Speaker 1: Well, hello, Taxan said, Welcome to the show. As training
Speaker 1: camp continues, guys are milling around the building. Guys are
Speaker 1: getting ready for a day off Thursday. Oh wait a minute,
Speaker 1: tomorrow's Wednesday, so there's no day off for another day.
Speaker 2: But they're okay, they're okay. They's Sunday off.
Speaker 1: Just back to back days in pads. Mark Vandermain and
Speaker 1: John Harris with you. Johnny, I don't know this. So
Speaker 1: are we thinking they're in pads tomorrow or not? After
Speaker 1: two consecutive days in pads.
Speaker 3: I think that they will. If they're wearing pads, it'll
Speaker 3: be a little they'll tone it down, maybe a little
Speaker 3: bit to the extent that they can't because you know,
Speaker 3: you know how these guys are, they don't back off. Yeah,
Speaker 3: so I think they will be out of pads. I
Speaker 3: think they'll be out of pads. I think it'll they'll
Speaker 3: still it'll still be a Texas type practice, but they'll
Speaker 3: just be out of pads. They'll come back Friday, right Friday.
Speaker 3: I think Friday. They put the pads back on on Friday.
Speaker 3: Saturdays and night practice pads pads. So I think they'll
Speaker 3: go pads Friday Saturday, Sunday off.
Speaker 2: Yeah, front, so this is actually nice for them.
Speaker 1: I think so right now from where we stand, practice
Speaker 1: Tomorrow day off, practice, practice day off, right, and then
Speaker 1: practice practice game week Friday on Wednesday, no, and then
Speaker 1: Thursday game.
Speaker 4: Oh no.
Speaker 1: I mean you can see the light at the end
Speaker 1: of the tunnel if you're a player right now.
Speaker 5: It's a very small light.
Speaker 2: It could be an oncoming train.
Speaker 5: But that's what players, that's what players do.
Speaker 3: They start looking forward to, like, hey, I used to
Speaker 3: look at it. Now we we weren't. I don't remember
Speaker 3: if we were required to have a day off way
Speaker 3: back in the day. But when you got one, it
Speaker 3: was like you thought about it in like day increments,
Speaker 3: like okay, we got three days for a day off.
Speaker 3: You got these three days, so okay, let's go hard
Speaker 3: these three days. And then we you know, we get
Speaker 3: the day off. And then of course at that point
Speaker 3: you just laid around.
Speaker 2: And yeah, you can't do anything.
Speaker 3: Didn't want to even think about the next day because
Speaker 3: we were going back at it. But when Mike Doman
Speaker 3: said it to day was the best thing about training camp, You're.
Speaker 5: Like, it's over. That was the best thing.
Speaker 3: There's not a football player alive that thought about but
Speaker 3: thought about training camp being good. But you just have
Speaker 3: to mentally kind of get yourself in shape and think
Speaker 3: about it that way. And I think it's easier now
Speaker 3: with the way that off days are scheduled, like, hey,
Speaker 3: three days hard, go hardest three days, and then whatever
Speaker 3: recovery and everything you gotta do that fourth day you
Speaker 3: get it with the day off.
Speaker 1: Think about this, So I mentioned the Monday, Tuesday next week,
Speaker 1: then game week Friday, so then you play the game
Speaker 1: Thursday night, so Friday will be off or whatever, recharge
Speaker 1: the battery day, and then Saturday they have a practice
Speaker 1: scheduled a week from Saturday.
Speaker 2: I'm getting way ahead of.
Speaker 1: My but I just want to a practice scheduled that's
Speaker 1: two days after a game. I know the starters are
Speaker 1: gonna play much, if at all.
Speaker 2: Who knows.
Speaker 1: They'll go semi hard or hard enough, but not that
Speaker 1: hard because you have to still consider the entire roster
Speaker 1: when you're practicing. And then I don't know if they
Speaker 1: have us practice that following Sunday or not. I don't
Speaker 1: want to get that far ahead. I don't want to
Speaker 1: get that far ahead, but then you're in another game
Speaker 1: week already because you have back to back Thursday nighters,
Speaker 1: and then the following week you're gonna go to Carolina
Speaker 1: early for a joint practice.
Speaker 5: Everybody gets up for that. Yeah, they'll be up for that, and.
Speaker 2: The Raiders are here. When's the joint practice? Tuesday?
Speaker 5: Tuesday?
Speaker 1: It's a week from Tuesday. So we're getting into it here,
Speaker 1: we're getting busy. I love it when Thursday, this Thursday passes,
Speaker 1: then we're in game week mode for the rest of
Speaker 1: the way. And you have that bye before the season
Speaker 1: because you don't have a game Labor Day weekend you
Speaker 1: used to have the Thursday night or prior to Labor Day,
Speaker 1: we'll have the season premiere instead. That's what we've been
Speaker 1: doing the last few years with these three preseason games.
Speaker 2: That you play.
Speaker 1: But that bye week it just flies because you come
Speaker 1: down to the fifty three man roster. You're just kind
Speaker 1: of gearing up, and then you get into week one,
Speaker 1: so here we go. I'm saying all this because I'm
Speaker 1: so excited for games already.
Speaker 2: And I know the general feels the same way. After
Speaker 2: two or three training camp. This is how I'm ready
Speaker 2: to go for the season, Johnny. They did coming out
Speaker 2: today they did that.
Speaker 1: Is not a Diana Ross song, although it was back
Speaker 1: in the day, was it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm coming out?
Speaker 1: Oh you know she's saying that, and it's been used
Speaker 1: as an anthem for some I guess. But anyway, coming
Speaker 1: out is you're pinned back deep under the shadow of
Speaker 1: your goal post, correct inside the five yard line.
Speaker 2: You gotta come out.
Speaker 1: You gotta at least get a first down or two,
Speaker 1: get some room for the punter, get out of jail. Whatever.
Speaker 1: So they did that with the ones, the twos, and
Speaker 1: the threes. I was watching this one from the back
Speaker 1: of the end zone.
Speaker 5: Yeah you had view.
Speaker 6: Yeah, great seats, great seats when the ball is when
Speaker 6: the ball gets backed up, whether it's the Texans going
Speaker 6: into the end zone while offense, defense, whatever, whether it's
Speaker 6: a team coming out or a team going in, I
Speaker 6: try and go back to an end zone spot.
Speaker 5: That viewback there is amazing.
Speaker 2: Collisions are wonderful.
Speaker 5: Oh, it's amazing. It's so fun to watch.
Speaker 3: What I like and have always liked about Admiko Ryan's
Speaker 3: defense is they look at that opportunity to turn that
Speaker 3: into offense.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Togii had a sensational play. Sensational just came
Speaker 1: flying through the middle, wrapped up. I think it was
Speaker 1: quite flying. He came through like the Nesty Plunge. No
Speaker 1: kool Aid, kool Aid, I'm getting my beverages mixed up.
Speaker 1: Kool Aid guy bursting through the wall, kool Aid TOGII
Speaker 1: dove through.
Speaker 3: I mean it was I tell this to people all
Speaker 3: the time, like Tommy's one of the strongest guys on
Speaker 3: his team, but that dude is quick. He's cat quick,
Speaker 3: and I think people miss that. His feet are great,
Speaker 3: and it's one of the things that makes him so
Speaker 3: good is he can because he's so strong, because he
Speaker 3: can get his feet in the right position, because he's
Speaker 3: so quick, he rarely loses.
Speaker 5: In a battle up front.
Speaker 3: Well, this one, he just darted into the backfield and
Speaker 3: there was no stopping him and he wrapped up the
Speaker 3: back before he could even get to the goal line.
Speaker 3: I think it may have been David, I can't remember,
Speaker 3: but either way, it was a it was a tremendous
Speaker 3: play bye by Tommy, and it really was. It was
Speaker 3: probably the one that that stood out the most, I
Speaker 3: think from from the coming out team period.
Speaker 1: From that standpoint, there was another play where I think
Speaker 1: it was Will it was Will or Daniel. I shouldn't
Speaker 1: get the mixed up up. My eye went to a
Speaker 1: collision down field.
Speaker 2: It was Will.
Speaker 1: It was Will came into the backfield like he had
Speaker 1: reservations and he was late for dinner.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he was starving.
