Speaker 1: Hello Texans, and welcome to the show. As we bring
Speaker 1: you inside the Hyunday Texans Radio studio. Mark Vandermer, John
Speaker 1: Harris with you, and we talk Texans every night, among
Speaker 1: other things, but Texans mostly NFL mostly. Sometimes some other
Speaker 1: things come into the fray, like college football because we
Speaker 1: also host a bowl here, the Texas Bowl every year,
Speaker 1: the Kinders Texas Bowl, and other things going out at
Speaker 1: NRG Stadium and beyond.
Speaker 2: Johnny, how's it going tonight? Going? Well? It was fun.
Speaker 3: I jumped on with Reggie and John this morning or
Speaker 3: this afternoon and the first question they asked me was
Speaker 3: about tight ends. And it's so interesting because this is
Speaker 3: a position mark in this draft that is loaded. It
Speaker 3: doesn't have like I mean, the two guys top are
Speaker 3: really good athletes, but it doesn't have a brock Bauers.
Speaker 3: It doesn't have a time to think who's going early,
Speaker 3: you know, like a Vernon Davis. Yeap, it doesn't. I mean,
Speaker 3: I guess Kenyan City has been compared to Vernon Davis.
Speaker 3: But yes, from that standpoint, I don't know if there's
Speaker 3: gonna be a tough five. I've got a top ten guy,
Speaker 3: but man, you can get a tight end, they're at
Speaker 3: least at least two dozen tight ends I think get
Speaker 3: drafted and it's a really good class. So I did
Speaker 3: my breakdown updated rankings at her Football Taker for dot com,
Speaker 3: so you can check that out. But it was fun
Speaker 3: talking about the tight ends and getting their thoughts on
Speaker 3: it today on End the Loop.
Speaker 2: That was fun.
Speaker 1: So that was it. It was a whole segment on
Speaker 1: tight ends. Really, my gosh, well.
Speaker 2: It wasn't just tight It wasn't just tight ends. You
Speaker 2: know how that goes.
Speaker 3: I mean, they asked me about a few other things
Speaker 3: and right, you know, kind of some of the It's
Speaker 3: always funny because I I can figure out even if
Speaker 3: I'm not listening to the shows, I can figure out
Speaker 3: what guys have been talking about because they'll text me like.
Speaker 2: Hey, what do you think about this?
Speaker 3: It's so they want to get my thoughts and then
Speaker 3: you can kind of see, yeah, see I was right.
Speaker 2: John thinks this. I was right.
Speaker 3: So I get a lot of that, especially Reggie and John.
Speaker 3: When they asked me a question, I can tell all right,
Speaker 3: they've been debating this. I don't know which side they'll
Speaker 3: be on, but they want to get my confirmation to
Speaker 3: feel one way or the other.
Speaker 2: So it's always kind of fun.
Speaker 3: Because he asked me about Caleb Banks, who's the defensive
Speaker 3: tackle out of Florida, who is an unbelievable player when
Speaker 3: he's fully healthy and when he's dialed in, and this
Speaker 3: year was not that year. He had been hurt all
Speaker 3: year and he got hurt the combine and at the
Speaker 3: Senior Bowl I saw him.
Speaker 2: He kind of went up and down.
Speaker 3: But he's the kind of guy that he looks like
Speaker 3: Jalen Carter, and I mean when you see him.
Speaker 2: You're like, holy cow, like you're a real human being.
Speaker 3: You're like not AI generated, Like you're a real human being,
Speaker 3: Like you got to reach out and touch him to me,
Speaker 3: like you're real. But if he's fully healthy, he's a
Speaker 3: top five player, but he just hasn't been and so
Speaker 3: that kind of puts him down. So they asked me
Speaker 3: if I thought the Texas would take a look at
Speaker 3: him at number twenty eight, and I said, yeah, I
Speaker 3: think they'll take a look at him for sure. And
Speaker 3: so I it was funny though I could tell that
Speaker 3: they were they had been debating whether they would do
Speaker 3: that or not for Caleb Banks at twenty eight.
Speaker 1: Okay, This is like a pen or instapol, except you
Speaker 1: and I are the posters or the police or whatever.
Speaker 1: The top five most AI generated athletes in Texans history.
Speaker 1: All right, ai ish oh athletes in Texans history. I'm
Speaker 1: going to give you a few names. We'll rank him
Speaker 1: in a moment here. But dan Neil Hunter's on this
Speaker 1: list for sure, right, yeah, Yeah. I think Mario Williams
Speaker 1: is on this list too.
Speaker 2: Johnny, Yep. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I think Jadeveon Clowney's on this list. You're sensing a
Speaker 1: theme here of the positions they play. I would think
Speaker 1: Andre Johnson could be on this list too, There's no
Speaker 1: doubt because when you're looking at two twenty five, two
Speaker 1: thirty six, two sixty three can run a four to four,
Speaker 1: that's sick. The hands, the speed, the turning ability, all
Speaker 1: of that stuff.
Speaker 2: What is that four guys?
Speaker 1: And probably what especially what as he progressed in his career?
Speaker 1: Is anybody left out of that five?
Speaker 2: Well? That's the five?
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: It's funny. I was actually watching earlier today.
Speaker 3: I was actually looking at a couple of guys on
Speaker 3: Michigan's defense and you can't help and I was watching
Speaker 3: a high State Michigan game, and you can't help but
Speaker 3: as you're watching it, go, oh good god. Number four
Speaker 3: for Ohio State Jeremiah Smith. And you look at it
Speaker 3: and go, that's Andre Johnson. Like, that's Andre Johnson.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: Six three, two thirty moves the way that Andre did
Speaker 3: from Miami, just does everything on a football field the
Speaker 3: guy should be able to do. I mean, I see
Speaker 3: all these different comparisons, all these different receivers. I'm like, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 3: that's Andre Johnson. So it's interesting seeing Jeremiah Smith go, well,
Speaker 3: it's gonna be another year because he's only a sophomore,
Speaker 3: so he's gonna have another year in college football where
Speaker 3: he can dominate. But I would say those guys, I
Speaker 3: would say, you know, from the standpoint of AI generated,
Speaker 3: you also.
Speaker 2: Think of speed.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think Will Fuller would have to go in
Speaker 3: that category. He's the fast this football player I've ever
Speaker 3: seen in my life.
Speaker 2: Yeah, bar none. He was the kind of guy that.
Speaker 3: Fast football players couldn't catch that he ran away from.
Speaker 3: It was fascinating to watch him hit a different gear
Speaker 3: and then just pull away from really fast football guys
Speaker 3: like that's that was otherworldly. I mean, it was I
Speaker 3: remember the second second year, you know, twenty sixteen. He
Speaker 3: went through kind of ups and downs as a rookie.
Speaker 3: But I remember going to Seattle and he had that
Speaker 3: first deep ball and he pulled away from every Seattle
Speaker 3: defender and I just thought, this is different. Yep, this
Speaker 3: guy's on a different level than everybody else. So from
Speaker 3: a speed standpoint, I would absolutely put will Fuller in there.
Speaker 2: That's good.
