PodcastFrom Bootleg Football
The only team that can beat the Texans, is the Texans.
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
1 hr 34 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Aug 20, 2026
Published
Thu, August 20, 2026
19
Player insights
11
Players mentioned
Topics
C.J. StroudCade McDonaldDalton SchultzDavid MontgomeryMarlin KleinFoster MoreauLewis BondNico CollinsNoah WhittingtonTrevor LawrenceWoody Marks
Player analysis
Player insights
C.J. Stroud
NegativeUsage33:41
CJ Stroud struggled with accuracy last year, ranking third in off-target incompletions. He showed a clear performance split, being more accurate with under-center footwork compared to shotgun. His usage under center was heavily dependent on the success of first-down runs.
Insight pagePositiveUsage34:46
Stroud is significantly more accurate and effective when operating under center, particularly with play-action, compared to shotgun formations where his footwork becomes sloppy and his ball sails. His performance suffered last year due to the team's inability to run the ball on first down, which forced him into shotgun-heavy second-and-long situations where he is less comfortable.
Insight pagePositiveProjection41:50
Stroud is expected to bounce back in a manner similar to Trevor Lawrence's progression last year. With improvements to the offensive line and the addition of David Montgomery to alleviate pressure, Stroud is positioned to perform at a high level again, as he is no longer required to single-handedly elevate a flawed roster.
Insight pageCade McDonald
NegativeDepth Chart0:43
Caden McDonald was selected by the Houston Texans with the 36th pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, fitting into their defensive scheme.
Insight pageNegativeDepth Chart48:37
Caden McDonald is a very good player and a second-round pick who provides significant depth to the Texans' defensive line, though he is currently backing up established starters.
Insight pagePositiveBreakout53:56
Caden McDonald, the 36th overall pick, is an elite run-stopping defensive tackle with a 3.2% missed tackle rate. He provides critical flexibility to play both three-technique and shade/two-eye positions.
Insight pageDalton Schultz
NegativeUsage17:36
Dalton Schultz struggled significantly as a run blocker, which hindered the Texans' ability to run effectively out of 11 personnel. His poor blocking performance on the backside often resulted in tackles for loss.
Insight pageNegativeValue48:15
Dalton Schultz is considered a semi-reasonable value at $12.6 million, despite concerns regarding his run-blocking ability.
Insight pageNegativeUsage66:43
The source criticizes Dalton Schultz's blocking effort on tape, noting that he does not appear to put his heart into that aspect of his game, contrasting him unfavorably with rookie Marlon Klein.
Insight pageDavid Montgomery
NegativeValue20:45
The source views the addition of David Montgomery as a major upgrade for the Texans' offense. Montgomery is seen as a physical, productive runner who can turn small gains into larger ones, helping the team avoid negative plays and stay ahead of the sticks. He is considered the best running back for the franchise since Arian Foster.
Insight pagePositiveDepth Chart42:04
The addition of David Montgomery is expected to help address the Texans' offensive line run-blocking deficiencies and take significant pressure off C.J. Stroud by putting the offense in better positions.
Insight pageFoster Moreau
PositiveDepth Chart50:26
Foster Moreau was signed for $3 million to improve and deepen the tight end room.
Insight pageLewis Bond
PositiveBreakout73:38
Lewis Bond is a productive receiver with a sub-3% drop rate who has impressed in practice, earning snaps with the ones and twos. The source believes he has a legitimate chance to make the Texans' roster.
Insight pageMarlin Klein
NegativeValue55:10
Marlon Klein was selected 59th overall, but the source notes this was an early reach for a player not considered a second-round talent, though it was driven by a league-wide run on tight ends.
Insight pageNegativeValue63:50
The source notes that while Marlon Klein was drafted earlier than expected at 59 overall, the aggressive league-wide run on tight ends forced the Texans' hand. Klein is viewed as a stronger blocker than receiver, with a development arc potentially similar to Charlie Kohler, and he possesses a solid catch radius and 4.6 speed.
Insight pageNico Collins
PositiveProjection48:13
Nico Collins is now at a $30 million valuation, reflecting his status in an ever-expanding wide receiver market.
Insight pageNoah Whittington
PositiveSleeper78:55
Noah Whittington is highlighted as a versatile, productive playmaker who could realistically secure a spot as an RB3 on the Texans' final 53-man roster. The source believes he is a better player than several drafted running backs.
Insight pageTrevor Lawrence
PositiveProjection40:13
Lawrence experienced a career-best performance last year after Liam Cohen installed an offense that provided clear answers and reduced the pressure on him to carry the team, mirroring the current developmental arc of C.J. Stroud.
Insight pageWoody Marks
NegativeUsage19:10
Woody Marks served as the running back for the Texans last year, but struggled to overcome the team's poor blocking, failing to turn minimal yardage into productive gains.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00Look, I've watched this franchise for the majority of my time on this planet, and I'm old.
0:05That's a long time. I remember the Bulls on Parade.
0:09I remember that 2016 team that dragged Brock Osweiler and Tom Savage to the division round.
0:14The Texans, more than most other teams, believe it or not, have had some seriously legendary defenses.
0:19But I don't think I've ever seen anything like this.
0:22They call it the Swarm. Runs out of it, loses the ball, it's a scramble, touchdown Texans on the takeaway, it's Will Anderson.
0:29They are rage incarnate. 11 psychopaths that happen to have a shared goal.
0:34To be a vortex where offenses go to die.
0:36This was the best defense in franchise history last year.
0:40I mean, truly an all-time unit. And they might have gotten better.
0:43With the 36th pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Houston Texans select Caden McDonald, Ohio State.
0:49This defense they have down in Houston is absolutely salty.
0:52I mean, they're a bunch of dogs, and he fits in, and I've just seen guys play it, so run about those guys.
0:59They go to a different level. Sure, yes, there's questions at quarterback, and we will get into how real those questions even are.
1:07But that's not the headline today. The headline is this.
1:10If the Texans offense is just average, truly, that's all I'm asking for.
1:14Just be average. For the first time in my life, they might be the best team in football.
1:20Welcome to the Bootleg Football Podcast. I'm Brett Coleman.
1:22That's EJ Snyder. And it's Texans Day. I will say, EJ, this is my least favorite time to be a Texans fan
1:29because we have actual, real, honest-to-God expectations. And I don't like it because every time we have real, honest-to-God expectations, we find a way to fuck it up.
1:38So I'm a little bit scared. But I will say, off the top, one of the best Texans rosters from top to
1:45bottom I've ever seen, and that is a high bar.
1:48But again, the issue is every other great Super Bowl caliber Texans roster I've ever seen couldn't get out of the division route.
1:56So I am excited, but also afraid. How are you?
1:59Better than that. You can't hide in the shadows with this team, that's for sure, in terms of the coaching and the roster that Casario has assembled.
2:08Yeah, expectations are going to be unnaturally high. And yeah, that's a lot of pressure.
2:12But hey, that's welcome to the NFL moment. And it is a far better position to be in.
2:18We're going to talk about that all throughout today's episode than a lot of teams in the NFL.
2:24So I'm just going to say, buck up, put on your big boy pants and deal with it.
2:29Yeah, it's weird having both the Bears and the Texans be Super Bowl contenders at the same time.
2:35I don't know if that's ever happened before. But here we are.
2:39Last year was a roller coaster, to say the least.
2:42Started out 0-3, then won their last 9, ended up at 12-5, and were a 12-win team that still didn't win the division.
2:49Just an odd, odd season. But by the end of the year, I will say the fact that they overcame their very,
2:56very, very noticeable issues on offense, which we will get into.
3:00That was a hell of a coaching job by D'Amico Ryans and company.
3:04Yeah, very upside down year for the Texans. Again, you alluded to it.
3:08Overall record of 12-5. Second in the division, in a lot of divisions, notably one we just went through in the AFC North a couple weeks ago.
3:17That would have been good enough for first, with a bullet.
3:20But no, it's second in their division. 7-2 at home, very strong.
3:24Also strong on the road, 5-3. And we use our last five game summary, one of the few teams that was 5-0.
3:31But they weren't really 5-0. They were 9-0. They won their last nine straight games.
3:36So when we talk about roller coaster up and down, obviously if you add up their record and go, okay, 12-3 to 9 straight.
3:43Oh, okay. So the beginning of the year was not very good.
3:47And it was not. But to basically rip off nine straight is tough at any time in the NFL.
3:53Beginning of a season, middle of a season, end of a season.
3:57Over the course of two seasons, if you patch those together.
4:00I don't really care how you do it. It is difficult to put those kind of winning streaks together.
4:06And again, Texans, as you alluded to, and as we will cover, were a flawed team, but managed nine straight nonetheless.
4:13So very impressive coaching job by D'Amico and company.
4:16I mean, last year was the case study for if you have a dominant elite defense, it gives you a massive margin for error.
4:24Right? And if you have a dominant elite defense and a good offense, you win the Super Bowl.
4:29Like Seattle, if you have a dominant elite defense and a sort of kind of average offense, you can win 12 games.
4:36So, you know, if there was ever a team or rather a season that could provide some pushback to the whole like,
4:43ah, your defense just has to be average. As long as you have an elite offense, you're okay.
4:49I think last year, I don't want to say proves otherwise, but suggests otherwise, that if you have a ridiculous, ridiculous defense,
4:56it does make life a lot easier. Yeah, for sure.
4:59And we're talking about a top three defense in the NFL.
5:03Like you could be 18th if you have a top five offense, same thing, but you can flip the card, but you
5:10can't be like the 10th or 12th best defense.
5:12You've got to be like Seattle or Houston was last year where you're absolutely crushing the life out of opposing offenses and
5:19they just have no chance to score any points.
5:22So even if you only score 15, 16, 17 points, you're probably going to win because you're holding them to 12 because your defense is redonkulous.
5:31And the Houston's were a case study for that last year.
5:34When we talk about the effectiveness summary, again, we've been through this before in this series.
5:39It covers the entire year. It doesn't cover the nine game win streak.
5:43It doesn't just cover the early poor start. It's everything all rolled together.
5:47So some of these numbers look fairly average. Spoiler alert.
5:50Some of them don't. But the way we put them together for bootleg power score in our effectiveness summary is six measures of a team.
5:58Passing EPA per play, rushing EPA per play, defense against the rush in the pass, again, using EPA per play.
6:05Points scored and points allowed. We add those all up.
6:08We get a raw score. We stack all the raw scores.
6:11And then we look at how they stacked up league wide.
6:15So Texans passing EPA per play. 14th, middle of the road.
6:18Watching the Texans last year. You might have thought that was a little bit lower.
6:23But again, at the end of the year, it accelerated a little bit.
