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Speaker 1: Hello Texans, Welcome to the program. Such a pleasure to

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Speaker 1: have you along for the ride tonight, the ride home,

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Speaker 1: the ride wherever you're going. If you're stationary, that too, well,

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Speaker 1: let's get right to it here. Executive vice president and

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Speaker 1: general manager Nick Cassario.

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Speaker 2: He's been busy, but.

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Speaker 1: Not too busy to give us some time in the

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Speaker 1: Hundai Texans Radio studio.

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Speaker 2: Let's visit with Nick.

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Speaker 3: First off, good to be here, Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 4: Overall, I think we made some progress, you know, felt

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Speaker 4: like we added some players that are going to help

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Speaker 4: our team in some capacity. So a lot of people

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Speaker 4: are involved in the process. Scouting department did a phenomenal

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Speaker 4: job of keeping things organized, had a lot of information

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Speaker 4: that we were able to process through.

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Speaker 3: Let's say, our draft room is pretty open.

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Speaker 4: We kind of talked through kind of each situation in

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Speaker 4: each scenario kind of in real time. So just try

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Speaker 4: to keep it moving and try to make good decisions

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Speaker 4: and hopefully we've we've been able to accomplish that, you know,

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Speaker 4: over the last three days or however many it was.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, it's about time you got back at studio. What

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Speaker 5: you've been doing. Seriously, come on, wasting my time.

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Speaker 6: Nick, if you don't, Mike, can you take us through

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Speaker 6: the kind of your thought process on trading down from

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Speaker 6: twenty five to thirty four and kind of what you guys.

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Speaker 6: I know you mentioned your press conference that you were

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Speaker 6: doing a lot of work, maybe maybe more work than

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Speaker 6: in other drafts. Kind of what was going on, kind

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Speaker 6: of what was the thought process of moving twenty five

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Speaker 6: to thirty four.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's funny, I didn't realize until after the fact

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Speaker 4: even go down and grab like the sushi that they

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Speaker 4: had out of right now, because that was in the

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Speaker 4: bat Thursday night, because that was in the draft room

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Speaker 4: the whole time. But no, we were we kind of

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Speaker 4: looked at some different scenarios. We were positioned down there

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Speaker 4: at twenty five. There was a couple of situations opportunities

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Speaker 4: where if we could maybe move up, you know, to

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Speaker 4: the top of the draft, not the top of the draft,

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Speaker 4: but move up a little bit, either pick a twenty

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Speaker 4: five or move back and just base. It's always based

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Speaker 4: on kind of a pool or a pot of players.

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Speaker 4: So once we kind of got down there in eighteen

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Speaker 4: nineteen twenty range, we were kind of looking at you know,

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Speaker 4: I had a few players that potentially could have factored in.

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Speaker 4: But even before that, there was a couple of trade

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Speaker 4: scenarios that were presented to us that we started them

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Speaker 4: all a little bit, and then when we got to

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Speaker 4: the actual pick twenty five, you know, there was a

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Speaker 4: few players that we're on the board that we would

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Speaker 4: have felt comfortable taken. We had three different actually three

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Speaker 4: different trade scenarios that were on the board at that time.

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Speaker 4: They were kind of waying, and then when we factored

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Speaker 4: everything in, we ultimately decided just moving back to thirty

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Speaker 4: four and picking up the couple extra thurs was the

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Speaker 4: right thing to do with the time. So once we

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Speaker 4: made the move, I mean, there was an opportunity or

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Speaker 4: two where if we can get back in maybe in

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Speaker 4: the bottom a little bit and get and grab a player, great,

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Speaker 4: if it works, if it didn't, no worries, then we've

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Speaker 4: been prepared to pick. Really, we felt we were probably

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Speaker 4: gonna pick that second pick on Friday at thirty four,

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Speaker 4: which is a second pick. Cleveland was gonna pick first

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Speaker 4: more than likely, and then we were more than likely

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Speaker 4: gonna pick and then after that then it was an

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Speaker 4: amalgam of like a lot of different things that could happen.

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Speaker 1: You have to think quickly on your feet, no doubt.

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Speaker 1: And I know you probably played out every possible scenario, right,

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Speaker 1: How important is it to not fall in love with

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Speaker 1: one possible move or possible play.

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Speaker 3: No, Mark, It's a really big part of it.

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Speaker 4: So I think that goes back to understanding the players

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Speaker 4: and being comfortable with certain level of players. And if

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Speaker 4: you lose on on this one, all right, if we

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Speaker 4: go to this nice group, are we comfortable?

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Speaker 3: All right, here's our options.

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Speaker 4: And that's where it goes as applying to man, how

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Speaker 4: far you move back could affect whether or not you

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Speaker 4: actually consummate a trade or not. So you try not

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Speaker 4: to get emotionally tied to one particular player. You understand

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Speaker 4: the player, you've grated the player, he has a certain

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Speaker 4: role or value for your team, or you think if

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Speaker 4: you have the opportunity to draft him, great, If you don't,

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Speaker 4: then you just kind of move on to the next thing.

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Speaker 4: And we were doing that really Thursday, Friday and even

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Speaker 4: into Saturday as well. I know there's a little bit

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Speaker 4: of a gap for us once we trade it back

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Speaker 4: in with the Marks pick, but then we didn't have

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Speaker 4: a fifth round pick.

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Speaker 3: We had the sixes and the sevens. So even at

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Speaker 3: that stage.

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Speaker 4: We were kind of maneuvering around a little bit, and

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Speaker 4: there were some players Okay, here are the next three

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Speaker 4: or four that are up. Okay, you lose one right

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Speaker 4: then you go to the next group. So you just

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Speaker 4: have to just continually keep the ball moving.

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Speaker 5: Nick, how much I'm trying to make sure I say

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Speaker 5: this right? How much?

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Speaker 6: Is the draft sort of like a game in a

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Speaker 6: sense that you got to be super prepared, but you

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Speaker 6: got to be willing and able to move when something

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Speaker 6: happens that maybe you didn't see happening, like, for example,

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Speaker 6: when you moved back in a buck up in the

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Speaker 6: second round to get up to get to ursiery. That

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Speaker 6: was something in Mark and I talked about that it

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Speaker 6: felt like between twenty eight and fifty, where you were

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Speaker 6: twenty five and fifty whatever, you maybe would have felt

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Speaker 6: more comfortable maybe getting into the forties. Is it kind

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Speaker 6: of like a game in a sense, like you gotta

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Speaker 6: be prepared, but you'd be willing to strike when the

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Speaker 6: iron is hot.

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Speaker 3: Very much so, Dimiko and I have talked about this.

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Speaker 4: There you go into the game, the game gets started,

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Speaker 4: and then what's going on around you?

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Speaker 3: What happens. Okay, this change, you got to make a modification.

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Speaker 3: You have to make an adjustment.

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Speaker 4: I would say, specifically, in that situation, we were thirty

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Speaker 4: four and then we had a little bit of a

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Speaker 4: gap until the next pick. We had a couple extra thirds.

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Speaker 4: So depending how far back you are, there's a shot

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Speaker 4: you're gonna lose a certain pool of players. So we

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Speaker 4: felt if we could probably get into the middle there

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Speaker 4: somewhere in that second round, there was an opportunity for

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Speaker 4: us to grab a player that we had great at

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Speaker 4: a certain level that we felt good about, which I

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Speaker 4: would say that was probably the impetus for the move

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Speaker 4: to get Tay and to draft Aay.

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Speaker 3: So that's kind of how that one came to fruition.

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Speaker 1: It's got to be tough to decide now now is

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Speaker 1: the time to do it right, because you mentioned a

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Speaker 1: pool of players, Because if you missed out on Woody

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Speaker 1: Marks or whoever the player might be, there has to

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Speaker 1: be another one for you to take.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and you have to there has to be a

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Speaker 4: willing traded component on the other side. So start with

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Speaker 4: that team they're not interested, go to the next team.

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Speaker 4: I think we ended up trading with Vegas at forty

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Speaker 4: eight whatever that was, So.

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Speaker 3: For some reason they didn't do it.

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Speaker 4: Then you go to the next team and try to

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Speaker 4: figure out Then if you lose that player, all right,

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Speaker 4: do you want to continue to trade and go back

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Speaker 4: in Maybe there's a different entry point. So those are

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Speaker 4: all things that you weigh. But to your point, John,

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Speaker 4: it's very much like a game. You're prepared, you under

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Speaker 4: think it's going to happen a certain way. While something changes,

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Speaker 4: then you have to adjust and turn as well.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 6: Absolutely, I'm glad you're not a bitter guy and that

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Speaker 6: you still deal with Matt Campbell even though he went

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Speaker 6: to Mount Union, you know, you being John Carroll you

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Speaker 6: all those years. I'm glad that you still deal with him.

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Speaker 6: But this is one of the questions that Josh and

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Speaker 6: have Me ask you in the in the video we

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Speaker 6: did for Iron Schopman's Iron about relationships and especially those

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Speaker 6: at the head coach level.

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Speaker 5: You draft two guys from Iowa State.

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Speaker 6: I imagine that the relationship with Matt Campbell is really important,

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Speaker 6: but also the fact that you could trust what he

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Speaker 6: was telling you that you do draft both of his

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Speaker 6: Iowa State receivers.

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Speaker 3: No, it's a huge part of it.

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Speaker 4: And we're in the information gathering business and they're trying

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Speaker 4: to present a player in a certain fashion, and a

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Speaker 4: lot of times the information is accurate. Doesn't mean it's

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Speaker 4: not accurate, but sometimes a coach or someone else might

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Speaker 4: say one thing and then it's purported to be maybe

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Speaker 4: a little bit something different. So you kind of have

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Speaker 4: to sift through it because they want their players to succeed.

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Speaker 4: They want what's best for their players. But the relationship

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Speaker 4: that coach Campbell and I have goes back a long way,

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Speaker 4: not necessarily to Mount Union, but Matt and I have

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Speaker 4: a good working relationship with a lot of respect for

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Speaker 4: how he runs his program and the success that he's

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Speaker 4: had at Iowa State. And even going back to a

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Speaker 4: Hutch over many years ago, that was we talked about

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Speaker 4: Hutch and everything that he said about Hutch has come

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Speaker 4: to fruition. So when that happens, you can put a

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Speaker 4: lot of stock in what that individual has to say

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Speaker 4: about particular players.

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Speaker 1: What about the USC connection here two more players from

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Speaker 1: USC after Klen last year, and I know there's some

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Speaker 1: familiarity there overall for sure.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, you know, coach Riley has done a

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Speaker 4: good job with that program. Now, it's interesting some of

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Speaker 4: these players were like what he was a transfer, is

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Speaker 4: only a one year player. But even going back to

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Speaker 4: jay Lynn in Kalyn Kaylyn, Yeah, so Kaitlyn was there

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Speaker 4: last year. They have a little bit of a relationship.