Speaker 1: Now you're talking characteristics as opposed to just the body,
Speaker 1: but you're right as far as speed, because as far
Speaker 1: as it looks like a glitch in the matrix, it's
Speaker 1: a Madden Life situation. DeAndre Hopkins was also like that
Speaker 1: in his ability to catch the football in almost impossible situations. Wait,
Speaker 1: what the one against Pittsburgh on Christmas Day in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 2: What how did that happen?
Speaker 1: Or any sideline catch just pick one of dozens where nah,
Speaker 1: he didn't get oh wait a minute, he did get
Speaker 1: both feet down. How did that happen? And Nico comes
Speaker 1: up with a lot of those as well. And there's
Speaker 1: a theme here. Great wide receivers without standing ability, that's
Speaker 1: you know, bar none. Basically you look at guys like that.
Speaker 1: But Hopkins comes to mind, where oh, he's double coverage covered,
Speaker 1: he's not gonna come down. Yes he did. He came
Speaker 1: down with it. He came down with it anyway, he
Speaker 1: had that ability.
Speaker 2: We didn't see it. We wouldn't believe it.
Speaker 3: Ah.
Speaker 2: I will never forget my first year on the sidelines.
Speaker 2: We were two and zho.
Speaker 3: We went to New York to take on the Giants
Speaker 3: and we just couldn't do anything right that day. And
Speaker 3: I remember we were down seven to oh or ten
Speaker 3: nothing in that game, and so Hop was out by
Speaker 3: me and Fitz. He just hauls off and throws it
Speaker 3: and just chucks it up there. It's, you know, one
Speaker 3: of those things where eh, Hop's down there, he'll come
Speaker 3: down with it. And Hop has actually run past the
Speaker 3: ball and the balls behind him, and he reaches back
Speaker 3: and catches it with one hand. And it was weeks
Speaker 3: before Obj did it. Yep, it didn't count. It didn't
Speaker 3: count because Hop had to be off the line because
Speaker 3: we were six. We had a six offensive linemen on
Speaker 3: the field, and so he thought he should be on
Speaker 3: the line because he saw a tackle, and so it
Speaker 3: was negated. But that catch in the one against Miami
Speaker 3: on their sideline that he caught between his legs that
Speaker 3: was also taken away from him because it was interference.
Speaker 2: Yep, those are the two. Those were two I'll never forget.
Speaker 3: When they showed the replay on the video board at
Speaker 3: Energy Stadium, I remember this like oo, like overcoming the crowd,
Speaker 3: like everybody just.
Speaker 2: Like oh, it was really weird. It wasn't like a cheer.
Speaker 2: It wasn't like this uproar.
Speaker 3: It was just kind of this when you see something cool,
Speaker 3: You're like, oh, it was like that across the board
Speaker 3: and it was like he caught that between his legs.
Speaker 3: And I'll never forget Troy Aikman and Joe Bucker calling
Speaker 3: that game. And I remember Troy Aikman being incredulous on
Speaker 3: TV afterwards.
Speaker 2: We were sitting there going, well, yeah, we seen him
Speaker 2: do this before. Yep, he caught it. He's freaky. He
Speaker 2: still is ridiculous. Well, if he gets into the Hall of.
Speaker 1: Fame, and I know there's debate is he borderline, is
Speaker 1: he in, is he at whatever?
Speaker 2: But let's just say he gets in.
Speaker 1: On his highlight reel, they've got to show the catch
Speaker 1: against the Giants, and they have to show the one
Speaker 1: against Miami even though they didn't count, which is weird
Speaker 1: that two of the greatest catches you've ever had, maybe
Speaker 1: the greatest catches you've ever had, as far as degree
Speaker 1: of difficulty, will not count.
Speaker 2: They do not count.
Speaker 1: They're not really in the history books. It's in the
Speaker 1: official play by play. It's a penalty, Hopkins.
Speaker 2: Off the whatever.
Speaker 1: Crazy And I'm still bitter about Beckham's catch because that
Speaker 1: was a sensational catch, but because his logo where Hopkins
Speaker 1: did that, and had Hopkins been able to hang on
Speaker 1: or had that been legal, had he been off the
Speaker 1: line like he was supposed to be, well, we might
Speaker 1: have had a different situation. As far as his career
Speaker 1: goes and the way he's looked at now, he's looked
Speaker 1: at as an all time great receiver, there's no doubt.
Speaker 1: But Beckham still gets so much praise for that catch,
Speaker 1: and he should get it for that catch.
Speaker 2: Yep. And he was great for a while.
Speaker 1: But he's playing in his flag football game on Saturday
Speaker 1: with Tom Brady and those guys. He's still out there.
Speaker 1: He's trying to get another job. And I don't know,
Speaker 1: I never looked at him as an all time great
Speaker 1: because he couldn't stay on the field long enough to.
Speaker 2: Be one, so maybe great Hop flash. Yeah, Hop has
Speaker 2: been on the field.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's been productive for a lot of teams
Speaker 3: since he left Houston.
Speaker 2: And you know it's funny with Hop.
Speaker 3: He did things in games and hear this all the time,
Speaker 3: well you should have seen the catches that guy made
Speaker 3: in practice. Well, yeah, you should have seen the things
Speaker 3: Hop did in practice. But then also in a game
Speaker 3: against the best there ever was. I mean, he was
Speaker 3: that guy, and yeah, the things he.
Speaker 2: Did in practice.
Speaker 3: I mean there were times where we would sit there
Speaker 3: during OTA's and he would just be screwing around. And
Speaker 3: I remember there was one there was one practice, I
Speaker 3: know it was probably seventeen maybe, and he's just running
Speaker 3: routes on the sidelines and he was going out of
Speaker 3: bounds and the balls throwing behind him, and he caught
Speaker 3: the back half of the ball, and it was like,
Speaker 3: wait a second, did he just do what I thought
Speaker 3: he did? Just caught the back half of the ball,
Speaker 3: never tucked it in, and then just flipped it to
Speaker 3: a manager and went back in line.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 3: And I remember thinking that's you know, like when I
Speaker 3: think of Ai and I think of guys you know,
Speaker 3: with great hands. That was him, like Fuller was speed,
Speaker 3: Hop was hands. The guys you mentioned, those guys were
Speaker 3: just built from a lab. It's like you went in
Speaker 3: and you typed in six six two ninety uh Enter,
Speaker 3: you got one, you know, Mario Williams. I mean when
Speaker 3: you go back and you look at the combine numbers
Speaker 3: of those guys, it's ridiculous. I mean JD was two
Speaker 3: seventy five and ran up four to six.
Speaker 2: Geez.
Speaker 3: He was so wist john he was faster than Kamari
Speaker 3: Lassner's forty times.
Speaker 1: I just remember him, and I've talked about this before,
Speaker 1: on field three doing one of those I'm coming back
Speaker 1: from an injury workouts. Yeah, and he sprints the length
Speaker 1: of the field and just him running by himself sprinting
Speaker 1: was a sight. Was a sight because he's so huge,
Speaker 1: he's blocking out the sun and he's flying, and you
Speaker 1: just thought, well, that's an athlete. That's a hell of
Speaker 1: an athlete right there. As far as the receivers go
Speaker 1: real quick here, we know what Andre Johnson's greatest catches are.
