00:00But Don Schultz talked yesterday, tight end one of your Houston Texans, and I thought that there were some things
00:05that were very interesting.
00:06Obviously, one of the first things that he's going to be asked is the question du jour, which is, what's
00:10happening with C.J. Stroud?
00:11So we'll start there. This was question one for Don Schultz.
00:14What are you seeing from your experienced position on the offense from quarterback C.J. Stroud?
00:19Yeah, I mean, he's been working.
00:21Like, since the season was over, like, I think he got to work straight away.
00:25I mean, we met up before, you know, OTAs even started.
00:29And, like, he already looked like he'd been training for months.
00:32So I think just coming in OTAs, like, with that mindset, with that mindset of getting back to work and
00:38really starting from basics, fundamentals, throwing mechanics, footwork, like, he's been looking really good out there.
00:42He's looked a lot smoother.
00:44Anytime you're in year two of an offense, it's going to happen.
00:46But I think so, too.
00:47He's just he's done a good job of just leading the group and leading the group kind of cleanly, clearly
00:53helps with the operation, everything.
00:55So he's done a really good job.
00:57And here we go again, right?
00:59What is it?
01:00Maybe close to eight or ten times, a dozen maybe, that we've had someone talking about C.J. Stroud.
01:07And it's like, well, he's really different.
01:08And that's kind of what he's saying right now, the way he's operating cleanly and, you know, just sensing that
01:15there's a new C.J. Stroud out there.
01:18And I guess there is.
01:19You know, there's no reason not to believe these guys, but it does make you think, man, it must have
01:23been pretty interesting, you know, back in last year.
01:26Oh, you're going you're going to the hey, man, what does this say?
01:29Absolutely.
01:30What are the things?
01:31It's everyone.
01:31The negatives of this.
01:32They're all saying variations of the same thing that he's coming in.
01:36He's clearly got to see him now.
01:38OK, that's good.
01:40No, it's excellent.
01:41But it just makes you go.
01:43OK, maybe that explains a little bit.
01:45You know, you think so?
01:46No, for sure.
01:47Yeah, for sure.
01:48Maybe so.
01:48Maybe so.
01:49Like, it is odd, though, that everything is just like, hey, man, the simple things are so much better of
01:55this.
01:55Because it's not like they're going to the crazy high levels of just like everything is night and day.
02:00He's out here just sling.
02:01I don't think that's the tone or the tenure of the conversation.
02:04It ends up just being like, hey, the details seem to be finer.
02:07They seem to be better.
02:08Like, he got into the lab and clearly worked on it.
02:11And I really and truly still don't know what to actually make of that.
02:15I don't need that.
02:15I'm wondering what made the details more cleaner.
02:18Like, did he do some training with somebody special?
02:20Or is it the quarterback coach?
02:22Well, it definitely seems like.
02:23That's making a difference?
02:23Oh, I don't know if Szaplinski is making a difference because there hasn't been actual work with Szaplinski until recently.
02:29We do know that he went and worked with, oh, and I forget what the name of the quarterback coaching
02:33company is.
02:36But the same trainer that trains Matt Stafford in the offseason, right?
02:41And I know that he did some work where Matt Stafford was there at the same time.
02:44I can't say specifically that they worked out together.
02:46So, was this his first time working with this?
02:48I believe so.
02:49I believe this summer was the first time working with these.
02:51It kind of makes sense then because it looked like he went through a whole, you know, nutrition type of
02:56change.
02:57That one is notable.
02:58Yeah.
02:58Nutrition, the working out with the quarterback, you know.
03:01Somebody different.
03:02Yeah.
03:03Because if he was coming in looking the same, doing the same thing, then I probably wouldn't understand it.
03:08But it seemed like he did make the change in the offseason.
03:11Which leads to, okay, why?
03:13You know, we know why in a large sense.
03:17You know, he had a really bad end of the season.
