00:00Who will be the Texans breakout player this year?
00:03It's Payne and Pendergast.
00:04I'm Luke Morrow in for Sean alongside Seth Payne.
00:07You can always text the show 713-572-4610
00:10or get to us in the YouTube and Twitch chats as well.
00:14A couple of texts that did come in that made me laugh
00:17because we were talking about the Pens last segment.
00:20And hold on, let me find them because a bunch of Texans are coming in.
00:22The Pens undergarments.
00:23Yes, that's right.
00:26Oh, now I just lost them.
00:27I had them pulled up here.
00:28We have had so many, enough texts come in.
00:31Oh, here it is.
00:32Coming up on next week's Payne and Pendergast, Seth learns what a UTI is.
00:36Yeah, if I'm sitting in my own filth for hours.
00:39I'm not going to test the limits of Depends.
00:41Remember the astronaut woman that was charged with the murder,
00:46attempted murder of her husband?
00:47No, I don't.
00:48She drove, I want to say she drove from Texas to Florida in one shot.
00:54Wow.
00:54And she wore Depends, or she wore adult undergarments.
00:57I don't want to get sued by Depends.
00:59That was part of how she was able to do it and make it, like, she made an improbably quick
01:05trip to Florida and back.
01:06That's wild.
01:07And then somebody else, you know, when I mentioned that people were for Times Square on New Year's Eve,
01:12somebody said, yeah, that sounds like a great idea.
01:14Until you meet a girl on New Year's Eve, take her home, and she has to watch you remove your
01:19diaper.
01:19Yeah, nothing to see here.
01:21Yeah, taking off your Depends.
01:24That's a rough one.
01:28Yeah, so I don't know.
01:30Will I get a – what if I – I don't want to talk about it.
01:36Probably.
01:36I'll go buy some Depends and some jock itch cream, too, at the same time.
01:41Yeah, lovely.
01:42Who will be the –
01:43Oh, that's right.
01:44It was Colleen.
01:45She – Lisa Nowak, or Novak.
01:49She drove 900 miles to attack her ex's girlfriend.
01:52That's what it was.
01:53Oh, my gosh.
01:54Crazy.
01:54That was in 2007.
01:55That was forever ago.
01:57Yeah.
01:57She drove from Houston, Texas, to Orlando, Florida, to confront the woman who'd won the affections of an astronaut
02:02that Novak had been involved with.
02:04Instead of having the conversation she claimed she wanted, Novak was arrested for attacking the other woman.
02:09And so that was – yeah, she wore diapers on her 900-mile drive in order to avoid bathroom breaks.
02:16Oh, man.
02:17Yeah.
02:18You were just a young lad back then.
02:20Yeah, I know.
02:20You didn't know the way that it worked, the way things really worked in adult relationships.
02:24That's right.
02:25Yeah, I recall that.
02:27So to tell all kids, at some point there's going to be somebody in your life that makes you so
02:32angry
02:32that you drive 900 miles wearing Depends to attack them.
02:36That's how much emotion I'll be involved here.
02:39Yeah, that's right.
02:40Kids, one day you'll have to throw on some Depends, too, in your relationship.
02:44And somebody said, how is your phone bill $41 a month?
02:47With an old iPhone.
02:48That's how.
02:50Tech's breakout player this year.
02:53$41 a month?
02:54Yeah.
02:54All right.
02:55We'll talk about this during the break.
02:56I honestly don't know how it's that low, but it is, and I appreciate it.
02:58I feel like you're in some little plan that they forgot about or something.
03:04And you're just waiting to...
03:07I lived in a house once that it was a new house, and the tax appraiser hadn't caught on to
03:13it yet.
03:13For some reason, for like six years, I was paying like $200 a year in property taxes.
03:18Nice.
03:18Because it was classified as an empty lot.
03:21Uh-huh.
03:21It wasn't bad.
03:24Yeah.
03:24I loved it.
03:24That's what you're on right now.
03:29Verizon or whoever you're with just hasn't discovered it.
03:31That's right.
03:31Let's keep this...
03:32So we need to stop talking about it on the radio right this moment.
03:34Good thing these mics aren't on.
03:36Keep this a little secret.
03:37Who will be the Texas breakout player this year?
03:39ESPN had an article.
03:42Ben Solak, who's referenced frequently, he did an article of the breakout player for each team.
03:46And he went with Kalen Bullock, who I think a lot of people took exception with.
03:52They were like, eh, I don't know.
03:53Does that really fit the criteria?
03:55I feel like he's already broken out.
03:57He was already in a...
03:57He made the Pro Bowl last year.
03:59And I do think a lot of people already talk about him like he's one of the best safeties in
04:04the league.
04:05And it feels a little bit like when you had all these NBA people saying like,
04:09hey, you heard it from me first.
04:12Ahmed Thompson's a pretty good player.
04:14And you're looking around like every single person was like saying, hey, just so you guys know,
04:19ball knowers like me will tell you, Ahmed Thompson's a pretty good player.
04:23Yeah, like when enough people are saying like, hey, watch out for this guy,
04:26the guy's already been watched out for.
04:29So I think that's where...
04:30I think for me the breakout player, the biggest intriguing breakout player is Jaden Higgins.
04:36And I think Jaden Higgins kind of toiled in anonymity last year because of the Texans' offense
04:43and the issues that they were having because he wasn't a first-round pick.
04:46I think not as many people noticed that he did some good things as a rookie wide receiver.
04:52And also because we've been...
04:53Like in recent, in the last decade, we've had more just...
04:56It's been more common for rookie wide receivers to really burst onto the scene.
05:01And I'm not saying he's going to be the next Jamar Chase or anything.
05:04But I think he's going to become a much more bona fide number two wide receiver.