Speaker 1: We've talked about this many times. He's a Pro Football
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer Hopkins. We talked about degree of difficulty,
Speaker 1: but catches that count or meant something. Now, the Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: game Christmas didn't really mean anything because it was such
Speaker 1: a bad season and it was the brightest spot for
Speaker 1: the Texans in a terrible game. Otherwise, on Christmas Day
Speaker 1: against the Steelers. Boy, these Christmas Day games, Johnny the
Speaker 1: Ravens in twenty twenty four, the Steelers in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1: We gotta stop doing this. Gotta play better on Christmas
Speaker 1: Day at home. Anyway, that catch was incredible. But I
Speaker 1: think Monday Night Football twenty fifteen for Hop that was
Speaker 1: a hell of a catch. And maybe hopspins against the
Speaker 1: Cowboys twenty eighteen Sunda Night Football to set up the
Speaker 1: game winning field goal by fair Beard. I think those
Speaker 1: two are the ones. Am I missing anything else?
Speaker 3: No, Definitely one of my favorite moments of all time.
Speaker 3: I'll take this one with me forever because I just
Speaker 3: happened to be in a great spot to see that
Speaker 3: catch against the Bengals. It was right in front of me,
Speaker 3: and I just remember I can see Hop running and
Speaker 3: he's going against pac Man Jones, and I see the
Speaker 3: ball in the air, and I just yelled, go get it, Hop,
Speaker 3: And one of the great things about that catch was
Speaker 3: Hop was so good on the sidelines that he actually
Speaker 3: had he just come down naturally. I don't think he
Speaker 3: gets both feet in the air or in the in bounds,
Speaker 3: but he clicked the first foot and he actually clicked
Speaker 3: the second foot behind his first foot, and that kind
Speaker 3: of slowed it down to where he could then tap
Speaker 3: and he got the two feet in and I just
Speaker 3: remember that was like.
Speaker 2: Man, I get to watch this up close and see
Speaker 2: him do the things he did. I mean, it was
Speaker 2: it was unbelievable.
Speaker 3: But Hopspins popped up on my I can't remember what
Speaker 3: I was on Instagram or Twitter and videos and whatever,
Speaker 3: and Hopspins popped up and what a play that was.
Speaker 3: I mean that it kind of gets forgotten in a
Speaker 3: sense because you know, Hop got traded and then quarterback
Speaker 3: of this year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that play at that time against that.
Speaker 1: Team, Oh massive, incredible, massive, And last season that was
Speaker 1: the zero to three coming back, nine game winning streak.
Speaker 1: We referenced that a lot because they just had that
Speaker 1: again in twenty twenty five. So that play, yes, massive
Speaker 1: play primetime audience, one of the great Sunday night football
Speaker 1: games we've ever seen the Texans play, and there have
Speaker 1: been others. Patriots, that was a good Sunda night football game, right, and.
Speaker 2: Of course the Chiefs this year.
Speaker 1: That was my favorite, I think because of everything it
Speaker 1: meant at the time to knock them off at Arrowhead Stadium.
Speaker 1: All right, Johnny, it's way too early Tuesday, way too
Speaker 1: early Tuesday, and we're gonna do way too early. Not
Speaker 1: win predictions, but projections of some of these teams that
Speaker 1: the Texans are facing or that they're rubbing shoulders with
Speaker 1: of the AFC. And we'll go to NFC as well,
Speaker 1: because the Texans are playing the NFC East.
Speaker 2: You ready for this one, Let's go, all right?
Speaker 1: So in the AFC South, let's just start home here
Speaker 1: because this is what matters to people. Just to refresh
Speaker 1: everyone's memory, the Jacksonville Jaguars won the division with a
Speaker 1: thirteen to four record while the Texans were twelve and
Speaker 1: five Indianapolis. It was so satisfying watching them go eight
Speaker 1: and nine this campaign, and the Titans won three games,
Speaker 1: so likelihood. Let me just give you this. Never mind
Speaker 1: who's going to win the division, just look at the Jags.
Speaker 1: I want you to zero in on the Jags without
Speaker 1: talking about the Texans just for a moment here. Thirteen wins, yes,
Speaker 1: or no Jaguars in twenty twenty, so there'll be less
Speaker 1: than thirteen wins.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 3: I do think that Jacksonville is gonna end up being
Speaker 3: maybe a more difficult team to beat this year than
Speaker 3: maybe before. But they've got a deal with Yes, they'll
Speaker 3: get Travis Hunter back and that that will help them
Speaker 3: if he's healthy, and they've talked about, you know how
Speaker 3: they're gonna use him going forward, and.
Speaker 2: I think that's smart.
Speaker 3: But Mark, they've lost I think some really key pieces
Speaker 3: in Jacksonville. No more Devin Lloyd. Devin Lloyd's now with
Speaker 3: the Panthers. Yep, they they lost Travis a Chan. Let's
Speaker 3: make sure we say that right.
Speaker 1: So wait a minute, that's how we have to say
Speaker 1: ETN now ah chan just like the dolphin running back.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, it's the exact same and written completely differently,
Speaker 1: spelled completely differently than a chan. So yeah, formerly it
Speaker 1: was at and then it went to ETN and now
Speaker 1: it's chack right god.
Speaker 3: Yeah, all because he didn't want to He didn't want
Speaker 3: to chase. So it's eight Chan now, but we don't
Speaker 3: have to worry about it because he's with the Saints,
Speaker 3: so we won't even face him this year.
Speaker 2: Nice, but I I don't think.
Speaker 3: I didn't think the Jacksonville offensive line was great last year,
Speaker 3: and I think that A Chan did a good job
Speaker 3: with them running behind them. I think the trade for
Speaker 3: Jacoby Myers was brilliant, brilliant. I mean, they needed somebody
Speaker 3: that could catch the ball. But what is Brian Thomas junior?
Speaker 3: Is he the number one? Parker Washington stepped up, But
Speaker 3: I still I think they're gonna have a hard time
Speaker 3: replacing Devin Lloyd's production. I think Vitro Miller's a really
Speaker 3: good player, but he's not Devin Lloyd. And I feel
Speaker 3: like in the secondary they'll get Travis Hunter. Act. We'll see,
Speaker 3: but I mean, I still think they've got some holes
Speaker 3: back there, and they don't have a first round pick.
Speaker 3: But I do think they're in the second year of
Speaker 3: Liam Cohen. They're gonna take some strides. But if they
Speaker 3: if they get a guy hurt on defense, if they
Speaker 3: get one of their key guys hurt, be it Josh Haines,
Speaker 3: Allen or foy Alukan. I think they could really really
Speaker 3: struggle defensively. I feel like the depth isn't quite there
Speaker 3: for them, and I think that's where they could have
Speaker 3: an issue. But we're all playing the AFC North, We're
Speaker 3: all playing the NFC East. So that being said, I mean,
Speaker 3: I think they're gonna be really tough out for both
Speaker 3: those divisions. So I think they're gonna, like the Texans,
Speaker 3: pick up some ground against those two divisions. But they
Speaker 3: got to play a first place schedule, yep, so that
Speaker 3: means they got to take on the Patriots. That means
Speaker 3: they got to take on the Broncos. We got to
Speaker 3: take a play schedule. We get the Chargers we beat
Speaker 3: last year. It does mean we get the Buffalo Bills
Speaker 3: when we get the Bills at home.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think there's any advantage here in being
Speaker 1: the second place team as far as schedule goes AFC.
