- 6 minutes ago
Jonathan M. Alexander of the Houston Chronicle joins ITL to discuss the Texans’ decision to part ways with Jerrod Johnson, what it means for C.J. Stroud’s development, and what other moves could be coming as the offseason begins to take shape. The crew gets insight into how the organization is viewing the offensive reset and what to watch next.
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00:00all right so we got it we got to talk to you about this big news of the day obviously
00:02you've you've
00:03talked about it a little bit i'm interested do you have any insight into any into kind of what
00:08the timeline was what what the reasoning was do we have any insight into this parting of ways
00:13between the texans and quarterback coach gerard johnson yeah uh you know tomorrow important it
00:19it was a mutual apart in ways i think gerard johnson wanted to move on um as well as you
00:27know
00:27the texans uh you know the sense i got and i haven't heard this from anybody in particular but
00:33the sense i got was that you know given that gerard johnson came the same time bobby slow it came
00:40and then you get nick kaylee a couple years later it's probably a little bit of a difference in
00:45in philosophies and nick kaylee brought in his right hand man guy who he's leaned on a lot jerry
00:53glitzky and and um you know i just think you know there there were a little bit too many voices
01:00in
01:00in the quarterback room or that's how they felt not how i feel um and um you know i probably
01:07gerard johnson probably felt that and um it's what led to both sides uh making that decision
01:13uh i've been saying and uh and maybe you would disagree but i want to get your thoughts on this
01:18that this really when it comes down to it is a cj stroud story uh because you go back to
01:24slowick
01:24and then that didn't work out after the first year and then uh you know obviously strasser and that the
01:30types of uh offensive uh line blocking that he taught and that didn't work you know with that system so
01:35they bring in cole popovich and now you have gerard johnson it all kind of points back to uh getting
01:41the fit right doesn't it yeah you know i think so i think that plays a a major part they're
01:46trying to
01:47do everything they can to maximize um cj stroud's uh capability uh he's going into the final year of
01:55his contract and and they want to have as singular as a voice as possible so cj stroud can you
02:05know
02:05have an improved season you know i thought he looked better in 2025 i thought that playoff
02:08run was probably the lowest point was definitely the lowest point of the year but um you know you've
02:15seen it with nick cayley um you know in firing jake morland and then adding um james forends to the
02:22tight end room um that goes more in line because he didn't bring anybody in other than jerry um you
02:29know when he became the oc so bringing in more guys that he's familiar with or or having more guys
02:35that he's familiar with lead uh these rooms and and have one singular voice is to help cj stroud is
02:42the
02:43main focus we're talking to jonathan alexander here in the loop on sports radio 610 and speaking
02:48of helping cj stroud obviously they make this move but you were just at the combine where nick
02:53casario was domiko ryan's who did not speak to the media but he was there as well um i think
02:59that
02:59there's probably another way there's other ways to help him just in the way that they add i found
03:03it interesting that nick casario did not was was talking and he said you know additions aren't about
03:07any one player or any or any position but does it feel like they're outside of what they say kind
03:13of actually thinking about making some some player acquisitions to actually help specifically cj be
03:18better yeah 100 and i and just recently posted a story on some of the things that i'm hearing but
03:24you know i definitely think that they're going to go after one of the top running backs um in this
03:30free agent market i think um uh walker uh from the seahawks uh ken walker the third could play
03:38a big factor i think they'll improve the offensive line uh center you know are some of the things that
03:45i've heard i think guard also um and you can even see them uh probably draft a tackle so they're
03:51going
03:51to do everything they can uh to improve uh this offense whether that's protection increasing the
03:58running game i think that's top and foremost they think a better running game will help take some
04:03of the load off cj stroud and it's what nick caley has wanted to do he's going to base his
04:08offense off
04:08the running game and and i think all of those different things um are expected to help or what
04:15they hope will help boost his offense so coaching decisions uh with cj stroud in mind which obviously
04:21makes sense uh personnel decisions in the draft and otherwise uh with cj stroud in mind um what is
04:28what what are your thoughts with cj stroud in terms of coming back i i don't want to say a
04:33new man but
04:34certainly uh being able to to buy into everything that they're they're wanting him to do yeah i think
04:40he knows that he i mean you know i think last year there was a lot of ups and downs
04:45with the offense
