- 7 months ago
Seth and Sean kick off the show by giving their thoughts on the Texans trading up to 26 last night to pick Offensive Lineman, Keylan Rutledge, from Georgia Tech.
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00:02With the 26 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Houston Texans select Keelan Rutledge, guard Georgia Tech.
00:14Hi, there you go. That was it last night. The Texans hung around in the first round.
00:19The draft party people went home happy. The ones I talked to and texted with from the party were happy
00:24with the selection.
00:25They were happy that there was a selection for the first time, Seth. Yes. Since 2023, when they selected Will
00:33Anderson Jr. with the third pick,
00:35the Texans decided to hang around in the first round of the NFL Draft.
00:39Ty Simpson going off the board early to the Rams probably virtually eliminated the opportunity to move out of the
00:46first round
00:46because teams moved into the first round for quarterbacks, as you called yesterday.
00:51Well, by the way, though, theories that Sean McVay didn't want Ty Simpson, and there's so many things floating around
00:59in this brain of mine right now
01:01because there's so much, obviously, that goes on early in the morning the day after the draft, technically.
01:07So, yeah, no, it was the Texans trade up for Keelan Rutledge, and immediately I thought of the conversation we
01:14had earlier yesterday.
01:15I thought, man, if they draft somebody that all the mock drafts have taken in the second round,
01:22you're going to have to deal with a lot of people saying, like, why did they take this guy here
01:26when they could have had him later?
01:29And Keelan Rutledge was one of those guys that we've talked about that, man, it seems like there's a lot
01:33of buzz about him all of a sudden
01:35that maybe the draft media is catching up to the way teams actually feel.
01:42And Chase Besantis was an example of that, the guard out of A&M that I thought might go in
01:46the first round.
01:47Rutledge was another guy that we started hearing a lot about possibly going in the first round.
01:52And from the way that Casario talked about him afterwards, they had conviction on this guy.
01:58They really seem to unanimously feel very strongly that he fits in with a theme of what the theme of
02:05the Texans offseason
02:07concerning the offensive line has had a very defined theme, and it's they want guys who are physical run blockers.
02:15They're taking it back to 1997 with a lot of this.
02:19Wyatt Teller, Braden Smith, the re-signing of Ed Ingram, the retention of Titus, Trent Brown,
02:26these are all guys that have a physical element to them and that they enjoy and savor run blocking
02:33as opposed to previous versions of the Texans offensive line that cared more about finesse football play and Instagram.
02:42And this is, so it fits a theme that whether the individual player works out or not,
02:47we'll find out once he actually plays against actual NFL players.
02:50But I like that they're, I like that they have an image of what they want, and they're going after
02:56players who fit that image.
02:58Yeah, they're not messing around with the offensive line.
03:00They're not messing around.
03:01They've improved the physicality of it in free agency.
03:04They improved the physicality of the offensive line last night.
03:07There's a lot of interesting wrinkles that go with this pick.
03:09And again, if you're just getting up, maybe you didn't see the draft last night.
03:12The Texans moved up from 28th to 26th.
03:16In the process, they moved back in the third round, so they swapped thirds with the Bills also,
03:21and they duked the Bills the 167th overall pick.
03:25So the Texans have one less pick today than they did yesterday.
03:29They're still picking in the third round tonight, but it's much later than they were before.
03:34The two second-round picks remain untouched.
03:36They're still picking 38th and 59th overall as of right now.
03:40We'll see where that goes.
03:41But they move up to get Keelan Rutledge from Georgia Tech, which is interesting because
03:46you're right, Seth.
03:48Even if they just stayed at 28th and drafted Rutledge, there would still be that buzz you're
03:52talking about, which is this guy was a second-round pick who started to get some buzz throughout
03:57the draft process.
03:58Even if they'd stayed at 28th, people would still be saying that and likewise probably
04:03be grading the pick the same way they are this morning.
04:05We'll do the report cards later, but the reviews are very mixed on this pick right now from
04:10the experts out there.