Speaker 1: Like at Seattle. Yeah, Seattle last year. It was it
Speaker 1: was noticeable, it was very niceable. He just said, hello,
Speaker 1: I'm living here.
Speaker 2: It's gotta be a menacing site.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 3: It was from where I was sitting, was up there
Speaker 3: and go because CJ started to move up in the
Speaker 3: pocket because the Neils was rushing from the other side,
Speaker 3: and all of a sudden there's Will. No, Will is
Speaker 3: not going to hit CJ. But then all of a
Speaker 3: sudden you're like, oh, and CJ.
Speaker 4: You look.
Speaker 3: CJ has been going to get these guys for a while,
Speaker 3: so he doesn't have any moment of panic.
Speaker 5: But it's like when you see them, you're.
Speaker 1: Like, oh, defensive players laying off as a thing, and
Speaker 1: you see it all day long because they have to
Speaker 1: have to. So they just get their chest on the guy,
Speaker 1: arms wide open, like I would have killed you, I would.
Speaker 2: Have gotten you.
Speaker 1: And in a real game, you know they're wrapping up
Speaker 1: and here it is. And this is why we talk
Speaker 1: about tackling being so important. It's always important, but early
Speaker 1: in the season, especially when you want to be at
Speaker 1: your bet where you want to be at your best
Speaker 1: all the time, all the time. My point is this
Speaker 1: early in the season, you might see some less than
Speaker 1: stellar tackling from some teams because they haven't been doing it.
Speaker 1: You can't really practice that. Kawait is in games right, correct.
Speaker 5: Team, No teams are.
Speaker 3: There might be some teams that push the envelope, that
Speaker 3: might have a scrimmage or something to that extent where
Speaker 3: they're taking guys to the ground for a short mind, but.
Speaker 5: It's not it's not.
Speaker 3: It's not worth it, that's what it's not. Well, it's
Speaker 3: not worth it. You're right about that. It's just it's
Speaker 3: too risky. But there are some there are some people
Speaker 3: of a belief that, well, you got to you gotta
Speaker 3: practice tackling right, Well, there are things you can practice
Speaker 3: about tackling that aren't just bringing a guy to the ground.
Speaker 3: Look my university, Brown University, James Perry is the head
Speaker 3: coach there. They don't tackle anybody in practice. Yeah, they
Speaker 3: don't tackle anybody in practice.
Speaker 1: But do they tackle people during games. Does it show
Speaker 1: up in games that they didn't practice this.
Speaker 3: No, the defense hasn't been great, but I don't think
Speaker 3: it's because they can or cannot tackle. His talent had
Speaker 3: some hosses, but when they've been pretty good, they've been
Speaker 3: a good tackling team.
Speaker 5: And he said.
Speaker 3: We had a dinner with him one time in Houston
Speaker 3: and he was talking about that because some of my
Speaker 3: fellow alums were kind of you know, old schoolers like.
Speaker 5: Me, like, you know, coach, are you going to get
Speaker 5: better at tackling?
Speaker 3: And he kind of went into, you know, a soliloquy
Speaker 3: about how you get better tackling and it has nothing
Speaker 3: to do with bringing a guy to the ground and
Speaker 3: increasing the injury percentages.
Speaker 5: And it was really good.
Speaker 3: I mean what he said, and I knew everything that
Speaker 3: he talked about, so I don't I don't have a
Speaker 3: problem with that.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 3: John Gallardi, longtime coach at Saint John's University D three
Speaker 3: school up in Minnesota.
Speaker 1: The legend, the legend they never hit anybody, They didn't
Speaker 1: practice hitting a soul, they didn't tackle anybody, and they
Speaker 1: were one of the best teams in D three history.
Speaker 7: Wow.
Speaker 5: They didn't.
Speaker 3: It's a long list of things he thought were you know,
Speaker 3: nonsense about football, and he thought practicing tackling and blocking
Speaker 3: dummies and all that kind of fit.
Speaker 5: Right in there.
Speaker 3: And they didn't hit anybody, and they end up winning
Speaker 3: four hundred plus games throughout his career in a bunch
Speaker 3: of national championships.
Speaker 5: So there are a lot of ways to go about it,
Speaker 5: but it just.
Speaker 3: Demands that every drill that you can do to make
Speaker 3: yourself a better tackler, you've got to do. And I
Speaker 3: always say this, the flip side of that is with
Speaker 3: a defense like this, if the first guy misses, there
Speaker 3: are always two, three, four, five.
Speaker 5: Guys that are ready to clean up.
Speaker 2: Swarm.
Speaker 5: And that's right, they swarm.
Speaker 3: And because they do that first guy, my miss, the second, third,
Speaker 3: fourth probably not going to especially if they're there in succession.
Speaker 3: And that's the way that they swarm to the football
Speaker 3: and the way they run, how fast they are. That
Speaker 3: kind of overcomes some of that bad at the beginning
Speaker 3: of a year.
Speaker 1: So I know you have Harris hits right on Houston
Speaker 1: Texans dot com. So here is my hit. Okay, this
Speaker 1: is a Vander hit. Okay, should I put this one
Speaker 1: in No. I think it's okay. You probably have this.
Speaker 1: I haven't read it yet, so I apologize, but I'll
Speaker 1: say you this. Everyone's asking about the offense, and I've
Speaker 1: said this. It'll be better than last year. I can't
Speaker 1: tell you how much, but it'll be better.
Speaker 4: That's correct.
Speaker 1: It's clear that it's better. It's clear that the line
Speaker 1: has more nasty attitude. It's clear that the running plays
Speaker 1: are there more right. That's getting some pops and that's
Speaker 1: gonna help the whole thing. Yes, And then you think
Speaker 1: about the quarterback and this is clear too.
Speaker 2: He's on target.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 1: I know everyone's talking about a pick that Bullock had
Speaker 1: on Monday.
Speaker 2: Whatever.
Speaker 1: Fine, you know there are some picks the pro bowler exactly. Well,
Speaker 1: if i'm CJ, this is where I'm taking my chances.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to thread the needle in because I
Speaker 1: want to see what I can get away with against
Speaker 1: this defense. If I can get away with certain things
Speaker 1: is against them, I could probably get away with them
Speaker 1: against anybody. But I can't speak for him. I can
Speaker 1: tell you this, though I have seen many more on
Speaker 1: target balls in this camp. There are some times where
Speaker 1: there's a completion. He had one to X where X
Speaker 1: was blanketed still caught the ball, but it was thrown
Speaker 1: the only possible place where he could catch the ball,
Speaker 1: and that's why he caught the ball.
Speaker 2: But the coverage was really good. So we've seen some
Speaker 2: of that, a lot.
Speaker 1: Of that from him in this camp, and I like
Speaker 1: that he's looking a lot better and I'm eager to
Speaker 1: see what's next.
Speaker 2: Again, we're only a weekend.
Speaker 1: We've concluded the first week of training camp, six practices,
Speaker 1: one day off. We were resumed tomorrow, and I think
Speaker 1: that that can be said right now he looks better
Speaker 1: and he's heading in the right direction where it goes
Speaker 1: from here.
Speaker 2: We all got to wait to see it.
Speaker 3: I said, probably the most obvious thing. You and I
Speaker 3: were talking about that earlier today off the air, and
Speaker 3: I said, one of the most obvious things that thought about.
Speaker 3: In fact, he's kind of become a pot item on Twitter.
Speaker 3: John Mattier, who's a quarterback Oklahoma.
Speaker 1: Did you see the one with him without a shirt
Speaker 1: on here? And it said the p man is going
Speaker 1: to visit Matier because yes, he looks so jacked up, Jack,
Speaker 1: though it doesn't look like it was done naturally, So Jack,
Speaker 1: I don't know if that was photoshop or not.
Speaker 2: And it's kind of funny just to say.
Speaker 8: So.
Speaker 3: When he was at Washington State, he was a really
Speaker 3: good run pass quarterback. I mean he's a good, good
Speaker 3: duel threat, really really good. So when he goes to Oklahoma,
Speaker 3: that dual threat is still there. It's the same offensive
Speaker 3: coordinator Ben Arbuckle who went from Washington State Tolahoma to
Speaker 3: run the same stuff, but now he's facing sec defenses.
Speaker 5: So he's getting a hell beat out of him.
Speaker 3: So in getting a helmet out of him, his mechanics
Speaker 3: go all to you know what, because he's running the
Speaker 3: ball eighteen times a game, so he's running.