Speaker 1: I mean, you mentioned it Chargers and Bills, Nikes a lot, right,
Speaker 1: it's not I mean third place. Now we're talking it's
Speaker 1: Dolphins and well Chiefs.
Speaker 2: And that's not good.
Speaker 1: That's not good because they're going to be better than
Speaker 1: six and eleven, you would think, all right, so you
Speaker 1: did the Jacks will the Colts. I just see them
Speaker 1: as an eight and nineteen again kind of maybe not
Speaker 1: even who knows if Jones is not healthy? And wait,
Speaker 1: who was the player who said he was going to
Speaker 1: come back on an achilles?
Speaker 2: Real quick? Here?
Speaker 1: It was a running back. I'm sorry, I don't have
Speaker 1: this top of my brain, but I was surprised. But anyway,
Speaker 1: not Jones but another player. But yeah, Jones gets back.
Speaker 1: Can Jones be as good as he was early in
Speaker 1: the season. The schedule's going to be tougher, I would think.
Speaker 1: And now you don't know what Riley l can do?
Speaker 1: You think maybe something? I'm not sure if they're better
Speaker 1: than eight wins your thoughts. I think they are a
Speaker 1: complicated mess. If I'm being honest, I feel like they
Speaker 1: have an identity offensively, and that is Jonathan Taylor is
Speaker 1: gonna carry us.
Speaker 3: But for how long? I mean, we're going to twenty
Speaker 3: twenty six. This is the seventh season in the league.
Speaker 3: You know it starts to show on a running back.
Speaker 3: And I thought he was excellent last year. I'll tell
Speaker 3: you this, though in Week eighteen he did not look
Speaker 3: the same. Now it's week eighteen, I understand it. He
Speaker 3: did not look the same. But they kept out Pierced. Okay,
Speaker 3: good for them. They kept and they've got Josh down,
Speaker 3: so I think it's fantastic. They brought in Nick Westbrook,
Speaker 3: a keen eight wide receiver. He's always given us issue,
Speaker 3: but you know he's the number three clearly. I just
Speaker 3: don't get scared of that offense. Mark, really, I really don't.
Speaker 3: I think they defensively, I mean, they don't scare me
Speaker 3: at all. They lost Nick Cross. I didn't even think
Speaker 3: he was a great player, but you look at the
Speaker 3: depth chart at safety. If they were to play a
Speaker 3: game today, they would start former safety slash linebacker Hunter
Speaker 3: Woler from Wisconsin at safety. I mean, Okay, they went
Speaker 3: out got Sauce Gardner, but he doesn't scare me either.
Speaker 3: I've said that numerous times. And I think up front,
Speaker 3: they're another year older. Forrest Buckner was banged up last year,
Speaker 3: Grover stew was banged up last year. They very rarely
Speaker 3: played a bunch of games together. So I and they
Speaker 3: can't draft, and they won't draft in the first round
Speaker 3: because that's they got from Sauce Gardner. So the way
Speaker 3: you would improve your roster, well you're gonna do it
Speaker 3: through the draft where they're gonna have to do it
Speaker 3: from day two and day three. And I don't know
Speaker 3: that that significantly improves that roster because now they got
Speaker 3: all this money tied up in Alec Pierce, they got
Speaker 3: all this money tied up in Daniel Jones.
Speaker 2: They went got arden Key, Okay, arn Keyes.
Speaker 3: He's a good rusher, He's okay. I don't get excited
Speaker 3: about it. Lot two has not gotten to that level yet.
Speaker 3: But to me, it all hinges on when are they
Speaker 3: getting Daniel Jones back? And if they could get him
Speaker 3: back week they'll say he doesn't start week one, put
Speaker 3: him up pup, he comes back week five. What's their
Speaker 3: record going through what's the first four games? Now? Last year,
Speaker 3: their first four games and their first eight games were cake.
Speaker 3: They were easy. Other than the Broncos, they were easy,
Speaker 3: and they got the Broncos at home. If they get
Speaker 3: stuck with a tough schedule and they end up going
Speaker 3: one in three before Jones comes back, now he's carrying
Speaker 3: a lot of pressure, and I just.
Speaker 2: I don't know that's a good thing for them, if
Speaker 2: I'm being honest.
Speaker 1: By the way, the player I was thinking of was
Speaker 1: Najie Harris. Who oh yeah, his agent posted a video
Speaker 1: of him running on a treadmill. Yes, and he looked
Speaker 1: pretty good running on a treadmill, so we'll see what
Speaker 1: that means. But it was a week three injury for
Speaker 1: him with the achilles, and Jones got hurt a lot later,
Speaker 1: So we'll see how Jones does.
Speaker 2: Early on or later on or whatever. The case.
Speaker 1: Is not gonna go over the Titans right now, because look,
Speaker 1: three wins last year. One hundred percent improvement would be
Speaker 1: six wins. No one's gonna throw a parade over that.
Speaker 1: But maybe it's a good start for rob Solid.
Speaker 2: We'll see.
Speaker 1: Never mind about them, Let's go to the NFC East.
Speaker 1: The Texans are playing that division. And what's interesting about
Speaker 1: this is everybody finished below five hundred other than elite
Speaker 1: organization Philadelphia Eagles. And I'm not saying that tongue in cheek.
Speaker 1: I think they are so, I think they're back. I
Speaker 1: think they win the division. I think they're another double
Speaker 1: digit win team. Now, maybe maybe they're slipping a little
Speaker 1: bit here because eleven wins is not exactly even up
Speaker 1: to their standard, which is nice to have that as
Speaker 1: a standard. But I don't see anybody really threatening. Maybe
Speaker 1: the Cowboys do a bit better. Maybe Washington's back, although
Speaker 1: I don't think so. I think it's gonna be really hard, Johnny,
Speaker 1: for Washington to recapture the magic of twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: because Kingsbury's gone a lot of changes. Nothing lasts forever
Speaker 1: this league, as we know. And Jaden Daniels, he looked
Speaker 1: okay when he was healthy, but he wasn't healthy good
Speaker 1: flag football healthy wise, you know, he looked like he
Speaker 1: was spry, So we'll see what that means for them
Speaker 1: moving forward. Your thoughts on that division quick thumbnail.
Speaker 3: I'm curious what John Harbaugh does with the Giants. I
Speaker 3: think he's gonna have an impact early on, even if
Speaker 3: it's just to get the offense on track. Here's what
Speaker 3: we are offensively, here's our identity offensively, Here's what we
Speaker 3: do defensively. He's just got to let those dogs hunt.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's got Abdua Carter, Cavon, Thibodau. Now, I
Speaker 3: do think one of these guys might be moved, Thibodeau
Speaker 3: being the one that pops to mind, but Abduall Carter,
Speaker 3: Brian Burns, Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 2: Dexter, Lawrence up front.
Speaker 3: They've got defensive dudes, so they've got to let the
Speaker 3: defense eat. And I do think the Giants would be
Speaker 3: a little bit better. Commanders have just been accumulating talent,
Speaker 3: but I don't totally see it if I'm being honest. Uh.
