00:00Jane Slater, you're familiar with her.
00:01Yeah, I'm a big fan.
00:02In fact, I imagine we might see her at training camp again.
00:04I imagine we'll see a lot of people at training camp this year for the Texans.
00:07That's true.
00:07There's going to be a lot of interest.
00:09She's still with kind of NFL Network.
00:10She is.
00:11She is.
00:11She survived, it seems like.
00:13She's doing all right.
00:13Shout out to our girl.
00:14In fact, we might need to get her on at some point.
00:16But Jane apparently is reporting about your Houston Texans that there's an expectation
00:21that David Montgomery and Woody Marks are expected to split lead back reps.
00:27How do you feel about hearing that?
00:29Because it felt like we were leaning more to the other way, whether it was kind of the
00:32scuttlebutt that was happening or, you know, obviously David Montgomery's clear desire to
00:36have a bigger role.
00:38And then also the running backs coach and associate head coach talking about how, or is it assistant?
00:43Am I changing his title?
00:45Anyways, talking about how David Montgomery has the capability of being that.
00:49That felt like that was a hint.
00:50But here you are having someone reporting from NFL Network that actually there's an expectation
00:54that they split lead back reps.
00:56And I read that particularly because this ain't just, we're going to split reps and we have
00:59to figure out what the number is.
01:00Split lead back reps sounds like it's pretty 50-50.
01:03Yeah.
01:03Look, if I had to bet right now before we get out to training camp, I would bet that David
01:09Montgomery would carry the lion's share, pun, the lion's share of...
01:15That stays here too.
01:16Congratulations.
01:18That was an accidental pun.
01:19I'm kind of proud of it.
01:20Oh, you can actually say no pun intended.
01:22Can I tell you I hate it?
01:23It drives me up a wall.
01:25Because you know it was intended?
01:25When people don't know that that, like, literally means that you weren't trying to do that.
01:30People are like, no pun intended.
01:31No, you just say pun intended in that instance.
01:33You get the same feeling, but you're actually right.
01:35Sorry.
01:36Yes.
01:36Sorry.
01:36So, true, honest, accidental pun.
01:39But, back on track, I would bet that David Montgomery gets the lion's share of carries.
01:47But my hope, as I've talked about as recently as yesterday, is maybe we get that split backfield
01:53more.
01:54Maybe we get that sort of tough to sort of, you know, strategize against, you know, two
02:00backs in the backfield.
02:02Maybe that's why, you know, the backup could be a British Brooks, who has slimmed down as
02:08well.
02:08Everybody's slimming down.
02:09As we've talked about.
02:10So, as much as I would bet that David Montgomery gets the most, I love the idea.
02:15I love the idea of splitting these reps or even using them both.
02:20I do.
02:20I really do.
02:21I hear the idea.
02:22I think that one of the things that we could be honest about, and I think that we were capable
02:26of doing that when the season was over.
02:28We understood it, but, you know, nobody wants to be negative in the midst of the season,
02:32especially someone who ain't doing nothing wrong and is just doing their best.
02:34Woody Marks didn't look like a running back one.
02:38Are you sure about that?
02:39Yeah.
02:40Woody Marks looked like a really good running back two that had to do running back one stuff.
02:44Or maybe...
02:44He's coming off his rookie year, though.
02:45Maybe the answer is...
02:46Yeah, rookie year.
02:46That's my thing.
02:47Did he look better than Damian Pierce?
02:49Yes.
02:50No.
02:50Oh, no.
02:50You mean Damian Pierce in his rookie year?
02:53Yeah, in his rookie year.
02:53No, he did not, but I think that Damian Pierce is sort of the bizarro example of what Woody
02:58Marks can become.
02:59Damian Pierce was never that again.
03:01He wasn't supposed to be RB1, in my opinion.
03:03He was never that again, and they tried to force-feed it.
03:06Yeah.
03:06But maybe Woody Marks goes the other way, and we saw some...
03:09How many yards did he have?
03:11500 and something?
03:11600 and something?
03:12What can I remember off the top?
03:13I'll get you that in here.
03:14But maybe he develops, and they see him developing into something more.
03:18To me, it seemed like when Reggie said this, it seemed like they're trying to give him
03:22the chance.
03:23It seemed like it's not going to be just the D-Mont show.
03:27It's going to be...
03:28It seemed like maybe in training camp, they're going to give him them split reps and all that
03:32stuff and see what he can actually do.
03:35703 yards.
03:35That was...
03:36Yeah, 703.
03:37Yeah.
03:37Which, interestingly enough, that's not far off.
03:39I saw one of these football analytics accounts that I'm fond of did a projection of their 2026
03:45stats.
03:46Now, of course, this was before the thought of them being maybe a more equal split.
03:50What they had from David Montgomery as a projection in this upcoming season was 955 yards to Woody
03:56Marks' 414.
03:58Take the over on him.
04:00Take the over on him.
04:01I always forget that his name is Joquavius Marks.
04:05Woody Marks, yeah.
04:06Named Woody after Toy Story.
04:08I bet he's excited about Toy Story 5.
04:09But, yeah, like, maybe this is also like a protecting your guys from themselves.
04:17Like, if you want to do this and be pretty heavy running the football, keeping guys fresh.
04:22Like, maybe this is a translation of the way that D'Amico Ryan likes having that defense,
04:27keeping those guys fresh.
04:28We talked about trying to find a way to merge that identity that the defense clearly has
04:33that D'Amico wants to the offense.
04:35Maybe this is it.
04:35We can continue to batter your head in by constantly keeping these guys fresh and running the damn
04:41ball.
04:42Yeah.
04:43And I think that, you know, certainly not the youngest running back anymore either.
04:47Certainly, you know, got, I guess, demoted is the technical term to running back two
04:52in Detroit.