Speaker 5: Quarterback power, quarterback power.
Speaker 3: He's fighting for first downs, and then all of a
Speaker 3: sudden he's got to step back and throw a dig
Speaker 3: route and put it on the numbers to one of
Speaker 3: his wide receivers.
Speaker 5: Like you can't do you can't do that.
Speaker 3: So the most obvious statement is when a guy gets
Speaker 3: beat up, a quarterback gets beat up, it impacts his throwing.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, how can it not If you get
Speaker 5: you know, CJ.
Speaker 3: Gets sacked by somebody, even if they're just wrapping up
Speaker 3: on your your arm and shoulder in that whole area
Speaker 3: throwing the football.
Speaker 5: It all takes hits, It.
Speaker 3: Hurts, and it impacts your mechanics. So the simple math is, well,
Speaker 3: don't let him get hit as much. Yeah, because if
Speaker 3: you don't let him get hit as much, then he's
Speaker 3: gonna be able to throw the ball and put it
Speaker 3: on point as well as anybody in his league. He
Speaker 3: has got accuracy that is top not when he is
Speaker 3: given the opportunity to throw, and look, he can't, he
Speaker 3: can't throw. He knows this, and he would he would
Speaker 3: say this. He don't always throw from a clean pocket,
Speaker 3: even when he's on the move. Now, like he made
Speaker 3: it throw, they flipped the period, they went to a
Speaker 3: red zone. I can't remember he threw a ball to
Speaker 3: the back of the end zone to somebody today. He
Speaker 3: made a little move to his right and just and
Speaker 3: it was I mean it was one of those sammy
Speaker 3: ball which I left I right eye sort of throws.
Speaker 3: But again, you get into the season, you start taking
Speaker 3: some hits and you know, twenty twenty four was sacked
Speaker 3: how many times? Last year the sack number was better,
Speaker 3: but he still was taking a lot of hits. They
Speaker 3: hit against Denver obviously got him a concussion. The sole
Speaker 3: goal for this offense should be if we keep him
Speaker 3: from getting hit. This guy will take us places where
Speaker 3: we all want to go. Watch him throw the damn
Speaker 3: ball when he's got a pocket.
Speaker 1: It looks good. It looks damn good. And there are
Speaker 1: more weapons than you think. And I'm gonna give you
Speaker 1: another vander hit here. Okay, we've got a wr two.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and he's gonna have a big freaking year.
Speaker 1: Hagan's is gonna have a big year. We haven't seen
Speaker 1: No yet because he's banged up. We haven't seen Tank
Speaker 1: yet because he's ramping up. We've seen Higgins though, and
Speaker 1: Higgins looks really good. He what a huge target. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's a Nico type target. He's different than Nico. He
Speaker 1: looks thicker to me, maybe a little bit, but maybe
Speaker 1: I'm wrong about that.
Speaker 5: Ye Okay.
Speaker 1: He can run fast. You said it, you were talking
Speaker 1: about this yesterday. The speed, it's there, the hands, it's there.
Speaker 1: Six touchdowns. Last year, played better in the second half
Speaker 1: than the first half. Let's see what year two looks like.
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be a big year for Jaden Higgins.
Speaker 1: So let me ask you this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just I think about this from time to time,
Speaker 3: like knowing how close we are in the situation, how
Speaker 3: close we are to like all these guys and watching him,
Speaker 3: et cetera.
Speaker 5: And it's really easy to see the good and.
Speaker 3: The players and try to like, eh, you know that
Speaker 3: was you know a bad play was because of this,
Speaker 3: this and this. Yeah, what do you think opponents think
Speaker 3: about us? Like when they're facing the offense. I would
Speaker 3: imagine that there's the opponents early on are like, look
Speaker 3: this offense like, Okay, they're gonna have to prove it
Speaker 3: to us that they're that good. But that means they'll
Speaker 3: miss out on Higgins. I think they'll misevaluate that. I
Speaker 3: think the good coaches in the good stats will see,
Speaker 3: you know what a Collins is good, y'all.
Speaker 5: But if we don't cover eighty one, we're gonna.
Speaker 3: Have a lot of issues. Yeah, we're gonna have a
Speaker 3: lot of freaking issues.
Speaker 1: And Schultz and guess what, you better bring some friends
Speaker 1: to stop the running game. That's right, because if you
Speaker 1: can obviously, if you can stop the running game at seven,
Speaker 1: you're in a good situation as a defense. Right, But
Speaker 1: I got a feeling that they're gonna get some yards here,
Speaker 1: They're gonna be in controllable down in distant situations, they're
Speaker 1: gonna be in second and five, they're gonna be in
Speaker 1: those situations where they can cash in through the air.
Speaker 1: And again, big targets, the tight ends, the two receivers big,
Speaker 1: and then you get the playmakers with Nolan Tank and
Speaker 1: look X had the one on ones. He had a
Speaker 1: couple of catches that were so terrific, and then you
Speaker 1: look at whatever else you know, Lewis Bond brings to
Speaker 1: the mix. I don't even know if he makes the
Speaker 1: initial fifty, but I got a feeling that he might. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, we talked about the receivers the other day
Speaker 1: and how many they might keep. So many guys to
Speaker 1: keep your eyes on, so many guys who we're doing
Speaker 1: all these interviews right now, and Shelby Koppage did one
Speaker 1: today with Marlon Klein and she'll do another one tomorrow.
Speaker 1: And I was thinking, let's get some guys who we
Speaker 1: know are gonna play a lot in the preseason, because
Speaker 1: she's the preseason sideline reporter. Let's get those stories going
Speaker 1: because preseason games, all right, maybe Game two you get
Speaker 1: the starters playing more, but Games one and three we're
Speaker 1: gonna see a lot of reserve, second, third, fourth line guys,
Speaker 1: and those are interesting stories on those game broadcasts.
Speaker 5: So we got to give to them no doubt.
Speaker 3: And again for a team where the stars are well known, Yeah,
Speaker 3: there's no doubt. The stars are well known, but it's
Speaker 3: the depth that will that will help take this team
Speaker 3: to another level this year. You know the secondary with
Speaker 3: Jay Rock, Kamari Ramsey, you guys we talked about this morning,
Speaker 3: Jalen Reed. You know guys in second year, rookie year
Speaker 3: that have got to step up and be part of
Speaker 3: that secondary if one of those stars goes down. Linebacker
Speaker 3: Wade Wood, has Aiden Fisher, you know the young guys.
Speaker 3: You know Marte mop who coming over from New England.
Speaker 3: What's his role? How does he fit in all the
Speaker 3: defensive linemen? My god, I was watching that whole rotation today,
Speaker 3: Mark and they're they're the rotation. I mean, Clowney was
Speaker 3: out there playing. It was he got like three pass
Speaker 3: rushes because I think there were three passes the place
Speaker 3: he was in there for a team. But then they
Speaker 3: called for the second group and it was like these
Speaker 3: four guys went in.
Speaker 5: I'm like, well, wait a second, Well these guys, holy cow.
Speaker 5: And you know who the ones are.
Speaker 3: I mean it's Daniel and Will and you know at
Speaker 3: one point they had Sheldon and Tommy with others moving
Speaker 3: in and out with the second group third Like.
Speaker 5: I'm just watching them and I'm like, holy crap.
Speaker 1: Oh, they have guys for days. They have defensive linemen forever.
Speaker 1: They're gonna want to keep fifteen of these guys, It's amazing.
Speaker 5: Well it's like Rod Right took over his GM.
Speaker 1: Maybe we'll do that to wind Rod Right sign clowning sign,
Speaker 1: Mario Edwards.
Speaker 5: I need these guys.
Speaker 2: Well wait a minute, but you have a lot, no,
Speaker 2: not enough? Yeah, Rod Wright's the GM.
Speaker 1: I think tomorrow would be a good day to talk
Speaker 1: about the D line and start thinking about how many
Speaker 1: they might keep, because you want to talk tough, they're
Speaker 1: gonna have that is a tough position.
Speaker 2: Is that the most loaded group on the team. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 2: no question.
Speaker 3: Getting I mean you talk about star power depth.
Speaker 1: I don't even know if they have a big enough
Speaker 1: meeting room for how many guys they have right now.
