- 1 week ago
Seth and Sean take a look at the grades various pundits from various outlets have given the Texans for trading away Tytus Howard as well as trading for David Montgomery, and grade those grades.
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00:00I love report cards, Seth. I think you like report cards. We know how Nick Casario feels about report cards.
00:06Maybe we'd ask him about that tomorrow when he joins us at 7.15.
00:09Maybe we should save this segment for tomorrow at 7.15 and go through the report cards on the David
00:14Montgomery trade.
00:15Are you worried about your job because one of these trades got a D for ESPN?
00:21That's right. Seth Walder gave you a D for the...
00:23I'd love it. I wish Cal were the type of owner that would come in waving a printout of the
00:30Seth Walder report card.
00:32Like, what in Dab Nation is this all about?
00:34That's great. So let's go through this.
00:38The Texans made two trades earlier this week. As we know, Titus Howard to the Browns for a fifth-round
00:42pick.
00:42The Browns promptly give Titus Howard a damn...
00:45I mean, in the range of top-of-market extension, he's the 11th highest-paid tackle based on average annual
00:52value now in the sport.
00:53Thanks to the Browns.
00:54And the Texans traded a fourth and a seventh in Juice Scruggs for David Montgomery.
00:59So this is what the experts, so-called experts, are saying about these trades.
01:04We mentioned Seth Walder of ESPN. This is the first one.
01:07The Texans' grade for the David Montgomery trade is a D, and the Lions get an A for this trade.
01:15And it's a long write-up, but the crux of it seems to be that Montgomery is going to a
01:20team that does not block very well in the run game.
01:22And he himself is an aging running back.
01:25This is a common theme with a lot of the grades.
01:28Even the people that gave the Montgomery trade a pretty good grade, they all act like the smartest guy in
01:34the room by saying,
01:35well, they trade for a running back, but the problem in the run game was the offensive line.
01:42As if only one of those things can be true.
01:45As if the Texans can't possibly need a running back when, obviously, the offensive line wasn't good.
01:51It's impossible to have a better running back room than Woody Marks, Nick Chubb, Daria Gumbawale, and British Brooks.
01:56Yeah, and Nick Chubb, who's not currently on the roster either.
02:00Yes.
02:01But really, for me, the one with Walder that really bothered me is that multiple times in his long write
02:07-up,
02:08he says that, why would you trade for David Montgomery when it would be so easy to find similar production
02:16for less?
02:16It's the disrespect for David Montgomery.
02:19That's not even true.
02:20Right.
02:21This is the quote.
02:22An aging early down back whose prior team had been phasing him out is not worth spending real resources on.
02:27It surprises me that Detroit was able to lure a 4-7 swap here since the Texans could have found
02:33comparable expected production for far less.
02:38And another point, and it talks about when he's on the Lions side of things,
02:42he says that the Lions will be able to go out and use these draft picks to draft a replacement
02:48for David Montgomery.
02:49Like, I don't, like, in what world were we in?
02:51I'm trying to figure out, I've watched a fair amount of David Montgomery.
02:55He's a top 20 running back in the NFL.
02:57I've watched him.
02:58Right.
02:58At what point are you saying that, oh, yeah, with a late fourth-round pick, you can go out and
03:03draft the next David Montgomery?
03:05Right.
03:05Like, how are you saying that so flippantly?
03:08So flippantly.
03:09Like, so easily.
03:09It is possible to get, I mean, Woody Marks was the fourth-round pick.
03:13You know, like, it is possible to find a guy, but David Montgomery, that's disrespect.
03:18Yeah, this time of year, people act like, well, yeah, you just replaced that guy with a fourth- or
03:22a fifth-round pick.
03:23That's crazy.
03:24What the hell are you talking about?
03:25Okay.
03:25If any GM were to ever say, well, listen, we lost David Montgomery, but I'm rock-solid certain that this
03:31fifth-round running back is going to be everything that David Montgomery was.
03:34Let me show you this kid from Bowling Green.
03:36Yeah, and also acting like, because it's true, his age, yes, his age would be a concern.
03:41It's allayed a little bit.
03:43The concern is allayed a little bit because David Montgomery, because he's been working with Jameer Gibbs alongside him, he
03:48doesn't have as much wear and tear as a typical 29-year-old guy.
