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Seth and Sean take a look at what anonymous scouts are saying about TE and WR prospects that may be on the Texans' draft board.
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00:00I don't know that there's a show on the planet, let alone the city of Houston, that loves anonymous quotes
00:05from scouts during draft season more than Sean Pendergast and Seth Payne.
00:12Yeah.
00:13We love these.
00:13I love them, too, because everybody gets all morally high-handed when you see them.
00:20Oh, I can't believe they're being, oh, so unfair to this kid.
00:23And then, like, 90% of the time, you see within a year or two, oh, yeah, maybe we should
00:28have listened to the anonymous scouts after this guy's third arrest.
00:33Yeah.
00:33Maybe there should have been something to that.
00:35Dude, you know who hates anonymous anything, whether it's anonymous quotes from anybody, especially if they're critical quotes, is Clint
00:44Sterner.
00:44I know.
00:45He hates it, and I love it when he gets so mad about it because I'll text him.
00:48I'll be like, this is content.
00:50I love these.
00:52Remember all the people who are so angry about all the anonymous scouts about Johnny Manziel?
00:55Yeah.
00:56How could you disparage a young man who's just trying to make it in this world?
00:59Who, by the way, by the way, okay, two things on Johnny real quick.
01:03One, he tweeted about Tiger this weekend saying, why doesn't he get a chauffeur?
01:08If you got Johnny Manziel questioning your life decisions, you're in a rough place.
01:12Number two, Johnny himself might be a bit of an a-hole.
01:16Johnny's new thing is just stiffing people that are paying him to come sign autographs.
01:19Did you see that?
01:20That's not a new thing.
01:21It's a continuing thing.
01:22Yeah.
01:22Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:23So he's the latest.
01:25Because we know he stiffed game day during the season.
01:28That wasn't an autograph thing.
01:29That was a come make picks at a playoff game thing.
01:32And then it was a little like, I think little, but like a comic book store or something in San
01:37Antonio is paying him to, you know,
01:38they advertised it and everything.
01:39He just didn't show up.
01:40He just didn't show up.
01:42You are not getting acknowledged at 720, Johnny Manziel, at all.
01:46All right, let's get to these anonymous scouts here, Seth.
01:48These are from Bob McGinn.
01:50So it's Bob McGinn at Go Long TD.
01:54And honestly, not as many scintillating characteristics so far with the wide receivers and the tight ends.
02:00Okay.
02:00I had a hard time finding scintillating anonymous quotes.
02:04So I suck for these first couple, too.
02:07Just a couple of guys that are regarded as the best in the class, Kenyon Sadiq and Eli Stowers.
02:13Okay.
02:13And so Kenyon Sadiq, who seems to be forecasted to be gone by the time the Texans are picking at
02:1828, let's say move up.
02:20But a guy who does start to get close to the Texans in some of the mock drafts, close enough
02:24where I think if the Texans really liked him,
02:26they could trade up for him if they wanted to.
02:28Here's what a scout says about Kenyon Sadiq, one of the scouts.
02:31I love everything about him, but I wish his hands were better.
02:34He has a lot of drops.
02:36Other than that, that's kind of a big thing.
02:38Other than that, and that's kind of a big thing.
02:40I like him a lot.
02:41What's nice, too, is he isn't a bad blocker.
02:43He's pretty good at it.
02:45You wish he was taller for the position, but a receiving tight end that can get into people and block
02:50him is good.
02:50You know what?
02:51I read an interesting article by Draftnik this weekend where he was pointing out that amongst receivers, drop rate is
02:59actually one of the things you should care least about.
03:02And I got the sense that it's just, it's one of those things.
03:04There's so many, I mean, people are concerned about Andre Johnson early on in his career because of drops in
03:10his rookie season.
03:11There's something about the fact that guys who are blisteringly athletic and can just get open, that matters a lot
03:19more than whether they can always catch the football or not.
03:22So I think with tight ends, especially if you're looking at Kenyon Sadiq as a receiving tight end, he's one
03:29of these supersized slot receivers more so than a traditional tight end.
03:32But I don't worry about the drop rate.
03:34I feel like of all the things you can improve at as a football player, just through repetition and work,
03:39that catching the football would be skewed more towards the side where you actually can't improve at that thing once
03:44you get to the league.
03:45Yeah, it's still, you know what?
03:46That's what you would think.
03:47But there's a certain amount of hand-eye coordination that goes into it.
03:50Yeah, yeah.
03:50And I think, you know, look at Terrell Owens.
03:53He never had good hands.
