draft.
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  It tells me that they're telling us, hey, the reason why it was
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  as bad as it was, was coaching and scheme.
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  And and I I agree with that. If you watch the games, you
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  know, CJ Stroud getting pressure almost all the times he got
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  pressure because the O line, and I should say it wasn't just the
• 5:58
  O line. It was the pass protection
• 6:00
  scheme as a whole. It was the tight ends which were
• 6:02
  the worst pass protecting tight ends in the league and the
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  running backs. But but the point is, is it was
• 6:07
  mental and not physical and guys were getting beat.
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  They were just not knowing what to do.
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  Like you can't even do that in the NFL.
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  Like you have no shot if your guys don't even know their
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  assignment. So, you know, things I noticed
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  early on in the year and it's a copycat league.
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  So I mean, as early as Minnesota with Brian Flores, he showed
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  that, hey, you can mug the line of scrimmage.
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  You know, Bobby still like love to run these condensed
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  formations, which invites defenders into the box.
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  So now you have nickels and safeties, you know, closer to
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  the line of scrimmage and they just bliss off the edge and you
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  had no answer for it. And they would go untouched.
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  And then, you know, simple stunts, you know, with the D
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  lineman fooled us, delayed blitzes, like simple little
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  games and gimmicks that every team has done and every level of
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  college football for a long time just absolutely killed us.
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  So to me, it was coaching. I was surprised by it.
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  And I guess we can talk about it here in a second, but that can
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  kind of parlay into what I expect next year.
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  And then I guess I'd even touch on it.
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  But the defense, you know, my whole take on the Texans in 2024
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  that I thought they had a Super Bowl caliber defense all year.
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  You know, they had a couple injuries late.
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  Specifically, I'd like the the safety nickel star role with the
• 7:16
  Jalen Petrie and then Jimmy Ward, which kind of hurt us.
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  But even then though, like D'amico, Ryan's in my opinion is
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  like a defensive mastermind. We have plenty of talent there.
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  All we needed was an average to slightly above average offense
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  to be a legit contender. Unfortunately, that was not the
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  case. So.
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  You mentioned Laramie Tunsil, you guys traded him to the
• 7:37
  commanders for what? Trade him in a pick for some,
• 7:41
  for some picks this year, next year.
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  So what what was your take on that trade?
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  Talk about his time with the Texans and what was the
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  reasoning for the trade? Did it have to do with just
• 7:55
  freeing up cap space or they just wanted a new look,
• 7:58
  something to over to overhaul that offensive line?
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  So just talk about the time Laramie tonsils spent in Houston
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  and how how important that trade is.
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  Yeah, I mean, initially it kind of caught me off guard like, you
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  know, some people would mention, oh, we need to trade him.
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  And I never even entertained it. Like obviously my logic was OK,
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  we had a terrible O line. Why would you trade the best
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  player you have? But once it happened, I quickly
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  started to realize, like you alluded to, you know, caps face
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  I think was the biggest reason why.
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  Obviously, you know, a big hot topic on the Texans O line last
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  year was the culture. You know, obviously you saw
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  clips of throughout the year were CJ Stroud getting hit, laid
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  out of bounds or, you know, getting sacked and there's no
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  alignment, picking them up or sticking up for him, stuff like
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  that. And it seemed to be an O line
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  last year that was a bunch of individuals as opposed to a
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  collective unit, which with offensive line, that's the one
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  position group where you need a collective unit.
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  So I think that played a factor. But you know, he was next year
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  he would be due for an extension and he'd be asking for it.
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  So this to me was much like, you know, a lot good GMs do like
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  Howie Rosen with the Eagles, they're very forward thinking.
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  So Nick Caserio saw this. He knew that we would
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  potentially have to give him an extension next year.
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  So rather than wait until next year and then not extend him,
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  you got ahead of the curve, you made a risky move, but you were
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  able to get value, valuable capital now and save money this
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  year and next year. He was our biggest cap hit by
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  far the next two years. And the really the biggest
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  factor in that is you now have next year, you have CJ Stratum,
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  Will and junior eligible for their big extensions, which
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  obviously you can exercise 5th year options and defer money.
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  But still, you know, we're we're going to be entering a phase
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  where, you know, if you don't start thinking about it now, you
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  could really hamstring your franchise.
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  So I think that's the biggest part of it.
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  I think the culture stuff I mentioned definitely plays into
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  it like that being said, like, you know, everybody is worth a
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  certain number. You know, if if he would have
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  been if Lt. obviously, and then I would say to his time here was
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  awesome. I felt like, you know, he got a
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  lot of Flack. But I mean, there is value in
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  having a lockdown left tackle for a young quarterback and pass
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  protection that you don't have to worry about.
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  His run blocking obviously was not as good and he didn't have
• 10:18
  like that dog mentality people might think.
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  But you know, there's there was definitely value in that.
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  But at the same time though, like if you're getting paid 28
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  to $30 million a year and then you have these false starts, you
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  have this, you know, supposed attitude where it's a selfish
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  attitude that all plays a factor.
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  So if he didn't have those penalties and he was a great run
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  blocker, you know, you could have justified keeping him.
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  So it did play a part to it. But I would say it was mostly
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  salary cap and then some of it was the culture penalties type
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  stuff. So, but I mean, I, I thought he
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  was a great asset for us and I wish him the best.
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  I think he'll do great in Washington.
• 10:56
  So another trade that what happened in the offseason was
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  trading Kenyon Green, who was the first round pick in 2022, I
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  believe he was 15th overall and he just didn't work out for the
• 11:07
  Texas. So so they give him opportunity
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  to go to the Eagles for CJ Gardner Johnson.
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  And with the Texans already having a great defense, it
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  strengthens up even further. What were your thoughts about
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  that whole trade? I was very surprised, one, that
• 11:25
  anybody even wanted to trade for Kenyon Green and two, that we
• 11:29
  got a level of a player as CJ Garner Johnson.
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  But again, once I looked into it more and I thought it was like
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  an absolute fleece by the Texans at first.
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  But I still think they obviously won the trade.
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  But now I definitely see it from the Eagles perspective.
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  Again, Howie Roseman, the GM there, this is another example
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  of him being forward thinking. They have CJ Garner Johnson and
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  a secondary full of young guys. They got a bunch of guys on
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  defense, but just like the Texans when they traded Tunsil,
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  they got out ahead of the curve that were gonna have to extend
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  him next year. Same thing for CJ Gardner
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  Johnson. If you knew you're gonna have to
• 12:02
  give an extension extension next year and you weren't gonna do
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  it, you might as well get something now in return, which
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  was their thought process. So and as far As for the Eagles,
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  you know, Kenyon Green, like you mentioned, he was drafted high.
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  You know, he had injuries early on.
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  And and I think a big part of it too is he was in a system that
• 12:21
  didn't really fit his strengths. We were in a zone scheme and
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  he's more of a gap blocker. So you had that aspect of it.
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  And so basically they got a flyer on somebody.
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  For now, he's going to go to the best offensive line coach in the
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  league. And Jeff Stalin, which we just
• 12:35
  saw last year with Makai Becton, a former first round pick, he
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  was considered a bus who just got resurrected and became I
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  believe all pro or at least a pro bowler with them.
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  So that's the the upside with them.
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  So I get it from their perspective.
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  But what's funny about this is too is what I kind of learned is
• 12:52
  the Texans wanted to re sign Eric Murray, but the Jaguars
• 12:56
  threw an absolute bag at Eric Murray.
• 12:59
  Eric Murray was good. I felt like he was overlooked by
• 13:02
  Texans fans, but I don't think he was nearly as good as what he
• 13:05
  got paid by the Jags. And as a result, we then need
• 13:08
  another safety. And so it's funny how it worked
• 13:10
  out that the Jags overpaid our free agent safety that we wanted
• 13:13
  to re sign didn't now we needed a safety and we were able to
• 13:17
  trade Kenyon Green for CJ Gunner Johnson.
• 13:19
  So but as far as like now on the Texans perspective, adding him
• 13:22
  to that defense, We already had a crash out defense with a bunch
• 13:26
  of guys that will just or, you know, relentless, Jalen Petrie,
• 13:30
  Jimmy Ward, Kamari Lasseter, obviously Derek Stingley, but
• 13:34
  he's not like the crash out type.
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  But now you have an enforcing, imposing defense with CJ Garner
• 13:42
  Johnson there. You mentioned obviously Kenny
• 13:48
  Green and and Laramie Tunsil are out.
• 13:52
  Well, they they signed Cam Robinson, Lack and Thompson
• 13:55
  Tomlinson, Jake Matthews, Trent Brown and then they drafted
• 13:59
  Arante Ursari shaking up that O line.
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  So tell us a little bit more about what you expect this
• 14:06
  season from from those guys and is it just more of a straight
• 14:11
  rebuild, see what happens and hopefully hope for the best and
• 14:15
  hope some of these younger guys just just take steps forward.
• 14:19
  Again, so like as I alluded to earlier, you know I their
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  actions of the guys that they sign not getting these big name
• 14:27
  guys tells us that they thought the personnel wasn't the issue,
• 14:31
  but rather the coaching and the scheme.
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  So Cam Robinson I think is a good signing.