05:10And like so breakout doesn't have to mean that he becomes one of the best wide receivers in the league.
05:14But it's going to be one that, when we're looking at preseason wide receiver room rankings,
05:20that's going to be much more of an asset going into the 2027 season.
05:24Yeah, for sure.
05:25They need to.
05:26That's been the other thing I've been on.
05:27We talked earlier about Keelan Rutledge and that big question.
05:30Well, the other one, of course, that I keep repeating on these airwaves over the last few months
05:33is the wide receiver position.
05:35I mean, we talked about it, Seth, you and I earlier this week,
05:37of the questions that remain in that wide receiver room.
05:39I think it was yesterday, behind Nico Collins.
05:42And so they need one of those guys, Higgins, Knoll, whoever,
05:45to try to break out this year and add more depth to that wide receiver position.
05:50So hopefully so.
05:53Honestly, and credit to John Lopez and Reggie on In the Loop.
05:59They've turned me on to it, and I've always kind of liked him.
06:02This might be quite a reach, but I am on the Foster Moreau hype train,
06:07and I don't know if that would even count as a breakout.
06:09But I think Roll in this offense this year, and even if it's not the sexy, flashy stuff,
06:15I think he could play an important part and have a good year for this team.
06:19I don't know if he qualifies as a breakout, but maybe that's more of like an underrated player.
06:23But I'm on the Foster Moreau train.
06:24Well, remember, Casario kind of just casually said, when he was in an interview,
06:30I think he might have been with John and Mark,
06:33it said that, you know, for a stretch before he got cancer,
06:35Foster Moreau is one of the best tight ends in the league.
06:38And I don't really remember that being, you know,
06:42something that a lot of people were talking about.
06:44And I think for Casario, it would be more, it's not because of the receiving production,
06:49it's the fact that he is a capable blocker.
06:52And the one-two combo in terms of just looking for versatility
06:56and being able to run multiple different styles of offense while just having a tight end on the field,
07:03I think that's probably what most intrigued Nick Casario.
07:07But I remember, yeah, like when he said that, I went back through it.
07:10I'm like, yeah, he never had a breakout year as a receiver or anything.
07:13His career high is 420 yards receiving.
07:16I think he could be a breakout player if the Texans are leaning into multiple tight end sets a lot
07:23and more frequently like a lot of other teams seem to be planning and doing,
07:27and it actually ends up working,
07:29then he's not going to get a whole lot of publicity for it.
07:33But he 100% is the guy that they were missing in terms of just being able to,
07:39when you want to be out there and instead of having six offensive linemen,
07:42have a tight end in place of juice scrugs so you can actually run the ball
07:48but also have a viable receiving threat at tight end instead of an offensive lineman.
07:54That's a big, big difference from one year to the next.
07:57Yeah, breakout probably is too strong,
07:59maybe like underappreciated by the time the season goes on and we look back.
08:03He's a under, you know what he is?
08:04He's an underrated breakout player.
08:06He could potentially break out into those lists of most underappreciated players.
08:12So his breakout would be, okay, he starts making the underrated lists.
08:18And then the dream is that you get talked about being underrated so much
08:22that you actually become appropriately rated.
08:24Yes, of course.
08:25Somebody said, we mentioned Higgins,
08:27somebody said breakout player will be Jalen Knoll in the slot,
08:31that speed will be deadly.
08:32How high are you on him progressing year one to year two?
08:36I think the fun thing, the really fun thing to think about is, all right,
08:40A, if Jaden Higgins comes along, and B, if Tank Dell ends up being healthy
08:46and being the same guy, now all of a sudden you've got a lot of speed on the outside
08:51that really opens things up underneath.
08:54And, yeah, Jalen Knoll could become that lovable slot receiver
09:00that's just always there at the sticks or just turning up field
09:03and getting run after the catch.
09:05The thing that's underrated about him, I think, is just how strong he is
09:09and his ability to break tackles as a smaller guy.
09:12If you actually give him some space to work with underneath,
09:15that could turn into some really electrifying runs afterwards
09:18if teams are so focused on the outside wide receivers.
09:22And it's very, very possible, but it's like everything else on the offense right now.
09:26There's this huge house of cards.
09:27It's like, hey, all you need for C.J. to look like a better quarterback is better offensive line play,
09:34better tight end play, more health at running back, and for your wide receivers to stay healthy.
09:39That's all you need.
09:40And then C.J. will be just fine.
09:42Yeah, exactly.
09:44That's all.
09:44You just need all those things to come together.
09:47By the way, I don't know if you had mentioned this earlier, but Ben Solak did acknowledge that
09:53while Bullock was his pick, he did acknowledge the Pro Bowl appearance.
09:57And what he said in his defense was, I don't know how many NFL fans would list him
10:01with the names of the stars of the Texans' defense, like a Will Anderson Jr., like a Stingley,
10:07so on and so forth.
10:08And he was saying that he believes he could put himself into the national spotlight more so here
10:14over the next year.
10:14So that's why he chose him specifically as the breakout player for the Texans.
10:19Yeah, and I think the other thing, too, is that there's times last year, because of injuries
10:25at the other safety position, I don't think they were able to use Kalen Bullock as creatively,
10:30I think, as they'd like to be able to just really take advantage of his range and his ability
10:34to just be all over the place.
10:36So with Reed Blankenship now, they can mess with those guys a little bit more.
10:42And, you know, Kalen Bullock can go down and play in the box.
10:44He can do, they can be more versatile on defense without getting overly complicated or anything.
10:50It just, it frees them up.
10:53If he's got a steady, solid veteran playing next to him or out there on the field with him
10:58at that other safety position, it really frees them up to make the most of his range
11:05and his ability to cover just large swaths of real estate.
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