- 3 months ago
Seth and Sean hear Nick Caserio explain something very important the Texans look for in their players and then pick 6 Texans who will embodied the SWARM mentality vs the Cardinals and will continue vs the Raiders on Sunday.
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00:00Are you ready to do the Circle of Swarm, or do you want to play a little Casario audio first?
00:04Casario's audio is probably a good lead into the Circle of Swarm, so let's do this.
00:08This is Chris Long on the Greenlight Podcast asking Casario for the player evaluation process.
00:15I was going to ask you straight out.
00:17Do you take lazy people off your board or something because you don't have any players that take plays off?
00:22Do you strike through guys that you see on tape and say, hey, if he's picking and choosing, I don't want him?
00:27We're very discerning in that respect, Chris.
00:29We'll absolutely remove or eliminate players regardless of how, quote-unquote, talented they are or they're perceived to be.
00:37Because ultimately, when it matters, you need guys that are mentally and physically tough, that play with urgency, that are selfless, that play fast, that play competitive, and are violent.
00:45So we're not afraid to eliminate players.
00:48Understanding they're going to be on other teams, we're probably going to play against them.
00:51That's okay.
00:52We understand that, but we also understand what's required and what the expectation and the standard is on a day-to-day basis.
00:59So our responsibility is who are those players that fit that profile, and that's where our scouts do a really good job of identifying those traits and characteristics.
01:08But we absolutely will eliminate players if we don't feel like they're a fit for our build-up.
01:12Identifying killers.
01:13This is the part that got me all excited, where I actually had to kind of keep myself from fainting, was the part in the middle there.
01:23Ultimately, when it matters, you need guys that are mentally and physically tough, that play with urgency, that are selfless, that play fast, that play competitive, and are violent.
01:30Violent.
01:31Violent.
01:31And he stressed violent, too.
01:32Yeah.
01:33And that's the thing about, I love the idea of the Texans trading down, not because they don't have a good grade on the player, but because ultimately, this guy just isn't violent enough.
01:44Yeah.
01:45And I do think, also, as good as Laramie Tunsil is, he's awesome, but he's more violent.
01:50He's more judo than he is Brazilian.
01:54He's just, he's a finesse player.
01:55He's not violent.
01:56So when it comes to getting the prototype player on offense and what we want, we want the offense to look more like the defense.
02:03I think they're really trying to get more towards just gritty, tough, like physical football players.
02:09I wonder, is that harder to identify on offense than it is on defense?
02:13I don't know.
02:14Well, on the offensive line, not necessarily.
02:16I feel like defense is an inherently more violent endeavor than offense is.
02:19I don't think so, because I think with receivers, you have, okay, do they actually like blocking and what's their run after the catch look like?
02:27Pukanukua, you watch him.
02:28You know, like it's going to be a different type of violence than a defensive player, but man, all right, that guy plays a lot of violence.
02:34Offensive linemen, are they just absolutely finishing and dominating guys in college?
02:39Tight ends.
02:40Do they have an appetite for blocking all of that?
02:41I don't know if it's a, it's a different type of violence, but I don't think it's as hard to identify.
02:46Might be harder for the average person to identify as opposed to a scout.
02:49Is that a good question?
02:50Is that, do you think we get a good answer from Casario if I asked him that?
02:53We should ask him about, well, he won't talk about Trevor Penning because he's a current player in the NFL.
02:57But he might have some good anecdotes about guys that Texans picked.
03:01Like with Trevor Penning, the Saints draft pick, who I despise because he liked to play the tough guy after the snap, which was fake violence.
03:09Yeah.
03:09Like there's, there's fake, there's fake tough guy stuff on, there's more fake tough guy stuff on offense than there is in defense.
03:15And sometimes scouts are fooled by it.
03:17Like they, these people were gushing about Trevor Lawrence, like as he was getting destroyed during an actual football play, but because he drove the guy down after he got destroyed during the actual play, it'd be like, oh, he's violent.
03:28Like, no, he's not.
03:29Yeah.
03:29He's a coward.
03:30Yep.
03:31Um, boy, Chris Long, we interviewed Nick the same day that Chris Long did that interview.
03:37And I'm like, I heard that question.
03:39I'm like, God, I wish we'd asked that.
03:40That was a great question.
03:41I've asked him that question before, but not in as good a way.
03:44I just love the way he said, do you just cross guys off your list?
03:47Well, the video helps a lot too.
03:48No, the answer we got out of him was that he, uh, flat out said that he gets excited when a guy runs a bad 40.
03:54You asked him that.
03:55That was a great answer.
03:55That was a, yeah, yeah.