Speaker 3: Mark, I just you know they've got guy, they got
Speaker 3: younger guys. I mean, obviously you throw came back in there,
Speaker 3: and you know he's in there with the with the veats.
Speaker 1: You know, you forget about Caden McDonald and they drafted
Speaker 1: him high. I mean, he's got to make the football team, right.
Speaker 1: That's a lot of pressure to get these picks right.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of pressure off the pick when you
Speaker 1: have such established veterans. This is a luxury problem. Seldom
Speaker 1: in organization history have we seen this where well, you
Speaker 1: drafted a guy in the second round, but is he
Speaker 1: really good? What wait a minute, this is the second round,
Speaker 1: this is automatic. Well, he's got to fit in. He's
Speaker 1: got to make it, you know, and look the means
Speaker 1: you got wrong. I guess.
Speaker 2: So if he can't make it, I'm not saying McDonald's
Speaker 2: not gonna make it. McDonald's gonna make it.
Speaker 1: Okay, he's a hell of a player, hell of a prospect,
Speaker 1: but you only have so many spots. My point is
Speaker 1: that it's not an automatic that you're gonna start. You know,
Speaker 1: when we started this rebuild with Nick Cassario on twenty one,
Speaker 1: you draft a guy in the second round that's a
Speaker 1: cornerstone pick.
Speaker 5: Right day one, he's a starter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they won the twenty twenty one draft. You had
Speaker 1: no first or second round, the third round picks, Well
Speaker 1: they're still here, Davis Mills and Nico Collins.
Speaker 2: They were cornerstone for this regime.
Speaker 1: You type picks, and I'll throw Mills in there because
Speaker 1: he started twenty five games, or only started three games
Speaker 1: last year and they were so important. Anyway, Nick Cassario
Speaker 1: will be on the show tonight in the form of
Speaker 1: his visit with Payn and Pendergast and it was really good,
Speaker 1: so we'll play some of that for you. And Keelan Rutledge. Wow,
Speaker 1: what a camp he is having. He's learning a lot
Speaker 1: on the fly and he was within the loops. So
Speaker 1: we'll get to those conversations because they're really good. And
Speaker 1: this is all about the Texans. It's Texans Radio all right.
Speaker 1: Back to it here on Texans All Access from the
Speaker 1: Hunday Texans Radio studio. Let's go back outside to this morning,
Speaker 1: so we'll go back in time as in the loop.
Speaker 1: Had Keelan Ruttledge on the show after practice, and man,
Speaker 1: is this guy fun to listen to. He's fun to watch.
Speaker 1: First round draft choice. Let's get to it. In the
Speaker 1: loop with Keelan Ruttledge today the first pick for.
Speaker 9: Your Houston Texans this year in twenty twenty six. They
Speaker 9: call him Big Red. His name is Keelan Ruttlers. Was
Speaker 9: having Kelan, how you loving brother?
Speaker 7: Great?
Speaker 4: You look it?
Speaker 8: Yeah, appreciate it. Good to get out here on the grass.
Speaker 8: So it's been good.
Speaker 4: Hey, speaking of Big Red, this is apropos of nothing.
Speaker 4: But it's more of a regional soda, Big Red.
Speaker 10: You're familiar with it.
Speaker 5: I've heard about it. I heard about the.
Speaker 10: Big Red gum too.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Big Red gun.
Speaker 10: I had a stick of that four.
Speaker 4: But yeah, you gotta get some Big Red soda. It's
Speaker 4: more of a Texas thing, but they have it in
Speaker 4: the South some right.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I's gotta get you some Big Red. Yeahs an endorsement, the.
Speaker 7: Thing all for it.
Speaker 9: The thing I'm wondering Keelan, is have have we gotten
Speaker 9: you some more clothes? Or are you just gonna walk around Texas.
Speaker 7: Like what are we doing? Yeah?
Speaker 5: It's all Texans gear.
Speaker 10: Uh.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 10: It's a simple guy, so I don't need too much.
Speaker 9: I respect that obviously. The big thing with you that
Speaker 9: everybody's engaged with is hey, man, you're a guard, you
Speaker 9: play at Georgia Tech, you're very good at it, and
Speaker 9: then you're drafted and we're kind of all trying to
Speaker 9: put you in at center.
Speaker 5: For me.
Speaker 9: I remember Cooper BB being drafted out of Kansas State
Speaker 9: and him spending a whole bunch of time snapping. Even
Speaker 9: they're talking about snapping to his mom. What have you
Speaker 9: done in that offseason time? Getting getting better at like
Speaker 9: the center portion of your responsibilities?
Speaker 10: Oh yeah, my wife, Lauren, she's probably caught.
Speaker 8: I don't know, one hundred and fifty snaps every single day,
Speaker 8: just because that's muscle memory. Obviously, I you know, did
Speaker 8: it a little bit at Tech here and there and practice,
Speaker 8: has never done in a game.
Speaker 10: Did a little bit at a Singer Bowl.
Speaker 8: But to have your hand on the ball full time,
Speaker 8: obviously to balk these dudes, it's a little different. So
Speaker 8: you just need reps. And I mean, I think you know.
Speaker 8: I'm a I'm a football player. Didn't play office the
Speaker 8: line soil, I got a college show. I can play
Speaker 8: any position. You tell me to go out there, I'm
Speaker 8: gonna give all my effort and I'm figure it out.
Speaker 5: So she dood kadience. Oh yeah, she.
Speaker 10: Knows all the cadences. I said, you got to make
Speaker 10: it sound like CJ.
Speaker 4: How did she do in John Gruden school?
Speaker 5: How would you should be?
Speaker 10: All right?
Speaker 5: She knows all the calls.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I'm running through all my calls to her.
Speaker 8: So she knows you know, she probably knows our base
Speaker 8: protection pretty good.
Speaker 4: Okay, So so high school sweethearts, I believe, right, yes
Speaker 4: sir and recently married, yes, sir, last summer. But she
Speaker 4: didn't sign up for that, did she?
Speaker 7: She did? She did?
Speaker 10: She loves ball.
Speaker 8: She loves ball, so man, she's kind of comes from
Speaker 8: a household that they love football. Grew up Georgia fans,
Speaker 8: So you know, I'm not gonna hold that again. Yeah,
Speaker 8: I mean try not to. But uh, she's not a
Speaker 8: Georgia fan. Nomore, she's she she bleeds Golden White. But yeah,
Speaker 8: I mean she loves football and she's she's all for you.
Speaker 4: Mentioned she's taking snaps under the center as well. Does
Speaker 4: she tape her fingers.
Speaker 8: Or that's just that's a little bit more not I'm
Speaker 8: not gonna say it's easier, but that's the shotgun snap
Speaker 8: is what you really struggle with when you know you're
Speaker 8: used to having your hand, come up and use your
Speaker 8: right hand.
Speaker 10: Now you can't use your right hand for a second.
Speaker 10: So that's really what we focused on.
Speaker 9: Actually, I'm curious that you brought that up because for
Speaker 9: those of us on the outside looking in guard center,
Speaker 9: they're right next to each other. Like, how different can
Speaker 9: they be? Can you tell me in your experience or
Speaker 9: early on, what are the differences between playing guard and
Speaker 9: playing center in the NFL?
Speaker 10: Yeah, I mean there's there's a lot of differences.
Speaker 8: The good thing about how we, you know, try to
Speaker 8: do our offensive line and how coach Pop's doing a
Speaker 8: good job of kind of everything.
Speaker 10: He wants to marry it the same the techniques, so
Speaker 10: a lot of that's very similar.
Speaker 8: But I mean, just with you having your hand on
Speaker 8: the ball, you're in front of everybody, so you don't
Speaker 8: have as much leeway. So you're on the guy now,
Speaker 8: so you have to work about getting depth. Obviously you're
Speaker 8: a square.
Speaker 5: Stance, not a stagger.
Speaker 8: And then like we talked about, you know, you're starting
Speaker 8: to block with one hand all the time, especially when
Speaker 8: you got a guy, and you know a lot of
Speaker 8: these teams are smart. They want the nose to be
Speaker 8: over the snaphand and get getting back on third downs.
Speaker 8: Being able to get comfortable with that is like it's hard,
Speaker 8: you know, when you're going left more so you're upset.
Speaker 10: Lefts a little easier because you get to focus on
Speaker 10: the snap.
