- 2 days ago
ITL reacts to Jadeveon Clowney returning to Houston and discusses what his signing means for the Texans' defense heading into the season.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Big news yesterday. We got real big news yesterday. One of the big questions that we've had for training camp
00:05is,
00:06hey man, this team does not have a lot of holes, but there's one that you can see kind of
00:10developing,
00:10which is behind Daniil Hunter and Will Anderson Jr., the engines of this defense.
00:15Who steps in in that heavily rotated position? And we were asking, is it Ali Gay? Is it Dominique Robinson?
00:21Is it Dylan Horton? Is it Solomon Bird? None of those answers felt like they were really strong, especially early
00:25on in camp.
00:26And it seems like Nick Casario and the Texans also thought, yeah, we need some definitive answers there.
00:31And so, what do I always say, J-Lo? You can always come back home?
00:34You can always come back home.
00:35That's what happens as Jadeveon Clowney is a Texan, again, what is it, one year, about $8 million deal is
00:41what we saw.
00:42But a guy who seemed like he could have gotten money elsewhere, more so.
00:46A guy who absolutely had a good season last year with, admittedly, a bad Cowboys defense.
00:51But he comes in and immediately slots into that role that I know I had a little bit of trepidation
00:57over.
00:57I did, too. A lot of people did.
00:58What was your immediate reaction when you saw that Jadeveon Clowney returns to your Houston Texans?
01:01Oh, boy. A bunch of thoughts pass through my head.
01:04First of all, kind of what you said, the old Bear Bryant quote,
01:08Mama called, and when calls, you come running.
01:11And so, in a sense, the Houston Texans called.
01:14He had other opportunities.
01:16We don't know to what extent.
01:17Well, his agent got out here thanking, what was it, the Seahawks and the Browns for their interests,
01:22which I think very clearly means those are teams that probably wanted him.
01:26And honestly, if the agent is saying it, I wonder if he wasn't covering his hindsight.
01:30Like, no, I could have gotten him more deals.
01:31No, he was.
01:32I could have gotten him a bigger deal.
01:33This is where he wanted him.
01:34But that's part of the story.
01:35I mean, Jadeveon lives here.
01:37He came home.
01:39Fills a huge need.
01:40Will have a huge role.
01:42And I said huge deliberately.
01:45At first blush, you talk about, well, okay, he's the good edge rusher three behind those two guys.
01:52And he is by definition.
01:53But he brings a little bit something that the other guys that you mentioned just don't.
01:59First of all, I think as much in the run, and I said this last week when the topic came
02:03up,
02:03like I don't know how overwhelming he is anymore.
02:08He had a good year last year, but I don't know how overwhelming he is.
02:11But for what he does and for what this defense does, that was my first thought.
02:15Like, he will fit.
02:17He will fit perfectly.
02:18The other thing that I think is very important, he will fit with D'Amico Ryans.
02:24If you go back, his tenure here was really destined not to fail, but destined to cause some issues.
02:32You know, oil and water.
02:34You know, Bill O'Brien and then all that stuff.
02:37With whom was Bill O'Brien not oil and water?
02:39Everyone.
02:39He was oil and water with everyone.
02:40Was there anybody that you can recall that Bill O'Brien got along well with?
02:44Boy, that's a great question.
02:45I don't know.
02:47Which, I mean, quite an indictment on a dude who is a pretty damn good coach.
02:51However, this is one of those things, the people business of it.
02:54But, yeah, I think that goes so far to say what you're pointing to.
02:57This is a much different environment that Jadeveon Clowney is working with.
03:01So, I mean, I imagine if anybody has some trepidation going back,
03:04I think that that definitely feels like it's off the table because of that.
03:07But also, what do we talk about, man?
03:09It's a whole bunch of leaders on this team, particularly in that room.
03:12We talked to Rod Wright, who runs the show.
03:14Yeah.
03:14He is very amenable, has a lot of respect.
03:17Will Anderson Jr.
03:18I mean, he is adding leader guy on top of previous leader guy.
03:21DeNeal Hunter leads with the way that he works.
03:23Sheldon Rankins is in that room.
03:24He's a leader.
03:25You've got a lot of guys that are steady, consistent, dependable, all those, right?
03:29And so whatever things that you might – and Jadeveon Clowney was never, like, an actual issue.
03:34He's a little quirky.
03:35He's a little different.
03:36He's just a little different.
03:36But not a problem.
03:37But not a problem.
03:38And I don't think he can be a problem in this room.
03:40So, like, I think that is entirely off the table when you talk about how he fits here.
03:44No, I think that's important, the fact that he fits that particular role.
03:49Well, let's talk about that because it is a very particular role, but clearly at a higher level than what
03:56the Texans had in stock.