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Speaker 4: They played kind of two different positions. Jalen was a

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Speaker 4: player like where you saw the skill, good athlete, runs well,

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Speaker 4: has some quickness, has some toughness. He was a player

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Speaker 4: that we brought into NRG as part of our thirty

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Speaker 4: man visit process and just to kind of continue to

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Speaker 4: gather information there. And then Woody he kind of fit,

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Speaker 4: you know, Riley's offense there fairly well, was very productive

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Speaker 4: with the opportunities that he had this past season. So

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Speaker 4: that was a situation where going going what you said,

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Speaker 4: little bit early, we didn't have a fourth, We didn't

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Speaker 4: have a fifth. By the time we picked in the

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Speaker 4: sixth round, there was probably a good chance that wood

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Speaker 4: he was not going to be there. So it's trying

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Speaker 4: to figure out where do we have to go. Are

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Speaker 4: we willing to give up the compensation associated with that?

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Speaker 4: So I would say that was part of the rationale

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Speaker 4: behind the Woody decision.

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Speaker 6: Man Sean Penry Gash and I were so happy when

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Speaker 6: you made the one trade you got a fourth round pick,

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Speaker 6: Like yes, then you.

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Speaker 5: Traded up to get Jalen.

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Speaker 6: We're like, no, traded up to get Woody and We're

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Speaker 6: like yes.

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Speaker 3: You were just trying to feel airspace on Saturdays.

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Speaker 6: So that I mean, we were just doing radio shit

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Speaker 6: that we were doing until you ended up trading to

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Speaker 6: get up to get Woody and you moved up, you know,

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Speaker 6: a decent amount to go get him.

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Speaker 5: What was it about him that you that you liked

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Speaker 5: that you wanted to move up and go get him?

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Speaker 7: Right there?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, good football player.

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Speaker 4: I'd say his versatility kind of has some three down

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Speaker 4: elements in some respects. I think his over his course

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Speaker 4: of his career, he got over two hundred and fifty

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Speaker 4: sixty receptions, so which I would say not all running

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Speaker 4: backs have that same kind of profile. So, and that

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Speaker 4: was even going back to Mississippi State and coach Leach's offense,

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Speaker 4: which is a pass happy offense. But you saw him

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Speaker 4: this season. They carried a ball quite a bit, ran

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Speaker 4: for over a thousand yards. Elusive has some makemissibility, fairly

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Speaker 4: instinctive as good vision. He's go with the ball in

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Speaker 4: his hands. You know, top end speed is good, not great,

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Speaker 4: but he was kind of a versatile player that as

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Speaker 4: a staff we collectively like coaching staff liked him, scouting

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Speaker 4: staff liked them. So it was trying to figure out

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Speaker 4: how do we get the player on the team, and

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Speaker 4: we had to give up you know, a certain level

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Speaker 4: of compensation associated with it, but we were comfortable in

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Speaker 4: the end.

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Speaker 1: It looks like at so many different positions, you have

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Speaker 1: a veteran and then you have a rookie who could

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Speaker 1: possibly compete or at least develop behind that veteran. What

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Speaker 1: about the overall depth of the team as you draft

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Speaker 1: some of these players.

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Speaker 4: Now, yeah, Demiko and I were talking about that the

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Speaker 4: other day, like, we feel like we've put together a

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Speaker 4: pretty competitive team that has depth across all positions, and

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Speaker 4: in the end, now the players are going to sort

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Speaker 4: it out, like their performance is going to determine who

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Speaker 4: are the players that we have on the roster and

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Speaker 4: then who else we have in the building on the

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Speaker 4: practice squad. So our job is trying to create as

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Speaker 4: much competition as possible, and we feel like we've done

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Speaker 4: that at this point. Under standing that nothing is really

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Speaker 4: set in Stone probably have some other opportunities here along

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Speaker 4: the way April May June to add to the team

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Speaker 4: and even in a training camp once we get to

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Speaker 4: the cutdown. So but overall we feel we have a

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Speaker 4: pretty competitive team and the players are going to sort

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Speaker 4: itself out, you know, when they get here and ultimately

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Speaker 4: in training camp.

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Speaker 5: Nik, you've been doing this a while.

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Speaker 6: There was a time back in the day where it's

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Speaker 6: only two days where you just had that night after

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Speaker 6: the first night to kind of get ready for the

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Speaker 6: second night. What is that the night in between both days?

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Speaker 6: How much does that help you? I mean, you're picking

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Speaker 6: second of on Friday. How much did that Maybe not

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Speaker 6: so much the night, but just the fact that you've

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Speaker 6: got the rest of the morning to kind of make

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Speaker 6: sure you got the board where you want it, how

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Speaker 6: you're looking at it, any questions come up, You've got

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Speaker 6: some time to kind of do that before six o'clock hits.

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Speaker 5: How important are those nights before?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, No, it's great. Honestly, After Thursday night, everybody packs up.

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Speaker 4: You're done eleven thirty, twelve o'clock, So you pack up

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Speaker 4: and you just go home and then you just come

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Speaker 4: in the next morning. And kind of get started, and

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Speaker 4: we've done some different exercises here. Let's look at this

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Speaker 4: group of players, Let's make some calls, how to do

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Speaker 4: some information gathering, Let's do some research, Let's kind of

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Speaker 4: figure out maybe what do we think is going on?

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Speaker 4: And when you're picking that early, you start to get

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Speaker 4: a sense of what you think is going to happen

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Speaker 4: at the top of the round. So we've tried to

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Speaker 4: take advantage of that time. The morning afternoon meet get together.

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Speaker 4: What are some of the things that we have to

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Speaker 4: address or talk about. What are some of our opportunity

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Speaker 4: is going to be? All right, we have these four

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Speaker 4: picks or whatever many we had going into that second day,

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Speaker 4: we're gonna use them all, all right. We feel like

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Speaker 4: we're gonna get four good players. All right, if we

295
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Speaker 4: give up a pick, we're probably gonna lose a player,

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Speaker 4: but we're going to gain the player. So honestly, however

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Speaker 4: you utilize that time, it's up to you. And we

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Speaker 4: feel like we've done a good job of taking advantage

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Speaker 4: of the day.

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Speaker 1: We want to hear about the conversations that didn't result

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Speaker 1: in trades, like what's discussed how close were you must

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Speaker 1: be a lot of phone calls and what happens. I

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Speaker 1: want to know this, and I think the viewers and

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Speaker 1: listeners do too. You're on the phone with somebody, somebody

305
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Speaker 1: else calls call waiting. Is somebody else taking that call

306
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Speaker 1: for you? Do you have like ten seconds?

307
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Speaker 4: You have a draft room phone, so everybody kind as

308
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Speaker 4: a number which is only used during a drafty. But

309
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Speaker 4: he's probably using everybody's cell phone. But we have other

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Speaker 4: people in the draft room that are contacting kind of

311
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Speaker 4: their equivalent on the other team, So they're talking to somebody.

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Speaker 4: We're I'm talking to somebody. Then we put all the

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Speaker 4: information together and then you have to talk to the team.

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Speaker 4: If once you are going to do a trade, you

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Speaker 4: talk to the team. Okay, we're good with the terms.

316
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Speaker 4: Then you call the league, the league make sure it

317
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Speaker 4: matches up. Okay, you're good. Then you're on the clock.

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Speaker 4: Then you have to get the player on the phone

319
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Speaker 4: to tell them you're gonna pick him. So it moves

320
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Speaker 4: pretty quickly. But as long as you're prepared, long as

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Speaker 4: you have the accurate information, you know, hopefully you can

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Speaker 4: make a good decision.

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Speaker 6: Katta Hamilton from O to Rutgers guy that I can say,

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Speaker 6: I know, I didn't see coming and we were gonna

325
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Speaker 6: figured we were gonna draft Interiory from the lineman. Would

326
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Speaker 6: you like about him? I know I like the wrestling background.

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Speaker 6: Does that matter?

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Speaker 4: You know, good size, runs well, has some straight line speed,

329
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Speaker 4: has a little bit of quickness, has some playing strength.

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Speaker 3: So I think we look.

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Speaker 4: View that as a player that has an opportunity to

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Speaker 4: compete from a depth standpoint. We're gonna have four or

333
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Speaker 4: five defensive tackles that are on the team. They're probably

334
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Speaker 4: all gonna pay at some point. Everybody that's seen us

335
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Speaker 4: play understands we're going to play a lot of different people.

336
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Speaker 3: You them good program.

337
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Speaker 4: Again, Coach Ciano does a great job of sort of

338
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Speaker 4: developing those players so well coached, well schooled, has some

339
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Speaker 4: physical traits and attributes that we like.

340
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Speaker 3: So which is why we drafted them. You know when

341
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Speaker 3: we did.

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Speaker 1: Nick, this has been a big topic in the off

343
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Speaker 1: season offensive line, as you've made many changes here. You

344
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Speaker 1: draft urse three and you said moments ago, sometimes you

345
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Speaker 1: let the players sort it out themselves. Is that the

346
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Speaker 1: case here in a way, because I know you have

347
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Speaker 1: a lot of possibilities with that front five.

348
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Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure, have a lot of confidence in the

349
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Speaker 4: players in our building. Some players that have been in

350
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Speaker 4: our system. Other players haven't been in our system. So

351
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Speaker 4: that's what the spring is for, kind of put the

352
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Speaker 4: foundation in place, and once we get into training camp,

353
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Speaker 4: we'll kind of see.

354
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Speaker 3: How the competition goes.

355
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Speaker 4: Some players inside can play all three position spot all

356
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Speaker 4: three spots. Other players are kind of one position players,

357
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Speaker 4: tackles or tackles, some have guard flex So we have

358
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Speaker 4: a number of players in the building that have played

359
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Speaker 4: a lot of football, some haven't played. I mean Tay

360
00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:57,079
Speaker 4: gets out of the mix. He's a lot of experience,

361
00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:00,199
Speaker 4: but not at the NFL level. So the competition is

362
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Speaker 4: going to sort itself out. And you go back and

363
00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:04,080
Speaker 4: look at what happened in twenty three. There were three

364
00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:07,200
Speaker 4: or four players that weren't on the team in training

365
00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:10,280
Speaker 4: camp in August then play in the first four weeks

366
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Speaker 4: of the season. So we'll kind of see how it goes.