6:27And again, passing EPA per play is a fickle metric.
6:30You know, they started to have the explosive plays towards the end of the year that really tipped the scale up for them.
6:38And they ended up in the middle because of it.
6:41Rushing EPA per play. We're going to spend a lot of time on the why about this how today.
6:47They were 30th. Texans really struggled to run the ball.
6:50And they've made moves in the offseason to make sure that's not going to be a repeat performance.
6:56But we will talk about why that was and why we think they may have turned the corner on that.
7:02This is where the numbers get exceptional. EPA per play allowed versus the pass.
7:07Number one. This was the best pass defense in the NFL.
7:10Passing is still the dominant part of offense in the NFL.
7:14If you are number one at shutting it down in the entire league, yes, you are giving yourself a wide margin for success.
7:21Against the rush, they didn't fall off a lot.
7:24They were 11th, almost tickling a top 10 ranking.
7:27So if you are the first best pass defense in the 10th, basically 10th or 11th best rushing defense, you have a
7:34very good complete unit on that side of the ball.
7:37Points scored, they were 13th. That's not bad considering all their offensive struggles.
7:41Points allowed the second best scoring defense in the NFL.
7:44So when you have, you know, three numbers that are 11 or better, 11th best or better in the NFL, your overall
7:51score is going to be pretty good. When we add up those six numbers, it is 11.83 for a raw score.
7:58And that put the Texans at eighth overall, despite their early season struggles.
8:02Which is making the division round, right? It's the, it's the final eight.
8:06And that's been the curse of this franchise. They can get there.
8:10They just can't get out of the division round.
8:13And at least in the last decade, a lot of that has just been because the offensive line, like this team has not had a great offensive line.
8:21Since, you know, like the Dwayne Brown, Chris Myers, like even Wade Smith era, you know, like late stage.
8:27Yeah. Gary Kubiak into Bill O'Brien, like that, that kind of time.
8:31That's the last time I can remember this team really having a good offensive line.
8:36And they've just been wandering in the wilderness ever since.
8:39They built some incredible defenses. You know, I look at 2016, you know, like the year that Jadavian Clowney stayed healthy, young Jadavian Clowney.
8:47We got old Jadeveon Clowney back now again, but that 2016 defense was great.
8:51And they carried Brock Osweiler to the playoffs. They won a playoff game that year, if I recall correctly.
8:57I think that might have been the year Derek Carr broke his leg and they just teed off on whoever his backup was.
9:05I have to go back and look. But all that to say, you know, we've seen the same Texans team over and
9:12over and over again, which is ridiculous defense, sort of kind of passable offense with the one exception being Deshaun's rookie year when they were scoring.
9:20I think it was like 37 points a game before he tore his ACL as a rookie.
9:25And then, you know, they had some good offensive years after that never really looked the same.
9:31And it's just been a lot of the same since roughly 2014.
9:34Great defenses, shaky at best offenses, make it to the playoffs, defense gets you to division round, and then you're done.
9:41This is the first time since that, since the start of that era, I should say, that I really do feel like
9:48they've built themselves at least an average offensive line, maybe even above average.
9:52And we'll get into who they brought in later in the show, but I want to set the stage by first talking
9:59about how bad they were last year to give context to how much improvement there's been.
10:04So Nick Kaley came in an offensive coordinator. You know, we had expected a lot of Sean McVay influences, right?
10:11A lot of man blocking concepts, get north-south, you know, probably try to do it out of 11 personnel because that's what McVay was doing.
10:19They were running two back runs out of 11.
10:21They had receivers. They could dig people out as like quasi fullbacks, whether it was Ben Skoranek, Puka Nakua, Cooper Cup once upon a time.
10:29Like they had all these receivers that could block.
10:32So they could run effectively out of 11 personnel.
10:35Now, ironically, we're seeing McVay pivot to more heavy tight end stuff, but that was what Nick Kaley tried to do, right?
10:42They led the league in snaps in 11 personnel.
10:45They had the sixth highest run rate overall. They had an extremely high run rate on first down specifically, and they tried
10:52to do it out of 11 personnel. They were really bad at it.
10:56Part of the reason is because Dalton Schultz is also awful as a run blocker, like truly, truly awful.
11:02You know, he's 245, something like that. And if you're trying to run out of 11 personnel, you better have a tight
11:09end that can do it, that can actually block.
11:12And if you're looking at like just the cut-ups on SIF blocks on the backside, like he was getting absolutely demolished and
11:19almost single-handedly caused a bunch of TFLs by himself.
11:22So that was an issue. They also don't have any receivers like Puka or Cup or even Ben Skoranek, guys that can
11:29really dig people out in the run game as insert blockers.
11:32They give effort, but they're not like that, right?
11:35Plus the offensive line, of course, had issues in its own right.
11:39So when you add all these things together, they were 30th in yards before contact per attempt at less than a yard, 0.8.
11:46That's like Raiders territory, right? And when you're running back, it's Woody Marks.
11:50God bless him. I love Woody. He did his best.
11:53He's not somebody who can turn 0.8 yards into three, let alone four and a half, like what you're hoping for.
12:00And I think it was just kind of a combination of everything.
12:04It was Nick Cayley taking way too long to pivot to putting more six offensive line looks on the field on first down.
12:11Eventually they gave up on Dalton. They're like, this fucking sucks.
12:15We're just going to put extra offensive linemen on the field on first down, try to run out of it that way.
12:22Didn't have receivers they could block. Didn't have a running back that could turn nothing into something.
12:27And they just kept beating their head against that wall.
12:30And it was really frustrating as a Texans fan because there was a cascading effect on the rest of the offense because
12:37they couldn't run the ball on first down. Yeah, this is why I think the Montgomery addition is a lot bigger than it seems.
12:45So we'll talk about all the acquisitions later on, but I'm going to skip ahead to the point where adding David Montgomery
12:52is filling a bigger hole, I think, than people think it is for a couple of reasons.
12:57You laid out how big the hole was or how deep it was, and I think a lot of people didn't appreciate
13:04that last year and the effect that it had on the offense and how much better Montgomery may be in this particular role for this team.
13:12So Montgomery is experienced and productive, but he is not old by running back standards.
13:17So let's talk about mileage. He's had seven seasons, 1,477 carries.
13:21That's just over 200 a season, 211. For contrast, Derek Henry, we think of him as the absolute workhorse, 10 seasons, 2,600
13:28plus carries, over 260 a year on average, which is more than 50 more than Montgomery per season.
13:33And this is cumulative. It adds up. For a younger back, Bijon gets a heavy workload.
13:38He's been around for three seasons, 805 carries. That's 268 on average, almost 60 more per year than Montgomery's had.
13:45So while David's been around for a while, he doesn't necessarily have the full load that a lot of other running backs have had.
13:52He's often split time. He's been the short yardage back.
13:55He was with Gibbs in Detroit. And all this to say, I am an unabashed David Montgomery fan.
14:01He was drafted by Chicago. Loved it when he played for my team.
14:05Loved that player so much. The way he set an example, the way he is a physical tough as nails runner, loved in the locker room.
14:14Very quiet, by the way. Not a loud leader, but just a do as I do kind of a guy.
14:20Rooted for him in Detroit. And I think he is hitting the Texans at exactly the right time.
14:26Because when I look at Houston at running back over the last 10 plus years, it reminds me of their division rival Indianapolis and their approach to quarterback.
14:34Same strategy. Veteran retreads and rookie flyers. We're going to go through this.
14:39So the last going backwards, we have end of career Chubb.
14:42End of career Mixon. Singletary. Damian Pierce. End of career Mark Ingram.
14:46David Johnson. Carlos Hyde. Who they traded for, by the way.
14:49Yeah. Lamar Miller. Yeah. Lamar Miller. Alfred Blue. And then Arian Foster.
14:53All the way back in 2014. I'm going to say this absolutely without irony.
14:58I think Montgomery might be the best player in that spot since Foster.
15:02And that's 12 years ago. And that was also post several groin injuries, Arian Foster.
15:07Right. That's end of end of Foster's reign. And again, as evidenced by the fact he was replaced, if he'd been great,
15:13they would have just kept him on. So since then, you talked about wandering in the wilderness with the offensive line.
15:20They've done it with running back as well. Montgomery is a very solid, very productive player.
15:25You talked about that characteristic of being able to turn a very small gain into a slightly larger gain.
15:31And do that consistently. Not take negative runs. And Montgomery is, like, perfect.
15:35Cast perfect for that. So in terms of a fit for a player that can really make a difference for a team
15:42in an area where they struggled tremendously. And like you said, it was cascading.
15:47It was dominoes. If that doesn't happen and you don't get your extra couple of yards on first down, it spills over.
15:54And then falls into the quarterback's lap. And he's not able to do it by himself.
15:59And you just have this, okay, we end up with less possessions, less success, less points.
16:04And in the end, that's what keeps us from going on.
16:07Not our elite defense, which nobody can crack. But at some point in some game, being a single elimination tournament in the
16:14NFL, you are going to have to put up some points.
16:18And if you have a flaw that you can't overcome, it is going to be your downfall.
16:23And it has been for the Texans. And I think Montgomery is more than just a patch for that hole.
16:30He might be the solution along with what they've done to improve the offensive line.
16:34One quick break, then we're right back to the show.
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18:31It's so funny you mentioned that, you know, they remind you of the Colts, at least in terms of how they approach
18:38the running back position, being like how the Colts approach quarterback.
18:42They were the exact opposite of the Colts philosophically this year.
18:45And if you listen to Colts episode earlier this week, talk to the audience here, we talked about how they were extremely aggressive on first down.
18:53Like they treated that as their chunk play down.
18:56Right. They were 31st in run rate on first down.
18:59The Texans were first in run rate on first down, just completely opposite approaches.
19:04But what's interesting is, yeah, they were 30th in first down rushing EPA per play.
19:09They were 10th in first down passing EPA per play.
19:12If they played more like the Colts philosophically, they probably would have been a better offense.
19:17But instead, just constantly losing yards on first down or just getting nothing on first down.
19:22This team had the highest number of second and longs in the entire NFL, like even more than Cleveland.
19:28So they were constantly behind the sticks, like just absolutely beating themselves against a wall over and over and over again.
19:35Always in second and seven plus, which then led to an average third down distance of 8.2 yards.
19:40Like if your average is third and eight, you can't be successful.
19:44That's right next to the Raiders. Right. And we criticized the Raiders offense basically the entire year for being helpless because they
19:51just kept, again, beating Astringenti into a brick wall.
19:54And even though they did try certain things to fix it, like using more six offensive line looks and like they had
20:01almost a quarter of their snap, actually almost a third of their snaps on first down were six offensive line.