03:57Not to cast aspersions, not to criticize or whatever, but just even – if he is just good against the
04:05run, he will disrupt offenses
04:07because he gets a lot of – he not only sets the edge, but he's enough of a sack threat
04:13that they have to kind of pay a little bit more attention to him.
04:16He can – certainly tackles for loss or, you know, what could be an issue.
04:20He penetrates.
04:22He chases balls from the opposite side.
04:24Like, all the things that they want to do just on the field, I think he just fits perfectly for
04:29them.
04:29Without question.
04:30You started alluding to how his previous tenure was one that was not quite doomed to fail but was not
04:35a perfect fit.
04:37You were running a 3-4 defense where he is kind of, in essence, playing outside linebacker,
04:42and that's going to make him have to drop sometimes.
04:45And he wasn't a dude necessarily that you wanted dropping in coverage.
04:48You want a guy that is engaging at the football at the line of scrimmage and handling those things.
04:53This is the 4-3 defense that exists for that.
04:55And it's funny because you talk about him being a run stopper, and that feels like that fits not just
04:59the system
05:00but the role in particular very well.
05:02There's a lot of those times where he's playing on rushing downs, right,
05:05when they cycle in without Will and Daniil, who you clearly want in on passing downs,
05:09but they'll cycle in, and the guys that you have as DN3, DN4, so to say, those guys are in
05:14on rushing downs.
05:15Well, this is a guy that has always excelled on setting the edge, driving that rusher up to your defensive
05:21tackles and linebackers.
05:22He's always been great at that.
05:24And if you've been paying attention, we talked about it.
05:25He also had eight and a half sacks last year, so he has progressed as a pass rusher,
05:30which, you know, they'll have those guys in at various times.
05:32I think that this pretty much settles in my mind, the edge rusher thing.
05:36I think the defensive line in general is settled now because not only did they do that,
05:39they also bring in Mario Edwards or return Mario Edwards, which that one actually I want to talk about
05:44because that one is a little more interesting to me.
05:45This one felt like an immediate need in getting that edge,
05:48and I think that you still have Dominique Robinson and Dylan Horton and Ali Gay.
05:52One of those guys is DN4, I love.
05:54As DN3, I wasn't sure.
05:56And, I mean, Dylan Horton was DN4 last year, right?
05:58So I feel a lot better.
05:59I do wonder if this maybe says that Derek Barnett isn't planning on returning to football.
06:04But ultimately, I don't just like this move, J-Lo.
06:07I love this move.
06:08Well, you mentioned, you know, on first and second down.
06:11Well, now on first and second, let's say it's early second quarter, second and nine, second and seven,
06:17whatever it might be, and if the opposing team is going to run the ball, I mean, pass the ball
06:23and kind of cross you up, all of a sudden you have a threat to bring pressure onto that quarterback.
06:28The guys that were behind Will Anderson and Daniil Hunter weren't quite the threat that Jadeveon Clowney.
06:34He is still not a, I would say, great pass rusher.
06:37He's never had more than nine and a half sacks in his entire career, but he's good.
06:41And he's enough of a threat that if you decide to pass the ball on an obvious running down,
06:47he can still get to the quarterback.
06:49100%.
06:49Yeah.
06:50100%.
06:50And that was the thing I was looking for, especially in the modern NFL.
06:53I think I heard Dominique Foxworth talking about this, and he made an apt point,
06:57is that it feels like we're getting more pressure and fewer sacks in the league in general,
07:01whether it's, you know, offenses obviously taking advantage of defenses.
07:04Defense is not blitzing, right?
07:06And this is a team very much that doesn't blitz.
07:08They want to get home with four.
07:09And so if he's capable of doing that, which we've seen that he is,
07:12I think that shows up a little bit different.
07:14But I do want to talk about Mario Edwards because that's a little bit quieter.
07:17It's not the bigger name.
07:19It's not the bigger story.
07:20What did you make of that?
07:21Because I honestly felt a lot better about the interior of this defensive line room
07:25with Rankins, with Togiai, with Cain McDonald, with, you know, Logan Hall,
07:31with Naquan Jones.
07:32I think all five of those names that I mentioned,
07:34I'm 100% comfortable seeing them on a Sunday in this season.
07:38And then they go add Mario Edwards, who was a second line,
07:41sometimes a starter last year for this team.
07:43What did you make of that?
07:44I think Mario Edwards is one of those players that D'Amico Ryan just can't quit.
07:49I think they love him.
07:51They love what he brings.
07:53Keep in mind, you know, the reason that he left his squad was an injury designation,
07:57not any, you know, performance-based issue or whatever.
08:01So I think they want to bring him in and just bring more competition on the interior defensive line.
08:07It wasn't that long ago, Reggie.
08:08We were wondering what the heck they were going to do in the interior defensive line,
08:11that it was thin.