367
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Speaker 4: But we have a lot of confidence in the players

368
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Speaker 4: that in the building and hopefully we can put the

369
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Speaker 4: best the best five out there when we have to

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Speaker 4: play our first game.

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Speaker 6: Nick, as soon as the first five guys went off

372
00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:23,280
Speaker 6: the board, it just registered because I was going Higgins's

373
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Speaker 6: Senior Bowl, Ersery Senior Bowl, Joe Smith's Senior Bowl, Noel

374
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Speaker 6: Senior Like the first five all went to the Senior Bowl.

375
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Speaker 5: How important was that as an evaluation point for you guys?

376
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Speaker 4: The Senior Bowl is always a great evaluation tool because

377
00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:37,080
Speaker 4: you get to see him against like players, against good players,

378
00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:39,920
Speaker 4: kind of in a different environment. It's really you're focused

379
00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:42,560
Speaker 4: on sort of the individual drills, the one on ones,

380
00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:44,960
Speaker 4: those are the big thing, seven on seven, the team

381
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Speaker 4: bits and pieces of it. But Jim Nagge's done a

382
00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:49,800
Speaker 4: great job. You know he's going to be missed. I mean,

383
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Speaker 4: Jim took the job as a general manager at the

384
00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:54,680
Speaker 4: University of Oklahoma. I think Drew Fabianis has you know,

385
00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:56,360
Speaker 4: been put in charge of Drew as a background in

386
00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:58,360
Speaker 4: the NFL at the Cowboys for a number of years. So,

387
00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:01,720
Speaker 4: but the Senior Bowl EXPERI at Seamobowl opportunity. We've gotten

388
00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:03,080
Speaker 4: a lot out of it the last few years and

389
00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:04,400
Speaker 4: don't see that really changing.

390
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Speaker 1: How many times to the course of a draft, especially

391
00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:10,080
Speaker 1: later when we get to rounds five, six, seven, do

392
00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:12,360
Speaker 1: you see players on the board or off the board

393
00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:15,080
Speaker 1: or whatever where I wasn't I didn't see this one coming.

394
00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:17,760
Speaker 1: And do conversations like that happen in the draft room?

395
00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:18,440
Speaker 1: Take us inside.

396
00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:19,520
Speaker 3: Here's a little bit of everything.

397
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Speaker 4: So at that point, everybody's kind of maybe views a

398
00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:25,520
Speaker 4: player a little bit differently. So you have a certain

399
00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:28,240
Speaker 4: cool court of players everybody kind of probably sees similarly.

400
00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:31,080
Speaker 4: You have some others that maybe you're not as familiar with,

401
00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:34,080
Speaker 4: or that player didn't necessarily fit what you're doing. So

402
00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:36,520
Speaker 4: I want to say, sometimes they come from everywhere, but

403
00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:39,320
Speaker 4: sometimes they come from everywhere, so and everybody's just got

404
00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:40,760
Speaker 4: to do what they feel is best for their team.

405
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Speaker 6: We've always hammled this point home. The message that you

406
00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:46,520
Speaker 6: send in that is we are drafting best available. We

407
00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:50,400
Speaker 6: draft best available. If you don't mind, can you go

408
00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:52,560
Speaker 6: into the selection of Graham Merch it's a quarterback. I

409
00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:54,160
Speaker 6: know a lot of fans are out there going, we

410
00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:56,440
Speaker 6: got CJ, We've got Davis.

411
00:15:56,800 --> 00:15:59,000
Speaker 5: Why would we draft a quarterback right here?

412
00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:01,360
Speaker 6: But I know you guys in New England were always

413
00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:04,120
Speaker 6: drafting a quarterback, always looking for maybe a developmental guy.

414
00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:06,040
Speaker 5: But why Graham? And why quarterback?

415
00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:08,240
Speaker 3: At that point, Nick, Yeah, No, Graham probably falls into

416
00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:08,800
Speaker 3: that category.

417
00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:10,520
Speaker 4: And each team is probably little bit different, but every

418
00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:13,920
Speaker 4: year or two, just getting a young quarterback in the program.

419
00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:16,960
Speaker 4: I'd say Graham was a player, so it was at Wisconsin.

420
00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:19,760
Speaker 4: Then when coach Fickle came in, he kind of transferred

421
00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:21,800
Speaker 4: to Florida, played a little bit and it was injured

422
00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:25,400
Speaker 4: this year, but smart kid, good arm kind of has

423
00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:29,120
Speaker 4: subtle athleticism. Obviously, he was injured kind of midway through

424
00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:31,960
Speaker 4: the year. At some point that he'll be ready to go,

425
00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:34,520
Speaker 4: but we visit him here at NRG. It's part of

426
00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:37,000
Speaker 4: the thirty men process, and just has a good way

427
00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:38,480
Speaker 4: about him. So I mean, I think this was a

428
00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:40,120
Speaker 4: player that we felt it would be good to work

429
00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:44,240
Speaker 4: with in some capacity. CJ is not going anywhere for

430
00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:46,280
Speaker 4: a long time and Davis has done a great job,

431
00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:48,520
Speaker 4: so just kind of solidifying that room a little bit.

432
00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:50,840
Speaker 4: I would say, even going back to Keaton Slovas, who

433
00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:52,440
Speaker 4: we brought in last year in the practice squad, he

434
00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:53,360
Speaker 4: made a lot of progress.

435
00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:55,320
Speaker 3: So we have four players here in the building.

436
00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:57,680
Speaker 4: Some teams carry three, some teams carry four, So we'll

437
00:16:57,720 --> 00:16:59,440
Speaker 4: kind of let's sort it out here once we get going.

438
00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:02,680
Speaker 1: You're always quick to give credit to your staff, and

439
00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:05,240
Speaker 1: I couldn't help. But notice that other people were also

440
00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:07,400
Speaker 1: making phone calls to the draft choice of saying, Hey,

441
00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:11,040
Speaker 1: you've gotten drafted by the Texans James Lipfort in company,

442
00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:11,719
Speaker 1: why do that?

443
00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:12,520
Speaker 2: Why delegate that?

444
00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:14,719
Speaker 3: Yeah, we kind of spread around like everybody's invested.

445
00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:16,919
Speaker 4: Everybody's put a lot of time and energy and effort

446
00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:19,840
Speaker 4: into this, and it's an opportunity for them to, you know,

447
00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:24,120
Speaker 4: really change life of a player. So it's a collaborative effort.

448
00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:26,440
Speaker 4: Everybody involved, and we talked about this. I talked about

449
00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:28,640
Speaker 4: this before the draft started, and it's not a one

450
00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:30,480
Speaker 4: man show. That's not how we operate. To Miko and

451
00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:33,199
Speaker 4: I don't believe in that. So everybody's involved, so we

452
00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:35,000
Speaker 4: can give other people opportunity to be a part of

453
00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:37,119
Speaker 4: what we're doing on draft day. They've earned that opportunity

454
00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:38,840
Speaker 4: with the work and the effort that they've put in,

455
00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:41,639
Speaker 4: so it's nice to be able to give them that chance.

456
00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:44,439
Speaker 6: If you have a disagreement, do you settle it with

457
00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:47,919
Speaker 6: arm wrestling? How do you settle a disagreement? If you

458
00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:48,480
Speaker 6: have one in the.

459
00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:51,560
Speaker 4: Room, We've had very few, so we usually come to

460
00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:55,159
Speaker 4: this and if we do, he'll beat my ass. So

461
00:17:55,160 --> 00:17:57,920
Speaker 4: we'll probably go with this selection that he covets.

462
00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:01,040
Speaker 2: That's beautiful, all right, So what happens now?

463
00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:03,879
Speaker 1: We've got OTA's Mini camp coming up, all of that,

464
00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,280
Speaker 1: but it never stops for you because we can count

465
00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:09,639
Speaker 1: to or point to multiple players that you've gotten during

466
00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:11,960
Speaker 1: training camp or after that have contributed to the team.

467
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:12,679
Speaker 2: How do you handle thing?

468
00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:14,520
Speaker 4: Yeah, you said it, Mark, So even the last few

469
00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:17,000
Speaker 4: days here feel like I've been just as busy as

470
00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:19,399
Speaker 4: we were leading up to. So there's gonna be some

471
00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:21,720
Speaker 4: players going on and off rosters or a certain pool

472
00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:23,879
Speaker 4: of players that's still available. There's some players are on

473
00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:26,239
Speaker 4: the street. So we're just trying to evaluate what our

474
00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:28,439
Speaker 4: opportunities are there, players that we can bring in the

475
00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:30,399
Speaker 4: work out just to kind of get an evaluation so

476
00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:32,800
Speaker 4: we can kind of update their progress so that if

477
00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:35,840
Speaker 4: we do need somebody, we're prepared for that. So we're

478
00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:38,639
Speaker 4: moving forward with that, I would say a whole process,

479
00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:40,160
Speaker 4: and then I would say at some point here we're

480
00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:42,639
Speaker 4: going to transition to the twenty six draft prospects and

481
00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:44,800
Speaker 4: start to do some of our spring scouting to kind

482
00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:46,959
Speaker 4: of get ready for that. And then once the schedule

483
00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,479
Speaker 4: comes out, which you know, everybody's excited about that, not

484
00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:50,080
Speaker 4: except for me.

485
00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:51,480
Speaker 3: But once the schedule comes.

486
00:18:51,359 --> 00:18:53,560
Speaker 4: Out, then we'll have a better idea of who we're

487
00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:55,439
Speaker 4: going to be playing here and you can start some

488
00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:57,280
Speaker 4: of the offseason scott and reports and some of those

489
00:18:57,280 --> 00:18:57,960
Speaker 4: types of things.

490
00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:00,600
Speaker 6: I so totally want to be in the room. When

491
00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:03,440
Speaker 6: they asked Nick to be on the schedule video, yeah,

492
00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:04,920
Speaker 6: it's never happened yet.

493
00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:06,800
Speaker 5: I don't think it will schedule video.

494
00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:07,800
Speaker 3: Yeah. All right.

495
00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:09,600
Speaker 1: So I'm not saying you're old, but you've been in

496
00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:12,760
Speaker 1: the league for two and a half decades. Said, so,

497
00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:15,840
Speaker 1: how has the draft room changed over those two and

498
00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:17,600
Speaker 1: a half decades in the NFL?

499
00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:18,280
Speaker 3: Wow?

500
00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:21,240
Speaker 4: The technology, Uh is a big part of it. Kind

501
00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:23,399
Speaker 4: of how the draft rooms are set up. I would say,

502
00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:26,680
Speaker 4: who the people that are in there, it's probably changed

503
00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:28,560
Speaker 4: for the years. Some are smaller, some are bigger. So

504
00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:31,200
Speaker 4: we're kind of including everybody Here's a little bit different

505
00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:32,919
Speaker 4: than maybe you know, some other teams have done it.

