- 1 day ago
Seth and Sean discuss what Texans GM Nick Caserio had to say on Texans All Access about trading up to pick Keylan Rutledge, pulling the trigger on picking Kayden McDonald, and why they picked Marlin Klein at 59.
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00:00Nick Casario was on Texans All-Access this week.
00:03He was on the Pat McAfee show yesterday.
00:06Let's hear from the Texans GM.
00:08This was on Texans All-Access.
00:10So he took Mark and Johnny through the three top picks the Texans made,
00:15days one and two.
00:16Keelan Rutledge on Thursday night, and then on Friday night, of course,
00:21they drafted Caden McFarlane and Marlon Kline out of Ohio State and Michigan,
00:28and respectively, here was Nick Casario on the move to trade up
00:32to go get Keelan Rutledge.
00:34A lot of these moves are just about positioning, and you feel like,
00:37well, we need to get to a certain point just to make sure that we acquire the player
00:41and not run the risk potentially of losing him.
00:43You don't know exactly what's going to happen,
00:45but we just felt we had to make a small, subtle move to get in a position
00:48where we could draft the player who we felt was probably going to go
00:51in about that range as we got a little bit closer to the draft.
00:54It started to materialize.
00:55It was probably in a 25 to 40-ish sort of range,
00:59whether or not he would have made it to 38.
01:01So then it was like, all right, well, if this is a player that we like
01:04and we want, if we have to make a small, subtle move,
01:06then let's investigate and see what our options are.
01:09Yeah, and I think a lot of times on stuff like this, Seth,
01:11it means they have intel that there's other teams that are looking at Keelan
01:14Rutledge, maybe even from the Buffalo Bills,
01:17who I think it was the Bills they traded with at 26 to move up to get Rutledge.
01:22Like, if the Bills are smart, then they're trying to create an auction environment
01:25to get as much as they can.
01:27If they get wind that a team is trying to trade up and they know that
01:31or they have a really good feeling that this team likes Rutledge as well,
01:35then let's just go ahead and do that and give up basically what amounts to a mid-round pick
01:40to do it, that they feel strongly about that.
01:43I think the – I wonder this, what do you think bothers most people?
01:49For the people who are bothered by the Texans taking Rutledge ahead of where most
01:52people expect them to go, do you think they would be a lot cooler with it
01:56if they had just stayed at 28 and drafted him?
01:59Or is it the fact that they traded up to get him what adds insult to injury in their minds?
02:04Oh, that's – I think it's – yeah, I think – yes, I think moving up definitely –
02:09I think moving up definitely bothered some people.
02:12To move up, it's almost like it compounded.
02:15I think if they had taken him at 28, there still would have been those people
02:19thinking they took him too early because his consensus spot was in the 40s somewhere.
02:23So there would have been that.
02:24I think it was almost like for some people, it was like adding insult to injury kind of thing.
02:29It compounded it.
02:31So, yeah, it's a good question.
02:32But I think, yeah, I was like, okay, I didn't even have this guy at 28, let alone 26.
02:36Why are we giving up a fifth-round pick to do it?
02:39I think with Rutledge, it's interesting because it seems from listening to people talk about it
02:45after the draft, anonymous executives, this, that, the other,
02:47that this was one of those classic guys where there was a wide difference in opinion
02:51from one group of people to the next about where they would have taken Rutledge,
02:56including inside NFL buildings, that for the Texans,
03:01I think that their draft board is a lot smaller than other people's draft boards are.
03:06that they're going to exclude a lot of guys based on,
03:09I think a lot of times it's the football character side of things or the off-field side of things,
03:14in that there comes a point where if you're a team like the Texans that operates that way,
03:19you kind of have to accept that, yeah, we're not always going to be in a position of strength
03:23because we don't, all of those guys on the consensus board that people are saying,
03:28oh, you could have had this guy, you could have had that guy,
03:30the Texans don't want any part of that guy.
03:32And I'm cool with that strategy as long as it leads to championships.
03:37That's the big, that's the big, that's the big fulcrum point there.