Speaker 8: When you're going right, it's like, hey, you gotta really
Speaker 8: lock in on it because you need that right hand.
Speaker 10: And that's just reps.
Speaker 8: And I mean there's little differences by the end of
Speaker 8: the day, Like I said's football. How physical you're gonna be,
Speaker 8: how tough you're gonna be. You know, you're assigning all
Speaker 8: that stuff is what will separate you.
Speaker 4: So you've been obviously very good at what you do
Speaker 4: for a long time, all the way through college into
Speaker 4: Georgia Tech, at the you know, at the Senior Bowl camp,
Speaker 4: all that, you've been very good. You're a confident guy.
Speaker 4: But I always get it tickles me talking to lineman
Speaker 4: coming going from college to pro there is a moment
Speaker 4: that inevitably, I've talked to guys for four decades that say,
Speaker 4: you know what, there was this one play where I
Speaker 4: realized I can do this, Like like because there's was
Speaker 4: a little bit of in the back of your mind
Speaker 4: like okay, now it's the NFL have you had that moment?
Speaker 10: Yeah, I mean I've had a few those moments.
Speaker 8: Ohtas was early because I mean you're not going as physical,
Speaker 8: but there's some physical moments and just climbing to some
Speaker 8: linebackers feeling that or get movement on a you know,
Speaker 8: three tech you're like, yeah, like it's football, Like the
Speaker 8: guys are better you. Definitely there's there's reps where you know,
Speaker 8: in college, I look at it like even your bad
Speaker 8: rep really ain't bad.
Speaker 10: Yeah, you can have some bad reps at this level.
Speaker 8: So I think that's the adjustment and just bouncing back
Speaker 8: from those being like all right, it's gonna happen. Like
Speaker 8: that guy across from he's really good full player, what
Speaker 8: are you gonna do the next play? But I mean
Speaker 8: there's definitely a lot of moments and OTAs, and then
Speaker 8: as we put the pads on and really played football,
Speaker 8: you get some momentsary like.
Speaker 9: Yeah I could do this, And I have a feeling
Speaker 9: that you don't struggle for confidence. You don't seem like
Speaker 9: that like you're out here pushing up on disease. You're
Speaker 9: getting physical with all these guys, Like where does that
Speaker 9: come from? Where does is it just is it just
Speaker 9: you know, real rural Georgia being that, Like, where does
Speaker 9: that energy in that confidence come from for you?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean I think I just kind of I
Speaker 8: play with the game with a certain kind of swagger
Speaker 8: in my own way. Just I mean, I like to
Speaker 8: impose my will, like I like to go punch somebody
Speaker 8: in the face.
Speaker 10: I mean, that's that's truly what I'd truly like to do.
Speaker 8: So uh, I think when you kind of you want
Speaker 8: to do that every play, like there's a sense of
Speaker 8: confidence like I'm the baddest dude on the field every
Speaker 8: time I step on the grass is how I feel.
Speaker 5: So I think that's just kind of how I've always played.
Speaker 8: I've always wanted to be competitor, always talked to a
Speaker 8: little junk, always kind of played to the eck of
Speaker 8: the whistle.
Speaker 5: So that's just who I am.
Speaker 9: So so I'll always be not trying to get you
Speaker 9: in trouble. But how literally when you talk about punching
Speaker 9: someone in the face, because I've thought about it, like
Speaker 9: who on the team would I want to go into
Speaker 9: a bar fight with? And you're high up on the concord,
Speaker 9: have you had any instances where you had to you know,
Speaker 9: throw someone out the club or something. No.
Speaker 8: I mean you know I was a knuckle ahead craig
Speaker 8: growing up. I've definitely gotten a fair fair fair share
Speaker 8: of my fights. But uh, as you growed up, as
Speaker 8: you matured, you know you can't do that. But that's
Speaker 8: why God bless me the ability. So I'm not here
Speaker 8: to play football, so I can do it legally.
Speaker 9: So it's great, there you go.
Speaker 4: How long would it take you to kick my ass?
Speaker 5: I wouldn't want to.
Speaker 2: Like it.
Speaker 4: I am a cool guy. But you know you went
Speaker 4: up and guess Daniel Hunter yesterday.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean sure, you just football. You know you
Speaker 8: believe the same kind of blood he puts on his
Speaker 8: shoes just like I do.
Speaker 10: So I mean there's nothing to it.
Speaker 4: Well, I want to get to that more as a
Speaker 4: topic here as a question, because you have been described
Speaker 4: as feisty. You've been doing that. You just said yourself,
Speaker 4: I'm the baddest man on the field. How much better
Speaker 4: does that make you?
Speaker 8: I think it makes you completely when you have that
Speaker 8: certain kind of confidence, like there's I'm not sitting here
Speaker 8: and saying I figured it out because today got mya
Speaker 8: Tell what one play like? You're that's gonna happen. But
Speaker 8: I think that sense of confidence, like I know I
Speaker 8: can do this, and even when I get punched in
Speaker 8: the face, I'm gonna punch you back. I think that's
Speaker 8: just kind of I don't even know how to subscribe it.
Speaker 8: It's just in there, it's innately in there.
Speaker 10: So I think that's you know.
Speaker 9: You talk about that. I'm very curious because obviously you're
Speaker 9: you're comfortable, but you also are comfortable with the idea
Speaker 9: that I don't know everything. When when questions come up
Speaker 9: for you, who are you talking to? Is that the
Speaker 9: guys that are next to you? Are you sending texts
Speaker 9: or making sure that you catch them up to? Like
Speaker 9: how are you asking those questions? And who are you
Speaker 9: going to for insight?
Speaker 8: Oh, I'll go to any vet, anybody that's played a.
Speaker 10: Snap in the National Football League.
Speaker 8: I'm willing to take it all because I haven't put
Speaker 8: a snap, like doing stuff on the grass out here
Speaker 8: like it's great and I think I truly believe how
Speaker 8: you practice tell you play, but I haven't done anything.
Speaker 10: So it's like I'm talking to Wyatt all the time,
Speaker 10: Jake all the time, Ed all the time.
Speaker 8: Trent's been playing the NFL for a long time, a
Speaker 8: lot of different places, so that there's so much technique stuff.
Speaker 8: He can get away with a lot more stuff than
Speaker 8: we can, for sure, because that's a different individual. But
Speaker 8: you know, you're picking up from all these guys. Man,
Speaker 8: I'm willing to soak up anything anybody has to say.
Speaker 4: I saw you talking with disease. Oh yeah, what was that?
Speaker 7: Like?
Speaker 4: What was You don't have to give us all the details,
Speaker 4: but that had to be something that oh yeah, you
Speaker 4: know kind of helped.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 8: I just think, you know, similar similar how we were,
Speaker 8: you know, brought up kind of cut from the same cloth.
Speaker 8: He started at FAU, I started at Middle Tennessee. So
Speaker 8: we we both kind of play with that chippy mindset,
Speaker 8: like that underdog kind of mentality and just kind of
Speaker 8: picking his brain about all sorts of stuff. And he's
Speaker 8: been a great and since I came in the building,
Speaker 8: he's been really really good.
Speaker 9: Best piece of advice on the field and off the
Speaker 9: field that you've gotten to this point, m hm, you know.
Speaker 8: Best piece of advice on the field I'm still trying
Speaker 8: to work on it is how to be a pro.
Speaker 8: I think that comes with kind of how I got here,
Speaker 8: I have to keep. But you know, there's a certain
Speaker 8: you play seventeen games in the NFL, and we're gonna
Speaker 8: play a lot more than seventeen. And I think taking
Speaker 8: care of your teammates and you know, being that so
Speaker 8: called prick but also having a line. I think that's
Speaker 8: that's what I've learned. And then what was the other question?
Speaker 8: Best advice off the off the field talked to I've
Speaker 8: talked to Wyatt just about you know, navigating like obviously
Speaker 8: he's married and kids and stuff like that, Like not
Speaker 8: kids yet, none of that, but just you know, married
Speaker 8: to my wife and one day I'll be a family man.
Speaker 8: So just talking about stuff like that. You hear him, Jake,
Speaker 8: all the guys have that. You kind of pick up
Speaker 8: on advice for that too.
