00:00Yesterday, Seth, Dexter Lawrence, we know earlier this week he requested a trade.
00:06So as of right now, there's an open trade request from Dexter Lawrence from his team or to his team,
00:12the New York Giants.
00:14So we'll see if he gets traded.
00:15John Harbaugh has spoken on it now, and he said, we want Dexter Lawrence on this team.
00:19Everybody's saying all the right things on the Giants side of things.
00:21Dexter Lawrence agitates for a new contract every single year.
00:24I'm already annoyed by his agitating for a new contract even before the Texans have even just taken any kind
00:30of a look at him.
00:31So you and I workshopped this yesterday on the show, not once but twice.
00:35You workshopped it on your YouTube channel.
00:37What would a Dexter Lawrence trade to the Texans look like?
00:40In every permutation that we came up with, the end result was I don't want to do this.
00:46There's too much money involved.
00:47I don't want to give up draft.
00:49Giving up draft capital for the right to potentially overpay somebody is a fool's game.
00:54And also just the vibe of this is a guy who wants a new contract all the time.
00:58You and I both arrived at no is the answer to would we do this, right?
01:02Yeah, prudence led us there.
01:03That's right.
01:04That's right.
01:04Including the fact that he had that elbow dislocation a couple years ago, and he just wasn't as impressive last
01:11year.
01:11It's tricky with nose tackles to try to use statistics because he's getting double teamed a lot.
01:16But there is that as well.
01:18So it just, it doesn't make sense right now to spend that many resources on the side of the ball
01:24that is already awesome.
01:25Agreed.
01:26We're in lockstep on that.
01:26You and I are simpatico on that.
01:28And I'm curious, you know, maybe I'll pull this thing later today.
01:31I am curious what the, you know, text in, base power text line, 7135724610.
01:36Do you have the appetite for a Dexter Lawrence trade?
01:39How then do we explain the odds makers yesterday putting out odds on Trevor Lawrence, Trevor Lawrence, Dexter Lawrence's next
01:47team, if he gets traded?
01:49How do we explain the Texans being number two on the odds board behind only the Chargers of Los Angeles?
01:57I think because it does make a lot of sense.
02:00I mean, for the same reason that when I first saw that Dexter Lawrence was available, I thought, oh, man,
02:06let's do this, D'Amico.
02:07Come on.
02:10And we know that D'Amico loves his defensive lineman.
02:13I think largely a lot of it, though, is that a lot of it can boil down to disrespect for
02:19Tommy Togiai.
02:20I think a lot of people around the league look at the Texans' depth chart, and they see Sheldon Rankins,
02:24and they see this guy Tommy Togiai,
02:26and the Texans signed Logan Hall, who's going to be in the rotation as well.
02:30And they think, wow, this is a really good defense.
02:32They always want really good defensive linemen.
02:34And there's a perception that the defensive tackles were worse than they were last year.
02:39Partly, I think, really because – and this goes for Texans fans, too.
02:44People after the Bucs game last year were really upset with the defensive tackles.
02:49I was, too, but I was also upset with the defensive ends and the linebackers.
02:53Yeah, they could tackle.
02:54That was a committee affair.
02:55That was a bad tackling game for them.
02:56Yeah, well, and it was a bad – the defensive linemen were, including the defensive ends, were really falling prey
03:03to a lot of misdirection and things.
03:05And they buttoned it up, and they ended up being one of the best run defenses in the league, even
03:10though a lot of people never felt like it.
03:12I kept getting questions all through the end of the season of, why are they so bad against the run?
03:16They're like a top-five team against the run.
03:18I don't know what you want from them.
03:21So, I think that – it's that.
03:23I think there's not a lot of name-brand appeal on the interior of the defensive line in the eyes
03:28of the public, despite the fact that they're still a very, very good defense.
03:31I'll give you – I'll give you another reason why I think they're this high on the odds board, and
03:35it's Nick Casario.
03:36Nick Casario has a pretty – first of all, nobody's more active as a GM making deals, whether it's free
03:43agency, trade.
03:44Like, he does a lot of things.
03:46Like, the Texans seem to be in the transaction section of the – you know, of a website more often
03:52than most teams in the NFL.
03:54I would add to that that Nick Casario has a fairly high ratio among GMs of making trades that have
04:00some sizzle to it.
04:01He – the Deshaun Watson trade was the sizzliest trade of arguably the last five years.
04:06Now, he was kind of forced into that because of Deshaun not wanting to be here and then his legal
04:10situation.
04:10But I would say, you know, the trade for Stefan Diggs, the trade up to get Will Anderson in the
04:16draft.
04:18Nick Casario is not afraid to make big moves.
04:22This would be a huge move if they were to trade for Dexter Lawrence.
04:25So, I think, you know, look, these betting odds are driven by the public, by and large.
04:30And I think the public probably views the Texans – one, they view the Texans as a good defense, and
04:35this could be viewed –
04:37in Houston, we already know what you said yesterday, which is, look,
04:40you only have so many resources, probably don't need Dexter Lawrence on this defense.