03:42Right.
03:42Is that that does work for teams.
03:44It has worked in the past if you're that type of team.
03:46Yeah.
03:47The Patriots, honestly, were that type of a team.
03:49But you got to, I'm not going to get too hung up on draft position and everything
03:52as long as you deliver me a championship or seven.
03:55That's exactly right.
03:56And I'm, I like everything I've learned about Keelan Rutledge since they drafted him.
04:01I knew enough about him to be dangerous hosting a radio show before the draft,
04:05but you learn more about him when he comes into the building and you start watching film on him
04:09and then you hear all the anecdotes about the transfer from mid-Tennessee State to Georgia Tech
04:14and how much he meant to that Georgia Tech team and how just over the top Brent Key is,
04:20his college coach, about what he meant to that program.
04:23Yeah.
04:23All of those things.
04:24Yeah, and that's, and just the danger in all of that is always, and again, I'm cool with that strategy.
04:28The danger is, just so you're aware of the danger, is that you end up with a team full of,
04:33you know,
04:34blue-collar grinders and awesome dudes and everything, but you just don't have enough talent.
04:40That's where I, so the reason I don't get nervous about it at this point is that they have a
04:45lot of physical talent.
04:46They've got, I mean, on defense especially.
04:48They, the dream is a guy like Will Anderson, who's got all of the measurable talent, but then also all
04:55of the intangible stuff.
04:56There's only so many of those guys in the universe.
04:59Yeah.
04:59You're not going to have a team full of Will Andersons.
05:01But for the guys that sometimes just end up being good, solid pros, are they guys that are also adding
05:07to your culture and adding to the way that you want to do it?
05:11I think that's where, I think that's what Rutledge right now would, if you had to project him going out,
05:16you say, okay, I don't know, I don't think he's probably going to be all pro or anything,
05:19but if he's a good, steady, solid starter on your offensive line and he's exactly the right kind of you
05:25want, that helps your program out a lot more than a guy who's kind of a bum,
05:29but maybe physically talented but doesn't live up to his talent.
05:32Who are the guys on offense right now that fit that bill, that you can put in a team picture
05:37with the, a swarm team picture with the guys on defense that fit that and feel like, oh yeah, that
05:42guy belongs in that picture right there?
05:44Oh, okay.
05:45So without the extreme physical talent part of it?
05:48Without the Daniel Hunter or Will Anderson side of it?
05:50Yeah, yeah.
05:51Well, just in general, like Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter, like I think, like the guys on defense, like I
05:56don't want to get overly specific with it.
05:58Like Nico Collins is a guy.
05:59Like that, yeah, that guy, that guy fits the, he, he fits the culture and the talent level.
06:04He fits the culture of what they want to be.
06:06Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:07I think Wyatt Teller and Braden Smith are two guys that they brought in because they feel like they fit
06:11the culture more.
06:12I think Ed Ingram is that guy.
06:14And to be clear, maybe not guys that have to be pro bowlers, but they're at a talent level where
06:17like, oh yeah, they belong.
06:18They're player and swarm.
06:19Yeah, yeah.
06:20So, so the Ariante industry, I think, has that potential.
06:23I think he has that right mindset.
06:25I think Woody Marks, and again, you're going with guys that are relatively recent.
06:29Other than Nico, it's a lot of recent additions.
06:31I think Tank Dell, if, you know, if he could say healthy, that mindset and that attitude and everything is
06:36100% that way.
06:37I think they've done a good, a much better job of getting guys that you feel like, oh, okay, this,
06:43like this guy's invited to the cookout.
06:44That's what I'm talking about.
06:46On defense.
06:46If the defense is having a cookout, is this guy invited?
06:49That's exactly what I, that's, yeah.
06:50Mine was just a picture.
06:52Yours is a cookout.
06:52Like, that's, yeah, that's, that's, that's what I'm talking about.
06:55Yeah.
06:55So I think those guys that I just mentioned are all guys that like, oh yeah, they fit the mindset.
07:00I agree.