20:07It was most in the league. Like they tried certain things to fix it, but just there was no way to dig out of that hole.
20:15And the cascading effect of that was the hole on second down got even deeper, specifically for CJ Stroud.
20:21And I'll explain why. If you're looking at Stroud as a passer last year, he was third most in off-target incompletions, which is not good.
20:29Third most in the entire NFL. But what's interesting about it is he was more accurate with under center footwork compared to shotgun footwork, right?
20:3710.4% of his under center passes were off-target incompletions compared to 12.8% from the gun.
20:42Doesn't sound like a big difference. It's absolutely a big difference.
20:46And if you're looking at their under center rate versus gun rate on second down, a lot of it depended on whether
20:53or not their first down runs were successful. So if their first down run was successful, got between four and nine yards, didn't happen a lot.
21:01They were 60% under center rate on second down when Stroud was a better passer by almost every single metric and more accurate.
21:08If they had an unsuccessful run on first down, meaning three yards or less, they were down to about 33% in terms of under center rate.
21:16They were mostly from the gun where he was less accurate.
21:20He is the type of quarterback that really thrives with the timing mechanisms that come with under center footwork, especially play action under center footwork.
21:28That's just always been where he's been at his best.
21:31That's a mouthful of a sentence there. But if you're looking at like the best CJ Stroud plays, very often it's under
21:38center, give a hard play action fake, you know, get to the top of your drop, whip your head around, look at
21:45the defense, find the void, deliver a strike. That timing that comes with lining up under center.
21:50He's just always been way, way, way better at compared to shotgun where it's get the ball, take a quick three from the gun.
21:58You're hanging out, you're hanging out, you're hanging out.
22:01His feet get a little bit sloppy. His ball just sails on him from the gun for whatever reason.
22:07Like he just, he needs the structure of under center and especially under center play action to keep him accurate.
22:13It's, it's not common. I would say a lot of quarterbacks tend to be better from gun.
22:19At least young quarterbacks tend to be better from gun compared to under center because they're used to playing from the gun
22:25coming up through high school, high school and college.
22:28CJ is the opposite. He is just so, so much better when his offense is on schedule and they can go under center.
22:36They can use play action. He's just so, so much better at that.
22:40So when you can't run the ball on first down and you keep trying to run the ball on first down and
22:47you're constantly in second and long, it's no wonder why he had a worse year.
22:52They just, when they're behind the sticks, he is not as comfortable.
22:55And so I think, you know, even though the offensive line got better as the season went on in terms of pass
23:02protection, the fact that they never got their shit together as a run blocking unit kind of doomed this offense no matter what.
23:10Yeah. Stroud's in a very interesting place and I don't say interesting to mean bad.
23:14It is not a backhanded compliment. He's had a different arc as a quarterback.
23:19He started off incredibly strong. His rookie season raised expectations for him and really set a floor that I don't know is
23:26realistic or reasonable, but that's who we thought he was outside of other evidence.
23:30We thought he was a quarterback that could elevate his team despite circumstances.
23:34And those are incredibly rare in the NFL. There are lots of quarterbacks who can play very well and lead their teams
23:41when all the pieces are set around them and they play within structure.
23:45They are very effective. They can be top 12 ish type quarterbacks in the NFL.
23:50And that's very good. We thought Stroud possibly was the guy that could do it no matter what.
23:56Turns out in successive seasons, we have found out he is not that guy.
24:00When things fall apart around him, he is not going to be able to, for the most part.
24:06And again, this is typically over an average period of time, be the guy that elevates the team all by himself.
24:13However, it's a lot like another quarterback with a very similar arc in Trevor Lawrence, who, again, expectations were sky high for him coming out.
24:21He had all the talent in the world, still does.
24:24And everybody thought he could be the guy that could do it no matter what.
24:29And again, when things lined up for him in Jacksonville, we've seen stretches half season or more prior to last year where Trevor played lights out.
24:37And everybody said, aha, there it is right there.
24:40That's it. That's the guy he is. Then things would fall apart around him a little bit, whether it was offensive play
24:47calling or head coach in Trevor's case or offensive line falling off or whatever it was.
24:52And he wasn't the guy that was able to elevate the team.
24:56And frustrations grew. And everybody said, is he actually that guy?
24:59Well, enter Liam Cohen last year, comes in, installs his offense, gives him the answers, takes a lot of pressure off Trevor.
25:06And again, Trevor plays as well as he has in his career.
25:10He looks as good as he can. And Stroud, I think, is on a very similar precipice right now at his career,
25:17where, again, you're talking about the completeness of this Texans team.
25:20We're talking about adding to the deficiency of both offensive line run blocking and David Montgomery.
25:25Again, taking some of that pressure off C.J. Stroud and typically putting him in better positions down in, down out, where he doesn't have to do as much.
25:34And in the past, when C.J.'s been in that place, he's performed really well, not just at a mid-level.
25:40He's performed admirably and at a high level for the NFL.
25:44And I think he can get back there. A lot of people, including me, have been down on C.J.
25:50for the past two or three years because the results haven't been there and he hasn't looked like the same guy.
25:56We've talked a lot about the reasons for that.
25:59That looks like, potentially, a lot of those reasons have been erased.
26:03And I think you could see a bounce back from Stroud in a very similar pattern to the way Trevor bounced back last year in Jacksonville.
26:11And he just has to score 20. Yeah. Like, just give me 20 points and you're going to win every single game.
26:18Right? This was a team that their average margin of defeat when they did lose last year was 4.8 points.
26:25It was third best in the NFL. When they lost, it wasn't by much.
26:29You compare that to Miami, who had the worst average margin of defeat in the entire league, and they were just under 16.
26:36So when Miami lost, they got blown out by, like, multiple possessions.
26:40When Houston lost, it looked like the Tampa game, typically, where it's just like, ah, Baker Mayfield, he's squirrely, makes a couple plays late in the game.
26:49We lost. Ah, is what it is. We know we're good.
26:52We'll bounce back. And they did. But they didn't have a multi-possession loss until the playoffs in the Patriots game.
26:59And a lot of that was because CJ kept turning the ball over.
27:03So if he didn't turn the ball over, who knows?
27:06They might have won. Like, even late in the game, like, there was kind of a sliver of hope.
27:12They just needed to have their shit together on offense.
27:15Like, you score 17 to 20 points, this team is going to be really, really hard to beat.
27:21Which then brings me to the defense. Star of the show.
27:24So I think my craziest defensive stat about this Texans defense is that they are 21st in total spending on this unit.
27:31They're cheaper than the Cardinals. They're $75 million cheaper than the Steelers.
27:35And they are that good. A lot of it because they have young players, right?
27:40And even their contract extensions haven't really kicked in yet, right?
27:43Stingley got extended. You know, Will obviously got extended.
27:46So their big money hasn't really hit yet. But the fact that they're getting this kind of production out of guys that
27:53are homegrown talents that are still cheap and their extensions haven't really hit yet because they're homegrown talents.
27:59They don't have to pluck a bunch of people from free agency that are making money immediately.
28:04That, to me, I think speaks to the drafting ability of Nick Casario.
28:08And I've had my criticisms of Nick in the past.
28:12But the dude knows how to draft, especially on defense.
28:15And this unit is just absolutely insane. And they're insane while being extremely cheap.
28:19It's top to bottom a very good defense. And they play together as a unit as well as any defense in the NFL.
28:26But I want to focus on the defensive line specifically and just how absurd it is.
28:32Obviously, Will Anderson as a talent is there. Hunter having a pair of edges like that is a luxury that very few teams in the NFL enjoy.
28:40But the rest of the defensive line as well.
28:43When you bring in an almost $7 million free agent and you spend a second-round draft pick on a player who is
28:50perhaps the best run stopper in the class, and neither of those guys is going to start, you have defensive line depth
28:57that other teams around the NFL drool at. Very few teams in the NFL can boast defensive line depth anywhere near the Texans.
29:04Philadelphia certainly could be in the conversation. There are a couple of others, and after that, it drops off.
29:10Anybody else that's spending a second-round pick on a defensive tackle, that guy's probably going to start early and often.
29:17Caden McDonald, very good player. We'll talk about him when we get to the draft.
29:21He's not going to. He's going to be backing up a player who played extremely well last year for the Texans.
29:28So we talk about offensive line being the heart of all offenses.
29:32And if you don't have an offensive line or you don't build your offensive line first, you're probably not going to see success.
29:39It's very much the same with defense. You can build a killer secondary, have a terrible, porous defensive line, and overall your defense is going to look poor.
29:48You can do the opposite. Build a killer defensive line.
29:51Fill it in with not top-flight players in the secondary, but look, they're not going to have to cover for more than three seconds.
29:59And the Texans have done that. And, oh, by the way, the secondary is really good.
30:04The linebackers are in the mold of D'Amico himself when he played.
30:08Like, the three levels work as well together as anything else.
30:11And the end result is what you see. It is very, very hard to earn points against the Texans.
30:17You know, back in the Wade days, you know, it was the Bulls on Parade.
30:22Like, that was the nickname for this defense. You know, current nickname.
30:26You know, talk about that swarm mentality. I just call them the fuck you defense.
30:30Because they just line up and say, fuck you.
30:33Like, they are 31st in blitz rate and second in pressure rate.
30:37Fuck you. They are 31st in rotation rate. What you see is what you get.
30:42It's cover three. It's quarters. It's quarter, quarter, half, and half, quarter, quarter.
30:46Like, they're 15% man rate. Fuck you. You lose.
30:49They don't do anything exotic whatsoever. They're just better than you.
30:52And I think that's what makes watching them so fun is, based on the offensive formation as far as threat distribution, you
30:59know exactly what coverage they're going to be in.
31:02The offense knows exactly what coverage they're going to be in.
31:06If it's two by two, it's cover three and quarters.
31:09Symmetric coverage versus symmetric threat distribution. If it's three by one, it's going to be asymmetric.
31:14Right? It's going to be quarter, quarter, half, or half, quarter, quarter, depending on the threat they want to take away.
31:21Or it's going to be one lurk if they want to go into a man look.
31:26Again, like 15% of the time. Everybody knows what they're going to do.
31:30Nobody can beat it because you're not that good compared to them.
31:34Nobody's that good compared to them. You don't have an offensive line that can block them.
31:39You don't have receivers that can beat both Stingley and Lasseter and their safeties.
31:43And even if you try to get them over the top, you got Bullock, one of the rangiest free safeties in the
31:50NFL there, who's liable to pick it off. It's just an unbelievable unit.
31:54And the fact that they're so simple is just so disrespectful because they know they don't have to deceive you.
32:01You look at some defenses around the league, like the Halfley defense in Green Bay, rotation all over the place.
