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Seth and Sean dive into and assess Sean's "too early" Texans 53-man roster prediction as outlined in his piece in the Houston Press.
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00:00So, Seth, I went through the exercise of putting together a 53-man roster for the Houston Texans.
00:07A way, way, way too early 53-man roster.
00:13But I think it's a good exercise because it does give you, it gives you an idea of where there
00:19still is work to be done on this roster through the lens of a 53-man roster.
00:25What are you squinting at right now?
00:27I'm looking at, on your 53-man roster, I think it's a typo from the Houston Press, which, you know,
00:33typesetters these days.
00:34Which means it's probably from me.
00:37What does it say?
00:39It's written Davis Mills, but it's either a capital I or a number one in Mills.
00:47Oh, it's probably a capital I.
00:49But it almost ends up looking kind of impressive, almost like an M3 or something.
00:54Like it's some kind of Davis Mills, the weapon.
00:57Like it's just something with a Roman numeral after it.
00:59Yeah.
01:00Right?
01:00Yeah.
01:01Davis Mills wore the jersey number one, and that was his, you know, that was his little gimmick.
01:06Yep.
01:06Davis Mills with the one in it, his branded logo.
01:08Okay.
01:09As far as typos go, that's one I can live with.
01:11People know who I'm talking about.
01:13So, I went through this process, and just, we're not going to go through, you don't have to sit in
01:18your car or sit at your desk and keep chicken scratch on the numbers of the 53-man roster.
01:23It adds up to 53, just trust me.
01:26So, quarterback, I've got two.
01:27C.J. Stroud and Davis Mills.
01:29I think Graham Mertz is probably on the practice squad again, unless he balls out and they feel like they've
01:34got to have a third quarterback on the regular roster.
01:36But I think they have two quarterbacks.
01:37I don't think we need to spend a whole lot of time on that, unless you've got some Mertz thoughts,
01:41Seth.
01:42But I think it's going to be two quarterbacks.
01:44I might have Mertz thoughts at the end of the preseason.
01:47If he plays like he did in his final preseason game, that would be an interesting conversation.
01:52It would.
01:52No, it would.
01:53Running back, I've got five.
01:55David Montgomery, Woody Marks, British Brooks.
02:00British Brooks kind of serves as your fullback in this case, too.
02:04Jawar Jordan.
02:05And then I have a drafted rookie as the fifth running back.
02:09Which you think that Agumboale's time in Houston has come to a close.
02:13I do.
02:13I do.
02:14I just think it feels like it's time.
02:18Agumboale, in some respects, he should be a fan favorite.
02:21And yet, because of the issues at running back and with the run game this year and everything, he turned
02:26into like, oh, crap.
02:28They like Agumboale more than they should, don't they?
02:31It's not his fault.
02:33Right.
02:33It's not his fault at all.
02:34But he's also, he's now 31 years old.
02:37I don't know, I think he turns 32 this year.
02:38He was in Texans training camp in 2017.
02:42Yeah.
02:43Back in the Bill O'Brien era at West Virginia.
02:45Yeah.
02:45Jawar Jordan is the interesting one there.
02:48Because I think, look, we saw, we had seen flashes for a couple years of Jawar Jordan in training camp.
02:53But then you always worry about, okay, he's not a bigger guy.
02:56How's it look in the regular season?
02:57And then he flashed this year when he had some opportunities in the regular season.
03:02So I think he still has to make the team.
03:04But I, we got to see exactly where his potential upside is.
03:09So I'm, I'm, I'm intrigued to see another year of development out of him.
03:13Yeah.
03:13Before we keep going, let me just say that the, in going through this exercise, I had a harder time
03:18getting to 53.
03:20Oh, really?
03:21And I did wondering who doesn't make the 53.
03:23Well, yeah, and we'll, and we'll get to a position where I think you might agree with me in a
03:26second.
03:27It's not wide receiver, wide receiver, Nico Collins, Jaden Higgins, Xavier Hutchinson, Jalen Knoll, Tank Dell.
03:36And I have a spot here.
03:37This is the only position group I did this for, but I just put veteran free agent.
03:41Oh, okay.
03:42I feel like that's a room.
