- 2 days ago
Brandon explains why he believes the rookie could be Houston's starting center.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Keelan Rutledge will be the starting center for this team.
00:03Okay!
00:04At some point.
00:05Oh, come on!
00:06Yeah!
00:07Come on!
00:08But look, but look, but look, but look.
00:09That's not a thought, that's a maybe.
00:11No, but look, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
00:13I'll tell you, at some point, and the point will be,
00:16I'm going to tell you what the point will be.
00:17Man, I'm disappointed in you.
00:18No, listen, no, listen.
00:19Hear me out.
00:20The point will be as soon as they think he's ready,
00:24and not a moment after, right?
00:27And so I think that that point is actually,
00:29here's my opinion, right?
00:30I was trying to give you more of a, this is the for sure.
00:32He is going to be the starting center,
00:34and I'm not talking about, like, down the road at some point.
00:37Right, right.
00:37This year, this year, and it could be as soon as training camp.
00:41It could be as soon as the first game of the season.
00:45But what was clear to me, the reason why I said it at some point, okay,
00:47is because it's not like I make this point because he's out there
00:50killing it at center in OTAs.
00:52Right.
00:52Right, I don't want to misrepresent what I'm saying here.
00:55This is the reason why I say he will be the starting center at some point.
00:59The guy was actually getting the most reps.
01:02I thought what got lost in Jake Andrews getting the first team reps
01:06or that being the first guy that you saw,
01:09what got lost in that was that Keelan Rutledge
01:11was actually getting the most practice.
01:14And I thought Cody Stoose did a good job of illustrating online that,
01:19you know, he had some struggles and where those struggles were,
01:22the learning curve that he clearly is going to have to have
01:24or that he clearly has in front of him.
01:26But they are training him up to be the starting center.
01:30That is very clear from practice.
01:33If it's enough just from what they did to draft a guy
01:35and to draft a guy that plays a position,
01:38that played a position in college that you already just signed a guy to,
01:41that you just brought a guy back to play.
01:43So the cross-training, him becoming center, is a clear intention.
01:48And then when you go out there and watch practice,
01:50it is clear he's not ready yet.
01:53That's why I had to hedge a little bit and say at some point
01:55because it all really depends on when he shows that he's ready.
01:59And as soon as that is, and I'm talking about as soon as that is,
02:03and it could be into training camp.
02:06It could be one of those preseason games.
02:08It could very well be that he's the starting center by week one.
02:12Maybe they don't feel like he's ready until week three, week four, week five, week six.
02:16It's going to come down to him and when they feel like he's actually ready to do that.
02:20But he is clearly the guy in waiting.
02:24A better way to put it might be this.
02:25Jake Andrews is just a placeholder.
02:28It's just a placeholder.
02:29For however long it takes you to get to that page,
02:31it's literally just a placeholder.
02:33He will be the starting center week one, period, 100%.
02:38These guys are giving me a hard time about it.
02:41They're going to make him ready.
02:43I see your point and I get it.
02:44And you're out there and I'm not right now.
02:46I actually, based on being out there, I would agree with you.
02:49That's because I don't think he's that far away to where he can't be ready for week one.
02:53So what I'm saying, week one is not going to be, to make it clear,
02:58week one, if Jake Andrews is a starter,
03:01it's not because they prefer Jake Andrews over Keelan Rulich.
03:06It's just because he's literally not ready yet, right?
03:09And to Lopez's point, I agree.
03:11They're going to get him ready.
03:14The goal at least is for him to be ready by week one.
03:18I've expressed on this airways my personal frustration with not being able to be out there
03:23and actually put eyes on it.
03:24You said it with some definitive, with some bass in your voice,
03:27that he is not ready yet.
03:29And I'm curious.
03:29I know that you're not Cole Popovich.
03:31You're not Nick Kaley.
03:31You're not D'Amico Rines.
03:32But I'm curious from your vantage point,
03:34what did you see that gave you the confidence or the feeling that,
03:38okay, he is not ready yet?
03:38He just wasn't clean.
03:39The exchange just is not clean.
03:42He clearly looks like the guy who needs the most practice at it, right?
03:46And I think I mentioned Cody Stutes earlier.