Speaker 4: Very good you come in and I'm sure you know
Speaker 4: the assignment. As the kids like to say, this offensive
Speaker 4: line needed help. They went and got you nastier. They
Speaker 4: wanted that from you. And and one of the things
Speaker 4: in the pre draft that Reggie and I were talking
Speaker 4: about before you were even drafted, we talked about you
Speaker 4: a little bit. The way you go downfield, the way
Speaker 4: it's not always normal I mean that nastiest and knowing
Speaker 4: the assignment. How important is that for you to bring
Speaker 4: even though as a rookie you to this line.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean I think that's that's critical because like
Speaker 8: you got to take care of the biggs first, that's
Speaker 8: the most important thing. But getting up on the second level,
Speaker 8: that's how you spring big ones. That's how it's not
Speaker 8: three and four yards and it's twelve thirteen and the
Speaker 8: twelve thirteen turns to twenty five thirty and your explosive
Speaker 8: offense then, So I think obviously and also knowing how
Speaker 8: those backers are gonna play, Like a lot of guys
Speaker 8: are athletic, but they can't play at the second level
Speaker 8: because they don't know how to marry up their feet, right.
Speaker 8: Give that to kind of my basketball up bringing, like
Speaker 8: closing out, like when you're switching to a two man,
Speaker 8: you got to close out from playing center, like you
Speaker 8: got to get your feet hot.
Speaker 5: So I think being able to just that then go.
Speaker 8: I think that's a lot of things that offensive linement,
Speaker 8: like people take for granted at offensive linement, but can
Speaker 8: make you a really good second level blocker.
Speaker 4: You mentioned basketball, you play a little quarterback.
Speaker 10: Too, didn't you just a couple plays, not too much.
Speaker 10: Didn't play offensive line till I.
Speaker 5: Got to college.
Speaker 8: So growing up in reck ball play, some quarterback play,
Speaker 8: some tight end running back did it all.
Speaker 4: And basketball to me And we've talked about this so
Speaker 4: important for offensive line. Yeah, how has that helped you?
Speaker 7: Oh?
Speaker 10: Shoot, it's helped me so much, just because being able
Speaker 10: to mirror and you.
Speaker 8: Know, not to toot my own horn, but being more
Speaker 8: athletic guy interior wise, being.
Speaker 10: Able to slide side a side pull move like all
Speaker 10: that stuff.
Speaker 8: Man Like, that's contributed to basketball because a lot of
Speaker 8: guys want to see wrestlers, and wrestlers are great. They
Speaker 8: give you that leverage and that finish mentality. I didn't
Speaker 8: really need that, that's already in me. God bless me.
Speaker 8: That just kind of competitor I am. So the basketball
Speaker 8: helped me on that side to be a better athlete
Speaker 8: when I already have that.
Speaker 9: I want to talk about your coach, because every time
Speaker 9: we hear about Cole Papa, would you love them? But
Speaker 9: I mean, uh, Brent Key. Brin Key is one of
Speaker 9: those guys that is well respected around the college game
Speaker 9: as an offensive line guy. How does Cole Popovich compare
Speaker 9: to brin Key in any way or am I am
Speaker 9: I stretching too far?
Speaker 7: There?
Speaker 5: You're you're there.
Speaker 10: Uh, very very very similar in a lot of ways.
Speaker 8: Different personality wise, Keel keel pop a bust a smile
Speaker 8: here and there, but Ke'll joke around with you a
Speaker 8: little bit more. But I mean in terms of football,
Speaker 8: it's all ball, it's all business. They want it done
Speaker 8: a certain way and it's got to be done that
Speaker 8: certain way. And it's not like it's just you know,
Speaker 8: my way or the highway like, it's just like it works.
Speaker 10: It works.
Speaker 8: What he's teaching works, and all five guys being able
Speaker 8: to play the same set of eyes the same stuff
Speaker 8: we did George check and that's the reason why we
Speaker 8: were very very good in the trenches and being able
Speaker 8: to run the ball and pass proteck and stuff like that.
Speaker 10: So very very similar.
Speaker 4: I'm guessing you fall in line with most offensive lineman
Speaker 4: rather run block than past block.
Speaker 8: Well, or that's a tough question because you win football
Speaker 8: games and third down a lot, But yeah, you'd much
Speaker 8: rather push somebody in the face for you know, sixty
Speaker 8: plays and drop back and protect for sure. But I mean, Pat,
Speaker 8: you know, being able to protect a quarterback is paramount
Speaker 8: in this league.
Speaker 10: Like you got to block the Neil Hunter.
Speaker 8: And Will Anderson when there spiking, like you can't block them, Like,
Speaker 8: but if you set up the run, then you can
Speaker 8: alleviate some of that.
Speaker 5: So let's try to run block. But they're both very important.
Speaker 9: By the way, we got a text line where people
Speaker 9: are texting and they're all like, I want to run.
Speaker 2: Through a wall.
Speaker 9: You've got like the physicality, the nasty that you got,
Speaker 9: like it shows through. But one of the things I
Speaker 9: kept trying to tell people is, hey, man, you go
Speaker 9: to Georgia Tech. You gotta be smart, right, Like one
Speaker 9: of the things I've said about your ability to transition
Speaker 9: the centers, he went to Georgia Tech. You don't figure
Speaker 9: it out? Was I doing too much there or it was?
Speaker 4: Was it?
Speaker 9: It really was a tough academic self.
Speaker 8: Any I didn't have the I didn't have I wasn't
Speaker 8: no mechanical engineer. But you got a I got a
Speaker 8: degree from Georgia Tech. And yeah, I think what you said, Man,
Speaker 8: figure it out. That's that's what you gotta do at
Speaker 8: Georgia Tech. On and off the field. Just being able
Speaker 8: to figure it out, like put in that extra work
Speaker 8: really honestly, how to study like you can't just you know,
Speaker 8: a lot of places you just you know, do this,
Speaker 8: do that like you'll get a grade. Like you have
Speaker 8: to do You got to actually put work into it.
Speaker 8: And yeah, I'm not I'm not gonna see here and
Speaker 8: act like I'm the smartest guy in the world.
Speaker 5: But I can figure it out.
Speaker 9: Like you said, I love it all right. One thing
Speaker 9: I want to give you an opportunity to do you
Speaker 9: have You've done a little bit of media. I'm not
Speaker 9: trying to seem like you're you're not experienced, but is
Speaker 9: there a question that you have for us guys that
Speaker 9: get to do a little media in this way?
Speaker 8: That's a good question. Kind of threw them on the spot.
Speaker 8: Question y'all guys got for me? Yeah, man, I got
Speaker 8: you asked me my favorite food?
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 9: Okay, what do you like eating? Because you know, Houston's
Speaker 9: a great food. You're in the right place. Have you
Speaker 9: have you gone anywhere that's been full?
Speaker 7: I've been.
Speaker 10: I've been to a lot of places.
Speaker 7: Loupe.
Speaker 8: There's there's one little hole in the wall spot and
Speaker 8: I'm blinking on the name.
Speaker 10: Of course, when I ask you that question, where is it?
Speaker 5: You can just say that your day keeping.
Speaker 4: That's fine.
Speaker 8: No, no, no, no, no, everybody needs to go to
Speaker 8: l LT Athlete. I think that's the one legit loved
Speaker 8: it and there's another spot to went there once with
Speaker 8: Aiden Fisher and Marlin wonderful, wonderful love Text Max Love Barbecue.
Speaker 5: I'm in the right spot for you.
Speaker 7: Really are you?
Speaker 4: Really are? I gotta ask you one more because you know.
Speaker 9: Real quick before you do that. You listening to kot
Speaker 9: AM klt F MHD two.
Speaker 4: Houston in the Legal Sports station. Yes, uh so I
Speaker 4: grew up. You talk about your background and as he'sa's
Speaker 4: background and I know, I think I know that you
Speaker 4: spend a lot of time at the Boys and Girls
Speaker 4: Club and then you do an event recently with the
Speaker 4: with the Boys and Girls Club. How does that form
Speaker 4: what you are? You know, growing up where.
Speaker 5: You have it's tough.
Speaker 10: Yeah, it shaped everything in me.
Speaker 8: I mean just the mentality wise, like I didn't grow
Speaker 8: up with a silver spoon in my mouth, like it
Speaker 8: was me my mom my whole life, bouncing around place
Speaker 8: to place, you know, living with anybody that will give
Speaker 8: us a roof over our head.