03:54Right.
03:54He's in the Hall of Fame.
03:55Yeah.
03:56I think that with Kenyon Sadiq, I wonder, in fitting with the theme of what the Texans have been going
04:03for in the offense in the offseason, it's all about physicality and all of that.
04:09And Sadiq's a specimen, and he's a willing blocker, but he's not built like a tight end who's going to
04:17be nowhere near like a Gronk type of tight end.
04:20I wonder how they would feel about trading up for somebody like Sadiq if they're really putting that much of
04:26an emphasis on finding bully type of players.
04:28Yeah, road graders at tight end.
04:30Yeah, that's interesting.
04:32I mean, college tight ends are just those guys aren't out there anymore, but yeah.
04:36No, no.
04:37Well, the hands thing is interesting, too, because sometimes, and we know this from the Texans having drafted Will Fuller,
04:43is that, and I thought Fuller got, his hands got better, I thought, as he got older as a player.
04:47I mean, he only stuck around for five years, but I thought the hands were less of an issue later
04:51in his career than they were early.
04:53But they drafted him in the first round, and sometimes you just accept that.
04:57Like, okay, this is one of the downsides.
04:58He's going to drop a few passes, but the upside is he's going to score a 50-yard touchdown for
05:03you every couple of weeks.
05:04You know, it's a balance sheet.
05:07All right, this is one I'm anxious to hit.
05:09Eli Stowers of Vanderbilt, who is...
05:15Failed Aggie quarterback.
05:17Yes, and he is actually, when we've seen multi-round mock drafts, he's gone to the Texans in a couple
05:23of these.
05:25And he's a guy who will be around at various points when the Texans are picking.
05:29Here's what one scout said about Stowers from Vanderbilt.
05:31He crushed the drills and ran crazy fast.
05:33He's a better receiver than Sadiq as far as movement and hands.
05:36He just has a better catch radius and hands than Sadiq.
05:40Neither one will give you much blocking.
05:42Yeah, and again, if you're drafting a tight end in the first round, more times than not,
05:46you're not drafting the guy because you think he's a stellar blocker.
05:50It's just, like, they might be the best blocker in the class,
05:54but that's something that they figure they can teach in the NFL.
05:56More Stowers.
05:57I like the Stowers one.
05:59The quote that I liked was, well, I started to like it.
06:02He was super hungry in 2024.
06:05He almost beat Alabama single-handedly.
06:07I think he saw it as a chance to play in the SEC and show people what he had.
06:12This year, he didn't show that hunger until later on in the year.
06:16They got away from using him as a blocker, and I don't think it helped his game necessarily.
06:20He got out of the flow a little bit.
06:22But I kind of liked that because it almost – that's the way you talk about big men in the
06:26NBA.
06:26Yeah.
06:27You know, give him some touches early, keep him in the flow, all of that,
06:29and you'll get more out of him defensively.
06:31If the theory is that he's a better receiver when he's also engaged as a blocker, I like that.
06:37I think that's a good – I'm going to take a negative and turn it into a positive.
06:40It's a little like Jordan being a better hitter when he plays left field.
06:45Yeah.
06:45You know, he's a little more – he's out there on defense.
06:47He's a little more dialed into the whole game.
06:48He's engaged all the time.
06:49They're going to ask him to block in this system, so maybe that ends up getting the most out of
06:54him.
06:54Eli Stowers is Jordan Alvarez.
06:57That's the take.
06:57And also, just based on the dynamic of the – the only other failed Aggie quarterback
07:02that went on to hurt my team in the NFL is Ryan Tannehill.
07:07Oh, yeah.
07:08Yeah.
07:09He wasn't a failed quarterback, but, yeah.
07:12Yeah.
07:12Yeah.
07:12He was a – he was a decent wide receiver at A&M.
07:17Like, he was pretty good.
07:19All right.
07:20Other write-ups of guys –
07:22Did he start off as a quarterback his freshman year, then they moved him to receiver?
07:25At A&M?
07:26Yeah.
07:27I think that was the timeline.
07:29Yeah, yeah.
07:29Aggies will correct me very quickly.
07:31Yeah, I can't remember.
07:32All right.
07:33The other write-ups that were a little more entertaining.
07:36Michael Trigg, who is a tight end out of Baylor, who – he did some really good things this year.
07:41And he'd go in, like, fourth-rounder thereabouts.
07:43He's like a mid-round pick.
07:44Yep, yep, that's exactly right.
07:47This is what one scout says about Trigg.
07:49He's got some issues in his past.