04:54And then the other thing is, you know, I like what, when reporters do this, good, solid,
04:59real reporters like Jane, the way she worded it is, there's an expectation.
05:05And you kind of say, you kind of think to yourself, like, from who?
05:08Well, she clearly has been told this by someone in the know.
05:13When you can say, there's an expectation.
05:15All right, from who?
05:16Well, I can't tell you that.
05:17Okay, well, then there's more, it's more than just, like, out of thin air kind of thing,
05:20you know?
05:21Yeah.
05:21And I think that this gets interesting as well, because does this allow them both to
05:26maybe wear evenly?
05:27Because I think that there's a fair point on the text line from the 8-3-2 that mentions
05:31that Woody Marks did wear down a little bit towards the end.
05:34And that's even considering that he started the, started really carrying a line probably
05:39in the middle portion of the season.
05:41So are you able to kind of better that wear there, or at least keep from the wear on what
05:46is admittedly an older NFL running back in David Montgomery?
05:51And that was always kind of a thought, but I also could look at this and go, the priority
05:56of David Montgomery and the difference in what he brings you.
05:59I'm not upset about it.
06:00I'm just intrigued.
06:00Because also this then brings me to, if you have this in mind, why again is there not
06:05another running back that you have here within this room?
06:07I think we're sleeping on, and this is another, put a pin in it.
06:10We'll talk to you about it during training camp next week.
06:13A week from today, by the way, I think British Brooks might be a bigger part of the plan.
06:18And don't sleep on these guys.
06:20With Jawar.
06:20Yes, with Jawar, and don't sleep on these other guys that they've brought in.
06:24You know, given pretty good, by the way, this is another tell, when you give a street-free
06:29agent, an undrafted free agent, a pretty good bonus to sign with you, that means they have
06:34high hopes for you.
06:35That does make me think, though, that they are leaning so much towards the improvement running
06:40the football, obviously, like, the talent that you have in the running back room is
06:43better than it was last year.
06:44I think we can admit that, right?
06:45Yeah.
06:45But they're leaning a lot on the improvement in being able to run the football, also very
06:50much coming from the offensive line.
06:51Mm-hmm.
06:52And a little tease on what I am looking forward to, or what I got from my rewatch, I wonder
06:59how much you should do that.
07:02Do what?
07:02Like, the expectation that the line is going to be leaps and bounds better.
07:06Oh, I'm with you.
07:08I have high hopes, but it is just hopes.
07:11I mean, there is reason to believe, or at least wonder, you know, about just how good
07:15it's going to be.
07:16So, yeah, man, I'm curious, again, I always try and remember with this offense, the goal
07:23isn't for this offense to become the best offense in the league or anything really close
07:26to it, if we're going to be entirely honest.
07:27I know that in a vacuum, you would say that, yeah, we always want to be the best, right?
07:32But I think that we could be pragmatic and reasonable, rather, and look at it and go,
07:36no, I don't think that's what you're looking for here.
07:39You're looking for something that is more consistent in the run game, and maybe in a way to get
07:44consistency, you are able to keep these guys fresh with more of a split low.
07:48Can I ask you this, because I know that I talked about the projected stats that I had
07:52here, and I wanted to get here.
07:54Something also interesting that pops up here in the projected stats.
07:57Now, there's a level of expectation here when it comes to Tank Dell that I don't think
08:01any of us have been really willing to get to, even as we maybe enjoy and kind of had
08:05the fun around the workout videos.
08:07I think it's still fair to go, we're really being cautiously optimistic about Tank Dell,
08:12heavy on the cautious.
08:13They have a projection of Tank Dell playing 14 games and amassing 45 catches, 584 yards,
08:20compared to Jalen Knowles, 36 catches and 343 yards.
08:30What would that do to you if you had that kind of split amongst your, I guess, third wide
08:35receiver in this system?
08:37I mean, you cannot help but love that, right?
08:40Really?
08:4114 games?
08:4314 games from Tank Dell?
08:45Yeah.
08:45I mean, we all hope for the best from the other guys, but Tank Dell's proven.
08:50Fair enough.
08:51Tank Dell is a proven, you know, problem.
08:54If he plays 14 games?
08:55Yeah.
08:55You saying?
08:56Yeah.
08:56Yeah, sure.
08:57I'm hoping that with Nico.
09:00That's not unfair.
09:01Damn, give me 14 to 15 games, man.
09:0314 games and how many catches?
09:04They have Tank Dell at 45 catches.
09:07Hell, sign me up, man.
09:09With a projection.
09:10Sign me up.
09:11That's interesting, because I got kind of locked in on just the, hey, Jalen Knowles, we were
09:15just talking about this a second ago.
09:17I mean, fingers crossed, good luck, hope for the best, but Tank Dell is a problem for defenses.
09:22You give me 14 games and 45 catches, I'll take that right now.
09:24No, it's fair enough.
09:25My brain immediately went to, hey, Jalen Knowles was boxed out last year, and then you end up
09:29with another circumstance where arguably one of the most explosive guys that you have
09:34in your wide receiver core outside of your number one wide receiver, again, gets boxed
09:38out in this circumstance.
09:39That's immediately where my brain went, but you're right.
09:41Like, Tank Dell and the explosive plays and the ways in which he can force a defense to
09:45have to consider things.
09:47If he is doing that, that's not a bad thing.
09:49Also, the projections, just to take you to this place, have CJ throwing for 4,125 yards,
09:54which is not a crazy amount, because also, if he plays all 17 games, that's not far off
10:01from where his projection probably would have been.
10:02Maybe an extra couple hundred yards from last year, but it would be awesome to see him
10:07have that kind of consistency across all 17 games.
10:11Anyway, just an interesting thing that came up here in the loop on Sports Radio 60.