506
00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:35,359
Speaker 4: But uh so, I'd say the technology is a big thing.

507
00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:37,000
Speaker 4: We kind of went off, we went away from the

508
00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,040
Speaker 4: tags this year on the board begrudgingly. So I was

509
00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:42,879
Speaker 4: like the last of the Mohicans on that but we survived,

510
00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:48,040
Speaker 4: adapt and adjust. So everything's becoming very digitized and very

511
00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:49,159
Speaker 4: technologically based.

512
00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:50,760
Speaker 3: So I'd say that's probably the biggest.

513
00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:55,200
Speaker 5: So no taking a magnet off, guys. Yea more magnets throw,

514
00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:57,200
Speaker 5: I can see where that would be.

515
00:19:57,560 --> 00:19:59,880
Speaker 1: I've got one more for you because the video is out.

516
00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:04,800
Speaker 1: Frank Ross John Carrol Hall of Famer. What about that,

517
00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:06,800
Speaker 1: your special teams coordinator gets into the hall.

518
00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:09,040
Speaker 4: Yeah, it means we had a pretty bad program that Frank.

519
00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:12,520
Speaker 4: Frank was a really good player.

520
00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:13,080
Speaker 3: He was like that.

521
00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:14,320
Speaker 4: I don't know if he still is, but he was

522
00:20:14,359 --> 00:20:18,200
Speaker 4: all time leading receiver. So it's a great honor for Frank.

523
00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:20,439
Speaker 4: I mean, nobody puts more, nobody put more into the

524
00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:22,679
Speaker 4: program at John Carroll than Frank. That nobody's put more

525
00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:25,240
Speaker 4: into our program here in Houston since he's been here,

526
00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:27,320
Speaker 4: and he does a lot of great things, not only

527
00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:29,000
Speaker 4: for our team but in the community as well. So

528
00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:31,040
Speaker 4: for him to be recognized it's a great it's a

529
00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:34,280
Speaker 4: great honor and he deserves it. So we're happy to

530
00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:37,239
Speaker 4: be a small part of that. So he earned it

531
00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:39,960
Speaker 4: and I'm sure he'll be excited in October when he's

532
00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:40,880
Speaker 4: when it's official.

533
00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:42,600
Speaker 2: He had more catches than McDaniels.

534
00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:44,360
Speaker 3: Way more, Yeah, way more.

535
00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:48,240
Speaker 1: You didn't throw the ball as all right, Nick, thanks

536
00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:49,920
Speaker 1: a lot for joining us. Congrats on the draft.

537
00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:50,520
Speaker 3: Thanks fellas.

538
00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:53,240
Speaker 2: All right, there's Nick Cassario, Johnny.

539
00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:56,040
Speaker 1: I think the offensive line question is the big one

540
00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:58,920
Speaker 1: here among everybody who follows this football team.

541
00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:00,959
Speaker 2: Are they better enough?

542
00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:05,119
Speaker 1: Obviously they're different, and are they better period on the

543
00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:05,880
Speaker 1: offensive line?

544
00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:07,159
Speaker 2: We won't know it till we see it.

545
00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:09,520
Speaker 1: That's why I said, Hey, he says he lets the

546
00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:11,800
Speaker 1: players kind of solve it. I think Demika would say

547
00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:14,880
Speaker 1: the same thing, because the competition will ultimately take care

548
00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:16,720
Speaker 1: of itself. You get your best five on the field

549
00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:18,040
Speaker 1: and the best possible slots.

550
00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:19,399
Speaker 2: Is that how you see it.

551
00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:22,760
Speaker 6: I don't know that you can put together an offensive

552
00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:27,399
Speaker 6: line after what you had last year, in particular Laromy Tunsil,

553
00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:30,959
Speaker 6: and say your line is more talented. But that's not

554
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:33,560
Speaker 6: what this is about. It's not about being the most talented.

555
00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:35,920
Speaker 6: It's about being the best group of five you can have.

556
00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:39,000
Speaker 6: And so I think there is a better opportunity for

557
00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:44,160
Speaker 6: that how they're constructed now, I think there's a better

558
00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:47,520
Speaker 6: opportunity for that to happen than is it better.

559
00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:47,960
Speaker 2: Is it worth?

560
00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:53,240
Speaker 6: It's not as talented as last year, but I think

561
00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:56,359
Speaker 6: it's got an opportunity to be a much better offensive

562
00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:58,600
Speaker 6: line because I do think the pieces are gonna fit

563
00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:02,879
Speaker 6: together better, and I do think that they will get uh,

564
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:04,200
Speaker 6: they will.

565
00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:07,159
Speaker 5: Get coaching Kole Popovich. I think they need.

566
00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:11,520
Speaker 6: I think they will have the adaptability in past pro

567
00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:14,280
Speaker 6: schemes and things like that to make them better from

568
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:16,439
Speaker 6: off its coordinator Nick Keyley, and you put all that

569
00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:20,480
Speaker 6: together with a scheme that's going to be a little

570
00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:24,560
Speaker 6: bit more fluid and adaptable, with a group of linemen

571
00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:29,000
Speaker 6: that is going to be more adaptable and hopefully can

572
00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:32,239
Speaker 6: be more cohesive in there in line, you'll have a

573
00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:36,399
Speaker 6: better overall offensive line than having a talented one that

574
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:38,760
Speaker 6: was underachieving, which it felt like it was last year.

575
00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:41,840
Speaker 1: This is for another show, probably, but you could almost

576
00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:45,160
Speaker 1: see you thought Ursery could bump inside to start his career.

577
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:47,080
Speaker 5: Maybe. Yeah, I could see that it'd.

578
00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:49,959
Speaker 1: Be interesting if he bumped to the left guard spot.

579
00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:53,480
Speaker 1: Tell me this just from a sheer Layman question standpoint,

580
00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:55,680
Speaker 1: Why can't Titus play right guard?

581
00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:56,600
Speaker 2: He plays right tax me?

582
00:22:56,680 --> 00:22:57,560
Speaker 5: Could he could?

583
00:22:57,600 --> 00:22:59,520
Speaker 6: I mean, Titus is the Titus is the type of

584
00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:02,040
Speaker 6: guy to be able to do something like that for sure.

585
00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:05,080
Speaker 6: And the thing is is, if you do move move

586
00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:08,160
Speaker 6: Tay into guard, He's never played guard, so it's gonna

587
00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:09,960
Speaker 6: be all foreign to him for the most part, whether

588
00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,560
Speaker 6: it's right or left. So at that point, maybe you

589
00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:15,160
Speaker 6: want to eliminate the moving parts, you know what I mean.

590
00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,040
Speaker 6: Titus has played left guard. Hey, let's leave Titus there

591
00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:20,760
Speaker 6: for the first time. Let's leave Titus in a spot.

592
00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:25,480
Speaker 6: Let's let Tay adapt and adjust as he's learning the

593
00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:27,880
Speaker 6: right guard spot, you know what I mean. Whereas if

594
00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:30,800
Speaker 6: you move Tay to guard and he and Titus moves

595
00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:33,399
Speaker 6: to right guard, now there's not a whole lot that

596
00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:36,359
Speaker 6: changes for Titus, but it is on the right side. Okay, Well,

597
00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:38,520
Speaker 6: you're putting this hand down versus that hand, this foot

598
00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:41,159
Speaker 6: back versus this foot. You're just kind of changing. And

599
00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:43,360
Speaker 6: then Nursery would be learning guard. So now you've got

600
00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:44,960
Speaker 6: two guys that are kind of learning on the fly

601
00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:47,480
Speaker 6: in a sense, right, And I don't know if you

602
00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:50,800
Speaker 6: want that. So I think if you are gonna move,

603
00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:54,360
Speaker 6: you are gonna move Tay into into guard. It probably

604
00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:57,000
Speaker 6: makes sense that if Titus is healthy and playing left guard.

605
00:23:57,080 --> 00:23:58,040
Speaker 5: Leave him there left guard.

606
00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:02,640
Speaker 6: Let Tay be the one that adapts because he's basically

607
00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:04,359
Speaker 6: playing in the NFL and playing guard.

608
00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:05,159
Speaker 5: He's not.

609
00:24:05,359 --> 00:24:07,320
Speaker 6: I mean, it's all one and the same at that point.

610
00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:10,560
Speaker 6: So I do think there's obviously differences in playing tackle

611
00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:13,719
Speaker 6: and guard. And you know, set this has brought up

612
00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:15,399
Speaker 6: a great point and it's something that pointed out a

613
00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:17,320
Speaker 6: long time ago about Ersa in a first sung. You know,

614
00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:19,639
Speaker 6: he's a taller, kind of stiffer. He doesn't have a

615
00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:21,560
Speaker 6: ton of knee bend, and that can can kind of

616
00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:24,000
Speaker 6: hurt you a little bit at guard. But he's so

617
00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:27,199
Speaker 6: strong and powerful that it makes me think that they

618
00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:29,399
Speaker 6: can move guys off the line of scrimmage, and that

619
00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:32,119
Speaker 6: because of the way he can anchor and with his

620
00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:35,439
Speaker 6: strength he can go against you know, the heavies on

621
00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:37,600
Speaker 6: the inside. He can go against Simmons and hold his

622
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:41,280
Speaker 6: own physically because he can't anchor and he is that strong.

623
00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:44,120
Speaker 6: So that's why I think going into guard, and if

624
00:24:44,119 --> 00:24:45,760
Speaker 6: he's one of the top five, and that's I think

625
00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:48,000
Speaker 6: what they're trying to get to. They've got to put

626
00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:50,639
Speaker 6: the best five linemen on the field. All right, figure

627
00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:50,960
Speaker 6: it out.

628
00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:54,679
Speaker 1: We'll talk to Jonathan Alexander more about the NFL Draft

629
00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:57,320
Speaker 1: the Houston Texans haul over the weekend. Let's do that

630
00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:01,919
Speaker 1: next year on Texans Radio. Back in the groove here

631
00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:05,000
Speaker 1: on Texans Radio, Let's get right to our visit with

632
00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:10,200
Speaker 1: Jonathan Alexander from the Houston Chronicle. Jonathan, your take your

633
00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:15,000
Speaker 1: assessment the weekend that was the twenty twenty five Texans Draft.

634
00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:16,480
Speaker 7: I mean it was eventful.

635
00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:19,199
Speaker 8: I mean, you know, looking back at it, you know,

636
00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:23,840
Speaker 8: the Texans obviously they tried to trade up to get

637
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:27,560
Speaker 8: high am I reporting any case, as high as number twelve,

638
00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:31,439
Speaker 8: to try to get one of the top offensive linemen.