Speaker 3: And then there's the Cowboys, and the Cowboys can be
Speaker 3: all over the map. I mean there are days I
Speaker 3: look at the Cowboys and go, oh, yeah, talented team,
Speaker 3: But what are they really I mean, if they go
Speaker 3: and get Max Crosby, all right, maybe, but are they
Speaker 3: gonna do that? Apparently they offered very similar to what
Speaker 3: the Ravens offered, but they offered a second instead of
Speaker 3: a second first, so who knows at that point, But
Speaker 3: Cowboys did go out and get Rashaun Garry. I just
Speaker 3: feel like the Cowboys are so reliant on Dak Prescott
Speaker 3: being up right and healthy, and that if he is,
Speaker 3: then the Cowboys are gonna play pretty well. If he's not,
Speaker 3: then they're gonna be a mess. And last year, defensively
Speaker 3: they were a big time mess. So I think that
Speaker 3: changed a little bit. I think the personnel will get
Speaker 3: a little bit better. They got two first round picks.
Speaker 3: I think they'll put those on the defense side of
Speaker 3: the ball. But what happens with George Pickens? Yeah, they
Speaker 3: don't bring back Pickens? Now, do they need some receiver
Speaker 3: help with you know, go along with see Lamb. So
Speaker 3: you know, there are a lot of things, a lot
Speaker 3: of question marks. I still think with the Cowboys, and
Speaker 3: then you know, Schottenheimer is a coach. I thought he
Speaker 3: did a decent job with them last year. I don't
Speaker 3: know if I buy it, but I feel like with
Speaker 3: the Eagles again coaching staff. They reset the entire offensive
Speaker 3: coaching staff, including Jeff Stotlin, offensive line coach, one of
Speaker 3: the best of the league. It's not the deepse that's a league,
Speaker 3: big one right there, big one, huge, obviously bigger.
Speaker 2: Than the coordinator until further notice.
Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely, so we'll see what Sean Manyon does is
Speaker 3: the offensive coordinator. But I mean their top twenty two
Speaker 3: guys eleven offense, eleven defense mark. I mean you put
Speaker 3: that up against anybody. I mean it's top three in
Speaker 3: the league.
Speaker 2: Yep. But I think their debt becomes a.
Speaker 3: Big issue because they gotta pay money to a lot
Speaker 3: of these guys that just paid Jordan Davis probably gonna
Speaker 3: have to pay Jalen Carter.
Speaker 2: They may have to move AJ Brown.
Speaker 3: All those are you know, gonna have an impact, and
Speaker 3: the right side of their line Lane Johnson, I'm sorry,
Speaker 3: right tackle A Johnson, left guard Land and Dickerson. Those
Speaker 3: guys were questioning whether they were coming back this year.
Speaker 3: Would you move AJ Brown? Would you move them? Your
Speaker 3: GM of the Eagles, you're Howie Roseman, you move them?
Speaker 3: I mean, obviously you want to get a good package,
Speaker 3: of course, and let's say you do. I say it's
Speaker 3: gonna happen because it's not like you're using him a
Speaker 3: ton anyway.
Speaker 1: It's not that kind of team. You don't need that
Speaker 1: shining star marquee busting number one. You know what, they'd
Speaker 1: be better off, not maybe in the run game department,
Speaker 1: but the way the Jags have it with Jakobe Myers
Speaker 1: and Brian Myers is back for the Jags, right and
Speaker 1: Brian Thomas Junior and Parker Washington. They need a crew
Speaker 1: like that where there's no superstar, but they could all
Speaker 1: do things and maybe Brian Thomas becomes a superstar. Heck,
Speaker 1: maybe Parker Washington becomes a superstar. I don't know, but
Speaker 1: they need a crew like that. Guys were good. You
Speaker 1: don't need aj Brown who wants the ball all the time.
Speaker 1: And look, he's one of those guys who needs the
Speaker 1: ball all the time. Feed him the rock, get him
Speaker 1: his touches early so it's not a big problem late
Speaker 1: and he ends up seven eight, nine catches a game
Speaker 1: and you'll be happy. He'll be happy, Johnny. Texans are
Speaker 1: not playing the NFC North, but they are playing the Packers.
Speaker 1: I think the hardest division to pick in this league
Speaker 1: is the NFC South, not playing anybody from there.
Speaker 2: Maybe in the Super Bowl, I can always dream.
Speaker 1: But the Packers are a Texans opponent at lambeau Field
Speaker 1: and they went nine and seven. And you had four
Speaker 1: teams in this division with winning records. All four had
Speaker 1: winning records nine to eight, nine and eight. At the
Speaker 1: bottom with the Vikings and Lions Packers nine to seven
Speaker 1: and one, Bears eleven and six, I think this is
Speaker 1: a tough one to pick as well. And maybe the
Speaker 1: Vikings are automatically a last but I don't know. After
Speaker 1: what happened last year, and it wasn't exactly a quarterback
Speaker 1: stability with the Vikings. And we'll see how this goes
Speaker 1: with Kyler Murray. But to me, the Bears with all
Speaker 1: those dramatic wins, sometimes that's a shaky eleven win season,
Speaker 1: shaky meaning a yet to pull it out of a
Speaker 1: fire too often. I don't know who's gonna win this one.
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be a real tough one to pick.
Speaker 1: I can't say the Lions won't be back.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're right, And look, if Kyler Murray clicks with
Speaker 3: KOC that could be kind of dangerous. But you know,
Speaker 3: we'll play the Packers, and I think it's gonna matter
Speaker 3: when we play the Packers because when is Michael Parson's
Speaker 3: gonna be available? Oh yeah, that I think is gonna
Speaker 3: end up being a big factor because they lost for
Speaker 3: Seoungarry and now they might not have Michael Parsons when
Speaker 3: the Texas play him. And after that, I don't look
Speaker 3: at anybody on that defense and go, hey, yeah, these
Speaker 3: guys scare me.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: We did not play well against the Packers when we
Speaker 3: played in a lambou two years ago. We didn't pick
Speaker 3: up their blitzes. Jeff Haffley had us looking for guys
Speaker 3: on the left side and they were all coming from
Speaker 3: the other side. We just did not look good against them.
Speaker 3: It's not Jeff Haffley anymore. So that's gonna be kind
Speaker 3: of interesting because he ends up taking the Dolphins job.
Speaker 3: It's gonna be John the Gannett. Well, we faced a
Speaker 3: game of defense before. But I think he's got more
Speaker 3: talent than his other previous stops, including Philadelphia, where they
Speaker 3: started to show some cracks in the armor when he
Speaker 3: was their last. But I think it matters because Michael Parsons,
Speaker 3: when you play them, is he available? If he's not,
Speaker 3: the defense doesn't really scare me. Now offensively, Jordan Love,
Speaker 3: you know how it is that guy can go out
Speaker 3: there and hit eight three pointers and go eight to
Speaker 3: ten from three for thirty seven points, or he can
Speaker 3: go one for twelve for seven points and you can
Speaker 3: rock it. Well, he's just he's still not that consistent
Speaker 3: guy that I know Packers.
Speaker 2: I hear it from my parents.
Speaker 3: Who live in forty five minutes north of Green Bay,
Speaker 3: and they're always complaining about Jordan Love, and I'm like,
Speaker 3: y'all stop complaining.