03:57That was a great answer too.
03:58We got to have him on zoom.
03:59I don't know why we don't.
04:00Yeah.
04:00That's, um, it's funny.
04:01I've been talking to people about that.
04:03Yeah.
04:03We're, we're going to try to get that set up.
04:05Um, I think those interviews are still really good, but the zoom, I think the ability to see each other,
04:09but I don't know the thing about Chris, that's really like Chris will ask questions about the Texans where you're like, oh, wow.
04:15That's a really good point.
04:16But he does that for every team.
04:17So like, it's hard to do.
04:19It looks like when he, when he does an interview, he's asking questions that you, it's obvious that he's actually paid attention and watched and knows what he's doing as opposed to standard kind of, you know, what a lot of national media people do.
04:32Yeah, he's, he's really, really good.
04:34And by the way, if the Texan scouting staff is so good at identifying people who are football, sociopathic killers, they would make good FBI agents someday.
04:44Maybe James Lipford's career path isn't necessarily in football.
04:47Maybe he's going to be the head of the FBI.
04:48It wouldn't necessarily be good FBI.
04:50This is a thing though, but it's identifying.
04:52I knew you'd have a counterpoint to this.
04:53It's a certain type of violence.
04:55It's not just a brazen, uh, without violence type of, uh, or without discipline.
05:00Yeah, it has to be a disciplined violence.
05:03Yeah.
05:03It has to be like D'Amico.
05:04I bet they honestly, they go and look for guys who are like D'Amico.
05:07They go and look for guys who are ups, like upstanding citizens.
05:10But when they, when they flip the switch, same thing that make good soldiers or good firefighters or anything else.
05:18Like they're able to balance the actual life side versus what they do in their, in their given profession.
05:24Civilized savages.
05:25That's what I said the other day.
05:27Civilized savages.
05:28Are you ready to, with that as a lead in, now knowing the type of player that the Texans really like and how they vet them.
05:35Let's pick six of them in our circle of swarm for today.
05:38What we're looking for is players, right?
05:40Who are looking to swarm.
05:41The swarm mindset, that whole mentality.
05:43We want players to have a special work ethic and a relentless mindset in everything that they do.
05:48Everything that they do.
05:49Who's in?
05:50This is a special group of men.
05:51Believe it.
05:52It's the Payne and Pendergast Texans circle of swarm.
05:55Circle of swarm.
05:57And this one, I don't want to, I don't want to poison the water by putting out, you know, like, you know, by putting opinion into this thing before we even get to it.
06:05I'm just guessing that last week's post chief circle of swarm was all defense.
06:12Might be one of the first times all year and maybe even in the history of circle of swarm.
06:16I don't know.
06:16It's probably, it's been a lot.
06:17It's probably happened before this one, there'll be defense in it for sure, but it will not be nearly as lopsided.
06:25I don't think as last week's was offense put up 40 points and D'Amico Ryan's was very specifically critical of the defense this week.
06:35Yeah.
06:35So let's see if we can find six guys who were swarmy last week with a glance ahead at the Raiders game.
06:40Seth and I each pick three of the swarmiest Texans, Seth, I'm going to go, I'm going to go with this guy whose performance in this game was unfortunately put into the shadows.
06:52By training at best game of his season, uh, for the Cardinals, I'm going to say Dalton Schultz, who has been very, very steady.
07:02Um, and you know, it was revealed this week by Casario that, uh, it was something we all kind of knew, but assumed, but it sounds like his injury issues last year were even worse than maybe we thought.
07:14And he played through a lot of it and we've seen him play through a lot of injuries this year.
07:18And yet, especially as of late over these past few weeks is really just consistently produced.
07:22So Dalton Schultz produced.
07:24And I think he's been good in the run game too.
07:26He's, he's been a much better version of himself blocking.
07:28I'm not saying he's Gronkowski or anything, but he's not the liability that he had been at times last year.
07:33That's a good one.
07:33So Dalton Schultz is the first one in the circle of swarm.
07:38Um, I'm going to put your Jordan in the circle of swarm.
07:40Jawar Jordan, the first hundred yard rusher in, uh, in this season for the Texans, biggest rushing output of any debut in the history of the Texans, 101 yards.
07:52And people are going to remember his 50 yard carry.
07:55I thought he ran for some tough yards in this game.
07:57He didn't have any negative carries in this game.
08:00Um, he kept the chains moving the very last touchdown.
08:03He had a 10 yard run and a 12 yard run on that drive.
08:06They really leaned on him on that drive until they got inside the five yard line and decided to, for some reason, start running stupid.
08:12Daria Gumbawale plays down there.
