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Does someone eventually establish himself as Houston’s clear No. 2 receiver, or will C.J. Stroud and Nick Caley spread those opportunities around behind Nico Collins?
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00:00Hopefully, this offense can keep humming in the way that they did in week one
00:04when they face off against those Bengals.
00:06But hopefully this time it won't be as much of a shootout.
00:09But they were able to do that, John Lopez, clearly running the football
00:12in a way that looked alive compared to last year's running the football.
00:15But they also threw the ball really well.
00:17C.J. Stroud in the pocket, comfortable, confident,
00:20and finding 11 different pass catchers in the course of this game.
00:24I loved, I think we talked about, I loved that C.J. Stroud,
00:27or sorry, Nico Collins was the forefront of this.
00:30But outside of that, it was kind of a fairly equal distribution
00:35of passes to everybody else.
00:37I mean, Dalton Schultz got eight targets still outside of the Nico Collins 10.
00:41So he got a lot of targets.
00:42He didn't bring all those in, which we have not talked about,
00:44and I'm curious how you feel about that.
00:45But when the wide receivers themselves, Jalen Oll got two targets,
00:48but he had a lot of yards out of that.
00:50Hutchinson got six targets with three catches, a decent amount of yards.
00:54Kayshawn Booty had the one catch,
00:56but he wasn't able to bring in the other one that was on the sideline,
00:59although he made a great effort.
01:00Marlon Klein had one target.
01:02Foster Moreau had a couple of targets.
01:03Jared Wayne even had a target.
01:05Kate Stover had a target.
01:06The ball went to a lot of different places,
01:08and that's neglecting the running backs who got some targets in here as well.
01:13The ball went a lot of different places,
01:15but the only primary guy that you can mention is Nico Collins.
01:18That was the focal point.
01:19Outside of that, who is your next guy wasn't really clearly defined.
01:24And I think that that's a question that we've got to get to here.
01:27That secondary target,
01:29is this going to be a secondary target by committee season,
01:31or is this just week one as you're trying to find your footing against a Bulls defense?
01:34You know, when you say something by committee,
01:36a lot of times the connotation is not a good one.
01:38Right.
01:39You know, it's, oh boy.
01:41So they have no clue who's going to be, in this case, wide receiver two.
01:46I actually don't think it's a bad one in this case.
01:49I really don't.
01:50You mentioned targets, and that's where I was going to go,
01:52as well as snap counts, and I'll get to that in just a second.
01:55Snap counts might be even more interesting right now.
01:57Yeah, I'm going to get to that here in just a second.
01:59But, you know, just eliminate, I'm talking wide receiver.
02:01You know, forget tight ends for a minute,
02:03because we've talked a lot about who's wide receiver two.
02:05Jaden Higgins is down.
02:06Is it fair to say forget tight end?
02:07No, no, it's not, because there are going to be targets in this offense.
02:11But I'm talking about wide receivers.
02:13Receivers, because they're moving them around,
02:15and maybe some of those tight ends are going to be put in those wide receiver spots.
02:18That's what I'm saying.
02:19Like, if there was any a year where I think it's, I guess,
02:23the least fair to say forget the wide receivers and the running backs is this one,
02:26because it's clear that they want to move guys around.
02:28There was a number of times where you had 13 personnel,
02:31except there was two tight ends that were tight,
02:32and one was wide or one was split out in the slot.
02:37They're using different alignments.
02:38We saw running backs get out there lined up like wide receivers.
02:41I think this is more of a, hey, pass-catching core type system.
02:45And I do wonder how much that factors into what we're talking about here,
02:48because last year it was that Dalton Schultz was the second receiver
02:50or the second leading pass catcher,
02:52but that was also because of the way that, you know,
02:56the incompetence or inability to get the ball to various different places.
02:59Yeah.
03:00This feels a little bit different, and I think, but it might be the tight end.
03:04Like, it could end up being one of these tight ends that's there,
03:06and that could be a lot more intentional and more effective.
03:08No, I mean, I think you're right.
03:10I think they will use tight ends a lot.
03:11I think they're going to be split a lot.
03:12They're going to be able to be a part of this offense a lot.
03:15But I was looking at, like, the wide receiver, the classic, you know,
03:20they can go, you know, inside, outside, wherever.
03:23I like the distribution here, and let's talk about these snap counts.
03:27I think it says a lot.
03:28If you had to guess, if you haven't looked at what I put down on the document.
