00:00Wyatt Teller, the newest Houston Texan, looks like he's going to be a left guard.
00:06This is Wyatt Teller talking about his friendship with C.J. Stroud.
00:12And now C.J. had been recruiting him going back a ways.
00:15And I got to talk at PAO, which is the Christian Bay, NFL Christian Bay Seminar Conference.
00:22And it's East Coast, West Coast.
00:24We met two years ago when he was on the East Coast.
00:26And then this past year, it was in Denna Point, California.
00:30And just getting to talk to him, it was like he was recruiting me and recruiting my wife.
00:34But really, he was just saying, wherever you go, I know you're going to have success and everything like that.
00:39But I would love for you to block for me and everything like that.
00:43And just kind of be an enforcer and a protector of him.
00:47When he's healthy, I don't know many teams that can beat the Houston Texans.
00:52And so if I can help in any way, not that I need to be Superman or anything like that,
00:58but just get back to what I'm good at.
01:00Okay.
01:00So they've known each other for a couple years now.
01:04They've known each other, meeting at the religious seminar that he was talking about, East Coast, West Coast.
01:09Yeah, you know what, CJ, in that moment, he's kind of like the guy that shows up to the Bible
01:16study event, scoping for chicks.
01:19He's like, yeah, this is a good opportunity for me.
01:23A couple hot left guards in here.
01:25People are starting to kind of murmur about, like, I don't know if this guy's here for the right reasons.
01:29He's here to get offensive linemen.
01:32Seems like CJ is less here to talk about God and more to recruit offensive linemen.
01:37That's funny.
01:37Well, it worked.
01:37It worked on at least one of them.
01:39And I think that that, I mean, this obviously, you know, the interaction that Teller has had with CJ goes
01:46back a ways.
01:48But I think it plays into a similar vibe with what Braden Smith has said, which is the first guy
01:53that texted me after the news broke that I had agreed to terms with the Texans was CJ Stroud.
01:58He didn't have his number.
01:59You know, a strange number shows up on his phone, and it's CJ texting him, welcoming him to the team.
02:04I think there's, I'm not saying this is a majority of the fan base, Seth, and I'm not saying it's
02:09my opinion on this either.
02:10I do think there is part of the fan base that has Deshaun Watson PTSD.
02:16And I'm not talking about all the legal stuff with Deshaun.
02:19I'm talking about when Deshaun is four years in, and he feels like, for whatever reason, whether it's the organization
02:25or his career, just things aren't right.
02:27Anyway, Deshaun, who has the same agent as CJ Stroud, requests a trade.
02:31And the Texans are obviously in a much, much, much better place in all facets of their organization in 2026
02:38than they were in 2020 with Deshaun Watson after that season.
02:42They were 4-12 that season.
02:44They were 12-5 this season.
02:45So it's a much better team and organization now.
02:48But I think there are people who were reading into kind of CJ's body language or his mood or whatever
02:56it may be.
02:56He's not a guy that's over-exuberant about stuff anyways most of the time that we're going, that are nervous
03:02that the Texans are going to have to be on a quarterback hunt again.
03:05And I don't know that CJ is the solution.
03:08CJ's got to play better, obviously.
03:09He's got to hold up his end of the bargain.
03:11But I like hearing this stuff that he's being proactive about being a Houston Texan.
03:16I think the biggest thing, if you can leave the playoffs out of it, because some of CJ's decision-making
03:24and his risk tolerance, I guess, went above and beyond the situation or circumstances around him.
03:33But the excuse I will make for him is that it's really hard for any NFL quarterback to operate well
03:40when you're incapable of running the football.
03:42And they haven't had a good rushing attack the entire time he's been here.
03:47It's been, you know, it's, it improved somewhat in the second half of last season, but it still wasn't a
03:54viable rushing attack.
03:56And even if you're, if you're Pat Mahomes, where your head coach hates running the football, you still need to
04:03have that counterbalance of the ability to run the ball at times.
04:08And that's an extreme example.
04:10You know, that's Pat Mahomes on a really good football team, but the, for any young quarterback or veteran quarterback,
04:17but especially for young quarterbacks, he really hasn't had that benefit of having a quality rushing attack.
04:22So, the moves they've made on the offensive line speak specifically to that dynamic.
04:28They should be a better rushing team this year, as long as David Montgomery is healthy, and as long as
04:35the offensive line stays relatively healthy, they should be a better rushing attack.
04:38And if, if CJ changed nothing at all, I think he's a better quarterback because of that.
04:43Now, how far above and beyond that does he take it?
04:45That's a, a lot of that's up to CJ Stroud.
04:47He has the receivers.
04:48You know, he has a lot.
04:49He has, at the very least, I know Dalton, look, Dalton Schultz is in Georgia.
04:52George Kittle or anything, but he's a viable receiving option as a, as a tight end.
04:57Yep.
04:57So, it's really just the complete absence of a rushing attack that, that is a viable and it's a viable
05:05and legitimate excuse for CJ so far.
05:07If they fix it this year and he doesn't take a step forward, then we got real concerns.
05:12But I, at the very least, I want to see him with a good rushing attack.
05:15Can you imagine living in a world where this team can just line up and go get six yards, go
05:19get seven yards, get third and one,
05:21without us having to sweat about it or put Cade Stover on the field in a Stover shove situation.
05:27Like, it looks like a normal running attack.
05:30God, when was the last time they had that?
05:31Well, in cold weather games, especially.
05:33Yeah.
05:33You know, that's where, and that's where, and I'm not making an excuse for CJ here.
05:37And the Patriots game, like, he was pressing.
