00:00Do you agree with John Lopez? Is Nick Casario just playing it safe?
00:04Somewhat akin to what you had last year on the offensive line.
00:08713-572-4610 is the base power text line because this weekend we were all waiting for a guard acquisition
00:15for the Texans.
00:16Especially if, because we had a lot of conversation last week after we found out that Brayden Smith was going
00:22to be an addition on this offensive line.
00:24Oh, well, he played guard back at Auburn and we were like, are they moving to guard?
00:28All right, we'll see. If they sign a guard, maybe he'll give us an answer.
00:30And ultimately, the answer we got on Saturday was a guard, but at pretty minimal money.
00:36Was it like three and a half?
00:38Three and a half, yeah.
00:38For a year contract, so neither a long-term deal nor big money for previously Arizona Cardinals guard with a
00:46little bit of capability at center.
00:48Evan Brown, that is the name to hear.
00:51And, you know, me being a true sicko, I had already gone out for like a really early dinner or
00:56maybe late lunch, depending on how you want to view it.
00:58And I'm sitting there by myself, eating some jollof rice, looking at Evan Brown highlights on my phone at dinner.
01:04And I'm looking at it and I'm going, huh, I wonder, does this strike you as a starting guard?
01:09How did this signing hit you in general?
01:12Well, you said, is he playing it safe?
01:15That's kind of how it hit me, but not in terms of, you know, risk-reward.
01:19I think he's playing it safe, he being Nick Casario, doing the thing that he's always done since he's got
01:27here.
01:28And that's find a player that maybe can get better here, maybe not, not a big risk, kind of a,
01:37you know, a replaceable part if need be, which is what he's done.
01:43He hasn't gone out.
01:44Now, depending on what you think of Brayden Smith, is that a big sort of swing?
01:49I don't, I mean, I don't think it's a big swing at tackle.
01:52It's kind of replacing Titus Howard and maybe, maybe not as good as Titus Howard, maybe as good.
01:58I think more people would view him as better than Titus Howard.
02:01Also for better, for a better contract.
02:03But then when we start talking about value, I know people rolled their eyes because at this time of year,
02:07people don't care about the value.
02:09They don't care about the cap ramifications or the cost.
02:11It's funny that you use the word swing because I'm very literally envisioning a batter at the plate.
02:16And I feel like at this time of year, people want just the big uppercut swing, like you're swinging for
02:21the fences.
02:22But the funny thing about it is when you imagine that swing, is it not more often than not a
02:26big miss?
02:27Yes, exactly.
02:28So when I say, you know, he's playing it safe, he's dancing with the one that brung him.
02:33And as we all had a good time, you know, with the way he's built the offensive line, this is
02:38a guy that can step in and maybe this, maybe that.
02:41That's not what we were envisioning when we say, boy, if they could just fix the offensive line.
02:45If they could just go get, you know, we had visions of Linderbaum and Kate Mays and maybe, you know,
02:51a big tackle, which again, Brayden Smith, that jury is still out on that.
02:56But he's a better he's a better get maybe, you know, first round draft pick, which might still be in
03:01play.
03:01And I think is still in play.
03:04But he's he's relying on his system that he's always done, that he's always used.
03:10And I don't know if that's what if that's what fans wanted to see, you know?
03:15Yeah.
03:16But see, I feel like last year it was kind of a I guess a good thing for him because
03:21he did find the A. Ingram.
03:23He did, you know, find little pieces like that where that's why I mentioned earlier.
03:29I'm like, man, it wouldn't surprise me if he tried to use the same formula to try to find like
03:34these bargain shopping pretty much.
03:37He is.
03:37He's going to bring in, Reggie, four or five guys and see if two can stick.
03:41And that's what happened last year.
03:43And that's what happened the year before.
03:44You know, they're trying to to find some guys.
03:46I don't necessarily agree with that.
03:49You know, normally I would say, you know, OK, you know, this is how he's always done things.
03:54His his draft perspective, by and large, except for the offensive line, has been good.
03:58So I don't know.
03:59I think it's part of it is I just don't trust their their I guess their evaluation of offensive linemen.
04:05They're just trying to see what sticks.
04:07The tough part is, you know, you had to air three that worked out pretty good last year.
04:12Right.
04:12You had Ingram.
04:14You know, we thought he was just an extra body and that ended up being probably one of their better
04:18offensive linemen.
04:20So to me, it don't even surprise me that he's probably doing trying to do the same thing again.
04:26That is surprising.
04:26It's just a little scary.
04:27It did.
04:28I mean, it really did.
04:29It did a little bit.
04:31And maybe you could, you know, and I'm sure that the texts are already being typed up and hitting send
04:36as we speak of after seeing that money cleared, you go, OK, maybe they'll take the big swings.
04:42But it shouldn't have because this has been this has been the M.O.
04:46Even just generally, when you think about this team, they don't try and they try and make very measured moves.
04:52I mean, you just listen to Nick Casario talk and he strikes you as someone who tries to be pretty
04:56measured in the way it goes about things.
04:57He talks about process oriented, you know, thinking and so on and so forth.
05:02And they've tried to make more make moves in that second and third waves of free agency and trying to
05:07make good deals where you go.
05:09All right, let's let's pick our spots and really get some good pieces.
05:12And especially if this is if this this particular move of Evan Brown is looked at as a at best
05:19like a temporary starter in that planned obsolescence lessons model that we talked about last week.
05:24If this is a depth piece that gives you a little bit better feel on having more pieces on the
05:29interior, whether he plays center or guard.
05:31Like if he is a Jarrett Patterson replacement of sorts.
05:35Oh, yeah, I can I can dig this.
05:38The problem is we have not seen that starting guard position yet.
05:41Right. We haven't seen an upgrade on center right yet.