03:31I looked at it a little while ago, but I can't remember, so maybe this works anyway.
03:34I'll put it this way.
03:35I wouldn't have guessed Xavier Hutchinson would have the highest snap count
03:40of any wide receiver.
03:41I would have.
03:41You would have?
03:42Yeah.
03:42Yeah?
03:43And the reason's very simple.
03:44He's been here probably the longest of that group outside of Nico Collins.
03:49They trust him a lot, and he had the most time in camp, right?
03:52Because the next guy that you go, maybe they trust him,
03:54is Jalen Knoll, who's been in the system.
03:55Jalen Knoll was injured through a good amount of camp,
03:58so he's a little bit closer on the return to playing football.
04:01So it made sense that Hutchinson would get most of the burn,
04:04especially because Kayshawn Booty just dropped in as well.
04:06But even at that, it wasn't a high percentage of snaps.
04:0956% of the snaps was your leader among wide receivers,
04:13and that's why I actually don't mind it.
04:15Next was Kayshawn Booty at 46%.
04:19That figures to go up a little bit.
04:21We heard D'Amico Ryans talking about, well, he's picked it up as best he can,
04:25and he was impressed by it.
04:27I'm not saying that was a bad thing.
04:28He's picked it up, getting indoctrinated into the offense.
04:32Jared Wayne was 36%.
04:35The third highest number of snaps was Jared Wayne and then Jalen Knoll.
04:41So I think that committee right there, I think that's where they're going to go,
04:43and I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing depending on what they're calling.
04:47Now, I know Jared Wayne, you bringing him up there might have raised some eyebrows.
04:50I think it's also worth noting, I think he was in there a lot for run plays.
04:53I think route distribution is also something that we have to keep track of
04:57because some of these guys, like Xavier Hutchison as well, in addition to him being around,
05:01in addition to him having more of training camp, they trust him to block in the run game.
05:06Which, remember, when they start talking about wide receivers,
05:08they want those guys blocking the run game.
05:09So Hutch is going to be out there blocking the run game.
05:11Jared Wayne, clearly, they have him out there blocking the run game.
05:15I'm just seeing this.
05:16When you talk about route distribution, like actual routes run,
05:19Nico Collins led, Dalton Schultz was second, Kayshawn Booty was third,
05:23Xavier Hutchison was fourth, David Montgomery was fifth,
05:26Jalen Noel was sixth, and we can go further on.
05:29That also feels kind of right with the only thing being,
05:33I think Jalen Noel needs to tick up in time with some of his route sharing opportunities.
05:37But that feels right.
05:39And I think that that also still points to the possibility.
05:41And also, I think Booty can probably tick up in route share as time goes.
05:45And that feels right.
05:46I think to answer the question that we start with,
05:48is this going to be a wide receiver two by committee?
05:51I think to some degree, yes.
05:52But that's because, look at the talent.
05:54Who would you say is the wide receiver two that makes defenses go,
05:58damn, we have to consider him in that way?
06:00Talent-wise.
06:01I don't know that that's there.
06:02So I kind of like the idea of taking the particular talents and skill sets that they have
06:06and getting the most out of them, including having Kayshawn Booty,
06:09especially if you can use him more on that in route that he ultimately catches.
06:13If you see and you can use more of those in-breakers,
06:15I think you use him more to challenge defenses deep
06:18and to challenge defenses over the middle.
06:19He ends up being maybe closer to the number two in that committee of two.
06:24Dalton Schultz obviously is always going to be a fail-safe of sorts that they can go to
06:29or safety blanket.
06:30I think Jalen Knoll has an opportunity to expand as well.
06:32And Hutchinson is just a guy that they trust to move around and put in a lot of places.
06:35I think that that is, if we're talking about a committee,
06:37I think that's the inner circle of a committee that feels fine and feels right,
06:41especially if C.J. Stroud is going to be really good
06:43at finding those guys at the right times in the right places for them to be successful.
06:47But would you feel the same?
06:49Because I think it's good right now, but would you feel the same?
06:52We get into week six, week seven,
06:54and Kayshawn Booty isn't necessarily starting to sort of distinguish himself
06:59as the number two because I think Jaden Higgins was going to be the number two wide receiver.
07:04Oh, yeah.
07:05No, that was going to be clear cut.
07:06He was replaced by Kayshawn Booty.
07:08I think it's more of a, you know, you would expect him to be the number two.
