Texans All AccessHello Texans, and welcome to the show. We bring you inside the Hundai Texans Radio studio at NRG Stadium, which is busy with organized team activities, OTAs and mini camp coming up next week and then a gigantic break for the players until training camp begins sometime in late July, the week of the twenty first. At some point we'll have training camp practices. We will keep you posted. Don't worry, you'll hear from us.
Now.
A lot of people are worried because they hear, Hey, CJ Stroud not throwing.
What's he doing? What's happening? I don't know.
Well, let's hear from the head coach on the subject, as he greeted the media after practice today.
First off, I know everybody's gonna ask first, CJ not throwing again. There's no concerns with CJ's just general soreness. We're taking exhal precaution with him, but he'll be good to go. No concerns on my end there really excited the way our guys are working and competing out at practice. When you see a good team, what excites me as you're seeing both sides make plays offense. Defense is a lot of back and forth, guys making plays. He's so really excited to see where our team are here in our second week of practicing. They're really growing, developing, taking the steps we need to take. And it's fun to watch.
Well, it is fun to watch, Johnny and I really enjoy watching some practice out there. And there's the head coach reacting to CJ. Stroud questions and he got more of them. We're not going to play all the reaction because it's the same stuff general soreness. But Johnny, there's the head coach explaining some things, and I think the biggest thing to take away from whatever he said is take his word for it. He'll be ready whenever ready is required, He'll be ready. And that's what we have to do. Take his word for it.
Yeah, there's nothing else we can do at this point. I mean, that's that's really it.
I know that.
And just listening to Brandon and seth On on Supports Radio six ten, and it's CJ's shoulder issues coinciding with astros, Tommy john surgeries and the Alvarez hand issue, like all of that just gives you like this injury PTSD of like, well, wait a second, the astros in the situation with Alvarez. Wait, we just found out he had a broken bone, Like you're not telling you. So I do think there's that with injuries and and look, teams, teams are gonna protect their guys. They're gonna protect their players, and they're gonna do everything possible to make sure that they don't throw them under the bus or uh, you know, portray something that isn't there. We over the last three years, and obviously you knew to Meko before I was able to meet him when he became the head coach of twenty twenty three. I think we speak pretty fluent Demico at this point. Yeah, and so just listening to what he had to say, Oh, it'll be fine, like CG will be fine, Like I get that feeling. If coach had bigger concerns, I think he would it wouldn't be oh my god, I'm terrified of whether CJ can be ready for training camp or not. It would sound different. It would sound a whole heck of a lot different than that. Yeah, it would. So from that, I'm kind of like, Okay, I feel I feel all right. Just want to see seven get back healthy. I've said this, I said this, the first day of OTAs when he didn't he didn't work out, and people were kind of like what and there, Look, there are a lot of things that can be I don't want to say wrong, but when you throw a football, you throw a baseball for a long time sometimes and I know I had this, you can have. You can have dead arm, you can have you know, your rotator can be tweaked. You know your elbow might hurt. You know, there could be all different kinds of things that are going on.
But people's objecting objection to that is it's May June, right, right, So yeah, right, but you're just trying to And coach said the very first OTA's like, look, everybody's kind of on the on a different plan of getting ready for the season.
Yeah, and I think that would.
Kind of fall into that category of getting ready for this season. Look, we can take how many throws do you think in OTAs do you think you make just playing catch, throwing one on, throwing seven on seven throwing routes on air and team one hundred?
I think it's probably a hundred day.
Okay, so say it's one hundred a day, right, Yeah, so one hundred a day.
How many OTAs. They have like four three four a week or something four a week for three we see them all.
Yeah, so let's just say you can take one hundred throws times save five days. That's five hundred throws that you can just save on his arm through this time of year.
And look, I know there's a lot.
I know there's a lot to work on and there's a lot to have to go through mentally, knowing the offense, all that kind of stuff. That's that's got to be something that they work on behind closed doors and they have that ready to go so that when his shoulder does feel better, he can go and he can execute on a field and do all that during training camp.
This is the time to totally be ready.
Yeah, there's some reps and all that, and I get all that, But say you take five hundred throws off his arm just we're not you know, just we're not going in OTAs or mini camp or whatever the case might be.
Like that, that's a lot.
I mean, you just think about all the throws you make during a season seventeen weeks.
It's a lot.
So you take five hundred or so off his plate for a little while, build up and work on that shoulder and get it stronger for the season and hopefully you have no problems during the season.
I hope so now too, what he is doing is notable because they do offensive and defensive install.
Yeah, and he's definitely operational in that.
So he's getting to know the new offense, the play calls, the protections, he's doing all of that work still, right, They are definitely doing that, so he's getting It's more than just mental reps watching, He's participating in those activities. So I think that's really going to help him. He has plenty of time to get into throwing rhythm. He's done it before, I'll do it again. They got to learn the offense and that's what he is getting in right now.
We'll see if he throws next week in mini camp. Yep.
I doubt he throws again this week, but you'd never know. But next week mini camp maybe and maybe not, and maybe we wait till training camp when we see him throw.
Well.
One of the things that I was kind of alluding to with with arm issues is sometimes something may not hurt.
The right way of saying this, it may not hurt.
You just know something isn't right because you're you're lacking what you think is a zip. I talked about a dead arm, like you can have a dead arm, like nothing's really hurt. Like I would throw a ball and I'm like, I didn't didn't hurt me to throw, But I knew, man, I don't have the same sauce on this as I thought I did.
Right, So there can be a lot of different things.
Yeah, not pain, but you know, something isn't quite right, and really, what's the only thing that can help you in that situation.
It's rest. So look, we don't really know.