32:07They would get into cover three five different ways.
32:10They would get into cover two six different ways because they knew they had to.
32:15They didn't have the guys to just line up and play.
32:18Houston's the opposite. You know exactly what they're doing, and they don't care.
32:22Fuck you. That's how they play, and that's why I love watching them.
32:26Yeah, it reminds me of a couple of things.
32:29One, the Pittsburgh defense from several years ago, but the talent wasn't as good in Pittsburgh.
32:34They did the same thing. We actually criticized them for being a little too transparent and saying we're going to run what we run.
32:42We're just going to stand on our talent. That's cool if you have top-level talent at all three levels.
32:48Which they did. That was prime TJ. It was Cam.
32:51They did. They could get away with it. They got away with it, but they were not as good.
32:57You can look at statistics. You can look at overall results, records, whatever.
33:01It was the same philosophy, but Houston's doing that with even better players.
33:05And it also kind of reminds me of two to three years ago, the Cleveland secondary.
33:10They were just like, nah, we'll man up. I'm like, go for it.
33:14Our guys are better than your guys. We're good.
33:17We're just going to do that. And they were right.
33:20They could get away with it. And to your point, I don't know if it's disrespectful, but it's challenging for sure to just say, nah, you know.
33:29We know. Let's go. Like that is, that's ultimate confidence either on offense or defensive.
33:34Like, I don't really care what you do. I don't care how you line up.
33:39I know how we're lining up. I know who we've got and ours are better than yours.
33:44And that's a basic football truism. And the Houston defense is an ultimate extension of that right now in football.
33:50The closest comparison I would say is like early 2010s Legion of Boom.
33:54It's cover three. We got everybody knows. We got Earl.
33:58We got Cam. We got Bennett. We got Averill.
34:00We got me, Bane. We got Bobby. Yeah. I mean, what are you going to do?
34:06Bears with Erlacher too. Like with Lovey. Yeah. It's cover two.
34:09Like, you know, Erlacher said they went into games with six calls on the sheet.
34:14Because they're like, what are they going to do?
34:17You want to talk about no disguises. It's no variation.
34:20Like I could write that on the back of my hand.
34:23I don't need a wristband. Like, oh yeah, it's three.
34:26We're running three. Yeah. Early 2010s Bucks. 2006 Colts.
34:29Once they got Bob back. Same thing. It's cover three, cover three, cover two.
34:34Yeah. What you got? Yeah. We got Freeney. We got Mathis.
34:37We got Bob. You got nothing. Yeah. You're not going to have a great day against it.
34:43And you're not going to have a great day against this Houston defense either.
34:47Because, you know, any on any given play, you might not be able to account for Will Anderson.
34:53Like you just period. Like no matter what you do.
34:56I don't care if you double him or whatever else.
34:59He is that level of talent. And so all the rest of your plans get wasted by that.
35:05It reminds me again of like Miles in Cleveland, right?
35:08We can plan all day and we can say we know he's great.
35:12And this is our plan to stop him. How many people actually stopped him?
35:17The answer is very, very few. And like Will Anderson's in a similar space right now where single-handedly he might just be the guy to wreck it.
35:25So everything else you're planning on doing and all the other 10 guys you have to deal with who are also very
35:32good, you know, it might not matter because it might just be that Will gets pressure in 1.7 seconds and that's that.
35:39Um, so you're going to burn a number of plays on individual excellence effort.
35:44The rest of the plays, you're still going to have that cohesive structure.
35:48You're still going to have the levels playing together.
35:51You're still going to have very few gaps to exploit that you have to do so very quickly.
35:56Your margins against this defense are small to start with.
35:59And if you don't play well as an offense, if you don't execute at the highest level and just block your tail
36:06off, like the actual number of plays where you can have a devastating effect against this defense, it's a handful.
36:13You're talking about at the beginning of the game, starting with maybe eight or 10 plays where you think you can tilt the scale.
36:20Everything else is either going to be a push or it's going to fall in the defense's favor.
36:26Those are terrible odds, even in a league where parody rules.
36:30I think back to, I think it was like week seven last year, that game on the road at Seattle, right?
36:36It was one possession game. And this was the eventual Superbowl champion.
36:40And I think a lot of people at the time didn't realize how good Seattle was.
36:45You and I did. We were extremely high on them even going into the season, let alone during the season.
36:51And the fact that they turned that game into an all out war.
36:56Because Seattle could have, I'll say this, if Seattle was playing against almost any other team in the league, they probably would
37:03have won by like 15, 16 points. Because they were just taking shots down the field.
37:08Like there were so many opportunities to drive the dagger.
37:11And Sam was frustrated. Hawks offensive line was frustrated.
37:14The defense was doing their best to, again, answer every single time the Texas defense made a play.
37:19But they turned that game into an ugly, ugly game of attrition against arguably the best team in the league.
37:26About a month and a half before that, they did the same thing against the Rams.
37:31And they lost against the Rams. And they lost against the Hawks.
37:35And they lost against the Bucks. But they were going up against the best the NFC had to offer, which for two
37:42years now has been the better conference. Like not even a debate.
37:45And they turned it into a battle of attrition.
37:48And they were like the kings of, ah, but I almost had you though.
37:53And while it sucks in the moment for Texans fans, when you look back on the context of the season, you're like,
38:00we played the Rams and Seahawks closer than New England did.
38:03Right? Or really any of the other best teams in the league.
38:07Like we were right there. We were right there.
38:10All they needed was just better offensive line play.
38:13And God, they could have been a 14, 15 win team last year if they just had better offensive line play.
38:19And now they do. Yeah. That was their downfall.
38:22They've taken great strides that we're going to talk about in the second half of the show to fix that.
38:28And it is one of the reasons that I have great hope for the Texans moving into this season and have a
38:35pretty, pretty high expectation in the win column for them because you're starting with a great base in that defense.
38:42Again, you don't have to do a lot on offense to win period.
38:46And you were pretty good on offense. I mean, you scored the 14th most points in the NFL.
38:52That's not bad with some huge flaws. Because, oh, fix the flaws.
38:55Take some load off your quarterback's plate. And the defense isn't going anywhere.
39:00They didn't lose anybody. And in fact, when we get to the addition section, it's a little sick.
39:05They just added to strengths. It's really wrong. And so defensive anything is going to be deeper.
39:11It's tough to say better. You were number one against the pass in the NFL.
39:15But you fix your flaws. The coaching's not bad, right?
39:19We don't think D'Amico is holding this team back at all.
39:22There's a lot of reason for optimism in Houston this year.
39:26Hi, Alternate Timeline Brett here. Before we get to all the 2026 stuff, if you've liked a lot of the data that
39:33we brought up so far, we have companion infographics for every single team, including the one we're talking about today.
39:39With over 15,000 total data points that we have collected throughout this summer, each team gets its own companion infographic, which is roughly about 20 pages long.
39:47It has all the data on this team you can think of, whether it's alignment data, personnel data, cap allocation, coverage data
39:54broken out by down and distance, blitz data. I mean, basically anything you can think of, we've got it.
40:00So if you want access to that, you can find that down at the link in the description below or at the QR code on the screen.
40:09Reminder, we also have bonus episodes that go live every single Friday over on Patreon, recapping every single division.
40:15We're going to pick division winners, MVPs, Rookies of the Year, all that stuff.
40:19So if you want bonus episodes plus more data than you could probably handle, that is over on the Patreon.
40:26Thank you once again to all of our patrons that have made, honestly, this series possible to make in the first place.
40:33We could not have paid the people who help us make it without your guys' financial support.
40:38So thank you to our patrons. Thank you to all of our executive producers on Patreon.
40:43Their names are on screen right now. They have been OG supporters of us and made so much in our lives possible
40:50while we try to chase this dream. So thank you.
40:53Thank you. Thank you. And with that, let's get back to the show.
40:58Okay. 2026 portion of the show starts right now.
41:00Went through 2025, the ups, the downs, the in-betweens.
41:03Everything from here on out is what happened going into this year.
41:07We'll start with the power structure. A lot of carryover from last year.
41:11So it's a lot of familiar names. But still, for those of you that are not Texans fans, good time to kind
41:18of refresh your memory about who runs the show here.
41:21Yeah. Nick Casario at the top is the GM.
41:24We talked about him a lot in the first half of the show.
41:28Very, very solid and has a good eye for what his team slash coach really needs as evidenced by how many young
41:35starters they have on both sides of the ball that have stuck.
41:39And that, again, is going to save your team money down the way.
41:43Even if you have to resign them, you can resign them early before the market gets reset.
41:49You don't have to overpay in free agency. You don't have to, you know, package multiple draft picks to get up to
41:56fill a hole that you missed on two years ago.
41:59So Casario's done a very good job stabilizing this roster and improving it.
42:03D'Amico Ryans is the head coach. We were, D'Amico Ryans for us was Mike McDonald before Mike McDonald.
42:09He was the guy that we were most sure about when he left, was a very solid football mind, but also a
42:16very good leader and certainly been proven correct in that.
42:19One fun stat about D'Amico. 13th coach in NFL history.
42:22Now, when you're talking about NFL history, long time, lot of coaches that you're going up against.
42:2713th coach in NFL history to record at least 10 wins in each of their first three seasons.
42:33Only 13 guys that have been coaches of NFL for each.
42:37That's surprising to me, by the way. I thought it would have been a lot more.
42:42Yeah, it feels like it to me as well, but D'Amico in a very select club.
42:47So assistant head coach and running back coach is Danny Barrett.
42:50You talked about the offensive coordinator, Nick Calley. Defensive coordinator, Matt Burke, I think probably needs a little bit more love, and
42:57I'm interested to see if he starts to get those opportunities in head coaching vacancies.
43:02It is tougher for defensive guys in this league.
43:05Offense is the shiny toy. The young offensive coordinators and quarterback coaches, passing game coordinators, those are always the guys at the top of the list.
43:13Everybody wants to score points. It sells tickets. But Matt Burke coordinating this defense, and as good as this defense is, it's
43:20going to be tough to overlook him, even if you think it's really D'Amico's defense.
43:25Matt Burke should start getting some looks here pretty soon.
43:28And special teams coach is Frank Ross. As for the assistant coaches, the wide receiver and passing game coordinator is Ben McDaniels.
43:35Yes, that name sounds familiar because he is the younger brother of Pat's OC and former head coach.
43:41Josh McDaniels. The offensive line run game coordinator is Cole Popovich.
43:44He's got his work cut out for him, but he also has some better tools to play with.
43:50We'll talk about that in the player acquisition section.
43:53The assistant wide receiver coach, Taquan Underwood, played for the Jags, the Pats, the Bucks, and the Panthers in the NFL.
