00:01What are the three things that you feel like we need to see?
00:06The three kind of major things that are on your mind
00:10that we need to see the rest of training camp?
00:12Well, you've got about eight practices
00:13and a couple of preseason games,
00:17which for these guys, for these topics,
00:19probably may not come into place.
00:22You've got about eight practices
00:23before the Texans have to cut this thing to 53.
00:28And I think there's three, in no particular order,
00:32three things that the Texans have to flush out
00:37before you get into that week, September,
00:40first week of September,
00:41where you start prepping for a real opponent, right?
00:45You're no longer thinking about,
00:47boy, who's going to get cut?
00:48Who's going to be on the team?
00:49Who's not?
00:49Like, you'd like to have your starters in stone
00:52and you'd like to have a pretty good idea
00:54of how you're going to use certain players, right?
00:57I think there's three things.
00:59Number one is Braden Smith,
01:03right tackle Braden Smith,
01:05is he worth the money, right?
01:08Braden Smith was one of three guys,
01:12four if you count the first round draft pick,
01:14four guys that were brought in
01:16and expected to change the offensive line
01:17for the Texans in a major way, right?
01:21Signed a two-year deal
01:23with a base value of $20 million,
01:26could reach up to $25 million,
01:28$13.5 million guaranteed,
01:30$8.5 million signing bonus, right?
01:33Any way you slice it,
01:35it's at the very least $10 million a year,
01:37if not $12.5 a year,
01:40depending on if he plays or not.
01:42Is Braden Smith worth the money?
01:44Right now, Braden Smith has found himself
01:46in a competition with Trent Brown.
01:48And his name is in the backup position right now
01:51on the unofficial depth chart.
01:53Yep, yep.
01:54And I think it's fair to say
01:56that Trent Brown has got,
01:58he's been with the ones more
02:01than Braden Smith.
02:02Now, I don't know if there's some kind of injury
02:04that's holding him back,
02:05if there's a rep count that's holding him back,
02:07if there's a recovery, rest and rehab,
02:10recovery type situation.
02:11I don't know exactly what all is going on here,
02:13but I know when they put Trent Brown
02:16or Braden Smith as your start and right tackle,
02:20I know there's a decision that needs to be made.
02:22And so I think that's one of the top three things, Ron,
02:25that has to be flushed out before the year starts.
02:27This absolutely cannot be.
02:29And this is a hill I will die on.
02:31Again, I know there's people out there
02:33that, boy, they ain't going to get sideways
02:35with any decision-making over there.
02:37But the damnedest thing I've ever seen
02:39was that rotating left guard last year every series.
02:41Yeah, that was unbelievable.
02:43We just cannot be in a situation
02:45where we see rotating right tackles
02:47and they're selling, boy, we've got a good competition,
02:50trying to find the best guy at right tackle.
02:53For an organization that says,
02:54I need my best five and let's ride,
02:56to then find six and ride is an interesting approach.
03:02So hopefully this is not a rotation at right tackle
03:06and a competition that goes into the season
03:08like we've seen before.
03:09But Braden Smith, ultimately, if he's worth the money,
03:12then he'll be your start and right tackle.
03:14If he's not worth the contract,
03:16Trent Brown will be your start and right tackle.
03:19And you've either got expensive depth
03:20or you've got a trade piece that I would think
03:23around the league, Ron, would be pretty sexy
03:26to teams that may need a tackle.
03:29So the Texans will have options if that is indeed the case.
03:33But that right tackle position has got to get flushed out.
03:35Yeah, it has to.
03:37And it's probably, as we've talked about it,
03:39we've learned it is the biggest, outside of punter, I guess,
03:43is the biggest competition we see right now.
03:48Maybe the only starting position that isn't, you know,
03:54kind of understood right now is that one.
03:57Yeah.
03:57Number two is the rookie tight end.
04:01Can Marlon Klein be an impact player from jump?
04:04I think he's shown enough to get real excited,
04:12for Texans fans to get real excited about what he's capable of doing.
04:18Or how high his ceiling actually is.
04:22Now, whether it's potential or it actually plays itself out in production,
04:26we'll see.
04:27But I think he's done enough to get us really excited about the future for him.
04:32I think he's done enough this training camp to think that that future
04:35could potentially be week one.
04:37And if you look at the tight end room, again, Brevin Jordan not being there,
04:42being injured again.
04:44And Marlon Klein playing better and having bigger moments of late puts you in a
04:50position to where he could be a real piece to start the season.
04:55He could get real run to start the season along with Dalton Schultz and Foster Moreau
05:03and even Cade Stover in that kind of hybrid position.
05:06So, you know, is Marlon Klein an impact player or is he still a developmental player?
05:11Which is crazy that that's even a question right now.
05:15But he has done the work and done enough to make that a conversation going into the
05:23second half of training camp.
05:24Absolutely.
05:25Last but not least, it's Jalen Noel.
05:27Who is he?
05:30He's making it on the field.
05:31I mean, this is the guy that I had as the X factor for this offense this season.
05:36I thought this guy would be from jump, like take a huge step and be kind of the missing
05:44piece to this offense, if you will.
05:47I thought he was a guy that would fit the mold of that slot receiver that you saw have
05:52so much success.
05:53Multiple guys have so much success in the early 2000s in New England, really throughout
05:58in New England, but definitely the early 2000s.
06:02And we've yet to see him out there.
06:04We've yet to see him get any run in any kind of team period.
06:07So again, we got seven or eight practices left.
06:09Can he get back on the field?
06:10Clearly his is injury related right now with the fingers.
06:13Yep.
06:14With the fingers.
06:14So can he get back on the field?
06:17And this is an injury where he should immediately, whenever they clear him to catch balls and take
06:23contact with those hands, his legs should be fine.
06:27His strength should be fine.
06:29His cardio should be fine.
06:31He should be able to, in seven or eight practices, show you whether he can be that slot receiver
06:37or at least show some level of development at that position to show you he can impact the game more
06:41than he did last year beyond just the return game.
06:44So Jalen Knoll, man, who is he?
06:46So that's my three things that the Texans hope to flush out over the next seven or eight practices
06:51plus three preseason games.
06:54Is Braden Smith worth the money?
06:56Can Marlon Klein be an impact player for this team from day one?
07:00And who is Jalen Knoll?
07:02Yeah.
07:02Yeah.
07:03Jalen Knoll, that's a big one.
07:04Didn't think, it's crazy.
07:06Didn't think Marlon Klein would put himself in a position to be like, oh, well, I wonder.
07:11And then didn't know that coming into it, I would have been surprised that we didn't really
07:16have a concrete understanding of what Jalen Knoll's role was.
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