• 14:37
  I, you know, obviously he's getting like 14,000,000 a year,
• 14:40
  but if you think about it for a left tackle that's pretty low.
• 14:43
  I think he can be a good left tackle.
• 14:45
  I feel like he's kind of getting overlooked as far as what he
• 14:49
  will be. I mean, he's been a pretty solid
• 14:51
  starter most of his career and people are looking at last year,
• 14:54
  but he got traded in the middle of the year last year and got
• 14:57
  thrown into a different scheme. So I mean, that's a pretty tough
• 14:59
  ass to go to want a new team and now do more of the zone
• 15:03
  blocking, which you're not used to.
• 15:04
  So, you know, now he projects back to being a Nick Kaley
• 15:08
  offense, which I think will run more gap scheme.
• 15:10
  So I think that move was pretty solid.
• 15:12
  But then, you know, like you mentioned Ed Ingram, Lake and
• 15:15
  Tomlinson, these are veterans who aren't, you know, sexy,
• 15:18
  flashy signings. I think, you know, they're
• 15:21
  probably just deaf pizzas, honestly.
• 15:22
  But for me, like you know, I was talking last night in the show,
• 15:26
  but I believe the projected starting five initially as of
• 15:30
  now will be Cam Robinson left tackle.
• 15:33
  I think it'll be Titus Howard again at left guard who played
• 15:36
  there late in the year, Jarrett Patterson at center.
• 15:39
  And then you have Juice Scruggs at right guard and now Blake
• 15:42
  Fisher at right tackle. So that's pretty much the same O
• 15:45
  line we had last year except for the left tackle being different.
• 15:48
  So again, that points to they think these guys are good
• 15:51
  enough. They just need to be in a better
• 15:53
  scheme, better coaching, etcetera.
• 15:55
  But then also you mentioned Ariante Ursuri, who we drafted
• 15:59
  out of Minnesota, who projects to be potentially one of the
• 16:02
  better tackles in the draft, but maybe developmental.
• 16:04
  So he's somebody. I know people have talked about
• 16:07
  flexing him to guard. I don't think that they do that.
• 16:10
  There's a potential that he could maybe play both tackles.
• 16:13
  But I think the idea is they want to keep him at left tackle
• 16:15
  and he, you know, potentially could beat Cameron Robinson out
• 16:19
  of that spot. But at the same time, I don't
• 16:21
  feel like they have to pressure that.
• 16:24
  But you know, I feel better about it and like to me, like I
• 16:26
  pointed out earlier, what's funny about the O line is last
• 16:30
  year, you know, everyone was pretty much guaranteed spots due
• 16:33
  to lack of depth. And now this year pretty much no
• 16:36
  one is guaranteed a spot. I, I would say the only
• 16:38
  guaranteed spot for sure would be Titus because he can play
• 16:42
  left card, right tackle, left tackle, and then maybe Cam
• 16:45
  Robinson at left tackle. After that.
• 16:46
  It's, you know, the other guys you mentioned, there's, there's
• 16:49
  a lot of options to be had. So that's, I think that's a good
• 16:52
  thing. So the next question I want to
• 16:55
  ask you is I want to I want to talk about the draft here a
• 16:59
  little bit. And the Texans had the 25th pick
• 17:02
  and you know that they wanted to address the offensive line.
• 17:06
  And there was speculation that if Tyler Tyler Booker was was
• 17:12
  available at 25, they would have drafted.
• 17:14
  But instead the Cowboys were extremely aggressive drafting
• 17:17
  him at 12. With that being said, they
• 17:20
  traded down and looking down, they drafted a couple wide
• 17:24
  receivers to safety, a cornerback, a tight end, a
• 17:28
  little bit of everything here. But also, there was also
• 17:32
  speculation that there was a deal in place with the Texans
• 17:36
  and Patriots, knowing that Kazario was with the Patriots
• 17:41
  during his time and familiarity over there.
• 17:43
  And there was word out there that they were willing to trade
• 17:46
  up for for the 38th pick, 58th picks and the 7070 ninth pick
• 17:51
  and the 2026 third round pick. When you look at all this and
• 17:55
  you saw how that draft turned out to be for Khazario, like,
• 17:59
  how would you look at it as an aspect of how we strategize the
• 18:03
  draft itself? I like it.
• 18:07
  I mean, you know, it's it's funny too as fans, you know, I
• 18:10
  was looking at things and more of like a a needs base, a win
• 18:14
  now window. You know, we only needed to fill
• 18:17
  one to two positions to really be a Super Bowl contender.
• 18:20
  But you know, lucky for us, I'm not the GM and we have Nick
• 18:24
  Casario who has shown that he's level headed, pragmatic GM.
• 18:29
  He's calm. He's never going to overspend.
• 18:33
  You know, he kind of lets things come to him as opposed to, you
• 18:36
  know, being aggressive. And if that's the approach you
• 18:38
  take, that's when you can overspend and whatnot.
• 18:40
  So, you know, and listening to him and all of his interviews, I
• 18:45
  mean, it's no secret. He's one of, if not the most
• 18:47
  active general manager in the NFL.
• 18:49
  He's willing to talk to anyone and everyone.
• 18:52
  And then he just, you know, takes the deals.
• 18:54
  That makes sense. Obviously he was very active.
• 18:57
  I think the Tyler Booker thing, man, that was that was tough.
• 19:00
  So I mean, you know, I think that they really wanted to
• 19:02
  interior line, but they also were fine not being able to.
• 19:06
  So, you know, if they could have very well overpaid with the
• 19:10
  Cowboys and traded up to get Booker, but you know, they
• 19:13
  didn't want to do that at a certain price point, which I
• 19:16
  respect. And then, you know, I think he
• 19:18
  just played the board is what he did.
• 19:20
  And so obviously they try to trade up to, you know, there's
• 19:23
  rumors they try to trade up to get Kelvin Banks junior as well.
• 19:26
  Obviously didn't want to overpay for that.
• 19:28
  And then as the board was falling, you know, you still
• 19:31
  need a receiver. Matthew Golden was right there
• 19:33
  and the Cowboy or the Packers sniped him.
• 19:36
  And then it's OK. Well, now we need Donovan
• 19:39
  Jackson from Ohio State, and he got sniped by the Vikings to
• 19:42
  pick before. And so then, you know, but
• 19:45
  luckily, too, he mentioned that when he traded back at 25 with
• 19:48
  the Giants, he'd already had those talks in place.
• 19:51
  He was already preparing for that scenario.
• 19:54
  So rather than saying, hey, I'm gonna get one or two of these
• 19:56
  guys and then they get taken off the board and now you're
• 19:59
  frantically trying to figure it out, He was already preparing.
• 20:02
  So at that point in time, pivoting back and trading back,
• 20:05
  I thought was a great move. And then when they drafted.
• 20:08
  You know, Jaden Higgins, I, he's somebody who I think is an
• 20:12
  absolute stud and the beast, but I didn't really consider him
• 20:15
  being an option for the Texans with the similarities to Nico
• 20:18
  Collins. But now in hindsight, you know,
• 20:20
  I realized that he did play about 30% of his reps in the
• 20:24
  slot. So he can kind of play that
• 20:27
  other outside Z receiver. And then, you know, initially to
• 20:32
  when they drafted Jalen Noel, I thought, oh man, we don't need
• 20:34
  another solid receiver. We just, you know, assigned
• 20:37
  Christian Kirk. But if you think about it, they
• 20:39
  only signed Christian Kirk to a one year deal.
• 20:42
  You know, he has had some injury concerns.
• 20:44
  But really for the Texans the past two years, one of our
• 20:46
  biggest things that has hurt us is injuries, specifically in the
• 20:51
  wide receiver room. I mean, down the stretch, it's
• 20:53
  been Nico Collins and nobody else in the playoffs for two
• 20:56
  years in a row. And I don't feel like that's
• 20:58
  being talked about enough. I mean, not only for a
• 21:00
  production standpoint, but you got guys in there now playing
• 21:03
  that don't have the experience, that are running the wrong
• 21:06
  assignments, CJ Stroud can't trust, etc, etc.
• 21:09
  So now you go from somewhat of a bare receiver room to a loaded
• 21:15
  receiver room. But yeah, the way he did it, I
• 21:17
  mean, you know, he basically he's been preaching he does best
• 21:21
  player available. I do think it's like a best
• 21:23
  player available, like within their needs.
• 21:25
  So I mean, obviously in hindsight you can look back and
• 21:28
  like, Oh yeah, of course we needed, you know, receiver
• 21:30
  depth. And then we also got, you know,
• 21:33
  a couple corners that could be nickel slash safeties.
• 21:35
  Yes, we needed that too. Like last year whenever we had
• 21:38
  Kamari get hurt, we were stuck with Jeff Okuda as the corner 3
• 21:42
  and that and that kind of hurt us a little bit too.
• 21:43
  So in hindsight, everything fits.
• 21:46
  But you know what my biggest take away is?
• 21:48
  He's pragmatic, logical, he doesn't overreact.
• 21:51
  And I think it's not only great for this year, but the big take
• 21:55
  away is it's great for the long term.
• 21:57
  He's the process he takes is the most suitable way to have a long
• 22:04
  term sustainable contender. So I'm very happy.
• 22:08
  You mentioned previously about the the Texans defense save a
• 22:12
  Super Bowl caliber defense, which I I completely agree.