04:47um he liked nick caley i think he knows they have to buy fully in but i think there was
04:53the thinking
04:54that they did need a little bit more support um around cj stroud one of the points i've brought up
05:01you know some people have asked me what's wrong with cj stroud i think uh one of the more underrated
05:07things about his rookie season was that he did have a lot of support he had a lot of weapons
05:11who played
05:12well um his offensive line held up and that led to him having a great year and then you saw
05:18his second season his weapons got hurt his offensive line was horrendous his play dropped
05:24i mean you go to year three the weapons weren't as great you had a lot of young players
05:29and you know cj stroud improved some um i think that comes with the maturation being a third year
05:36quarterback um and i expect if they improve the pieces around him in year four and you have that
05:43fourth year experience i think he'll improve even more in year four we're talking to jonathan alexander
05:48here in the loop when you talk about like acquisition in the various different places and i mean obviously
05:53we have been talking about some of the similar places where we talk about running back center guard
05:58uh maybe even tackle what do you what would you guess is their appetite when it comes to it because
06:03when you talk about center it feels like there's only a very small handful when we talk about
06:08running back there's definitely a clear uh highest class of you know of of prospect or really free
06:14agent that's out there what would you guess is their appetite for some of these acquisitions
06:18on the offensive side yeah i think those are their priorities like running back and center
06:23are going to be the positions that you likely see them grab in free agency and i think they're going
06:29to be aggressive they missed out on saquon barkley two years ago uh by a few million dollars to the
06:34eagles it worked out in the eagles favor i don't think they're going to make that mistake this year
06:38so i think center and running back is going to be super high i think tackle is probably something
06:43they'll look at but you know it's a little bit harder to sign a good tackle in free agency um
06:48and
06:48there will be a lot of tackles uh in the draft so i think that's the approach they might go
06:53i think
06:53there are quite a bit of guards um not a ton but a good amount of guards who are going
06:59to be free
06:59agents and solid guards at that too and i think that they'll you know target all those positions
07:04the techs are going to be in a position soon when they restructure some of these deals and possibly
07:09extend a couple of these players that they'll have a lot of money to work with um in free agency
07:14and i
07:15think that's going to be an emphasis because they feel like they have the ability with their core
07:18to get to a super bowl if they just increase the the level of uh of play on their on
07:23their roster
07:24yeah and he's played in the margins a lot when it comes to free agency but i'm guessing you're
07:28expecting uh maybe uh to write the bigger checks huh yeah i i absolutely expect them to write bigger
07:34checks than they did last year uh i i would think it would be similar to that 2024 offseason now
07:40you
07:40probably won't see a lot of long-term deals that's not nick casario's uh style but i i do think
07:46you'll see uh some talented free agents coming to the building this offseason we're talking to
07:52jonathan alexander here was there anything else that you found to be interesting out there in
07:56indianapolis and you know obviously what is the nfl's biggest uh convention was there any any kind
08:02of scuttlebutt anything that you heard that you found to be very interesting yeah i mean i i think more
08:08and more people feel like and i wrote about this a couple of days ago as well i think more
08:13and more
08:13people are kind of starting to catch on and and you know it's becoming inevitable at all times
08:18important to a breakup between between the texans and joe mixon and um you know he injured his foot
08:26and it's unclear if he'll even be healthy next year and the texans have a decision to make it the
08:31next
08:31couple weeks um before the new league year begins cutting him saves him 8.5 million dollars that's a lot
08:38of money um and if you are unsure about whether he can play then that is the likely scenario you're
08:45going to likely cut him and i think a lot of people around the league have been talking about that
08:49uh more than what they have been uh previously you know and on the draft itself uh at the combine
08:56maybe you you hear and see some of these things um we all know we've been talking about it right
09:01here
09:01you know offensive lineman running back uh etc is there a position group where you wouldn't be
09:06surprised the texans uh you know put some emphasis uh on in in the draft yeah i definitely think
09:13they're going to put an emphasis on offensive line we all know that i think defensive tackle is another
09:17position that they could target you know they've long to get younger at the position um and they're
09:23going to be some top heavy uh defensive tackles like even tackles will come off in those first two
