00:00D'Amico was talking about C.J. Stroud and how he kind of handled things last night.
00:05If you look at the box score, you'd be like, all right, he was four for six for 27 yards.
00:09But if you watch the game within those plays, and I would say just the offense in general,
00:14look, he was the steward of a 10-play, 69-yard drive that scored a touchdown.
00:19So by definition, good things happened out there in the one drive that he was quarterback.
00:24I would say I love the 3rd and 11 throw to Jared Wayne along the near sideline,
00:31along the Texans, the home sideline there.
00:34Love that throw.
00:35Love the 3rd and 4 conversion to Foster Moreau, where C.J. rolled out to his right, got flushed out.
00:43And with his eyes, looked like he was either going to be running for the sideline
00:46or looking to make a throw down the sideline.
00:48Foster Moreau, credit to him, veteran, tight end, knew to settle back into that little soft spot in that pocket.
00:56And C.J. just, it wasn't a no-look pass, which I liked that it wasn't a no-look pass.
01:01That's trying a little too hard.
01:02But he could see out of his peripheral what Foster was doing and turned and threw it to him
01:07for a nice, safe, and easy first down.
01:09So it was C.J. scrambling, yet with no imminent threat or danger of physical harm.
01:15And just seeing the game really well, did you just point out I liked that he dirted the ball?
01:20I did not yet.
01:21Yeah, when he dirted the ball, that was smart.
01:22That was the play before.
01:23Right, and that had been on, yeah, that was on 2nd and 4th.
01:26So he's still got another crack on a 3rd and manageable.
01:28There's no reason to put the ball in harm's way there.
01:30Especially if we're talking game management, it's first drive of the game.
01:34Much like in the New England game where, hey, it was the first half.
01:37You have a lead and you're in your own territory.
01:40Don't throw the ball up for grabs, you know?
01:42That was the curious thing about that decision.
01:44This is the opposite.
01:45This is being smart about where you are in a football game.
01:48Like, yeah, if it was the 4th quarter and there was only 45 seconds left,
01:52then maybe try to make something happen on that play.
01:55First quarter, first drive, dirt it.
01:57That's perfect.
01:57I feel like with the guys that were in there,
01:59we're going to get to Adam Schefter on C.J. here in just a moment,
02:02but C.J.'s got me thinking about this.
02:04Woody Marks has me thinking about this.
02:06Marlon Klein has me thinking about this.
02:08And those are just three examples.
02:10But you and I are out at training camp every day.
02:12Hey, we've been watching this team throughout the entirety of training camp here.
02:15And we come back on the air here with reports on things and saying that this guy looks really good,
02:20this guy looks great, this guy not so hot, blah, blah, blah.
02:23I feel like in the two preseason games, for the most part, that the guys that we've been touting,
02:31C.J. Chief among them, as having looked improved or good in camp,
02:35that it's played out in those scenarios also where the public's had a chance to see them in games like
02:42this.
02:42So I like that we don't look like liars.
02:44Or that we're not inflating things here.
02:50Well, I think the one player where it hasn't worked out like that is with Colin Wright.
02:55So Colin Wright, undrafted rookie free agent, cornerback,
02:58had been doing a lot of really good things in camp.
03:00We don't look like frauds because all of the players and coaches were saying the same thing.
03:05Colin Wright did look good.
03:06And then he didn't have a great preseason game, which you don't read too much into that high or low
03:13with preseason performances.
03:15That's really the only guy that I can think of off the top of my head
03:18that didn't necessarily look in these preseason games like we've said they did.
03:22Well, he didn't play last night, did he?
03:24No, he didn't play last night.
03:24But in the first preseason game, it wasn't a great game.
03:27So, you know, like Wade Wood has.
03:29I think Wade Wood has done pretty much what we've described,
03:33which is he's capable of making some really nice plays.
03:35And he is very fast.
03:37But even last night, he's still very much a work in progress.
03:40So he made some really good plays.
03:42And he showed, I think, more than anything, D'Amico wants guys who can take the ball away.
03:46And not just take the ball away, but do something with it.
03:48Go back to that Raiders regular season game last year.
03:52The Texans played down to the competition.
03:55The one big difference in that game is that Derek Stingley had a pick six.
03:59Yes, that's right.
03:59For a game that could have been a really, brutally disappointing loss to the Raiders,
04:04who outplayed the Texans on that day.
04:06Could have killed their playoff chances.
04:07Yeah, but like Derek Stingley getting a pick six made a big difference.
04:10So, Wood has looks like a guy who's a rookie and learned how to play linebacker in the NFL.