03:47He pointed this out.
03:49I think it was him.
03:50Eli Cox looked more comfortable, right?
03:52And nobody even knows who that is except us.
03:55So Eli Cox looks more comfortable.
03:57Jake Andrews, we already know, they are comfortable with to some degree, right?
04:01Maybe varying degrees.
04:02And I know the fan base is not comfortable with Jake Andrews,
04:05but he clearly looks like he's played center in the NFL
04:07and worked with C.J. Stroud more than Keelan Rutledge has up to this point.
04:12But I think with a little time on task,
04:15with a little bit of more repetition at it,
04:17he's not so unnatural that he can't be ready to Lopez at this point by week one.
04:23And I would even go a step – it could be before that.
04:26Sure.
04:27Whatever the final audition is, if they even do that in the preseason,
04:30we could see it before we even get there.
04:33And I think certainly by week one, that is the goal.
04:36To the point where I would even go this far and say,
04:38it would be a disappointment if he's not.
04:40Yeah.
04:40If he's not, again, it's not because Jake Andrews is favored.
04:44It's because he's not ready.
04:46And you can decide for yourself.
04:48And I'll just say for me, that in and of itself would be a disappointment
04:50because of the investment in him
04:53and because it looks like they're training him to play that position.
04:56You just got me thinking about something.
04:57And so I'll ask you guys, the second preseason game has replaced the third
05:02as the one where you see some starters occasionally.
05:04But even not that one, very many.
05:07I'll bet you they have the starting offensive line the second
05:10against the Raiders here at Reliant Stadium.
05:12I'm curious.
05:12Because you not only have a rookie that you can put at center,
05:14but you have obviously Wyatt Teller, Braden Smith maybe,
05:18even though it looks like Trent Brown might be the guy right now at tackles.
05:21I'll bet you that one they're going to run him out there.
05:23Yeah, I'm curious because I don't have a good sense for which game
05:26they're going to treat as the audition.
05:28We'll kind of learn that as we go and perhaps all learn it together.
05:32But as far as the Keelan Rullis point, though, the reason why I think this,
05:35aside from the obvious, of course, he's the first-round pick.
05:38They've made a move to get him, so they were aggressive in drafting him.
05:43But it also feels like, and this is from observing,
05:47I could be drinking some Kool-Aid just from looking around at just how massive
05:50everybody is, but also the back of the baseball card, if you will,
05:55with the guys that they brought in.
05:56This feels like the only question mark on the offensive line right now.
06:00Like Ariante Ursary in year two, you might be able to say,
06:04depending on how great you feel about that, you might say, okay,
06:08what kind of jump does he make, the difference from rookie to vet,
06:12what does that look like for him?
06:13But outside of that, the other guys they brought in?
06:15So you think it's Trent?
06:17At right tackle?
06:18No, no, no, no, I think it's Brayden Smith.
06:20Because Trent Brown has gotten some reps out there.
06:22He's gotten a majority of the reps, but Brayden has not been working yet.
06:26Yeah, Brayden's just been out there, but I think Brayden Smith is going to be the star.
06:30That's what I thought, but after you said that, I'm like, well, maybe he thinks.
06:34And you know what, for me, that's kind of a non-starter,
06:36because you could get me early on in the season on either of them starting.
06:40I think at the end of the year, it's still going to be Brayden Smith,
06:43because Trent Brown probably doesn't give you 17.
06:45Trent Brown is so massive.
06:48Like, I don't think you even want him to give you 17.
06:51And I don't mean that as an insult.
06:53I honestly don't think he has 17 in him.
06:56At this age.
06:57But he might have four to six to seven really good ones in him.
07:02And in a pinch, if you need him, Mark Vandermeer and I were talking about this,
07:06kind of just watching practice.
07:07Like, one of these guys is going to knock on wood.
07:10Hopefully it doesn't happen.
07:11But we've done this before, right?
07:12We've all seen enough football.
07:14Car crash sport.
07:15Somebody's going to get hurt.
07:17And not only do I feel good enough about what they've done in terms of who they brought in,
07:23the obvious names, but the depth of it all starts to make sense now.
