- 2 days ago
Seth and Sean react to reports that the Texans are bringing back Linebacker K.C. Ossai and assess the notion that this is a "make or break" season for CJ Stroud.
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00:00The Texans have made a signing.
00:01They are bringing back a player on the defensive side of the ball.
00:04According to multiple reports, the Texans are signing linebacker Casey Osai.
00:09Back in the fold.
00:09Back in the fold.
00:10Back in the family.
00:11He was an undrafted free agent last year.
00:13You and I were talking about this during the break.
00:16I remember correctly, and I think I do, when you asked Nick Casario last year,
00:22sometime early in camp or maybe before camp started, during OTAs, I forget,
00:27you asked him, give us a couple undrafted guys to keep an eye on,
00:32which is always fun.
00:33And he said, the two names, if I recall, that he said were Casey Osai, linebacker.
00:39He plays linebacker, by the way.
00:41And then Junior Tafuna, who is still on the Houston Texans to this day.
00:46He was on the practice squad last year.
00:48I don't know if he ever got a call up Junior Tafuna last year,
00:52but there's hopes for him.
00:54Defensive lineman out of Utah, I believe.
00:57This is probably, I would imagine, Seth, a direct response to EJ Speed's injury
01:02if we're just looking at kind of allocating spots on the roster.
01:05EJ Speed, if you missed it over the weekend, tore a quad muscle and a tendon
01:10requiring surgery that's going to keep him out for five to six months,
01:12according to Aaron Wilson of KPRC.
01:15So I guess from that standpoint, just in terms of roster balance,
01:18it makes sense to bring a linebacker in, I suppose.
01:20But like you said earlier, when we brought up any of this stuff,
01:22like who's it open up opportunity for?
01:24Who should be blah, blah, blah.
01:25It's May.
01:26You know, OTA start tomorrow.
01:28Right.
01:29Yeah.
01:29There's opportunity.
01:30There's just more opportunity now for the draft picks, for Jamal Hill, for Casey Osai now,
01:37and anybody else who's on the roster.
01:38Who would you like to take those?
01:41If you could root for somebody to take those snaps.
01:42Well, Jake Hanson's always a favorite.
01:44He's a speedy, zippy little guy.
01:46I know, but he's a special teamer.
01:48And he's had to step in at times.
01:50And I think relative to expectations, I think he's done a good job.
01:53But he's just, he's not going to be the answer at this point.
01:57Jamal Hill still intrigues me just because the combination of size, speed, all of those things.
02:01Just injured one.
02:02And for him, it might just be also, he was a converted safety in college.
02:07So only played a couple of years, a linebacker.
02:09And maybe he's one of those guys that it just kind of clicks for at some point.
02:13And then beyond that, though, I think the draft picks are always good.
02:19I'm rooting for Woodaz from Clemson, who's got a similar description as Hill.
02:23Well, yeah, yeah, because he's a converted safety, too.
02:27But he's exciting to think about because of his size.
02:31He's long.
02:32He's tall.
02:33So getting into windows and passing lanes and all those kinds of things.
02:36But he goes sideline to sideline.
02:38He makes plays in the backfield.
02:39Um, it's really just a matter of, like, all those guys have that much more of an opportunity
02:44to play now if EJ speed's probably not going to be back until midway through the season
02:49at best.
02:50And he played, for those of you who think, oh, he's just a backup.
02:52He started nine games last year and he played 45% of the defensive snaps.
02:57So whenever they were in their 4-3 package, especially, or if one of the linebackers was
03:01injured or banged up, he played a lot of football.
03:03Yep.
03:04So Nick Shook of NFL.com had a list he put out over the weekend.
03:09NFL's make-or-break players this year, Keon Coleman, CJ Stroud, among 11 individuals
03:14at a crossroads.
03:16If your article, if your name is in an article with Keon Coleman, you really do have to sit
03:23down and wonder where your career's at right now.
03:25Well, with Keon Coleman, I mean, part of his struggle is apparently showing up to meetings.
03:30Showing up on time.
03:31Right.
03:31Or at all, right?
03:32Yeah.
03:32So it just sounds like, remember Keon Coleman was very lovable, really learned of him after
03:37he got drafted.
03:38Oh.
03:39Just kind of a big personality, kind of goofy, but like very likable.
03:43Got his jacket at Macy's?
03:44And then you realize that he's just, he's goofy too often.
03:48Yes.
03:48That he needs to learn how to tone down the goofiness sometimes.
03:51Yeah, yeah.
03:52So he's the very first name on this list.