639
00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:35,040
Speaker 8: Kelvin Banks was their favorite. Tyler Booker was another guy

640
00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:39,680
Speaker 8: they were wanting to trade up for, but they couldn't

641
00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:43,159
Speaker 8: reach a trade agreement with the teams that they negotiated with.

642
00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:46,560
Speaker 8: And ultimately I thought they made the best decision in

643
00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:50,760
Speaker 8: trading back and getting good value, and that second round

644
00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:53,520
Speaker 8: they got their favorite ride receiver in his draft class,

645
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:55,600
Speaker 8: and so I thought they made the best of an

646
00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:56,520
Speaker 8: unfortunate situation.

647
00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:59,160
Speaker 7: It was always difficult to be picking at number twenty five.

648
00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:01,960
Speaker 6: It was in Johnathan, I remember one of your mock drafts.

649
00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:03,359
Speaker 6: She had I'm moving up I think the nineteen to

650
00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:06,439
Speaker 6: go get Kelvin Banks Junior. Do you think there was

651
00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:09,560
Speaker 6: any desire to move up to get Banks Junior and

652
00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:11,879
Speaker 6: then when they couldn't get Banks that they wanted to

653
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:14,879
Speaker 6: trade up to get Booker? What and kind of how

654
00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:18,040
Speaker 6: do you know that that situation to be. Was it

655
00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:20,080
Speaker 6: Banks then Booker kind of how they were going about

656
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:21,520
Speaker 6: it or do you think it was kind of Booker

657
00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:24,600
Speaker 6: all along? What are your thoughts about how and what

658
00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:26,480
Speaker 6: maybe the order of what they were trying to do

659
00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:27,120
Speaker 6: to get up.

660
00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:30,400
Speaker 8: Yeah, based on my reporting, I know that the Texans

661
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:33,440
Speaker 8: initially going into the process, we're hoping they could get

662
00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:36,280
Speaker 8: Kelvin Banks, so they were trying to trade up pretty high.

663
00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:41,800
Speaker 8: They found out through Kelvin Maks's agent that Kelvin Banks

664
00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:44,879
Speaker 8: was definitely going to come off the board early. He

665
00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:46,600
Speaker 8: ended up coming off the board at nine, So they

666
00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:49,359
Speaker 8: their next guy that they wanted to trade up for.

667
00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:51,560
Speaker 8: Was they were trying to trade with the Cowboys was

668
00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:54,040
Speaker 8: to get Tyler Booker. I do know that for sure,

669
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:57,760
Speaker 8: and then the Cowboys opted to stay with that twelfth

670
00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:02,399
Speaker 8: pick because they didn't like the Texans. I also know

671
00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:05,080
Speaker 8: that the Texans tried to trade with the Minnesota Vikings,

672
00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:07,560
Speaker 8: and I suspect I don't know this as much as

673
00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:09,959
Speaker 8: I know Booker and Banks, but I suspect they were

674
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:12,120
Speaker 8: trying to get a Mecca at Buka, and then when

675
00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:14,520
Speaker 8: he came off the board at nineteen, they started looking

676
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:16,919
Speaker 8: to trade back. They like Donovan Jackson, but would have

677
00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:20,920
Speaker 8: preferred him as a late first round early second round pick,

678
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:22,600
Speaker 8: and the Vikings obviously.

679
00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:24,640
Speaker 7: Valued him and took him at twenty four.

680
00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:27,200
Speaker 8: So a lot of their favorite players when the board

681
00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:29,400
Speaker 8: ended up coming off, which is why they ended up

682
00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:31,680
Speaker 8: doing what was smart and trading back.

683
00:27:32,119 --> 00:27:35,520
Speaker 1: Well, you talk about their favorite receiver in Higgins, and

684
00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:38,240
Speaker 1: I got to think that they are excited about him,

685
00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:41,320
Speaker 1: and I'm also excited about when you look at the

686
00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:43,240
Speaker 1: body of work here that you can get out of

687
00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:45,960
Speaker 1: Jailen Knowle and Jaden Higgins.

688
00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:47,760
Speaker 2: That's pretty exciting to me. What do you think of

689
00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:48,600
Speaker 2: the two receivers?

690
00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:49,160
Speaker 7: Oh?

691
00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:51,439
Speaker 8: Absolutely, I think we talked about it before the draft

692
00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:54,919
Speaker 8: that Jalen Nole was one of my favorite guys. I

693
00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:57,199
Speaker 8: had mocked him in I think my first two or

694
00:27:57,200 --> 00:27:59,639
Speaker 8: three mock drafts as a guy who I thought that

695
00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:03,080
Speaker 8: they could take at number fifty eight, and somehow this

696
00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:06,600
Speaker 8: guy who was productive, who played special teams as well,

697
00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:09,760
Speaker 8: who kind of reminds you of Christian Kirk, somehow fell

698
00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:10,760
Speaker 8: to seventy nine and they.

699
00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:11,679
Speaker 7: Were able to double up.

700
00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:15,119
Speaker 8: I don't blame Nick Casario at all for doing that,

701
00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:18,600
Speaker 8: but Jada Higgins give you another option and another big

702
00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:21,680
Speaker 8: receiver similar to Nico Collins. I don't know if they're

703
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:24,720
Speaker 8: playing stars are the same, but they definitely have similar

704
00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:27,280
Speaker 8: size and a lot of people say great things. He

705
00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:29,960
Speaker 8: was always going to go early in that second round,

706
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:33,400
Speaker 8: So just having those two guys together who have both

707
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:35,320
Speaker 8: went off four thousand yards in the same season, is

708
00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:38,520
Speaker 8: a big get and I'm sure CD Stroud is happy

709
00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:41,920
Speaker 8: about that that particular the way it played.

710
00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:45,200
Speaker 6: Out on Thursday night press conference, I know what we

711
00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:48,200
Speaker 6: were getting close to packing up over at the draft party.

712
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:52,280
Speaker 6: Nick Cassario went to his press conference, and I believe

713
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:54,080
Speaker 6: it may have been the last question that he was

714
00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:57,080
Speaker 6: asked about, and I can't remember who asked it, but

715
00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:00,520
Speaker 6: it was is there a player when you traded down

716
00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:03,880
Speaker 6: from twenty five? Was there a player that was essentially

717
00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:06,480
Speaker 6: still on the board, that was still on the board.

718
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:07,880
Speaker 5: Was that I thought that was you what.

719
00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:10,880
Speaker 6: Yeah, when Nick said, yeah, there's a guy that's still

720
00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:13,680
Speaker 6: on the board, do you believe that to be Jayden Higgins.

721
00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:14,560
Speaker 7: I do.

722
00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:17,520
Speaker 8: I think he wasn't trying to exactly give it away,

723
00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:18,720
Speaker 8: but I think he was one of the guys that

724
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:21,560
Speaker 8: they were considering that at twenty five. I think Josh

725
00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:25,160
Speaker 8: Connery was another guy they were considering at twenty five,

726
00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:30,440
Speaker 8: and they opted that to trade back, and ultimately they

727
00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:33,160
Speaker 8: got their guy who they thought highly of.

728
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:35,640
Speaker 7: Who you know, in the end, they're looking for great players,

729
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:36,280
Speaker 7: and I mean.

730
00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:38,880
Speaker 8: Great people who are also great players, and I think

731
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:40,440
Speaker 8: Higgins kind of fits that mold.

732
00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:42,760
Speaker 6: And I think when you look at number twenty five,

733
00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:45,960
Speaker 6: it was Higgins and and I'm trying to remember, I

734
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:49,440
Speaker 6: think it may have been Higgins and Ursery. I think

735
00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:51,640
Speaker 6: they were able to kind of Nick moves around so

736
00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:54,600
Speaker 6: much it's kind of hard to remember exactly what. But

737
00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:56,720
Speaker 6: it was like they got two players for the price

738
00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:59,520
Speaker 6: of twenty five, and you think it's Higgins and anybody

739
00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:01,960
Speaker 6: else they got, I mean, you got kind of a

740
00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:04,440
Speaker 6: two third. I mean that that kind of solves two

741
00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:07,040
Speaker 6: issues in some sense, instead of getting just one at

742
00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:09,200
Speaker 6: number twenty five, so I kind of felt like the

743
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:11,400
Speaker 6: move down to thirty four, you didn't have to go

744
00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:13,560
Speaker 6: down as far. You had the second pick of the

745
00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:16,400
Speaker 6: second round. I don't think Carson Sweesssinger you were going

746
00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:18,320
Speaker 6: to take a linebacker, so you ended up getting the

747
00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:21,719
Speaker 6: guy that you thought all along later in the draft,

748
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:25,600
Speaker 6: Jonathan I got that I was really really excited about,

749
00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:27,160
Speaker 6: and I know some fans were like, well, you could

750
00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:30,600
Speaker 6: have got him later. I love the Joquavius Woody Marx

751
00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:33,760
Speaker 6: your thoughts about grabbing him right there, in fact, trading

752
00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:37,400
Speaker 6: up to go get him on Saturday, which gave Sean

753
00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:39,680
Speaker 6: Pengass nine opportunity to talk about a pick which was fine,

754
00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:42,760
Speaker 6: to go get a Woody Marks running back from out

755
00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:45,120
Speaker 6: of USC formerly Assissippi State as well.

756
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:48,320
Speaker 8: Yeah, he was obviously a guy that they really valued,

757
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:51,640
Speaker 8: given that they traded up into the fourth round to

758
00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:52,120
Speaker 8: get him.

759
00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:53,959
Speaker 7: But Mars, you know, has it.

760
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:56,280
Speaker 8: I think they were They've been looking for a guy

761
00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:58,240
Speaker 8: who could really catch the ball out of their backfield,

762
00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:01,080
Speaker 8: and Mark I do that. I think he had an

763
00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:05,400
Speaker 8: eighty seven catch receiving eighty seven catch season while he

764
00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:09,800
Speaker 8: was at was It Mississippi State before going to USC

765
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:13,560
Speaker 8: and then still had a good year catching the ball

766
00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:16,640
Speaker 8: and ran for over a thousand yards last year for USC.

767
00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:20,040
Speaker 8: So he's a really good back. And to me, it

768
00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:22,160
Speaker 8: makes a lot of sense that they would target a

769
00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:26,080
Speaker 8: running back given that this could be Damian Pierce's last

770
00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:29,960
Speaker 8: season in the Texans jersey and they'll be looking for

771
00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:34,160
Speaker 8: number two after next year for Joe Mixon. So why

772
00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:37,280
Speaker 8: not start that process while getting somebody who was an

773
00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:39,400
Speaker 8: additional weapon for CJ.