07:13I don't think it's a bad thing if he doesn't,
07:15but I think if you're trying to replace Jaden Higgins,
07:18he does need to probably, you know, distinguish himself more as a clear number two.
07:22But this is where we come back to that you're not going to,
07:24Jaden Higgins, what he was bringing is above probably the heads of most of these guys anyway.
07:28So you're going to have to piecemeal some of this responsibility anyways.
07:31The interesting thing is I, and maybe this is kind of off the board here,
07:34I'm intrigued with one of the dudes who got probably the least amount of snaps of offensive players,
07:39how his role grows, and you know who I'm going to say.
07:41Who?
07:42Marlon Klein.
07:43I'm intrigued that over the course of the full season,
07:46how his role grows from, what was it, nine snaps and one catch.
07:49How does his role grow when we talk about pass catchers?
07:52And I don't think that'll really challenge for that,
07:54that wide receiver two or receiver two kind of committee.
07:57But I wonder how does he grow and where does that maybe come from?
08:01That is also something I'm intrigued by.
08:02How does he grow?
08:03How does Jalen Knoll grow?
08:04How does Kayshawn Booty go?
08:06So that grow.
08:07That's the thing that I'm interested in.
08:08I think that it's going to be clearly Nico Collins.
08:10And I loved that first and foremost that you can have Nico Collins be in that spot.
08:15Because we talked about it.
08:16There were games last year where Nico Collins went quiet for periods at a time.
08:21And I think some of that was you could not make sure that you got him the ball.
08:24And I don't want to use the word force.
08:26Because force has an implication of you're putting him in bad places
08:28and asking him to go make a play outside of what is actually there for him.
08:33I think that one of the things that's cool about moving him around
08:36and seemingly Nick Caley having a better schematic game plan, at least in this game,
08:42is that they were putting an emphasis on him without having to force him to football.
08:47They were all opportunities for him to catch the football in there.
08:50And then he did it.
08:50And I love that that's the case so that you can't have,
08:53or at least I feel like defenses won't be able to take him off the board.
08:56Sometimes it felt like they could.
08:57And once you have that, I think you have more leeway to let more of these other guys
09:01find their rhythm, find who has the hot hand in this game
09:05and who can actually unlock and attack defense.
09:07I think the one that is most interesting to me, and I agree with you,
09:10I think Marlon Klein is interesting, but the one to me is Jalen Knoll.
09:14Agreed.
09:15You can't get the fewest number of snaps.
09:19When Tank Dale's on the shelf, you're the speed guy.
09:22You're the slot guy.
09:24None of these other guys, they all play there occasionally.
09:26Occasionally.
09:27But none of these other guys are the slot guy.
09:29You want to put in their speed, all that stuff.
09:32You can't have two catches and just be on the field a third of the time.
09:35Yeah, that's funny.
09:36Now that you mention it, the guys that we're both mentioning.
09:40And then they have that punt return that you kind of spit the bit.
09:41Well, yeah.
09:41That's an entirely different thing.
09:43And I'm still very curious as to what the hell happened there on the punt return
09:47because that's an opportunity for you to have an explosive circumstance.
09:51The thing that I'm thinking about is we mentioned Kayshaun Booty.
09:55We mentioned Jay Leno.
09:57We mentioned Marlon Klein.
09:58All these guys feel like vertical guys.
09:59And we were just mentioning CJ Stroud.
10:01I don't think he had a single pass that was over 20 air yards in this game.
10:06I wonder if that's also part of the growth is that is the opportunity with those guys
10:10to have more burn is maybe having opportunities to actually take the top off the defense
10:14with Jay Leno going deep, Kayshaun Booty going deep, and then maybe Marlon Klein going deep
10:19in the seam, in the middle of the field.
10:22So maybe that's the growth opportunity.
10:24But I think that this is a great starting point.
10:26And I think I'm okay with the opportunity at a receiver two by committee.
10:31I am too.
10:31But it needs to grow.
10:33I'd like to see it change.
10:35It needs to grow.
10:35How it develops as a group, as a committee, especially with Jalen Knoll.
10:40But yeah, I'm with you.
10:40And maybe Booty as well.
10:42I'm in agreeance.
10:43So yeah, no.
10:43Maybe we're just drinking the Kool-Aid after a victory where it went well.
10:47Week two will be another data point to help us kind of suss this out.
10:51But right now, wide receiver two by committee seems to be working all right.
10:55Week two will be another data point.
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