• 22:17
  I mean, you got Will Anderson is a beast.
• 22:19
  Tim Settle is a very solid defensive tackle.
• 22:22
  We we love them here in Buffalo. Danielle Hunter Henry, 2020
• 22:29
  right? You think that's how you
• 22:30
  pronounce that? That's a tough.
• 22:32
  One, yeah, it's it's tough. Aziz Al Shahir, Christian
• 22:37
  Harris, Derek Stingley, Caitlin Bullock was fantastic last year.
• 22:42
  And then you rounded out with Gardner, Johnson, Laster Petri.
• 22:46
  So what was the most impressive part about your defense?
• 22:49
  Who really stood out last season?
• 22:52
  Who are you excited to see perform this season improve upon
• 22:55
  themselves this year? And just because your your depth
• 22:59
  is unreal. So just just elaborate on that.
• 23:03
  And and who are you excited? Do you think that once they're
• 23:05
  ceiling, could they be even better than what they were last
• 23:08
  year? Yeah, absolutely.
• 23:10
  It's going to be hard for me to pick one.
• 23:11
  I mean, obviously Stingley all pro year last year I felt like
• 23:15
  he has been playing at that level.
• 23:17
  So it was nice to see him get that recognition.
• 23:19
  So, you know, he's in conversations with top one, top
• 23:22
  two corners in the league with him and Pastor Tan.
• 23:24
  And I agree. And he is, you know, he's a
• 23:27
  technician, he's a pros pro. His dad was a pro.
• 23:30
  He's been training for this for his whole life.
• 23:32
  He will only continue to get better.
• 23:34
  He's funny too. He's a guy that doesn't talk at
• 23:36
  all. All he does is just play ball
• 23:39
  and lockdown. So and then Kamari laughed at
• 23:42
  her man. I mean, you know, he was our
• 23:44
  first pick in the second round when we traded back last year
• 23:47
  with the Vikings and he was a pick that people were kind of,
• 23:50
  you know, talking bad on cuz he ran a four 6 I believe in the
• 23:54
  combine and thinking, why would we get this slow guy?
• 23:57
  But you know, that's that's an area to that Kasserio, which
• 24:00
  this last draft he kind of strayed away from.
• 24:02
  But generally they get guys with, you know, not great.
• 24:05
  Razz scores a Relative Athletic score, basically, you know,
• 24:09
  insinuate he's looking for value.
• 24:10
  Most teams will overlook guys based off these silly combine
• 24:14
  numbers, but Kamari Lasseter is an absolute dog.
• 24:18
  He came into OTAs last year and took the starting job within two
• 24:22
  weeks of being on the team, which was very rare.
• 24:25
  So like, we knew as fans from the jump that they were very
• 24:28
  high on him and we quickly found out why.
• 24:30
  I think for him, it's just like his mindset, his attitude, he's
• 24:33
  relentless and he's just, you know, he's he's a headhunter as
• 24:37
  well. And then you mentioned Caitlin
• 24:39
  Bullock. I'll be very excited to see him
• 24:42
  make another jump. He was a rookie last year.
• 24:44
  He was somewhat of a project guy that they kind of worked in
• 24:47
  late. So he was, you know, your free
• 24:49
  safety, ball Hawking safety. He's rangy, fast, athletic, like
• 24:54
  a true center fielder. You know, he kind of got worked
• 24:57
  into the rotation more and more last year.
• 24:59
  Obviously learning free safety in the NFL is a tough position,
• 25:03
  you know, having to disguise and rotate coverages and and all
• 25:07
  that stuff. So I think he'll play a more
• 25:09
  expanded role this year. But one guy that I think I've
• 25:13
  been very, very high on and I think is the absolute X Factor
• 25:17
  for D'amico Ryan's and his defense and that allows him to
• 25:20
  unlock and do so many things is Jalen Petrie.
• 25:23
  Jalen Petrie is an absolute animal and he was overlooked in
• 25:27
  my opinion because he was a beast coming out of Baylor and
• 25:31
  got drafted in the second round by the Texans because he played,
• 25:34
  I call it the star role, which is I believe Nick Saban coined
• 25:37
  that term. So basically he's a safety who
• 25:40
  plays essentially linebacker. So star the S is for Sam, but
• 25:44
  basically it's the nickel spot. And I think there's a big
• 25:47
  misconception misnomer, and I've been hammering it home to Texans
• 25:50
  fans, but it may still be that way for other people on the
• 25:52
  outside. But they look at him, they look
• 25:54
  at Jalen Petri as a nickel, like a true cover nickel.
• 25:57
  That is not what he is. He's not there on 3rd and longs
• 26:00
  to cover guys. He is 1/3 linebacker.
• 26:03
  The Texans run a 425 defense, base defense.
• 26:07
  They run that more than any team in the league.
• 26:09
  I want to say it's like 80 plus percent of the time.
• 26:11
  So that means you got your 4 down lineman, 2 linebackers and
• 26:14
  now when you have Jalen Petrie, who's a safety that plays that
• 26:18
  star role, the nickel, he's basically a third linebacker.
• 26:22
  Yes, he's undersized, but that guy plays well above his size.
• 26:26
  He's super aggressive. So now and the thing about the
• 26:29
  425 and what D'amico Ryan's like is he likes linebackers that are
• 26:33
  fast. That's kind of where the NFL is
• 26:35
  going with teams being pass heavy.
• 26:36
  So now if you think about it, he's a a fast aggressive third
• 26:40
  linebacker. He has no problem you know,
• 26:42
  going up and blowing up an O lineman, knocking him on his ass
• 26:46
  or you know, if he has a receiver, he'll press the crap
• 26:49
  out of him. But he's very versatile.
• 26:51
  D'amico can, you know, move him pre and post snap, he can blitz
• 26:55
  him, delay blitz him. He's just an absolute havoc
• 26:59
  creator. And so when we lost him last
• 27:02
  year with the torn Peck, I thought that was a big blow to
• 27:04
  us. Luckily, Jimmy Ward is kind of
• 27:06
  similar to that type of player and stepped in, but then he got
• 27:09
  hurt right away. So once both of those guys went
• 27:11
  down last year, that changed a lot of the creativity of what
• 27:14
  D'amico Ryan's could do on defense, in my opinion.
• 27:17
  So I'm very excited about him. And then, you know, linebacking
• 27:20
  course solid. Obviously Aziz is a stud.
• 27:23
  Christian Harris, I mean, he may not be on the team.
• 27:25
  Honestly, in my opinion, Henry Toa Toa kind of took his spot
• 27:29
  last year. And then, you know, they signed
• 27:31
  EJ speed off the Colts and he was a two year starter there.
• 27:35
  Highly productive. I think EJ speed could could see
• 27:38
  some snaps for us. And then like you said, the D
• 27:40
  line, I mean, the D line's insane, especially edge rusher
• 27:44
  Daniel Hunter, Will Anderson junior.
• 27:45
  I mean, I don't really, I think you need to elaborate on that.
• 27:48
  Those guys are just absolute beast.
• 27:50
  But they added Darrelle Taylor. This is under underrated signing
• 27:53
  from the Bears. He's another productive edge
• 27:55
  rusher. Resigned Derek Barnett.
• 27:57
  So you're 4 deep at least that edge and to your D line, you got
• 28:02
  Sheldon Rankin's back. You brought back Foley, fought
• 28:04
  Akasi as your one tech nose tackle like you mentioned, Tim
• 28:07
  Settle. Tim Settle is a beast.
• 28:09
  I feel like he is very underrated.
• 28:12
  Mario Edwards, Junior And so like, the thing about the D line
• 28:16
  for the Texans is D'amico Ryan's, He goes about by getting
• 28:19
  guys that are overlooked, but they fit his scheme and he's
• 28:23
  maximized the return on that. So yeah, overall I think this
• 28:27
  could be the best defense in the league.
• 28:30
  I thought they were top five last year.
• 28:33
  I think they could be the best defense in the league.
• 28:37
  So the next question I want to ask you is that I want to talk
• 28:39
  about the wide receiver core for the Texans here.
• 28:42
  It seems like there's a different look besides Nicole
• 28:46
  Collins, of course, and a couple other guys.
• 28:49
  And when you look at the way it's structured, they acquired
• 28:54
  Christian Kirk from the Jaguars once again.
• 28:56
  So it's an individual trade. Then they drafted Higgins and
• 29:00
  they drafted Noel. You got John met you still with
• 29:04
  this team, Xavier Hutchinson, this team compared to last year
• 29:08
  they traded for digs from from the Bills and unfortunate with
• 29:12
  the injuries with him and Tank Dell.
• 29:15
  How would you, how do you look at the schemes of both of these
• 29:19
  wide receiver quarters from last year to this year?
• 29:24
  Yeah, As far as like scheme, I think it's going to be way
• 29:26
  different. You know, I thought the DIG
• 29:29
  signing was a bit of a gamble and I thought it was good.
• 29:31
  It just got hurt. You know, I thought he was a
• 29:33
  great addition to our team. And, you know, one thing that we
• 29:36
  didn't realize, what we learned quickly is how much of A leader
• 29:39
  he was. I mean, he will have a lasting
• 29:41
  impact on this team. He helped develop a lot of these
• 29:43
  young guys on both offense and defense.