Speaker 2: Man. Yep, he's a good quarterback.
Speaker 3: He does some great things, and I know that game
Speaker 3: we went up there, he had some interceptions in that game,
Speaker 3: but in crunch time he led them down to the
Speaker 3: field goal that won it.
Speaker 2: So he's still gonna worry me. But I think the Packers.
Speaker 3: I think the Texans are better on paper right now
Speaker 3: than the Packers, But part of it is gonna be
Speaker 3: when we end up playing them. And then again, it's
Speaker 3: difficult to win a Lambo. It just always is. We've
Speaker 3: talked about it's a tough place to get to. It's
Speaker 3: hard to win the history and app building haven't done
Speaker 3: it since two thousand and eight. I'm all for doing
Speaker 3: it again at twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1: Okay, we didn't get to the AFC North, a division
Speaker 1: that had three losing teams and the Pittsburgh Steelers. How
Speaker 1: about that for the AFC North. What a disappointing year
Speaker 1: for that division. But maybe we'll get to them tomorrow
Speaker 1: or Thursday. How about this next up on way too
Speaker 1: early Tuesday.
Speaker 2: We're gonna do it. I'm gonna put Johnny on the spot.
Speaker 1: Top three position battles in OTAs and training camp.
Speaker 2: I went there pre draft. Are you kidding? No, I'm not.
Speaker 1: It's Texans Radio, all right, let's get right back to
Speaker 1: it here on Texans Radio the hun Day Texans Radio
Speaker 1: Studio and Mattris Firm, the official sleep partner of the
Speaker 1: Houston Texans, brings you this show you getting a good
Speaker 1: night's sleep. If you're not, you gotta pay a visit
Speaker 1: to Matris Firm any one of the locations near you,
Speaker 1: and there's probably one within a few hundred yards maybe
Speaker 1: a little farther of where you're listening right now, Matris Firm. Okay, Johnny,
Speaker 1: I promise this, and this shows you that you're a
Speaker 1: good football. This is one of the things that shows you.
Speaker 1: We're going to get to OTA's mini camp, training camp.
Speaker 1: And what's everyone want to talk about when you go
Speaker 1: to these situations? You want to talk about position battles.
Speaker 1: I think the Texans have fewer than ever, fewer than ever,
Speaker 1: I don't know about ever, but fewer than they've had
Speaker 1: in a long time. If nothing else, position battles. Because
Speaker 1: I could name the entire starting defense right now, no problem,
Speaker 1: so can you? Right, maybe things changed, but let's be honest,
Speaker 1: let's move to the We immediately moved to the offense
Speaker 1: where there aren't too many spots. You know, you talked
Speaker 1: about tight ends with Reggie and John today, but tight ends.
Speaker 1: It's all about what matchups are you seeing, how do
Speaker 1: you open the game, as far as who starts and
Speaker 1: everything like that, Who gets the reps, it's a game
Speaker 1: plan situation. Schultz is going to lead the group in receptions, obviously,
Speaker 1: might lead the team again as far as we know,
Speaker 1: everybody else will mix it up.
Speaker 2: Tell me who's healthy.
Speaker 1: Is Brevin Jordan arriving at the starting line healthy because
Speaker 1: he'll factor in if he is stover, same thing, Foster Moreau.
Speaker 1: They signed him for a reason. Luke Lache, We'll see
Speaker 1: how he battles in. But let's get right to it.
Speaker 1: On the line, you could name a starting offensive line today,
Speaker 1: but will the real position battles be here in the
Speaker 1: interior of the D line? Rookies possibly threatening veterans. It
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like that. Even maybe at the center position,
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 3: You tell me, well, when you tease this out of
Speaker 3: last segment, immediately I said center because that's been something
Speaker 3: that has been talked about by Nick and Dimiko, and
Speaker 3: I think Jake did some good things in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3: But this is a really good center draft. It really
Speaker 3: wasn't a plentiful free agent center class, you had Tyler Linderbaum,
Speaker 3: who you know for a fact you weren't going to
Speaker 3: go out and pay twenty seven million a year or two.
Speaker 3: And then you had cade May's, so you basically had
Speaker 3: one center that was really kind of worth it from
Speaker 3: that stand point.
Speaker 2: Now we end up getting Evan Brown.
Speaker 3: I think Evan's gonna be in that competition for center,
Speaker 3: but there's gonna be a definite competition at center, and
Speaker 3: I think there's gonna be a rookie that gets in
Speaker 3: that mix.
Speaker 2: And let's not forget guy.
Speaker 3: You and I've talked about Eli Cox, undrafted free agent
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty five out of Kentucky, multi year starter
Speaker 3: at Kentucky, really good football player in the SEC. If
Speaker 3: Eli Cox gets an opportunity, I wouldn't be surprised if
Speaker 3: he ran off with it because he's built a little
Speaker 3: bit bigger than Jake but kind of like that thick stout, can.
Speaker 2: Move very quick feet.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't be surprised if Eli Cox got in this
Speaker 3: competition at center. But with the centers in this draft,
Speaker 3: I would feel like they're gonna get one and throw
Speaker 3: them into the competition. I feel like guard, uh, it's
Speaker 3: it's definitely there. And look, if Evan Brown doesn't win
Speaker 3: center competition, then he's definitely center guard, can play either.
Speaker 3: He's the key interior guy that you can have to
Speaker 3: play either one of those spots. I think what becomes
Speaker 3: interesting and I'll use Sean and Seth as a comparison
Speaker 3: point because you have gone out and got Evan Brown,
Speaker 3: because you have brought in Wyatt Teller and re signed
Speaker 3: at Ingram, where does that leave Jared Patterson? And then
Speaker 3: that tackle because you've signed Braden Smith, where does that
Speaker 3: leave Blake Fisher? Two guys that have been in the
Speaker 3: roster for the last two three years. Where does that
Speaker 3: leave those two guys, Jared Patterson and Blake Fisher. That
Speaker 3: becomes a competition of a different kind, right, and that
Speaker 3: is how do they fit on the roster?
Speaker 2: So I think competition at center.
Speaker 3: I think competition in where Jared Patterson and Blake Fisher
Speaker 3: are gonna fit.
Speaker 2: I think from a tight end perspective.
Speaker 3: I mean, look, Dalton's gonna Dalton's gonna get a majority
Speaker 3: of the reps. But can Luke Lasha get in this thing?
Speaker 3: Can he get into competition? Can he with a year
Speaker 3: under his belt? Now, can he kind of flash and
Speaker 3: get their attention. Where is Cad Stover in year three?
Speaker 3: I said last year, I thought he's gonna break out,
Speaker 3: then he got and that kind of just miird him
Speaker 3: in the muck. The rest of the way, Kate stays healthy.
Speaker 3: I think that tight end competition becomes really interesting and
Speaker 3: I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker 2: And you did it in vandermonk two dot zero.
Speaker 3: I don't know if it happens because I think he's
Speaker 3: gonna be long gone. But what if you drafted Kenyan
Speaker 3: Sadek in the first round. What if you drafted Eli
Speaker 3: Stowers from Vanderbilt at number thirty eight?
Speaker 2: I mean, this could definitely happen.