03:43Look, Nico Collins, Nico Collins is heading into year six.
03:47He's got five years of experience.
03:49The, the rest of the wide receivers in that room combined have seven years of experience.
03:55So I think that's a room where they could use a veteran guy that they combined.
04:00Xavier Hutchinson, one.
04:02Jalen Knoll, one.
04:03Oh no, sorry.
04:04Xavier Hutchinson, three years.
04:06Jaden Higgins, one.
04:07Jalen Knoll, one.
04:08I'm only giving Tank Dell credit for two because he didn't play last year.
04:11Yeah.
04:12So that's seven years total.
04:13So you got a total, add in Nico, you got a total of 12 years of NFL experience.
04:18In that room, hell, if they went and signed Keenan Allen, I think he's been in the league
04:2212 years himself.
04:23So I think that's a room.
04:25That's the only position group that I did that with was we got six receivers.
04:29Five of them are on the team right now.
04:31And I think like a Debo Samuel or a Keenan Allen, or maybe somebody, a cut below that,
04:36but somebody who they feel would be good.
04:37Not that, I mean, Nico's a fine leader.
04:40He got voted a captain last year or whatever.
04:41I just think they could use a little experience in that room.
04:43It's not going to be Stefan Diggs.
04:45Have you heard any Juwan Jennings scuttlebutt out there?
04:48Zero, zero, except that he's rated very high on a lot of the free agency, remaining free
04:53agent lists.
04:54Keenan Allen and DeAndre Hopkins, we've got some audio, or no, we'll talk about DeAndre
04:59a little bit later.
04:59Yeah.
04:59Yeah.
05:00He did a little AMA.
05:01But yeah, other than that, there's not, there's not any huge names out there necessarily that
05:06feel like they'd be a good fit for the Texans right now.
05:09Okay.
05:09This next position group is one that I think illustrates my point that getting to 53 might've been
05:16a tougher process than paring down the 53 at the, at this stage, you know, they're still,
05:21they're still going to sign more free agents.
05:23They're obviously going to have a draft tight end, Dalton Schultz, Foster Moreau, Cade Stover,
05:30Revan Jordan.
05:32That is a position group that is clamoring for a drafted rookie, right?
05:36Yeah, I don't, and it wouldn't, I wouldn't be surprised if either Brevin Jordan or Cade
05:40Stover aren't on the roster or Foster Moreau at this point.
05:44I think it's a, it's a wide open battle between those three guys and any drafted rookies or
05:51undrafted free agents.
05:53And then free agents that might be out there on the street or available for trade.
05:56Yep.
05:57So that's tight end.
05:58I have four of them there.
05:59Okay.
05:59Offensive line.
06:00We know they like taking nine offensive linemen into the season on the 53.
06:04So here we go, Ariante Ursary is one, Wyatt Teller, two, Jake Andrews, three, Ed Ingram,
06:11four, Braden Smith, five.
06:13I think that would be your starting five right now.
06:15If the season were to begin tomorrow, Trent Brown and Evan Brown, I think are both backups
06:20that are going to be on the team as swing, tackle swing, interior guy.
06:25And Seth, then I have drafted rookie, drafted rookie rounding out the nine, which means that
06:30both Blake Fisher and Jared Patterson are not on my 53 right now.
06:34Hmm.
06:36Let's see.
06:36I wonder if it's, so let's say this, if the, if the Vikings had said, Hey, no, we don't
06:43want you Scruggs.
06:44We want Jared Patterson.
06:46Do you think the Texans hesitate at all?
06:48Oh, the line.
06:48You mean the lions?
06:49Yeah.
06:50Yeah.
06:50Excuse me.
06:50The line.
06:51Yeah.
06:51Yeah.
06:51Yeah.
06:51If they, if they wanted, yes.
06:53Cause Patterson has been more productive than juice Scruggs.
06:56Well, but he can put what they also didn't, they didn't include him in that battle at left
07:00guard at the beginning of the year.
07:01That was juice Scruggs.
07:02Okay.
07:03You know what?
07:04One chance.
07:04You know what?
07:04Let me back up.
07:06If it meant getting David Montgomery, then I think they would have put Jared Patterson in
07:09the deal.