09:28rounds that i think houston could target so let's just say one of their favorite offensive tackles
09:34isn't there at 28 and they feel like they could get that guy at 38 i could see them taking
09:40a
09:40defensive tackle with number 28 if one of the top guys uh falls down to 28 so then later in
09:47the draft
09:47maybe linebacker because there's you know there's some gaps that are going to be there yeah you got
09:52ej speed who's a free agent and christian harris as well and christian harris is definitely not coming
09:57back um so yeah they could take a a a linebacker i i do see aziz and and henry so
10:04it'll be in the
10:05future but they're going to need a third and a fourth guy i find that to be really interesting
10:10all right is there anything is there anything that we're kind of missing when it comes down to it
10:14because sometimes we can get really locked in here but uh especially when you get out to
10:17the combine and there's all sorts of different people talking you're not just talking about the
10:21houston spaces but you're getting a lot of other folks was there anything else interesting that came
10:25out of the combine in general for you um anything interesting um you know i think you know we we
10:34talked a little bit about the running back situation and the fact that the texans could spin big there
10:39um you know one of the more interesting things and i had said this earlier that i thought that
10:44the texans were going to go after brief hall but the jets are really resolute on on the fact that
10:51they're going to keep him and transition tag him so that takes them out of the equation
10:54and even though the texans want kenneth walker or or will likely target kenneth walker i should say
11:00um you know the it's no it's no guarantee that they'll get him because there will be so many
11:06teams buying for his services as well as seattle seahawks so um you know it might end up being a
11:13situation where the texans still get a running back in free agency it might not be the guy they want
11:18but um they also have the option to try to draft one uh in the draft as well yeah and
11:23i don't want to
11:24let you go without asking about this because obviously nick cassero shot down the the cj stroud
11:29rumors uh the the ryan fitzpatrick stuff uh emphatically at least for this year i mean he
11:35didn't say much about moving forward and we talked about that but you know moronic and all that but my
11:40thing and one of the things we talked about here jonathan is those rumors they they don't come out of
11:46thin air you know and maybe the the texans are are hell-bent on keeping cj stroud for now but
11:52that
11:52doesn't mean that other teams don't see you know potential issues or whatever you want to call
11:56them here and are making the calls right yeah no absolutely the fact that a team wouldn't make the
12:03call that's totally in the question like the national discourse has been cj stroud's struggles
12:10and i've talked a lot of people have asked me about cj stroud and they've said how how is cj
12:16stroud
12:17regression i i don't agree with that i think he took a step down as year two as teams adjusted
12:23i
12:23thought he got better in year three i thought the playoffs was really bad obviously um but naturally
12:29people who don't watch every game are going to ask the questions will he be available as they try to
12:35uh see if he's a long-term fit and and possibly doing extensions so it makes total sense that teams
12:42were to call but nick casario was telling the truth when he said that they aren't trading cj stroud
12:48um yeah so you know i think all of those things can be true yeah can i ask you something
12:54here real
12:54quick uh john thing because one of the things that nick casario talked about and he was asked about
12:59there in indianapolis was jaylen knoll and just i know that you're frequently in those locker rooms and
13:05you're around those guys do you get any insight or any any feeling as to the reasons why jaylen knoll
13:11might not have been as utilized this year because that's one of the things that we keep pondering
13:14on we keep going back and forth on it feels like there was more talent than was utilized is it
13:19really just as simple as there was more there was an investment in christian kirk and so that ended up
13:22being a priority i don't know because they started using christian kirk a lot less um late in the year
13:29as well um but you know i think one of the things with jaylen knoll he mentioned this he needed
13:36to get
13:36better at um run blocking and and obviously running the football was a major part uh in this
13:43offense so the texans felt like they were limited in in how they could use jaylen knoll because if he
13:49was going to be on the field then it was most likely a passing down i do think that there
13:54was an
13:54opportunity to use him a lot more as an explosive playmaker um but you know it didn't work out that
14:01way but i do see him having an increased role as he tries to improve uh this offseason uh i
14:07see him
14:08having an increased role next season jonathan m alexander he's the texans beat writer for the
14:12houston chronicle and we greatly appreciate your time my man have a good one bro absolutely thanks for
14:16you
14:16you
14:17you
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