07:00There we go.
07:01And now we got to find it.
07:02I think honestly, and honestly, Dalton Schultz, even though, even though I don't, he'll never be a really, he'll never
07:07be a good blocker.
07:08He does try.
07:09I think he's just physically incapable of it.
07:11There's a grittiness and a griminess to his game and doing what he does with his physical ability that does
07:16fit that mindset.
07:17It's going to look different on offense than it does on defense.
07:20You're just not, you're not allowed to be as violent on offense.
07:23But yeah, I think they're in a much better spot now than they were at the beginning of last season
07:28in that regard.
07:29Yeah.
07:29That, that's kind of where I was going with it.
07:31Like, you know, just, if you list the names, you're like, wow, they've really like in the last 12 months.
07:35Tunsil was one of the best players on the team, but he did not fit that, that type.
07:40That's exactly right.
07:41Titus Howard.
07:42Yeah.
07:43Titus Howard.
07:44I don't, I'm not so sure fit that, fit that type.
07:46Titus Howard, the only time he looked like one of the Texans defensive players was when he stripped C.J.
07:50Stroud.
07:51That was the swarmiest thing he ever did.
07:53That's true.
07:54He got confused.
07:54He did.
07:55He did.
07:56Here's more of Nick Casario going through the draft picks here.
07:59This is Casario on pulling the trigger to go get Caden McDonald.
08:03Sure.
08:04Similar to the Rutlers discussion, really just make a small, subtle move to kind of get in position.
08:09We felt like at some point he was probably going to go pretty quickly that night.
08:12He wasn't going to last very long.
08:13And, you know, he was probably one of the better players that was still available at that time.
08:17Therefore, we made the move that we did.
08:20You know, had Caden in here at some point in the process.
08:23Had a really good season last year.
08:25Really, the most extensive play time of his career.
08:29Had an opportunity.
08:30Did a good job in Coach Patricia's system there.
08:33He made, I want to say, like 30-plus assists and then another 30 total tackles or solo tackles.
08:39So you're talking about a player that made 60 tackles from an interior defensive tackle position.
08:44Not too dissimilar to some of the things that Tommy showed during the season for us.
08:48So a good football player that's young, that's strong, and has some traits that we feel fit our defense.
08:53Hey, you and I both watched yesterday, watched Caden McDonald's interview that he did before the draft.
08:59So this is before he was a Texan, with the guys on the nightcap.
09:03Shannon Sharp, Ocho Cinco, and Joe Johnson.
09:05You and I both watched that.
09:07What did you think about the fact that Caden McDonald knew exactly what his stats were last year?
09:12Because Nick says he had about 60.
09:14Like, Caden McDonald's like, I had 65 tackles.
09:17I had nine and a half TFL.
09:18No, that's, I'm cool with that.
09:20That's not every, yeah, especially in the pre-draft process, you keep seeing that cited over and over again.
09:24Yeah, that's true.
09:25And you're also dependent on what, you know, if your coaches are keeping stats and they got a board in
09:29the,
09:29sometimes a motivational, they have a stat board in the locker room.
09:33And Ohio State's leading in sacks.
09:34Ohio State's got the decals, too, that they give to players on the helmet.
09:38So that's the, okay, fair point.
09:39I'm just workshopping.
09:40I wasn't totally put off by it, but I was curious as a player how you felt about it.
09:43I do think as a defensive lineman or as a defensive tackle especially,
09:47you shouldn't get too wrapped up in your own individual stats.
09:50Because more times than not, you're going to be explaining like, well, there's a lot more to it than just
09:54the actual stats
09:55when it comes to defensive tackle, yeah.
09:5765's a lot.
09:58You know what?
09:59What am I saying here?
10:00I would be reciting it, too, if I were him.
10:01Yeah, like some of the best defensive tackles in league history have not amassed a boatload of tackles.
10:07They're just really good at soaking up double teams.
10:09Yep, yep.
10:10So they saw an opportunity.
10:12They went and got Caden McDonald.
