00:00There's Texans training camp, cranks up this week.
00:02It's right around the corner.
00:04Reg and OG and Fig kept talking about two more sleeps, two more sleeps.
00:09Like my wife, my wife left town.
00:11She tells my daughters, two more sleeps and mommy will be home.
00:14And I come to work and I'll be damned if the two more sleeps thing ain't happening at work too.
00:20We got Texans cranking up.
00:21Obviously, football season is right around the corner.
00:24The top three things to watch at training camp.
00:28We've talked about a lot top to bottom.
00:29The general manager, the offensive coordinator, and the quarterback have obviously dominated the headlines this offseason, rightfully so.
00:38But the top three things to watch, the top three things to see as we enter training camp.
00:43Not a tough question, Luke.
00:48There's a lot of things out there.
00:50I'll tell you what I went with.
00:51I went with O-line, one.
00:54I went with McDonnell, two.
00:56And I went with Jalen Knoll as my number three.
01:00So I told the folks, I'm going to put you on the spot, man.
01:02What is your top three to watch?
01:06What do you want to see opening up to Texans training camp this week?
01:10Yeah, mine will probably be pretty similar.
01:11I'm not going to include C.J. Stroud because I don't think you're going to get the answers here in
01:15training camp.
01:16We have to wait until the season actually starts and maybe even more so the playoffs, assuming they get there.
01:20Number three, and I don't know how big of a deal it will be, but I'm going to say the
01:26linebacking position,
01:27specifically with E.J. Speed being out, I'm curious to see who's going to take that spot.
01:33And I know it's kind of like a quasi-starter because the third, you know, three linebackers aren't always on
01:37the field.
01:38I think E.J. Speed played like half the snaps.
01:40But still, in this defense, as we discussed earlier, there's not a lot of weaknesses.
01:44It is such a good defense.
01:45I'm curious to see, though, because I question the depth at linebacker.
01:50So who is going to be that guy to step up, fill that void, and then what's that going to
01:54be like?
01:55Could that be one of the very few or maybe the only potential weaknesses?
01:59That's probably too strong of a word, but, you know, the one drop-off in this defense from last year
02:04to this year being the loss of E.J. Speed.
02:06So for training camp specifically, I'm curious at the look of the personnel at that linebacking corps to see who
02:12might be able to fill that void
02:14and whoever that might be, how that might look without E.J. Speed around.
02:18I like that.
02:19Look, I'm on record, and I stand by it.
02:21When it comes – last year, when you looked at the Texans linebackers,
02:26I thought E.J. Speed was the most athletic of the bunch.
02:29And if you want to go deeper into it, definitely when you talk about playing sideline to sideline,
02:36you talk about definitely playing the pass and playing zone coverages and things of that nature,
02:42E.J. Speed seemed to have a higher ceiling.
02:44Now, playing downhill and playing the run, Henry Toa Toa and Aziz Al-Shair are both as good as you're
02:50going to find.
02:51Those guys, Henry Toa Toa, maybe the most underrated player on this football team,
02:56does not get the respect that he deserves.
02:58But I agree with you.
02:59Who's going to replace E.J. Speed, and how much is that individual going to be able to play
03:06and take some of the load off of Henry Toa Toa and Aziz Al-Shair?
03:11I agree with you.
03:12It's less about, boy, we're going to play three linebackers,
03:14and it's more about the depth piece and not falling off when those guys can't play every single snap
03:21or if those guys get hurt.
03:23Now, look, they brought him Marte Mapu.
03:28He's one I know they've got high hopes for.
03:31Jamal Hill, he's been predominantly a special teams guy, but I know they're excited about him.
03:36The one I like the most is Wade Woodaz.
03:42He's got some length, bigger, longer, kind of a different built player.
03:48Now, again, I don't know how quickly he's going to get up to speed and be able to help,
03:51but he seems to be the one that, boy, if he can fast-track that NFL learning curve,
03:56that he could help this team sooner rather than later.
04:00Now, we'll see if the other veterans are obviously better players and take that position and run with it,
04:06but I'm going to keep an eye on Wade Woodaz in that linebacker room.
04:10Yeah, yeah, I like that too.
04:11So that would be number three on my list.
04:13And, look, I have questions how the tight end is going to shake out.
04:16I'm curious about David Montgomery as a lead back once again,
04:20but I'm sticking to personnel because I think that's where we'll get the answers here in training camp.
04:24So number two on the list is the wide receiver room,
04:27but if I were to zoom in even more, for me, it's Tank Dell.
