00:00But one of the places that I can see possibly some level of quote-unquote management is the running back
00:04room
00:04because you can have tandems, maybe even like a threesome of running backs that you can rotate
00:09and have, you know, kind of the wear distributed a little bit more evenly.
00:14But it does feel like we have started already towards that end when it comes to at least two running
00:19backs,
00:19tandems in the National Football League, right?
00:22And the Texans have now found themselves in this place as well with David Montgomery and Woody Marks.
00:27And so the question is, where do you view them when it comes to the backfields in the NFL?
00:32Because I think that there's definitely one running back tandem that is kind of, that looks really interesting now.
00:37The Atlanta Falcons, they added Brian Robinson Jr. to B. John Robinson there.
00:42And you go, oh, that's a lot interesting.
00:44And so where do you think that the Texans rank in all of this?
00:47Well, without going to specific, by the way, the jersey name on back is going to be interesting in Atlanta.
00:53Brian Robinson and B. John Robinson is going to be B.I.
00:56Law form of Robinson and Robinson.
00:58B.I. and B.R. Robinson or how's it going to –
01:00Remember when they used to do that?
01:01It can't even be B. Robinson.
01:03They used to do that in the NBA.
01:04Remember, yeah, Reggie Miller and Brad Miller.
01:07They used to – yeah.
01:08But that's neither here nor there.
01:10I just thought of that.
01:10It's like, oh, is it going to be B.R. and B. or what is it going to be for
01:13that?
01:15Texans, I can't put them, like, top ten.
01:17You don't think so?
01:18I just can't.
01:19What's holding you back there?
01:20There's too much left to prove still with Woody as much as there's promise.
01:24And, you know, I feel really, really strongly, you know, obviously about David Montgomery coming in.
01:29But if you tell me, look, man, his number of reps in production went down,
01:35I can't argue that other than maybe it was because, you know, he was –
01:39you know, Jameer Gibbs was so good or whatever.
01:41I can't definitively say, oh, he's – you know, he can go.
01:45You know, he can go as many as you want.
01:46So, I would say right outside the top ten, right now.
01:49Now, that might change at some point, but right now.
01:52That's interesting because, you know, just looking at –
01:54CBS Sports put out a list of these, and they agree at least that the Texans do not fall in
02:00top eight.
02:01So, just to run you through the list.
02:03Yeah, I want to know.
02:04Should I go eight to one or one to eight for you?
02:06Who's the top?
02:07All right, so the very top running back tandem in their minds is the Los Angeles Rams' Kyron Williams and
02:13Blake Quorum.
02:14Hard to argue.
02:15Young dudes, Kyron took a big leap – sorry, Blake Quorum, rather, took a big leap, 700-plus yards in
02:22addition to –
02:22Good in the postseason.
02:23It feels weird, though, because it does feel like they just don't throw the football a good amount,
02:28but that is a good pairing.
02:29Then you also add, as we just talked about, B. John Robinson, Brian Robinson Jr.,
02:33because B. John is just incredible as an individual back.
02:36Then you add somebody who has shown the capacity to be a 1B.
02:40They put the New Orleans Saints at three here with Travis H. Ann and Alvin Kamara.
02:45And I just wonder, how much can you lean on the Alvin Kamara of this all, even though he's been
02:50–
02:50He just continues to do it.
02:52He does continue to do this, right, on the heels of a third 1,000-yard season, right?
02:56So, I mean, he's still there.
02:58But running back feels like, of many of the positions in the National Football League where it just can kind
03:02of fall off,
03:03running back definitely feels like one of those.
03:04Well, it does, and it's inevitable, but it hasn't been inevitable for him.
03:09And I'm still thrown by Travis H. Ann, but I get it.
03:12I'm trying.
03:13I get it.
03:13Someone said it to me literally when we were at the rally house.
03:17And I was like, who are you talking about?
03:19And I was like, oh, that's right.
03:19You were using the right pronunciation.
03:21That's right.
03:22But we'll see.
03:23This could be the year where Kamara does show a drop-off.
03:27They have four as the three-way of James Cook, Ray Davis, and Ty Johnson for the Bills.
03:33And it feels weird because that very much feels like a 1 and then a 2A, 2B situation as opposed
03:39to something else.
03:40But you put it all together.
03:42And then I do wonder how much you also have to just factor in Josh Allen and his capability of
03:45using his legs to all of that.
03:47But James Cook kind of carries a lot of that by his lonesome as well.
03:50That's what I was thinking, much like with Bijan and Brian Robinson.
03:54Brian Robinson's pretty damn good.
03:56But I think you get extra points if your number one back is just that good.
04:00And I think that's what Buffalo's getting here.
04:02James Cook is really good.
04:03Yeah.
04:04As you look at this, yeah, there's probably a lot of this that goes, how good is your RB1 before
04:10we get to the tandem itself?
04:11And that might be holding back the Texans somewhat because David Montgomery, even though we are looking at it as
04:18the reduced role in Detroit was less about his capabilities
04:22and more about what Jameer Gibbs was doing.
04:24That still places him in a place where, I mean, hell, Adam Schein was doing this.