07:51He got suspended for a game a year ago, then kind of turned it around this past season.
07:54They had nothing but high marks for him this year as far as being a teammate.
07:58I saw him warm up, and he didn't do a thing.
08:01Not one thing.
08:01I thought, this guy's a dog.
08:03Okay, it sounds like not the good kind of dog either.
08:06Yeah, yeah.
08:07Then he comes out in the first series and makes an unbelievable catch for a touchdown.
08:11It's kind of who he is.
08:12He's going to be a fringe guy that's going to have to toe the line.
08:15He's going to have to put on some weight.
08:16He's actually a big receiver.
08:18He doesn't block Worth Beans.
08:19Worth Beans is always fun.
08:21This does not sound like a future Houston Texan.
08:24It doesn't sound like a future Texan, but it also sounds like he's an older scout,
08:28which I think – the one thing I noticed about these Bob McGinn quotes is he's an older guy.
08:34I think he's semi-retired as a journalist.
08:37He just does this for the blog every now and then.
08:41The fact that the scout said, this guy's a dog, and he meant it in a bad way,
08:46that's about pretty much like probably anybody older than you and I would say that.
08:51That's a good point.
08:52Anybody else that's in football knows if I say this guy's a dog,
08:55people are going to think that I'm saying he's a badass.
08:58I had to read it twice because I thought he meant, wow, this guy doesn't even warm up.
09:03He just goes out and balls.
09:05But, no, that's not how he meant it at all.
09:07Someone said that Eli Stowers, just not to jump around too much,
09:10was also a state champ high jumper as a sophomore.
09:13Wow.
09:14High jump like 7'1 or something like that, the texter says.
09:18One more on Trigg.
09:20A second scout said, Ole Miss basically told him to leave.
09:23It's hard to get thrown out at Ole Miss.
09:25There you go.
09:26That was the one I had written down, I remember.
09:28Yeah.
09:28It's hard to get thrown out at Ole Miss.
09:30That would be Lane Kiffin throwing you out of school.
09:33So, where did he go?
09:34He went to Baylor.
09:35He went to Baylor.
09:36It used to be hard to get thrown out of Baylor.
09:37And got straightened out.
09:39You're right.
09:39Yeah, back in the day, it was hard to get thrown.
09:41No, remember when Sam Houston was really good?
09:45I remember looking at their roster.
09:47It was like, oh, they got eight transfers from Baylor.
09:51Yeah.
09:52Willie Jefferson.
09:53The guys that got kicked out of Baylor.
09:55Yeah.
09:55And one of them got kicked off the Texans.
09:58Which one was that?
09:59Willie Jefferson.
09:59Oh, no, no, no.
10:00Yeah, no.
10:00But this was even before.
10:01This was like from the major, major scandal.
10:03Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:04Not the individual scandal.
10:05Yeah, got you.
10:06That would have been.
10:06You're right.
10:06That was before the Arp Riles thing crumbled to the ground.
10:11Will Kazmarek, tight end Ohio State, regarded by some scouts as the best blocking tight end.
10:16One scout said, he will steamroll your face.
10:19I just like the visual.
10:20Yeah.
10:20He'll steamroll your face.
10:22Yep, yep, yep.
10:23All right.
10:23So, those are anonymous scouts on some of the tight ends.
10:26So, where are you, like, on drafting a tight end?
10:30Like, where are you?
10:30I, like, honestly, as much as I love the, as much as I love the, hey, let's block, let's
10:39get as many super physical guys on offense as possible.
10:43When it comes to the modern tight end, I don't need to read that a guy is an awesome blocker
10:49or anything, as long as he's also got awesome athleticism.
10:52And the two guys at the top totally have that.
10:55So, I'd be all for it, I think, as long as they're the right kinds of guys that are
10:58willing to block.
10:59Everybody's, the top three guys, everybody says they're very willing blockers.
11:04They just need work at it.
11:05Yep.
11:05A couple of wide receivers, in case the Texans would be looking that direction.
11:09I don't think they're going to be looking at wide receiver in the first round.
11:13I'd be a little surprised if they drafted one with either of their second round picks,
11:17but you never know.
11:18It's not a perfect wide receiver room right now, by any means.
11:21It's not a perfect room, and it's also a year where, with receivers, it's kind of nobody
11:27that jumps out at you to an extreme, but that a lot of guys that look like they could be
11:33that, you know, like, that second or third rounder that becomes somebody special.
11:38Yeah, Malachi Fields from Notre Dame has been going in some of the mocks, like, late in
11:43the first round, but mostly a second and third round pick.