43:59Also for the Tiger Cats and the Alouettes in the CFL, so he knows of which he speaks.
44:05Senior defensive assistant. I find this one fascinating. Bill Lazor made his living on offense as an offensive guy, as a play
44:12caller, as a pass game coordinator, and is now coaching defense.
44:15I'm always interested when guys who have spent a long time on one side of the ball switch to the other side
44:22of the ball because their perspective is so valuable.
44:25They've been designing what the defense is trying to stop, and now they're on defense helping those guys pick apart opposing offenses.
44:32Defensive pass game coordinator is Corey Undlin. Again, when you're number one against the pass in the NFL, you're going to get some credit coming his way.
44:41Corey's going to start getting those looks, whether it's a defensive coordinator job somewhere else.
44:46Then, you know, we'll see how he does in that role.
44:49That could eventually lead to head coach openings. And defensive line, defensive room game coordinator is Rod Wright.
44:55An embarrassment of riches for Coach Wright. Like, how happy is that guy driving the facility every day?
45:01Like, A, I have Will Anderson. B, C, D, E, F.
45:04I have all of these other guys. I've got Hunter.
45:07I've got a second-round pick in Caden McDonald. I've got Tommy Togiai because he's an absolute stud.
45:13Rod Wright's got to be one of the happiest guys on the planet.
45:17I bet he doesn't even drink coffee. You think he just, like, sits on the sidelines during a game?
45:23He's like, I don't know. You guys do it.
45:26He just smiles. Figured out. Sits back. You're fine.
45:28They're doing great. I don't really need to help out here.
45:32It's like a proud parent just watching their kid on the playground.
45:36It's like, ah, he's having fun. Dominate. As long as you all had fun.
45:40And boy, are they having some fun on the Texans defense right now.
45:44Sitting out there with orange slices and ice seeds.
45:47Good job, guys. Nice work. Let's get to free agency.
45:50Again, this team, you could argue they just got better in March and April.
45:55A lot of that was shedding some contracts or rather allowing some guys to walk that didn't fit in their future plans.
46:02But, you know, and again, I will admit, I'll start off by saying I was extremely skeptical about how they were handling
46:09the offensive line at the start of free agency.
46:12Right. Because I was like, OK, you traded Laramie the year before.
46:15You use your best offensive lineman. I understood the arguments about leadership and whatever.
46:20We've litigated that multiple times. OK, now. Now, Titus is going to Cleveland.
46:24I like Ariante Urjari. But I was like, I look at the upcoming numbers for free agent offensive linemen.
46:30I was like, I don't think they'll be able to keep Ed Ingram because the guard market's exploding.
46:36And I was like, I don't know if they'll be able to get a quality right tackle.
46:41Like, I just expected everything to be way more expensive than it ended up being compared to what these guys actually ended up signing in Houston for.
46:50And by the end of March, I was, I mean, A, I was wrong.
46:54And so I did my mea culpa to Nick Cassara.
46:57I was like, OK, you guys properly value these contracts.
47:00I didn't. But I was also extremely pleasantly surprised at the unit that they had built because of where my mindset was
47:07at once Titus was no longer there. I was like, OK, we got to fill 80 percent of these spots and I
47:14don't know how they're going to be able to do it with the money that they had available.
47:20So we'll go through this to start here as far as departures.
47:24Right. Joe Mixon gone. Danico Autry gone. Danico did play well for Houston, but he's gone.
47:29Derek Barnett gone. Nick Chubb forever in our hearts gone.
47:32Christian Kirk now with the 49ers. Titus Howard, as I mentioned, with the Browns, he got 22 five, which that was, again, part of the reason.
47:40I was like, oh, tackle markets like also going way up here.
47:44Miles Bryant gone. Tim Settle, quality down eater for Houston.
47:47He's now with the commanders. Christian Harris with Atlanta and then Juice Scruggs.
47:51He got traded as part of the Dave Montgomery package.
47:55I was cool with that. Juice never really turned into what I hoped he could be.
48:00Maybe he'll be better with Detroit. But as far as who they then brought in, as well as re-signed, that's where things got spicy.
48:07Right. So, Daniil Hunter got his annual one-year extension to get him up to $40 million a year.
48:13Nico is at $30 million now. Dalton Schultz, even though I have my issues with him as a run blocker, he's a semi-reasonable number at 12.6.
48:21Aziz got an $18 million a year extension. Will Anderson got a big $50 million a year extension.
48:27Kaimi Fairbairn eventually is going to maybe be in the ring of honor for the Texans with how many points he's going
48:34to end up scoring for this franchise. He got an extension at $6.5 million.
48:38Sheldon Rankins is back at $8.5 million. EJ Speed is back at $5 million.
48:43Trent Brown is back at $5.5 million. That was what initially perked my ears up.
48:48Okay. We have a starting caliber right tackle. It's not a great right tackle, but starting caliber right tackle.
48:54Now we have three spots to fill up the offensive line.
48:57Then Ed Ingram came back at $12.5 million. That floored me.
49:01I thought he was going to go for $18 million.
49:04And suddenly we're looking at a situation where they actually do have the money to bring in yet another free agent guard.
49:11Because Ed Ingram went for like $5.5 million to $6 million less than I thought.
49:16Trent Brown went for less than I thought based on where the market was at.
49:20So I was like, okay, he's cooking a little bit here.
49:24And then Henry Toto also just got a two-year extension as well.
49:28Brings us to the acquisitions. Third-party acquisitions. Braden Smith at $10 million.
49:31Compared to Titus Howard at $22.5 million. Offensive line coming together again.
49:35And then you look at the Wyatt Teller signing.
49:38Again, cheaper than what I thought it would be.
49:41They built the entire offensive line with, not the entire offensive line, but 80% of the offensive line out of contracts that were way cheaper than expected.
49:49Which brings it back to my initial point of they're now going into the season with the most talented.
49:55And I say that knowing full well they just could be average, but that's still the most talented offensive line this team has had in a decade.
50:04And they did it way cheaper than I thought they could.
50:08But then you also throw in Jadavion Clowney returning to the franchise at 5.5 per year.
50:13Logan Hall coming in at about 6.8, 6.9 per year.
50:16Reed Blankenship coming in at about 8.2 per year to shore up the safety position next to Bullock.
50:22You know, Monty obviously at 8.25 as well. Foster Moreau improving the tight end room, or at least deepening the tight end room at 3.
50:29Sorry, there's a lot of money going out the door here.
50:33But every single contract that they did on the entire list that I just went through, I don't think there was a single overpay there.
50:41And in fact, especially when it comes to how they built the offensive line, they did that so economically.
50:47Like, I was stunned by the time we got to April.
50:50Yeah, this is where the part of the front office that we don't talk about a lot really comes into play, which is economic forecasting.
50:58And you and I are lucky enough to know a few agents.
51:02And this is a piece of the process that I wasn't really aware of how the sausage got made and how that
51:09communication happens between all the parties involved, players and agents on one side, teams on the other side, and sort of the
51:16NFL talking about, you know, caps for positions and positional value is a big soup.
51:21And it all sort of gets mixed together. And there's a lot of communication.
51:25There's a lot of estimating firms. There's a lot of estimators, folks that are, that's their whole job is, you know, people.
51:32We know a couple of them. Yeah, people used to call them capologists or whatever else.
51:37Their entire job is to basically say, I think the market for this player, to me, they're a lot like Weatherman, right?
51:44They say, I think this is what's going to happen tomorrow, right?
51:48It's going to rain or here's the chance that it's windy or whatever else.
51:53They come up with a range and they talk about likelihoods of, look, the market is going to be strong.
51:59The market is going to be soft. They look at all the factors that come into that, just like a Weatherman in
52:06terms of temperature, humidity and everything else. They're talking about, well, how many are available?
52:11How many teams really need them? How does the draft look?
52:14All of that. And they mix and stir and they come up with literally a one pager that kind of goes to
52:21both sides and sets the table for negotiation. Like teams are like asking them, how much should we pay for these guys?
52:28And agents are like, how much should I be asking for?
52:32They answer both sides and that sort of sets the table.
52:35And if you have a good set of forecasters in your front office, you're aware that, hey, this market is not going
52:42to be as robust as you or I thought it was going to be money-wise, given the trend from the last couple
52:49of years, because that's one factor that figures in, but it's not the only factor.
52:54And the Texans obviously have a couple of really sharp ones because those pencils were real sharp when it came to the numbers.
53:01And they said, I think we're going to be able to get away with this.
53:06I think we're going to be able to build the offensive line we need and quite frankly that we want and still do some other things.
53:14And I'm not privy to those conversations, but I imagine Nick Casario, the first time he heard that went good, but I'm skeptical, a little bit like you.
53:23Like what happens if this guy's number goes from 12 to 20?
53:27Because we've seen that happen, especially in the offensive line market in the last couple of years.
53:32Anyways, they were right on. They nailed it. They were able to land those players for figures that we thought were south
53:39of what they would probably get on the open market.
53:42And that allowed them to do some, let's just call them luxury buys.
53:46Do you need Jadavion Clowney if you're the Texans?
53:49We talked about the strength of their defensive line.
53:52Absolutely not. They do not need him. Do they want him and can they use him?
53:57Sure. And now they can afford him. And that is what, I think it's a part of the entire process and a
54:04part of the whole front office structure we don't really think about, but it is critical.
54:09If you're just looking at what their offensive line is, right?
54:13And we're recording this August 7th for contact. This comes out in a couple of weeks or yeah, a few weeks.
54:19So you got Ariante Erzuri at left tackle. Again, acquitted himself well as a rookie.
54:24I thought he really exceeded even my expectations. I initially thought he might have been a conversion candidate to guard and then
54:31they left him at tackle and he was fine.
54:34So I'll give him credit for that. Wyatt Teller, when healthy, still a quality guard.
54:39Keelan Rutledge, he's a rookie, but extremely athletic. We'll talk about him in the draft section.
54:44Ed Ingram, again, played well, honestly, with Houston. And then Braden Smith, again, when healthy, still quality tackle.
54:50Add all those parts together, we think that could be an average offensive line, but they're the fifth cheapest unit in the league.
54:57So if you're getting average offensive line play, right?
55:00If they're, let's just say 17th best by whatever metric and they're the fifth cheapest, that's plus EV for Houston.
55:06And then again, that allowed them to spend so much money on the defense.
55:10It's just making it even deeper, you know, taking care of, you know, Nico in ever, ever expanding receiver market.
55:17Let's just say that. It's just really, really well done by Nick Casario.
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56:50That takes us to the draft. And again, this is a solid draft.
56:54Casario's done very well stocking this team with talent.