08:13Well, now you have depth and now you have options in the middle.
08:16I think Mario Edwards is going to actually be a pretty significant part of that rotation,
08:21presuming he wins, you know, the competition.
08:23Way too early thoughts towards 53-man, but I was like, oh, that cutdown's not going to be fun at
08:27all.
08:28No, no, not at all.
08:29Obviously, you know, Cain McDonald's going to be there.
08:32Togiai's going to be there.
08:33I don't know what, you know, beyond that, you know, obviously Sheldon Rankins,
08:36you've got guys that are going to be able to...
08:37You just named three of the five, six guys we're talking about here.
08:40Well, those three are in.
08:41Yeah.
08:42Those three are in, and then it becomes much more interesting.
08:44Yeah, we just manufactured a position battle on this roster.
08:48Now, it's not one of the most pressing ones by any means, but here you go, right?
08:52It does make me wonder, though.
08:54Was this at all any level of...
08:56It can't be concern, right?
08:57It can't be that they looked at this and had some concern.
08:59This just had to be, well, an abundance of riches and a dude who wants to return,
09:02so let's throw him in here and see what we got, right?
09:04Oh, you mean in camp was it a concern, like what they've been seeing?
09:06Right.
09:06Now, that I don't know, but I think, like I said, not long ago it was absolutely a concern
09:10just in terms of depth and who was going to be in the rotation,
09:13and now you've got options, and so now you've got an opportunity for the best players
09:18and one they trust in Mario Edwards just to kind of rise.
09:21And not that I'd be happy to see it, but I think that this ends up being one of those
09:25possibilities
09:25where does Nick Casario at the end of camp have another place where he can deal a sixth round,
09:31a seventh round pick because there's a guy who is capable of starting or playing big reps
09:36on most teams in the league that you're not going to have room for in a weird way.
09:40That's just cherry on top stuff there, and that's what he does.
09:43He loves doing that.
09:44This is where you have to give Nick Casario his credit.
09:47He does a good job at those things and working the roster down to the back end of it,
09:54working the trades there to add back end of the draft-type assets,
10:01and you get value out of it, and so, no, that was a really, and the helm, I'd say seven,
10:05six.
10:06The guys that we're talking about.
10:07Might be more.
10:08Could they not get you a fifth, right?
10:09Yeah, it might be more.
10:10Man, I was very excited by both of those.
10:14That made me jump over the moon, not just in the ability to acquire these guys,
10:18but I think sometimes we can wonder, and I'm not saying that this is definitively the answer that you've come
10:24to,
10:24but sometimes we can wonder if they are seeing what we're seeing.
10:27You know what I mean?
10:28How so?
10:29And how honest they are willing to be with themselves about what they're seeing with the team.
10:33And I kept looking at this.
10:34I kept looking at that edge rusher position and being like,
10:36are they really, like, do they really see something in Dominique Robinson and Oli Gaye and Dylan Horn to that
10:41point?
10:41Yeah.
10:41Especially knowing how they use it.
10:42And it was kind of encouraging, outside of the actual Jadeveon Clowney himself,
10:46seeing them acknowledge them and go, no, we're bringing in this talented player
10:49to put in that position that we clearly use a lot.
10:52So, at times, you know, our relationship with the Texans and the honesty level that they sometimes bring to things
10:59can be a little fraught.
11:00It was kind of nice to see, from my perspective, a very clear and honest accounting of,
11:06we need better at defensive end three, and doing that in an actionable way.
11:11They absolutely were seeing it the same as us.
11:13And this is where I, you know, kind of leaned on that old saying,
11:17I always do, watch what they do, not what they say.
11:19What they did was bolster the interior defensive line and caused people like us to wonder,
11:25oh, wow, now you've got a bunch of them.
11:27How's it all going to play out?
11:28Well, their actions, what they did, told us, maybe not concern is too strong,
11:34maybe concern is too strong a word, but certainly, like, we need to bolster this.
11:37Because here's the other part of it that is just, you know,
11:40I feel like we're kind of almost burying the lead here.
11:44They are loading up on defense, man.
11:47They are load.
11:49This is a loaded defense.
11:51It was already loaded when they got to camp.
11:53It's even more loaded now with more options, more proven players.
11:57You know, obviously Clowney and Edwards and, you know,
12:00all the players that they brought in the offseason.
12:02This is going to be fun to watch, man.
12:05Yeah, and honestly, it confirms something that we already long knew.
12:09They are all in on the idea that you win a Super Bowl here, right?
12:12Yes, yes.
12:12A fair point that's noted is, God forbid, an injury happens with Clowney,
12:16you still feel comfortable with your starting two.
12:18And I don't know that you could have said that if Dylan Horton has to play starting snaps
12:23or if Dominic Robinson.
