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Seth and Sean lay out their biggest Texans questions as we're just about 2 weeks away from the NFL Draft.
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00:00Questions.
00:01I've got five.
00:02I've just sat down kind of thinking over the weekend, Seth.
00:05All right.
00:05Where are we at with the Texans?
00:07You know, kind of taking inventory because we're in sort of that lull period here.
00:11Draft is two weeks from Thursday.
00:13We'll have you covered from pillar to post here on the NFL draft here on Sports Radio 610,
00:18including the run up to it here the next couple weeks.
00:20We'll do the mock draft injection in about 35 minutes or so for today.
00:26It'll be Nick Shook from NFL.com.
00:29We'll do his mock draft.
00:30Number one, is there a Casario curveball coming in the next two weeks?
00:35This was about the time on the calendar when the Diggs trade got made a couple of years ago.
00:41It was in early April when they traded a second-round pick to Minnesota for Stephon Diggs.
00:47There are still free agents out there that could fill a need for the Texans
00:51or at least supplement the depth, especially on the defensive side of the ball,
00:55that the Texans could shop.
00:57But Casario said that himself in one of his appearances, I think on Texans All Access,
01:02at the owners' meetings last week, that they're still kicking tires on some guys.
01:07D'Amico Ryans himself said they may not be done on the offensive line yet.
01:10Now, D'Amico might have been, for sure, was referring in part to the draft.
01:15I don't know if they're going to bring in more vets.
01:17But is there a Casario curveball coming in the next two weeks?
01:20The other one we should point out, Seth, maybe he trades out a 28 in the next couple of weeks
01:25in advance of the draft as opposed to on draft night.
01:28Right.
01:28Stephon Diggs was traded for on April 3rd or 4th.
01:32And I want to say it was a Saturday, wasn't it?
01:34No, it happened when we were on the air.
01:37It did?
01:37Right at the toss.
01:39Oh.
01:39Right at the toss, yeah, between us and in the loop, yeah.
01:43Yeah, I think I'd be surprised if there was a major move between now and the draft
01:51because it usually doesn't happen.
01:53But, yeah, there's no way I would say it's impossible.
01:56I mean, Nick's one of the most active traders around.
02:00I'd be curious about any of the guys that are available in free agency right now
02:06that are in a position of need for the Texans.
02:09They're all the types of guys where you'd say, let's wait until after the draft
02:14and see if we need to pick this guy up or not.
02:16You know, A.J. Epinesa, the edge rusher from the Bills, he's still out there in free agency.
02:21I think you go into the draft maybe seeing how everything plays out,
02:26maybe end up drafting an edge rusher early in the draft or something.
02:30You say, all right, we'll hold off on worrying about getting a veteran acquisition.
02:34So I don't – the most of our key name out there right now might be Stefan Diggs.
02:39I mean, I don't think that's going to happen.
02:40No, I don't think that's happening, yeah.
02:42I mean, Joey Bost is a big name, but he comes with a whole bunch of questions.
02:46The Diggs thing is interesting just because he had a good year last year for New England.
02:52And I wonder what the intel is on his off-the-field stuff right now.
02:58Right.
02:58You know, because it's not – I don't think he's a fit for the – I don't think he'd come
03:01back here.
03:02I don't think he's a fit for the Texans anymore, but there's certainly a number of teams
03:05that could use a guy that had 1,000 yards of receiving last year,
03:09was a good player for a team that went to the damn Super Bowl.
03:12And all is quiet on the Diggs front.
03:14So I'm just wondering what people are hearing about his off-the-field stuff right now.
03:20Joey Bosa, you know, Bosa is actually – he's only 31 years old.
03:23Yeah.
03:24That wouldn't be a huge surprise to me if they brought in Bosa.
03:26So I think for him it would be a matter of, you know, understanding I'm going to be a rotational
03:31situation.
03:31Situational guy, yeah.
03:32Yeah, and he might not – he might be looking for a different situation.
03:35Yeah, yeah.
03:36Well, that doesn't pay very much.
03:37Right, yeah, yeah.
03:39So he may be looking for money.
03:40Yeah, which again, though, that's the kind of stuff that sorts itself out after the draft.
03:43If the Texans really just don't – because they need, in my mind,
03:47that's one of their increasingly desperate needs is to have more of an impactful edge rusher
03:51rotating in with those guys because that's been part of the formula the last couple years.