07:10I mean, it might've altered the deal.
07:12Like I do.
07:12Would it have altered the deal at all?
07:14Maybe it's just the fourth and Jared Patterson.
07:15You're not tossing this back or something.
07:18Yeah.
07:18Yeah.
07:19Yeah.
07:19Yeah.
07:19I, I, I mean, I think they liked Jared Patterson better than, than juice Scruggs, but it's a
07:23good question.
07:24So that's, so I, I mean, that's, that feels like it would be kind of big news, especially
07:28the Blake Fisher thing.
07:30I still think if you ask me what I think is going to happen with Blake Fisher, I still think
07:34Blake Fisher gets traded.
07:35I don't think it's going to be a big deal.
07:37I think it's going to be Blake Fisher and a seventh.
07:40For a sixth or something like that.
07:42Um, but I think there's probably still value for Blake Fisher out there.
07:46He's got two years left on his rookie deal.
07:48And there's a team out there that probably had a good grade on him or something.
07:50Every time we bring this up, we get some pushback from people that point out Blake Fisher's
07:55work as the sixth offensive lineman this year, or that chargers game where he started at
07:59left tackle.
08:00And I guess all I can say is I wasn't as impressed as some people were with how he did
08:05when he
08:05was in there.
08:05Well, um, I thought there were like, there were a lot of times where he just still looked like
08:09he was a speed bump on the way to the quarterback.
08:11Then it might not have resulted in a pressure, a sack because the quarterback got rid of the
08:15ball quickly, but it just, it wasn't, he didn't do anything in that spot where I thought, oh
08:19yeah, boy, he's right on the brink of becoming a full-time starter or even a swing tackle.
08:25And what's funny is, you know, when you sign somebody at a position like the Texans did,
08:29they signed Foster Moreau.
08:30So the inclination, just because you look at the label of tight end, you go, okay, well,
08:34Kate Stover on notice for Evan Jordan on notice.
08:38And, and, and that may very well be true.
08:40I think Blake Fisher is every bit as much, if not more put on notice by the Moreau signing
08:45than the other two tight ends are just based on like the foster Moreau thing allows you
08:50to actually have a sixth offensive lineman out there who plays like an offensive lineman,
08:54but who had 400 yards receiving a couple of years ago.
08:57Well, he's still an actual receiving threat, right?
08:58Yeah.
08:59I mean, the, the trouble with Blake, the thing about Blake Fisher being the sixth offensive
09:03lineman, it was the, it was an imperfect solution to a really bad problem.
09:08So it was when they would play with six offensive linemen, it's not like it was effective in
09:13turning them into a good rushing team or anything.
09:15It was just, they were less worse than they had been before, but it really hamstrings
09:20you in terms of how the defense is going to respond to you.
09:24If you got six offensive linemen out there, you'd like, you'd like to have six, you'd like
09:28to be able to put six offensive linemen out because you have six guys that are all good
09:32starters and that, yeah, let's add one more to the mix.
09:35It was just, everything was so bad in some respects, both in pass protection and in the run
09:41game that they just needed more big bodies out there.
09:44All right.
09:44Flipping over to the defense again, this was another position where I go, oh man, you know,
09:49they, not like they had elite talent on the interior before, but they had a bunch of guys
09:53they rotated that you felt pretty good about the eight defensive lineman set that I came
09:58up with.
09:58Will Anderson, Daniel Hunter, Tommy Togiai, Sheldon Rankins.
10:01That's probably your quote starting four right there.
10:04If you had to go play a game, knowing that they rotated those positions, Logan Hall is intriguing.
10:09Nick Juan Jones, I think would make the team right now.
10:12He was a $2 million low level signing Dylan Horton, I think would make the team.
10:16And it's not like, you know, and I know Dylan's dealt with health issues off the field and
10:19whatever.
10:20So I want to be careful with that.
10:21But I think Dylan Horton is a draft pick who's probably unnoticed right now.
10:24And then I've got that's seven just to get to seven.
10:27You get there.
10:27And then I have a drafted rookie.
10:29I can see there being two drafted rookies on the deal.
