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If you were drafting futures for NFL franchises, how long before you'd get to the Texans? Paul Gallant and Luke Mauro discuss it on Fan Weekends.
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00:00How many teams' futures in the NFL would you sign up for before you got to the Houston Texans?
00:06It's 95.7 The Fan. I'm Luke Morrow, alongside Paul Gallant.
00:10With you until 1 o'clock here on this Saturday.
00:13713-572-4610 on the text line.
00:17Or the YouTube chat as well to join the conversation throughout.
00:23By the way, we were asking about most spoiled fan bases earlier.
00:26Someone on the text line said the Swifties are on that list.
00:31Um, I don't know. I would compare them more to, I don't know, terrorists.
00:36No offense.
00:38I think that the most psychotic Swifties are the kind of people that should be put on a watch list.
00:49To be this obsessed with someone who has a bunch of catchy songs.
00:56I do not, for the life of me, understand it.
00:59I can understand appreciating her music.
01:02The people that will go to war for her, though, they truly terrify me.
01:07Yeah, fans like that and the Beyonce fans as well.
01:12Anybody that's...
01:13Beehive, oh yeah.
01:14Yeah, the Beehive, yeah.
01:15Anyone that's that way for...
01:16Especially here.
01:16It's true.
01:17Can't say anything about them here.
01:18Which is why we love Beyonce.
01:21She's our queen.
01:23It's kind of like, I referenced that movie earlier, Borderline.
01:26It's kind of what it's like.
01:27It's about a crazed fan over a pop star.
01:30And the lengths he would go.
01:31Played by Jack Nicholson's son.
01:33Check it out out there.
01:34It's pretty good.
01:36But, how many teams futures would you sign up for before you actually pick the Houston Texans?
01:41I was sort of surprised by this.
01:44Got a lot of talk this week.
01:46ESPN put out these rankings where they power-ranked the future for all 32 NFL teams looking at 2027 to
01:522029.
01:53So, beyond this season, the next three years.
01:56And they graded things such as overall roster, excluding the quarterback, and then the quarterback on their own, and then
02:03coaching and front office.
02:05And so, I know this was discussed on these airwaves this week.
02:07But, I was surprised as I was scrolling through that the Texans were ranked 8th on this power ranking.
02:15Huh.
02:16Overall score of 84 on a scale of 100.
02:20So, you know, like a B grade for the next three years for the Texans.
02:23They were ranked 4th in overall roster, 14th in quarterback, 12 in coaching, 10 in front office.
02:30When I think of the Texans and the future, I don't know.
02:36I meant to look at this list and I still can't.
02:38I don't know how many teams have both their GM and their coach listed in the top 12 like the
02:44Texans do.
02:45And even D'Amico at 12, I think, is underrating him.
02:48So, really, they should both be top 10.
02:50I don't know how many franchises feel like you have a top 10 front office and a top 10 coach
02:54right now.
02:55But with this defense and some of the young stars, I just feel like the Texans would be one of
03:02the higher that if I was drafting like the Futures, if I was picking a team and a franchise in
03:07Madden,
03:08I don't know how many I would choose before I got to the Texans that if they could just simply
03:12figure out this quarterback situation, it seems like they're in a pretty darn good spot.
03:17Seahawks are in a great spot.
03:18John Schneider's been doing a hell of a job for now almost 15 years.
03:24I'm a little biased because I was up there for a little bit.
03:27And clearly, the new Michael McDonald nodded the Doobie Brothers.
03:32I got the best defense in the NFC.
03:35He has done a really good job to open things up.
03:38So, I think the Seahawks are one.
03:41But the Texans have got to be pretty high up because they have that combination and the guys seem to
03:46get along with one another.
03:48I would imagine the Rams are up high.
03:51And because of their aggressiveness and on top of that, the money that they have to perhaps make things a
03:55little bit more advantageous for them,
03:58they can spend more money than other teams because they have Stan Kroenke.
04:01I think that's a really good team as well.