03:55But after the draft, if they don't get a young guy that they feel really good about
03:59or they're intrigued by, they might just go ahead and pull the trigger on something like that.
04:03Yep, yep.
04:04Derek Barnett's still out there, you know, so that – you know, he could be – he's been a solution
04:08the last couple years at that level of rotational guy.
04:11So that's number one.
04:12Is there a Casario curveball coming in the next two weeks?
04:15I'm inclined to say no, but they're curveballs for a reason.
04:18Number two, when is the Will Anderson Jr. contract extension coming?
04:23I'm so far off on my barometer for this.
04:27I thought this would be like a Stingley situation last year where it would be done
04:31just, you know, a week into the league year.
04:35You know, Stingley signed his last year on March 18th, I believe.
04:38We're, you know, we're two, three weeks after that now.
04:42Here was D'Amico Ryans at the owners' meetings last week on Will Anderson Jr.
04:47You talk about a leader and a guy who does everything the right way, everything you want,
04:51everything I've asked of him.
04:53You know, just being in this draft, this draft, this draft time, I just remember back, you
05:00know, speaking with Will, he was our first 30-visit, first guy we had in on a 30-visit,
05:04and that meeting is still the best 30-visit I've ever seen.
05:08Like, he's just that type of guy, you know, he's a leader in all respects.
05:14So, I love having Will, love what he can provide to our organization.
05:18I think he's shown that in three years that he's been here.
05:21Yeah.
05:21I mean, the deal's going to get done at some point here.
05:24I'm just, I'm a little surprised it hasn't gotten done yet.
05:27Right.
05:27Yeah, and I guess so many of these things always comes down to just what's the level
05:32of urgency, what are you maybe arguing about or negotiating about.
05:38The deal might be, for all we know, the deal might be pretty much all but done, except they
05:42want to add in some little intricacy to help out one side or the other.
05:48It's going to happen between now and September.
05:51I would be shocked and amazed if it didn't happen.
05:54I'd also be shocked if we heard anything out of Will Anderson that sounded like discontent
05:58or anything.
05:59Yeah, ever.
05:59I don't think there's just.
06:00About anything.
06:01Yeah, I don't think he's going to unfollow the Texans on social media.
06:06No.
06:06I don't think he's going to not show up for an OTA or something.
06:08Can you imagine?
06:09Somebody, you know, one of the viewers on my live stream this weekend said that he was
06:14tired of Sean saying that CJ won't hold out of OTAs.
06:19And I don't remember, I don't remember you making a bunch of points about this or anything.
06:25I would be surprised if he holds out of OTAs.
06:27I was making points last week.
06:29The thing I said last week that may have gotten construed that way is I just, of the things
06:34we've heard and seen CJ doing this offseason, he's not conducting himself like somebody who's
06:39going to hold out from OTAs.
06:41Right.
06:41Remember Kyler Murray?
06:43Kyler Murray was just like floating all kinds of things through the press, on social media,
06:48doing all kinds of things, basically agitating for a new deal.
06:52Yeah.
06:53I would just be surprised if CJ operated that way.
06:56Yeah.
06:57It doesn't mean that he doesn't want a new deal or anything.
06:59It's just, I don't, I think he's a little bit more careful and he's pretty professional
07:05and mature and polished when it comes to handling that side of the PR stuff.
07:09I like that there's people who have issues with my takes popping into your live stream to
07:13tell you about it.
07:14Yeah.
07:15But I never know for sure because people confuse our names a lot too.
07:18Yeah.
07:19Sometimes people get mad that they'll, they'll, they'll say something about Sean that was
07:23a hundred percent something I said.
07:25Oh, that sucks for you.
07:26Cause I have the more, uh, I have the more ratchet takes.
07:29I think.
07:29Yeah.
07:29I mean, it was somebody who was a little more measured than I am.
07:31I think it was somebody who was doing the Seth Payne show on YouTube.
07:35I would assume he got the name, right?
07:39That'd be funny.
07:39You bought a Burroughs Jersey yet, Seth?
07:41Huh?
07:41Huh?
07:43Um, all right.
07:44Question number three, we're doing the big questions for the Texans right now.
07:47As we sit this off season, one was, is there a Casario curve ball coming?
07:51Number two was when is the Will Anderson jr extension coming?
07:54Number three, are there any other contracts coming aside from Will Anderson jr?
