00:00Which of the newest additions will actually have the biggest immediate impact?
00:03Obviously, you can go draft, you can go free agency,
00:06but I think it's worth examining and thinking about how these guys fit in their roles, right?
00:11Nick Casario always talks about how when they acquire talent,
00:14they do it with a very unique and intent idea of what the role is that these people will serve.
00:21Yeah, and I think you can look at it short-term and long-term.
00:24I'm really focusing more on short-term because, you know, window open.
00:28We've talked about it.
00:29This is a contending team.
00:30So of all the free agents, all the draft acquisitions,
00:34who's going to have the biggest immediate impact to you?
00:40For me, I think I've got to go with, at least in the draft.
00:46Okay, let's separate them out.
00:47Draft and free agency would do something.
00:48At least in the draft, I'm going to go short-term and long-term in the draft.
00:52I think short-term, it's a very obvious one.
00:55It's going to be Keeling Rutledge for me.
00:56You know, the options, the things he can help you do on the interior line if he steps in,
01:03and I think he will.
01:04And we haven't even laid eyes on him on a practice field yet, but I think he will.
01:08And can play center.
01:10Boy, that opens everything up underneath, I mean inside.
01:13I think there's a nice little asterisk there, but that asterisk is if he can handle the starting center job
01:20in this offense.
01:21If that's there, 100%.
01:23Because it's the reason why I was so infatuated with Keeling Rutledge versus the other very nice center options,
01:30Sam Hecht, Slaughter, all those cats, right?
01:33Is the size and the physicality that he can help bring to a front where they clearly have incentivized
01:40or rather invested in the idea of being big and physical, right?
01:43You can look at all the four other positions that we have the presumable starters.
01:48They're all big, physical dudes, and they say they want to run the football.
01:52The only spot where you go, I don't know about that, was center.
01:55And then you slide in to Keeling Rutledge.
01:56Now you have five dudes that feel like they line up like a bulldozer.
01:59They're falling together like Voltron if Voltron was a snowplow.
02:02You know what I mean?
02:03I feel like that's the way this goes.
02:04And now we're talking about a David Montgomery.
02:07We're talking about a Woody Marks that how many yards before contact are they getting before their capabilities?
02:11Yes, that's big.
02:13You know what I mean?
02:13That's huge.
02:14That's where my brain goes.
02:15And now we're talking about how many times did we talk about a second and medium, second and long for
02:19this team?
02:20What if you're starting to talk about second and four on a relatively consistent basis?
02:25That is something that's huge.
02:27And that's a way to absolutely demoralize an opposition is just I'm going to run it through your face.
02:33Plus that pairs really nicely with a defense that's going to stop, be a stonewall.
02:37I mean, a four guy, just look at the possibilities it can do on the inside.
02:40Wyatt Teller, we know.
02:41If Rutledge is there, Ingram's there.
02:44Evan Brown is a proven player.
02:47I think that's big.
02:48Now long term, maybe this is...
02:51Are there any other...
02:51In the short term?
02:53Yeah, because we're talking about this with the asterisk.
02:56That would be the other option.
02:57Oh, yeah.
02:57Actually, you know what?
02:58That was actually my first one.
02:59That's a great point.
03:00I don't know.
03:00Actually, because of the asterisk, I think the answer is Cade McDonald.
03:04Yeah.
03:04Not as big of an asterisk.
03:06There's no asterisk.
03:07Well, there always is for a draft pick.
03:09Yeah.
03:09Yeah.
03:10But I mean, that's...
03:11Yeah, but we got to see if he, you know, is he going to get that starting center job or
03:15what they're going to do with that.
03:17Yeah.
03:17Yeah.
03:17But Cade McDonald, he's going to be in the rotation.
03:19He's going to be in that rotation.
03:21That's somebody that probably should have been a first round pick.
03:23Right, right.
03:24And the thing about it as well is that he brings something entirely different than what you had.
03:28I think the last time you had it was, kind of had it with a Foley Fatakassi, right?
03:32And so the idea of having a big dude that can help stop that run, obviously Togiai has done a
03:37pretty solid job of that.
03:38I don't want to discredit what he has done.
03:40Yeah.
03:40It feels like Cade McDonald is a specialist at that.
03:42And so bringing that immediately to this team, it just...
03:46So you changed your answer.
03:46Yes, I'll change my answer to Cade McDonald because for some reason I did not acknowledge the big boy in
03:51the middle.
03:51Well, so long term, and maybe this is a reach, I just, I believe in that pixie dust that D
03:57'Amico Ryans and Matt Burke have.
03:58And that is Kamari Ramsey.
04:01I think, you know, fifth round pick is not a chump.