04:03But yeah, I think they should be higher than that.
04:06And maybe I'm biased.
04:08Maybe I'm too close to it.
04:09Maybe there's other ones that I'm not thinking of.
04:12Were there any that stood out to you?
04:14Yeah, let me pull up the list here.
04:15Because the other thing I will also add is the Athletic, a different publication, put out their own list for
04:22a different topic
04:23where they looked at the top young players in the NFL.
04:26They ranked the best players 25 or younger.
04:29And only five franchises had three players on their list, which included the Eagles, the Lions, and then the Texans.
04:40With Will Anderson Jr., Derek Stingley, and then, funny enough, CJ Stroud cracked the top 20,
04:46who is, of course, the quarterback of the most important position.
04:48So when you look at the athletics list of young talent, the Texans are one of at least three that
04:56have some of the best young talent in the league.
04:59Paired with already, like I said, a top 10 front office, top 12 coach, those are things that are repeatable
05:06from year to year.
05:07There's no salary cap on those.
05:09The roster right now might be what it is, but you have fears of having to break this team up
05:14in future years.
05:14But if you have a top 10 GM and, let's say, a top 10 coach, then you expect to be
05:21good, competitive year in and year out.
05:24Look at this year's draft class.
05:26I mean, there's an argument to be made that this is one of Casario's better ones already, and we haven't
05:32even seen a real game yet.
05:33Because of the impact Eland Rutledge has had, because of Cade McDonald falling into your lap.
05:38Marlon Klein, the big project at tight end, has looked really good to this point.
05:42Wade Wood has had a pick six, and D'Amico Ryan seems to really like him.
05:45Kamari Ramsey had an interception in preseason game number one.
05:48Lewis Bond's been pretty good at training camp.
05:50Yeah, they have a great GM.
05:51Nick Casario, you know, might be a little robotic, might be the best filibuster, but I strongly believe he is
05:58one of the best GMs in the league.
06:00And the track record says it.
06:02The offensive line has just been an issue to this point.
06:05People should be looking at, you know, with Will Anderson coming in 12th on the NFL Top 100, people should
06:10be beating themselves on the head with a shovel if they were whining about that trade to go get Will
06:15Anderson on draft night in 2023.
06:18Everyone crushed that.
06:20Everyone.
06:22Wild thinking back because of how good he's been, how impactful he's been in this locker room.
06:26And hell, that list that you mentioned, Luke, didn't even bring up Kamari Lasseter, who I would argue is a
06:32top 10 corner and is easily the number two corner, the number one, number two corner in all the league.
06:39The T. Higgins of CB2s, as the kid said.
06:43God, I'm embracing that lexicon.
06:44Whatever.
06:45No, that's neither here nor there.
06:46There's a lot of young talent here, and I don't think it's going to stop.
06:50And the better part is D'Amico Ryans has clearly defined what he wants his players to be.
06:55And Casario, I mean, just look at Keelan Rutledge.
06:58I don't know how he finds these guys and the mentality that they need to have.
07:02Read that Sports Illustrated piece by Connor Orr, and you'll get a little bit more of a feel for it
07:06and some of the things that they're looking for when they bring guys in.
07:08But this system that they have, it's huge.
07:12That's a big key to life.
07:13It's not about having goals for yourself, it's about developing a system and executing it well every single day.
07:18It's true.
07:19It then becomes repeatable, and I've always said that to have success in everything is just simply being able to
07:25repeat that successful, let's say, motion.
07:29That's what always happens with pitchers in baseball.
07:31Like, oh, the mechanics are out of whack.
07:33Or in golf, you're just trying to execute the same swing each time, and it's so hard for an amateur
07:38like ourselves to go out there and perform that same swing.
07:41That it feels good every once in a while.
07:43You can hit the ball perfectly, but then you get out of whack.
07:46If you can perform the same thing over and over again, that's just the key to success.
07:50Exactly.
07:50If you can find a way to consistently be successful, of course.