774
00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:40,480
Speaker 7: Stroude in the passing game.

775
00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:43,160
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about the dvs here and taking

776
00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:45,880
Speaker 1: rounds apart, but we'll group them together for sake of

777
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,880
Speaker 1: this conversation. Jalen Smith the corner from USC in round

778
00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:51,960
Speaker 1: three and round six. Jalen Reed, the safety from Penn State.

779
00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:54,600
Speaker 1: How do you think those guys fit into the mix

780
00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:56,280
Speaker 1: in the defensive backfield.

781
00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:01,640
Speaker 8: Yeah, I see Jalen Smith being as a backup, you know,

782
00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:03,680
Speaker 8: nickel cornerback.

783
00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:04,720
Speaker 7: That's how he projects.

784
00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:09,640
Speaker 8: And Nick Casario talked about it that Frank Ross sees

785
00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:13,240
Speaker 8: him playing special teams and potentially being a contributor there.

786
00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:17,080
Speaker 7: He has that familiarity with Kaylyn Bullock having played three years.

787
00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:20,720
Speaker 8: They are super close and attended each other's draft parties.

788
00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:24,800
Speaker 8: So and it was funny talking to Jalen Smith. He

789
00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:27,840
Speaker 8: knew everybody in the secondary, just just named them all,

790
00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:31,200
Speaker 8: but he seems to be a guy who they're pretty

791
00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:32,400
Speaker 8: excited about.

792
00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:35,720
Speaker 7: And then of course you know Jalen Reid.

793
00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:38,680
Speaker 8: He's a guy who fell in the draft and who

794
00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:41,320
Speaker 8: start to be probably drafted in the fourth round, ended

795
00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:43,160
Speaker 8: up they getting him in the sixth, so that was

796
00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:45,840
Speaker 8: good value. It'll be interesting to see what happens with

797
00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:48,720
Speaker 8: that safety. But I did a depth chart fifty three

798
00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:51,360
Speaker 8: man roster projection, and I was trying to figure out

799
00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:53,040
Speaker 8: who are the four safeties are going to keep? And

800
00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:56,320
Speaker 8: I had trouble ended up parting ways with m J. Stewart,

801
00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:58,600
Speaker 8: who I think is key to the special teams. But

802
00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:02,200
Speaker 8: how do you you know, you know, part ways with

803
00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:04,320
Speaker 8: a pick you got a guy you got in the

804
00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:06,440
Speaker 8: sixth round, who you got for really good value.

805
00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:07,720
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's true.

806
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:10,240
Speaker 6: Uh, And I think part of this is gonna be

807
00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:13,040
Speaker 6: determined by Jimmy Wart's health, which hopefully Jimmy is gonna

808
00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:15,040
Speaker 6: be okay, but I think some of that will be

809
00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:17,080
Speaker 6: definitely determined.

810
00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:18,640
Speaker 1: I just saw him today, By the way, nothing wrong

811
00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:20,959
Speaker 1: with his handshake and conversational skills.

812
00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:22,360
Speaker 2: I can vouch for those, right.

813
00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:23,560
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm not worried about that.

814
00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:27,640
Speaker 6: I mean, Jimmy's linguistically, he's good like I'm good with

815
00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:30,000
Speaker 6: I'm just I'm worried about that.

816
00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:33,200
Speaker 5: Like that leg I'm worried about he's walking.

817
00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:34,160
Speaker 2: Okay, he's ambulat.

818
00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:36,000
Speaker 5: That's good that.

819
00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:40,160
Speaker 6: That's I can touch that too, Okay, Doctor Vandermerk, good job, Jonathan.

820
00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:44,200
Speaker 6: I know that you and Sam do you never write

821
00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:48,040
Speaker 6: the headlines for the tweets from the Houston Chronicle, but

822
00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:50,880
Speaker 6: I took a little bit of umbrage with something that

823
00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:54,960
Speaker 6: actually was said by them, because they're like, the Texans

824
00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:57,000
Speaker 6: did everything in the draft except this one thing.

825
00:33:57,080 --> 00:33:59,440
Speaker 5: They didn't get a guard. And I was like, are

826
00:33:59,480 --> 00:33:59,760
Speaker 5: we sure?

827
00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:04,040
Speaker 6: Are we absolutely one thousand percent sure that tay Erserie

828
00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:06,680
Speaker 6: is going to be a tackle? Now I've even said

829
00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:10,520
Speaker 6: he projects the tackle long term, but if they got

830
00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:13,640
Speaker 6: to get the best five on the field, then maybe Ersery,

831
00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:15,560
Speaker 6: with his strength and his power, ends up.

832
00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:16,160
Speaker 5: Moving into guard.

833
00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:19,160
Speaker 6: Your thoughts, because we haven't talked about it, tay Erserie

834
00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:22,840
Speaker 6: being brought here. I know it's his tackle, but what

835
00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:25,319
Speaker 6: about potentially playing him at guard. What if he is

836
00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:27,840
Speaker 6: one of the better five, he could win the tackle

837
00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:30,560
Speaker 6: job right out. I don't know, but I just thought, Okay,

838
00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:32,399
Speaker 6: they didn't take a guard, but I think Ersery could

839
00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:34,400
Speaker 6: be a guy that might be able to play guard

840
00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:35,919
Speaker 6: if they want to get the best five in the field.

841
00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,040
Speaker 7: Your thoughts, Yeah, I think it's possible.

842
00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:41,239
Speaker 8: I mean, I asked Nick Cassario that question directly, do

843
00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:46,279
Speaker 8: you anticipate tay Ersery potentially playing guard? And the first

844
00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:48,040
Speaker 8: thing he said was he's never played guard before. He

845
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:52,200
Speaker 8: played only left tackle throughout his career. I asked him

846
00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:56,680
Speaker 8: that on Day two. But you know, after the draft

847
00:34:56,680 --> 00:34:58,840
Speaker 8: they seem to indicate the day we're open to moving

848
00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:01,560
Speaker 8: guys around to get the best five on the field. So,

849
00:35:01,719 --> 00:35:04,800
Speaker 8: you know, I think it's interesting. You know, I don't

850
00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:08,200
Speaker 8: he definitely doesn't have experience there, but I think they'll

851
00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:11,120
Speaker 8: do everything in their power to get this best offensive

852
00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:11,800
Speaker 8: line combination.

853
00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:15,520
Speaker 7: You just don't know until you actually see it put

854
00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:17,000
Speaker 7: together on the field, all right.

855
00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:19,680
Speaker 1: Jonathan Alexander for The Chronicle with us Your reaction when

856
00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:23,719
Speaker 1: they took the quarterback, Graham Mertz. Good teams take quarterbacks

857
00:35:23,719 --> 00:35:25,440
Speaker 1: every couple of years, But what did. What did you

858
00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:26,880
Speaker 1: think when you saw that happen.

859
00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:29,120
Speaker 7: I was a little bit surprised.

860
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:32,040
Speaker 8: But as you dig into because you know, Nick Sterio

861
00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:33,040
Speaker 8: indicated that that.

862
00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:34,960
Speaker 7: Was probably like the one position that they went and target.

863
00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:37,319
Speaker 8: But as you dig a little bit more into it,

864
00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:39,720
Speaker 8: and you hear that he met with the Texans throughout

865
00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:42,560
Speaker 8: the process and that he's coming off the injury.

866
00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:44,799
Speaker 7: Still he's not ready yet.

867
00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:48,880
Speaker 8: I could foresee, you know, Mertz being a guy that

868
00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:50,840
Speaker 8: they put on the pup list of the i R

869
00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:55,200
Speaker 8: and you essentially have him for a red shirt year

870
00:35:55,360 --> 00:35:59,320
Speaker 8: and then you played with cj and and Davis Mills,

871
00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:02,520
Speaker 8: and then davis contract ends after next year, and maybe

872
00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:05,359
Speaker 8: if they like enough, if he's improved enough, then they

873
00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:08,920
Speaker 8: keep them on the roster. When Davis Mills goes elsewhere,

874
00:36:09,120 --> 00:36:12,160
Speaker 8: or if Davis Mills continues to want to be with

875
00:36:12,239 --> 00:36:14,560
Speaker 8: the Texans, then you know they have to make a

876
00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:17,920
Speaker 8: decision on Merts. I think it is more of an

877
00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:21,120
Speaker 8: insurance kind of policy, just in case what happens with

878
00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:22,400
Speaker 8: Davis Mills.

879
00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:24,320
Speaker 6: Yeah, And I mean we talked about it on the

880
00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:27,440
Speaker 6: draft show that when he got drafted, like man the

881
00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:29,440
Speaker 6: Patriots drafted Garoppolo Brissett.

882
00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:31,839
Speaker 5: I mean, they had Brady and they did all that.

883
00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:34,040
Speaker 6: So I just feel like I don't have a problem

884
00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:38,080
Speaker 6: drafting a quarterback and developmental quarterback totally. You know, the

885
00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:40,080
Speaker 6: Texans just haven't been in a position where they could

886
00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:42,479
Speaker 6: do that. They needed so many players and so many

887
00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:45,080
Speaker 6: bodies that they just haven't been in that position.

888
00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:45,160
Speaker 5: To do it.

889
00:36:45,239 --> 00:36:47,160
Speaker 6: And then this year kind of felt like this is

890
00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:49,560
Speaker 6: the right time to be able to do that. And

891
00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:51,200
Speaker 6: I think Mertz is the right guy to be able

892
00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:53,400
Speaker 6: to do that too, with everything he's been through at Wisconsin,

893
00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:56,239
Speaker 6: everything he went through at Florida, kind of fighting off

894
00:36:56,239 --> 00:36:58,400
Speaker 6: the DJ Lagway thing and then playing well all that,

895
00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:00,680
Speaker 6: so I think mert ends up being kind of guy.

896
00:37:01,239 --> 00:37:06,880
Speaker 6: Speaking of quarterbacks, everybody has had a chance to opine

897
00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:10,200
Speaker 6: about Shador Sanders, and now we want Jonathan Alexander to

898
00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:13,440
Speaker 6: do it too. Your thoughts about Shador falling to the

899
00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:17,920
Speaker 6: fifth round on Day three, Jonathan, your thoughts about Shador.

900
00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:19,120
Speaker 7: Yeah, I didn't.

901
00:37:19,239 --> 00:37:22,000
Speaker 8: I don't think that Shador is a fifth round talent.

902
00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:25,239
Speaker 8: I think at worst he's a third round talent. But

903
00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:27,280
Speaker 8: I really do think he's a high second round talent.