03:54And they get to CJ eventually on here, but that was the first thing I thought.
03:57I'm like, oh God.
03:58Our quarterback's on a make-or-break list with Keon freaking Coleman, who can't show up to
04:02a meeting on time.
04:03And you see, okay, he's on a make-it-or-break-it list with Kyler Murray, who's in a make
04:08-it-or-break-it
04:08situation.
04:09Make-it-or-break-it's facing off, JJ McCarthy and Kyler Murray.
04:12Yep.
04:12Well, these are the quarterbacks, right, right, these are the quarterbacks that are
04:16on this list.
04:16There's 11 names, six of them are quarterbacks.
04:19CJ Stroud, okay, tell me, Texan fans, if you're in your car, you're at your desk, you're
04:23in your office, wherever you're listening to the show, either on the Odyssey app or on
04:28Beautiful HD Radio or on AM, how do you feel about your quarterback being on a make-or-break
04:33list alongside these five names?
04:36Bryce Young, JJ McCarthy, Kyler Murray, Deshaun Watson, Michael Penix Jr.
04:44That doesn't make me feel great.
04:46Now, I do feel like CJ is the best out of all those.
04:49I think he's the best out of all those make-it-or-break-its.
04:51Yes.
04:52I think Bryce Young, there seems to be a little bit of a cult following even outside of Carolina.
04:57It really, you know what it feels like?
04:59It feels like the people who saw Bryce Young's good games last year and want everybody to
05:05know that they watch more football than you.
05:06There you go.
05:07People don't realize the progress that Bryce Young made.
05:11He had career high passing yards.
05:13Oh, yeah, what was it?
05:143,000 yards.
05:17You guys are acting like this 3,000 yards isn't impressive in the NFL.
05:21We're acting like someone who knows what his career has looked like.
05:24Right, yeah, yeah.
05:25He did some good things last year, but he also was very inconsistent.
05:31I know it's a horrible division, but if someone had said even at 8-9 that Bryce Young would
05:36have gotten the Panthers to the playoffs before this season, I would have said, no, he did
05:39that.
05:39He accomplished that.
05:41So, yeah, so CJ is on this make-or-break list here.
05:45You know, the thing about, I'm still struck with this when I watch Bryce Young.
05:48I mean, the height thing is real.
05:50Like, that's a real consideration because there's just times where he's not going to be thrown
05:54over the middle at all.
05:55Like, there are wide-open receivers that are not available to him unless it's just with
06:01perfect timing and rhythm and everything, and he's just not, he doesn't strike me as
06:05athletic enough to make up for that, and so it's going to have to be kind of like Drew
06:09Brees, who is not as short as Bryce Young, was really adept at just kind of finding the
06:15passing lanes and everything and throwing blind with timing and rhythm.
06:19So, like, that has to be his avenue.
06:21It's just, I don't know if there's, I don't know if there's enough time for him to develop
06:27that while also staying alive.
06:29Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:30Well, yeah, the height issue ain't going away with Bryce Young, you know, unless there's
06:35a growth spurt coming that we're not aware of.
06:38It's funny because the section about CJ on here says this, when the clock struck zero on
06:43Stroud's worst performance of his career in Houston's divisional round loss at New England,
06:48his fantastic award-winning rookie campaign felt like it happened eons ago, that was
06:54my biggest thing after that playoff game, after the collective work of the two playoff
07:01games, but particularly the New England game, was it feels like CJ Stroud and Bryce Young
07:06may as well be back in the green room together at the draft.
07:09Yeah.
07:09You know what I mean?
07:10Like, if Bryce went into this abyss and has kind of worked his way out of it, CJ was this,
07:15you know, this meteor, you know, this, this, you know, this comet, you know, shooting into
07:20the stars and then has come back down to earth.
07:22And now it feels like the two of them are almost in the same place.
07:26He was orbiting earth for a while.
07:28Yeah.
07:28He was kind of waiting to see if the satellite was going to fall out of the sky.
07:32Yeah.
07:32Yeah.
07:32And, uh, and then it fell out of the sky, fell out of the sky, man, onto Foxborough field.
07:36Do you think if he had just played, if he had just played well in that new England game,
07:42but they lost that there'd be more people clamoring for him to get a contract extension.
07:48How much damage did he do that Sunday?
07:49Do you think?
07:50Um, okay.
07:50Well, I guess those are two questions.
07:52One is, you know, how much damage did he do to himself?
07:56Uh, you know, financially, I don't know, um, if it would have changed the Texans feelings
08:01about extending him or not.
08:02Um, as far as like people clamoring for it in the fan base, I think it would just, it
08:07would probably be more divided now.