07:57CJ strouds, the big one, and it's its own topic.
08:00And we can sit here for days talking about why he should get it, why he shouldn't get
08:05it.
08:05There's, there's cases to be made both ways.
08:08I think Seth and I are both of the opinion.
08:10It doesn't matter which guy you get either Seth or Sean.
08:13I think we share this opinion is that it's not coming this off season.
08:16I don't think for CJ, I think we're both in that ballpark right now.
08:19If it did, whatever, we'll see what, what it looks like.
08:21If it does, I don't expect it to be a market setting contract or a top set.
08:27You know, one of the very top deals in the league.
08:30And I think for me, and maybe this is just delusional on my part, but I feel like there
08:35is such a thing as a congenial impasse where it might be that the Texans say, sure, we'd
08:40love to lock you down, but it's going to be at a lesser than top of the market rate.
08:45And CJ might say, I understand why you feel that way.
08:49I'm going to bet on myself.
08:51And you know, if you're not going to give me a league leading contract, I get it.
08:54I understand, but I'm going to try to prove it this year.
08:56I think that's the most likely way it goes, is that it's cordial.
09:00He plays it out.
09:02And I think we're all rooting for him to get a big contract, because that means he'll have
09:05had a huge year four as an NFL quarterback.
09:07The other, the lower key potential extensions, just as the Texans have this way of kind of
09:12sneaking in things like every year we've had a Brevin Jordan extension that you look at,
09:17you think, okay, cool.
09:19Yeah.
09:19Davis Mills out of nowhere.
09:20Tommy Togiai, in the first week of last season, gets an extension, about a one-year extension.
09:25It ended up being awesome.
09:27And I wouldn't be surprised if they give Tommy Togiai another extension based on how he played
09:30out when they gave him the first extension.
09:32Henry Totoa and Aziz Alshire are the ones that are, I think, a little bit more urgent in
09:37front of mind, because they are established starters who are in the last year of their deal.
09:41We know Aziz is one of D'Amico's favorite all-time football players, but he's also pushing 30
09:48and, or approaching 30, and you wonder exactly how they want to deal with that contractually.
09:54Yeah, the other two that are on their rookie deals, I think there's, I think there's five
09:59guys in that 2023 draft class where you can have a conversation about a contract extension
10:05of some flavor.
10:06We just talked about Willie Anderson Jr.
10:07Obviously, C.J. Stroud is a discussion.
10:10The other three, you mentioned Totoa, and I think, I don't think that would be a high
10:14level extension or anything, but I think it would, you know, they, you know, they extended
10:18Henry Totoa for a couple of years at, you know, a few million bucks a year, whatever.
10:22Xavier Hutchinson is another one.
10:24They like him.
10:24They love his improvement.
10:25They love his work ethic, but he's a guy who catches 30 balls a year.
10:28I don't know.
10:29And I think he liked, I think everybody who is here likes it here.
10:32So I think Xavier Hutchinson, if they were to approach him just as a depth type contract,
10:36you gotta be careful with him because he's an Iowa state guy.
10:39I feel like they almost got like a mafia thing going where they gotta have five, they gotta
10:43have at least five guys on the roster.
10:45But now it's maybe more of a, uh, Matt Campbell thing now, whatever it might be.
10:50Yeah.
10:51Yep.
10:51You gotta be careful.
10:52You let go of an Xavier Hutchinson.
10:53That's true.
10:54Might wake up with a horse head in your bed.
10:55Tank Dell tank Dell is an interesting one.
11:01Uh, because I, you know, you brought up Revin Jordan, you know, like Brett, Brevin Jordan is
11:06a guy who's been injured a lot and they keep extending him because they like him.
11:09I think they love tank Dell.
11:10I think tank Dell loves being a Texan tank Dell is the one injured guy who's had season ending
11:15injuries, who was still around the team last year.
11:18Like you look at the locker room celebrations during that 10 game winning streak.
11:22Hell tank is standing right next to D'Amico and half the locker room speeches after the
11:26game.
11:26Um, you know, could that be one, I'm not saying give tank Dell, you know, three years, 60 million
11:31or anything like that, but he's heading into the last year of his rookie contract.
11:37That could be an indicator of where they feel tank is physically.
11:40They tack a year onto his deal.
11:42That's where, yeah.
11:43You don't want to be in a situation where man, if tank Dell comes back and just lights
11:47it on fire, he's headed into, you know, free agency.