10:32Well, there's going to be, I think there'll be a veteran added to, I think the problem with
10:35that, that depth chart is you laid it out was that you've really only got two pass rushing
10:39defensive ends there that they don't, they need more than that.
10:45So I think Derek Barnett is still in play.
10:47Barnett, I'm guessing is probably a guy that feels like, Hey, I've played as well as a lot
10:52of starters in this league.
10:53And, you know, he's never going to outshine Daniel Hunter or Will Anderson.
10:58So maybe he's just waiting for an opportunity to go and be a starter somewhere else.
11:01But if he sits out there long enough and maybe the Texans give him a competitive offer, and
11:05he's had five sacks in each of the last two regular seasons, he's, he's had some huge fumble
11:11recoveries and for touchdowns.
11:13Yeah.
11:14Um, he's done some really good things for the Texans.
11:16So somebody, whether it's him or somebody like him, you're losing Danico Autry and, and,
11:24um, and, uh, and him right now as a defensive end, they got to replace that.
11:28Yep.
11:28Um, linebacker, I've got six again, we're going through, I did it way, way too early
11:3353 highlighting some of the areas that Texans got work to do linebacker.
11:37I've got six, Seth, Aziz Alshair, Henry Toa Toa, EJ speed, Jamal Hill.
11:42Cause I think they like him on special teams.
11:44I just started thinking about special teams as I was putting this together, Jake Hummel,
11:47who they signed seemingly to be a special teams guy.
11:50And then I've got a drafted rookie at linebacker just cause Toa Toa and Alshair on the last year
11:55of their deals.
11:55Although I think I'd be shocked if Aziz Alshair isn't a Texan after 2026, but just, you know,
12:01it's D'Amico Ryans.
12:02I can see them, you know, and special teams come into consideration on day three and linebacker
12:07seems to be a position where you find your special teamers.
12:09Hey, in light of Kyle Brandt, uh, uh, telling NFL players to be sure people put respect on
12:16your name and pronounce it correctly.
12:18Um, I got to go back and watch the, uh, of one of the Monday night football intros or something
12:24to see exactly how Alshair himself pronounces it because there's a, there's just wide, uh,
12:29there's a wide array of different pronunciations you hear out there.
12:32The media guide says to say Alshair.
12:34Alshair.
12:35Yeah.
12:36Shire.
12:36It's a, the emphasis on the shy.
12:38Okay.
12:38But I, but I've heard enough play-by-play guys call it a little bit differently.
12:42Shire.
12:43We gotta, yeah, we gotta get that right before we head into the, uh, the rest of the season.
12:47I agree.
12:47Put respect on his name.
12:49Cornerback.
12:50Okay.
12:50And this is another one, Seth.
12:52This, this might be the position that was the most jarring for me.
12:57Derek Stingley, Kamari Lassiter.
12:59I have five of them.
13:01Jalen Smith, who was injured most of last year.
13:04Jamarcus Ingram, who was on the team at the end of the year and did some good things on
13:07he, again, he's a special teams guy and Tremont Smith, unless they draft somebody, Tremont
13:12Smith probably still makes this team next year.
13:15Um, that is a position that I think is clamoring for a drafted rookie as well.
13:21Corner cornerback.
13:22Um, so how many draft picks do you have on this 53 man Ross?
13:26I think five or six, uh, running back two offensive linemen, D line linebacker five total
13:33five.
13:34So I can see how many picks do they have right now?
13:36They've got, I think eight or nine picks, which will end up being more or less than
13:40that.
13:40I don't even pay attention anymore to that generally figure out what they have.
13:44And I know that it's going to change on draft day.
13:46Uh, cause Nick will start maneuvering around all over the place.
13:49I corner, cornerback is one I struggled with putting a drafted rookie instead of one of
13:54those last couple of guys.
13:55It was one of the issues I always had with Rick Smith or things that is a mild annoyance
13:59was that every single draft pick made the team every year.
14:02It was, there was like, all right, yeah, come on.
14:06Like at some point, you can't love all these guys just off, uh, you know, that, that first
14:13year.
14:13No, um, safety.
14:15I've got four.
14:16So I've got no new guys in the secondary.
14:18I've got four safeties.
14:19Kalen Bullock, Reed Blankenship, Jalen Reed, MJ Stewart, again, a special teams guy.