904
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:31,080
Speaker 8: But I think more so That probably speaks to the

905
00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:34,000
Speaker 8: fact that Shaduur kind of turned some teams off, maybe

906
00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:38,480
Speaker 8: during the pre draft process, maybe during their meetings with him,

907
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:42,480
Speaker 8: because there were a few teams that really needed a quarterback.

908
00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:43,640
Speaker 7: The Stealers passed.

909
00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:47,600
Speaker 8: Over him, what five times, the Browns passed over him

910
00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:50,040
Speaker 8: four times before time finally he's taking him. The Giants

911
00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:55,600
Speaker 8: went up and got Jackson Dark obviously, so I was

912
00:37:55,600 --> 00:37:57,719
Speaker 8: a little bit surprised that he felt as far as

913
00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:02,040
Speaker 8: he fell. But I think that just speaks to, you know,

914
00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:05,799
Speaker 8: what teams thought of him as a potential leader of

915
00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:09,719
Speaker 8: their team. The talent's there, but is he the guy

916
00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:13,359
Speaker 8: you want running the show? I thought that just more

917
00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:15,719
Speaker 8: so spoke to how teams felt about him during the

918
00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:16,560
Speaker 8: pre draft process.

919
00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:19,160
Speaker 1: I've got one more for you here, Jonathan, and look,

920
00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:22,840
Speaker 1: free agency it's not over. It's never over, but obviously

921
00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:26,120
Speaker 1: the initial waves of it are over. The draft is over,

922
00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:29,359
Speaker 1: they've got the undrafted free agents signed. We all know

923
00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:31,839
Speaker 1: they can add somebody. They added Derek Barnett late once

924
00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:35,280
Speaker 1: upon a time, they added George others in recent years

925
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:39,520
Speaker 1: and in not so recent years, they added real contributors

926
00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:40,879
Speaker 1: past training.

927
00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:41,800
Speaker 2: Camp or during or whatever.

928
00:38:41,960 --> 00:38:45,600
Speaker 1: But you tell me, are they better in twenty twenty

929
00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:47,440
Speaker 1: five than they were in twenty twenty four? What is

930
00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:50,200
Speaker 1: your assessment of this team as we break draft here

931
00:38:50,239 --> 00:38:52,680
Speaker 1: and get ready for OTA's in mini camp, and we'll

932
00:38:52,719 --> 00:38:55,160
Speaker 1: ask you this question a lot, probably, But state of

933
00:38:55,239 --> 00:38:58,680
Speaker 1: the Texans right now late April, your thoughts.

934
00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:03,239
Speaker 7: I think they're around the same as they were last year.

935
00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:05,000
Speaker 7: I mean, I remember last year they brought in a

936
00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:09,480
Speaker 7: ton of talent to add and they didn't really go

937
00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:12,920
Speaker 7: super hard in free agency this year.

938
00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:15,520
Speaker 8: But the reason why I say that they're the same

939
00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:18,040
Speaker 8: is because I think, you know, the young players that

940
00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:21,239
Speaker 8: they have will develop and become even better players. You

941
00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:24,480
Speaker 8: get CJ. Stroud entering year three. Your three is for

942
00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:27,560
Speaker 8: most quarterbacks, it's better than your two. Will Anderson just

943
00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:30,480
Speaker 8: seems like he's about to really turn it up and start.

944
00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:32,400
Speaker 7: To be in the defensive player of the Year conversation.

945
00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:36,160
Speaker 8: You know, you got Stingley, who got his contract and

946
00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:39,360
Speaker 8: now he can breathe and continue to play freely.

947
00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:40,800
Speaker 7: I think their young.

948
00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:44,560
Speaker 8: Players are going to continue to get better, even if

949
00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:47,239
Speaker 8: the free agency class wasn't as good as it was

950
00:39:47,640 --> 00:39:49,520
Speaker 8: last year. So I think they're about the same and

951
00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:52,160
Speaker 8: I think having a new coaching staff and a new

952
00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:57,640
Speaker 8: offensive staff will help put This will give the Texans offense.

953
00:39:57,320 --> 00:39:59,920
Speaker 7: And in the team overall team another boost.

954
00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:04,600
Speaker 6: Jonathan Tyler Warren goes to the Colts, camp Ward goes

955
00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:08,279
Speaker 6: to the Titans, and the Jaguars completed their deal to

956
00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:12,120
Speaker 6: go get Travis Hunter. Which of those three, because I

957
00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:14,440
Speaker 6: think all three of them are gonna have massive impact,

958
00:40:14,719 --> 00:40:16,200
Speaker 6: Which one of those three do you think had the

959
00:40:16,239 --> 00:40:18,520
Speaker 6: most impact in the ANFC South.

960
00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:26,160
Speaker 8: I think from day one, I think it'll be Travis Hunter.

961
00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:29,040
Speaker 8: I think that was I think he's going to be

962
00:40:29,080 --> 00:40:33,120
Speaker 8: a phenomenal weapon for both size of the ball. I

963
00:40:33,160 --> 00:40:35,080
Speaker 8: thought it was a good pick for the Jaguars. I

964
00:40:35,120 --> 00:40:36,719
Speaker 8: just thought they gave up a little bit too much,

965
00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:38,919
Speaker 8: Like I wouldn't have given up a first round pick

966
00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:43,000
Speaker 8: a future first round pick to move up just three spots.

967
00:40:44,040 --> 00:40:46,759
Speaker 8: Having said that, I think he's going to be probably

968
00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:52,160
Speaker 8: the most impactful player in year one for their respective teams.

969
00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:54,200
Speaker 8: I think it will take a little time for camp Ward,

970
00:40:54,239 --> 00:40:56,359
Speaker 8: but I think eventually he'll get it. And I think

971
00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:58,880
Speaker 8: Tyler Warren will be huge, But I'm just not convinced

972
00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:02,959
Speaker 8: that the quarterbacks situations it's set in stone right now.

973
00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:05,640
Speaker 1: All right, Jonathan, what do people have to look forward

974
00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:06,480
Speaker 1: to with the Chronicle?

975
00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:11,160
Speaker 8: Please check up my fifty three man roster projection which

976
00:41:11,200 --> 00:41:14,080
Speaker 8: we posted this morning on Houston Chronicle dot com and

977
00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:14,799
Speaker 8: let me know if.

978
00:41:14,719 --> 00:41:17,480
Speaker 7: You disagree or you agree with it.

979
00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:19,640
Speaker 8: So we got that out and as well as our

980
00:41:19,719 --> 00:41:23,720
Speaker 8: coverage from the draft in the week and what happened

981
00:41:23,719 --> 00:41:26,400
Speaker 8: with the inside you know, them building this team and

982
00:41:26,440 --> 00:41:28,080
Speaker 8: the trades and the trades that did not happen.

983
00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:28,880
Speaker 2: I love it.

984
00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:31,840
Speaker 1: Fifty three man roster projection sounds like a segment for

985
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:35,040
Speaker 1: me and Johnny. Thank you for the content. Jonathan, Hey,

986
00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:36,520
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us. Have a great day.

987
00:41:36,719 --> 00:41:37,799
Speaker 7: Absolutely thanks for having me.

988
00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:40,680
Speaker 1: That's our buddy, Jonathan Alexander from the Houston Chronicle.

989
00:41:40,719 --> 00:41:41,239
Speaker 2: Coming up.

990
00:41:41,440 --> 00:41:44,080
Speaker 1: We gave you many of the interviews last night with

991
00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:46,840
Speaker 1: the draft choices, but we did not give you Jalen Smith.

992
00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:50,600
Speaker 1: This is a dB from USC that could make a

993
00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:53,480
Speaker 1: big difference this year. Let's get to know him better

994
00:41:53,520 --> 00:41:56,440
Speaker 1: next year on Texans All Access. Final segment on the

995
00:41:56,440 --> 00:41:59,600
Speaker 1: show tonight. It's a good one. As the Texans have

996
00:41:59,719 --> 00:42:02,840
Speaker 1: their drafting the books. Jalen Smith one of the selections

997
00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:04,839
Speaker 1: that we did not get to last night when we

998
00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:07,239
Speaker 1: played the interviews that took place over the weekend with

999
00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:10,320
Speaker 1: Drew Doherty and Friday night, they make this pick Jalen

1000
00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:14,560
Speaker 1: Smith from USC, one of two USC players picked this year.

1001
00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:17,200
Speaker 1: Last year, you know, they got Caitlyn Bullock, so there's

1002
00:42:17,200 --> 00:42:20,160
Speaker 1: a lot of USC familiarity. It's fun they get to

1003
00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:23,400
Speaker 1: know these guys. Bullock was with Smith when he was picked.

1004
00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:27,479
Speaker 1: Awesome stuff. And Drew catches up with Jalen Smith the dB.

1005
00:42:27,920 --> 00:42:31,040
Speaker 9: Jalen, First things first, congratulations looked like you were having

1006
00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:34,040
Speaker 9: a fun time there celebrating, and you were celebrating with

1007
00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:35,759
Speaker 9: the guy who's a former teammate and who's now a

1008
00:42:35,800 --> 00:42:37,400
Speaker 9: teammate again and Kaylen Bullock.

1009
00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:38,759
Speaker 7: Weren't you, Yes, sir, Yes.

1010
00:42:38,719 --> 00:42:40,680
Speaker 10: Sir man. It was a great time and great experience.

1011
00:42:40,719 --> 00:42:40,879
Speaker 7: Man.

1012
00:42:40,880 --> 00:42:42,480
Speaker 10: Sometimes you can always remember man for the rest of

1013
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:42,919
Speaker 10: your life.

1014
00:42:43,080 --> 00:42:43,319
Speaker 5: Yeah.

1015
00:42:43,320 --> 00:42:45,040
Speaker 9: In addition to him being there, who else was there

1016
00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:46,640
Speaker 9: with you for the big moment?

1017
00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:48,400
Speaker 10: So you know, I have friends and family.

1018
00:42:48,719 --> 00:42:52,879
Speaker 11: You know, my DC came, coach Lynn, my defensive backs,

1019
00:42:52,920 --> 00:42:54,160
Speaker 11: coach Bell.

1020
00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:56,320
Speaker 10: It's a lot of people.

1021
00:42:56,360 --> 00:42:56,520
Speaker 6: Man.

1022
00:42:56,600 --> 00:42:59,719
Speaker 11: Coach A c row Chris Rowland. He's now plays for

1023
00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:02,919
Speaker 11: the for the Kansas City chiefs. Uh So, a couple

1024
00:43:02,880 --> 00:43:04,640
Speaker 11: of a couple of guys show their face. Man, it

1025
00:43:04,680 --> 00:43:05,080
Speaker 11: was great man.

