00:00All right, this was Nick Casario yesterday on picking up C.J. Stroud's fifth-year option,
00:05and what does that mean for his future with the team?
00:07I don't really think it affects his future.
00:09I mean, he's our quarterback.
00:10We've said that from the beginning.
00:11D'Amico and I both said it.
00:12So, I mean, I think that was really more of a procedural thing.
00:15I mean, I don't want to say it was a no-brainer, but it was kind of a no-brainer.
00:18So, glad he's here.
00:19Again, it's more a part of the process.
00:21I mean, so we're excited about his offseason.
00:23I think he's had a good approach, had a good attitude here.
00:26I think he's put a lot of work in, you know, from, let's say, March and April.
00:30So, excited to have him around here in the spring, and excited to keep moving forward.
00:33Okay.
00:34You know the old saying, dog bites man isn't a headline.
00:38Man bites dog, that's a headline.
00:40That's where the fifth-year option scenario is.
00:43Them giving the fifth-year option isn't necessarily giving C.J. the fifth-year option
00:49or activating it isn't really the story.
00:51If they hadn't, that's a story.
00:54That's all of a sudden where, okay, there's something afoot here.
00:56It's a no-brainer just because C.J. is definitively a good enough quarterback
01:00that you want to be able to lock him in for an extra, for a year of control for $26
01:05million,
01:05which is a relative bargain for starting quarterbacks these days.
01:09I think that how people read into that reply is interesting.
01:13And I think if you look at the transcript of it,
01:16that 100% looks like a full-blown endorsement of C.J.
01:20I think some people listened to it or watched it.
01:23Watched it.
01:24And they heard kind of Nick almost scoffing at the question at the beginning there.
01:30And if you wanted to, you could read into that as like,
01:33wow, it doesn't sound like he's all that high on C.J.
01:35People were very polarized in how they interpreted that answer.
01:38Yeah.
01:38It would have been, you know, to use a word on the stream I do with Reggie Landry and Cody
01:45Stutes.
01:46Cody Stutes, Landry Locker, Reggie Atatula on Mondays.
01:49One of them, either Cody, Landry, one of them said it'd be malpractice
01:52if you're not exercising the fifth-year option on C.J. Stroud.
01:55Even if you kind of feel deep down, he might not be our guy.
01:59Yeah.
01:59Because the fact of the matter is he's done enough
02:01and likely will do enough this year to where, to your point earlier in the show, Seth,
02:05someone's going to feel that C.J. Stroud could be their guy.
02:09Maybe it's a change of scenery if he doesn't have a great season.
02:12If he has the same season, if he has the same season this year,
02:15the exact same season, including the playoff failure that he did last year,
02:20do you think C.J. Stroud is a Houston Texan in 2027?
02:24The exact same season.
02:26If he has the exact same season.
02:28The exact same season, including being the reason they don't get past the divisional round.
02:32If he imploded in the playoffs like that again.
02:35Yep.
02:36Boy.
02:36It's a hard sell for the fan base, man.
02:38That's hard.
02:38And everybody listening, just before you get all worked up,
02:41I'm working on a hypothetical here.
02:42Hypothetical, yeah.
02:43I'm not saying that, because it's hard for me to envision him having that same implosion.
02:47And yet that's exactly what I said after the Steelers game this year.
02:50That's me too.
02:51He's not going to turn, he's not going to fumble five times.
02:54Well, technically he didn't.
02:56He didn't.
02:57He just threw four interceptions.
02:58You're right.
03:01I was technically correct.
03:03You're spot on.
03:04Yes.
03:06Ah, life.
03:08No, I don't think he would be.
03:10I think it would be one of those things where, because, and I'm just being as realistic about
03:16it as possible, I think it would turn into one of those situations where everybody,
03:20all parties involved might feel like it's a time for a change of scenery.
03:24Yep.
03:24CJ himself included.
03:25Yep.
03:25And it just, and it, that, and it also might include some turnover in either the coaching
03:32staff or the front office too.
03:33Yes.
03:34Like that would be, they would get really, it would be awesome for ratings, but horrible
03:38for my mental health.
03:39Yeah.
03:40I can't, I can't go out like that next year, man.