04:10I think because of the dynamic that Seth is touching on there.
04:13There's a lot of draft experts that are trying to justify their grade on Keelan Rutledge
04:17throughout the months of February and March when they're grading this pick.
04:22That they traded up to get him shows even further conviction and probably shows that they knew
04:29something in San Francisco who was picking 27th.
04:32The only reason you trade up, unless you're just trying to be super careful, the only
04:37reason you trade up is because you've got a strong feeling that when you're at 28 and
04:41you move up to 26, is that the team, unless you, you got to have a feeling that the team
04:47at 27 is going to take him.
04:49Otherwise, why would you trade up?
04:51So in San Francisco immediately ends up trading back, right?
04:56As soon as they make that pick.
04:57Yeah, as soon as the Texans make that pick.
04:59I just wanted to check the timeline on that.
05:01This is interesting.
05:03In his press conference yesterday, Casario mentioned how much resources they put into trying to
05:11figure out exactly what other teams are thinking.
05:15And I think that they, based on what we're about to play, I'll play, let's play this Casario
05:20clip and then we'll discuss.
05:22James does a good job.
05:22I think the scouting group does a phenomenal job.
05:25I mean, like the pro staff, the college staff.
05:27I mean, essentially, like when we were going through the draft, we were looking at each team.
05:31Okay, what are their needs?
05:32What do we think they're going to do?
05:33And whoever had that team had an answer in a heartbeat.
05:37And honestly, it played out exactly the way I thought.
05:40Yeah.
05:41So that was last night after the draft, right?
05:44I demand that the Texans scouting staff does a mock draft.
05:47Yes, they should.
05:49Dude, we get clicks, man.
05:51The first 10 or 11 picks or so were very much, you know, guys that never go to the specific
05:58teams that all the mock drafts say, but the big chunk of guys that were supposed to go
06:03top 10 or so, they all went.
06:06Yeah.
06:06The offensive line started coming off the board, kind of generally where you thought they would
06:11go in the draft.
06:11And it got down to the point where by the time the Texans were drafting, the names that
06:17had been mocked to the Texans a lot at interior offensive line, Chase Besantis was the one big
06:22guy who was still there.
06:24Still there today.
06:25Yeah, and he's still there today, right?
06:27Emmanuel Pregnon hadn't been mocked to the Texans a lot, but he's still out there.
06:31But the fact that the Texans traded up to him, up for him, I feel good about the fact
06:37that, all right, look, this was a combination of probably, yes, one of the guys that they
06:42had graded highest and a position of need, even though technically on the depth chart,
06:48it's not a position of need because he's a guard and the Texans have two guards that they
06:53just paid contracts to, he can play, theoretically, he can play center because he played some at
06:59the Senior Bowl and people were pleased with the way he looked playing center.
07:03But Nick said what he said many times before last night.
07:06He said, look, we're going to put the five best guys on the field.
07:10Best five guys.
07:10Guys will compete and we'll see.
07:12Hey, the thing I liked about that, hearing that when he said it last night, because that's
07:16been a point of contention with us in the past where, man, sometimes you just, just because
07:21you've got your five best athletes out there doesn't mean that the right tackle should be
07:25playing right guard and left tackle goes over to right tackle.
07:28Nick acknowledged that last night.
07:30There's way more actual competition on the offensive line than I can remember on a Texans team.
07:37Last year, we were watching the Texans offensive line during training camp and there were times
07:42where you're like, okay, this is some backups competing to be us, two different backup caliber
07:47players competing to be starters.
07:49Yeah, that's the biggest thing is there's just more talent on the offensive line now, you know?
07:53You've got guys where you're in a position now where you just signed a couple guys in
07:57Braden Smith and Wyatt Teller, who I think, honestly, you know, it's always dicey when you frame
08:05it this way, but I think there's genuine competition for those guys.
08:08And we saw it last year.
08:09Cam Robinson signed a nice deal.
