00:00Here was Nick Casario. You want to set this up?
00:02You had this on the Greenlight pod.
00:04This was on the Greenlight podcast with Chris Long.
00:07And Chris Long, impressed by the Texans.
00:11He's always speaking very highly, especially of the Texans' defense.
00:14But asking Nick Casario about what their personnel selection process looks like in the draft and what have you.
00:19I was going to ask you straight out.
00:21Do you take lazy people off your board or something?
00:23Because you don't have any players that take plays off.
00:26Do you strike through guys that you see on tape and say, hey, if he's picking and choosing, I don't want him?
00:31We're very discerning in that respect, Chris.
00:33We'll absolutely remove or eliminate players regardless of how, quote-unquote, talented they are or they're perceived to be.
00:41Because 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.
00:49So we're not afraid to eliminate players.
00:52Understanding they're going to be on other teams.
00:54We're probably going to play against them.
00:55That's okay.
00:56Like, we understand that.
00:57But we also understand what's required and what the expectation and the standard is on a day-to-day basis.
01:03So our responsibility is who are those players that fit that profile.
01:08And that's where our scouting was trade characteristics.
01:12But we absolutely will eliminate players if we don't feel like they're a fit for our building.
01:15So two things popped out at me as I was listening to that.
01:18And the first one I thought of was when Casario had said before the draft this year that their board is probably smaller than a lot of teams.
01:24I do think that some teams just have a – they have more latitude in whether they'll accept guys that either have this character issue or that whatever issue or whatever it might be.
01:35I think for the Texans, a big part of it is just simply the part that got me most excited was the last word in the middle part.
01:42But 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.
01:50Violent!
01:51He said that with a little extra pizzazz, if I can use a Rich Eisen word.
01:56Yeah.
01:57Pizzazz.
01:58A little pizzazz.
01:58I got – Casario doesn't talk away – he's not scared to use the word violent because he's talking about football violence, obviously.
02:06Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:07But they've done a good job of finding guys who have an appetite for football violence but who also are also good disciplined football players.
02:15It's easy to find a Vontaze Perfect type.
02:18The guy who's just got a – he's got a loose wire, but he's also violent.
02:22But, yeah, I shouldn't say it's easy to find a Vontaze Perfect, but a Vontaze Perfect type, they're out there.
02:29They're out there.
02:30Yeah, there's plenty of dirty players out there.
02:32But I think also, though, there's a lot of really talented players, and maybe they'll be good in the NFL, but if they don't fit that mold of,
02:38we want guys that are going to physically impose their will and play with a certain level of violence, they've done a really good job on the offensive side of identifying those guys.
02:47Yep.
02:47All right, did I say offense?
02:48My defense is making progress on the offensive side.
02:54That's what I was going to ask you.
02:55Where are we at?
02:56You know, if the defense is the fully built deaths are, what is the offense right now?
03:00We need C.J. Stroud to be a little bit more violent.
03:02Okay.
03:03No, I'm joking.
03:03I was – it's hard for a quarterback.
03:05I think there are people that feel like C.J. is – I don't know what the word is.
03:09Like, he's – not that he doesn't have dog in him, but, like, that he's very low-key, you know?
03:15Yeah, I think that's just – a quarterback's a completely different position.
03:17Oh, okay, okay.
03:18Yeah, that's – that's one of those classic things that it's a strength or a weakness, depending on how the team is doing.
03:23Yeah.
03:23Remember Eli Manning, how by the end of his career, he's just so calm, cool, and collected.
03:27Yeah.
03:28The first three years of his career, I think this guy's just dumb.
03:31He doesn't care.
03:32Look at the stupid look on his face.
03:33Right, right, right, yeah.
03:34So, I think that –
03:35The results shape the narrative.
03:37Yeah, I take quarterback out of it.
03:38But I think that, like, some of the offensive guys, especially – well, if you look at – and this is before D'Amico got here, but Xavier Hutchinson – wait, was that D'Amico's first draft?
03:49That was D'Amico's first draft.
03:50He came in with CJ.
03:51Yeah.
03:51I think some of those guys that aren't even the – that don't necessarily have the physical traits have a certain physicality about him.
03:57Nico was here before D'Amico, but he's very much the epitome of the type of guy they want.
04:01Yeah.
04:02Where he is – he is strong and physical, and especially with the ball in his hands, he gets after it.
04:07Dalton Schultz would be an interesting one because he doesn't – he's not an imposing blocker.
