00:00When ESPN started there, and they do this by talking to executives, coaches, scouts,
00:04and they have them rank the top 10 at various different positions.
00:07And I think this is the week that they did it.
00:09I know that we've gotten cornerbacks, we've gotten edge rushers.
00:11I imagine that we'll cycle through the various different positions over the next couple of weeks.
00:15But they started, at least from what I saw, with cornerbacks.
00:18And I found this to be very fascinating here because who do you think the top, let's say, two or
00:23three are?
00:23This feels very evident.
00:24We've had this conversation ongoing, I think, in football
00:27because it seems like you have a very easy one-two at the top.
00:30Yeah, the easy, I think you can quibble with the three.
00:33But I think that there is no argument against Patrick Shutan and Derek Stingley Jr.
00:41being some sort of one-two combination.
00:43Now, you can argue about which one is one and which one is two.
00:46But those seem to clearly be, at least from conversation and consensus, public opinion,
00:52those seem to be the two top cornerbacks in football.
00:56And I would agree with that, and honestly, I would tend to lean towards what you're saying here
00:59on the you can quibble about one and two.
01:01That is the way that this goes, and there's not really a ton of quibbling about it.
01:05It is indeed Patrick Shutan who comes in as the best cornerback in all of football,
01:09according to execs and scouts and coaches.
01:12Derek Stingley Jr. does, though, come in as second.
01:15And he got votes for one.
01:17I think he got a number of votes, rather, to be the best.
01:20Obviously, the things that they talk about.
01:22A veteran offensive coach said his zone vision is outstanding.
01:25He can play man at a high level, but he also, obviously, can play zone.
01:29And then the clear thing that everybody's going to talk about when they talk about Sting
01:32is the hands, right?
01:33The ball skills.
01:34The capability of being like a wide receiver in 50-50 circumstances,
01:37which someone notes aptly is also huge because the defensive line makes it so that
01:42quarterbacks are willing to throw up that 50-50 ball more frequently
01:44because they just cannot wait for the guarantee of my player is open, you know?
01:49Yeah, so I think that Stingley is actually properly placed.
01:57Why do you say that versus Sertan being first?
01:59Versus Sertan, and I think it has more so to do – you correct me if you think this is
02:04incorrect.
02:05Yeah.
02:06But I feel like it has more to do with Sertan just being a bigger body receiver
02:09and being on a – like they're both on really good defenses.
02:13I feel like the Broncos' defense has been making noise for a little bit longer
02:17than the Texans' defense has over the last few years.
02:19And so the Texans' defense really burst on the scene last year.
02:23It's like this juggernaut.
02:24But Sertan is bigger and has been on a defense that has been good for longer,
02:29if that makes sense.
02:31So I get why just from narrative standpoint he would be ahead,
02:35but I don't feel like there's any argument against Derek Stingley's ball skills.
02:39No.
02:39Like every cornerback is going to get beat here or there,
02:42but if you throw up a gimme ball or give Derek Stingley an opportunity,
02:47the chance to make a play on the ball, more often than not he's going to make that.
02:52Right.
02:52And what I found interesting is like obviously that conversation maybe gets a little bit dicier.
02:56I know that Sertan missed a couple of games, but Derek Stingley played –
02:59it was hard for me to remember this until I went and re-watched game one of last season,
03:05which we talked about yesterday with the Rams, that play where Henry Toto runs into him,
03:12right, the collision happens, that is three snaps into the season for him.
03:17And so that creates some of that oblique injury that nags him all year long.
03:24And he is still recognized as this level of player dealing with that nagging pain and injury all year long.
03:30So I do wonder like how much of this varies.
03:32But obviously he still gets this honor, and it feels very much like a 1A, 1B status with those two.
03:37That's right.
03:38They end up just quickly going through some of this.
03:40Christian Gonzalez, Gonzo of the Patriots, comes in at three.
03:43Devin Witherspoon, Seattle Seahawks – I keep going to call them the Supersonics –
03:48Seahawks cornerback comes in at four.
03:50Trent McDuffie at five.
03:52Quinion Mitchell at six.