03:52No, no.
03:52But it also, it's disrespectful to David Montgomery in that they're acting like they were phasing David Montgomery out just
04:00because he's no good anymore.
04:02And as opposed to, oh, yeah, like, Jameer Gibbs, sure, is a younger and better running back.
04:08Yep.
04:09And so, yes, would I rather have Jameer Gibbs or David Montgomery?
04:13I'd rather have Jameer Gibbs.
04:14But Jameer Gibbs is awesome.
04:16Yeah.
04:16It's not like it's—
04:17And Jameer Gibbs is going to make $20 million a year when he gets his standard.
04:20Right, and you can't have both these guys.
04:22Yeah, yeah.
04:22That part of it.
04:23And then the other part, too, which I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, is that he says he's
04:28surprised that Detroit was able to lure this trade compensation.
04:32Right.
04:32The reason they were able to lure it is because there was at least one other team that wanted to
04:37come in and trade a fifth round or more plus for David Montgomery.
04:43It was originally, it was going to be a fifth round pick, and then the Texans had to sweeten the
04:47pot.
04:47Turned into a bidding situation.
04:48Yeah, I was more—like, regardless of what his grade is on the trade itself, I was astounded that he was
04:55this disrespectful towards what David Montgomery actually is as a running back.
04:59Okay, let's get to—
05:00You can say that the compensation was too high, but don't sit there and tell me that it's easy to
05:04go out and replace a David Montgomery.
05:05Let's get to the grade for the Titus Howard trade.
05:07Maybe you'll like Seth Walder a little bit more after this one, Seth.
05:10Yeah.
05:10Texans grade, A-. Browns grade, D+.
05:15So the Browns are getting killed for the Titus Howard trade, according to this very same Seth Walder.
05:20Yeah.
05:20Whereas the Texans are getting—
05:22I was surprised that he was that big grade.
05:23Yeah.
05:23Because at first I saw the David Montgomery trade, and I thought, oh, he's just got it in for the
05:26Texans.
05:27Yeah.
05:27This is the opposite.
05:28If someone had told me—like, I almost feel the sentiment out there amongst the universe is almost the polar opposite
05:38of what Seth Walder is saying.
05:40Yeah.
05:40Like, the Texans—people generally—I don't know if people are giving it an A, but people generally really like the David
05:46Montgomery acquisition that I've seen.
05:47I've seen very few dissenting opinions on that, whereas I think there's a lot of people here in Houston and
05:53around the country that are a little dubious about the contract that Cleveland gave him.
05:59But that's not the Texans' problem.
06:00In fact, that's probably the cause of why the Texans could only get a fifth for him.
06:04But the Texans—I've seen more criticism of the Texans over the Titus Howard trade than I have over the David
06:10Montgomery trade is my overall point.
06:12And yet, with this one particular expert, the Montgomery trade is getting destroyed, and he really likes the Titus Howard
06:18trade.
06:18It's strange.
06:19It's almost the opposite.
06:21Howard ranked in the 24th percentile in pass block win rate at tackle and 31st percentile in run block win
06:27rate at tackle last season.
06:28Yeah.
06:28But he was also below average in both in 2024.
06:32That hasn't always been the case.
06:33Yada, yada, yada.
06:34Did that match the eye test with Titus to you?
06:36He's a bottom quartile running back?
06:39Or, I mean, offensive lineman?
06:40The pass block win rate, I'm actually a little bit surprised by that.
06:44And, again, I don't—a lot of these advanced stats for offensive linemen, they're all over the place.
06:49So I just don't—I don't trust some of those stats in general.
06:52Yep.
06:53I think that he was—the big point is that he was a lot better a couple years ago than he's
06:59been these last two years, and I would agree with that.
07:01But I think he's a passable—he is a passable or acceptable starter in the NFL.
07:08You know, give or take, is he a starter plus or a starter minus, whatever.
07:12You can plug him in and feel confident.
07:14Like, I would—I've always felt like Titus Howard is cool.
07:17I don't want him to be the bell cow on my offensive line.
07:20Yeah.
07:20But I also don't mind having him on my offensive line.