56:57This year, they had their first round pick at two seconds, two fourths, a fifth, a sixth, and a seventh.
57:04Start this draft off. First round, guy you just talked about, Keelan Rutledge, the 26th overall pick.
57:09He was a guard at Georgia Tech. They have him penciled in at center.
57:14He could have played either place. Rutledge is an extremely aggressive blocker.
57:17We just had the Hall of Fame game last night and Rutledge's quarterback, Haynes King, two guys cut from the same cloth
57:24who are incredibly aggressive as football players. I can't even imagine the offensive huddle they had fun with at Georgia Tech, but Rutledge is an absolute ass kicker.
57:33And if he works out as a center, and I think he physically certainly has all that capacity, the skill capacity as
57:40well, it's more about learning protections and angles, which do change when you go from guard to center.
57:46But if he works out and is a long-term hit for this team, it's going to be an absolute building piece for the Texans.
57:53And just as a ball of clay, athletically, that you can work with, right?
57:586'4", plays at 320, with a 32.5 vertical, a 505-40, which is really good for 320, and a three cone of 754,
58:05which again, at 6'4", 320 is exceptional. He is really, really twitchy, really fluid, to your point, extremely aggressive, sustains well.
58:12I just, I really, really like this fit, specifically at center, because this is a run scheme that likes to get their
58:19centers, you know, really just kind of jamming on a defensive tackle.
58:22Okay, I'm going to help out Ed here. I'm going to get Ed squared up by jamming this DT into a good
58:29spot for him to then take over and crank out and then get to the second level and whatever poor bastard on
58:36the second levels in front of Keelan Rutledge. Godspeed, because he is so fluid and he can really latch onto people in
58:43space and just bury them and specifically for this run scheme that likes to get centers to the second level off of double teams.
58:51Having a center that is athletic enough to do that is really, really crucial.
58:55We've seen that in LA, obviously. So I think it's a great fit.
58:59Initially, when they drafted him, I was like, okay, is he a swing guard that they're spending an early pick on?
59:06And then it was like, oh no, they're actually moving him to center.
59:10I was like, aha, okay. So they must have, again, worked him out as a center, right?
59:16Seeing if he can snap, which if I recall, he was one of the guys at Combine that then did snapping drills after the offensive line drills.
59:24I have to go back and look at my footage.
59:27But I believe he was one of them. And you know, if he's good on the board and understands protections, which he's an experienced player, he probably does.
59:36They probably felt comfortable just moving him inside and being like, boom, you're a center.
59:41Yeah. And again, if he works out, this is a building block piece that they will be able to ride for the
59:48next six to eight years and having young, talented offensive linemen, again, sets your baseline for success on that side of the ball.
59:55We drop into the second round, the 36th overall pick, Caden McDonald, defensive tackle out of Ohio State, massive run stopper.
60:02A couple of things he was best at in this class in terms of all the defensive tackles in this draft.
60:09He had the most tackles. Yeah. Eh, tackles are a counting stat and subjective at best, but missed tackle percentage, the lowest at 3.2.
60:16Stops, 34, the most, more than Lee Hunter, more than Miller, more than Woods or Banks or Big Citrus in terms of forced fumbles.
60:24He was tied for two. That was the most.
60:27This is an elite run stopper, 325, 330, 6'3", super powerful, very quick laterally, again, inside the tackle box.
60:33He's not necessarily a guy that's going to be running down, running backs to the perimeter, but don't try and run by
60:40him because it will not work out well for you.
60:43And he's a really critical need for them as far as having somebody, because they do play a lot of nickel, right?
60:50Having somebody who can be flexible on the inside of like, hey, if we want somebody who is a three technique, because
60:57he can play three technique, but not really a penetrating three technique, but you're our three technique on the guard, you control
61:04the guard, and you make it easier for linebackers to then operate and flow to the ball, which some teams really like
61:11having a great run stopper as a three technique for that reason, just because of, you know, where they want to put their bubble.
61:18But at the same time, okay, if we then get a motion and we want to move the interior and have him
61:25then be a two eye or a shade and then put the guy who was the two eye or a shade now
61:32at a three technique, you know, whether it's Rankin's, whether it's Togi eye, again, that's the flexibility of having two defensive tackles
61:39on the field that are really, really good against the run is you can't then use motion to put the bubble where you want the bubble to be.
61:48Like there's always going to be an answer, right?
61:51You just move the defensive line over and you're fine.
61:54And they felt like they, they didn't have two guys that could do that.
61:59Now they do. Plus will, plus to Neil, plus clap, you know, plus Clowney, plus all these safeties that tackle well in
62:06space, you know, Kamari Lasseter taking on pulling guards as a corner because he can.
62:10Now you don't really have any answers in the run game because you can't put the bubble where you want it to be.
62:18Yeah. Maybe they looked at that 11, 11th overall ranking against the run and went, that's disappointing.
62:23We need, we need to fix that. We need to get to single digits.
62:28Let's draft Caden McDonald. That's a good first step.
62:30Their other pick in the second round at 59 overall is Marlon Klein, the tight end for Michigan.
62:36Not going to lie. This one was early for me, but we've talked about this throughout the series and throughout our draft
62:43coverage that that run on tight ends was earlier and more aggressive than we thought it was going to be league wide.
62:50So if you were going to get the guy you wanted to, you kind of had to step up and spend an earlier pick.
62:58So I'm not going to fault them or fault Nick too heavily for that choice.
63:02Marlon to me was not a second round player to Houston.
63:06He was a second round value. Again, we'll see how that plays out.
63:10He is a stronger blocker than receiver. They needed that.
63:13They again, went out and got Foster Moreau. This is kind of the shotgun approach of we're not going to be short a tight end that can block.
63:22We're going to make sure we have a couple of options no matter what.
63:27So while I didn't love it, I can understand the reasoning behind it and I'm not going to say that I hate it.
63:34It was just early for me. I think if he was healthier, he might have gotten more attention, right?
63:40Because he is one of these big body, lanky tight ends who's probably going to play if I had to guess somewhere around 255.
63:47You know, he'll bulk up even compared to you know, what he was at Michigan.
63:52I think he'll get up to 255 because looking at his frame was like, yeah, you can handle it.
63:58Like Colston, right? Colston Loveland. He did have to add five to eight pounds in Chicago because it's like, hey man, you
64:05got to be able to take the punishment. So I would guess he's going to play somewhere around 255, 266, but he
64:12runs a 4-6 flat, which for somebody as a wide tight end is plenty fast.
64:17Not to mention the catch radius. Like he can absolutely go up and get it.
64:22As a blocker, is he immediately going to be their Jackson Hawes like Buffalo was or like Jackson Hawes was for Buffalo
64:29who, similar story again a couple years ago, Buffalo led the league in six offensive line looks because they didn't have any
64:36tight ends that could really dig people out. Then they drafted Jackson.
64:39He then became their true Y tight end that could actually block and magically they didn't have to do six offensive linemen anymore.
64:47Go figure. Is he going to be Klein, that is, as good of a blocker out the gate as Jackson was for Buffalo?
64:54No. But, you do see the effort. You do see the strength on tape.
64:59He does sustain. He's a little bit out of control, but he's at least trying.
65:03Like, he's not just letting his ass get whooped like, quite frankly, Dalton Schultz does on tape.
65:09And I like Dalton. Good receiver. Reliable receiver. Doesn't look like his heart's in it as a blocker on tape.
65:15Klein at least tries. And I think back to a player that we talked about earlier in this series, right?
65:21Charlie Kohler, who was coming out of Iowa State.
65:24He was not a good blocker at all. He tried.
65:27He just wasn't good at it. Baltimore made him into a good blocker.
65:32And then he got $8 million a year from the Chargers to go be their block and tight end.
65:38Because they also didn't really have a true Y that they could rely on.
65:42Arande, God bless him. He did his best, but he's like, 245.
65:46What do you want him to do? So I could see a similar development arc for Marlon Klein just because of his
65:53size and his strength and his want to. Plus, you then factor in, okay, he's a long, lanky, go up and get
66:00it type that can run low 4'6". Why can't he be our new C.J.
66:04Fedorowicz to name drop a pass Texans tight end?
66:07And when C.J. was healthy, I thought he was a pretty quality starter.
66:11Yeah. Solid player. Certainly, again, not in my opinion a second round player, but you've got to play your cards as they're
66:18dealt in a given draft and in this draft, if you wanted a player like Klein, you're going to have to get
66:25him probably around earlier than you thought you might because if you didn't, if you waited, he was going to be off
66:32the board along with all the rest of them.
66:35So just a sort of vagary of the 2026 draft that we didn't expect but definitely played out not just for the Texans but team wide.
66:43If it was just the Texans that made that kind of move, you can really say, hey, you were bidding against yourself
66:50as the draft unfolded through the first two days you went, okay, I guess, again, kind of like our contract estimation.
66:57We weren't right about this. The need was greater and therefore the supply diminished more quickly than we thought it would.
67:03Skipping now to day three, fourth round, pick 106, Fibetje Nwanwu, the guard from Oklahoma.
67:08They have a type. Like, they're big, powerful interior guards that can move people.
67:13Nwaiwu is that guy. And then the other pick in the fourth round at 123, Wade Wood as the linebacker from Clemson.
67:20It's hard for me to fault Texans linebacker picks because their head coach was a very good linebacker, knows how to assess
67:27the position, and has been successful getting guys into the organization that maybe didn't have the greatest physical skills but were really good fits in other ways.
67:35I'm imagining Wood as is that. He didn't impress me on film.
67:39I didn't have a great grade on him. Far be it for me to tell D'Amico Ryans, what are you doing at linebacker, man?
67:47Yeah, he's... It was early for me. I'm not going to sugarcoat it.
67:51It was early for me. But I understand the thought process, right?
67:55They love these lanky, rangy linebacker types. It's like, well, he's not going to really be blocked anyway, so let's just get
68:02somebody who can go sideline to sideline. You know, did improve his tackle rate significantly through college.
68:07Like, earlier in his college career. Not a great tackler.
68:10Improved it as he went on. Did play a bunch of snaps.
68:14Like, close to 2,000 snaps, I want to say, in college.
68:17So, experienced, rangy. Kind of reminds me, you know, physically of some of the other linebackers they already have on the team.
68:24Like Henry To'o To'o who came in with a similar kind of build.
68:28And also, To'o To'o was criticized a lot coming out of school for not being a great tackler.
68:34It's like, ah, he's not really going to take on blocks.
68:38It's like, well, it didn't really matter. Because you're not getting to the second level anyway against this defensive line.
68:44So, who gives a shit? So, I can see it from that standpoint.
68:48Again, my grade, it was early. But if you're grading it for what the Texans like, you can kind of understand it.
