- 1 day ago
Seth and Sean discuss which notable free agent Running Backs are still on the table after Javonte Williams re-signed with the Cowboys, and react to what the shows on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland had to say from the other side of the CJ Stroud trade smoke.
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00:00So, um, cross off Javante Williams on the free agent running back list for the Texans.
00:05We didn't get to this in headlines.
00:06He's stupid.
00:07We'll get to it here.
00:08No, no, no, no, no.
00:09It's he, the Cowboys signed it now.
00:12You know, I don't know.
00:13I did.
00:14I just know that he's under contract now.
00:16I don't know what the intelligence level is or anything like that.
00:18Um, he re-signs with the Cowboys three years.
00:22I think this is the important part of your Texan fan.
00:24It's not that Javante Williams isn't available because there are other guys available.
00:28Um, he had a really good season last year.
00:30Definite prove it season.
00:31He had signed a one year, $3 million deal with the Cowboys.
00:34Cowboys bringing him back three years, 24 million, 16 million guaranteed.
00:40That is a, uh, that is a sandbox that the Texans should be able to play in when it comes
00:44to signing
00:45a veteran running back.
00:46If that's the route that they choose.
00:47That looks like a Nick Casario type of contract too, with a boatload of guaranteed money.
00:53Um, you know, on a shorter deal, like running backs don't get longer term deals.
00:57To begin with.
00:58But I, yeah, I think by virtue of what they did a couple of years ago, Joe Mixon, they
01:02were very aggressive in going out and getting a running back.
01:05They couldn't get Derrick Henry or Saquon Barkley, but they went out and got, uh, a top
01:10five running back that off season by way of trading for Joe Mixon and then extending his
01:14contract on a deal that looks almost identical to that one.
01:17Yeah.
01:17His deal, I think it was three years, 27 million.
01:20And he had two of the years guaranteed.
01:21I mean, this is a, depending on a few of these guys, we made franchise, uh, uh, franchise
01:27tagged or transition tagged or what have you.
01:29But I mean, there's a lot of running backs out there that I would not turn my nose up
01:34at.
01:34I, uh, Kenneth Walker and Brees Hall, Travis ETN are probably the biggest names, but there's
01:40a lot of bona fide.
01:41There's Rico Daudle, Daudle.
01:42There's Tyler Algier.
01:44What's he look like if he, you know, Tyler Algier might be in that sweet spot of he's been
01:49playing in the shadow of Bichon Robinson, if he can go somewhere else and be more of
01:53a prominent role, then is he, does he continue that same level of performance with extra carries?
02:00Yeah.
02:00The Texans got him.
02:01I don't know if the carries would even have to go up all that much.
02:04It would be him and Woody Marks and possibly draw Jordan and whomever else had a tag team
02:09in it.
02:09So that Algier, I wouldn't be surprised if that's more of the price range that the Texans
02:14are looking at.
02:15Yeah.
02:15The names you just rattled off, if I, if I had to, if I'm looking at those names, you
02:19know, again, Javante Williams gets three years, 24 million, 16 million guaranteed.
02:23So let's just keep it simple for purposes of radio conversation and say he's getting
02:278 million a year.
02:28Um, and I, if I had to guess the ones that you just named, I would say Kenneth Walker
02:35is going to get more than that.
02:36Cause if you recall two years ago when it was a really, really star studded class, Saquon
02:41Barkley got 13 million a year.
02:43Now Saquon's getting almost 20 million a year cause he was an offensive player of the
02:46year.
02:47You know, they extended him, but when he was a free agent, like these guys are, he got
02:5113 million.
02:52Josh Jacobs got 12 million.
02:54I feel like Kenneth Walker, the third Brie saw, I'll throw Travis Etienne and Etienne in
02:59there as well.
03:00I feel like those guys are probably going to be a little pricier than Javante Williams,
03:04just because of injury history.
03:06If nothing else, Javante Williams up until this past year, the Cowboys had a wicked injury
03:10history.
03:11Um, but I feel like they're not going to get as much as the stars were getting a couple
03:15of years ago.
03:16I'd like to feel like around nine, 10 million a year for Walker Hall and Etienne feels about
03:22right.
03:22And I wonder, you know, okay, so does that, is that something that, that Nick Casario is
03:28interested in?
03:29Um, the Rico doubt, and even though Rico doubt, he'll had some big games this year for the
03:34Carolina Panthers.
03:35I don't think he's got the long track record that those other guys do.
03:39Yeah.
03:39Algier, same thing.