03:20But I think he also had just that moment of enlightenment, you know.
03:23Whether it was financially driven or pride or whatever.
03:28Or the Texans, which I think, you know, clearly had to be part of it.
03:32You know, they have their meetings with each player, you know, at the end of the season.
03:37They might have just said, listen, you know, it's got to be different.
03:39But it's got to be different next year.
03:41No, for sure.
03:43The only thing that I find interesting is, like, I'm glad that all the conversations are about relatively smaller kind
03:49of conversations within the changes.
03:51Because I always feel weird about, and we've seen this a number of times in sports, particularly in football, when
03:55a quarterback goes.
03:56And usually it's when they're talking about, oh, he made a big change in his mechanics.
03:59Right.
04:00Or even in basketball, we'll say, oh, he made a big change in his shooting mechanics.
04:03And the thing that I believe so vehemently within myself is big shifts don't happen and aren't sustained easily.
04:11Because you're telling me that this person has played the sport from peewee school all the way through college, all
04:18the way through a certain level of professional play.
04:21And it's going to take one summer and they're going to be able to abandon all the muscle memory that
04:25they've developed over this time.
04:27Usually I feel like tweaks are things that you, small tweaks are things that you can make and sustain big
04:31changes of things that I have a hard time thinking, Stan.
04:34I agree.
04:34So the idea that, I have not heard a lot about, like, oh, these big sweeping changes that it's really
04:38in the relatively small.
04:39Totally different guy.
04:39Right.
04:39They're just talking about, boy, it's really nice to see these changes.
04:43And his approach being as big as anything.
04:46We'll talk more about that as we go.
04:47I do want to get some more of the Dalton Schultz and really, obviously, from his vantage point, the quarterback
04:51is something that comes up.
04:52But the tight end room specifically, I still go back to when he sat down with the drive at Super
04:56Bowl.
04:57And he was talking about, it's when I really considered it, talked about the injuries that they sustained and the
05:02ways in which they had put so much time on task with multiple tight ends in training camp that they
05:07weren't ultimately able to use.
05:08Couldn't use them, yeah.
05:09And so I was like, oh, I'm very interested into how he's looking at this tight end room.
05:13So this is a question that he was asked.
05:14Are you guys able to do new things with the tight end room with this year versus last year?
05:19It's a good question.
05:21We're not quite there yet.
05:23We'll see when the rains kind of come off of everybody.
05:26But, yeah, I'm excited.
05:27We have a very well-rounded room and a bunch of guys that do a lot of different stuff really
05:31well.
05:32I think Foster's been a great addition for us, just kind of bringing the energy, the juice.
05:36He's like a classic Louisiana kid, chirping everything all the time.
05:40And we need that, especially on offense.
05:42We need that sort of thing.
05:44So, yeah, I think our room has come together nicely, and we'll continue to kind of work and to get
05:49better and show that we can contribute in many different ways in this offense.
05:53I'm really excited about this tight end room.
05:55Not necessarily, I think, they're going to be awesome.
05:57You know, we'll see just how they deploy them.
05:59You know, just every little – we're talking about all the little different hints we're getting about C.J. Stroud.
06:05We've been getting the same thing with the tight ends, whether it's Nick Caley or D'Amico or, you know,
06:11some of the players.
06:13Clearly, Dalton Schultz now talking about, you know, how they're going to go 12 and 13.
06:17And I say excited.
06:20I mean, it's clearly going to be a testament to the type of offense they're running because they've put so
06:25many resources in getting the tight end room filled.
06:28Yeah, and it's funny.
06:30I mean, obviously, he kind of alludes to a lot of the tight end room, right, the different skill sets.
06:34It's something that he's talked about before.
06:36He talks about it again here, and we've heard from other folks, other folks within the system or within the
06:42team about that.