• 29:45
  He was, you know, after practice teaching guys things that he's
• 29:49
  learned as a veteran. But you know, I feel like we
• 29:52
  didn't have the offense to maximize those guys strengths.
• 29:55
  We had a Bali Slowic ran offense, which was a wide zone
• 29:57
  offense. You know, we could have ran more
• 30:00
  spread concepts and and maximize these guys skills that we
• 30:04
  didn't. And so now you Fast forward to
• 30:06
  this year with Nick Kaley coming from the Rams as the tight ends
• 30:09
  coach under Sean McVeigh, also spent time in doing with Josh
• 30:12
  McDaniels. I think, you know, we could see
• 30:15
  a mixture of the two. But the big thing about Nick
• 30:18
  Caylee that he's preached and D'amico's preached, you know,
• 30:22
  the reason why they fired Bobby Slowic was his inability to
• 30:24
  adapt or adjust. And then now Nick Caylee is
• 30:28
  talking about, you know, he's going to build his offense
• 30:31
  around his personnel and not vice versa.
• 30:33
  So unfortunately with Slowic, he only knew the wide zone scheme
• 30:37
  and we try to get guys a lineman that didn't fit it to run his
• 30:41
  scheme. But now we're going to assess
• 30:43
  the room, OK? These lineman are bigger,
• 30:45
  stronger guys. They're not as agile.
• 30:47
  They're better for gap scheme, OK?
• 30:49
  We have a lot of receivers. We can spread it out, OK.
• 30:52
  We have a quarterback who's cerebral, who in college ran
• 30:56
  somewhat of a spread type offense, who can make checks,
• 31:00
  who can do all this stuff that we didn't allow him to do.
• 31:02
  Now we can enable him and give him the keys to the offense,
• 31:05
  kind of like you see with Matt Stafford, allow him to set
• 31:07
  predictions, allow him to make audibles, allow him to have hot
• 31:11
  routes, etcetera, etcetera. So I think this offense, as far
• 31:14
  as receivers go, I could see us going 5 wide, 4 wide.
• 31:19
  I could see us doing, even with Dalton Schultz, somebody who
• 31:23
  struggled last year, we could basically spread him out at
• 31:26
  times and make him a big slot receiver essentially being 4
• 31:29
  wide in that sense. So I'm very optimistic about it.
• 31:33
  I'm very excited about it. I think the talent is great.
• 31:36
  It's just a matter of, you know, and this is what they said they
• 31:39
  will do and I believe they will do, is putting guys in their
• 31:42
  best position to succeed, playing them to their strengths.
• 31:45
  Not like last year where just the last game of the year
• 31:49
  against the Chiefs in the divisional round, asking Dalton
• 31:51
  Schultz on the biggest drive of the year, the final drive to
• 31:55
  block Chris Jones and then George Karloff is back-to-back.
• 31:58
  So I suspect Nick Kaley will be aware of all that stuff and I
• 32:03
  think it will be. I think this year could be what
• 32:06
  we thought last year would be for the offense.
• 32:10
  It's interesting you bring up Dalton Schultz because I want to
• 32:13
  talk about your tight end room a little bit here.
• 32:16
  You got Dalton Schultz, you got Kate Stowers.
• 32:20
  You just draft a 7th drum pick and Luke, Luke Lachey, Brevin
• 32:25
  Jordan, this guy I remember, I think it was against the Browns,
• 32:30
  he made one catch for 76 yard touchdown and he just turned on
• 32:34
  The Jets. I'm like, man, this guy's a
• 32:36
  tight end like the IT was just unreal.
• 32:40
  But but the Texans recently held a state of the Texans event
• 32:46
  where fans and stuff can, you know, ask questions and stuff.
• 32:50
  And, and the tight end room was brought up and, and Nick Cazario
• 32:54
  had said that he's very, you know, high bullish on on Brevin
• 32:59
  Jordan and that he could be an integral part of the offense
• 33:03
  this year. Could you see that happening?
• 33:05
  And what's your thoughts on the tight end room and, and and
• 33:09
  everything else that goes with with that?
• 33:12
  Yeah, Brevin Jordan, man, he's a unique skill set.
• 33:15
  He's kind of undersized, but like you mentioned, his speed,
• 33:17
  like in the Browns game, I mean, come out of Miami, that's, you
• 33:21
  know, having that speed at that position is is a game changer.
• 33:25
  It's he's almost an X Factor on offense and he can, you know,
• 33:29
  play that HVAC role too. So, you know, D'amico and Nick
• 33:33
  Caserio both have been unprompted, have, you know,
• 33:37
  spoke highly of him and they showed that with their actions.
• 33:39
  They signed him to an extension last year despite being hurt.
• 33:42
  So that tells you that they thought he was a special talent
• 33:45
  that they wanted to utilize. And so, again, you know, maybe
• 33:49
  when he was healthy with Slowic, he wasn't being maximized to his
• 33:52
  skill set. So there is hope and optimism
• 33:54
  that Nick Kaley, a former tight end coach who coached Rob
• 33:58
  Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, guys like that can now maximize.
• 34:03
  Like you mentioned, Brevin Jordan, Kate Stover in his
• 34:06
  second year, he kind of got thrown to the wolves in his
• 34:09
  first year, asked to do a lot, tough guy who battled through a
• 34:13
  lot. And then Dalton Schultz with
• 34:15
  just a crazy regression last year.
• 34:17
  We don't know what it was him personally not playing well, the
• 34:21
  scheme, a multitude of things. So obviously he's shown us
• 34:25
  flashes before where he's been highly productive.
• 34:28
  So bringing him back to that level, like I mentioned, maybe
• 34:30
  you start to spread them out more and and utilize his
• 34:33
  strengths, not ask him to, you know, block these premier edge
• 34:37
  rushers and defensive tackles like like we had seen in the
• 34:41
  Kansas City Chiefs game. So I'm optimistic on it.
• 34:44
  And then Luke Lakey, the guy we got, I believe, in the seventh
• 34:47
  round out of Iowa, is a potential steal of a pick.
• 34:51
  He's somebody who was projected to be much higher earlier on,
• 34:55
  but then he had an injury and, you know, obviously he was in
• 34:58
  Iowa offense last year that was putrid that just only ran the
• 35:02
  ball and hardly threw it. But, you know, he's somebody who
• 35:05
  maybe not this year or maybe later in the year, could be
• 35:08
  somebody that could really flourish in the system.
• 35:10
  So, you know, earlier I just mentioned that we could be
• 35:12
  running 10 personnel or five high receivers, 4 high
• 35:16
  receivers. We could also be running 13
• 35:19
  personnel, 3 tight ends. So I mean, that's what I like.
• 35:22
  And that's something too that Nick Kaley mentioned in his
• 35:24
  press conference too, is not only will he adapt and adjust
• 35:28
  his offense based off his personnel, but he will adapt and
• 35:31
  adjust it based off the opponent that week.
• 35:34
  So if we now play a defense who struggles against tight ends, we
• 35:37
  could see more 13 personnel that week.
• 35:39
  So we'll have different packages and different ways to attack
• 35:42
  teams and I'm optimistic about the tight end group.
• 35:48
  So Joe Mixon was pretty much the MVP offensively for the Texans
• 35:53
  last year. I don't know where would where
• 35:55
  would the Texans be without Joe Mixon last year.
• 35:58
  But giving the workload that he was provided last year, do you
• 36:01
  think they could ease off of a little bit?
• 36:04
  Because I know that he was injured.
• 36:05
  I think it was we're getting to bears last year.
• 36:07
  But I mean, that's another story for another day.
• 36:09
  But given the fact that with a lot of mileage going on and
• 36:14
  looking at the way the right running back depth they have is
• 36:18
  Damian Pierce, they have the what's that Ogu Bob way,
• 36:23
  whatever his name is, I. Hey, I can.
• 36:29
  It's, it's funny, like when you know the team and you talk about
• 36:31
  all the time, but like, when it's, yeah, I mean when you're
• 36:34
  on the other side, it's like, holy cow.
• 36:35
  Yeah, it's also an emergency kicker too, right?
• 36:38
  Yeah, that's right. Yeah.
• 36:40
  So they also drafted Woody Marks and there's some sort of level
• 36:45
  of interest with JK Dobbins, which is interesting because he
• 36:49
  was a he was a a big part of that offense last year for the
• 36:53
  Chargers. So what do you look into that
• 36:56
  when it comes to the running backs, you could you see other
• 36:59
  guys gave more opportunities? Yeah, it'll be interesting
• 37:03
  because, you know, obviously we don't really know exactly who
• 37:06
  and what Nick Cayley will be. You know, we can't just
• 37:09
  extrapolate. Oh, he's with, you know, Sean
• 37:11
  McVay. He's going to do exactly what
• 37:13
  they do. But you know, they, in my
• 37:15
  opinion, Sean McVay has shown that, you know, he's not afraid
• 37:19
  to lean heavily on his RB 1. So if that's the case, I could
• 37:23
  see him doing that. But like you mentioned, there
• 37:25
  were some injuries, which the injury against the Bears was a
• 37:27
  hip drop tackle with the they implemented a new rule on that
• 37:30
  and didn't even frickin call it. And that's what he got hurt on.