12:24I say that with all due respect because I have not seen enough from those guys regardless, right,
12:28that we are just now strapping on pads today out here at the Houston Methodist Training Center is,
12:32ooh, that is an ugly punt.
12:33That was an ugly punt.
12:35Oh, my God.
12:36Stonehouse was a nasty punt right in front of us.
12:38You're not inside the 40, buddy.
12:39You're on your own 20.
12:40Was that Kroger?
12:41Okay.
12:41Yeah.
12:42Which that probably doesn't help what I had already thought about Kai Kroger.
12:46But, yeah, somebody said, you know the team is stacked when a number one overall pick is in three.
12:51Yeah, no, for sure.
12:51But I think that we often, and this is one of the big fallacies that happens in the early portions
12:58of a football season
12:59is just looking at a team and going, all right, well, he's going to be here for 17 games.
13:02He's going to be here for 17 games.
13:04Those are eventualities that you need to prepare for,
13:06especially if you're a team that has the expectation of not just going, you know,
13:11through 17 games, going to the playoffs and, you know, going deep.
13:13Yeah.
13:14This is the type of insulation that you get and at a pretty reasonable cost.
13:17I was excited to see that one over the weekend.
13:19Look, man, you know, not only are they loading up on defense and have the options
13:24and certainly the depth now and all that, they have one of the big problems that Jadavion Clowney
13:30has always had to fight was the fact that he was the number one overall pick.
13:34Sure.
13:34If he were number 15 overall, we would be doing backflips about getting a guy that's 33 years old,
13:41had eight and a half sacks last year, may not be a double-digit sack guy every year,
13:47but can set the, and we would be doing flips about it.
13:50You almost have to erase that.
13:51It was a long time ago.
13:53Just, if you can, just forget that he was the number one overall pick.
13:56What you got was a player that is an upper-tier player, wherever you want to put him,
14:01you put him there.
14:02But an upper-tier player that, as the texter said, if one of these guys, heaven forbid,
14:08gets some sort of injury, then you don't have to feel the backlash so much.
14:12For sure.
14:14Now, this is where they're going to come after me.
14:16They're going to be like, oh, here comes Reggie being negative again.
14:17Here comes Reggie.
14:19With this, it brings back to mind, as we're talking about it.
14:21You're clearly in the Super Bowl mode, and you're trying to make accounting for all the eventualities.
14:28How do you foresee any other circumstances, any other moves that you would like to see for this team?
14:33Because I see someone on the text line like, hey, now make a Clowney-type move on the offensive side
14:38of the football.
14:38Is there a place that you look at and you go, yeah, I could stand seeing whatever the equivalent of
14:43a Clowney-type move elsewhere on this team.
14:45What are the places that you're still looking at?
14:47Because I did see Robert Mays when he was commenting about this.
14:49He was out here on Saturday.
14:50He was commenting on social media saying, well, yeah, now this defense doesn't have any things that they're concerned about.
14:55Is that true?
14:56Are there any things on offense that you're like, hey, I would love to see an equivalent-type move?
15:01Look, yes.
15:02I think we can all name two or three, and they're probably familiar ones.
15:05And, you know, we'll find out a wide receiver, obviously, you know, running back.
15:10Those are the two that I go back to consistently.
15:12But I think what this move is really telling us is we're trying to mitigate any shortcomings that we might
15:19have on offense,
15:20like we did last year, with a defense that's even better.
15:23You know, we're not losing.
15:26It's not as if the Texans don't have confidence that this offense can rebound, that this offensive line can be
15:31better,
15:31that C.J. Stroud can rebound, that the running game will be set.
15:34It's not like they don't have confidence in that, but now they have so much confidence
15:39and so much depth in their defense that if and when those things do happen,
15:43they're still going to be able to dominate teams, even more so than last year.
15:47Yeah, maybe so.
15:48Maybe that's the way that they're handling this.
15:49Ultimately, I think this is a great weekend for the Texans,
15:52and that's before we even talked about anything that happened on the field out here.
15:55You're in the loop right here on Sports Radio 610.
15:58On a Monday, day five, pads are on out here at Houston Texans training camp.
16:03There's fans galore out here watching the team.
16:06In fact, they're in a break and about to get ready to get back in the team.
16:09Always appreciate you getting involved in the program on the text line, 713-572-4610.
16:13Much appreciation to the Mo'Keram and Drew Lawyers for the live streams.
16:17We keep it 100.
16:18Appreciate you, Fig.
16:19There's the YouTube page, Sports Radio 610, the Twitch chat.
16:21I think it's already migrated to 95.7, the fan.
16:24And that's coming to you in just 10 days, J-Lo.
16:28Just 10 days.
16:28And we will be clean and crisp on the FM dial.
Comments