08:14Um, I think George Jordan deserves to be in the circle of circle of swarm and trust the circle of swarm.
08:21Good job, Jawar.
08:22Or as, uh, Brian Baldinger calls him, Jahar, Jahar, which is, I mean, that's how it's spelled.
08:28That's how I remember how to spell it.
08:30It's a silent W.
08:30Yeah.
08:31Yep.
08:32Um, all right, you ready?
08:34I don't, I don't know why that tickled me.
08:37You're a, you're a hundred percent correct, but I don't think I've never ever heard of silent W before.
08:41I don't think.
08:41For Baldinger it was.
08:42Yeah.
08:43Um, uh, yeah, look, I'm going to go with this guy.
08:47Okay.
08:47And part of this is that I hope is a sign of things to come.
08:50Um, Ariante Ursary had the best PFF grade that he's had all season in that game.
08:55Look at you leaning on the PFF.
08:57For offensive linemen, I'm starting to acknowledge that.
09:00I think that's, that's where a lot of people say for offensive linemen, that's where the PFF.
09:03Welcome to the 20th century boomer.
09:06Yeah.
09:07With your, yeah.
09:08Letting number, letting, uh, supposed advanced analytics fuel bad takes because the analytics
09:13are bogus.
09:14But I think Ariante Ursary, who like many offensive linemen for the Texans had a rough day versus
09:19the, uh, the chiefs Ariante Ursary, uh, like we need to see more of that.
09:23So Ariante Ursary.
09:24Ariante Ursary in the circle of swarm.
09:26All right.
09:26So we've got, you've got two, I've got one, uh, I am going to, I'm going to put, I'm going
09:33to put CJ Stroud in the circle of swarm.
09:35CJ Stroud had a really, really good, consistent beginning to end game.
09:39I know there's some red zone issues again, but I like CJ had like, I mean, 22 of 29, 260
09:45yards and a touchdown.
09:46He continues to have, as he does this death by a thousand paper cuts and continues to
09:52evolve his decision-making, he still has three or four plays every game where you go, oh
09:57my God, there's like six guys on the planet that can make that throw.
10:00You know, like he's still the, the touchdown to Nico Collins, I think is one of them through
10:04a sea, a maze of hands.
10:06And it just lasers it to Nico Collins.
10:08And I liked that that was something that CJ said he and Nico saw on film before the game
10:12and they managed it and got the Texans off to what was a, their best start to a game
10:19of the season by far.
10:21And then the throat of Dalton Schultz and just the way CJ is operating right now.
10:25I'm really encouraged by the direction this is going.
10:28And I would hope he has another game like that.
10:30So I'm going to put CJ.
10:31I think that, um, this is one thing, uh, a stat that who knows how accurate this is or
10:39not, but it's comes with a graph and, uh, from a nerdy guy.
10:42And it's got this thing, uh, a staff for quarterback read progression distribution.
10:47Yeah.
10:48So how often are they hitting their first read versus their second read versus their
10:52check down or scramble?
10:53And CJ is ranked in weeks nine through 15, number one in progression rate.
10:59And I don't know exactly how they grade it, but other than it looks like CJ, CJ has his
11:05first read is not hitting the first reader, the designated receiver nearly as often as
11:10most quarterbacks.
11:11He's hitting his second read with a lot of regularity or his check down his scramble rate
11:17seems to be appropriate forever.
11:19They decide that all of that combines to make him number one in progression rate.
11:22So I, which speaks to me of a quarterback that's seeing the field and reading the defense pretty
11:27well, but he's also doing it as he's getting rid of the ball way faster than he has in his
11:32career. So I think this is kind of a tip of the cap to both CJ Stroud and Nick Cayley
11:36and how they've evolved in the defense is weeks nine through 15.
11:40How much do you trust what you're looking at right there?
11:41Oh, I'd say at about a 37.3% chance. It matches the eyeball test.
11:46Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm just, I don't trust how much they're evaluating every quarterback
11:50and knowing for sure who is for who the designated.
11:54My point. Yeah. Yeah. No, but, but the point is well taken that CJ is, is doing some really
11:59good things for sure. Um, all right. Last one for you. Oh, uh, swarm. You got Jalen,
12:05Jalen, Jalen Noel. Oh, the kick returns. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You gave me a response
12:10like that. Did I say the wrong name or something? No, no, no. I, I, what did I do? He had some
12:14nice returns in that game. No, he did. He had two nice returns. Look, this is a look, one
12:18of the last competitive games the Raiders played was versus the, the Jaguars. Raheem Mostert
12:23had two really nice returns in that game. And it was a reminder to me that, Hey,
12:27they got Raheem Mostert returning kicks, huh? Yeah. And, uh, and he hasn't done an incredible
12:32job of it or anything, but in that Jaguars game, they ended up taking the Jaguars to overtime
12:36partly because of these big returns by Raheem Mostert. So it made me think about Jalen
12:40Noel in the fact that he, maybe, maybe he's actually the, the full-time, uh, returner
12:46now. I'm not sure. Who knows? Uh, no, I think he is. They, they were all, I think on kick
12:50return, they were only putting him back there. Whereas they used to have two back there.