Speaker 3: You could absolutely question add those pieces at tight end
Speaker 3: and now that becomes one hell of a competition for
Speaker 3: probably three roster spots.
Speaker 1: Yeah, now it's gonna be tough. Yeah, that's that's interesting.
Speaker 1: And this is an interesting exercise actually because it shows
Speaker 1: you that you're looking at depth.
Speaker 2: Really, you're looking at depth.
Speaker 1: All around this roster on a twelve win football team,
Speaker 1: tied for the all time high in victories in a season.
Speaker 1: So that's how you're handling it. And you tell me
Speaker 1: if I'm right about this. I predict in training can
Speaker 1: never Mind OTA's Mini Camp Training Camp, They're going to
Speaker 1: lighten the load just a little bit for Daniel Hunter
Speaker 1: and Will Anderson Junior.
Speaker 2: Because it does two things for you.
Speaker 1: It enables your offense to possibly get something done, and
Speaker 1: it lightens their load a little bit.
Speaker 2: You still want to get them physically ready.
Speaker 1: Demko's not going to want to slack off on the
Speaker 1: physical ramping up, but you want to see what Dylan
Speaker 1: Horton can do at this stage of his career. You
Speaker 1: want to get Dominique Robinson a lot of reps, and again,
Speaker 1: you want to make it so the offense isn't being
Speaker 1: destroyed on every rep. You want them to iron sharpens
Speaker 1: iron their way into being better on the OD line.
Speaker 1: But I think they have to have some success at
Speaker 1: Will as well. I remember last year during camp the
Speaker 1: times where they took Will and Daniel out, well, the
Speaker 1: offense looked a little better. And lo and behold that
Speaker 1: is the case because you are missing to all universe
Speaker 1: players in Anderson and Hunters. So you tell me if
Speaker 1: I'm right or wrong about that about just lightening the
Speaker 1: rep load a little bit for those two guys.
Speaker 2: Absolutely not in one hundred percent.
Speaker 3: When you tease this going in, that was one of
Speaker 3: the things that popped up to me. Who is the
Speaker 3: third rusher? Who is that third rusher that could lock
Speaker 3: in that spot behind Will and Daniel. I think Dylan
Speaker 3: Horton was underrated the last half of the year. In particular.
Speaker 3: I think he did one heck of a job. Didn't
Speaker 3: really get the notoriety, but he had a lot of pressures,
Speaker 3: he had a lot of TFLs. He set the edge
Speaker 3: really really well. I trust him. I feel like the
Speaker 3: staff trusts him. But he's going to the last year
Speaker 3: of his contract, so you know, maybe it's a contract deal.
Speaker 3: Derek Barney I think still has something left in his game,
Speaker 3: but he's not on the roster right now. Maybe once
Speaker 3: they go through the draft and they see what they
Speaker 3: can do in the draft or what they find in
Speaker 3: the draft, then maybe they called Derek back up and go, hey, man,
Speaker 3: we really need you.
Speaker 2: I think they need a.
Speaker 3: Young piece to start to emerge on the edge, whether
Speaker 3: that's a guy in this draft, whether that's Solomon Byrd
Speaker 3: taking another step, and then I think he's come along
Speaker 3: really well each and every year.
Speaker 2: I know it to him.
Speaker 3: It probably is like, Dude, I want to play, I
Speaker 3: want to get on a field. But I think they've
Speaker 3: ramped him up each and every year such that he
Speaker 3: can get on a field at some point and start
Speaker 3: to show the progress that he has made as a player.
Speaker 2: But Mark, this is a really good edge draft.
Speaker 3: And the more that I've thought about this, the more
Speaker 3: I feel like and what we're talking we just talked about,
Speaker 3: I feel like there might be a unique pass rush
Speaker 3: piece that they can add to this defense. And I
Speaker 3: say it like that because I know the Texans can't
Speaker 3: draft Darvel Reese from out of Ohio state. But Arvel
Speaker 3: Reese is a guy who can play off the ball linebacker.
Speaker 3: He can then rush on third down. Maybe that's the
Speaker 3: kind of guy that they can find in the draft
Speaker 3: that can do a little bit of everything, that can
Speaker 3: be a different type rusher that can compliment willing Daneel
Speaker 3: when they're on the field, but can also rush when
Speaker 3: they're off the field. That would be kind of interesting
Speaker 3: to me. Now, there are a few guys that kind
Speaker 3: of fit that. Anthony Hill junior from Texas can do
Speaker 3: a little bit of that. You know, is that a
Speaker 3: guy that twenty eight. You think about thirty eight, You
Speaker 3: think about.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so could that be something they look at.
Speaker 3: Maybe our Mason Thomas from out of Oklahoma is a true
Speaker 3: pass rusher, but he's different from Will and Daniel in
Speaker 3: that he's just got absolute bounce off the snap, like
Speaker 3: he is so fast off the snap. When we've had
Speaker 3: pass rushers in the past. We talked about this in
Speaker 3: the first segment, what Mario jd All the great pass
Speaker 3: rushers we had, Will and Daniel, we really haven't had
Speaker 3: that Von Miller type. When I mentioned speed, he just
Speaker 3: scares everybody with the speed off the edge. We haven't
Speaker 3: really had that. We've had freakazoids on the outside that
Speaker 3: can win with all these different kinds of moves, but
Speaker 3: very rarely if we had a guy that could just
Speaker 3: flat out turn the edge, turn a corner and put
Speaker 3: a lot of pressure on a tackle because he's so fast.
Speaker 3: Oh that coming Mason Thomas might do it.
Speaker 1: That coming off the sideline, I got a break, Will
Speaker 1: and Toil there. Oh wait a minute, right, that coming
Speaker 1: off the sideline would be cool?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 1: Also cool EJ speed. We'll hear some of that conversation
Speaker 1: we had with him and also we'll go around the league.
Speaker 1: It's coming up next here on Texans All Access. Final
Speaker 1: segment of the night here on Texans Radio. Great to
Speaker 1: have your board. And plenty of stuff going on around
Speaker 1: the NFL as always, and this is a very busy
Speaker 1: Houston sports week, as Johnny and I talked about yesterday,
Speaker 1: with NCAA Regionals going on at Toyota Center this weekend.
Speaker 1: The Koog's in the house for that. Talk to Tag
Speaker 1: Dell briefly in the hallway about that. He's all fired up.
Speaker 1: Every Kug is fired up. Every Houstonian should be fired up.
Speaker 1: This is cool stuff. And the Houston open at a
Speaker 1: memorial My gosh, that's gonna be fun. Astro's opening day.
Speaker 1: But the NFL never sleeps, right, never sleeps. News coming
Speaker 1: in all the time. A lot of talk about eighteen
Speaker 1: games because this could happen now. CBS and the NFL
Speaker 1: discussing increasing the CBS rights fee in exchange, So they're
Speaker 1: going to tear up the current broadcast contract, maybe in
Speaker 1: exchange for dropping the twenty twenty nine opt out clause.
Speaker 1: And the NFL is definitely going to opt out of
Speaker 1: every single deal to get more money, because why not
Speaker 1: the contracts are more valuable than ever, the rights to
Speaker 1: league broadcasts more valuable than ever. You have a situation
Speaker 1: where nbcpacock they are actually paying more to the NBA
Speaker 1: right now, just briefly, and the NFL is definitely going
Speaker 1: to have that change.