11:47Said one scout about, and he's somebody I've watched, you know, I watched every snap of
11:50his one year at Notre Dame.
11:51He was a transfer.
11:53He made a couple plays at the Senior Bowl, and all of a sudden, people were talking about
11:56him in the first round.
11:57Sometimes people grade helmets.
11:59Then he ran a 4-6-5, and he's back where he belongs.
12:03Just a big possession guy that can't separate.
12:05He'll flash some playmaking, but just far too inconsistent, end quote.
12:09I think that's a fair scouting report on him.
12:11And I just, obviously, Carnell Tate is the top guy, but we're not, the Texans aren't
12:16shopping in that aisle.
12:17No, no, and the Lemon kid from USC is also getting a lot of attention as well.
12:22There's another USC wide receiver who was in this article.
12:25This is, for me, with wide receiver, I think that the hardest thing I'd have with draft in
12:31a wide receiver in the first couple of rounds is that I don't know which guy is going to
12:38end up, which promising young wide receiver do you have who you're not going to be able
12:43to get on the field, or you're not going to be able to get enough reps to actually develop.
12:46So, especially depending on what happens with Tank Dell.
12:48If, and I think that if I were the Texans and I were trying to maybe be too clever about
12:54it, I'm going to wait and really see how Tank Dell is responding to OTAs and how he looks
12:59in training camp before I even think about bolstering that room.
13:03Because then you've got, because then you've got Jalen Noel, who I think they're still very
13:08optimistic about.
13:10You've got Nico, obviously.
13:12You've got Jaden Higgins.
13:13And then you've got Tank Dell.
13:15And to bring a fifth guy in to try to hope that he gets some reps or develops, well,
13:22not to mention, you know, okay, you're going to say goodbye to Xavier Hutchinson in that
13:25situation, potentially.
13:27It seems like a lot to try to cram into a room when you've got many other areas of need
13:32where you don't have the depth.
13:33And I've said before, I think that's a room that could use some veteran presence as well.
13:36It's a really young room.
13:37And I think it's a bunch of guys with very high football character.
13:41But I don't think it could hurt if one of the veteran guys that are out on the market
13:46were to, you know, were to be affordable there.
13:49I don't think that's the worst thing they could do.
13:50But I think you framed it perfectly, which is if you're drafting a Malachi Fields or,
13:56you know, Jacoby Lane, another Southern Cal wide receiver here where a scout says talent
14:00wise, he'd be in the third round.
14:01But there's some character stuff, just stuff at the school.
14:04He's just a pain in the ass.
14:05It's, you know, if there's a guy in the second or third round that they've got appropriately
14:11rated there, the question that Nick Casario and his staff has to ask themselves is, who
14:16am I willing to punt on now?
14:17Yeah.
14:18You know, like, am I willing to punt on Jalen Knoll?
14:20Am I willing to punt on, you know, Jaden Higgins, who I don't think they're anywhere near
14:23punting on at all?
14:25I think they see Jaden Higgins as a very bright future with the team.
14:29I got to do a deep dive into Jacoby Lane because I'm always intrigued by a guy out of U
14:33.S.
14:33Because the Texans have liked some players out of U.S.C.
14:35Several.
14:36Yeah.
14:37But yeah, talent wise, he'd be in the third round.
14:39But there's some character stuff with him that could drop him a little bit.
14:42Just stuff at the school.
14:44He's just a pain in the ass.
14:45Yeah, man.
14:46That, yeah, I don't think, I think the Texans have him off their board.
14:49I would say, even with the Southern Cal ties, I would say so.
14:52All right.
14:53So when Bob McGinn drops the offensive line, anonymous scouts, that's the one position we're
14:57going to be hardcore into, right?
14:58Defensive tackle.
14:59And defensive tackle also.
15:01Yes.
15:01Defensive tackle.
15:02So right now, one thing we've learned, and back when Drew Doherty used to do his kind
15:07of mock draft roundup, the one thing that he noticed was that, you know, in general,
15:16the position that was getting drafted the most by the Texans, it had a pretty high correlation
15:21to that position getting drafted by the Texans.
15:23Wasn't always, you know, very scattershot when it came to the actual prospect.
15:28But as of right now, defensive tackles are frequently going to the Texans in the first
15:34round.
15:35Yep.
15:35I think the first and second, the mock draft database where they keep track of all of it,
15:39I think the, I think the first two are Caden McDonald and Peter, Peter Woods.
15:45Yep.
15:45Are most often drafted to the Texans.
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