06:44I kind of – like, so he's mentioning – I think I immediately think that when we talk about different
06:47varieties of talents,
06:49it's Brevin Jordan, like, having that ability, obviously bringing in a Foster Moreau with some of the blocking.
06:55But he does specifically talk about Foster Moreau, and he talks about energy.
06:59Yeah.
06:59And it's something that I had not thought about specifically when it comes to this tight end room outside of,
07:04like, when we kind of heard Foster Moreau.
07:06Hey, they did not really have leader guy within the tight end room.
07:09Like, Dalton Schultz is not leader guy, with all due respect.
07:11He's pretty intense, man.
07:13He is.
07:13Last two years, he's been in the middle of two fights.
07:15He's intense, but I don't think that intensity necessarily means that you're a leader, per se.
07:20And I'm trying to kind of straddle this line carefully because I don't want to disparage Dalton Schultz and what
07:25he brings to the tight end room.
07:26But the way that he talks about Foster Moreau, I do wonder, like, is there a force multiplier in that
07:31tight end room with a Foster Moreau?
07:33And not only the energy, but kind of the, quote, unquote, we like a better way of saying it, that
07:38he brings in a similar way as, like, something that B. Scott was talking about just before we crossed in,
07:43which was the way that Sheldon Rankins is on the defensive line room, right?
07:47It's not just that he plays well and he brings a particular skill set.
07:50It's that you can hear both on the ground level with the various other players he's talking with, with the
07:55coaches, that he makes an impact in the way other guys play.
07:58And I wonder if Foster Moreau doesn't bring that in addition to what we've talked about, which is an ability
08:02to block on the line in a way that's tangible,
08:04which is also an ability to do some of the pass-catching stuff so that defenses can't lock in on,
08:09okay, this is a one-dimensional player.
08:11I wonder if he also is not going to be instrumental in helping maybe Dalton Schultz find another level in
08:16his game,
08:17clearly help Marlon Klein find a level in the NFL ranks.
08:20Like, I do wonder if that might be something that I have neglected personally.
08:24Well, look, everybody is just raving about Foster Moreau, you know, from the moment they acquired him.
08:29I think ultimately he will add to that because I do think just by – and we all know different
08:35ways to lead.
08:36Just by example, you know, the way they talk about and have talked about Dalton Schultz, the things we've seen
08:41out on the field,
08:42he doesn't back down from anyone.
08:44And that's a form of leadership, you know, like, hey, follow me and don't take that and all that stuff.
08:50But you're right.
08:51I think the more verbal, the more staid, the more, you know, professional-type leader could well be Foster Moreau.
08:59Yeah, and yeah, I think that that's fair because also one thing that D'Amico said yesterday was talking about
09:04how,
09:05like, with the leadership that he has now in every room, so to say,
09:11and how that allows him to kind of take a step back as a coach.
09:15I think that Foster Moreau is going to –
09:17Oh, I told you.
09:18Right?
09:18Like, having him as a leadership type of guy in that room.
09:21Obviously, we've seen and we're more cognizant of the ways they're trying to develop leadership on the offensive line, right?
09:27Right, and they've talked about it.
09:28I think even Dalton in a – I will not play it because we don't necessarily have the time this
09:32moment,
09:33but he talks about them adding David Montgomery and how he's added leadership.
09:37That's kind of the Joe Mixon, what you would have there with the running back and that side of the
09:41football.
09:41But also, how much more does it have – mean to have somebody on the offensive line
09:45and somebody in the tight end room that also gives you some of that as well?
09:48Well, I guess it's something that should have been more front of mind for me,
09:52but Dalton Schultz saying it kind of brought it back front of mind.
09:55That was just a little bit of what he talked about and what we heard just in general from minicamp
09:58yesterday.
09:58There will be more conversations with various different players today after another day of work.
10:03We know that B. Scott is headed out there right now,
10:05and so we'll give you any updates that we see coming down from the Houston Methodist Training Center
10:10as your Texans continue mandatory minicamp.