08:08I think CJ to his credit has done zero to fuel any kind of debate about this.
08:16I mean, by and large, it seems like both sides are cool to just play this season out and that's
08:23not, not all.
08:23And, you know, I think people might not have expected that from David Mulligata and remember
08:28the, the agent works for the player and CJ might just be telling Mulligata, like, Hey,
08:33let's just, let's just hit the pause button and wait and see what happens after this.
08:37So, cause it could be, it could be more of a controversy than it is right now.
08:40If CJ had been agitating at all.
08:42And, and again, to his credit, cause other quarterbacks have not operated this way.
08:46Um, you know, Kyler Murray notably just was, was doing all kinds of little things to throw
08:51hints.
08:51Other guys just, they won't show up to OTAs or what have you.
08:55Um, and CJ's CJ hasn't done anything that would fuel more drama or speculation.
09:00He's done the opposite actually.
09:02Like he's, you know, the we've, you know, we've seen glimpses of his workouts.
09:05We've seen his body type change.
09:07We've heard anecdotes about him reaching out to his teammates, uh, new teammates, I should
09:12say, um, him showing up to the hotel to greet Keelan Rutledge in person.
09:15Like it's, it's, it's not just that he's been off the grid and he's been quiet.
09:19He's actually doing things that are indicative of somebody who's ready to embrace this challenge.
09:25Well, I think too, there's, there's one thing, that whole trend of giving quarterbacks the
09:30contract after the third year so often, even if they didn't, hadn't really proven that
09:35they deserved it.
09:35But I think it's just like, it's almost too boring to talk about.
09:40There is still such a thing as a carrot on a stick that like wanting to prove yourself,
09:46wanting to earn the next contract, all of those things, they're incredibly powerful motivators.
09:50And it doesn't mean it's not like, it's not like it's a bad thing or anything for somebody
09:57to be motivated to try to get that contract.
10:00I feel like with quarterbacks, we almost have this image in our minds of they're driven
10:04by purely the love of the game and nothing else matters, et cetera, et cetera.
10:08Look, you're back to Tom Brady and Tom Brady constantly felt threatened by a Jimmy Garoppolo
10:14or somebody like that.
10:15You got Aaron Rodgers and Aaron had basically played like kind of a mediocre quarterback until
10:20the Packers draft Jordan Love.
10:22And all of a sudden when two MVPs lit a fire under his ass, they drafted Jordan Love.
10:28There is still that just the motivational aspect of, hey, you want this?
10:32Prove it, you know?
10:33And I like that.
10:34Yeah, I do too.
10:35I do too.
10:36Text message on this topic.
10:38Guys, all caps, please help me.
10:41What happened?
10:42How is CJ on a make or break it list when he's done better than Dak, Herbert, and Lawrence
10:47in the playoffs and they all got paid?
10:50Dak threw five interceptions in San Francisco.
10:53Herbert has never won a playoff game and Lawrence has always been an underachiever.
10:56Or you could have, you've got an argument with Lawrence.
10:59Lawrence was one of the stupid kind.
11:00I mean, what I would tell you was that they shouldn't have given him that contract.
11:03That was, that was when people were worried about how quickly quarterback contracts were
11:08escalating.
11:09And it was just, it was simply, it was, um, it, that was almost like a panic or judging
11:17the market move by Jacksonville.
11:19And who knows, maybe, maybe it ends up if he plays this year, like he did in the second
11:22half of last season, then it was a wise, they got in early.
11:25Yeah.
11:26Yeah.
11:26Maybe so.
11:27Um, but yeah, I guess Trevor Lawrence, I wouldn't disagree with you on that one.
11:31It's just that I didn't think that they had to give Trevor Lawrence a contract.
11:35What about the other two, Dak and Justin, Justin Herbert, who CJ Stroud himself beat
11:39in a playoff game.
11:40Okay.
11:41I guess the other question there would be Justin Herbert based on his entire body of work
11:45had a much better first three seasons than CJ Stroud.
11:48Yep.
11:48So, and didn't have as many opportunities to make the playoffs.
11:52So like, that's the, I guess.
11:54And again, I wouldn't, I don't think he got his contract.
11:57Did he get his contract?
11:58Um, but like, I don't, I don't approve of any of these deals given after the third year,
12:04unless it's Pat Mahomes or one of those guys that's genuinely done something.
12:09Yeah.
12:09Yeah.
12:09Like Burrow had gotten to a Superbowl in year two.
