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ITL breaks down the key concern on offense and what needs to be figured out for Houston to level up.
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00:00What is the biggest question currently for the offensive line here, John Lopez,
00:05at least one that you think of, and maybe we talk it out.
00:08I mean, it's center.
00:10I think you can bring up fair questions, you know, about not Wyatt Teller.
00:16I think he's plug-and-play.
00:17You think so?
00:18Yeah, I think he's a plug-and-play guy.
00:21Maybe Evan Brown, where do you play him?
00:22Is he the center?
00:24You know, Braden Smith, okay, you know, proven tackle,
00:28but how much of an upgrade you can question, really, is he from Titus Howard,
00:32you know, and the way Howard played.
00:34But for me, the easy one is just center.
00:37You know, how entrenched is Jake Andrews?
00:38Is Evan Brown going to be, you know, the presumed center or even, you know, get reps there?
00:45So, to me, the center position in the offensive line is the biggest question.
00:48I think that that's absolutely fair.
00:50And on top of that, just because I have to bring some stats here
00:53after you've besmirched my good name,
00:55if you look at, like, composite scores,
00:58just trying to take all the various different blocking metrics that are out there
01:01and trying to cobble them together to get a holistic view,
01:04can you look at this graphic so that you can describe it
01:07and tell me where you believe to see understanding that run blocking goes horizontally here?
01:12Where are the Houston Texans?
01:14That would not be good.
01:16Yeah.
01:16I think for me, center matters,
01:18but also I think the question is how much better can this team be run blocking in particular?
01:25It's one thing that they want to do.
01:27They want this to be at the core of who they are,
01:30is we want to be a tough physical team that gets out here,
01:33you know we're running, we know we're running,
01:34and we still whoop your ass.
01:35Last year, they were so far from it.
01:38And even that represented what felt like an improvement.
01:40They were so far from the goal.
01:42They kept trying.
01:43They sure did.
01:44They kept trying.
01:44Yeah, not with mixed results, but mostly not great results.
01:49No, but doesn't that tie in with the interior line?
01:52I think, yeah, for sure.
01:53And there's also, I guess, the secondary questions of you're getting some dudes who I do.
01:58I'm with you, right?
01:59I think that the guys that they've brought in can play.
02:02They've demonstrated that they can play.
02:04Is this going to work in the same way?
02:07Because I know that there are people in the NFL space,
02:09again, not saying that they're right,
02:10but there are people that are asking,
02:12well, these guys, a little bit on the older,
02:14is this going to fall off?
02:15I guess maybe the question to bring it back home is,
02:18does this end up being a Shaq Mason circumstance
02:20where you've got guys that have been good
02:22and then just don't look like that quite?
02:23Yeah.
02:24But yes, you're probably right that the biggest one is,
02:27can you still and how can you still improve at center?
02:30And is it just you have strength around Jake Andrews
02:34that makes him less of a physical liability while he also brings this?
02:38Is it Evan Brown having an opportunity to compete and maybe taking that?
02:41Or could it even be something that we talked about a little bit earlier?
02:43Maybe one of these draft picks that can compete
02:45and maybe someone like Keelan Rulich who maybe even has an opportunity
02:48to not just compete but usurp a Jake Andrews
02:50to give you better physical traits on the offensive line
02:54and do the job well enough?
02:56Yeah, that's more than fair on the offensive line.
02:59All right.
02:59Is there anything else that you think pops up?
03:01Or do you think, like,
03:03how much are you thinking about some of the other depth circumstances?
03:07No, depth absolutely pops up, you know,
03:10because we've talked ad nauseum about, you know,
03:12Jarrett Patterson and Blake Fisher and, you know, some of these others.
03:17You know, I think Trent Brown is entrenched as somebody who can fill in
03:20as a starter and certainly back up.
03:22But other than that, no, that's absolutely part of it.
03:24Maybe another question is, if you do get a young player,
03:27how do you find a way to integrate them?
03:29But maybe that's a longer down-the-line conversation to be had
03:32about what the offensive line is and how you draft.
03:35All right, pass catchers.
03:37I'm lumping in wide receivers and tight ends,
03:39and I imagine there's probably not one definitively,
03:41but let's try and work through it.
03:43What do you think is the biggest question
03:44when it comes to the pass-catching core of the Houston Texans?
03:47Well, you know where I'm going to go with this.