03:42No, no.
03:43And, but, but to that point, that's where, and even in this scenario, put, put the hypothetical,
03:49erase the hypothetical for a second.
03:50Even if you just feel like we're not really sure if CJ's our guy moving beyond 2026, because
03:56Nick Casario has said nothing about 2027.
03:59He has said he's our quarterback this season.
04:02Having him under team control for 25 million for the following year in 2027 is good business
04:10just to, to have him as an asset that you might be able to move.
04:15If indeed you feel like it's time just for both sides to part ways.
04:19What gets interesting is, okay, then what's the solution?
04:21You know, the Texans, you know, are they going to get in on some of these, these young, are
04:26we back on the young quarterback carousel again?
04:28Are we talking about the Kirk cousins is of the world for a year?
04:31Are we, man, I do not want to go back to that place at all.
04:35No, it's so much more fun to watch the, the quarterback, uh, you get carousel stuff from
04:42a position of actually having a quarterback.
04:44If we were in that situation, I would hope that the football gods would have done us
04:48a favor of also just having a horrible football season in general, that, uh, that if CJ has
04:53the exact same year, that it also comes with a two and 13, uh, two and 14, two and 15,
04:58my
04:58God, two and 15 record or something.
05:00Give us a high pick.
05:01Yeah.
05:01Well, this 17 game schedule has screwed up simple math.
05:04We need even numbers, man.
05:06So long.
05:07You're a hundred percent.
05:08The point where I erred on the wrong side.
05:09I did a fewer games in 16 and here is James Lipford, the assistant GM.
05:15This was an interesting answer.
05:17Talked about, um, players that go into the transfer portal.
05:20How do you view those players?
05:22How does it affect your scouting of these players?
05:24I think it's for us evaluating it.
05:27It's been a positive thing.
05:28Now I don't come from a, you know, we don't come from a place of the college coaches and
05:32that world that has to deal with the everyday transactional nature of it.
05:35But from an evaluation standpoint, when players have gone, have been at multiple schools,
05:39and it's a whole nother group of people.
05:42You can ask them about how are they on a daily basis?
05:44Cause that's honestly not to speak for our group.
05:46Like that's what we're curious about.
05:48How are they every single day?
05:49Are they consistent?
05:50How do they work?
05:51How do they show passion for ball?
05:53So at the end of the day, we're trying to find that out players A through Z.
05:56And so when you have, Hey, he left school, he went to school B.
05:59We can talk to both schools, see if the information matches up.
06:01If it doesn't, okay, where's the gap?
06:03And then, you know, just on player by player basis, it's a little window into like how they
06:08make decisions, what's important to them.
06:10Really not worried about the NIL side of it.
06:12That's not, we don't get into that a whole lot, but the actual transferring, what was
06:16the reason for it?
06:17It's not a bad thing.
06:1810 years ago, it might've been a different conversation, but these guys transfer and
06:21we don't hold it against anyone.
06:23We just want to know what their DNA is, what they're made of, and ultimately what will
06:26they be as a Houston Texan if we draft them?
06:29That's what we're just in search of.
06:30Dude.
06:31Yeah.
06:31And it's really interesting because everything's changed so quickly.
06:33I think there's genuinely zero concern about whether a guy is loyal enough or any of those
06:40kinds of things now.
06:42Whereas it was a big deal 10 years ago that they just, it's the lay of the land.
06:49It's the, it's the environment that the kids are operating in and they don't think about
06:52it unless the guy's transferring because he's either a head case or because the coaches hate
06:57him or whatever else it might be.
06:59Yeah.
06:59Yeah.
06:59I don't think like, like, let's not pretend like if the transfer portal was there in the
07:031950s, the kids wouldn't be transferred.
07:05They'd all be transferring.
07:06Please, uh, please, uh, direct me to the era in which humans didn't get upset about not
07:10being a starter on the football team or going off to act in their own self-interests for
07:15some other reason.
07:16Yeah.
07:16It's, uh, it's got nothing to do with the DNA of the kids.
07:19It's just that they have that ability to do something they weren't able to do.
07:23People love to talk about baseball players.
07:25Like back in the day, Joe DiMaggio didn't hold out every single year or something.