68:55As for Fabecchi, that's a really solid tape at center, right?
68:59Had a strong shrine bowl as well. Another one of these guys where probably fits more in like a north-south type scheme similar to Keelan where really stout.
69:08Stocky isn't the right word, but maybe thick. I don't know how to describe it.
69:12Like his build is just very... Solid. Round, but not in like an unhealthy way.
69:17He's just tough to get around. He's built like Golem from Pokemon.
69:21I'll just say that. And again, if he gets to a linebacker on the second level, there's nothing they're going to be
69:28able to do because he is really strong. So, is he a guard?
69:32Is he a center? I don't know. They're going to figure it out.
69:36I think he could be a swing. He has experience doing both.
69:40Again, was it something I expected at 106? Not necessarily, but I understand the thought process.
69:45Yeah, and again, this is a tough team to crack from a roster perspective.
69:49They do not have a ton of holes. They do not have a ton of needs.
69:54Again, a player that was very highly regarded they took in the second round isn't going to start.
70:00So, if we're criticizing fourth and fifth round choices for, you know, not being able to crack the starting lineup, that's on us.
70:07In the fifth round at 141, one of the more interesting picks of this entire draft class for me, Kamari Ramsey, safety
70:14out of USC, who initially in the draft process, early on, summer, September, even into October, was considered one of the top
70:21safety prospects, was always mentioned in the top 10 safeties in this draft.
70:26As you dug in, as I dug in and started to dig through this, was not super thrilled with what I had on tape for Kamari Ramsey.
70:34There were flashes, but not a complete player in my mind, and I think fifth round was a good value.
70:40I think it was much more commensurate with what I saw on tape.
70:45I would have probably said fourth would have been the earliest Vista would have done it, but again, that was so far
70:52different from what happens, and this is something that happens through the length of the draft process, which is really, yes, it's
70:59a multiple year process for teams, but for everybody like us that follows it, it's year to year, but it's six to
71:06nine months long, and at the beginning, Ramsey was always in that conversation, and later on, he dropped off.
71:12I think the Texans benefit here because they get a player that they can work with that they think fits in their
71:19system who they probably didn't think was going to be available in the fifth round, and he ends up on their team as well.
71:26Yeah, this one I just couldn't. You don't love Ramsey.
71:29I loved his teammate better, right? Bishop Fitzgerald is the guy that grew on me more through the process, and this happens again.
71:37You're watching the secondary, you're like, I'm supposed to be watching Ramsey, but I'm ending up watching Bishop, and I actually like
71:44him better unless people are talking about him, so it's this alternating piece in the rankings, but what did you see or
71:51not see from Ramsey that had you feeling the way you did?
71:54Juice, quite frankly, and again, I watch every USC game.
71:58He wasn't the best safety on his own team.
72:00It was Bishop Fitzgerald, and Bishop, only because of injuries did he end up not going ahead of Kamar Ramsey, but I get it.
72:08He's experienced. I don't see the movement ability to survive in the NFL.
72:12I just, I don't. Maybe I'll be wrong. Maybe there was something I don't know about injury-wise.
72:18I just, I didn't see it. Like, I remember when Bullock was coming out.
72:22Yeah. Another USC safety. I was going to say, they're familiar with their USC safeties.
72:27They like them. They love them. They love them, but, and I, I was, I was really high on Bullock coming out.
72:34Like, one of the comps I threw out there for Bullock when he was coming out was Eddie Lacy.
72:40Tackling issues and all. Now, Bullock fixed his tackling issues in the pros.
72:44You can't play with the Texans unless you can tackle.
72:47But, I was really high on Bullock because I was like, oh, I see the juice.
72:52I see the movement ability. I see the ball hawking ability.
72:56Fitzgerald was a lot closer to Bullock than Kamari Ramsey was.
72:59So, like, maybe they like him as a nickel, but I, I wouldn't even say he's one of the three best guys
73:06on this roster as far as who I want playing nickel for this team.
73:10So, maybe I'm wrong. That was just the one pick where I, I couldn't even squint and like it like some of the other ones.
73:18I didn't mind it because it occurred in the fifth round.
73:22If it had occurred a round or two earlier, I would have been like, sorry, disagree.
73:27I, I just don't see it. And again, it doesn't mean we're going to be right, but at the time we do
73:34the best we can and we share those thoughts with you as well.
73:38So, in the sixth round at 204, they get Lewis Bond, the wide receiver out of Boston College.
73:44And then they finish the draft in the seventh round, 243 with Aiden Fisher, the linebacker from Indiana, who again, was a
73:51guy that got a lot of buzz. Obviously, his team was very successful and you are going to see multiple players on
73:58a roster, teams like that, get elevated and get sort of more shine and spotlight.
74:02I got to Aiden Fisher and I was like, he's not that guy for the pros.
74:08He's a good college linebacker. He is, a lot of people again, had him in the top 10 inside linebackers in this class early in the process.
74:16I got to Aiden Fisher and was like, wait, did I get, so one of those guys was like, did I get the number wrong?
74:24Like, am I watching the right guy? This is not a top 10 linebacker in this class.
74:29He is solid. He's very stout. I think he's smart.
74:33He's not super physically gifted. He is productive, but I don't see a lot of that production translating to the NFL.
74:39Again, I'm going to go right back to what I said about the Texans and D'Amico and linebackers and go, you know,
74:46you know more about it than I do. And again, it's a seventh round flyer.
74:51I'm not going to get on him about it.
74:54But again, if Aiden Fisher had gone in sort of the early projection round where he was headed fourth, even I saw
75:01him early in the process being projected there. After I watched him and did multiple games, I was like, not, not for me.
75:08Not, not in the fourth. Again, you want to pick him in the sixth or you think he's going to be a
75:15great leader, special teamer, you know, effort guy. Cool.
75:18Like, seems like he's a very good guy in the locker room to have around, but that's, you know, you got to
75:25have more than that to be a high pick in the NFL.
75:29I would bet they drafted him because they talked to Miami and I mean, Francis Maloneau, when I talked to him at
75:36the combine, we literally called out Aiden Fisher of like that dude.
75:40We were lined up in the red zone and he walked up to his defensive lineman and told them exactly what we
75:47were running and like Maloneau remembers that shit and so, and their reaction by the way was like, fuck it, we're going to run it.
75:54We're going to see if we can stop it but like Miami looked around like, are we still, we're still doing this?
76:01Like, are we still, are we still in this call?
76:05Because Aiden walked up and he's like, this is the call and he was dead right.
76:10So, very prepared linebacker, smart linebacker, obviously a great communicator and I think that's attractive for a guy like D'Amico again, linebacker, that was his calling card.
76:18Now, D'Amico, way more physically talented in his youth but, you know, that's catnip for former linebacker turned coach.
76:24They love that kind of guy. Now, Lewis Bond, I would be willing to bet they put in a call to Bill
76:31O'Brien, former Texan himself, Lewis is Bond's coach at Boston College.
76:35You know, Bill O'Brien spoke very highly of him, you know, really productive receiver, caught everything at like a sub-3% drop rate.
76:42Even though he's not the biggest guy, he's not the fastest guy, he just catches the ball.
76:47You know, has had a really nice offseason so far as well.
76:51You know, people had really, really high praise for him in one-on-ones in practice and he's even starting to get some snaps
76:58at the ones and twos just to see if he can hang.
77:02Apparently, reviews are good. So, we'll see. Like, I think it's very possible that he makes the roster.
77:07It's not like they're hurting for receivers right now, but it is very possible that he makes it.
77:13At worst, he'll be a practice squad guy. Yeah, and again, out of a low-round pick, that is value.
77:19So, this wide receiver room is ridiculous. We've talked about several units on this team that are, but if you're talking about
77:26a, you know, presumptive starting five of Collins, Higgins, Knoll, Dell, and Hutchinson, that is as good as a five-deep unit as there is in the NFL.
77:35There's, maybe, there are better three-deep units or even if you're just starting about top two starting wide receivers, you can make
77:42arguments that that's not, you know, the top room in the league.
77:45When you go to five-deep, that's ridiculous quality. A lot of times, quality drops off in the fourth and fifth wide receiver
77:52and that's just the top five guys. We're not talking about the, you know, about Bond, about Justin Watson, about one of
77:59the UDFAs, we're going to talk about here in a minute.
78:03This is a, this is a tough wide receiver room to crack.
78:07As far as UDFAs, there are three guys that got guaranteed at least a quarter million dollars.
78:12Four that got guaranteed at least 200K. But as far as the ones that got the most guaranteed from them was James Neal, tackle at Iowa State.
78:21He'll be competing with Blake Fisher, honestly, for Blake Fisher's job.
78:24So we'll see. Colin Wright, who every single Texans DB has said like, oh my God, he's a dog during camp so
78:31far, just making plays on the ball over and over and over again every single day.
78:36He got about 262,000. So like, he's going to make the team or at least make the practice squad.
78:42You're not paying that kind of guarantees unless you're like, yeah, we want that guy.
78:47And then your boy, Noah Whittington out of Oregon, very possibly could be on the final 53 to round up the running back room.
78:55Yeah, I like Noah Whittington a lot. I thought he was a very good and versatile back.
79:00And I think a lot of times when we're scouting certain positions, whether it's wide receiver, sometimes the corner, definitely with running
79:07back, we're like, well, they're not a starter. They're not a one.
79:11And they kind of lose a little bit of a shine.
79:14I don't think Noah Whittington is a one in the NFL.
79:18And I don't think there's anything wrong with that because every team carries three to four running backs.
79:23And I think Noah Whittington could be a very good, very productive RB3 in the NFL for a while.
79:30He is, he reminds me of some other backs from Oregon.
79:33I know everybody's going to want me to say Bucky Irving because he's small and explosive and went to Oregon.
79:39But it's actually Jordan James. And I thought the same thing about Jordan James.
79:44Good, versatile, not necessarily the biggest, not necessarily the fastest, but a very productive player.
79:49Good in both the rushing game and the passing game and can fill in a lot of gaps.
79:54And Whittington was a playmaker. And you need to be a playmaker to play in the NFL.
80:00Like, I don't care if you're RB3 or 4.
80:02You still need to be the playmaker from your team in college.
80:06I thought Noah was. I'm not sure why he didn't get drafted.
80:10I would imagine it was a size concern. I didn't hear anything else about him during the process in terms of injury
80:17or off the field stuff that would have kept him from being drafted because I think he's a better player, quite frankly,
80:24than some guys that were drafted in the later rounds at running back, which was, again, not the strongest running back draft.
80:31But even because of that, I thought that increased his value because I thought he was one of the guys down the
80:38board that can have that kind of impact for your team.