03:49I've been tipping my hand on this,
03:51and I'm not even tipping my hand, showing you my cards.
03:53Yeah, you've been saying this very explicitly.
03:53Showing my cards on this.
03:55You've been the guy in poker where he's like,
03:57oh, you want to see my cards?
03:57Yeah, here, I'm still going to beat you.
03:59No, number two receiver.
04:02I don't know.
04:04No, I think it's more than fair to say I don't know.
04:06Tank Dell, they don't know if he's going to be there at OTAs.
04:10In fact, they said that they wouldn't expect it necessarily.
04:13And I don't know.
04:15And it's not to criticize because I'm with you.
04:19We've seen some things with Jaden Higgins.
04:21I hope to see more from Jalen Noel.
04:24But I don't know if that is your number two receiver,
04:27either of those guys.
04:28I think one of the questions, because you're probably right, right?
04:31Who is the second dude that you can count on definitively?
04:34And I wonder, is it okay if Dalton Schultz is the answer to that?
04:38Yes, I think it could be.
04:40But is that okay?
04:41Because I'm with you.
04:42I think that that could be the answer.
04:44If that ends up being the case, is that okay for you?
04:46Doesn't that limit you in what you're calling?
04:49Sure feels like that, doesn't it?
04:50Yeah, yeah.
04:51Right?
04:51Even if you end up.
04:52The defense has a little bit of an edge.
04:54Right.
04:54I don't think that he will ever be a pure move tight end,
04:58where you just kind of have him as a stand-up tight end and runs routes.
05:00But let's say that, you know, what we have kind of talked about ends up being the case.
05:04And Foster Moreau is your Y in-line tight end.
05:07And you can go with some 12 sets where you even have Dalton Schultz kind of being a little bit
05:12more of the guy that you get upfield and do some of those things.
05:15What does that actually look like in your brain?
05:17Does that feel like that is as threatening as it can be?
05:19Because I was wondering if that was some way that they maybe wanted to use him.
05:23But in the circumstance where we were talking about the three tight ends that they were supposed to have at
05:27the beginning of last year,
05:28hell, even going back to what Dalton Schultz said with the drive at the Super Bowl,
05:32he was like, yo, all of us bring different things.
05:34And the idea was that Brevin Jordan would be the dude who brought the athleticism and some of that type
05:39of being able to be explosive downfield.
05:41It wasn't necessarily Dalton Schultz.
05:43I am in a place where I'm not willing to count on the Brevin Jordan.
05:46I'm not willing to count on the Kate Stover even.
05:49And so if Dalton Schultz is out here being the guy that I'm looking at being a threat,
05:53even if I don't know if it's going to continue to be kind of those sit down and soft spots
05:57and zone and out routes,
05:58if we have him running corners, if we have him running down the seam routes,
06:01how threatening is that to defense is a question I'll still ask myself a little bit.
06:04Well, I think that's more than fair to ask that question.
06:07I do think if you are, in fact, running the ball, you know, not just better, but, you know, significantly
06:14better,
06:15then I think the tight end does become more of a weapon and maybe not as big a question.
06:19If you had to power rank who you think ends up being that second option for CJ Stroud in this
06:24offense,
06:25how do you do it?
06:26Ooh.
06:27Right now?
06:29Or maybe even just the likelihoods of being that in a passable way.
06:32I would lean Higgins.
06:34Higgins is one.
06:35Yeah.
06:36And then?
06:37Well, Nico, then Higgins, and then probably Dalton Schultz.
06:39Okay.
06:40Yeah.
06:40Yeah.
06:40You?
06:42Yeah, obviously Nico is one.
06:44The guys who have the capability of stepping up and being that secondary guy, it's Higgins,
06:48and if it has to be Dalton Schultz, it's Dalton.
06:52I don't know that I have another guy that I feel like, oh, I guess it is Tank Dell as
06:56a distant third
06:56if he comes back and looks like himself from previous.
06:59And I think that all of that is, that's a little bit of a lofty expectation or a little
07:04bit of a gamble to expect that off the jump.
07:07So, yeah, I think that that's how it would go.
07:09So, maybe to that point, you go, hmm, maybe we have to give ourselves more assurances.
07:14I think that might be a little unfair.
07:16I'm also interested, but maybe this ties in with the next group.
07:22What's the biggest question or questions, I guess, that exist with the Texans' backfield?