07:23I think he is a capable starter, and it's the contract more than anything that have people throwing a side
07:30eye at the Browns.
07:31Yeah.
07:31Like, wait a second.
07:32And that's what's so weird about this trade between these two teams is that both these teams have torn their
07:37O-lines down to the studs, and they're building them up.
07:40But you've got one team, the Texans, saying, yeah, we want to build it up, back up, but we don't
07:45want to do it by paying this guy $22 million a year.
07:48The Browns are saying, hell yeah, we'll pay them $22 million a year.
07:51Well, you know, my take on that is that I think the Browns realize, like, it's going to be tough
07:55sledding and free agency for them to lure guys to come to Cleveland and play there.
07:59That's a bad football team.
08:00It's a bad franchise.
08:02Titus Howard might be—that might be the best that comes available for them, whereas I think the Texans, I think
08:08they're going to be guys that want to come play here more so than go to the Browns.
08:12All right, let's stick with the report cards.
08:13This is Tyler Sullivan of CBSSports.com on the David Montgomery trade.
08:17This is a little bit more balanced, I think.
08:19Gives Detroit a B-, a B-, gives the Texans a B on the trade.
08:25The Texans needed to do something about their lackluster running game, and Montgomery increases the talent level of their backfield.
08:31With that in mind, they are a better team on Monday than they were on Sunday before the deal.
08:35I like this guy because he brought up a couple of good bullet points that I think a lot of
08:40people in national media might not really, like, be clued into or thinking about.
08:44So I was impressed that he brought this up.
08:46He says these two things.
08:48One, this trade should also free second-year running back Woody Marks up for a large role in the passing
08:53game.
08:54100% agree with that.
08:55I mean, that's where Woody Marks, when he became the lead back in the second half of the season,
09:01they had to move away from getting him involved in the pass game as he was learning how to be
09:05a running back on run plays.
09:08You've got David Montgomery and a better version of Woody Marks out of this deal.
09:11And this other part I think is big, and I think that this is part of why the Texans maybe
09:16were eager to pull off a trade before free agency began.
09:19He says the deal also allows the Texans to cut bait with fellow veteran Joe Mixon, who missed all of
09:25last season due to injury.
09:26Houston can clear $8 million off the books by releasing him.
09:29I think the uncertainty at running back right now, if you're going in and you know that you can clear
09:34$8 million in cutting Joe Mixon,
09:36but you don't also necessarily want to completely abandon any hope of Joe Mixon without knowing what the other potential
09:44options are
09:44or how much it might cost in free agency because it's hard to pick what the running back market is
09:50going to look like in any given year.
09:51I think this gives you some clarity, and it helps you check off that item on the offseason checklist and
09:58say,
09:58all right, we can cut Joe Mixon, clear some space.
10:01We've got a new guy coming in in David Montgomery, and now we can focus on offensive line and whichever
10:07other positions we're thinking about.
10:09Yep, so let's do CBSSports.com, Jordan Dijani.
10:14So we're sticking with the same outlet, different writer, but he's the one grading the Titus Howard trade.
10:19And this goes to show you how all over the board the grades are.
10:24We just did an ESPN guy, Seth Walder, who gave a D grade, a D plus to the Browns and
10:30an A minus to the Texans.
10:32In walks Jordan Dijani saying, not so fast, Walder.
10:35Browns, A, A, a straight A, not an A minus.
10:40Texans, C minus on the Titus Howard trade.
10:43Yeah.
10:44A C minus.
10:45I like this one because he pointed out that this is the second year in a row that the Browns
10:52have acquired an offensive tackle from Houston via trade.
10:56Oh, yeah.
10:56Because I completely forgot that Cam Robinson went to the Browns.
10:59You forgot about that.
10:59Yeah, Nick has a pretty tight working relationship with old Andrew Barry over there.
11:04And we keep sending him a questionable caliber of products.
11:10The Texans have sent Deshaun Watson.
11:13You would think Andrew Barry would stop shopping over here.
11:17Yeah.
11:17They sent Cam Robinson over there.
11:19But I just, this is the funniest thing is, one theme that I notice in a lot of these grades
11:26and write-ups is that people fail to see the irony.
11:29And statements like this, where the Texans part waves with probably their best offensive lineman.