03:53I think towards the back end of this, this gets a little dicey, I think, from some people.
03:57Denzel Ward comes in.
03:58J.C. Horn of the Panthers.
04:00Sauce Gardner comes in at nine, which is interesting because I think that he is still pretty good,
04:05but the two first-round picks ends up kind of changing the narrative on him.
04:08Yeah.
04:09And Cooper DeGene rounds out the top ten.
04:10But that's not where I want you to focus, B. Scott.
04:13But below this with mention –
04:15We know honorable mention doesn't necessarily line up as 11, 12, 13, 14.
04:19However, the first honorable mention is indeed cornerback two on this Texans team, Kamari Lasseter.
04:25So you have the second-best corner and – I'm going to go ahead and use this to my benefit
04:29–
04:30the 11th-best corner in the league in Kamari Lasseter.
04:32And this actually made me think about something from my rewatch.
04:34I watched versus the Rams, and they traveled Derek Stingley with Devontae Adams last year.
04:39Obviously, it makes sense.
04:40Devontae Adams is a real threat in this league still at his relatively advanced football age.
04:45Yeah.
04:45Are we done with traveling a corner on this team?
04:48Because I think that with Kamari Lasseter being as good as he is
04:51and recognized as being as good as he is,
04:54you no longer have to do the thing where any wide receiver –
04:57I'm talking about any one of them that you want to point out –
04:59is so good that you go,
05:01we need Derek Stingley versus Kamari Lasseter covering him.
05:04Yeah, look, as much as I love Kamari Lasseter,
05:07I feel like I'm as big of a Kamari Lasseter fan as you'll find at this station
05:12and even in all of Houston sports media.
05:15But if we're talking about Devontae Adams,
05:18I think I'd still rather have Derek Stingley following Devontae Adams around.
05:21So you're saying if a player that is Devontae Adams-like,
05:25just a precise route runner,
05:27Devontae Adams is going to go down as an all-time great.
05:30If you have that on the other side, like right now, you tell me,
05:33would you prefer Derek Stingley follow, name your favorite wide receiver,
05:38or just let him go on the other side and Kamari Lasseter 10 with him?
05:41I think I would still rather have Derek Stingley follow him.
05:44I don't think I would, and I understand the thought process, right?
05:46There's styles makes fights,
05:48is the old boxing saying that I think translates a lot further in sports.
05:52And you would be talking about styles makes fights.
05:54The thing that I would say is there is a tradeoff
05:57when you are traveling a cornerback.
05:59We talked about this a lot in the time period
06:01when we were trying to get the Texans to travel Derek Stingley with wide receivers.
06:05And one of the things that prevents you,
06:07and I think D'Amico has talked about this,
06:08is it's a little bit of a tell, right?
06:10You're going to play man if this guy is traveling as opposed to zone.
06:14And I think that that tell is worth more
06:16than whatever you're giving up with Kamari Lasseter, right?
06:19I think that the ability for this defense to do the various different things,
06:22although I know that it is not as complex as other teams,
06:25I think that giving them the opportunity
06:27to do the various different things that they do
06:29and have a level of comfort and repetition
06:31in what they're doing is worth more
06:33than what you get from Stingley covering a particular guy.
06:36And I think that says a lot because that's not a knock
06:38in any way, shape, or form on Stingley and what he does.
06:40Yeah, I think more than anything, for me,
06:42it's actually a head nod, a tip of the cap to Stingley
06:47because as much as I love Lasseter,
06:50I do think that Stingley is that much more noticeably better than Lasseter.
06:55So I would just disagree with even the notion
06:58that what you're getting is not, the difference is negligible
07:02or it's not worth the trade-off, I think,
07:03is the way that we're putting it there.
07:05I do think that the trade-off would be worth it
07:08for the quality of player and athlete that Derek Stingley is
07:11compared to Kamari Lasseter,
07:12with no disrespect to Kamari, who I love.
07:16But I think Derek Stingley is just a different caliber
07:19and species of type of player.
07:21So, all right, so I kind of want to take this
07:23to the Texans' schedule for this year real quick.