07:27And, of course, I am including the remaining positions, right?
07:29We go at line, we go pass catchers, backfield, being running back to quarterback.
07:33I mean, the quarterback makes this.
07:35Am I missing something here?
07:37The quarterback makes this the obvious one.
07:38I'm just giving us an opportunity to not get bogged down by simply the big one,
07:42but we do have to mention the big one, which is?
07:44Yeah, yeah, one C.J. Stroud.
07:46I was like, is this a trick question?
07:48Like, why are you asking me this?
07:49No, we're just cycling through it all, right?
07:51I don't want to obscure the obvious one.
07:53I give us an opportunity to get to some others as well.
07:55But you can also dig into that a little more, because the biggest question for me is C.J. Stroud,
08:04and I'm guessing for most people, I mean, that is the story around.
08:07But if you do the non-C.J. Stroud category, I really don't have a big question about David Montgomery's
08:15production.
08:16I don't think anybody, other than maybe how they used him, fewer carries, et cetera, is that a factor?
08:22Or I actually mind it would be more Woody Marks, you know, because we saw enough.
08:28I mean, we saw some, but did we see enough?
08:30Well, I think you did see enough.
08:32I think the question then, well, enough in what he was asked of doing, you know, doing that to the
08:37best of his ability.
08:37I think you saw that.
08:38The interesting thing that comes up in my mind is, okay, with Woody Marks not handling the entirety of the
08:46workload,
08:47how do they implement him?
08:48Is it just he ends up being an off-speed, or do they kind of find a good marriage with
08:54David Montgomery?
08:54And I think the big question is, how much do they utilize his capability of catching out of the backfield?
08:59Yes, that's a very important question.
09:00Right, how much do they then implement that with this, whether that's lining him up straight on the line?
09:05Is there two back sets maybe that they can use to kind of tease some of those things out?
09:09Or are they just going to even just get better at maybe utilizing him in a, hopefully, some level of
09:14a screen game?
09:15That would be nice.
09:16Or, you know, just out of the backfield.
09:17What ways do they take the mantra that Nick Haley was supposed to be bringing to this offense of using
09:25their talents of his players,
09:27building what they do to that?
09:28That is a talent that he clearly has that has not been utilized nearly enough, which is his pass catching
09:33out of the backfield.
09:34Now, I do have a twist on this question.
09:36Okay.
09:36It's not high on the list, but when I saw it, it did make me think about it.
09:42Well, this was kind of just an opportunity to get to some of the other questions as well.
09:45If you're talking about questions in the backfield, we know C.J. Stroud is one.
09:48We talked about Woody Marks.
09:50I think a fair question with all these tight ends that they're now hoping clearly to use.
09:55Obviously, you know, Dalton Schultz, Foster Moreau got some guys coming back healthy.
09:58They may well draft another.
09:59How much are they going to use a fullback?
10:01That's also a good one.
10:02I thought about that.
10:03I completely forgot.
10:03Or is the fullback kind of dead with this team?
10:06Because for a period of time.
10:06Because if you're going 12 or 13 personnel, I mean, how much are you really going to?
10:11Yeah.
10:11I mean, at that point, you don't, unless you're just.
10:13Yeah.
10:13Or at that point, they're just going like goal line.
10:16You remember when you get into Madden, you just get, oh, no wide receivers.
10:19Three tight ends, two running backs.
10:21We just running it right in your face.
10:22No, yeah.
10:23I think that that's an interesting question, especially because you knew that this team
10:27was going to use a fullback when they were doing kind of the Shanahan stuff.
10:29And they kind of had to.
10:30It did feel like they wanted to use some fullback last year, but then it just kind of didn't
10:35show up.
10:35Right?
10:36Like, Jakob Johnson did not end up being the guy who demonstrated the capabilities that
10:40you were hoping.
10:41And then it may be the, maybe it just kind of came out in the wash where you're like,
10:45oh, we just don't have a guy that does what we want.
10:46So we're just not going to use it.
10:47I do wonder how much Nick Caley has that within his desire for what he would want to do using
10:53a fullback.
10:54And if that's the case, I really think we, I really hope that they don't do the thing
10:57where they're trying to make the tight end work as a fullback.
11:00If that's the case, go get you one for real.
11:02No, I think that might be part of it, you know, tight end in motion and then getting
11:06into the lined up in the fullback position.