03:40Like you said, Algier, you know, look, Algier, Atlanta saw fit to draft a running back in
03:46the first round with Algier on the roster.
03:48So that kind of indicate granted it's B. John Robinson, but that kind of indicates where
03:52he falls in this whole thing.
03:54So to me, it comes down to, I think for sure, Nick Casario is going to be kicking tires on
03:58all of these guys.
03:59It's just a question of what aisle a, what aisle do they want to shop in Seth and B, how
04:04do they feel about the draft class and their ability with their draft capital to get a young
04:10running back who they feel can impact the team the same way these guys do.
04:14Cause whatever you're drafting at running back, if that's the route you choose to go, that
04:17person has to be a contributor right away.
04:19Right.
04:19They have to be.
04:20It's non-negotiable.
04:21And if you're, you know, you don't want to go into the draft feeling like you have to
04:25draft a running back.
04:26True.
04:27If they don't sign one of these guys, you enter the draft in that precarious position
04:31of, oh, all right, we've got to draft this player if we actually want to have a competent
04:36football team, or at least we really should.
04:38And then that hamstrings you in terms of your ability to take best player available.
04:42If you're, I'm just looking at one ranking of free agents, uh, free agent running backs
04:46right now, just by way of loose comparison, Nick Chubb is ranked 16th out of those guys.
04:52And I would say, yeah, almost every guy I look at on this list is somebody that I would
04:59feel better about headed into the season than with Nick Chubb.
05:02Nick Chubb, I really respect the way he operated this year.
05:04He's coming back from that brutal knee injury a couple of years ago.
05:07He's up in age.
05:08There's only so much he's going to do.
05:09But if you had to ask me, okay, would you prefer Nick Chubb or Rico Dowdle, uh, Tyler
05:13Algier, not Jay, not Jay Harris is a tricky one.
05:17Um, JK Dobbins.
05:19Like those are, yes, the, the there's, there's upgrades to be had and then you could still
05:23draft a running back.
05:24Yeah.
05:24They're higher ceilings than, than this version of Nick Chubb for sure.
05:27Now this Javante Williams signing, Seth was an important step in the Sean Pendergast pipe
05:33dream of Jeremiah love falling to a place in the draft that Nick Casario could feasibly
05:40move up and get him.
05:41Because I think you and I were both in agreement on this on, on Friday last week.
05:45We, the mock, the mock draft injection we did, I think it was Charles Davis had Jeremiah
05:49love dropping all the way to 18th.
05:51And you and I were like, well, Jerry Jones is not going to let that happen at 12.
05:56If Jeremiah loves sitting there at 12, I would say signing Javante Williams makes it far less
06:02likely that that happens.
06:03So that's good.
06:04Oh, that's a good, yeah.
06:05That's good.
06:05Yeah.
06:06That is good.
06:07Yeah.
06:07That's I, um, I, I have to keep cautioning myself when I think about what I want the Texans
06:11to draft is that we haven't had free agency yet.
06:14Yeah.
06:14Um, but also in looking at the draft.
06:16Yeah.
06:16A lot of these, a lot of these teams are, you're worried about are kind of taking care of
06:20their business.
06:20They might.
06:21Yeah, they might be.
06:22That's good.
06:23Um, word on the street is the Packers are going to be cutting edge.
06:25It's Edgerton Jenkins.
06:27They're a former guard, most recently center veteran guy.
06:32Um, he's set to make $18 million next year.
06:37The reason I'm bringing this up is a, the Texans have a need at interior offensive line.
06:43B Jenkins was a much better guard than he was a center.
06:46He wasn't a bad center, but he was a pretty good guard.
06:48He's older.
06:49Um, C we know that when teams are getting ready to cut guys, we've seen Nick Casario say,
06:55Hey, here's a seventh round pick.
06:58We'll take on his $18 million contract.
06:59We saw him do it with Mixon.
07:01Some do with Christian Kirk.
07:03We saw him do it with CJ Gardner Johnson.
07:06I would be more excited about this.
07:09If he traded for this guy, who's making a lot of money.
07:12Does he only have one year left on his one year left on his deal?
07:14Yeah.
07:15I'd be more excited about this one than Christian Kirk.
07:17Oh yeah.
07:18At least.
07:18Yeah.
07:19Yeah.
07:19And it's about the same amount of money too.
07:21So yeah.
07:22Um, so that's a name.
07:23I think he's going to be 31 next year.
07:25It sounds right.
07:26He's not an old, old guard or anything.
07:27It sounds right.