08:13It was a one-year deal.
08:14One year, 14 mil.
08:14But he was a veteran player who signed a pretty lucrative one-year deal.
08:17Yep.
08:17And he wasn't a starter, except, you know, by way of injury he was, but he wasn't a starter
08:23on the depth chart at the beginning of the season.
08:25Yeah.
08:25And I think you've got an amped up version of that this year where some of the guys you signed
08:32and free agency, I think, have some genuine competition.
08:34I think that, you know, I think that Trent Brown is competing with Braden Smith.
08:40I think that Wyatt Teller's competing with a draft pick.
08:43I think Jake Matthews, excuse me, Jake Andrews is also competing with a draft pick now potentially
08:52at center if they try him out there some.
08:54Well, we should mention, and John Harris is going to join us at 9 o'clock on the show today.
08:58Johnny had a late one last night, and he'll have a late one tonight, and he's working
09:01Saturday, too.
09:02This is Johnny's weekend.
09:04Of course, draft expert for the Houston Texans.
09:06We'll have his reaction to the Rutledge pick coming out of the shoot in the next segment,
09:10and we'll take a look also in the next segment at who some of the guys are the Texans could
09:14be targeting tonight.
09:14There's some juicy names on the board still, and the Texans have that 38th pick.
09:18But when we had Johnny on the other day, Seth, you asked him about center.
09:23We had him on on Wednesday, the day before the first night of the draft, and you asked him
09:27a general question about center.
09:29You know, you yourself have looked at a half dozen or so of those center prospects, and
09:34when you asked Johnny, like, hey, who's your favorite, or who's a name, or whatever, the
09:38first name he brought up was Keelan Rutledge, which I know was confusing to me and you, like,
09:42wait, wait, wait, like, did he hear us right?
09:44We said, you think we said guard?
09:46And Johnny, so we both kind of paused, and Johnny went and filled in the blanks, and he talked
09:51about the senior bowl where Rutledge was working out as a center for some of the teams
09:55and doing some center things at the senior bowl.
09:58And Johnny watches these guys through a scout's lens also and thinks that Keelan Rutledge has
10:03the skill set to be a center in the NFL.
10:06So that's the first thing I immediately thought of was they're going to give him a go.
10:11This is their way of maybe filling in the entire offensive line here.
10:15Well, and Nick last night, when he was asked about it a couple times, didn't commit to any
10:19of that and say, you know, they know he can play center or anything?
10:23Because I think a fair objection that people might have, and a couple people said this to
10:27me last night, was, okay, well, if you're drafting a center, why do you draft a center this high?
10:32I don't think they're drafting a center.
10:33I think they're drafting the guard prospect.
10:35Yeah.
10:36But there's a chance that his first avenue onto the field might be at center.
10:40But they like position versatility.
10:43So the fact that he's demonstrated at least a little bit of that, I think, comes into play.
10:48And the other side of it is, look, look, they're drafting guys with more than just a
10:54one-year time horizon.
10:56Wyatt Teller isn't going to play forever.
10:58And at some point, Wyatt Teller or Ed Ingram is going to get injured.
11:01Both of them were injured at some point last year.
11:03Like, any offensive lineman these days tends not to play all damn 17 games.
11:08So I think they drafted an offensive line prospect that has some position versatility.
11:14But first and foremost, and this came up multiple times last night,
11:18it was that it's the style and the manner in which this kid plays.
11:22Yeah.
11:22He's genuinely tough.
11:23He's genuinely gritty.
11:25He has a nastiness to him.
11:27And I think you can say that about every offensive lineman that they've either brought in or retained,
11:33is that they want genuine nastiness.
11:35They want – this is a guy that fits a profile that Nick Caley and Cole Popovich have set out
11:42there.
11:42So I like that.
11:44Now, as far as draft picks themselves, I don't care if they go number two overall or number 32 in
11:49the first round
11:49or in the seventh round pick.
11:51They still all have to prove it.