11:51Yeah.
11:52So if you, if you're able to work something out with him now and you know, and I would
11:56present it thusly, like we love you and we want to be sure that you keep this environment
12:00around you.
12:01Right.
12:01We're doing this because we care about you.
12:03That's right.
12:03Now, except the league minimum for an extension for one year.
12:06Yeah.
12:06Because we love you so much.
12:08You got to gaslight the young fella.
12:09We want you to be here.
12:11Don't pay attention to the dollar amount.
12:13It's about being in Houston.
12:14Yes.
12:15Yeah.
12:15We love you.
12:15I thought you loved us.
12:16Yeah.
12:17I don't know.
12:17Oh, we're making this about money now.
12:19No, no, no.
12:20It's about commitment.
12:21I thought you did this for the love of the game.
12:24What's your problem?
12:25Yeah.
12:26All right.
12:26So I think those are guys, if I had to pick of all those guys, we just named again with
12:30Will and CJ being on a separate burner in this conversation, I would say Aziz, if I had
12:35to bet on any of the names we just talked about here, Seth, as to, we get, you know, a
12:40Schefter
12:40push notification or, you know, Aaron Wilson or somebody, Aziz Alshire would be the one I would
12:45bet on getting an extension.
12:46That'd be the one, you know, just tacking on a year or two to his deal.
12:49They want to build his own Rose garden.
12:51That's right.
12:51Yes.
12:52Remember the one he walks away with, he told Gruden that he walked around that Rose garden
12:55in San Francisco and Gruden was blown away.
12:58He was caught very off guard by that.
13:01All right.
13:01Question number four.
13:03Left to right.
13:05What does the first string offensive line look like when drills begin this spring?
13:11I, that's the thing is when they get, when we get to OTAs and they're starting to do walk
13:14throughs and things like that, I'm anxious to see, I think, you know, I would bet heavily
13:19on this as the best guess of it being nursery tell left to right nursery, Wyatt Teller, Jake
13:26Andrews at center, and then Eddie room and Braden Smith on the right side.
13:29But who knows?
13:29Trent Brown's in the building.
13:31You got a couple of guys who, you know, you got guys here who have had injury issues,
13:35you know, that kind of thing.
13:36The biggest question for me is obviously the center position.
13:40I think Jake Andrews is going to have a legitimate chance to compete with whomever is on the depth
13:44chart when it comes time, when it's post draft.
13:47So if they draft the center in the second or third round, I think, I think Jake Andrews
13:51starts off as the starter and it's his job to either keep or lose.
13:56And the, the other question is, I assume Braden Smith is going to start off writing,
14:02starting at right tackle.
14:03And yet I could see because he's the incumbent, perhaps Trent Brown starting at right tackle.
14:08It's always interesting though, when you bring in a guy in as a veteran free agent, it's
14:12just pretty much assumed he's going to start, but, but who knows?
14:15Um, I don't know exactly how they'll add, cause I'm guessing they've had conversations
14:19with Trent Brown too, about his injury history, his age, all of those things.
14:25And whether Trent Brown might be cool with being the, the named swing tackle, knowing that
14:30he's going to get a chance to play at some point because of injury during the season,
14:34that, that, that it, whether he's just cool with that or whether he expects to compete.
14:38Yeah.
14:38I would think I, I'd be shocked if they hadn't had conversations with him about that.
14:42I didn't think he just follow the breadcrumbs of the contracts.
14:45I mean, Braden Smith got two years, 25 million or whatever it is.
14:49Trent Brown got one year, 7 million.
14:50So I think he may know which way the winds blow.
14:53I still compete, you know, like, but, uh, I mean, I like where they've gone with this
14:57line through this free agency period, but that's my best guess.
14:59Here was Ariante Ursary.
15:01He was on, uh, some Texans content.
15:03I think it might've been iron sharpens iron, but he talked about his love for Cole Popovich.
15:07I want to give some love of Cole Popovich, man.
15:11Him as a first year offensive line coach, what he was able to do with our group, having
15:16him being able to come in here and coach all the little bitty details, the mentality, you
15:23know, everything like this year at the unit, we just all really just clicked and we were
15:27starting to see the progress that we worked hard for.
15:30Okay.