07:27When you talk about Evan Brown, when you talk about Keelan Rutledge and Jake Andrews,
07:31and, you know, like one of those guys is going to end up being a backup of some sort, right?
07:36And then the Brayden Smith-Trent Brown dynamic that you're talking about, right?
07:39So the only one that I don't feel great about is who backs up Ariante Harris.
07:43Yeah.
07:43That's it.
07:43Because right now that looks like it's going to be Blake Fisher.
07:46So you're just kind of fingers crossed that Ariante Harris stays healthy
07:51and, you know, you don't have to throw big Trent Brown out there on the left side
07:54because that would sound and seem kind of crazy.
07:57Yeah.
07:57But, again, with the Keelan Rutledge point, this is the question mark for me.
08:03Right tackle, whether it's Brayden Smith or Trent Brown, I think I feel pretty comfortable with that.
08:07And then you go all the way from right to left or left to right,
08:10it's just when you get to the middle where the question is for me.
08:14Keelan Rutledge, all eyes on you, dog.
08:16That is going to be my central focus at training camp when we get there.
08:20I'm with you.
08:21I'm with you.
08:22Remember, I said something that probably sounded insane at the moment.
08:25It might still sound insane.
08:26I mean, this is one of the bigger position battles probably in the league
08:32is Keelan Rutledge, Jake Andrews because that, I mean,
08:35if they're able to get that big physical guy in there,
08:38because somebody on the text line said they should have drafted a center to play center,
08:40all the centers that were available to be drafted are smaller dudes, right?
08:44It felt like this.
08:44That's not how they operate.
08:46Possibly, yes, but I think this year in particular they wanted to get big.
08:50That's what I'm saying.
08:50They operate and they want the big bodies.
08:51They don't operate with the small centers.
08:53They wanted to be monsters.
08:54Heelan Rutledge gives you the opportunity to be a monster in the way that Jake Slaughter did
08:58and the way that Sam Hecht didn't, right?
09:00All those other centers.
09:01I'm surprised that I'm rattling these centers off from the draft.
09:04Apparently, I read the beast pretty well.
09:06You were locked in too.
09:07I guess so.
09:07But no, this is the opportunity.
09:09And also in the way that Jake Andrews doesn't.
09:12Even as he's gotten a little bit bigger, he's not that big physical imposing.
09:16Heelan Rutledge gives you an opportunity to be big physical imposing and still execute
09:19the offense.
09:19I got one more thought before we get out.
09:21Yeah, man.
09:21Because I want to get y'all's thought on this.
09:23I am not bought into the idea that C.J. Stroud is more bought into this offense.
09:30Well, I shouldn't say thank you, but we've been...
09:33Ah, you already said it, Lo.
09:34But no, we've wondered because it's like everybody's like, here's the company line.
09:38Be sure to read this.
09:39Yeah.
09:39You know?
09:40And maybe it is that he is showing more command.
09:43Like, two things could possibly be true.
09:45Like, he's showing more command or like maybe he's extra motivated or more locked in or more
09:49focused.
09:50Like, those things could be true.
09:51But I heard the man talk.
09:55But when they asked him about the relationship with Nick Caley and one of the first things he
10:00said was implementing things that he likes and that he's had success with before, I think
10:05this is going to be a season much more about collaboration.
10:09C.J. Stroud, I thought to his credit, did show some buy-in.
10:12Whether he actually bought in or not, I thought until the playoffs, because when they absolutely
10:17like threw it away, I thought during the regular season, he did show some buy-in.
10:21And that was a great part of the success that they ended up having.
10:25But his point, and I think most of us agree with him, that they're going to need a little
10:29bit more than just Nick Caley's system.
10:32And that offense that we watched last year, they're going to go from good to great.
10:35They're going to need to tap into whatever it was that made C.J.
10:40Stroud great his rookie year and combine that with whatever it is that they're trying to
10:44do with the Nick Caley system and truly collaborate to make this thing sing.
10:49And we've had some lip service on that.
10:50But again, we've had lip service on the offense before.
10:53Yeah.
10:53I think we are in a place where only results will do.
10:56And so, very intrigued to see it.
10:58Very, very good thoughts.
10:59I liked them.
11:01I enjoyed them quite a bit.
Comments