Speaker 5: So I think that kind of.
Speaker 10: Desire, that drive. I put it all into sports, all
Speaker 10: into sports, and that's all I had.
Speaker 5: That was the outlook for my life.
Speaker 8: That's kind of you know, for good and bad, because
Speaker 8: there was a lot of good bad moments. When you
Speaker 8: put everything, all your eggs in one basket, you know,
Speaker 8: you like, like I've learned and matured, you got to
Speaker 8: have other.
Speaker 10: Things, which you know, Lauren has been great for me
Speaker 10: for that.
Speaker 8: But I think that's shape. That's the reason why I'm
Speaker 8: here today. I wouldn't I wouldn't try.
Speaker 7: It for the world.
Speaker 9: I mean, your wife also crucial in helping you get
Speaker 9: over what was a tragic accident. I mean, like it
Speaker 9: seems like you've got all the all the things in
Speaker 9: the world that you've overcome. Switching the center can't be
Speaker 9: too hard, can't it.
Speaker 8: It's just it's a there's a lot of stuff I've
Speaker 8: been through in my life that are a lot lot
Speaker 8: harder than playing.
Speaker 10: You know, the position with the ball in your hand.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no reason to feel sorry for yourself now, hey man,
Speaker 4: appreciate it, sir.
Speaker 5: Yeah, there is big red.
Speaker 9: Do you like you like it when people call you
Speaker 9: big Red.
Speaker 5: Is there is?
Speaker 10: So we have a equipment manager, Tyler. He's big Red.
Speaker 5: So I've kind of gave him the Big Red. He's
Speaker 5: he's the big Red.
Speaker 10: I'm big rut rut Red.
Speaker 7: Anything they want to redheads.
Speaker 10: There's a lot of I'm not a I'm not a
Speaker 10: particular you call me anything.
Speaker 9: As long as long as we were talking about you,
Speaker 9: I imagine didn't call you anything. All right, Keilan, we appreciate
Speaker 9: you sitting down with this. It's been great.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: There was in the loop with Keelan Ruttledge had to
Speaker 1: play that because it's so good coming out the best
Speaker 1: of Nick Kassario, who was on with Paint and pendergast
Speaker 1: Man the six ten guys really helping out do with
Speaker 1: the show tonight love it. It's Texans All Access. In
Speaker 1: tonight's final segment, let's get to this Pain and pendergast
Speaker 1: That would be Seawan and Seth.
Speaker 2: In the morning this morning.
Speaker 1: Caught up with executive vice president and general manager Nick
Speaker 1: Cassario field side at training camp. We got up with
Speaker 1: Mike Toleman. We had the McNair's on yesterday. It's been
Speaker 1: a great trading camp so far. With all these interviews,
Speaker 1: but let's Eves drop on that conversation between the guys
Speaker 1: and Nick Cassio.
Speaker 11: It's great to see as always Nick, So let's let's
Speaker 11: get into it here before we get into all the
Speaker 11: stuff we've seen on the field. Big news for Texan
Speaker 11: fans the last day or so it has been Gedevian
Speaker 11: Clowney coming back.
Speaker 5: Take us through that.
Speaker 11: What made this the right time for JD to return
Speaker 11: to the Houston Texans.
Speaker 12: Yeah, we kind of worked through the springing there a
Speaker 12: little bit, you know, that kind of a third end
Speaker 12: spot was an area that we probably felt we were
Speaker 12: going to add it some point. You know, Derek did
Speaker 12: a good job for us in that role, had conversation
Speaker 12: with him, so just kind of keeping track of the market.
Speaker 12: Who are the players that are in that category? Feel
Speaker 12: pretty fortunate, you know with Will and Daniel, and then
Speaker 12: I would say Dylan.
Speaker 10: Has had a good role for us.
Speaker 12: And then we signed Dominie Robinson who's had a pretty
Speaker 12: good training camp here. So it kind of brings a
Speaker 12: little bit different element. But that was an area we're
Speaker 12: kind of looking at some players that maybe potentially could
Speaker 12: fill that role, and you know, JD was a player
Speaker 12: who we had some conversations with initially, maybe it was
Speaker 12: a little bit later in the Springs last summer, and
Speaker 12: then we kind of kind of kind of kept in
Speaker 12: contact with his agent over the course of the summer,
Speaker 12: and then there at some point there was some level
Speaker 12: of mutual interest. He obviously had a lot of interest
Speaker 12: from some other teams. I think there's some other teams
Speaker 12: that were involved, but it kind of worked out. I mean,
Speaker 12: it says a lot about Jadavion, the fact that he
Speaker 12: wanted to be here, wanted to be around some of
Speaker 12: the things that we're doing. We didn't overlap and when
Speaker 12: I wasn't here when Jadavion was here previously, haven't played
Speaker 12: against him multiple times, know how big of a pain
Speaker 12: in the ass that he was. But and he's still
Speaker 12: shown the ability, whether it's in Dallas, Baltimore, Carolina, these
Speaker 12: different stops, he still brings some positive qualities to the table.
Speaker 12: So we'll get started with him today. He'll be out
Speaker 12: here practicing what kind of see how it goes.
Speaker 13: I think that the thing with Javon Clowney that going
Speaker 13: back to when he was here is I get frustrated
Speaker 13: on his behalf, partly because at least part of the
Speaker 13: narrative about him is like, and I still get people
Speaker 13: saying to me now, like, well, he doesn't play hard.
Speaker 13: I'm like, he plays hard and he has since he's
Speaker 13: a rookie. And I don't know why people haven't picked
Speaker 13: up on that other than that they're just looking at
Speaker 13: stat lines or whatever. But he's he's.
Speaker 7: Got a swarmy element to his play.
Speaker 12: He's always played hard and he's disruptive with his snaps.
Speaker 12: And even when we were playing against the Texans when
Speaker 12: I was in New England, you know they're front. You
Speaker 12: know he had jj you know you had JD was
Speaker 12: a part of it, merciless and they'd move JD around
Speaker 12: some different spots and put him over to guard. I mean,
Speaker 12: he was really difficult to block. So he's got a
Speaker 12: unique seel set, his length, and he's got real good
Speaker 12: straight line speed. He does have toughness and to your point,
Speaker 12: set he plays with good effort. I'm not really sure
Speaker 12: because he runs well. Yeah, so the ability to close
Speaker 12: space and close from behind, so we feel and the
Speaker 12: reality is, whoever walks into a building, whoever walks in
Speaker 12: that defensive meeting room, if you don't.
Speaker 7: Play hard and compete.
Speaker 10: You're probably not gonna last very long.
Speaker 13: And that's one thing about you Know, I said this offseason,
Speaker 13: if I were a free agent defensive lineman who wasn't
Speaker 13: happy with the offers that I was getting, I would
Speaker 13: I would fly to Houston and park myself in front
Speaker 13: of Dimico's office and just say I want to play here.
Speaker 7: And I like.
Speaker 13: I think rod Wright does an incredible job as a
Speaker 13: defensive line coach. I think Burke and Demiko do an
Speaker 13: awesome job and just creating an environment where you come
Speaker 13: here and you guys have this tendency to get the
Speaker 13: best out of defensive lineman. Are you are you starting
Speaker 13: to get the feel for this being a destination or
Speaker 13: a guy like Dominie Robinson perhaps can look at multiple
Speaker 13: plays and say, man, people go to Houston and they
Speaker 13: tend to they tend.
Speaker 7: To do pretty well well.
Speaker 12: I think we're fortunate that people want to come here
Speaker 12: and be a part of our program. And it really
Speaker 12: starts with the players, because ultimately we can message it
Speaker 12: and obviously there's a standard of performance that to expect
Speaker 12: the day to day. It starts with Demiko and then
Speaker 12: defensively trickles down to Matt rod right, you know, Billy Davis,
Speaker 12: Dino Steven, even Frank Oakum too. I mean Frank works
Speaker 12: at the defensive line. So but ultimately, the players are
Speaker 12: the ones that hold themselves accountable. So in the end,
Speaker 12: player accountability is the best accountability. Like you can do
Speaker 12: only so much as a coach and try to message,
Speaker 12: but if the players don't go out there and perform
Speaker 12: that to that level and do the things that you
Speaker 12: want to do, ultimately it's not going to work. So
Speaker 12: it's really it's a credit to the players and they
Speaker 12: see I mean you watch practice. I mean there was
Speaker 12: a play Demiko showed yesterday was a small thing, but
Speaker 12: talk about finishing closing to the ball. I mean his
Speaker 12: e's must have run like forty yards to track the ball.