04:17I saw more positives last night than I did in week one.
04:20Yeah.
04:20So, you know, the arrow is pointing up on him.
04:23I think that he's going to have every opportunity to win that third linebacker spot.
04:26Here was Adam Schefter of ESPN yesterday when they were talking about C.J. Stroud's contract situation.
04:34What is the latest between the Texans and their quarterback?
04:38Peter, you bring up the contract.
04:40And the Houston Texans have had discussions with C.J. Stroud about a new deal.
04:44My understanding is they're not close at this particular time.
04:47Talks will continue.
04:48We'll see if they're able to get anything done by the time the season begins or shortly thereafter.
04:53What's interesting here is after this season, there are going to be a group of quarterbacks in line for extensions
05:00a la Caleb Williams, Jaden Daniels, Drake May, Bo Nix, where you're going to see some enormous prices paid for
05:11quarterbacks.
05:11The prices of quarterbacks, as we know for all players, is always going up, especially a quarterback.
05:18So if the Texans and C.J. Stroud can't get a deal done in the coming weeks and C.J.
05:25Stroud lights it up, the price is going way up.
05:27If he doesn't light it up, then obviously the Texans are in a situation where they may have to find
05:32another quarterback.
05:33But it creates a really interesting situation tied to his contract where there are talks going on.
05:41And we'll see if they can figure out something before the season begins.
05:47I wonder what the number is that each side is at right now.
05:52Yeah.
05:53You know what I mean?
05:53I wonder what neighborhood the Texans are in right now.
05:58Well, okay.
05:58So I've seen people mention, and I think people kind of casually say this, maybe without thinking about it too
06:05much.
06:05They'll say, well, the Texans should just sign him for $50 million a year.
06:09And, okay, but you don't just sign a guy.
06:12The other guy, C.J. has to agree to it.
06:14And C.J. and his agent, David Malageta, who's really good at getting good contracts, are thinking, well, for one,
06:22the going rate has been $55 million for the last few years.
06:25And we think it's going to go up to $65 or $70 million.
06:28So, no, we're not going to sign at a discount right now.
06:32But that doesn't mean that they're angry about it, necessarily.
06:35But I'm not saying that the Texans have even offered him that or anything else.
06:40I don't know what the offers are.
06:42I think that I'm almost at the point where I like that C.J. might just want to be betting
06:47on himself.
06:48I agree.
06:48You know, that he can see it from the Texans' perspective.
06:51And that if he wants to get paid like a top guy, and next year the top guys might be
06:55making $65, $70 million a year, then just bet on yourself.
06:59They might be.
07:00And, yeah, right, if the ceiling's going up, you're just looking at it empirically.
07:04If the ceiling's going to go up that high, then I'll take my chances that I can get that ceiling.
07:09I think the other thing, too, the interesting dynamic about this C.J. situation is that some of the guys
07:15you're talking about that have been in that $53 to $55 range are names like Tuatunga Vailoa, are names like
07:22Kyler Murray, are names like Trevor Lawrence.
07:25And I know Trevor had a good year last year.
07:27But when Trevor signed his deal for $55 million a year, he was coming off a season where the Jags
07:34had missed the playoffs.
07:36They were picking in the top 10 again.
07:37They were a bad team, and he had not had a great year, but they gave him $55 million a
07:42year.
07:42That's the part that feels like is changing, is that there's not just this, well, it's a quarterback who is
07:50above subsistence level, so we've got to give him $55 million a year.
07:54And I feel like the Texans are one of the driving forces behind that change with how they're handling C
07:59.J. Stroud.
08:00Because C.J. has accomplished more in three years than Trevor Lawrence and Kyler Murray did.
08:04I think that, well, the other part of it, too, is that some of that was driven by this fear
08:09that the only way that you can compete is if you have an awesome quarterback and he's got a manageable
08:15contract.
08:16So people were thinking, all right, well, we've got to figure out a way to, if we pay him now
08:21and he does end up being awesome, then we'll still have some money after the cap goes up over the
08:26next couple years to sign other guys.
08:27I think by virtue of the success of Sam Darnold, by the Bucs being able to bring Tom Brady in,
08:35and that's a rare exception, even like Matt Stafford with the Rams, teams are realizing, all right, we don't have
08:41to either spend a really high draft pick and then spend any amount of money to keep a quarterback to
08:48win a Super Bowl.
08:49There's multiple different ways to do it, and there's multiple different ways to find the right guy that's the quarterback
08:56for you.
08:57That they just don't feel like that desperate need to have to get the quarterback locked down.