1026
00:43:05,120 --> 00:43:06,799
Speaker 10: A couple of my teammates, man, it was just great

1027
00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:07,560
Speaker 10: to see their faces.

1028
00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:07,719
Speaker 7: Man.

1029
00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:11,319
Speaker 9: Sure well, A happy evening indeed, And it's come to

1030
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:14,080
Speaker 9: fruition because you're a pretty darn good football player. For

1031
00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:16,960
Speaker 9: those who might not have seen you play much in college,

1032
00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:18,960
Speaker 9: who are you? What type of player are you?

1033
00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:22,680
Speaker 11: Yes, sir, I'm a super versative player. Can play at

1034
00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:25,520
Speaker 11: any position at a very high level. Can can fit

1035
00:43:25,560 --> 00:43:29,160
Speaker 11: in the run, Uh, can play, can play excellent man coverage, uh?

1036
00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:31,200
Speaker 11: And can I can can also you know, do a

1037
00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:33,239
Speaker 11: lot of special teams and just be a lot of

1038
00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:37,239
Speaker 11: energy shifter, a great player, a selfless player, a team

1039
00:43:37,440 --> 00:43:38,480
Speaker 11: a team first player.

1040
00:43:39,080 --> 00:43:41,680
Speaker 10: But ultimately, man, just getting a competitor all in one.

1041
00:43:42,160 --> 00:43:43,319
Speaker 9: You know a lot of times when we do these

1042
00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:45,960
Speaker 9: interviews right after a draft, the pick says, well I

1043
00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:48,759
Speaker 9: can do anything, and and yeah he can sometimes, but

1044
00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:51,600
Speaker 9: you actually walk the walk. I mean you've played cornerback,

1045
00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:54,560
Speaker 9: You've played both safety spots, you played nickel corner. I

1046
00:43:54,560 --> 00:43:57,360
Speaker 9: mean I think you probably could sell hot dogs, build houses,

1047
00:43:57,400 --> 00:43:58,040
Speaker 9: do everything.

1048
00:43:58,200 --> 00:43:59,439
Speaker 3: You're a very versatile guy.

1049
00:43:59,560 --> 00:44:02,560
Speaker 9: So with all that in mind, how exciting is it

1050
00:44:02,640 --> 00:44:05,680
Speaker 9: to join a defense like the one that Texans have.

1051
00:44:05,800 --> 00:44:07,200
Speaker 9: I know Bullock has told you a lot about it.

1052
00:44:07,239 --> 00:44:08,960
Speaker 9: I'm sure you've seen a little bit of it over

1053
00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:10,160
Speaker 9: the years, so he's been here.

1054
00:44:10,680 --> 00:44:11,920
Speaker 10: Yeah, yeah, No, they get after it.

1055
00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:12,040
Speaker 1: No.

1056
00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:13,840
Speaker 11: You just watching film, you know, being a FOOTBA addict

1057
00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:15,160
Speaker 11: like me, Man, I just like to watch film. And

1058
00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:18,520
Speaker 11: you know, they do a great job of playing together,

1059
00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:23,120
Speaker 11: you know, with with Derek and Camari, Jalen Petrie, CJG.

1060
00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:24,240
Speaker 10: All those guys.

1061
00:44:24,239 --> 00:44:26,640
Speaker 11: Man, they come together for real, and uh, I just think, man,

1062
00:44:26,760 --> 00:44:29,080
Speaker 11: it's gonna be great and a lot of energy in

1063
00:44:29,080 --> 00:44:30,839
Speaker 11: the back end for sure. Just can't wait to get

1064
00:44:30,880 --> 00:44:32,360
Speaker 11: out there and you know, build that broad in that

1065
00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:33,520
Speaker 11: brotherhood for sure.

1066
00:44:34,120 --> 00:44:34,319
Speaker 5: Yeah.

1067
00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:36,359
Speaker 9: You bring up that energy and it's driven in large

1068
00:44:36,360 --> 00:44:38,600
Speaker 9: part because of the head coach, Tamiko Ryans. He's a

1069
00:44:38,640 --> 00:44:42,520
Speaker 9: former defensive player, former star here starred Alabama. What are

1070
00:44:42,560 --> 00:44:44,640
Speaker 9: your interactions with him been like? And what do you

1071
00:44:44,680 --> 00:44:46,320
Speaker 9: think of Demiko Ryans?

1072
00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:48,319
Speaker 11: Nothing with great vibes And you know, my first time

1073
00:44:48,360 --> 00:44:50,200
Speaker 11: meeting in the move is nothing with great vibes. You can

1074
00:44:50,239 --> 00:44:53,040
Speaker 11: tell how genuine he is as a person, and when

1075
00:44:53,080 --> 00:44:54,919
Speaker 11: you have a conversation with the former player, it's nothing

1076
00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:57,319
Speaker 11: but love. Just understand they have a different sense for

1077
00:44:57,360 --> 00:44:59,279
Speaker 11: the game. It's you like just how you have it,

1078
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:02,880
Speaker 11: same view, same clear out view. So just talking to

1079
00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:03,760
Speaker 11: him was just great.

1080
00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:04,000
Speaker 7: Man.

1081
00:45:04,120 --> 00:45:06,320
Speaker 10: He's super energetic and you can.

1082
00:45:06,120 --> 00:45:08,200
Speaker 11: Tell he loves the game of football, you know, being

1083
00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:10,080
Speaker 11: a dema guy coming from Bamua and stuff like that.

1084
00:45:10,120 --> 00:45:11,600
Speaker 10: It was it was just great man. You can tell

1085
00:45:11,640 --> 00:45:13,160
Speaker 10: he has that great and that and that and that

1086
00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:14,920
Speaker 10: hunger you know, the win. So it's just great to

1087
00:45:14,920 --> 00:45:15,560
Speaker 10: be a part of it.

1088
00:45:16,040 --> 00:45:16,359
Speaker 7: All right.

1089
00:45:16,400 --> 00:45:18,399
Speaker 9: So what's next for you? Ah?

1090
00:45:18,520 --> 00:45:20,240
Speaker 10: So right now, man, we're just gonna hang with the family.

1091
00:45:20,280 --> 00:45:20,400
Speaker 7: Man.

1092
00:45:20,560 --> 00:45:22,759
Speaker 10: Just enjoy it. Enjoyed his time, Enjoyed this experience. You know,

1093
00:45:22,800 --> 00:45:23,680
Speaker 10: I got my little brothers.

1094
00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:25,439
Speaker 7: My twin sister just.

1095
00:45:25,360 --> 00:45:27,040
Speaker 11: Had her baby, like a couple of days ago, and

1096
00:45:27,080 --> 00:45:29,200
Speaker 11: she made the trip. So I was gonna hang with

1097
00:45:29,239 --> 00:45:30,480
Speaker 11: her and just enjoy this family man.

1098
00:45:30,560 --> 00:45:31,200
Speaker 10: Enjoyed my time.

1099
00:45:31,560 --> 00:45:32,800
Speaker 9: Did you say your twin sister.

1100
00:45:33,200 --> 00:45:35,239
Speaker 10: Oh yeah, so yes, I have a twin sister. I'm

1101
00:45:35,239 --> 00:45:37,120
Speaker 10: older by two minutes. I always have to put that.

1102
00:45:37,200 --> 00:45:38,279
Speaker 5: Your baby a I like that.

1103
00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:42,480
Speaker 11: Okay, So I got a nephew, a little nephew, and

1104
00:45:42,480 --> 00:45:45,920
Speaker 11: as well my nephew Jace, so I want to welcome him.

1105
00:45:46,239 --> 00:45:48,560
Speaker 11: You know, it's a special week and just excited and

1106
00:45:48,600 --> 00:45:51,200
Speaker 11: excited man, ultimately, just excited to be a Texan man.

1107
00:45:51,239 --> 00:45:53,200
Speaker 9: It is tough to top that. You got a nephew,

1108
00:45:53,320 --> 00:45:57,440
Speaker 9: you got a new home for your job. That's exciting stuff.

1109
00:45:57,880 --> 00:46:00,440
Speaker 9: Jalen Smith, We're really happy that you're Houston Texan. We

1110
00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:03,000
Speaker 9: can't wait to see you here in town. Go celebrate

1111
00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:04,640
Speaker 9: and live it up and come see us soon.

1112
00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:08,480
Speaker 10: Okay, yes, sir, most definitely man appreciate y'all. Man and man,

1113
00:46:08,480 --> 00:46:09,680
Speaker 10: Houston got a problem.

1114
00:46:11,600 --> 00:46:15,279
Speaker 1: There's Drew Doherty and Jalen Smith out of USC and

1115
00:46:15,320 --> 00:46:17,840
Speaker 1: you know how it went last year with rookie DBS

1116
00:46:18,080 --> 00:46:21,080
Speaker 1: Kamari Lassiter plays. We thought he was just gonna compete,

1117
00:46:21,080 --> 00:46:26,200
Speaker 1: maybe plays starts, makes huge plays, Kelen Bullock huge place

1118
00:46:26,320 --> 00:46:29,880
Speaker 1: pick in Game one at Indy. Let's get Jalen Smith

1119
00:46:29,960 --> 00:46:33,240
Speaker 1: doing stuff like this and certainly playing on Frank Ross's

1120
00:46:33,320 --> 00:46:37,359
Speaker 1: Special Teams units, because you know, Frank likes to use

1121
00:46:37,480 --> 00:46:41,319
Speaker 1: those guys who can fly, make plays, gunners, whatever the

1122
00:46:41,360 --> 00:46:45,320
Speaker 1: heck he does in his special team's concoctions, the recipe

1123
00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:48,799
Speaker 1: for success with Frank Ross, Hall of Famer from John

1124
00:46:48,840 --> 00:46:52,240
Speaker 1: Carroll University. We talked about that with Nick Casserio, fellow

1125
00:46:52,440 --> 00:46:54,960
Speaker 1: John Carrol alum, who was on the show earlier. If

1126
00:46:55,000 --> 00:46:58,759
Speaker 1: you missed it, get it in podcast form soon enough.

1127
00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:01,840
Speaker 1: Odyssey app right way everywhere else. Takes a few hours,

1128
00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:04,600
Speaker 1: but you can enjoy that and our conversation with Jonathan

1129
00:47:04,640 --> 00:47:07,960
Speaker 1: Alexander Tomorrow night back with a full show Area forty

1130
00:47:07,960 --> 00:47:09,120
Speaker 1: five coming your way next.

1131
00:47:09,200 --> 00:47:11,000
Speaker 2: Have a great night, Go Texans.