Speaker 12: He was in the line of scrimmage and that was
Speaker 12: the end of the play and he was sprinting to
Speaker 12: finish on the ball. So when you see a player
Speaker 12: like Aziz do that and then Kamari shows up around
Speaker 12: the ball, so there's a trickle down effect. So you
Speaker 12: really don't have a choice, and if you don't do it,
Speaker 12: you become an outlier.
Speaker 7: Yeah you're yeah, you're a black sheep.
Speaker 11: Yep, Texan's executive vice president and general manager Nick Casario
Speaker 11: joining us here live at Texans training camp. To that end,
Speaker 11: how much has Keilan Rutledge shown up finishing play in
Speaker 11: the tape in the offensive line room, because we've seen
Speaker 11: a lot of that out here.
Speaker 12: He shows up every day and you saw that at
Speaker 12: Georgia Tech. That was one of the things that was
Speaker 12: appealing about him. He has a certain mentality, in a
Speaker 12: certain playing style, and it's reflective of how we want
Speaker 12: to play, and it showed up. I take Wanta for
Speaker 12: the first or second day of practice, even when we
Speaker 12: were in shorts. When you're in shorts, there's only so
Speaker 12: much you can do, but you're trying to get it's
Speaker 12: more assignment football, but you know there's gonna be some
Speaker 12: contact to some degree. And I think I can't remember
Speaker 12: what happened. It was the end of a play him
Speaker 12: and disease, and then Kamari got in there, so you know,
Speaker 12: and Keelan wasn't backing down and he's not going to
Speaker 12: back down, which is.
Speaker 7: What you want to see.
Speaker 12: So you want to tow the line because you're we're
Speaker 12: gonna play clean, hard football. You just don't want to
Speaker 12: go over the line. But the notion of finishing plays
Speaker 12: was something that we want to be able to do
Speaker 12: as a football team, and that message, I would say,
Speaker 12: each day is emphasized. And then when you see it
Speaker 12: show up on tape and on the field, it kind
Speaker 12: of reinforces the decision that you made.
Speaker 11: It does it even augment the message to the rest
Speaker 11: of the room a little bit. If this is a
Speaker 11: guy who's in his sixth practice today, you know, and
Speaker 11: he's the guy we're showing up here finishing these plays.
Speaker 12: Well, this is the standard and this is behavior. So
Speaker 12: this is what we're going to reinforce, good or bad. Hey,
Speaker 12: here are some things that are the positives. I mean,
Speaker 12: Demiko does a great job of going through practice and
Speaker 12: highlighting Hey, here are some of the things that we
Speaker 12: did well. Here's some areas that we can improve. But
Speaker 12: we're not gonna coach like we shouldn't have to coach
Speaker 12: effort and toughness and physicality. Our job is to find
Speaker 12: players that have those qualities and then when you get
Speaker 12: on the football field, like there's an opportunity to play physical.
Speaker 13: When I'm watching the offense, I'm trying to you know,
Speaker 13: I did. I always remind myself, Okay, look, if if
Speaker 13: this is a combined practice versus the LA Rams, the
Speaker 13: Texans defense is gonna get there, They're gonna make some plays,
Speaker 13: and that you can't judge. Like yesterday, you know, the
Speaker 13: offense had some bad plays, but they like they also
Speaker 13: had some good plays, and so I tried to compare
Speaker 13: the offense to where they were in training camp last year.
Speaker 13: It feels like with the offensive line and the tight ends,
Speaker 13: it just feels like it's a clean in your operation.
Speaker 13: And it's hard to judge. Sometimes you know in camp
Speaker 13: how far a run would have gone, but I know
Speaker 13: that it it just looks better and it looks more uniform,
Speaker 13: and it looks like guys are moving in lockstep better
Speaker 13: than they were last year.
Speaker 7: Is that Has that been your impression?
Speaker 8: Yeah?
Speaker 12: I think what you want to see in practice, there's
Speaker 12: gonna be give and take. The defense is going to
Speaker 12: make some plays, the offense is going to make some plays.
Speaker 12: Hopefully you're learning from one another. I would say there's
Speaker 12: a lot of communication. You can see. We want to
Speaker 12: encourage the communication because really, what you're trying to do
Speaker 12: offensively on the front, you're just trying to get the
Speaker 12: blockers distributed appropriately, So make sure we're we talked about
Speaker 12: the hat on a half and it's just simple as
Speaker 12: just okay, I have to block Sean. Make sure everybody
Speaker 12: knows that we're working to Sean.
Speaker 7: All right, are you going to find a block?
Speaker 5: It's a difficult, A lot of people questions, a lot of.
Speaker 7: People on social media.
Speaker 12: Seven years, but I think what we've been able to do,
Speaker 12: there's multiple examples of being able to get plays started,
Speaker 12: and ultimately the running back is going to have to
Speaker 12: deal with a free player, whether it's a perimeter player
Speaker 12: at the corner or even a second level player, So
Speaker 12: there's going to be a free player at some point.
Speaker 12: Knowing who the free player is and so the back
Speaker 12: understands that. So overall, the group has worked really hard.
Speaker 12: There's a lot of communication and we're just trying to
Speaker 12: string positive plays together and try to eliminate the negative
Speaker 12: plays and just kind of get plays started. And if
Speaker 12: we do that, then hopefully we can just move the
Speaker 12: ball down a field.
Speaker 11: I know you've been asked about the offensive line about
Speaker 11: you know, is there a certain point where you want
Speaker 11: to find the five? You know, it's five best guys
Speaker 11: all those things. This This is about as fluid a
Speaker 11: group as I can remember in terms of how you
Speaker 11: guys are mixing and matching in training camp, to the
Speaker 11: point where you know, we joke about how you know
Speaker 11: he's the media. We got to kind of say buttoned
Speaker 11: up as to who's on the depth chart and things
Speaker 11: like that. It's almost impossible to report anything because you
Speaker 11: guys are doing so much shuffling around.
Speaker 5: Do you and Demiico? After each practice?
Speaker 11: Is there some element of like, Okay, if we had
Speaker 11: to play a game on Sunday, this would be our five.
Speaker 11: I'm not asking you to say who they are, But
Speaker 11: how does that evaluation evolve over the course of training camp?
Speaker 12: Sure, you talk about it every day. Look at what's
Speaker 12: going on in practice. Okay, are we getting the players
Speaker 12: the right reps in the appropriate spots or you know what,
Speaker 12: maybe we need to see a little bit more of
Speaker 12: this player in this spot. I mean, I think if
Speaker 12: we had to play a game today, like we feel,
Speaker 12: we could play with nine or ten offensive linemen and
Speaker 12: be able to go out there and play competitively. So
Speaker 12: sometimes you don't really notice the difference between the groups.
Speaker 12: We're shoffing a lot of people in there, So Okay,
Speaker 12: here's the first group that goes on the field. Okay,
Speaker 12: then here's the next grip that comes on the field.
Speaker 12: Sometimes you don't see a market difference, and sometimes there's
Speaker 12: plays where maybe the second group looks a little bit
Speaker 12: better in the first group. So in the end, we're
Speaker 12: just trying to figure out, all right, who are the
Speaker 12: five best guys.
Speaker 10: We're certainly not there yet.
Speaker 12: But we feel pretty comfortable that there's nine or ten
Speaker 12: players that we have to put on the field and
Speaker 12: play a game tomorrow. We feel like we could at
Speaker 12: least be competitive as an overall group.
Speaker 1: All right, there's some of the best of the conversation
Speaker 1: between Sean Pendergast and Seth Payne and Nick Cassario, Executive
Speaker 1: vice president and general manager. The entirety of the conversation
Speaker 1: is available on the Odyssey.
Speaker 2: App, so check that out.
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for tonight's show tomorrow back
Speaker 1: at Camp Live at the Houston Methodist Training Center.
Speaker 5: Can't wait.
Speaker 1: Shawn had said that six, Johnny and I had eight
Speaker 1: in the loop at ten. Let's do it Area forty
Speaker 1: five coming your way next, Go Texans.