05:44And so it's hard to in the midst of this, say what this is definitively, but it does feel like
05:49it does feel like still in that same vein of thinking.
05:52Hopefully it's upgraded at least enough to where you can't stop here.
05:55Right. Because last year it was the Lake and Tomlinson acquisition coming off of a bad offensive line and hoping
06:01that you could turn him into something else.
06:04As of right now, they've gotten a brain Smith that you don't need to turn into anything.
06:07Right. He plays really good football at that tackle spot.
06:10If he doesn't play there.
06:12The problem is we just well, you know, Ed Ingram, you already turned him into something.
06:16If you want to say that he plays good, he plays good at that spot.
06:19I wonder what that guard spot is for to for me to fully be like, OK, well, you're not you've
06:24moved away from the let's turn him into something.
06:26Yeah.
06:27Into a let's get somebody who can do this, even if you're doing it in a in a more cautious,
06:33cautious way, a less free swinging way.
06:36So, you know, and there is some good there is some good news here, you know, if from a Texas
06:40perspective and I always talk about and I'm always impressed by the way Casario just look thinks ahead his vision
06:47for for what's going to come next.
06:48I do appreciate that, that he does. So there is that.
06:52I talked about Trent Brown. He's an insurance plan. And then it came to came to play.
06:57Yeah. Came to pass because he's more of an insurance. Now you got Braden Smith, you got Ursary, so he
07:01can do both.
07:01If Evan Brown and the combination of Evan Brown and Jared Patterson, who's still on this team, is more of
07:07an insurance plan, then you can maybe take that big swing in the draft.
07:12So so I'm hoping that's what he's looking at here. We got Evan Brown. We have Jake Andrews. We have,
07:18you know, Jared Patterson.
07:19Now we have the insurance to to see what if anything goes bad with that guard or the center that
07:25I'm drafting at the end of the first round.
07:27So I do think that that has to that would make me feel a lot better. Can I make me
07:31feel a lot better?
07:32Can I ask you a theoretical question and figure if you got an answer text line seven, one, three, five,
07:36seven, two, four, six.
07:37Not you, Fig. I'm just saying. Yeah, I'm not saying that I'm typing in right now. Don't be Mike.
07:42What's the difference between scared and safe? As in what?
07:46Like what's the difference generally between like a scared move and a safe move?
07:52I think I get what you're where you're going with this. I don't think they're scared of failure.
07:58Is that what you're talking about? Of like taking a big swing and missing. Right.
08:00And then the financial implications and and everything else. I think this is all about safe.
08:05This is what he does. This is what he knows is how the system and philosophy plays out.
08:09And and I don't know if I like that part of it.
08:11What would make me like it more is if they do take a bigger swing on a guard or center,
08:16you know, in the first round, then you then you have your insurance.
08:18In the same way, safe and smart. Right. Like I think that these are these are things that exist in
08:23the same neighborhood.
08:25And I don't want to say that it's all results oriented because I don't want to insult your intelligence intelligence.
08:29There's some times where you can clearly sell. All right. You did not actually take a reasoned approach to this.
08:34I think that some of this is the way that it ultimately turns out.
08:37And some of this is like being having having a good plan in place as opposed to being like scared
08:42versus.
08:43Oh, he's definitely sticking to his plan.
08:44And so I think I think that that's the thing that I'm ultimately trying to gear at with this offensive
08:49line and the way that they're going is ultimately we'll have to make a decision when it's fully done.
08:53But it does not feel like they're playing scared right now.
08:57However, we'll have to see how that lands out to me.
09:00It seemed like I guess maybe his definition.
09:03He might be playing smart.
09:05Like maybe he's playing smart because when you think about it, the whole time he's been here, I can't really
09:10name a player he overpaid for or just threw a whole bunch of money at just out of reaction that,
09:17oh, we need somebody for the office.
09:18Let's throw a whole bunch of money at this person to me.
09:21Never done it.
09:22Yeah.
09:22To me, he he just don't roll like that.
09:25He might be in the mix.
09:26But eventually, if you get out price, he cool.
09:29But there is risk.
09:30I mean, the risk is what happened last year.
09:32Yeah, you miss out on a good player.
09:33You get four or five games into the season and you're still looking for our best five, man.
09:38I mean, you know, I just, you know, the rookie doesn't work out or Jared Patterson and, you know, Brown
09:45don't work out.
09:46And who knows about, you know, Jake Andrews.
09:49All of a sudden, we're back in the same place.
09:50Yeah.
09:51So it is a risk.
09:52Yeah.
09:52I do wonder if this is if this text was in answer to the question that I posed from the
09:56A through two raising the floor.
09:58And yeah, you could easily say that they have raised the floor on what they had done last year with
10:05still still wanting to see what that guard, that starting spot.
10:08Yeah, I was going to say, can you?
10:09But see, that's the scary part, man.
10:11That's the scary part because, you know, as bad as they played a little bit last year, it was some
10:16positives.
10:16You did find somebody off the street.
10:18That was OK.
10:19It ain't growing.
10:20That's an interesting question.
10:20Did you raise the floor?
10:21Have you raised the floor yet?
10:22Now, again, still a lot to go.
10:23See, that's the scary part because now I wonder if he's sitting there thinking, we cooking with grease or cooking
10:29with oil or whatever y'all said.
10:31I wonder if he's sitting there saying like, yeah, see, we got something going.
10:35Let me stick to the same plan I did last year.
10:38And that's the thing.
10:38I wouldn't get to we cooking with grease with any of these moves.
10:41But I think there is a place between we cooking with grease and you're playing scared.
10:46And I think that they're trying to straddle that line.
10:48How do you think they're doing this far?
10:507-1-3-5-7-2-4-6-8.
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