07:25Do you think that there is a wide receiver that you would go,
07:28I'm signing up for the travel here, right?
07:31You got Buffalo, DJ Moore's who we're talking right to the level, right?
07:35Can I also qualify that it depends on who's on the other side, too?
07:38Right, because that's what I was going to say, right?
07:40Yeah, it does depend on what the overall personnel looks like
07:42on the offensive side.
07:43Like the Bengals week two.
07:45Now, see, the Bengals week two, I feel like I go on your side
07:48because they got Higgins as well.
07:50They got two guys on both ends where, like,
07:52you need a really good corner to guard whoever.
07:55So, I think I'd be fine with them.
07:56The Cowboys week four.
07:57CeeDee Lamb, but also George Pickens.
08:00I think I'd be fine with everybody staying put.
08:04Jacksonville, I don't think you have a particular guy
08:05that stands out so much.
08:06I'm trying to remember who's on the Giants.
08:08But we're sensing the theme, though, here, though, right?
08:09Because if there is one guy who is a clear-cut,
08:13better wide receiver than anybody else on the field,
08:15and you've got one cornerback who is the same thing
08:18on the other end, I feel like those two need to match up.
08:22If you've got two really good receivers
08:24and I got two really good corners, well, let's ball.
08:27And I think that just looking at this season,
08:29I don't know that in the regular season
08:30you're going to have a circumstance that's going to
08:32necessitate any level of this, right?
08:34Because we know what the first five is.
08:37Jacksonville, New York, that gets you to the bye week.
08:40The Chargers, how are we feeling about the Chargers
08:42while receiving core?
08:44I don't know that there's anybody.
08:45I mean, I like Lad.
08:46I do think that, by the way, I think Lad is going to look
08:49a lot more like the Ladarius that we thought
08:51he was going to be after year one under Mike McDaniel.
08:53Yeah, I agree.
08:54I think you're on or something.
08:55But I don't know if that's travel-worthy.
08:57The Browns have a couple of young talents,
08:59but nobody that I'm changing the way I do this for.
09:01The Ravens have never been able to figure out
09:03their wide receivers to the point where you go,
09:05we need to change what we're doing.
09:07Pittsburgh.
09:09So, yeah, no.
09:10Well, actually, what did they just do?
09:14They just added somebody, I feel like.
09:16They added my boy from Indianapolis.
09:18Pittman.
09:18Pittman.
09:19Oh, yeah, Michael Pittman.
09:20But I don't need to follow no Michael Pittman, though.
09:22Right.
09:23We'll be all right.
09:23I mean, the physicality of DK Metcalf is a little different
09:27than what we're talking about with that wire.
09:29Or maybe it's not.
09:30Maybe Pittsburgh is the best chance because the Eagles.
09:32Now, Devontae Smith, as the single guy,
09:35and then you have whoever else that they're dealing with,
09:36that might be one of the closest to that feeling.
09:40Yeah.
09:40Now, I hate to argue against myself, but I do want to point out,
09:43like when we talk about traveling, like I said,
09:46I felt more comfortable with Derrick Stingley just as a player
09:48doing the traveling.
09:49I do think that Kamari Lasseter is more comfortable bumping from inside
09:53to out, outside to in.
09:55So, if he needs to line up in the slot, if he needs to line up outside,
09:59I do.
10:00And there's a little insight on this as well, to be honest.
10:04Yeah, for sure.
10:04I do believe that Kamari Lasseter is much more comfortable and better suited
10:08for that, whereas Derrick Stingley, he can do both,
10:11but I think he's much more comfortable on the outside, but on either side,
10:14but just on the outside.
10:15Right, and that's a good point because if we're talking about traveling,
10:18I think that those other – because someone brought up JSN,
10:21and that's one of the things that Clint Kubiak did was got him in the slot.
10:24Yeah.
10:24And now we're out here cooking with grease.
10:26So, no, that's a fair point, but I just feel like we might be in that point
10:30where we are post-travel with Derrick Stingley,
10:34and I think that says a lot about Stingley, but it also says a lot more
10:36about what Kamari Lasseter is capable of doing in this league.
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