11:08No, I think that's part of it.
11:09An actual British Brooks fullback.
11:11That's a good point.
11:12Like British Brooks is just over here, man.
11:14Yeah.
11:14What, you know, how much of the value of that roster position alone would make him maybe
11:19a little bit, you know, less likely to, to be a regular part of the, of the attack.
11:25I be forgetting British Brooks is there.
11:27I'm not going to lie.
11:27And sometimes I wonder if they be forgetting that British Brooks is there because how many times
11:31over the last year or two, how many times over the last two year or two, like, Oh, are
11:36they going to hand the ball to British Brooks?
11:39And no, no, they're not like they've not done that.
11:42Maybe.
11:42I mean, even fullback reps, there haven't really been much of those.
11:45Cause as much as we were like, Oh, it feels like he has the tools to do this again, you
11:50know, responding to what they do as opposed to maybe what they say or intimate, it just
11:54feels like they don't feel comfortable enough to actually run him out here as a fullback
11:57for real, for real.
11:58I just think, you know, that they have wanted and been unable to use multiple tight ends,
12:03you know, for years, even before, even during the Bobby Slowick years, I think they probably
12:08wanted to, but that was not his gig.
12:09You know, that's not what he liked to do.
12:11And then certainly last year, they just could not use multiple tight ends.
12:15I think maybe the area of the fullback, if not dead, it's on life support.
12:19Well, at least with this team there, we've seen, yeah, yeah.
12:21I met with this team.
12:22Yeah.
12:22We've seen teams very much utilize the fullback to great effect.
12:25And that's one of the things that you were kind of hoping in some ways.
12:28Do you agree with this person on the eighth from the eight, three, two who, okay.
12:31I remember who this person is who goes running back in round two is a must.
12:35I don't know that I'd go there, but the reason why they get there is Woody marks.
12:38No way he can take the pounding of a running back, a running back to needs to, especially
12:42if Montgomery goes down for any significant time, brother.
12:44He was taking the pounding of a running back one last year.
12:46Yeah.
12:46He was rough.
12:47Right.
12:47He was rough and tough.
12:49Now, maybe, and now they didn't really allow him to really take running back one status.
12:53Now, he did get rattled a couple times.
12:54Oh, you know what I mean?
12:54He got, he got, he got, he got, I think, I'm pretty sure that they put his name up on
12:58a blue tent.
12:58I'm pretty sure that that was his spot.
13:00He went there once again.
13:01But that was just because, I mean, he was getting, you know, destroyed out there.
13:04He was at the, he was at the blue tent like Sean Pendergast hits lizards.
13:07You know what I mean?
13:07Like, he was, he was there regularly.
13:11That being said, though, right, if you, if you are pairing that back in the way that
13:15I anticipate that they will, where David Montgomery is, feature feels strong, but is closer to
13:21feature, the way that they were trying to use Nick Chubb at the start of the year last
13:25year, I think Wooden Marks can absolutely hold that load.
13:27But then I think the question then becomes, or maybe a question that pops up is, if you
13:31do have some of those questions, and there is the question of just injury generally, especially
13:35if you're going to be running the ball a lot, do the, maybe this is the question, do
13:38the Texans need another running back that they feel really confident in?
13:42Well, I think they need another running back.
13:44And that's why I said fourth round earlier.
13:45I think that, I think he's got all the markings of being a fourth round pick to maybe take
13:49that Damian Pierce flyer.
13:51Wasn't he a fourth round pick?
13:52Yes, he was.
13:52Yeah.
13:53Out of Florida.
13:53Something like that.
13:54Do we see more Jawar Jordan usage?
13:56Yeah, we kind of touched on that.
13:57And I don't have a good answer for that.
13:59Because again, it really took emergency straights for them to be like, all right, Jawar, here we
14:04go.
14:04And he was like, here's a hundred.
14:05And they were like, thanks for your services.
14:06Get back there.
14:07You know what I mean?
14:08Now, again, did that open their eyes to what he can be?
14:11And also, if you're talking about Woody Markson feeling like maybe he can't handle, how do
14:16you have, how do you feel about your third running back then also being a Jawar Jordan,
14:20who is a little bit smaller and definitely doesn't take the knocks in the same way?
14:23I mean, he's third running back.
14:24And I guess that's ultimately what they have to, you know, you're going to get what you
14:29get when you go down to your third run.
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