• 37:33
  Actually. He actually got hurt on that
• 37:34
  plate twice and they didn't call it either time.
• 37:36
  So I know Joe Mixon was upset about it's like, why, you know,
• 37:40
  say you're going to enforce this rule and then not enforce it.
• 37:43
  But I think you're right though, like, you know, you you should
• 37:46
  obviously depth his key and you want to try and keep him fresh,
• 37:48
  especially if you want to save him for the playoffs.
• 37:51
  And you know, you saying he's the MVP of the offense.
• 37:53
  I mean, that's that's definitely a good case for that.
• 37:56
  I would say, you know, in the run game with that wide zone,
• 38:00
  you know, you would basically run out to the edge and everyone
• 38:03
  would be there right away or the blocks would be terrible and Joe
• 38:07
  Mixon would just constantly cut it back and create nothing,
• 38:10
  something out of nothing. So, you know, if we didn't have
• 38:13
  him last year and we saw it when he wasn't in the offense looked
• 38:16
  terrible without him. So he's definitely a critical
• 38:20
  piece. I expect him having a great
• 38:22
  year. He had a great year last he much
• 38:25
  like CJ Stroud, I feel like both of what they did, CJ kind of the
• 38:29
  same thing. Like he had no blocking
• 38:31
  offensively and still made something out of nothing more
• 38:34
  often than not just being a playmaker.
• 38:37
  I think both of them, you know, their seasons are kind of
• 38:40
  overlooked at truly how good they were just because the
• 38:43
  numbers weren't there. But I mean, it was a crappy
• 38:45
  environment. But with that being said, the
• 38:48
  running backroom, you know, it'd be nice to get him some some
• 38:51
  more depth. But you know, one thing too is I
• 38:55
  suspect we will run more gap scheme which better suits our
• 38:59
  online, but also better suits. Joe Mixon can do anything but
• 39:03
  it. You know, for Damien Pierce,
• 39:04
  somebody we saw his rookie year who had a lot of flashes and
• 39:08
  then had some regression, you know, when he went into the zone
• 39:10
  scheme with Bobby Slovak in year 2 and then again in year 3, you
• 39:16
  know, which tends to be more of a patient, cerebral type of
• 39:20
  running scheme, whereas Pierce is just, I'm going to run
• 39:22
  straight and run through your face.
• 39:25
  So, you know, we did see flashes where we started to run some of
• 39:28
  that gap scheme concepts. And it wasn't until the end of
• 39:31
  the year that Bobby started to do it more.
• 39:33
  And it worked coincidentally, like, no duh.
• 39:37
  And so there's potential there, like, OK, maybe Damien Pierce
• 39:40
  could be resurrected. But at the same time, you
• 39:42
  mentioned the rumor about JK Dobbins, which evidently that
• 39:46
  account, you know, it's it's supposedly not super credible,
• 39:50
  but still, like this is a topic that I've talked about and
• 39:52
  suspected. And I think it's worth dialogue
• 39:55
  to me. D'amico Ryan, the Nick Acerio,
• 39:57
  ever since that Kansas City Chiefs lost, are well aware of
• 40:00
  the sense of urgency to win now. And they kind of went from like
• 40:04
  being nice guy, you know? Taking our time with people to
• 40:08
  like, no, like if we have a chance to upgrade anyone,
• 40:11
  anywhere, any position, we will do it.
• 40:13
  I mean, you saw it with Tonsil, like them trading him can tell
• 40:16
  you that anybody's able to be moved on from.
• 40:19
  So you know, JK Dobbins, if you were to get him and then be able
• 40:22
  to trade Pierce, I could see them doing that or even a Nick
• 40:25
  Chubb. And you know, people freak out
• 40:27
  about it like, well, they're coming in not to be a star.
• 40:30
  They're coming in to be an RB2. And then and then you also have,
• 40:33
  like you mentioned Woody Marks, who is your RB3, your third down
• 40:37
  back when he was at Mississippi State early in his year, he had
• 40:40
  83 catches as a running back. So that's another part of it
• 40:44
  too, is, you know, I felt like in the sloic offense, we really
• 40:47
  didn't utilize the backs in the pass game that much and screams
• 40:50
  or just, you know, little bubble routes.
• 40:52
  And so I think that's something that Joe Mixon and Woody Marks
• 40:55
  will benefit from. I could see, you know, us going
• 40:58
  2 backs and motioning out Woody Marks to basically be a slot
• 41:01
  receiver. Now you got a mismatch with him
• 41:03
  on a linebacker. Like I mentioned, you caught 83
• 41:06
  passes. He's basically a receiver if he
• 41:07
  if need be. And then Dari, I'll talk about.
• 41:11
  I'm not sure what his role will be.
• 41:13
  He'll probably be relegated strictly to special teams now
• 41:15
  with the addition of Woody Marks.
• 41:16
  So I'm optimistic on it. It's much like tight ends.
• 41:20
  It's the fact that we got, you know, some decent guys and I'm
• 41:24
  hoping that a new OC will maximize them better.
• 41:29
  Let's talk about CJ Stroud a little bit.
• 41:31
  He had come off this phenomenal rookie season where you you set
• 41:35
  the bar extremely high. What are the expectations for
• 41:40
  him this year since he did struggle last year behind some
• 41:45
  bad offensive line play and whatnot.
• 41:47
  So what are the expected expectations for him in Year 3?
• 41:52
  I think like the public's expectations have been tempered.
• 41:56
  You know, a lot of us, especially like Texans fans,
• 41:59
  like the team was humbled last year.
• 42:01
  And I think the fans were kind of humbled last year.
• 42:03
  You know, it is kind of funny to juxtapose last offseason, this
• 42:07
  offseason last year, you know, he was on the media tour, on
• 42:11
  every podcast and, you know, braggadocious, this and that.
• 42:14
  And this year you really haven't heard much of him.
• 42:16
  So I think he was aware of that and realized he had a lock in.
• 42:19
  But I think people, I think he's being overlooked now.
• 42:25
  He was over hyped last year and now he's under hyped in my
• 42:28
  opinion. So I think the public's
• 42:30
  perception is, you know, above average, decent.
• 42:34
  I'm thinking, you know, at least a top five quarterback season
• 42:38
  from him. I mean, from what I've seen him
• 42:41
  do in year 1 and even in year 2, in that chaotic environment,
• 42:47
  this guy's the guy. He has it all.
• 42:48
  Like he, he can make any throw in the field.
• 42:51
  He's confident, he's a, he's a gamer, he's competitor.
• 42:54
  He has the mental side down. He's a leader.
• 42:58
  I think, I think the Sky's the limit.
• 43:00
  Like I'm, I may be irrational in this, but I'm super optimistic
• 43:04
  personally. I think, you know, like I said,
• 43:07
  all the expectations we had last year, this is the year to have
• 43:10
  him this year. I think this is the year where
• 43:12
  he can really, you know, push, you know, the crazy numbers of
• 43:16
  stats. Like last year people were
• 43:17
  saying 5000 passing yards. I don't, I don't know if we'll
• 43:19
  get that, but I think he can definitely be closer to that
• 43:23
  this year than what we thought last year.
• 43:25
  So I'm super high on a man and I think him and Nick Kaley will be
• 43:29
  a perfect fit. I think he'll cater the offense
• 43:31
  around him. Yeah, I'm just, I'm super
• 43:34
  excited. Who would you say could
• 43:38
  potentially break out this year for the Texas who was drafted
• 43:41
  the last couple years or even before that?
• 43:44
  You look at the names you mentioned about Caitlin Book.
• 43:47
  He was he was in his rookie year and there's a lot of promise in
• 43:51
  him. Kamari Lassiter intrigued me a
• 43:53
  lot because when you have stigma as your CB1 and Lassiter showed
• 43:58
  a lot of promise. And look like you said Miko Ryan
• 44:02
  is a defensive minded coach and then the other guys I think
• 44:06
  could be potentially interesting is Blake Fisher and Breva
• 44:09
  Jordan. If there's any other names that
• 44:11
  you think could break out, please do tell.
• 44:15
  Yes, it's tough for me because I guess, like, in my eyes, some of
• 44:18
  these guys might have already broken out.
• 44:20
  But I guess in the public perception, maybe not.
• 44:22
  But I mean, I think Caitlin Bullock and Kamari Lasseter are
• 44:25
  two great choices. I thought Kamari Lasseter was
• 44:27
  kind of robbed from the the recognition last year, like not
• 44:31
  being in the Defensive Rookie of the year conversation.
• 44:34
  But I think both of those guys will have stand out years.
• 44:39
  You know, I think Caitlin Bullock, you know, he had, I
• 44:42
  think it was like 5 interceptions last year, but he
• 44:44
  could have had three or four more and that was with not being
• 44:47
  on the field as often. So I think he'll, you know,
• 44:50
  definitely make some big plays. And I think Kamari Lasseter as
• 44:54
  well, same thing for him. I'm hoping Blake Fisher is a a
• 44:57
  standout breakout. I'm not quite sure if he will or
• 45:01
  not, but I I'm confident in the very least that he'll be, you
• 45:04
  know, formidable, like he'll, you know, be enough to get the
• 45:07
  job done that right tackle potentially.
• 45:10
  But just trying to think across the rest of the roster.