07:54Only five teams on this list have a GM and a coach ranked in the top ten.
08:00Huh.
08:01The teams that are listed ahead of the Texans, see if you agree or disagree.
08:04Right in front of them would be the Packers.
08:06So let's look at this from a perspective of would you rather be a fan base of the Texans or
08:12of this other team for the next three years?
08:15Packers are ranked seventh.
08:16Now, anyone that listens to me on these airwaves knows I've never been a Packers guy.
08:22I think Jordan Love's vastly overrated.
08:24I think LeFleur is vastly overrated over there, and the front office with the lack of ownership can be a
08:30little chaotic in Green Bay.
08:33But they're ranked ahead of the Texans.
08:35I honestly think I would sign up for the Texans' future, or I would buy stock in the Texans the
08:40next three years than I would or before doing so in the Packers.
08:43I would also choose the Texans because of the other advantage of you're in Texas, you're in Houston, they're in
08:53a city that is not a city, it's a town.
08:56They're in a town that's in a cold part of the country, and there's taxes.
09:02So that is a big obstacle for you in free agency.
09:08You might like who's running the show.
09:11So I think LeFleur's a good coach.
09:13I think he's good.
09:14You can't deny the track record of winning during the regular season.
09:18They have consistently been good.
09:20Is he overrated as far as maybe a playoff winner?
09:23Yeah, for sure.
09:24They have not.
09:25I would say that they have underachieved.
09:27They're kind of in the same boat as the Texans, but smaller market.
09:30I imagine in Green Bay, it's maybe a little bit more heat on him than nationally you'll get that same
09:35thing because of what a smaller market they are and the way things go.
09:40Packers always get talked about as a Tiffany franchise, though, and they've done a pretty damn good job of keeping
09:45this thing running, which has been, I would argue, over the last 30 years, probably the most consistent organization in
09:50the NFL.
09:51Yeah, it might be.
09:53Since Brett Favre won the three MVPs in a row, I mean, I can't remember many bad years by the
10:00Packers.
10:01No, it's true.
10:01So you want to take history into account, maybe that's a reason to pick them over the Texans, but I'd
10:07rather have the Texans.
10:08Casario, Ryans, having all the money that they have, where you mentioned the ownership group for the Packers, too, that's
10:14tough.
10:14The Texans are cash-strapped.
10:16They're one of the best in the league when it comes to having money to spend.
10:19Yeah, I mean, the Packers have one playoff win the last five years, just on the LaFleur point.
10:23They've been, I think, the last wild card team the last three years, just kind of sneaking in, or at
10:28least two of the last three years.
10:31And even last year, they blew that playoff lead in the postseason to Caleb Williams and the Bears and lost
10:37in the first round.
10:38Yeah, God, that collapsed.
10:41That should be crushed as much as C.J. Stroud.
10:44It has not been.
10:45No.
10:46I totally forgot about it until you mentioned it.
10:48But just like, I mean, you can almost kind of point to, it just wasn't as bad.
10:51The problem for Stroud was it was so bad against New England, and it was kind of back-to-back
10:55games where he didn't play very well.
10:56But, like, Josh Allen had, what, four turnovers in his playoff loss last year?
10:59Here's the thing, though.
11:00Allen played well in that game, even with the turnovers.
11:03And Allen's the reason that they were in that game.
11:04He's throwing the ball to Brandon.
11:06I like Jack Easterby cooks, for God's sake.
11:09My bad, the Archer.
11:10People wanted to bring that guy back.
11:12He quit on this team.
11:13Yeah.
11:14By the way.
11:14Anyway, but, like, that's who Allen was throwing to.
11:16So, I know people bring up that comparison.
11:18And, yeah, Allen does sometimes skate by criticism.
11:21Also, it's a byproduct of where he is, Buffalo.
11:23But, come on.
11:24Allen was way better than Stroud in that game.
11:26Also, I can't blame him too much for wanting to quit on the Lovey Smith-David Culley experience here in
11:32Houston.