80:42So I can see why they paid him a bonus.
80:45And I do think he will stick around because he is a valuable player and he does make plays when he gets the chance.
80:52The other guy that really stuck out to me, although he wasn't a bonus baby, was Daniel Sopkiewicz.
80:58And this is a fifth year wide receiver out of Illinois State who had offers to leave.
81:03He is a big 6'3", 6'4", wide receiver who, again, you talk to his college coach loved his loyalty, loved his consistency,
81:10loved the fact that he just caught everything. And to me, when I look at his game, I see, you know, some
81:17other former small-er school players like Adam Thielen who worked their way into starting positions.
81:22And Sopkiewicz is just that guy that's had production at every level.
81:26And again, he had offers to leave. So don't look at Illinois State and say, oh, well, if he was really good,
81:33he would have gone and played at X. He had offers to leave and he said, no, this program believed in me
81:40early on in my career when I didn't have any offers.
81:43I'm sticking with them. Stayed there for five years.
81:46Had great production. Improving production every single year. Was a leader on that team by the time he left.
81:52Guy that caught my eye during the process. And I think the Texans are lucky to have him.
81:58Now, Sopkiewicz, again, is going to have trouble cracking that roster.
82:01We just talked about how filled the wide receiver room is in Houston.
82:06So it might not be that he's a Texan.
82:08He might show out for the Texans in camp and get a chance somewhere else and latch on for a more needy wide receiver room.
82:16In fact, I think that's probably the most likely path for him, but a really good player who I wanted to call
82:23out who didn't have the highest profile because he went to Illinois State, but is a very good wide receiver with both
82:30traits and skills that I think translate to the league.
82:33Before we get to our patron viewer note, I want to thank our friends over at Woodinville, by the way.
82:40I didn't bring it up earlier in the show.
82:43This is what I've been sipping on the entire time.
82:46Mine's empty. You already made it through. Well, I only put an ounce over ice.
82:51We are midday today. I can't mortgage the rest of the day by going a full two ounce pour.
82:57Yeah, this is our barrel pick, so I definitely could not get through the entire thing that fast, but it is delicious.
83:04Again, if you guys want to check out Woodinville, they have every kind of fun, special bourbon that you can think of,
83:11whether it's like Applewood stave finishes or port cask finishes.
83:14They have a really exceptional rye, which ryes are very difficult to do, but they do a wonderful rye.
83:20Eventually, we are going to do another barrel pick, by the way.
83:24We have been seeing your comments. I know people want our second bootleg barrel pick to come out.
83:29We're working on it. We're trying to get through summer series, but maybe if we can do a fun, like special cask
83:36strength Applewood stave, that could be fun because EJ's had it.
83:40I haven't. Yes. It's like right up my alley.
83:43It is now in their regular lineup. It was a seasonal.
83:46It sold out very quickly when they had it as a seasonal.
83:50They originally said last year that it was going to be discontinued, and then there was enough hue and cry about that
83:57this year that they added it to the regular lineup, so it is available year round.
84:02But for those of you that don't drink bourbon and maybe already have all the merch you need, so you don't need
84:09a Woodenville hat or shirt to help support one of our partners, you know what else they make that is exceptional?
84:16In fact, when I mentioned to my buddy the other day and I said, oh no, we're in partnership with Woodenville.
84:22They're sponsoring us. He said the first thing out of his mouth was, did you get their syrup?
84:28And I said, yes. The syrup is so good.
84:31And I said, yes, I did. Their syrup is amazing.
84:34So if you have somebody on your wish list coming up for the holidays that doesn't drink or just isn't into bourbon, get them some of the syrup.
84:43The syrup is amazing. I've done a, like a blueberry, raspberry compound butter before, like specifically for pancakes and waffles and then you put the syrup.
84:51It's not good for you at all, but it is delicious if you mix all those things together.
84:57For sure. Also, if you put like a little bit, not even a little bit, if you just use it for old fashions.
85:04Oh, yeah. It's also a really good old fashioned syrup.
85:07You bet. Anyway, patron viewer note, this comes from Omar.
85:10Who will win the Trevor Lawrence versus CJ Stroud battle of yesterday's men of tomorrow?
85:15I sound like a cop out. I've got no idea.
85:18Well, I, I think Trevor Lawrence has a head start because of what they established last year with Liam Cohen.
85:25But CJ Stroud could be the dark horse comfort behind here and pass him because again, I don't think CJ Stroud is
85:32as far down as he has looked for the last couple of years.
85:36He has not looked great for the last couple of years.
85:39We talked about the off target incompletions. Like he just has not looked himself and there have been some reasons for that
85:46and he is going to have to take the personal responsibility part of that, which I don't think he has any problem with as a player.
85:55I'm not calling out CJ's football character at all.
85:57I think he's really good. But again, whenever you have a guy that is a little bit miscast and I don't care
86:04whether it's a, you know, a number three wide receiver that's being forced into a number one role or a third down
86:11back like we talked about that has to be the lead back or, you know, a defensive end that's really more of
86:18a designated pass rusher and now he has to be a base end.
86:22They're put in positions where they can't really succeed and I think everybody thought CJ Stroud was just that guy after his
86:29rookie year that could succeed no matter what was around him.
86:33Come to find out that's not true but I think the pieces as we've talked about for the last hour plus are
86:40in place to put him back to that plane and we have seen him operate on that plane and it is damn good.
86:47It is high level NFL quarterback play. So I think Trevor kind of starts with the lead here but that doesn't mean
86:54I don't think Stroud couldn't pass him. He's got some work to do it but I do think it is possible.
87:01I would say right now Trevor is starting on a higher plane than CJ just because the last time we saw CJ
87:08last few times we saw CJ wasn't great. Right?
87:11And while I have had my criticisms of Trevor I don't think I don't think they're any greater than the criticisms that
87:18I've had of CJ and in fact both of them you know if we're talking about off target incompletions which is just
87:25how many throws did you flat out miss? Right?
87:28Not passes broken up you know not throwaways like just passes that you flat out miss.
87:33Like I said earlier in the show CJ third most the entire year not great.
87:37He's in Caleb territory we don't love that. Trevor in the first part of the season was 23rd in that metric he
87:44also was having tons of accuracy issues and if you listen to the Jags episode we talked about some of the reasons
87:51why the communication issues with BTJ and you know obviously him under pressure contributed to that they didn't really solidify their offensive
87:58line until Colvin Lannan got starter reps and he was awesome and completely changed their outlook in terms of quality pass protection
88:05but even in week 11 onward when he was 8th best in terms of off target incompletions so he went from 23rd
88:12to 8th that's great but very similar to Stroud it was kind of dependent on the type of throw right talk about
88:19CJ being much more accurate statistically and just using our fucking eyes when he was throwing from under center versus shotgun we
88:26just we have eyes we can see like it just it was it was very different Trevor was very similar in the
88:33sense that the data was skewed because he was 5th best on throws that were under 20 yards and he was 21st
88:40on throws that were over 20 yards that was even in the back half of the year where he was quote unquote
88:478th best in limiting off targeting completions it's like yeah if he was throwing short and intermediate if he was throwing deep
88:54he was still not great so it just when it comes to Stroud when it comes to Trevor they're situationally really good
89:01at different things and they're situationally not good at different things so are Trevor's problems more fixable yeah probably but it doesn't
89:08mean that I don't have criticisms of him and I certainly have a ton of criticisms of CJ like again I think
89:15CJ is not as good as Trevor right now but if you ask me like oh if we if we come back
89:22in December and we pose this same question who's gonna be better fuck if I know like yeah that is a tough
89:29projection that's why we watch the games and it does make it a lot of fun but I want to give Omar
89:36some bonus points for the phrasing of this question it's one of the best ones of the entire series so far it's
89:43great love it love it um shall we get into season uh ceiling and floor let's uh let's do that and get
89:50out of here I see that we have the same ceiling and a very similar floor so why don't you take ceiling
89:57I'll let you go with that because I bet most of my reasons are the same and I'll give my floor and
90:04you can say why you're a little bit different the ceiling is 14 because if the defense is even just as good
90:11as it was last year which I think it will be if the offense is five percent better they win two more
90:18games like again they had the third lowest margin average margin defeat in the entire league if the offense is five percent
90:25better can they beat the ramps can they beat tampa I think the answer is yes and that would have put them
90:32at 14 last year yeah so I think improved offensive line play ideally CJ stops doing whatever it was that he was
90:39doing last year to keep throwing picks and just marginal improvement makes this a 14 win team in my opinion yeah agreed
90:46I have 14 as well and typically I've been phrasing this for the past several episodes as why it could all work
90:53and that's the ceiling and how it could all fall apart I feel bad saying how it could all fall apart for
91:00the floor because I don't think it can all fall apart like even if it goes very badly if they can't get
91:07consistent production out of CJ the defense in the run game the improved run game are going to make this somewhat bust
91:14proof I think they're still going to win double digit games I said 10 is the absolute like falling out I cannot
91:21see this being a losing team I can't even see this team being a single digit winning team that would still potentially
91:28be a winning team with nine wins but I cannot see them below 10 as the absolute break glass in case of
91:35emergency because the defense is so good and I think the running game is going to be improved for all the reasons
91:42we talked about whether or not CJ plays well I'll go floor of 11 just because almost everything that could have gone
91:49wrong within absolute floor of 11 and that would again require CJ not improving whatsoever like if CJ plays exactly how he
91:56did last year I still think it's 11 win team just because improved offensive line improved run game maybe or who's who's
92:03in that tier who's like the 12th best quarterback in the league how about this if you if you put Trevor Lawrence
92:09on this team do they lose a game let's just say Trevor Trevor Lawrence in Liam's offense so that he doesn't have
92:16to change no if you put Trevor and Liam's offense with this group of players and you have the defense and D'Amico
92:23as the head coach I'm not sure they lose especially because they don't have to play against the Rams in Seattle this
92:30year all you have to do is put up two touchdowns and can Trevor and Liam put up one touchdown per half
92:37on average and the answer is more than that last year but if that's all they have to do on a given
92:44Sunday to win because nobody's cracking the defense it would be a very powerful combination and maybe that's a roundabout way of
92:51answering the patron question maybe the fact that I'm bringing up if you put Trevor on the team they don't lose yeah
92:58yeah he does have a head start for sure yeah well fun show today again feels weird to be optimistic as a
93:05Texans fan not sure I trust it but they are that good they really are that good next week we've got NFC
93:12South so we are you know why do I not look at who the worst never ever I think it's the Saints
93:19never ever you should but you know typical Coleman order leap then look we'll figure it out later I we roll through
93:26the rest of the South next week so we will see you then good day
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