Speaker 2: Why not.
Speaker 1: They're more valuable, But the NBA very valuable as well
Speaker 1: to broadcast partners because it's live sports, and nothing moves
Speaker 1: the needle like live sports. But the NFL crushes the needle.
Speaker 1: The NFL takes the needle and throws it away. The
Speaker 1: NFL owns the needle. The NFL is that powerful. So
Speaker 1: to see this, you might see all the broadcast partners
Speaker 1: redo their deals in the coming year.
Speaker 2: And we go to eighteen games, and that's gonna be interesting.
Speaker 1: Two preseason games, eighteen regular season games, and one of
Speaker 1: the games will be for an international outing. That means
Speaker 1: every team will go international every year. You're gonna go
Speaker 1: somewhere every year off American soil, and that is going
Speaker 1: to be super interesting to follow for the fans, media, everybody.
Speaker 1: I know it's complex for the players, but they'll work
Speaker 1: out a way to do it and try to make
Speaker 1: it as comfortable as possible. There's a lot of money
Speaker 1: in it for everybody, and I think it's cool to
Speaker 1: promote the game on a global level and that would
Speaker 1: be just in time for the Olympics. We'll see if
Speaker 1: it all comes together. We don't know, but we'll all
Speaker 1: be watching together now. I wanted to revisit this with
Speaker 1: e J. Speed, who reupt with the Houston Texans and
Speaker 1: he loves staying in his home state.
Speaker 2: I know he was a cult but he is a Texan.
Speaker 4: Saying close to family, being a part of his own
Speaker 4: special like that deepest we had last year, that was important.
Speaker 4: And uh, I think I said that the first day
Speaker 4: I came. Uh, playing for Demico Ryans was always like
Speaker 4: a a goal or whatever like that for me. So uh,
Speaker 4: I mean two more years, two m years, the you
Speaker 4: feel what I'm saying, to keep growing and keep making
Speaker 4: it s, keep getting like the accomplishments, and keep growing
Speaker 4: and just you know, becoming a better meat for sure,
Speaker 4: in a better football player.
Speaker 1: You wanted to be here last year, So how did
Speaker 1: they measure up to your expectations before you got here?
Speaker 1: Clearly very well because you're back. But how was it
Speaker 1: living out that first full years of texting.
Speaker 4: Uh, actually it reached it. It far exceeded the expectations
Speaker 4: that I had. How humble the locker room was. That
Speaker 4: was a big thing for me, Like from the day
Speaker 4: when the otag just seeing like the star, big contract players,
Speaker 4: big name players, just being so humble and you know,
Speaker 4: just you know, at every workout and you know, working
Speaker 4: hard and staying down and not being like a prima
Speaker 4: dognash in a sense. So like just the camaraderie in
Speaker 4: the building and how the coaches and stuff was. It
Speaker 4: was a real family oriented, uh organization, So it was cool.
Speaker 1: Your attitude strikes me as unique. I mean maybe not
Speaker 1: with this team, but with a lot of teams because
Speaker 1: you're willing to do anything whatever it takes to win,
Speaker 1: whether it be playing linebacker, playing special teams at a
Speaker 1: high level.
Speaker 2: What goes into that for you?
Speaker 4: Uh, just always looking at the game as a serving
Speaker 4: like I owe a game. I never think that the
Speaker 4: game owe me, you know what I mean. The game
Speaker 4: did so much for me, like growing up, giving me
Speaker 4: a brother that I met when I was five through
Speaker 4: the game of football and everything like that. He ended
Speaker 4: up passing away my senior year. So I always feel
Speaker 4: like the game of football gave me something more than
Speaker 4: just the crowd and the accomplishments that you get out
Speaker 4: of the game. It's a real family oriented thing. So,
Speaker 4: like I said, that goes back to being a locker
Speaker 4: room full of humble guys. It just boosts my morale
Speaker 4: towards the game even more.
Speaker 2: What about being in Texas, EJ? How important is that
Speaker 2: to you?
Speaker 4: Family is everything too else? Football and family like my
Speaker 4: whole life. So being around my family, being in for
Speaker 4: Worth and they can just drive down and see me play,
Speaker 4: don't miss a game, a home game anyway, is it
Speaker 4: means a lot to me. I got my nephew in
Speaker 4: the city, my sister she lives in then, so it's uh,
Speaker 4: it means a lot to me to be around family.
Speaker 2: You mentioned your teammates.
Speaker 1: Who are some of the guys that struck you right
Speaker 1: away as team leaders or guys that you could really
Speaker 1: hang out with, be with and set the example with.
Speaker 4: The whole lineback of course, So the whole linemanker. Of course,
Speaker 4: that's the first room I walk into. That linebacker was
Speaker 4: so humble when Henry and disease, you know, and Jake
Speaker 4: and Jamal and Christian and all those guys. They were
Speaker 4: just like so humbling and they all played their role,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean. It wasn't a guy that
Speaker 4: was trying to overtrump, you know, even though it is
Speaker 4: a competition every time you hit the field, no matter
Speaker 4: the opposing team and the camp with your teammates and
Speaker 4: everything like that. But everybody accepted they role and everybody
Speaker 4: was willing to do whatever.
Speaker 2: So I fell right in.
Speaker 1: Honestly, the team got so close to its goals last year,
Speaker 1: but I know you came up short. What about the
Speaker 1: hunger on this team to take it to the next level,
Speaker 1: the next steps.
Speaker 4: Everybody want to strive. Uh, nobody satisfied. So I don't
Speaker 4: doubt not a second that we'll reach that goal, just
Speaker 4: because you know, mishaps and stuff like that happened in
Speaker 4: those playoff games that we can that we shouldn't, that
Speaker 4: we could have did better basically, and you know this
Speaker 4: next year you learn from those mistakes. And honestly, yesterday,
Speaker 4: rather good or bad, doesn't really matter. So it's always
Speaker 4: about the next day. That whoever won a Super Bowl,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, it's remembered to send the
Speaker 4: history books, but it's history, so you know, work starts
Speaker 4: and then we'll see who who gets that trophy at
Speaker 4: the end of his season.
Speaker 1: All right, there's our conversation with Ejspeed and that conversation
Speaker 1: is part of a video that will be going up
Speaker 1: on YouTube Houston Texans dot com soon enough. Can't say when?
Speaker 1: Soon enough? How's that for a release date promotion? And
Speaker 1: also Texans Playbook, the TV show that you should be
Speaker 1: watching Saturday nights at eleven pm, ten thirty five during
Speaker 1: the season. There will be a quiz on this later.
Speaker 1: You got to know when all these Texans shows are on.
Speaker 1: My goodness, before you know it, we'll be back to
Speaker 1: it training camp, preseason games.
Speaker 2: I can't wait.
Speaker 1: Look, we have a few things to do before that,
Speaker 1: including the NFL Annual Meeting next week aka the Owners Meet.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be out there. Our shows will originate from
Speaker 1: out there in Phoenix. It's gonna be fun. That's gonna
Speaker 1: do it for tonight. Another show tomorrow at six Area
Speaker 1: forty five coming your way next. Have a great evening,
Speaker 1: Go Texans.