10:14That is the pick that is being the most praised easily out of this draft for the Houston Texans.
10:20Yeah, no, and in a lot of that, I mean, some of this is all freaking, it's just, it's scout,
10:26it's draft experts masturbating to their own rankings.
10:30Yeah.
10:30It's like, oh, look at that.
10:33Oh, based on my criterion, they got a deal there.
10:37Like, all right, well, based on your criterion, the rest of the league said he was actually the 36th best
10:41player.
10:41Yeah, you're the outlier, buddy.
10:43They love to point out the times that teams did agree, didn't agree with them in a bad way, but
10:49ignore the fact that, like, yeah, but what about all the guys that you're saying?
10:54You're criticizing teams for not going by your rankings, but then complimenting them by the entire league not going by
11:01your rankings.
11:01Yeah.
11:02Because when a guy, when a guy falls around and you say, oh, look, that's a good value there.
11:06Well, like, all right, well, if the rest of the league thought it was such a great value, he wouldn't
11:10have fallen a complete round based on your rankings.
11:12Totally, totally, totally.
11:13All right.
11:14Or rankings.
11:15Some people pronounce it rankings.
11:17Apparently, sometimes I say rankings.
11:19I don't know why.
11:20I say rankings.
11:20You're on, yeah, that's, so I think this is the one people really want to hear.
11:25Nick Casario explaining the decision to take Marlon Klein with the 59th pick.
11:29He was a player that we kind of liked from the beginning of the process and kind of till the
11:32end.
11:32We were pretty consistent in how we felt about the player.
11:35And the reality is we were at 59 or wherever we were picking.
11:38There was a few trade scenarios that were actually on the table for us to move back.
11:41And we were close to making a trade to move back.
11:44We felt like if we'd moved back a few spots, still had a shot to possibly get the player.
11:49The trades kind of fell through.
11:50So we've always talked at some point, if you don't have a trade, then you just got to be ready
11:54to pick.
11:54So whoever you're going to pick.
11:55So we picked Marlon because that was a player that we had kind of teed up as the next player.
12:00There you go.
12:01And you know what?
12:01Similar to what you asked me before, Seth, about the Rutledge trade.
12:05Like the people that are upset about it, would they have been upset if they took him at 28?
12:09You know, did the trade compound things?
12:11I think the flip side of that is that I think if they had traded back, let's say, I don't
12:17know,
12:17let's say they traded back to 65 from 59, I still think the Marlon Klein pick would have raised a
12:24lot of eyebrows.
12:25Oh, yeah.
12:26You know, even if they'd picked up an extra fifth or something like that to move back.
12:30On my live stream yesterday, I graded the mock drafts.
12:34So, like, I just kind of like when we grade the power rankings, I gave Mel Kuyper a D-plus
12:38on this one
12:39because, Mel, for my criterion, the main thing I had is like, okay, how obsessed is this guy with his
12:46own rankings
12:47and how much of it is about his ego?
12:49And the way that Mel Kuyper said it was they took Marlon Klein here,
12:53but look at all these other guys that I had ranked above him.
12:56I don't know what they were doing.
12:58Like, okay, clearly they ranked him differently than you ranked your guys.
13:03It's not like the Texans.
13:05Sometimes people, when they grade the drafts, they act like the GM didn't realize that those other players were available.
13:11Like, I don't know.
13:12I'd be like, why did he draft Marvin Klein?
13:14Sam Rauchel's right there.
13:15What an idiot.
13:16Like, okay, they ranked him differently.
13:18That's why they took him.
13:20What are they doing?
13:21They're following their rankings.
13:22Why is this guy dating a redhead when he knows that I like brunettes?
13:27There were three brunettes available, and he went with a redhead.
13:31I can't believe it.
13:32I don't know what he's doing.
13:34Yeah.
13:35This was interesting yesterday.
13:37This was a good bit of audio here.
13:39So Nick was on the Pat McAfee show with McAfee and all of his cohorts there.
13:46And after they got done with Casario, McAfee was kind of recapping sort of the chronology of the relationship between
13:53Casario and their show.