04:12He does try to block, but there is an element of Dalton Schultz that surprises you where when his run after the catch, especially as the season winds down and in the playoffs, he's pretty consistently had some good – he's trucked some guys in the playoffs.
04:26The offensive line is the really interesting one because I think – and there's guys who – they want to be physical.
04:33I just don't know how physically gifted all of them are for it, and that's where, as time goes on over these next couple years, hopefully – you know, I think Ariante,
04:42Ariante Urseri is wired that way, and he's going to continue to get better.
04:45Ariante Urseri has more of a desire for the physical side of the game than Laramie Tunsil did.
04:51How high would you prioritize offensive line in the draft this year?
04:55Okay, so if we're going to do our mock draft injection right now, it's still way up there.
04:59It's way up there.
05:00Yeah.
05:00And they've got – they've got three picks that are in, like, the top – well, their second-round pick is getting lower and lower because they keep winning games.
05:08But that Washington pick is going to be one of the first eight or nine picks in the second round, which I was told a few years ago is basically a cheaper first-round pick.
05:18Yeah, even better than a first-round pick because it's cheaper.
05:21Yeah.
05:22But it's the same guys.
05:23Yeah.
05:23Like, wait, no, didn't some of the guys you want go off the board late in the first – yeah, but this is cheaper.
05:29It's cheaper.
05:29We really wanted Ross Blacklock.
05:31Yeah.
05:31That's like some speech I'd be giving to my wife about why we didn't get the car we wanted.
05:35Yeah, exactly.
05:36But this one's actually – the Ford Focus is actually way better than those other vehicles.
05:40It's a cheaper Porsche.
05:41Yes.
05:42Yeah.
05:43That's what it is.
05:44No, I think that there's – like, Ed Reed's been a good signing, and he's done way, way better than I expected him to.
05:54Ed Reed.
05:55Not Ed Reed.
05:56That was Ed Ingram.
05:57Ed Ingram.
05:58Yeah, yeah.
05:58But I think, like, Jake Andrews, Titus Howard at left guard, you can get Titus Howard back out to right tackle.
06:06Yeah, that's going to be interesting.
06:08The interior three is still necessarily have an awesome future with right now.
06:13Okay, so this is clearly the five they've settled on as being the best five for this season.
06:18For now, yeah.
06:18For now.
06:19For now.
06:20I'd rather have – and, like, hey, I'd rather – you're talking about the depth of the offensive line, too.
06:25I'm not super enthusiastic about Blake Fisher and his role as the sixth offensive line.
06:30Right, right.
06:30So, that – so, going into the offseason here, so, we know Ariante Urser is going to be around a long time.
06:35Titus Howard will be here in some capacity.
06:36Yeah.
06:37I think Jake Andrews, of the five that they've settled on, Jake Andrews, Ed Ingram, and Trent Brown are question marks about what their future is with the Texans.
06:45Yeah, and I think that – I also, though, want to give some of the younger guys time to be in this system for an entire year
06:52and see how Cole Popovich being the coach affects some – even the guys like Juice Scruggs.
06:58Yeah.
06:58Because I just – man, I haven't had a conversation with anybody yet from the Texans that thought Chris Strausser was good for the Texans offensive line.
07:08So, you had an offensive line coach working with a young offensive lineman for a couple of years,
07:13and those guys might have just not made the progress that you should have seen out of them.
07:19So, there's still room in my mind for Jarrett Patterson or Juice Scruggs or some of these guys
07:23to maybe be a much better version of what we saw from them in the last couple years.
07:28Yeah, well, sometimes it's not even that they haven't been getting good coaching.
07:31And you've got to, you know, coach them up to get them moving in a positive direction.
07:36You've got to coach them out of some of the things they were coached to do before.
07:39Yeah.
07:39And that takes a long time sometimes.
07:41Yeah, and I mean, when we saw Jarrett Patterson early in the year,
07:43I thought he performed better than I expected him to.
07:45When he left guard, right?
07:47Yeah.
07:47Yeah, I did too.
07:48So, there's – maybe – remember, Dwayne Brown, it took a few years for him to catch on,
07:54and that was when he had Alex Gibbs as his coach.
07:56Yep.
07:57So, there is still – you see the physical potential in some of those guys.
08:01They've made progress this year, and the offense playing more like them in the mold of the defense.
08:08They're just obviously not on that same level yet.