04:32And I don't disagree with what you said earlier, Clint,
04:34and obviously there's going to be a lot of eyes on these two youngsters
04:37to see if they can make that next step in year one to year two
04:41because we need somebody to step up in this wide receiver room.
04:44But Tank Dell, for me specifically, just to see if he's even out there at any point in training camp,
04:49what he brings to the table, because for one, it's just an interesting story of what a gruesome injury
04:54to see if he can come back already and if he can be an actual part of the offense.
04:58That's fascinating.
04:59But then number two, like how much of a role, if any, can he play in an offense that sort
05:03of needs him?
05:04And I think you mentioned this earlier, Clint, but everyone, when they talk about the Texans,
05:08they talk about Tank Dell like it's a given.
05:10He's going to be back.
05:11He's going to be healthy.
05:12He's going to be their number two receiver.
05:14And people will say when they preview the Texans, well, you know, the offense needs to improve,
05:18but they're getting Tank Dell back.
05:20And I'm not so sure, but my concern is almost like, I don't know what's going on in that building,
05:24but almost this feeling of too much hope is being put into Tank Dell playing a role.
05:29So I just want to see, is he out there?
05:30What does he look like at any point in training camp?
05:32Tank Dell is number two for me.
05:34Well, that plays into exactly what we've been talking about.
05:36Is this is, hey, man, training camp starts up this week.
05:39You know, what are we looking at this week?
05:41And I don't know that you're going to see a guy go out there and make enough plays
05:44in the first two practices to turn anybody on.
05:46But to your point is, Tank Dell, is he out there?
05:49Is he doing more than just the walkthroughs?
05:51Is he, do you see him engage anybody and even pretend like he's blocking anybody?
05:57Is he running routes and drills where they're actually hitting guys and running through traffic?
06:01So there's a lot to be seen with Tank Dell.
06:04While we're on that receiving group, it is interesting.
06:06You mentioned, and I've seen this, it's wild to me that it seems like folks are so high
06:13on that wide receiver room.
06:15If you look at just the wide receivers, not the overall pass catchers, but just the wide
06:18receiver room, right?
06:20Nico Collins is the only one we know about.
06:22And you know what's crazy?
06:23When you talk about Tank Dell, Jaden Higgins, and Jalen Knoll, when you talk about those three
06:28guys, I think I'm probably most confident in Knoll.
06:30And he's the one we've seen the least of.
06:33You know, Luke, every single time I went to an OTA or a minicamp practice, and this goes
06:41back to last year, even when he was active and playing, you can't go to a Texans activity
06:48and not see Jalen Knoll.
06:50He jumps off the field.
06:51He could be on the damn field for three plays.
06:53He's going to get the ball one time.
06:55It's probably going to be down the field.
06:57It's probably going to be on a slot corner route.
06:59I mean, it's wild how he jumps off the field.
07:03And I am just trusting my eyes on him that he's going to be something that we have no
07:09idea how good he is.
07:10The other ones, Tank Dell, I don't know if he's going to be healthy.
07:13Jaden Higgins is, was it last year tentative play?
07:16And that's just how he plays?
07:17Or was it really, oh, he was overthinking?
07:20And, you know, or he was thinking, trying to learn the offense.
07:23I don't know, but we'll see.
07:24I think Jalen Knoll is an X factor in this offense, not just a player, but an X factor.
07:30So who's your number one?
07:32So number one is, I think it's probably everyone's number one, but often, but specifically, just
07:37like I said, wide receiver room, but specifically Tank Dell for number one offensive line, but
07:41specifically Keelan Rutledge.
07:42And I had mentioned this earlier, but, you know, there's only one team that started a rookie
07:48at center every game of the season and went to the Super Bowl or maybe won the Super Bowl.
07:53Only one team has done it.
07:55Now the Texans are trying to do it with a guy who's also learning the position.
07:59So we talked so much about this offensive line needs to be better.
08:02And as I said earlier, I feel like we're just kind of glossing over the idea of this idea.
08:06We'll see how it shakes out in training camp, but this idea that Keelan Rutledge is going
08:09to be your center.
08:10So a rookie at center learning the position on the fly.
08:13To me, that seems like a lot of big question marks for such an important position on this
08:19offensive line, which is the most important, you know, unit that needs to improve.
08:22Well, Luke, not only the rookie, you know, learning this offense, a more complicated offense
08:28with more communication, that's more find the right protection, find the right play based
08:33on what the defense is doing.
08:34Really every play, it's exhausting, right?
08:36Not only that, but he's doing it in a system where communication from the, from the mouthpiece,
08:41from the offensive coordinator to the quarterback, to the center, it's all been a problem.
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