• 45:13
  I don't know if there's any other younger guys that I would
• 45:16
  put in that combo. But yes, I would say, you know,
• 45:20
  basically the guys you mentioned and I'm hoping Fisher exceeds
• 45:23
  expectations. What about what about a Jared
• 45:26
  Patterson? I know that he he did.
• 45:28
  He's center, young center, and he could take that next step.
• 45:32
  I could see a guy like him. There's a lot of promise in him.
• 45:35
  What do you think about him? Yeah, that's a great question.
• 45:38
  I almost mentioned him. So he's a guy who was drafted in
• 45:41
  the sixth round. And Jared Patterson, he is, you
• 45:45
  know, I feel like he's underrated.
• 45:47
  He was a sixth round pick. I feel like he is, you know, a
• 45:50
  piece that can be great for us. You know, early on Juice Scruggs
• 45:54
  was starting at centre and we were having a lot of issues with
• 45:58
  just mental verbal things. Supposedly he wasn't a very
• 46:01
  vocal, loud guy, which obviously you need to be able to
• 46:04
  communicate at centre. So we were having, you know, all
• 46:07
  kind of pre snap penalties as a result, false starts or illegal
• 46:11
  procedures, stuff like that. And when Patterson took over,
• 46:14
  that kind of subsided. And yeah, he kind of seems to
• 46:18
  have like that nastiness that you would want in a lineman.
• 46:21
  So, yeah, I'm excited about that.
• 46:22
  I mean, he could be pushed, but we do have some more depth now.
• 46:25
  And they got Eli Cox out of Kentucky, you know, undrafted
• 46:28
  free agent. That's a center that, you know,
• 46:30
  was highly regarded before the draft.
• 46:32
  And I think he fell for various reasons.
• 46:33
  But and they also got the guy from the Patriots who can play
• 46:36
  center. So he does have some people
• 46:38
  pushing him. Obviously juice strokes and
• 46:39
  still play center. But I think Patterson at center
• 46:42
  is is a good candidate as well. Let's talk about the coaching
• 46:47
  staff a little bit. D'amico Ryan heading into his
• 46:50
  second season as a head coach, he has a new stat, some of his
• 46:56
  replacements on his new staff, like you mentioned that Kaylee
• 46:59
  replacing Bobby Sloick. They they also brought in Jerry
• 47:05
  Shiplinski, senior offensive assistant pass game specialist,
• 47:10
  Frank Ocam, assistant defensive line coach, and of course new
• 47:15
  offensive line coach Cole Popovich also serving as the
• 47:18
  offensive running back game coordinator.
• 47:20
  So tell us a little bit about what you expect from the
• 47:24
  coaching staff this year compared to last year.
• 47:29
  Yeah. And so I think, you know, the
• 47:30
  fact that they, you know, when you when you see, OK, they're
• 47:33
  firing Slowic, they're going to bring a new OC and oh, they're
• 47:36
  going to wipe the slate clean. I think having continuity and
• 47:41
  retention is a good thing, especially with the young
• 47:43
  offense. So and then just adding pieces
• 47:46
  here and there, like Jerry Shaplinsky, who was around Tom
• 47:50
  Brady with the Patriots. So I mean, this is a guy who
• 47:52
  can, you know, help a first time coordinator and Nick Kaley, so
• 47:58
  he can kind of be there as a senior advisor for him to lean
• 48:01
  on. So as different challenges, you
• 48:03
  know, come about in your first year as a play caller.
• 48:06
  And then as we talked about earlier with Cole Popovich, you
• 48:09
  know, people would question the hiring of that of why would you,
• 48:11
  you know, keep the guy that was on there when the online was
• 48:15
  bad. But you have to remember, like
• 48:16
  in any kind of organizational structure for work, you know,
• 48:20
  there's a hierarchy to how things go.
• 48:22
  So obviously, Slowic was the boss on offense, and then
• 48:25
  Strausser was the online coach. And, you know, Popovich was just
• 48:30
  an assistant. So even if your boss is doing
• 48:33
  stuff you don't agree with, you can't just up and tell them,
• 48:35
  hey, stop doing that. They're still.
• 48:37
  You almost have to just like, sit there and let that happen.
• 48:40
  And that's been reported by beat reporters.
• 48:42
  The fact that Cole Popovich saw things that were wrong and
• 48:46
  wanted to do things a different way.
• 48:48
  But they knew that Strausser was in charge of playing time, and
• 48:52
  they didn't, you know, there was a conflict of interest by
• 48:55
  players. And so a big part of reason that
• 48:58
  Popovich was hired was because the players liked him and and
• 49:01
  told them they wanted him hired. And so that was something like
• 49:04
  when you when that problem arose middle late of the season, you
• 49:07
  really couldn't do much about it.
• 49:08
  So it kind of stuck on the timing of it.
• 49:10
  And the other thing, too, about Cole Popovich is he was in New
• 49:13
  England and he was under Dante Scarneckia, who is, you know,
• 49:19
  regarded as one of, if not the best online coach of all time.
• 49:23
  And he was being tutored and mentored by him to be his heir
• 49:27
  apparent, his replacement. But then during the pandemic
• 49:31
  with COVID, I believe he didn't want to get the vaccine and he
• 49:34
  was fired because of it. And so, you know, that kind of
• 49:38
  thwarted his, you know, trajectory.
• 49:41
  And as a result, a year or two later, he signed to the Texans.
• 49:44
  So I don't think people realize like how well regarded this guy
• 49:47
  is. I mean, this could be, you know,
• 49:50
  over hyping it, but I think he'll have a massive impact.
• 49:53
  And the guys like Frank Okama, that's just a depth piece.
• 49:55
  But like overall, the overall coaching staff, defensive side
• 49:58
  of the ball, I know Matt Burks the DC, but I mean, Damika runs
• 50:02
  the show. I think he's an elite defensive
• 50:04
  mastermind, game planner. He's like, you know, he's a
• 50:08
  great coach. He's a players coach.
• 50:09
  I think he balances well between, you know, being hard on
• 50:13
  guys, but also, you know, relating to them and and caring
• 50:17
  about them. He's got great energy, great
• 50:19
  passion, very positive. And one thing we've learned
• 50:23
  about Nick Kaley that sticks out like, again, you hate to talk
• 50:25
  about last year, but Bobby Sloic had never even been a position
• 50:29
  coach and went straight to OC. So all these little challenges
• 50:33
  you had, he didn't know how to deal with, you know, not to his
• 50:36
  fault, but I mean he didn't really know how to deal with I
• 50:39
  suspect, like, you know, it's got a it had have been tough for
• 50:42
  him to, you know, be assertive and command respect from the
• 50:45
  guys. But now you have Nick Kaley
• 50:47
  who's he's commanded a room with Gronkowski and Hernandez, like
• 50:50
  we mentioned. So he knows how to handle big
• 50:52
  personalities and egos. But the big thing for me that
• 50:55
  they've talked about with him is his his energy.
• 50:57
  That's like the one thing I say is like this guy is on 100 every
• 51:01
  day. He's on the field, he's running
• 51:03
  drills, he's, you know, hype yelling.
• 51:05
  So like, that alone is a breath of fresh air.
• 51:09
  So it sounds like a young, exciting, energetic coaching
• 51:12
  staff that players will want to play for and I think it'll be a
• 51:15
  good year. So you mentioned about Nick
• 51:18
  Kelly being hired as the new OC slowly, like you said, he had
• 51:22
  his flaws and he was canned. And look at his track record.
• 51:27
  He was, he started his career with the Patriots.
• 51:30
  That obviously because the area has familiarity with the
• 51:32
  Patriots when Tom Brady was a quarterback.
• 51:36
  Looking at the fact that now you have a system of where he could
• 51:40
  be more broad about it. There's a quote that said Kelly
• 51:43
  system will allow him to take control of his offense on the
• 51:47
  line of scrimmage, right and talk about how he can fit better
• 51:53
  and be more versatile with with the weapons that that's provided
• 51:58
  this year. Yeah.
• 51:59
  And so this could be somewhat speculation, but I mean, I've
• 52:02
  heard several things from the way Nick Kaylee talks from even
• 52:05
  CJ Stroud, how to press her, where he kind of alluded to the
• 52:07
  fact that he'll have more power. You know, that The funny thing
• 52:10
  about the Shanahan scheme to me is it's very ironic.
• 52:14
  You know, from what I understand is they try and make it like
• 52:19
  foolproof slash easier for quarterbacks by limiting the
• 52:22
  things they do and taking more off their plate.
• 52:26
  But in essence, in my opinion, it actually hurts them,
• 52:29
  especially when you have a quarterback who can do more, you
• 52:32
  limit them. And I feel like we saw that with
• 52:34
  CJ Stroud, especially in year 2. You know, my understanding too
• 52:38
  with that offense was in pass protection.
• 52:40
  You know, the quarterback doesn't make it, it's the
• 52:42
  center, which is fine. But like when?
• 52:44
  Now, hopefully this year is what it sounds like if Strouds
• 52:48
  involved in the pass protection, at the very least, if you're
• 52:51
  involved in calling out the mic and and setting a protection,
• 52:55
  you at least know personally where the pressure is likely to
• 52:58
  come from and you can point back and blame yourself rather than
• 53:02
  having to put full trust into somebody else.