12:53Yeah. So I think, yeah, that's a go. Sorry. If I got a little inquisitive about Jalen.
12:58No, is it that bad of a pick Ben? No, it wasn't a bad pick at all. I just, I had forgotten
13:02that he had the two big kick returns. That's a good pick. Did you think Ben for a second
13:05that like, wait, Jalen Knowles on IR or something? No, here's okay. This is where I know you'll
13:09back me up. There's a lot of Jalen's on the team. Oh yeah. Yeah. You know, so they,
13:12Oh, so I said Jalen and you, you were waiting. Yeah. I thought, well, Petrie's always one
13:16you think of putting in there. I don't know that he did anything in this game that deserved
13:19it, but he's like a perennial. Now I thought just because he had to make some plays because
13:24the, the, the, the front seven, the front 10 I'll call them. Didn't always do their job
13:31as well as they typically do. So Kaelin Bullock. I put a defensive player in. Cause I feel like
13:37with the Texans for the offense to sweep the board, it's, we've been all offense and special
13:43teams here. I know when we're a little looked Domiko just flat out said that that wasn't up
13:47to their standards. We have a higher, we have a higher, like one of our listeners said, we treat
13:51D'Amico treats the team like he does his children. Like where there's one that you're always tougher
13:56on. Oh no, that's what he said. He treats the defense. Like there is boy and he treats his
14:02offense. Like it's his daughter. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to put this guy in anyways.
14:06He was on my list right here. He was the only one still left. Kamar Lasseter,
14:10Kamar Lasseter had the pick in the end zone. Kamar Lasseter had some nice support in the
14:14run game when they needed it. Kamar Lasseter was called by the GM on this show earlier this week,
14:19pound for pound, the toughest player on the team. Yeah. So Kamar Lasseter is going to make the circle
14:24of swarm this week. The interception alone is enough. Sean, your, your response wasn't, uh,
14:29inappropriate or anything. Your facial response to me is just, it's the exact same look you give
14:33when I say the wrong name and it's like somebody who's on IR and has been since August or something.
14:38I say the wrong name and you're like, well, he's, um, he's actually playing for the Seahawks now,
14:42Seth. It's, it's funny. No, you, the reason I probably made that look is when I, when I go
14:46to do the circle of swarm, I am looking at the box score and I never get down to kick return.
14:51I didn't even think to, I didn't have Jalen Knoll, like on my list right here. I'm like,
14:54Jalen Knoll. I'm like, oh yeah, that's right. He had, he only had two kickoff returns.
14:59He averaged 54 yards on the two, and the 69 yard kickoff return was awesome.
15:03That was really cool. All right. So the circle of swarm for this week,
15:06Dalton Schultz, Jawar Jordan, Ariante Urseri, CJ Stroud, Jalen Knoll. I don't know if we have
15:16any newbies on there. Jawar Jordan obviously is a new one, but that's a lot of guys who are still
15:20trying to climb the charts. No, Will Anderson. No, uh, yeah. And I thought about putting Will
15:26Anderson in specifically because he didn't talk to the media afterwards. Um, just because just to
15:31piss off the media types that I look, he was upset that he, he was upset that he had a donut
15:37in production. And I know a lot of people thought, oh, he's upset because he didn't get a sack or
15:41anything. It's more nuanced than that. I think if he was upset about his, his play, it wasn't that
15:47he didn't get a sack. It's that he didn't feel like he was playing up to his standards. You know,
15:52he was disappointed in himself. It wasn't an ego type thing. Uh, it was just that he was,
15:57he was upset with, that's how I choose to interpret it for sure. And if he doesn't want to
16:01talk to the media, everybody go die. Okay. Nobody's been friendlier with the media than
16:05Will Anderson. Right. Yeah. It's like all of a sudden there's like, oh, will Anderson. You've
16:09never been anything but pleasant and delightful. And just the incredible, everything that I want
16:14in a football player. But this one time, because you're upset with your performance, you don't
16:17talk to the media. How, how could you do this to us? Everybody's entitled to a bad day.
16:22You just can't have a ton of them strung together in a row.
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