00:00That's right. We go Jordan Belford on your ass every Wednesday right around this time.
00:05It's Stock Up, Stock Down on the Drive.
00:08Sterner, Hugh Glee, myself, producer T-Mill here with you.
00:11In today's edition of Stocks, we're looking at the 2026 run game for the Houston Texans.
00:16A little running back, running game edition of Stocks today.
00:20Getting started with you, Clint Sterner.
00:23You know I like getting the negatives out of the way first.
00:25Stock down for you, Clint, for these Houston Texans and the running game heading into next football season as we
00:31approach the Combine and the draft.
00:34Well, T, it doesn't get any easier than this one for me, Bob.
00:37I'll be honest with you.
00:38I had high hopes for Joe Mixon rejoining his team and being the guy that turned this thing around and
00:46gave us that one-two punch with Woody Marks.
00:49And after what Nick Casario said yesterday, and again, it's not even the fact that he said he had surgery.
00:58It's not even the fact that the report from Aaron Wilson was that at some point the Texans are believed
01:05to release him due to a failed physical.
01:09It's reading between the lines.
01:11The fact that the Texans don't know when the surgery happened, the fact that the Texans are still trying to
01:16gather information about the surgery,
01:20and we're acting as if that's normal, is about as stocked down as you can get on Joe Mixon.
01:28So I got to go with the former Pro Bowl Texan Pro Bowl running back.
01:33I love Joe Mixon.
01:35Yes, I did, too.
01:36I did, too.
01:37There was a time.
01:37Yes, there was a time when I did.
01:40But the stock, along with my daughter, is down when it comes to Joe Mixon, boys.
01:46Yeah, I can't blame you there, especially after finding out apparently he had surgery yesterday from Casario.
01:52Stocked down for Clint Sterner is Joe Mixon.
01:55You got something wrong?
01:56Nuh-uh.
01:57No.
01:57Oh, okay, cool.
01:58Well, as long as we're with you, over to you.
02:00Stocked down for the Houston Texans in this run game.
02:03The running back room heading into next season for you, Ron.
02:06And I think it's stocked down in terms of options.
02:08And I would say I'm going to go Kenneth Walker III is my stocked down.
02:14And I think he would be a great fit for the Texans.
02:18I think he would be a great fit in bringing another weapon in the different ways he can affect the
02:24game.
02:24We watched the run he had in the playoffs in terms of running the football and catching the football.
02:32But now with the injury to their other running back that they drafted last year and with the importance he
02:40showed to be for their team and they need a run game.
02:45I feel like the chances of him getting out of Seattle and moving on somewhere I think he would probably
02:52prefer to be, I think that's becoming slim.
02:57So I'm going to go Kenneth Walker as an option.
03:00I would say that's tough.
03:02If that injury had not happened, there's a slim chance because they've got some other guys that I think they
03:06want to pay.
03:07But I feel like that is where he wants to be.
03:10And I think they need him even more than they would have if there wasn't an injury.
03:15And Kenneth would have looked good in that battle red, too.
03:17I was really hoping that something might happen there.
03:20Well, hit that sounder.
03:21Which one?
03:23Well, our transition to your boys.
03:26I'll make you feel better about it.
03:28Wordy ass over here on the mic.
03:29We got the negatives out of the way.
03:31You are tuned in to the drive.
03:32Sterner Hughley stock up, stock down.
03:34Texans run game, running back room addition ahead of the combine in the draft.
03:39Back to you, Clint.
03:40Stock up for you with this running game for the Texans.
03:43I'm going to go with Kenneth Walker III.
03:44I'm going to go with the guy that Ron just sold.
03:46He sold his stock.
03:48I'm going to buy.
03:49Look, I think Ron hit on something really important that is a big part of this.
03:57They got a bunch of guys apparently on the defensive side of the football.
03:59Look, I don't know the Seattle Seahawks like the back of my hand,
04:02but apparently they've got a lot of guys on the defensive side of the football.
04:04They're going to have to pay if they're going to keep things together.
04:06They've got a defensive-minded head coach.
04:07They do have other running back options in the fold there already, in Charbonnet.