• 53:05
  And then, you know, a big thing last year with the offense was,
• 53:10
  you know, it's a small thing that's kind of not talked about
• 53:12
  it nationally, but getting lined up to the line of scrimmage,
• 53:16
  tempo, pace was terrible. Like they would get to the line
• 53:19
  of scrimmage with five or seconds, 5 seconds or less more
• 53:22
  often than not. And then now you're expected to
• 53:25
  make all these reads and adjustments.
• 53:27
  No, like you have no time to do it.
• 53:28
  So you're kind of dead on arrival when that happens.
• 53:32
  So I would expect tempo to be better.
• 53:34
  I would expect some no huddle more.
• 53:36
  I would expect, you know, like I mentioned earlier, they're going
• 53:39
  to build the offense around CJ, not the other way around, around
• 53:42
  his strengths, which would include, you know, maybe running
• 53:45
  similar stuff to what we saw at Ohio State, you know, where he
• 53:48
  can make checks and, you know, do hard counts and and you know,
• 53:53
  ID hot routes, all that stuff. You know, I'm maybe being
• 53:57
  optimistic, but just for everything I've heard and seen
• 53:59
  about Kaylee, like it makes no sense why they wouldn't do that.
• 54:03
  And I think it'll really unlock the offense.
• 54:08
  I think it was early last week the the NFL released the
• 54:13
  schedules for each team and you had, you had created an
• 54:18
  interesting article, written an interesting article about your
• 54:22
  team's schedule go a game by game breakdown and some
• 54:28
  predictions and, and such and how you think each game is going
• 54:31
  to go. So what are some interesting
• 54:34
  games that you have on the schedule this season?
• 54:36
  Some of the ones you're excited to see, some of the teams that
• 54:39
  you're excited to play this year.
• 54:42
  Yeah, it's funny. I mean the schedule this year as
• 54:45
  opposed to last year is a lot less hype and it's welcomed by
• 54:49
  us Texans fans. I mean, last year we were kind
• 54:51
  of new to being contenders again, or not contenders or just
• 54:54
  having a good team. So we wanted any and every prime
• 54:57
  time game and all the buzz and now it's like, OK, let's scale
• 55:00
  it back. So they got 4 prime time games
• 55:03
  as opposed to 7 stand alone slash prime time games last year
• 55:07
  with the potential of, you know, one game being flex the Chargers
• 55:09
  late in the year, so 5. But, you know, the big thing was
• 55:12
  last year we had, you know, that gauntlet of three games in 10
• 55:15
  days, you know, during Christmas.
• 55:18
  So that was a brutal thing. And then having like holiday
• 55:20
  games, stuff like that, We got embarrassed in the massacre by
• 55:23
  the Ravens. So not having all that's a
• 55:25
  breath of fresh air. But I mean, starting right off
• 55:28
  in Week 1, you know, you got the rematch with Nick Kaley versus,
• 55:32
  you know, his former coach and and Sean McVay in Los Angeles.
• 55:37
  And you also have the storyline of CJ Stroud, like his favorite
• 55:41
  quarterback is Matthew Stafford. So there's that whole thing
• 55:44
  there. That'll be a fun test and
• 55:46
  that'll be an immediate test with the great defensive front
• 55:49
  seven from the Rams, Braden Fish, Jared Verse, Toby Turner,
• 55:54
  etcetera, etcetera against that online to see how they'll be
• 55:58
  under Nick Kaley. And then you know, I think in
• 56:01
  the AFC South, I may sound conceited, but I feel like they
• 56:06
  have a legit chance to sweep the that series.
• 56:09
  You know, last year they were one game short.
• 56:10
  They had a a blunder against the Titans at home and still almost
• 56:13
  won that game. But as far as other games, I
• 56:16
  know y'all are bills fans. We got a rematch on Thursday
• 56:18
  night back at NRGI think that'll be a great game.
• 56:22
  You know, I predicted that could be a loss for us.
• 56:25
  You know, it's hard when you predict all the games.
• 56:27
  You know, obviously things don't go the way you think, but you
• 56:30
  know, I think they have a legit chance to win, you know, almost
• 56:32
  any game they're in. But that'll be a fun game.
• 56:35
  And and to see, you know, how Josh Allen can rebound from the
• 56:39
  performance. You know, he was MVP last year,
• 56:42
  but you know, his game against the Texans last year was
• 56:45
  probably one of the worst of his career.
• 56:47
  So so that'll be interesting game there.
• 56:50
  Just trying to think off the top of my head of some of the other
• 56:53
  games we got coming up. 49ers. 49ers that's that's a good,
• 56:58
  interesting one. A lot of good storylines.
• 57:00
  Obviously D'amico came from San Francisco, Kyle Shanahan.
• 57:04
  We just had Sloic. So as a Texans fan, it'll be
• 57:07
  nice for us to to dominate that scheme to put it to rest, to
• 57:11
  show that it is. You know, we all got a disdain
• 57:14
  for that right now. But right, obviously you got the
• 57:17
  contenders, you know, that'll be good test again, like the Bills
• 57:20
  we talked about the Chiefs, you know, we got beat by them twice
• 57:25
  last year and the Ravens early in the year.
• 57:27
  So it would be nice to, you know, between those three, get
• 57:30
  one or two wins to kind of show where you're at.
• 57:33
  And then late in the year, the Chargers, that's a rematch of
• 57:35
  the wild card last year. That'll be an interesting one as
• 57:39
  well. But I mean, they're all
• 57:41
  exciting, like you mentioned on the article, I kind of went
• 57:44
  through different storylines and and things will change.
• 57:47
  But overall for the schedule, I welcome it.
• 57:51
  I like, you know, not as much prime time and I think it plays
• 57:54
  pretty well for the Texans. They're biased somewhat early at
• 57:57
  week 6. And then the following game is a
• 58:00
  Monday night game, which is against Seattle, which makes no
• 58:03
  sense to me at all. Like that is a Monday night
• 58:06
  game. But then we do have obviously
• 58:09
  the Thursday night game against Y'all late in the year, which is
• 58:11
  kind of a mini buy so and there's really not a lot of
• 58:14
  tough Rd. stretches. We do have three home games in a
• 58:17
  row at one point. I like the way the schedule is
• 58:21
  and I'm excited for it. I thought, I still think the
• 58:25
  Texas is going to win that division heads down too, but but
• 58:28
  the question to me is who do you think would be the biggest
• 58:34
  threat in that division? It doesn't have to be this year,
• 58:37
  could be down the road because if you look at the Titans that
• 58:40
  hired Mike Borghansi, who came from the Chiefs, where they have
• 58:43
  a substantial track record, drafted well and they drafted
• 58:46
  Cam Ward and they draft a couple wide wide receivers to build for
• 58:50
  the future that the Jaguars draft.
• 58:53
  Traded up to go get Travis Hunter and made a plethora of
• 58:57
  moves. And and they feel like they're
• 58:59
  under pressure to win. And then the Colts, I don't know
• 59:02
  what's going on with the Colts. There's a lot going on with that
• 59:04
  team because they just signed Daniel Jones and Anthony
• 59:07
  Richardson has been less appealing for them.
• 59:10
  And I feel like they have to look for another quarterback if
• 59:14
  things go South again this year. So how do you look at the future
• 59:17
  of this AFC South? Yeah, I pretty much agree with
• 59:20
  everything you're saying right there.
• 59:22
  I mean, it's it's kind of tough. Like I think the Colts, like you
• 59:25
  mentioned, they don't have a quarterback.
• 59:27
  I feel like they've been a pretty good overall team.
• 59:29
  Their defense was bad last year. They got a new DCI, don't know
• 59:32
  how that will be this year for them.
• 59:35
  But you know, they got a good online, good run game.
• 59:38
  But I think their defense isn't great too and quarterback
• 59:41
  obviously bad. So I don't know.
• 59:43
  The Colts are a threat and I think Shane Styken's a good
• 59:46
  coach, but it's hard to see them being a threat, honestly.
• 59:50
  And then the Jaguars. I think the Jaguars are getting
• 59:52
  somewhat over height. They maybe are somewhat of a
• 59:55
  question mark with a lot of turnover with coaching and GM.
• 59:59
  But I'm not high on Trevor Lawrence.
• 1:00:01
  I think he's overrated. I've seen personally in games
• 1:00:04
  against the Texans where he misses, you know, four and five
• 1:00:08
  touchdown passes a game like it's, it's bad.
• 1:00:12
  You know, I would, you know, I would probably have to say the
• 1:00:15
  Jags maybe. But like, I'm pretty high on the
• 1:00:17
  Titans. I'm very high on Cam Ward.
• 1:00:20
  The college that I played at, Incarnate Ward, I played
• 1:00:22
  football there, involved like an alumni group there.
• 1:00:26
  I've followed Cam Ward's career. I've watched his first every
• 1:00:30
  game in the spring against Lamar.
• 1:00:31
  And I saw it right then and there and talked to him and his
• 1:00:35
  parents afterwards. I was like, you are an NFL
• 1:00:37
  quarterback. I didn't know he'd be the number
• 1:00:39
  one overall pick. But that being said, I have
• 1:00:41
  followed called his entire career.
• 1:00:43
  That kid is an absolute baller. And so, you know, you know, I
• 1:00:48
  think in years to come he'll be a threat for sure.