11:53Sure.
11:53So I'm not – like, people who listen to the show know I'm not going to sit here and act
11:56like any draft pick
11:57is ever a slam dunk guaranteed all pro.
12:00So I like the process and the filter that they're using for this guy.
12:07Because I don't know if – we can go back through offensive linemen that the Texans have drafted
12:12going back a long time through multiple GMs,
12:15and I never really felt like there was necessarily a theme to the type of guys that they were drafting.
12:21I didn't feel like they had a focused vision for who they want.
12:26This offseason, I feel like they have a focused vision for what they want.
12:29Where do you think that's coming from?
12:30You think that's Cole Popovich?
12:32You think it's –
12:33You know, no, I think it's Nick Caley and Cole Popovich.
12:36Yeah.
12:36And then Casario, like, probably appreciating that he's getting a clear vision of what types of guys they want to
12:43have.
12:44Yeah, yeah.
12:44You know, so it's an organizational thing.
12:47But, yeah, I think the sum total of it all is that Nick Caley is the offensive coordinator.
12:53Nick Caley last year during training camp talked a lot about how they wanted to be tough.
12:59They wanted to be physical.
13:00They wanted to be nasty.
13:01They wanted to punch you in their mouth.
13:02The problem was they had a bunch of – they still had some glass Joes out there when it came
13:06to trying to punch people in the mouth.
13:07That's right.
13:08Now they're getting mecked up into the Soda Popinski level.
13:12Yeah, yeah, yeah.
13:13Yeah, the big guy, the bull, Brahma Bull or whatever the guy's name.
13:16Bald Bull.
13:17Yeah, Bald Bull.
13:18Bald Bull, yeah.
13:19With Soda Popinski, I think Soda Popinski was still kind of low in the –
13:23Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
13:25Yeah.
13:26Kids, go play punch out today.
13:27Go play punch out.
13:28I remember Don Flamenco used to toss flowers at his opponent and things like that.
13:32Yeah, he sucked, man.
13:33He was bad.
13:33I think Don Flamenco was the guy he faced after –
13:37Glass Joe.
13:38Yeah, that sounds right.
13:39Kids, go play punch out after you're done listening to all four hours of our show.
13:43And just know this, Tyson winks before he jabs.
13:46He does.
13:47He does.
13:47Yeah, Mike Tyson.
13:48Yeah, yeah, yeah.
13:48That's the tell.
13:49That's the big one.
13:50But that's the tell.
13:51Here's what Daniel Jeremiah on the NFL Network had to say right after the Texans drafted
13:57Keelan Rutledge with the 26th overall pick.
13:59Because of how this dude finishes, just watch the strain to finish.
14:04That's a scouting term we like to throw out there.
14:06This is – I just want to show that aspect of this guy's game.
14:09You see the size.
14:10You see his ability to anchor all those things.
14:12Let's just watch this dude finish.
14:14Looking to just keep going, driving.
14:16We're 20 yards down the field.
14:17We're not stopping until you're on your back.
14:20And that's what he does.
14:21And it's every single time you get to watch him.
14:24These are all finishes.
14:25You want to set a tone with your offensive line.
14:27This guy is going to be very popular with his running backs because of what he does in the run
14:32game.
14:33Brent Key, very tough coach, right?
14:34Down at Georgia Tech.
14:35Said this guy is the toughest player he's ever coached.
14:40Yeah, sometimes you're the windshield.
14:41Sometimes you're the bug.
14:42That is a windshield that they just drafted.
14:44I like that at the end.
14:46I like the analogy.
14:47The visual isn't all that great of like, yeah.
14:49Like nobody walks into a bar and is like, you're dealing with a windshield now, bro.
14:55Holding a big-ass windshield.
14:57One thing I learned last night, an alarmingly high number of people think that Georgia Tech still runs the triple
15:03option.
15:03Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
15:04Yeah, yeah, that?
15:05They think Texas Tech runs the air raid and their defense sucks.