07:28They're like, Oh, back when it was about love of the game, he held out every year.
07:33There's no way I can have that opinion.
07:34My daughter transferred twice as an athlete.
07:37I cannot have that opinion.
07:38So, um, yeah, I just, they don't even think about it.
07:41And if anything, like Lipford said, it's an advantage for the pro scouts.
07:45Cause you have that many more people you can talk to about a guy and there's more of a
07:49chance that, Hey, all right, let's say Woody Marks transfers from Mississippi state to USC
07:54that, all right, maybe I've got a close friend at Mississippi state that I really, really
07:59trust.
08:00And he's going to give you the straight scoop on things compared to USC.
08:03You might not have that close relation there.
08:05Um, so I think that I, uh, and Nick has kind of alluded to this before.
08:09Um, by the way, side note, Lipford got an interview this year with the Falcons, right?
08:15Yeah.
08:15For the GM job.
08:16Yeah.
08:16For the GM job.
08:17I think Lipford, uh, he's, he's got a good press conference presence.
08:21He, he, that's kind of stuff that owners look at.
08:24Some owner's going to see a couple of clips of him and be like, that guy seems like a leader
08:28of men.
08:29Lipford was good.
08:30I texted you also.
08:31I would, I would, uh, I would trust Lipford on my side in a bar fight too.
08:35I think that kind of that kind of a Clint vibe.
08:37Yeah.
08:38A little bit of a Clint Sterner vibe.
08:39Who I would also trust in a bar fight if he were on my side.
08:42So yeah, he's got, got the good hair, got the gravelly voice.
08:46I, in watching that press conference, I'm like, yeah, Lipford would be the guy who we
08:51would, he, he would lead our charge in a bar fight.
08:53And then Blanco would be the guy who would be calculating all the money that we'd need
08:57to pay the cops so that we didn't get arrested.
08:59You know, see Lipford and Clint Sterner in a movie where kind of like in a non funny,
09:06um, Pulp Fiction type where he and Clint are both a couple of hired killers and like
09:12there's shots of them driving around in their car, but it's, it's quieter and they're just
09:16kind of, they kind of both got a little bit of a sneer on their face.
09:19Um, and then they go out and they, and then they murder a bunch of, they're arguing about
09:24evaluations.
09:24Yes.
09:25Arguing about evaluations on football players.
09:27And then they go, then they get out and they do their business.
09:30They're able to put us, put aside their arguments to, to whack people.
09:34I like that.
09:35I like that a lot.
09:36Uh, I painted Pendergast with you.
09:38We didn't get to the AI.
09:39We'll get to that would be the character that has always has a toothpick in his mouth.
09:42You think?
09:43Yeah.
09:44Yeah.
09:45That would be his thing.
09:45He's kind of have a toothpick and just kind of like, you know, I guess he just kind of
09:49always be squinting at people.
09:50Yeah.
09:50Like kind of not, not quite sure how, how much he thinks of this fella.
09:54There's always got to be one that handles it more with their fists and one that handles
09:57it more with a piece, you know, with a fire.
09:59I think Lipford would be the guy that would try to reason things out.
10:02And then all of a sudden Clint comes in and just pops six caps in a guy's head.
10:05I like that too.
10:05You know, like a lip for it, like a lip for a lip for it's having a discussion with a
10:09guy
10:09being like, listen, the boss wants you to pay this money.
10:11And all of a sudden Clint just loses his patience.
10:13And then they put the body in the trunk in the middle of the night and they go to Clint's
10:18mom's house to sit and eat a boiled crawfish or something like that.
10:22They wake, they wake mama Sterner up.
10:24She comes down in her nightgown, has her glasses on.
10:26Like who is that?
10:27And then they come in like in good fellas and just sit and eat boiled crawfish.
10:30But instead of like in good fellas and good fellas, mama Sterner would know all about
10:34the deal and she'd be like, what are you idiots doing?
10:37You haven't gotten rid of the body yet?
10:38There's blood on your shirt.
10:39There's three slumps I know of.
10:41Yeah.
10:42You guys need me to drive you there?
10:43Do I have to do everything for you?
10:45This is the greatest treatment of a movie of all time right now.
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