04:44It's already a great defense.
04:45People outside of Houston that might be driving this betting line,
04:49they're driving activity on the Texans at 7-1 to get Dexter Lawrence,
04:53they might look at – they might look at and go,
04:55this is the finishing touches on a potentially historic defense kind of thing.
05:00The one that doesn't make sense on here either is the Titans are the third favorite,
05:04tied for third favorite to land Dexter Lawrence,
05:06which I think if you're a Texans fan, you think about what those Titans defensive tackles have done
05:12to the Texans interior offensive line, that might make you a little bit nervous.
05:15You should still be nervous until the Texans interior offensive line really proves that they can operate
05:20because they do have Jeffrey Simmons and they do – they have John Franklin Myers,
05:25who they just gave a big free agency contact to.
05:28Yeah, and they spent heavily on defense in free agency, so I think via trade and free agency.
05:34So I think that that's probably part of it is the perception that, okay,
05:39the Titans are going to really try to stock up on defense.
05:41It wouldn't make a whole lot of sense that they would pay three guys at defensive tackles the way they
05:47would have to.
05:47They have 70 million bucks allocated to defensive tackle.
05:50It would be crazy.
05:51It would be crazy.
05:52How about this stat set that I saw yesterday?
05:54I mean, if you're Dexter Lawrence's side of things here, if you're his representation,
05:59you take this Warren Sharpe tweet that he put – and I'm assuming Warren Sharpe is accurate on this.
06:04I mean, this is what he does.
06:05He puts out numbers.
06:07So pressures went aligned at nose tackle since 2022, okay?
06:12So these are players aligned at nose tackle for the last four seasons.
06:16And he does that thing where he's got Dexter Lawrence with 108.
06:19Then he takes every integer after that and just lists it vertically on the tweet.
06:25And there's no name – so Dexter Lawrence has 108, and then you go down hundreds in the 90s and
06:32the 80s,
06:33and nobody's even in the 70s, 60s.
06:34The next closest nose tackle in QB pressures since 2022 is Vita Vea of the Buccaneers with 32.
06:44The next closest guy is 70 pressures behind him.
06:49Yeah, so that's when you're aligned up over the center as a nose tackle.
06:52And the reason is part of it is usually, you know, if Dexter Lawrence was on a lesser defensive line,
07:00like he's athletic enough that I think they would line him up even more at three technique between the guard
07:05and the tackle
07:05than they do because he can go out there and he can play all over the line and everything.
07:09But he's just kind of a freakish guy in terms of his ability to play the run as a nose
07:14tackle
07:14and soak up a lot of double teams but also rush the passer.
07:18And it's hard to do when you're at nose tackle because you end up getting more double teams.
07:22You end up getting more assistance from guards.
07:24It's really, really impressive.
07:25He's an awesome football player.
07:27He really, really is.
07:29And if the Texans hadn't already committed so much money on the defensive line,
07:34and I'm saying that including Will Anderson in it because Will Anderson is about to get a huge deal.
07:40Daniil Hunter is about to get a huge deal.
07:41You've got to just look at it and say responsibly, where do we need to spend more money on this
07:47football team?
07:48We just can't keep doubling and tripling and down on something that's already really good.
07:53Well, we still need to – and not to mention the draft capital because you might have to give up
07:58a first-rounder
07:59or a couple of second-rounders to get Dexter Lawrence on resources that could be spent either bolstering depth
08:05or helping out the offense or whatever.
08:07If you're starting edge rushers on this team, if Daniil Hunter were still a Viking
08:11and you're starting edge rushers were Will Anderson Jr. and, say, Derek Barnett.
08:15I'll just use Derek Barnett as an example.
08:17Like journeyman vet who's making a few million bucks, then go for it on this Dexter Lawrence thing.
08:22You know, you attack things a different way.
08:25I've never seen one of these Warren Sharp tweets where he does the vertical listing of numbers
08:29with a bigger gap between one and two than this one.
08:33This is a – it's a sight to behold, man.
08:37Part of that is true.
08:38I think somebody else had done it.
08:39If you do it, if you go back – like Jordan Davis, if you do it over the last two
08:42seasons,
08:43is a lot closer to Dexter Lawrence.
08:45So there's the whole – every time you go back – it's impressive.
08:50I don't want to take anything away from it.
08:51Oh, yeah, no, two names that are interesting on here.
08:53Vita Veya was second at 32.
08:55Tied for third is DJ Reader, former Texan.
08:58How about Roy Lopez, eighth?
09:01Or I think – no, ninth?
09:02No, seventh.
09:03Seventh.
09:04Seventh, 22 – he's seventh on this list.
09:06Oh, Roy Lopez, who was – he was a big face of the team back in the Lovie Smith-David
09:12Culley days.
09:13He was at the draft party signing autographs.
09:15He was.
09:15He was.
09:16Yeah, good for Roy Lopez.
09:17Found a home.
09:18I like it.
09:18I like it.
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