04:04You know, it's a position that he can, it's a place where he can do multiple things.
04:09I, they, they've already have a track record of quote unquote converting a player like Jalen Petrie, you know, who
04:16had a similar background in college.
04:18I think you can, you can bring him in and longterm, he can be a guy that can maybe fill
04:21that role, maybe fill a safety role.
04:23I think he's going to be integral in their plans.
04:25That's interesting.
04:26And that's why I was going to ask is, is that because of the specialized importance of the way that
04:32the big nickel happens in this defense?
04:34Is there any other option that's even close in your mind for the draft for the idea of maybe would
04:39as fourth round linebacker longterm?
04:43Yeah, because I mean, Toto was a fifth rounder.
04:46Yeah.
04:46Because of the, because of the relative immediate need or not immediate, but the, the soon coming need a linebacker
04:53who steps in.
04:54It just feels like I, I'm not betting on it.
04:57And again, I recognize where my bias has, has worked against Wade Wood as here is, you know,
05:02I wasn't even considering the idea of his opportunity or possibility of being a linebacker really and truly in your
05:08defense.
05:08I went, okay, special teams, put them in that bucket.
05:10Don't think about them too much.
05:11Um, so for now, there is a little bit of bias against them.
05:15The other option is Marlon Klein.
05:16That's the other option.
05:17And I just don't know what to do with that.
05:19It's especially because I need to stop talking about him within the context of like all the things that are
05:25wrong.
05:25I do want to give him a little bit of the credit.
05:26I love the athleticism that he can show, especially like being a vertical, a vertical threat at tight end.
05:31Cause it feels like you just haven't had that.
05:34Even with Dalton Schultz.
05:35We talked about this late in the season where you go, all right.
05:36Or no, we talked about this with the idea.
05:38The addition of Foster Moreau is does that free up Dalton Schultz to do more of these kinds of corner
05:42route type things.
05:43I'd be interested to see what Marlon Klein does in those contexts of being a more vertical threat.
05:48Um, and what that does to a defense when they see big boy rumbling down the field, down the seam
05:53or into a corner, a corner space, um, what that does for a defense.
05:58I'd love to see what that concept.
05:59Free agency real quick, immediate and long-term biggest impact.
06:03I mean, the immediate impact feels pretty evident.
06:08I think does it, uh, well, do I consider this free agency?
06:13Cause you traded for him, but David Montgomery.
06:14Oh yeah.
06:15I consider him.
06:16Yeah.
06:16Free agency acquisition.
06:18Veteran acquisition.
06:19Let's put it that way.
06:20Well, cause the offensive line ends up being a big one, right?
06:23You end up probably like Wyatt Teller being, having a guy who at guard, you feel pretty confident about, but
06:29I guess how does that then change also with the possibility that whatever the competition is, if Keelan Rutledge takes
06:34that position, um, who is the other option in your mind?
06:36Mine is Reed Blankenship.
06:38Oh, well, yeah.
06:39I mean, he's 27.
06:40Yeah.
06:41He's still young.
06:42He's, I think he's the answer for short-term and long-term.
06:45I mean, he could think about this.
06:47Secondary, man.
06:48Yeah.
06:49Think about this.
06:50Secondary with Reed Blankenship proven good, you know, young ish, you know, 27 is, is nothing as a safety.
06:57Yeah.
06:57And we talked about when they acquired him is that when, when he does not have to be the best
07:03defensive back or the second best defensive back in your secondary, it's really, really good.
07:08It's really, really good.
07:09And that's exactly the role that he's, he, that he has.
07:12He plays with that physicality, smart player.
07:15Uh, yeah, no, that's, that's a fair point.
07:16It feels like when you talk about the impact, uh, if you can help what has already been a really
07:22good defense, that, that weighs more in your mind than the offense.
07:25But it feels like the other way should be the case.
07:27When you talk about the possibility of David Montgomery, uh, in the red zone, I think that's the reason why
07:32I went there, right?
07:33The possibility of, can you take a team that has been woeful in the red zone and help them turn
07:37that into a more successful team that changes this team entirely, right?
07:40How many, how many times did we talk about four, six, seven points being left in, you know, left on
07:46the field because they got into the red zone and they could not convert.
07:49He is a bowling ball that does that really well, specializes in that.
07:52I think that that impact alone, talk less of having a dude that you can depend on just regularly is
07:57going to be mean the world to this team in this upcoming season.
08:00Yeah.
08:00All right.
08:01Uh, so yeah, very intrigued to see how this team continues to settle in, uh, for your Texans as we
08:06move through the off season for them.
08:08That has been rather eventful, but in a way that I don't know that I fully anticipated going.
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