13:55And it was a fun trip down memory lane because times are better now here in the city of Houston.
14:01But take a listen.
14:02We buried him the first time.
14:04Big time.
14:05I mean, it was kind of, we had to do it.
14:08He had headphones on.
14:09That's right.
14:10General manager directly to sideline.
14:13Sideline was coaching a team that was ass.
14:16Okay?
14:17Why is this general manager who got headphones on?
14:19Get this guy out of the damn game.
14:22So we obviously mock and ridicule him mightily.
14:25Everything goes to ****.
14:26They become a dumpster fire.
14:29Oh, yeah.
14:29Laughing stuff.
14:30Whole thing.
14:31Water bag wouldn't play.
14:32See ya.
14:33Dave Cole, he's chewing on his tongue.
14:35Actually.
14:36Yeah.
14:36He got a raw deal.
14:37He was a one-year coach when Josh McCown was going to let him.
14:39I mean, it was all bad.
14:40Coach Dave got a raw deal.
14:42Everything was, we agree, Coach Dave did get a raw deal.
14:44But during that process, it was, I mean, it was, it was all bad down there.
14:48And then all of a sudden, he starts chipping away, this guy.
14:51He comes on the program.
14:52We're like, this guy's going to ****.
14:53Hey, though.
14:54Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
14:55Dang it, dang it.
14:56I'm sorry.
14:56Dump, dump, dump.
14:57Dump.
14:57I'm sorry I missed that one, Ben.
14:59Dump.
15:00I apologize.
15:01Dump.
15:01Dump.
15:01Dump.
15:02Dump.
15:02Dump.
15:03Dump.
15:03Dump.
15:04Dump.
15:10Dump.
15:12Dump.
15:13Dump.
15:18Dump.
15:19Dump.
15:20Yeah, I was all up in your business.
15:21I was up in your dinch.
15:24So, no, they lost me at Dave Cully got a raw deal.
15:28Yeah.
15:28That, did you have to reiterate?
15:31Oh, yeah, yeah.
15:32Raw deal there.
15:33They had me at David Cully chewing on his tongue.
15:36They had me there.
15:37But then David Cully getting a raw deal.
15:38I was here for that.
15:40Yeah, no, I'm with you on that.
15:41Yeah, the raw deal.
15:41Like, what the hell?
15:42Yeah, one of his slappies and then he himself, Pat McAfee, said that David Cully got a raw deal.
15:47That will forever be one of the most annoying things to me.
15:52Right up there with Houston, we have a problem, of people outside of Houston not understanding the deal.
15:57Did you?
15:58That there was nobody, there was nobody.
16:01And honestly, I don't, I'm almost not exaggerating that when people outside of Houston were lambasting the Texans for firing
16:09David Cully,
16:10probably almost everybody that listens to this show or any other show in Houston or is a fan of the
16:15Texans would have to try to explain,
16:17listen, two things can be true.
16:19The Texans are doing a lot of things really bad right now, but also that David Cully did not deserve
16:25to be a head coach.
16:26He's got no business.
16:27Yeah, yeah.
16:28He's going to get a big fat check and he'll be fine.
16:30Because people outside of Houston were trying to act like, oh, the Texans are blaming David Cully for this.
16:35No, no, no, no, no, no.
16:36No, it's that David Cully is clearly not the guy to help them lead them out of this.
16:41Yes.
16:41Even for a tanking coach.
16:43Right.
16:43It was, it was bad.
16:44Right, right, right, right.
16:47That was fun.
16:48That was a, it was a good hit on the McAfee show yesterday with, with, with Nick.
16:51Sorry about the, I'm sorry about the miss bleep.
16:54Oh, it was funny.
16:55That's why they keep routinely turning me down when I apply to be a producer at this station.
17:01They're like, Seth, just bide your time as a host for a while and we'll see.
17:03I know you guys can't see me, but f*** that.
17:05Oh, that's true.
17:06Guy's got a potty mouth of himself right there.
17:08That was Seth back in the day.
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