05:40And you understand why he might be pressing, given that they couldn't run the ball at all that day.
05:45But he was also making decisions that you just shouldn't make, especially when you have a lead in your own
05:51territory in the first half.
05:54You don't, you don't loft that ball up.
05:55So it's a partial excuse.
05:58He's got to do a better job in those situations.
06:00But I would just prefer to not be in that situation as often.
06:04I agree.
06:04Um, the, uh, the illustration that I teased into this segment about just how haphazard these quarterback evaluations are, because
06:11the, you know, the big topic, the last 24 hours has been Dan Orlovsky said that, uh, Ty Simpson is,
06:17is a better quarterback prospect than Fernando Mendoza.
06:20And everybody's worked up one way or the other.
06:22I, you know, I remember back in 2021 where it was pretty clear.
06:26Nobody was saying Trey Lance is better than Trevor Lawrence or Mack Jones is better than Trevor Lawrence.
06:31Trevor Lawrence was the clear number one guy in that draft to Jacksonville.
06:35And it's a good thing for the Jaguars that that was the case because the next four quarterbacks taken all
06:42taken in the top 15.
06:43And the reason I'm bringing this up is because Zach Wilson signed with the New Orleans Saints yesterday as a
06:49reminder of just how stupid it is to get worked up about QB assessments before the draft.
06:54Trevor Lawrence, who, by the way, Trevor Lawrence is the clear cut number one of these five guys.
06:59And, and still, I think has a lot of questions to answer.
07:02So huge question marks about him.
07:04Right.
07:05Yeah.
07:05Even with the way he ended last season as a top five MVP finisher, but the next four quarterbacks taken
07:11set, this is wild.
07:12Zach Wilson taken number two, boy, the jets got killed for winning too many games that year, you know, because
07:19they could have had Trevor Lawrence.
07:20And as it turns out, they draft Zach Wilson.
07:22He's been now with the jets, the Broncos, the dolphins, and the saints.
07:27He's five years into his career and he's on his fourth team.
07:31Trey Lance was the third pick.
07:33The Niners traded multiple firsts to move up and get Trey Lance in the 2021 draft.
07:40And the crazy thing is the Niners have been to a Superbowl since then.
07:42There was a horrible trade.
07:44Trey Lance has flunked out in San Fran.
07:47He's been in Dallas and now he just re-signed with the Chargers.
07:51So he's been on three teams in five years.
07:54Justin Fields was picked eight picks later by the Chicago bears.
07:58He was going to be the savior of the bears.
08:00Can't, you know what we, the passing quarterbacks don't do very well here.
08:03Cause it's windy coming off the lake.
08:05We've never had a 4,000 yard passer.
08:06So we're going to get Justin Fields who can run the football as well, as well as pass it.
08:11And he's been on Chicago, Pittsburgh, the jets.
08:13And now he's, he got traded to Kansas city to back up Patrick Mahomes.
08:19So he's on his fourth team.
08:20And then there's Mac Jones who was picked 15th who all the rumors were during nugget
08:25Hussey season before the draft was that he was the guy the Niners wanted at three.
08:30Well, um, he's on the Niners.
08:33Now he was drafted by new England and then went to, uh, Jacksonville and now he's a San
08:38Francisco 49er back.
08:40What if Dan, if Dan Orlovsky had gotten up in 2018 and said emphatically that he thinks
08:46I'll, you know what?
08:47I'll leave Lamar Jackson out of it.
08:49Okay.
08:49Cause he goes 32nd overall.
08:51And I can't remember exactly what the discussion was about, but let's leave Lamar Jackson out
08:54of it.
08:55Cause in that same draft class, Josh Allen was the third quarterback taken, right?
08:59And if, if Orlovsky had got up and maybe people did have the sake, I don't remember people
09:02saying, nope, Josh Allen is emphatically the better prospect than Baker Mayfield.
09:07No, if you got, I feel like he would be getting absolutely destroyed right now.
09:11He would be getting, if he had said that he's better than Sam Darnold, absolutely.
09:14He would have been getting killed.
09:15He would be like, clearly Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson were the third and fourth quarter,
09:21fifth quarterbacks taken in that draft.
09:24And yeah, there's no doubt.
09:25There's no doubt about it.
09:25Better than Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold.
09:27He would have gotten killed on the Allen thing because Josh Allen was not nearly as accurate
09:31in college as he's become in the NFL.
09:33He, Josh Allen is, Josh Allen has caused other GMs to lose their jobs.
09:38You take a guy that's not that accurate, doesn't play to the smaller school.
09:42And then all of a sudden Trey Lance is getting drafted a couple of years later.
09:46Exactly.
09:46That's exactly right.
09:47It's exactly.
09:48That's a great illustration of it though.
09:50Like if someone had said, Josh, if Dan Orlovsky got up in 2018, when he was first starting
09:54his radio career, I remember that because he needed to come to us at 610 on Radio Road,
09:59Minnesota to get a media pass, to get on Radio Road.
10:02That's where he was in his career.
10:04If he had got, now he would have, he would have, he would have cut through if he had said
10:07that back in the day.
10:09That's the way, that's the way you make a mark, but you're absolutely right.
10:11That's a great illustration of it right there, man.
10:13The third or fourth guy taken sometimes winds up being the best guy.
10:17I mean, like, I know Mitch Trubisky wasn't, a lot of people weren't sold on Mitch Trubisky.
10:22No, I was not.
10:24You know, Pam Holmes ended up going 10th in that draft in 2017.
10:26But I don't know if that would have been, there would have been more healthy debate about that.
10:30Yep.
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