12:11It had gotten, it had gotten to idiotic levels, what they were rewarding simply because this
12:17guy's our quarterback and we got to pay him.
12:18Can you imagine what life would be like without him?
12:20That's not the environment right now.
12:21Dak's a bad example to bring up just because they, the Cowboys did with Dak, what the Texans
12:26are doing with CJ right now.
12:27Yeah.
12:27Dak didn't, Dak got paid after his fifth season.
12:29Yeah.
12:29It wasn't.
12:30After a franchise tag.
12:31Yeah.
12:31Yeah.
12:32So I don't understand what the point is with Dak.
12:33Yeah.
12:34So that's just, that's, that's a bad.
12:35Dak was going to Dak was, they had to franchise tag, which is incredibly like, that's when the quarterback
12:40has a lot of leverage.
12:42So it's like Dak's not even in that conversation.
12:44Yeah.
12:44Yeah.
12:44I think Lawrence is a good example.
12:46I would have mixed in Kyler as an example of someone who got a year.
12:49Kyler would be one that, yeah.
12:50Again, yeah.
12:50If you had thrown Kyler Murray in there, I'd say exactly.
12:52Yeah.
12:53Like saying Trevor Lawrence and Kyler Murray, my point is exactly.
12:56Exactly.
12:56Why pay them now?
12:58And I'd even throw Tua, even though it's after year four, not year three, just because
13:01I've never thought enough of Tua to where, even after year four, I didn't think
13:05enough of Tua to where they should be giving him $55 million a year.
13:08I just didn't like him as a player.
13:10Payne and Pendergast with you.
13:12As long as we're talking about quarterbacks, this Jacoby Brissett holdout fascinates me.
13:17This might be one of the dumbest holdouts that I think I've ever seen in the history
13:20of football.
13:21I guess he's got an organization by the balls that is happy to have their balls clenched.
13:26Does he?
13:27No, I'm saying they're like, they're not in a hurry to do anything.
13:30Right, right.
13:31They're just, they're trying to make systemic changes and they're just going to have a placeholder
13:36quarterback.
13:37And Jacoby somehow, you know, upset that he's not getting paid like he should.
13:41And I think the Cardinals are probably like, all right, cool, bro.
13:44We'll start, we'll start Gardner Minshew.
13:46Minshew's his backup.
13:47Yeah.
13:47Oh no.
13:48Are we going to have a bad record in the year before supposedly a really good quarterback
13:52draft?
13:52Exactly.
13:53Exactly.
13:53That's the thing.
13:54Like, bro, they might want to go.
13:56And by the way, Jacoby Brissett, I know statistically he was better last year than he's been in his
14:01career.
14:01He was 1-11 as a starter last year.
14:04We saw the Jacoby Brissett act here at NRG Stadium last year, which is on a 3-14 team or
14:11whatever they were, you probably throw for a lot of meaningless yards.
14:14You probably throw for a lot of garbage time yards in the third and fourth quarter.
14:17However, Jacoby Brissett was 1-11 as a starter.
14:19For those just looking at the numbers, 4.9, he's got one year left on his deal.
14:23He's got a salary.
14:25He's got 4.9 million on his contract.
14:27Only one and a half million is guaranteed.
14:29If I had to guess, if I had to guess, my guess is at some point just to get him
14:33back in the
14:34building, they say, we'll guarantee your whole salary.
14:37How's that?
14:37Yeah.
14:38You know, and that's, that's, then it, then it makes him, you know, they, the club doesn't
14:42look like they kowtowed to him.
14:44He gets something out of it.
14:45So he's not going back with his tail between his legs.
14:48And the fact of the matter is he's going to be their starting quarterback anyways, if
14:51he's in the building this year.
14:52So guaranteeing the 4.9 million, it's not a big risk for the, for the Cardinals.
14:56You know what the Cardinals did?
14:57I said, okay, Jacoby, we know that you're good at two things.
15:02Emergency quarterbacking and making life miserable for the Texans.
15:06And they looked and they saw, well, you had three touchdowns and one interception versus
15:09the Texans last year.
15:10That game, even though it was four, like that game ended up being, even though it ended up
15:1540 to 20, that game wasn't as comfortable.
15:18No.
15:18That was a good thing.
15:19It felt a little bit dicey there for a while.
15:21The interception was huge in that game.
15:22That was Kamari Lasseter in the end zone intercepting a ball.
15:25Like it was, yeah.
15:26But we don't play, we don't play the Texans this year.
15:29That's what the Cardinals are saying.
15:30So we can't use you.
15:31Right.
15:32We got, we got no use for you.
15:33Sit at home, man.
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