15:31That's the, um, the biggest thing is, as he was talking about that, seeing things start
15:36to click and everything, but very much leaving it as, you know, sounds like, yeah, there's
15:40more improving to do compared to previous years when you'd have various offensive linemen
15:45basically saying, why is everybody making a big deal?
15:48We're really good.
15:49Even though they weren't as a unit.
15:51Um, I thought a lot of that, I think is the influence of Trent Brown.
15:54I mean, Trent Brown just very openly said that we're not, we need to get on the same
15:59levels of defense.
15:59We need to be a part of this too.
16:01So I just, uh, I like the overall attitude in that room right now.
16:04I do too.
16:05It, and the more I think about it, I'm just thinking, okay, well, Ursary wasn't here for
16:09pre Cole Popovich being the O-line coach.
16:12I know the, I know Cole Popovich has been in the building for a few years.
16:16Um, so Ursary doesn't have any comparison.
16:18You know, I'm looking at the depth chart.
16:20The only guys that have any basis for comparison of what it was like before Cole Popovich and after
16:25Cole Popovich are Jarrett Patterson and Blake Fisher, you know, that's it.
16:30These other guys, it's all kind of, you know, they, they've, I, you know, I would be interested
16:36to get the takes of the guys who were here when, you know, they had, when he was an assistant
16:41O-line coach versus what he is now.
16:43Yeah.
16:43And they, and you had an O-line coach, let's be honest.
16:45That was talking about retiring before 2024 and Chris Strouser, you know, how much did,
16:50how much did Cole Popovich elevate that room from what it had been before?
16:55Um, I think part of it is, um, I think Cole, the, one of the big differences is that Cole
16:59Popovich and Nick Caley are aligned and you can tell by the way that Cole Popovich coaches
17:04the play calling and what they're trying to kind of major in, in the run game.
17:08Um, it just, there's, there's, there's, those guys are on the same wavelength where with Bobby
17:14Slowick and Chris Strouser, um, you know, based on what I saw with my own eyes and with what
17:20other people have told me, there was a disconnect there and that's a bad disconnect to have
17:24when your offensive line, when your offensive line coach and your offensive coordinator might
17:28have different philosophies about the way to run the offense.
17:31That's a, that's tough to get that to work and to look good.
17:34It felt thrown together in retrospect.
17:36It felt thrown together.
17:37That part felt like a platypus.
17:39Yes.
17:39Okay.
17:41All the different, oh, I got you.
17:42All the different body parts.
17:43Yeah.
17:44Um, so here's question number five, last one, and then we'll get to acknowledge me.
17:48Um, the schedule comes out like a month from Thursday or so, like it's the first week in
17:54May or second week in May.
17:56What, what does the league think of the Houston Texans right now come schedule making time?
18:01Cause the Texans, you know, for, you know, say what you will about performances in prime
18:06time or whatever the case may be.
18:08They were treated like an attraction the last couple of years, you know, two years ago in
18:122024, they had six, I'll call them like stage to themselves games.
18:17Not all of them were in prime time.
18:19Yeah.
18:19Last year, they had five that were stage to themselves games, prime time.
18:24And otherwise like that chargers game was a Saturday game at three 30 where they had the,
18:29the, you know, the, the audience to themselves.
18:31So that's 11 over the last two years.
18:33Does the league still view the Texans largely based on their defense?
18:38I would imagine as an attraction when the schedule comes out.
18:41Let me add this to the mix that, uh, as of the immediately following the Texans Patriots
18:50game, um, that was the most watched event in ESPN history.
18:55Yep.
18:56So ESPN, at least for their prime time games probably has a good taste in their mouth about
19:01whether the Texan, you know, obviously it's the playoffs and everything.
19:04Um, but yeah, I think that they still, they're still in that upper, but not extremely high
19:13tier of, okay, we want to like, listen, everybody, I know you're going to hate it when I say this,
19:16but the Cowboys, um, and teams like that are always going to get a bunch of prime time games
19:21because whether they suck or whether they're awesome, they draw a lot of eyeballs.
19:24Texans are in that position where, all right, they got to be a good team, but do they still
19:27have some appeal on top of that?
19:29I think last year, I mean, the chiefs game, I think it got really good ratings.
19:32So I think they still have that marquee value, um, as long as the matchups are right.
19:37So I think we, I think we're treated to at least four prime times.
19:41I think at least four, I would say five again.
19:43I think at least four, I still think they've got, they got a lot of star power.
19:47Um, so we'll see.
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