04:13And so I don't know that they're going to be in the market to paying a running back,
04:17you know, $9, $10 million a year for the next three or four.
04:21I don't know if they're going to be real anxious to meet what the market's going to demand
04:26for Kenneth Walker III.
04:28And so that's number one.
04:30Number two, the stock is up because, hell, I mean, the Texans are an obvious need.
04:37And you look around a room and the other top free agent running backs are either off the market
04:43or rumored to be in love with somebody not named the Texans.
04:47And so I think just from a sheer options perspective, top options at the running back position,
04:55I think the Texans got to feel like, boy, we don't want to drag our feet too much
04:59and miss out on another Saquon Barkley type of deal.
05:02Not that he's Saquon Barkley, but that type of free agent, the best running back available.
05:06I think you could put him at the top, potentially, him or Brees Hall.
05:11Yeah, depending on what you're looking for.
05:14But, yeah, I think he or Brees Hall or I know the Williams kid had a really good year in
05:18Dallas.
05:19But, yeah, I mean, he's obviously one of the top guys.
05:21And so I think for a couple of reasons his stock could be up.
05:25And really the two reasons is I think Seattle's got people that they want to pay.
05:30And, number two, I think the options for running back needy football teams appear to be dwindling
05:37and Kenneth Walker III is still standing.
05:39So I would think they've got to go get him.
05:41Do you think the Texans would sell out to go get him?
05:45That's the other part.
05:46You think they would – because they didn't go all the way with Saquon.
05:49I wonder if they sell out and go where it needs to.
05:53Well, I would like for them to personally, but I don't think they do.
05:56I don't think they break their mold.
06:01Like, I think they get in the conversation and they're very comfortable going,
06:05hey, man, this is the number.
06:06And if the Philadelphia Eagles are willing to pay you a million more a year,
06:12you know, a million and a half more a year for the next three, then we're going to bow out.
06:16You know what I mean?
06:17I think the Texans are very comfortable.
06:18I don't see them breaking their mold.
06:20I do believe that there's a chance that they land Kenneth Walker III.
06:25I think if you look at this team, there's clearly a need for a workhorse back.
06:28I think there's clearly a league-wide understanding that this team is one of the better organizations
06:35and on the verge of being where he was this year, which was winning a Super Bowl.
06:39And it's a place that I would think that any player would want to play.
06:43And so I think there's a really good chance that he ends up a Texan, yeah.
06:48Little up and down action for old Kenneth.
06:51All right, put a lid on this thing for us, Ron.
06:53Ron, stock up for the Texans' running game, that running back room for the Houston Texans.
06:58Stock up for you, Ron.
06:59I'm going to go with Jadarian Price, the kid out of Notre Dame.
07:05And I just think his stock is climbing because I don't think –
07:12I mean, the New York Jets seem hell-bent on doing whatever it takes to keep Brees Hall.
07:17And I just gave you why I felt Kenneth Walker was stocked down.
07:22We'll see what happens.
07:23There's Travis Etienne.
07:24He's out there.
07:26But it looks like there's a potential that the Texans can get to the draft with –
07:36potentially their backs against the wall with some of these free agents already gone.
07:41And I don't think they're going to have enough to go and get Jeremiah Love.
07:46And I don't think they would pull the trigger to do what it would take from 28 to go to
07:50get Jeremiah Love.
07:51But we're starting to see Price sneak up into the back of the first round.
07:55And the Texans' priority, number one, may be getting a running back.
08:00And not just priority, number one, but when you think about the amount of running backs in this draft
08:07that you feel like can come in and start, Jadarian Price seems like a guy that they may have to
08:14put themselves in a position
08:15to have to go and get.
08:16The Houston Texans are on the clock.
08:19For Jadarian Price, potentially at 28.
08:22And we just saw Mel Kuyper have him in his latest mock draft, him at 28.
08:27And I don't think that's just 100 pulled out of the ass.
08:31I think that there may be something to that.
08:33So the kid, the rookie from Notre Dame, who many people believe will be the second running back off the
08:39board
08:39behind his teammate Jeremiah Love is who could be that guy for the Texans.
08:46All right, that's a little stock up, stock down.
08:49We do it every single Wednesday at this time.
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