14:24And then I have Jalen Petrie in a category of his own.
14:28It's called Jalen Petrie.
14:30And there's one of them on the team.
14:31His name is Jalen Petrie.
14:33Um, and then the three specialists, Brinkman, Kroger, and, uh, Fairbairn right now.
14:38So those are the 53, uh, the cornerbacks.
14:40I mean, we, we've seen this with the way Nick operates.
14:43I mean, that, that could be vastly different by the time the regular season rolls around.
14:49Um, I mean, last year when they were, uh, remember they went on that binge for former, uh, the
14:53top five cornerback busts.
14:56Uh, that was, did that happen early in the off season?
14:59That was, that was Bill O'Brien back in like 2018 or 2019 where he traded for.
15:03No, no, no, no.
15:04Going into training camp like two years ago.
15:05Oh, oh, oh, CJ Henderson and, and Jeff Okuda.
15:08Yeah, yeah, yeah.
15:09That was.
15:09I just can't remember when they were signed.
15:11I think it was, it was either, it was definitely with D'Amico in the building.
15:14It was 23 or 24.
15:16I can't, I think it was 24.
15:17No, no, no.
15:17I'm trying to remember what time of year they were signed.
15:20Like if it was after draft or whatever.
15:22Yeah.
15:22I'm not sure.
15:23I'm not sure.
15:24That was right.
15:24Yeah.
15:25I think from the same draft too, Okuda and CJ Henderson.
15:28CJ Henderson agreed on March 21st of 2024.
15:32Okay.
15:32So pretty early still.
15:33People that, that was, um, that was a tough one because there are, man, there are a lot
15:37of people that were just 100% hardcore into Jeff Okuda or CJ Henderson based mostly
15:43on like pre-draft analysis and everything.
15:46Yeah.
15:47Uh, yeah.
15:47They signed Jeff Okuda on March 11th.
15:49It was, they were both in March.
15:50Yeah.
15:50It was 24.
15:51You know how I remember that?
15:52It was 24.
15:53Cause they, they played the Cowboys in 24 and that Monday night game and the one touchdown
15:58the Cowboys scored was the game.
16:00Jeff Okuda came back and played slot corner and Kevontae Turpin took him to the house.
16:04Gave up the inside.
16:05Yeah.
16:06Yeah.
16:06That was Jeff Okuda.
16:08Um, the, uh, text message.
16:10The cornerback issue is a serious one.
16:11I guess that's my overall point with this exercise is that in going through it, I, I feel like
16:17there are positions where they've got significant work to do still.
16:21And cornerback is one of them.
16:23The thing, if you want to caution yourself about getting too cocky is every football coach
16:29does, you know, they spend the entire off season, including Mike McDonald with the Seahawks
16:33right now, uh, being just, you know, the obsessing over every little thing that could have gone
16:38wrong and, you know, don't get complacent.
16:41The health on the defense last year was, was very, very, very good.
16:47You know, to the point where even Kamari Lassiter missing that final game, he probably would
16:51have played if it was a genuinely meaningful game.
16:54Yes.
16:54They, they had really good luck with their health and you just, you can't expect that they're
16:59going to have that again this season.
17:01Now the one area they didn't was a defensive tackle.
17:04They had miserable luck at defensive tackle, but they were so deep that it didn't matter.
17:08And because Tommy Togiai came along so well, um, they were able to make do, but I, but I
17:14could still even argue, you know what, in the Patriots game, if you'd gone in there with the
17:18original roster of defensive linemen or defensive tackles, uh, it, maybe it would have made a
17:23difference in the fourth quarter there when the Patriots were able to, to close out the
17:26game and just kind of run on the Texans at will.
17:29The thing about the, I mean, the Raiders game, you don't have Aziz Elshire out there and
17:34man, they, they had a hard time versus the, the, the, the, the, a rookie running back
17:41with the best game of his season.
17:42Yep.
17:42They did.
17:43They did.
17:44Yep.
17:44And depth on the defensive side was the thing.
17:46That was my big takeaway from going through that is like, eh, they got, they got some,
17:49they got a little bit more work to do for sure.
17:51Sure.
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