15:09Yeah, they don't realize, yeah, all these Texas Tech defensive players are going off the board and people are like,
15:13don't they suck on defense?
15:14Yeah, they gave up 50 a game, I thought, yeah.
15:16I did.
15:17I understand it if you haven't watched a boatload of Georgia Tech football, but they're not.
15:20They do pass the ball now.
15:22They're kind of a modern spread to the college offense.
15:25And he does, now, his calling card is his run blocking more so than his pass protection.
15:33But I think a very fair question that Adam Spillane asked me was, you know, what would be the difference
15:41in the scouting profile between him and Kenyon Green?
15:45And let me say this first with a disclaimer.
15:48I think Kenyon Green probably got drafted higher than I thought he would have, except that I did like him.
15:55You know, if you had picked Kenyon Green 28th overall in the draft, I liked his scouting report.
15:59Like, I don't want to sit here and act like, oh, yeah, Rutledge is slam dunk going to be a
16:04better player.
16:04But if I were to point out some of the differences, I think that with Rutledge, you know, with Kenyon
16:11Green, I would always say, all right, this is a college guy who was a mauler.
16:15And some of the stuff he did in college was just by brute force and strength and just a whole
16:20lot of upper body Greco-Roman wrestling.
16:23I wanted him to win with his feet more and be more precise with his feet and get up underneath
16:28guys and not have to just use his upper body strength because it's hard to do that in the NFL.
16:32I think Rutledge is more refined in that regard.
16:35I think it's just his style of play theoretically would transfer to the NFL a little bit better.
16:42The other part about Kenyon was just that he was injured constantly.
16:45Oh, yeah.
16:45And that's the injury after injury after injury.
16:49How about Rutledge?
16:49And then he also asked me to compare and reduce Scruggs.
16:52I'm going to tell you this.
16:52After listening to Casario's press conference, if you want to get drafted to the Texans, two things.
16:57One is get in a car accident and, two, transfer from a smaller school.
17:02Yeah.
17:02Because Drew Scruggs had gotten in a car accident and people liked his adversity and being able to overcome that
17:08adversity.
17:09Yeah, he had a back injury, I think.
17:10Yeah.
17:10And then with Jaden Higgins transferred from a smaller school.
17:14Eastern Kentucky.
17:14And proved himself.
17:16So, Rutledge has both those things.
17:18Rutledge checked both boxes.
17:19Yeah.
17:20Transferred from Middle Tennessee to Georgia Tech and almost had his foot amputated because of the car accident.
17:27Casario last night said it was a program that, you know, transferred from a program that, you know, nobody had
17:31ever heard of.
17:32I'm like, there's a few Middle Tennessee guys in the league.
17:33Well, it was funny when he said it because I didn't know.
17:36I just looked it up just two minutes ago because I remember Nick saying that.
17:39I'm like, God, he made it sound like he transferred from some Bible school.
17:43I thought it was like a non-accredited juco or something.
17:45I thought it was Middle Tennessee.
17:47Like, they're FBS.
17:51I would be angry if I'm Middle Tennessee this morning.
17:54Hey, come on, Nick.
17:55I played with a quarterback from Middle Tennessee, so Jonathan Quinn.
17:58Oh, he was from Middle Tennessee, huh?
18:01Yeah.
18:01Okay.
18:02Okay.
18:03He had to start on a primetime game up in Minnesota back when their defensive line was at.
18:08I remember that.
18:09He was the one where John Randall was barking.
18:11It was when I was with the Jaguars.
18:13And we had to play this rookie offensive lineman who had played the week before and was awful.
18:19So, when somebody got injured and this kid had to come in, John Randall started barking.
18:25And Jonathan Quinn, the third-string quarterback from Middle Tennessee State was back there.
18:30I'm going to ask Keelan Rutledge eight questions about Jonathan Quinn.
18:33If he doesn't nail them.
18:34I didn't know the history.
18:36Yeah.