07:28That's the sweet spot for getting the guy that's past his prime, but it's like it's,
07:31it's guard, you know, it just, just be competent.
07:34Damn it.
07:34Yep.
07:35Um, so we've talked plenty on this show.
07:38We'll do acknowledge me in about 10 minutes.
07:40Um, we'll circle back to the U S Olympic hockey team in acknowledge me.
07:44Um, but we've heard a lot of chatter from nugget hussies, draft experts, people saying that
07:52teams should call the Houston Texans to ask about CJ Stroud to be clear.
07:57None of these people that I, best I can tell are reporting that, um, that teams are calling
08:03the Texans or that the Texans are shopping CJ Stroud.
08:06It's just your, your typical late February in between the Superbowl and the combine speculation
08:12that goes on up in Cleveland.
08:14I would say that should do.
08:18They still got a quarterback need in Cleveland.
08:20Should door did some good things at the end of the year in the seven games that he was
08:23in.
08:24And I know the should door people will say that he deserves to have the job handed to him
08:28right now.
08:28That's certainly not the case at the very least he needs to, and probably will be in a competition
08:33Um, this is what some of the CJ Stroud chatter sounds like from the other side.
08:37This is 92, three, the fan in Cleveland, our sister station, their midday show is Baskin
08:41and Phelps, Annie Baskin and Jeff Phelps.
08:44This is Baskin saying he would not.
08:47And keep in mind, the Browns have the sixth overall pick and the 24th overall pick in the
08:51draft from the day.
08:53The 24th pick is Jacksonville's from the Travis Hunter trade.
08:56Sixth is their own from being bad.
08:59Baskin is saying, I would not give up the sixth overall pick for CJ Stroud.
09:02I'm not a gigantic CJ Stroud fan.
09:05I don't know that I was at Ohio state.
09:08I don't know that I have been, you know, in his NFL career, his numbers have gone backwards
09:13over the last two years since he is.
09:15He's not played as well as he has work here.
09:17Now, if for some reason what's going on in Houston is non-football related and it's transferring
09:23itself onto the field, maybe I take another look at this.
09:26Maybe people who could do a little bit more insight into this could do it.
09:29I just, I'm, I'm just not a gigantic fan and I'm definitely not trading the number six
09:35pick to go out and get him.
09:36Well, that's good because we're not taking the number six pick for CJ Stroud.
09:40Yeah.
09:41There's no solution there to replace him at number six.
09:43Right, right.
09:44This is not the draft or the year to be doing anything like that.
09:47Even if the Texans were out on CJ, if the Texans are, let's say hypothetically, the Texans
09:51are skeptical on CJ Stroud.
09:53It's just, I, I don't, I don't see the avenue where that makes any sense still to even trade
10:00it.
10:00You still, without giving him one more year, there's nobody, there's no young person in
10:04the draft right now that you're going to be able to get your hands on that you should
10:07reasonably be able to feel like, oh yeah, he's, he's got a really good chance of being
10:11better than CJ Stroud.
10:12Correct.
10:13So if you go out and, and again, okay, well you use that number six pick on somebody else
10:18position player of what have you, but you still got to find a quarterback and none of
10:22the options out there are really, what do I want, Kirk Cousins out here for a year or
10:26two?
10:26Maybe.
10:27I don't know.
10:27No, no, no chance.
10:29And, and Jeff Phelps, Andy Baskin's co-host kind of checks him on that a little bit here.
10:33He's been the quarterback of teams, Andy, since he's been in the NFL that have gone 10 and
10:41seven, 10 and seven and 12 and five.
10:45Okay.
10:46He's also had some pretty good players around him, especially wide receivers, which we would
10:51kill for around here.
10:52Most teams do.
10:52But he's also gone backwards in touchdown passes.
10:55He went from 23 to 20 to 19, which would be nice.
11:00Nico Collins was injured part of last year and tanked illness the entire season.
11:03All right.
11:04You have your, your view on this and I'll have mine.
11:06I'm just, I'm not giving up the number six.
11:08I, if he came here, would I be disappointed?
11:10No, but I'm not giving up the number six pick for him in this year's draft.
11:15He was the number two pick when he was taken.
11:18Number two pick in the draft.
11:20I'd give up 24 in a heartbeat for CJ Stroud.
11:24I'd be more tempted to give up 24 than I would six.
11:27I'll just tell you that.
11:28Okay.
11:28Well, that's the, okay.
11:29So this is the thing.
11:30Eureka.
