00:00All right, so the Texans, boy, you know, Twitter puts these charts out.
00:06And the NFL.com ranks all 32 teams in how they stack up with offseason resources
00:13to make their roster better.
00:16And I get a little nervous when I see this stuff with the Texans
00:19because I do feel like, ooh, you know, they spent a lot of money.
00:22They've got a lot of money shoved into voidable years in the salary cap.
00:25I don't get too nerdy about that.
00:26I was pleasantly surprised, Seth, to see them.
00:29A couple of things.
00:30Tied for 12th in the amount of resources they have to reshape the roster.
00:36They're 23rd in cap space as of right now.
00:40They're 8th in draft capital.
00:42The thing that I was happy about with that is that if I were to choose
00:49which of the two things that I have less of as of February 16th
00:5316th or whatever this is, 17th, I would rather be 23rd in cap space
00:58and 8th in draft capital than vice versa because it's hard to get draft capital.
01:02Your draft capital is what it is.
01:04You can open up cap space.
01:06They can create more cap space.
01:08You know, there won't be 23rd in cap space forever.
01:11Right, and they're not – they're not – in 2027 and 2028,
01:16they're in, like, the top three in a good way of having the most cap space.
01:21Yeah.
01:22So, which makes it really, really easy space.
01:25You're not really – you're not really making yourself uncomfortable in the future
01:28or anything.
01:29So, for all intents and purposes, they've got as much cap space as they need to do
01:33whatever they want.
01:34Yeah.
01:34In my mind, they're a top 10 team in terms of resources because I think they can get
01:39more cap space there.
01:40So, I was excited about that.
01:41Well, and the good thing, too, is that, by and large, you've got some flexibility on –
01:46let's say, hypothetically, they really want to draft some offensive linemen.
01:51And you know what Nick does.
01:52Nick will – he'll say that they don't draft by need, but what he does do is maneuver
01:57around to the point where they're not drafting a guy at a specific position just to draft
02:03an offensive lineman if there's not actually any highly graded offensive lineman there.
02:08So, that's when he starts trading back, potentially getting to the spot where he wants to.
02:12So, it's very possible that the Texans will draft two offensive linemen with their first
02:17couple of picks.
02:18And the nice thing about it is, A, they really – they could use as many interior offensive
02:23linemen as they can get.
02:25Now, maybe they re-sign Ed Ingram, and that makes it a little bit simpler.
02:28But also, they can still draft an offensive tackle as long as Titus Howard is genuinely cool
02:34with moving down to guard or back out to tackle the way they've used them the last few years.
02:40There's some flexibility there.
02:41So, there might be a guy where, all right, he's an offensive goal.
02:45We feel really good about him, but we don't really need an offensive tackle right now.
02:48Well, you can move Titus Howard down to guard.
02:50Or, if it's a guy that is an offensive tackle but could also play guard, then you move him
02:55down there.
02:56So, I think they're in a really good position to draft an offensive tackle in the first round,
03:02perhaps, or one of the really highly graded guards.
03:04But then the better centers and guards, you can find a lot of the best prospects at center
03:10and guard in the second round.
03:11Yes.
03:12So, the first and second round picks, if that's what they end up having, I think it's a very
03:17good chance you get a couple of offensive linemen out there.
03:19Yeah.
03:19And for those who don't know, right now, they've got picks 28 in the first round, 28 overall.
03:24And then they have two second round picks, 38th overall and 59th overall.
03:28And then they've got, I believe, the Giants pick from the Jackson Dart trade in the early
03:33third round at 69.
03:34So, I think they've got four of the top 69 picks.
03:40I would put those numbers in pencil right now because we know they're not staying at at
03:44least one or two of those spots.
03:45Nick likes to move around a lot.
03:47As far as the free agents go, defensive line is the most interesting one to me because they've
03:54got, they've got a lot of vets who are free agents.
03:57These are all older players.
03:58Danico Autry, Derek Barnett, Tim Settle, Sheldon Rankins, Foley Fadakasi, who's been, he was
04:04basically injured most of the last year.
04:06The other four guys all did really good things at various times this year.
04:11And so, how does that get valued, not just by the Texans, but how does that get valued
04:16on the open market?
04:18Right.
04:18You know, someone willing to obey Tim Settle, who before he got hurt, was having a really
04:23impactful year for the Texans.
04:25I think that, A, the fact that the Texans now have demonstrated they're pretty good at
04:31getting the best out of some of the defensive tackles that they sign.
04:36And then, the fact that, look, you're talking about five guys there, potentially, that are
04:42free agents.
04:43There's a really good chance that you re-sign one of them to something reasonable and feel
04:48pretty good about all those guys.
04:50I think there's, that they might, you know, when you go with the defensive tackles alone
04:56with Sheldon Rankins and Foley Fadakasi, Tim Settle, I think they retain at least one of
05:02those guys, and I don't know if they even try to retain two or three of them, depending
05:08on what they do in free agency elsewhere, and perhaps what they feel about the draft.
05:12Maybe they're going to draft somebody and move it.
05:14Because Tommy Togiai is just a revelation this year.
05:16He's signed up.
05:17He's locked in for him.
05:17Makes it a lot easier to lose a few of these other guys.
05:20Yep.
05:20I don't think, Danico Autry was on a deal that was paying him about $10 million a year.
05:24I just don't think he's getting that at his age.
05:27He's got a bit of an injury history now.
05:28He's 35 years old.
05:29Yeah, yeah.