11:37Houston's offensive front was a bottom six unit.
11:39Yeah, exactly.
11:40The offensive line is, again, a major item to address.
11:43Right.
11:43You're right.
11:44Right.
11:44You're like, oh, no.
11:45They let go of their best offensive lineman.
11:47Yeah.
11:48And it was, by the way, it was a really, really bad offensive line.
11:51It's like, all right, I guess, yeah.
11:53Yeah.
11:53They just, they want better offensive linemen.
11:55They want a better overall unit.
11:57That's why labels get, labels get, they distort the facts sometimes.
12:02You know, yeah.
12:03Was he their best offensive lineman, Titus?
12:04He was.
12:05I would like to have an offensive line where he's not your best offensive lineman.
12:08Yes, thank you.
12:10This is Chris Long on the Greenlight Podcast, Seth, making a point that you had mentioned
12:16earlier about David Montgomery.
12:19He compares it to a Carfax report.
12:21He says, look, the last couple of years, David Montgomery hasn't gotten nearly as much
12:25work as he did maybe his first year in Detroit.
12:28As a running back, like, he saw his touches go way down the last couple years, right?
12:33Especially last year.
12:34That's worth noting because Houston's getting a guy that's 29 years old, but in dog years,
12:39what is he?
12:40When you take into account the workload or lack thereof that this running back has had over
12:44the past couple years, I don't think of him as a guy nearing 30.
12:47I think he's got some juice left in the tank.
12:49You know, you're buying a car.
12:51You know, if I'm looking at an F-250 from 1996, well, yeah, it's a 96, but if it's got
12:5645,000
12:56miles on it, like, what are we really talking about here?
12:59Like, show me the Carfax.
13:00It's not a big accident report on David Montgomery.
13:03I don't think he's had a lot of injuries throughout his career.
13:05You know, the mileage lately is not that high.
13:08I think it's a really good point.
13:10You're kind of reiterating something you said earlier, and yeah, he's been very available.
13:15I'm looking at, now his carries, his first year in Detroit, he had 219 carries, then 185,
13:21and then last year only 158, and yet his yards per carry were consistent.
13:27He's still 4.6, 4.2, 4.5.
13:30So, play to play, he's been the same player.
13:33He's just not getting nearly as many touches.
13:35He's also great down near the goal line and in the red zone.
13:39He scored 33 touchdowns in three seasons as a lion.
13:42And that's the two big items that I would say really scratch the Texans where they itch
13:49is, A, he's really good in the red zone and on the goal line.
13:53And I put together a reel and put it on my YouTube channel yesterday of about two minutes
13:58of him converting first downs in short yardage, running for touchdowns in the red zone, on
14:05the goal line, all of those things.
14:06And then the other big thing is just his overall running style is, it's swarm.
14:13It's special work ethic, relentless mindset.
14:15He breaks a lot of tackles at the end of every run.
14:19He runs the way a Texans defensive player might run if you were a running back.
14:24And I think they just need more swarmy players on offense, and I think he's that kind of guy.
14:31I do agree with, and I've said it myself, yes, he hasn't had as heavy a workload, which
14:39can be a positive.
14:40I always get a little nervous getting too comfortable with assessments like that just because there
14:44are certain things about the human aging process that continue whether or not you're getting
14:48a lot of touches.
14:49You know, tendons and ligaments don't age the same way steel does in an F-250.
14:54So that part of it, whether he's had a lot of wear and tear off his tires as a running
15:02back or what his mileage is and everything, yeah, that's valid.
15:05But also, you do have to acknowledge he's a little bit older, and everything gets a little
15:08bit more brittle with each successive year.
15:10In seven years, he's missed 12 games.
15:13Yeah.
15:13He's 117 games possible.
15:17He's played in 105 games.
15:19So he's generally been very available, especially for a guy with that running style.
15:24By running back Sanders and then also with, I'd like to, if you went back and looked
15:28individually, for one, the Lions have had some, played some meaningless games at the
15:32end of the season.
15:33And also, he's been part of a running back tandem where the nice part of that is the
15:37luxury of, oh, you got a little bit of an ankle tweak, let's not mess around with this.
15:41Just take the week off.
15:42Yep.
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