11:30I'll get, and I'll credit a lot of Browns fans for asking the pertinent question and all
11:35of this as Browns fans, which, who, by the way, a lot of them just don't want anything
11:39to do with another trade for a Houston quarterback.
11:41Cause look at how, there's that still got one on the roster.
11:45You guys need to prove that you can do this on your own or at least botch it on your
11:50own
11:50with your own picks instead of trading for Deshaun Watson or CJ Stroud.
11:54But I think that the pertinent question is always, all right, wait a second.
11:58If the Texans are willing to give up CJ Stroud for just one first round pick, number six or
12:04number 24, what's, there's something wrong with CJ Stroud.
12:08There's nothing, CJ Stroud has played well enough over the course of three seasons.
12:12And then particularly where the stats and the total touchdowns and everything don't
12:16tell the whole picture is just some of the clutch plays CJ has made in the fourth quarter,
12:21how he's managed in the regular season with the football this year and everything.
12:25So yeah, that's the, I would almost, if the Texans gave up CJ Stroud for that little,
12:32I would have to assume that there's something behind the scenes that we don't know about.
12:36I would agree with you.
12:37And that's not me sitting here saying that, oh, CJ Stroud's definitely going to be an all
12:40pro next year or anything.
12:42It's just, it's hard to find, it's hard to find young quarterbacks who play the way CJ
12:46Stroud has for the last three years.
12:47No doubt.
12:48And there's just, there's no reason to abandon the hope for CJ Stroud, at least in this upcoming
12:54season.
12:55You have to play it out at least one more year.
12:57If the Texans were to let him go for a single first round pick, then there's something that we
13:01don't know.
13:02Absolutely.
13:03And there's no reason to believe right now that, that, that, that thing is there.
13:05No, that's a great observation.
13:07Their afternoon show in, in Cleveland on 92.3, I think had a much more pain and Pendergast view
13:13on this thing.
13:14I think they, they, they basically said what that, oh my God, if we do either of those
13:19deals, six or 24, we're stealing CJ Stroud.
13:23If he became available, Texans would be dumber than sin to do it.
13:28If he became available, there's no singular draft pick price.
13:32I wouldn't pay because CJ Stroud becomes your long-term fix.
13:36And if you quote unquote, only got them for the number six pick, it would be an out and
13:41out steel.
13:41And that would age well, especially once the Browns get to the dome.
13:44Yeah.
13:44So the funny thing that I have out of this is the idea that people are like, well, I'd
13:47trade them for 24, but I wouldn't do it for number six.
13:50No, if you're going to give them a five-year extension and give them all the money in the
13:53world that comes with this, you can't let the difference between 18 slots be why you
13:58do or don't do this.
14:00Yeah.
14:01I agree with them.
14:02I think the toughest thing with anybody that Brown's having this conversation is that, that
14:07if you trade for a quarterback, you're going to give them an extension.
14:10That's generally the way it goes.
14:12And they've also, they've got the guy with the highest cap number in the league right now
14:16on the roster and Deshaun Watson.
14:18You could structure the deal so it doesn't hit them this year necessarily, but they're
14:23just, they don't have the room to do a lot of these highfalutin things that they're talking
14:26about.
14:27No, I think that's a reason why a lot of these guys in Cleveland, like Wyatt Teller, David
14:31and Joku, guys who had said that they want to be Cleveland Browns.
14:35And now all of a sudden, three months later, they're posting on Instagram, like, Hey Cleveland,
14:38it's been real.
14:39You know, thanks for, thanks for the memories.
14:41I think they're probably looking at the team's situation.
14:44Like there's no way I'm going to get the money I want here.
14:46They're getting rid of their entire offensive line, which I know you can say, oh no, the
14:51Browns offensive line, right?
14:52Yeah.
14:52They're getting rid of every starter.
14:53They're, they're tearing it down to the studs and they're starting over.
14:58And that's Deshaun Watson might end up being a starting quarterback on that, that team this
15:03year.
15:03And I don't, I don't know what to expect from him because I don't know who he's going to
15:07have playing alongside him.
15:08No.
15:09Aside from all the other reasons, I wouldn't know what to expect of him.
15:12Yeah.
15:12Yeah.
15:13Yeah.
15:14Text message to the base power text line.
15:16Seven, one, three, five, seven, two, four, six, 10.
15:18Have they announced if they're picking up CJ's fifth year yet?
15:21If not, when's the deadline to announce that the deadline for that isn't until I think early
15:25May.
15:26So they've got some time for that.