05:29And he hasn't, the Texans didn't get the dollar value out of his deal, but it was nice to
05:36have him out there when he was out there.
05:38When he was out there.
05:39Yeah, and in hindsight, yeah, could have spent that money elsewhere.
05:42I think Barnett has settled in as one of these one-year, reasonable number-a-million-dollar
05:47guys who likes it in Houston.
05:49I know he likes it in Houston, and he lives in my building, and I've talked to him.
05:52He likes it in Houston.
05:54That would be a guy, and he's one of the perfect type of guys to give you the other 20
06:01% of
06:01the snaps that you need to back, you know, to give Will Anderson and Daniil Hunter a blow.
06:05You sent me a text right before the Super Bowl that when I first read it, I read it as
06:11that
06:11Derek Barnett was dropping off your Super Bowl food.
06:15Like, he'd gone out and gotten your Super Bowl food.
06:18Yeah.
06:18And I was like, that is an enterprising young man there.
06:20No, no.
06:21He's working DoorDash in the offseason just because he likes staying busy.
06:24That is, that's, I like that.
06:26That is swarmy.
06:27So what happened was I was going on Super Bowl Sunday, going to get our, mine and Amy's Super
06:32Bowl food.
06:33Yeah.
06:34And I was walking back into the building, so I had a few bags from Kroger, and I had some
06:37wings, and I was walking, and I got on the elevator the same time as Derek Barnett,
06:42and we talked going up the elevator a little bit, you know, I mean, it's like, wish you
06:45guys were playing in this game.
06:46So do I, that, you know, that sort of stuff.
06:50And, and, you know, he loves Houston, all that.
06:52And yeah, I texted Seth out of excitement.
06:54I'm like, hey, I just wrote up with Derek Barnett, and this is, you know, we chit-chatted,
06:57and because of my lack of punctuation and my poor wording, it made it sound like Derek Barnett
07:03was like a DoorDash driver who was bringing me our Super Bowl food.
07:08It wasn't that bad.
07:09I was just being a jerk to you at the time.
07:11Yeah, I mean, because I responded, oh, that's cool, and it was nice of him to pick up your
07:14Super Bowl food.
07:14Well, how did I word it?
07:15Read the text.
07:16He wrote it, I wrote up the elevator with Derek Barnett coming back from picking up our
07:20Super Bowl food.
07:21He wants to be back next year badly.
07:28That is what it sounds like.
07:29Boy, Derek Barnett was coming back from picking up your Super Bowl food.
07:32Hey, man, five million doesn't.
07:33That is cool of him.
07:34Five million doesn't go as far as you think anymore, you know?
07:37Well, if you were just running to Derek Barnett, and he's like, hey, Derek, you don't look
07:43like you're all that busy.
07:44Why don't you run over and get my Super Bowl food?
07:45Can you go pick up my wings over at Mia's?
07:47Yeah.
07:47And then you ran into him because you were going down the elevator wondering why was it
07:52taking you so much time?
07:53Where the hell is he?
07:53Why was it taking you so much time?
07:55I ran into him as he was bringing it back.
07:57That's right.
07:57That's right.
07:58So I say all that to say I would love to have Derek Barnett back for another year coming
08:03off the edge for the Texans.
08:05Settle or Rankins?
08:06You got to pick one.
08:08Oh.
08:09You got to add a reasonable, obviously at a price that you're okay with.
08:12Oh, that's a tough one.
08:13Oh, man.
08:15Sheldon Rankins, I think, for consistency.
08:18Boy, I really like Tim Settle, though, too.
08:19And I feel like there's still upside with Tim Settle.
08:22It took Tim Settle until his second year to kind of really, pardon the pun, but really
08:27just settle in and know exactly what they wanted from him.
08:31He had to get his body weight under control.
08:33I keep thinking, though, of Tim Settle as a young guy.
08:37And I'm going to guess he's actually headed into, what, his eighth year or so?
08:40Yeah, he's been around since the teens, I think, since the 20 teens.
08:44No, you know what, though?
08:45But he's only 28 years old.
08:47Okay.
08:47So he's still a young guy.
08:49Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:50And that's a position that ages pretty well, too, I would say.
08:54Yeah, and no, and the push that he got up the middle and everything else, hmm, I would
08:59still go with Sheldon Rankins just because of the consistency in his career.
09:02Let's just go with both.
09:03Let's just be decadent and go with both.
09:05Let's just spend, man.
09:08Spend a little bit.
09:08I like, you know, hmm, they would, at times what they missed was having guys that could
09:17rush the passer, but we're also big body guys to stop the run.
09:21Yeah.
09:21And I think that's what you get with Tim Settle.
09:23It's a nice thing about him is that he gets a lot of good vertical penetration, but he's
09:28also, he's a big dude.
09:30Yeah.
09:30And he's also.
09:31He's in that position like, like Jonathan Alexander said.
09:33We hit that mock draft earlier.
09:35Yeah, no, I heard you guys.
09:36Yeah.
09:36I heard you guys.
09:37Yeah.
09:37I would say, I would say Tim Settle based on youth, I suppose.
09:40Okay.
09:40Yeah.
09:41I don't think it was a bad answer.
09:42They were both really good for the Texans last year.
09:44Um, I'd like one of them back at least.
09:46Sheldon's going to be 32 and, uh, or his Tim Settle's only 28.
09:51Yeah.
09:51Yeah.
09:51That's, that's, uh, that's, that's a good one.
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