• 1:00:50
  This year. He could really surprise some
• 1:00:52
  people. You know, I might have to lean
• 1:00:54
  the Titans like in the edge over the Jags as if if that's the way
• 1:00:57
  I had to do it. I'd like to ask you about the
• 1:01:04
  There's been reports about possible new stadium, a
• 1:01:09
  relocation, yeah. Or, or the thought of
• 1:01:13
  renovations to Energy Stadium. There was an assessment on the
• 1:01:18
  stadium and they said that the stadium and the surrounding
• 1:01:22
  Energy Park would need 2 billion worth of repairs.
• 1:01:26
  So they're kind of debating whether or not it's worth it to
• 1:01:30
  make those or just build a new stadium for the Texans.
• 1:01:34
  So have you heard anything about that?
• 1:01:36
  What do you? What are your thoughts on that?
• 1:01:39
  My kind of take on what's going on is I think it's all
• 1:01:43
  negotiating tactics. I don't think that they'll
• 1:01:45
  relocate a new stadium personally.
• 1:01:49
  I think, you know, and and that's like the owner kind of
• 1:01:51
  sent out like an e-mail and has sent out some public messaging
• 1:01:54
  insinuating that renovations are more likely.
• 1:01:58
  And we hired like a a new president.
• 1:02:00
  I'm not sure the exact title Mike Tommen.
• 1:02:03
  And, you know, he's had passed with like other organizations,
• 1:02:06
  including soccer franchises where he's like revamped
• 1:02:09
  stadiums or done new stadiums. But I think at the very least,
• 1:02:12
  what we're probably see is kind of like how Sofi Stadium is and
• 1:02:16
  these newer stadiums, you know, making like more making it more
• 1:02:21
  inviting to be inside, especially early, you know, bars
• 1:02:24
  and open area stuff like that standing room.
• 1:02:27
  Because right now, like the concourses are kind of, you
• 1:02:30
  know, packed and you basically just go sit in your seats.
• 1:02:32
  There's not a lot of extracurricular, so to speak.
• 1:02:35
  So I think that's the move kind of opening it up, making it more
• 1:02:38
  inviting to kind of lounge and type stuff.
• 1:02:40
  And then you got the Astrodome there too.
• 1:02:42
  Like, you know, people talk about tear down, make more
• 1:02:45
  parking, which is an option, but you know, I'm, I went to the
• 1:02:48
  Cowboys game last year when the Texans played and they have like
• 1:02:52
  this mega bar right next to the stadium called Texas live.
• 1:02:56
  It's like 7 or 8 bars in one. And I thought it was absolutely
• 1:03:00
  incredible. You basically go there, hang out
• 1:03:02
  and then walk right to the stadium.
• 1:03:04
  So like if you could create something like that in the
• 1:03:06
  Astrodome, some kind of, you know, multi purpose area and it
• 1:03:10
  could be a good place to go to even when there's not Texans
• 1:03:13
  games. I would, I would be open to
• 1:03:14
  that. And then I do know like, as far
• 1:03:17
  as like the relocating stuff, I think that conversation is more
• 1:03:21
  so about like a training facility, which I hate that I
• 1:03:25
  keep bringing up the Cowboys in this conversation.
• 1:03:27
  But with the Star and Frisco, like the practice facility, I
• 1:03:30
  think that's something they're going to do.
• 1:03:32
  And they're talking about doing it in Greater Houston.
• 1:03:34
  And I think that would be a great idea too.
• 1:03:36
  I mean, now you make it a whole new place for a community.
• 1:03:39
  And I would definitely enjoy it myself.
• 1:03:41
  But so I think that's what we'll see is, you know, in the coming
• 1:03:46
  years, a big practice facility that kind of like the Star and
• 1:03:49
  Frisco and then maybe some some pretty good renovations to the
• 1:03:54
  stadium and or Astrodome. So the last question for the
• 1:03:58
  text is I want to ask you is that we saw that Derek Stingley
• 1:04:03
  got that massive extension and well deservedly.
• 1:04:07
  And if you look at and you see that tonsils now gone because
• 1:04:12
  like they didn't come to an agreement and they have to keep
• 1:04:15
  signing. God, you would have to think
• 1:04:17
  that CJ Stroud is going to get extended at one point.
• 1:04:19
  You think Will Anderson should get extended one point.
• 1:04:23
  Is there another name out there that you believe, or a couple
• 1:04:26
  other names that deserve to get an extension?
• 1:04:32
  So I mean, the track record of Nick Caserio is, you know, they
• 1:04:37
  have this this swarm mentality, your mindset, which is what does
• 1:04:43
  it stand for? Why am I blanking on swarm?
• 1:04:46
  Basically? I mean special work ethic and
• 1:04:49
  relentless mindset. But like, basically it's like
• 1:04:51
  their way of like they want like good team first hard working,
• 1:04:55
  unselfish players, good character guys.
• 1:04:58
  And you know, they really hone in on that on the draft.
• 1:05:00
  Like if you are a character issue guy or any concerns on
• 1:05:04
  work ethic, they will not even look at you in the draft.
• 1:05:07
  So all the people that they've got in the draft fit that.
• 1:05:10
  And when they draft those guys and if you play, you know, at or
• 1:05:14
  above or anywhere around the level they expected you to play,
• 1:05:18
  then they will reward you by extending you.
• 1:05:21
  And so, you know, with that being said, there's several guys
• 1:05:24
  that could fit that bill. I mean, obviously the ones that
• 1:05:27
  are obvious are the ones you mentioned, Will and CJ, but I
• 1:05:31
  really haven't thought much more outside of that.
• 1:05:34
  I'm trying to think just now of of who else is in that class
• 1:05:37
  that would that would fit that. Maybe you can help me go through
• 1:05:42
  some names there, but I'm sure there's some other names you
• 1:05:44
  know everyone just. Kumari Lassiter would be the one
• 1:05:48
  guy I would consider, but he's still under a rookie contract,
• 1:05:50
  right? If you would say.
• 1:05:51
  Yeah. So like Kumari and Kaylin, it's
• 1:05:53
  early, but I could definitely see that.
• 1:05:54
  I'm just trying to think of who else was in that draft class
• 1:05:57
  with. I don't know why I can't think
• 1:05:59
  of it. So Tank Dale, I guess is a name,
• 1:06:02
  but that's going to be tough given the injury.
• 1:06:05
  I think. I think he would have been a
• 1:06:07
  candidate, but that's going to be a tough scenario to navigate
• 1:06:11
  through. But yeah, I can see if I can
• 1:06:14
  look while I'm talking, if I can just see what was it, 2020,
• 1:06:17
  three, 2023 Texas draft class. But as far as like Will and CJ,
• 1:06:25
  obviously those are going to be OK.
• 1:06:28
  So looking at the 2023 draft class and you had Xavier
• 1:06:31
  Hutchinson, which I think he may not make the may not even make
• 1:06:34
  the team this year. Jarrett Patterson's a guy we
• 1:06:37
  talked about. So right.
• 1:06:38
  So yeah, I mean, I could see Patterson Henry toe toe is
• 1:06:42
  another guy potentially. But you know, but I think you
• 1:06:46
  know, y'all are kind of on point though, like I mean, obviously
• 1:06:48
  it's it's Will and CJ and CJI could see him getting 60 +
• 1:06:52
  1,000,000 a year. I really like the deal y'all did
• 1:06:54
  with Josh Allen with the bills longer term, but a lot of
• 1:06:58
  guaranteed money. I hope the Texans do something
• 1:07:01
  similar to that. And you know, we'll you know, we
• 1:07:06
  just extended the Neil Hunter. He just I believe got paid 40
• 1:07:09
  million APY, albeit just the shorter term.
• 1:07:13
  So that's going to be a big one. But like when talking about
• 1:07:15
  this, so you get all worried and scared about it.
• 1:07:18
  The thing to remember when we did the Stingley extension is,
• 1:07:22
  you know, the sooner you do it the better.
• 1:07:24
  So Nick Caserio has shown that he would rather be early and
• 1:07:28
  potentially overpaid than lay and for sure overpay.
• 1:07:31
  So Stingley he kind of beat, you know, the market got ahead of
• 1:07:35
  guys like Sauce Gardner and at the time and same with Nico
• 1:07:38
  Collins last year in that extension.
• 1:07:40
  You know, he got well ahead of that, did it early, obviously as
• 1:07:43
  soon as you could do it and you look at it now, that's probably
• 1:07:46
  one of the best contracts in football.
• 1:07:48
  So, but like when you talk about these first round picks, like
• 1:07:51
  Will and CJ, you have to remember they still have the 5th
• 1:07:54
  year option available. And that's what happened with
• 1:07:56
  Stingley. Like people look at the Stingley
• 1:07:58
  deal, but when you net it out to like, you know, adding that
• 1:08:01
  extra year in the average annual pay isn't as as bad as you think
• 1:08:06
  it is. And you can, you know, defer the
• 1:08:08
  money the first year or so. So really a lot of those cap
• 1:08:10
  hits you're thinking about aren't until down the road.
• 1:08:13
  And then if you think about the NFL salary cap, every year it
• 1:08:16
  increases by X amount. So when you do it that way, it's
• 1:08:20
  not as bad as you think.