15:27I would be, they've kind of dragged their feet on that in the past too, with some of
15:32the guys, they just don't ever seem like in a real hurry to do that.
15:34But yeah, well, yeah.
15:37Stingley, they, they did, I think they did.
15:40Well, Stingley, they didn't even get to it because they gave him an extension.
15:45So, so yeah, that that's early May.
15:47I'd be stunned if they don't pick up CJ Stroud's fifth year option or, or give him an extension
15:52before the deadline for that, you know, or pick it up in conjunction.
15:56That's what they did with Stingley.
15:57They picked it up in conjunction with giving him a three-year extension.
16:00This was when Nick was here, but D'Amico wasn't Titus Howard.
16:03They exercised that on May 2nd, 2022.
16:07Yeah.
16:07You know, they've, they've pushed some of them down the road.
16:09Yep.
16:10Um, so there's that, um, text message.
16:13People went in on the CJ thing.
16:14Another year of CJ is another wasted year guys.
16:18Let's get real.
16:19We're going to have a winning record, maybe win our division.
16:22Um, and then that's, if CJ is not going to get you to the, if CJ is not going to
16:26get to
16:26the Superbowl, why are we dragging on this?
16:28I have no clue.
16:29Um, I'll tell you, like, honestly, part of it is Eli Manning, um, Sam Darnold, like
16:36various other quarterbacks that you don't, they don't always come out of the womb fully
16:41formed and that CJ has done a lot of things that other quarterbacks don't do in their first
16:46three years.
16:47I thought he did a lot of things this year that were actually very mature and, and, and
16:53accepting that there were times that you can be aggressive and you can't be aggressive
16:57and you can't be aggressive.
16:59And there's also just the sheer fact and plain simple fact of the matter is he still didn't
17:03have a good offensive line in front of him.
17:05I mean, there was a big propaganda campaign to try to somehow paint this offensive line
17:10as, uh, just all of a sudden one of the best in the league or something.
17:13And they weren't, they stabilized, but they weren't a genuinely good offensive line.
17:17They did not have any kind of a rushing attack.
17:20Um, like there's things that go into it where you, uh, you don't give excuses for everything
17:25that CJ did poorly, but like this is as much of a team building issue as it is a CJ
17:31Stroud
17:32issue.
17:32Yes.
17:33So that's where we are with it.
17:34So if you're, and again, fine, you want to quit on CJ right now.
17:37What is it?
17:38Please tell me what your plan is.
17:39What's your plan?
17:40Yeah.
17:41Is it, Oh, is it Kyler Murray?
17:43Potentially the team when his team doesn't want him either.
17:45Is it to a tongue of Iowa when his team doesn't want him either?
17:48Like which, which guy are you going to get right now?
17:52That's slam dunk position to say, Oh yeah, he'll definitely be better than CJ Stroud.
17:57No, none of, none of the people espousing cutting or getting rid of CJ Stroud have thought that
18:02far ahead on the topic.
18:03Right.
18:04I guarantee you they've just, they're just angry at CJ Stroud.
18:07We have a guy that texts every morning.
18:09I come into the text page here and there is a guy who texts, it looks like he's doing
18:14it when he goes to bed at night.
18:16Cause it was when I came in this morning, it was eight hours ago.
18:19So, you know, like nine 30 at night and he texts every day.
18:23CJ is a bum every single day.
18:25He texted it on Saturday night too.
18:27And I'm Friday night also.
18:29And I, I just like, I wonder what your life is like that you have a reminder in your phone
18:34to text sports radio, six 10, the sentence CJ is a bum every day.
18:39Right.
18:40And look, whether you think he's a bummer, whether you think he's, uh, you know, the second coming
18:46it's there's, there's still room that there's things he needs to improve.
18:50Yeah.
18:51Um, there's things that he needs to get better at the offense doesn't need to get better.
18:55They need to figure out and actually get a bonafide good offensive line.
19:00Yeah.
19:00Um, like this is the, there was a whole lot of talk last off season about how they're
19:04going to be big and tough and physical.
19:05Right.
19:06And they tried, they called plays like that in the first half of the season.
19:09The fact of the matter is they don't have enough guys on that offensive line that can
19:13play a big and tough and physical version of football.
19:16And you've got to get better talent in there.
19:19Some of it's got to be just through improvement of being in the same system and scheme.
19:22Uh, but they need, if they're going to play that brand of football, they need better offensive
19:26linemen and they need more running.
19:29They, I like, I like Woody Marks, but they also need more.
19:32They need another running back.
19:34No doubt.
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