11:32But he quit on moving from Easterby to Casario.
11:36It seemed to be a Casario issue more than it necessarily was the coach and the rest of the organization.
11:44But, whatever.
11:44He's gone.
11:45Don't bring him back.
11:46Quickly trying to get through this list.
11:48This next one is interesting.
11:49No, no, you're good.
11:50Number six, the Patriots.
11:52Would you rather have the Texans' future or the Patriots' future?
11:55Look, I'm a diehard Patriots fan, and I have real questions about this year.
11:58I do not know what Mike Frabel is going to be after this massive scandal.
12:01And I'll say this about the Patriots.
12:02The same way that the Packers are kind of in the middle of nowhere, people don't really know that Foxborough
12:06is really far outside of Boston.
12:09It's about an hour drive.
12:10I used to make that drive with my dad going to about 50, 60 games growing up or so.
12:14It's a small little town.
12:17That's where the Patriots play.
12:19And on top of that, Bob Craft, he is a penny pincher.
12:24And they are very sensitive to this, the Patriots, the idea that they do not throw contracts out.
12:30Again, it goes back to the money side of it.
12:32You know, for all the questions you might have had about Cal McNair in the past, that man will sign
12:38checks.
12:39And that is a huge thing.
12:40And he gets out of the way, too.
12:43And, yeah, I would take the Texans right now over the Patriots mainly because the Vrabel vibes, I don't know
12:49what they are right now after what happened.
12:52Even though they have Drake May, who I feel better about than C.J. Stroud, yes, even with that playoff
12:56performance by May, which was pretty rough all four weeks.
12:59Yeah, that's part of the thing with the Patriots is just kind of inflated.
13:02The fact that they got to the Super Bowl, can't take it away from them.
13:05They won the games, but they had a much easier path in the AFC last year than most teams that
13:09win the conference.
13:10You already referenced the Rams, who are fifth on the list.
13:14Broncos are fourth on the list.
13:16And then the Lions are three.
13:18Eagles, two.
13:19Seahawks, who you brought up earlier, one as well.
13:24There's only a couple of teams.
13:26The Seahawks, I could get behind.
13:28The Rams, I agree.
13:29But then I also have questions about what do you do after Stafford, which might be next season.
13:33And Ty Simpson looked good in preseason game number one.
13:36He did look good, except the fact that I think he didn't throw a single pass.
13:39I saw the stat.
13:40He didn't throw a single pass beyond five yards or something like that.
13:42Or didn't complete.
13:43It was a genius, bro.
13:44Yeah, that's what it is.
13:45Didn't complete a single pass beyond five yards, maybe is what it was.
13:48Even though he did put up good numbers.
13:50Point being, the future is bright for the Texans.
13:55But at the same time, we made the point last week where this is the most important season in franchise
13:59history.
14:00And it reminded me of something I heard Joe Burrow say this week.
14:03Where it's like, enough about next year.
14:05The time is now.
14:06We're running out of time.
14:07We keep pushing this off.
14:08And Cincinnati, Joe Burrow is making the point.
14:10But we keep talking about, oh, next year.
14:12Oh, next year.
14:13We have to get this done and finally win something.
14:16And it's similar here in Houston, regardless of how good the next few years might still or potentially could be
14:22or look for this team.
14:23Yeah, you're right.
14:25The opportunity is here.
14:26And I think the most difficult part for anyone who's been following this team for such a long time is
14:30that, well, they haven't done it, so they can't do it.
14:34And it's a fair line of thinking, I think.
14:37Yeah.
14:37You know, especially with the way that the last playoff game ended.
14:40Because by all metrics, you had the edge going into that game.
14:43I thought the Texans would win.
14:46And you, oof.
14:47I mean, you puked that thing away.
14:49It was rough.
14:50Hey, I subscribe to the Polar Express theory as well.
14:53I got to see it before I can believe in it.
14:54And we just haven't been able to see it yet.
14:56Maybe this is the year.
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