04:27And I think he was erroneous.
04:28But it's like, hey, that's a running back two that you went and acquired to be your running back one.
04:33There is some level of gradation of, well, he's not like the highest level of running back one.
04:38And I don't think you can make that argument.
04:39Yeah, no, I agree.
04:40Right.
04:40He fits with what you're trying to do.
04:42He has the power.
04:43Definitely good in the red zone.
04:44But I don't think, so I think that probably hurts you here.
04:46And speaking of that, actually, five is the Dolphins with Devon A. Chan, Jalen Wright, Ollie Gordon, which, again, Devon
04:54A. Chan doing a lot of that.
04:55But Jalen Wright, Ollie Gordon split carries and did some good things.
04:58Six is Jameer Gibbs and Isaiah Pacheco.
04:59Remember that?
05:00And now, which is kind of interesting.
05:01Oh, they did get him.
05:02I forgot about that.
05:03You talk about a hard runner, if you're trying to fill in for David Montgomery, it feels like they did
05:07a great job there.
05:08They did.
05:08The Lions did.
05:09They did.
05:09And I think maybe, I get Pacheco has not quite been the same guy, but he's shown some, he's had
05:16some really good, you know, stretches.
05:18And that, again, is one of those circumstances where you go, you move him from a running back one to
05:23a running back two, how much better does he look?
05:25In the same way we're talking about what he marks, you move him from having to occupy running back one
05:28circumstance to having more of the off-speed, so to say, responsibility.
05:33How much does that make him better?
05:36The only thing that's tough is that you're not dealing with as much of a known commodity as the Detroit
05:40Lions.
05:40Otherwise, I'd be like, all right, you're getting a little close there.
05:43Bears with DeAndre Swift, Kalmanon guy.
05:44I'm kind of surprised that this is this low.
05:46The way that they've played and adding Ben Johnson to what they do schematically helps them out.
05:52And then eight, they went with Travion Henderson and Ramondre Stevenson.
05:55That feels fair.
05:56I don't think that you've fallen too far after them, honestly.
05:58Yeah.
05:58Like, I do think that you could very much, and the honorable mention did include.
06:02They only went to eight.
06:03Yeah, they only went to eight.
06:04They only went to eight.
06:05I think that you very well could slide in at the back end of the top ten.
06:09Maybe.
06:09But I just, you know, I think there's still a little bit too much to prove.
06:12Although some of these that you mentioned clearly have something to prove, at least with the number two guy.
06:16I'm kind of curious where they got Seattle.
06:19Because I thought they had a pretty good duo, too.
06:23Was it Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet?
06:25But now it's Zach Charbonnet coming off of a, what was it, an ACL injury?
06:28Coming off of a significant injury, mind you.
06:30And then they're probably going to have to draft another running back in order to pair with that.
06:35If for no other reason than you're dealing with, you're running back one coming off of an injury.
06:39So I think there's that.
06:40There's very few teams that I think change a whole bunch depending on the draft because it feels like there's
06:44very few running backs out there.
06:46Do you think that the Texans could change if you end up with like a Mike Washington Jr?
06:49Oh, I think they could change just in terms of how they produce without Mike Washington Jr.
06:54Or another big-time running back that immediately gets into the mix.
06:57It just depends on, you know, what is David Montgomery going to be?
07:01And can Woody Marks back up what he had at the end of the season with another good stretch?
07:05I think they could absolutely be one of these teams.
07:08I just think it's too early and too difficult right now to say that.
07:11How comfortable do you feel about having a running back room that you're looking at as possibly breaking the top
07:1710
07:17when this is the identity that you want to put forward?
07:19How comfortable do you feel with that?
07:21I mean, I feel like it comes down to what they're doing with the offensive line too.
07:25And they've gotten better there.
07:27Yeah, but we're not talking about the offensive line.
07:29Yeah, you're just talking about running back circumstances either, you know?
07:32Yeah, and all the other offensive lines.
07:33No, I think that's what they're banking on.
07:36They're banking on both these guys taking a step up on David Montgomery still having that gas left, you know,
07:42and Woody Marks still being able to carry it on.
07:46How comfortable am I?
07:47I'm just curious.
07:48I'm just curious on whether they're going to be able to do it.
07:51I'm going to be honest.
07:52I think I walked myself into anxiety that I didn't need because, again,
07:55That's understandable.
07:56They're hinging this.
07:58On both these dudes being really good.
08:00We need both these guys to be good in the way that we anticipate.
08:02And I think, again, there's very much a possibility, plausibility of that, again,
08:06especially with the particular thing that you need.
08:08You needed the capability of being able to punch it in the end zone, in the red zone.
08:12And that is very much something that David Montgomery does well.
08:15But I go to the question mark way of setting things up.
08:18There's a little bit of question mark on the level that you're getting on either of these guys in the
08:22particular circumstances
08:23and on the offensive line to some degree.
08:25But hopefully, well, not as much on the offensive line because you've got known commodities.
08:28But, yeah, how good in the running game are you going to be,
08:33especially seeing as you want that to be your foot forward?
08:35No.
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