We know as it's been reported by sources that it's you know, shoulder tightness. I think Dinko said something like that, general general soreness. The only real cure for general soreness is just rest.
Yeah, and hope that hope.
That he can get back thrown this summer because I know they go out, they've gone off to the UCLA, they've gone out to Los Angeles, and they've done some throwing and done all that, and hopefully he can do that so he can create some synergy with his wide receivers at that point. Yeah, and hopefully in that process nothing further becomes an issue.
I don't know this for a fact.
But my theory is when the quarterbacks and receivers go away to throw, it's the bonding and the camaraderie and the togetherness that's you that's even more important than whatever timing they're getting, because timing, I think has to be within the framework of the offense, but I could be wrong about that. It all helps, It all helps, as long as it doesn't wear and tear on the shoulder or any kind of throwing operation. So that's it from the head coach. That's the explanation on CJ. We saw another OTA practice today. Plenty of different things to comment on, and we'll get to some of that stuff, but right now, as promised.
Jalen Peatree Nickel's safety.
He's listed as a safety and he's a Stafford product, Baylor local guy. He's being honored by the City of Stafford during their Juneteenth celebration.
It's really cool stuff. He's very busy in the community.
You're talking about a Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee of this team in twenty twenty four. Jail and Petrie and studio jailing. Great to see. How's it going.
It's going well. Man back in football. So I'm extremely excited and it's been fun so far.
It's been fun indeed to see you guys out there doing it this time of year. Look, you've been in meetings and practices and we have a lot to talk about because you're being honored. We're going to get to that in a moment. But tell us this meetings this time of year. What are you guys covering this time of year in these meetings?
The basics, the fundamentals, everything that you know, everybody sees when the season's come when the season comes.
But it's pretty simple.
We're just learning the basics and making sure that we're mastering the fundamentals so that when you know, Buddy gets a flying, we're doing what we need to do.
And I'm gonna ask you a question. I know it probably hurts to talk about, how much did you make.
I missed it a lot, like I was still around, but it's different when you you know, you in the mixing you're playing. So, like I said, I'm really thankful and grateful to you know, be back out there with the.
Guys just flying around and running around. It is nothing like it.
How much do you put into these OTAs and the mini camp practices where hey, you can't really hit people, but you want to play or practice with some intensity.
How do you handle that? How do you gauge that out there?
Jail?
Yeah, I think it's it's about taking every rep personal and making sure that you're getting some out of every rep because, like I said, these reps are gonna, you know, show up in December and late into the season when the playoffs come, so it's important that you do take them serious. But it's also a fine line there when you're competing against people with you know, shirts and T shirts and you're not hitting people. So it's about making sure that you're keeping your teammates you know, healthy as well, but also getting.
Good work and making sure y'all flying around.
Jalen did the staff and you find the secret sauce for you and find your spot that fits you maybe best at all, playing the nickel spot the way you did. I mean, I mean, you know, I've talked about this. I watched you so many times at Baylor and the Closer. You were a lot of scrimmage man. You made every single play that you could make. You could blitch, you would sack guys, you would have TFLs. It felt like you were kind of playing that same way last year. You feel like you kind of find the secret sauce, Like that's that's what I do, That's how I play, and that's where I'm most comfortable.
Yeah, I love it, but I wouldn't say I found the freak secret sauce. My coaches found it.
You know.
They allowed me to be in that position and to do to things that you know, I think is catered to my you know, playing style. So I'm thankful that they put me in put me in that position, and you know, I don't take it lightly and continue to you know, go out there and try to make plays for my teammates.
What do you make of this dB room, Jalaling, Because there's some new faces and there's some faces that have been around that have done some things in this league.
It looks very strong top to bottom.
Oh yeah, we got we got a lot of dogs in a defensive back room, like top to bottom, left to right. You know, everybody has their own different type of swag, different type of you know, like you said, saus or whatever, but everybody makes plays and everybody you know, gets the job done. So thankful to being in that room with so many great guys and just be able to learn from them and just you know, pick their brains on different things that they see.
It just hit me. I was sitting there thin doing the math.
It's going to your fourth year, yep, your season that you're like one of the older guys. I won't say old, you want of the older guys in that room. You've always had a leadership quality, even going dating back to your days as a rookie, but you feel like that's kind of grown these four years now that you as you go into year number four, like you've seen some things. You've been there, You've experienced highs, you've also experienced some things that you had to work through. How valuable has that been your team? And you kind of feel that kind of leadership kind of growing in you in your four.
Oh yeah, for sure.
I definitely see all of these years, you know, piling up, and I'm just trying to do my best to you know, help out anybody that needs it. I know that when I have questions, I'm asking guys older and younger me, younger than me about what they think.
So you know, I just want to be that helping him as well.
Just to you know, give my knowledge and my input if they wanted, and you know, help out is needed, all right.
So Jalen, you are being honored by the City of Stafford here Juneteenth celebration June fifteenth.
It's gonna be amazing.
You've done so much in the community and let's start here. Last year, I know the injury was terrible, but off the field, you get nominated for Walter Payton Man of the Year.
You are, this franchise is nominatee. What did that mean to you?
It meant the world to me.
You know, you know, I take my job seriously on the field, but I also take my job serious off the field.
So to be honored with a a what a prestigious.
Award like that, and to be nominated for that, it was it was crazy, Like it was low key, a couple of tiers Like I'm like, I'm honored for this, like the work that I do. People actually you know see that. So you know, I'm thankful and I understand that it does bring more likes. So it's gonna be more work that needs to be done. So, like I said, I was thankful but also encouraged that you know, it's a lot more that needs to be done in the city.
For sure.
We know that you would be doing what you're doing off the field and on the field no matter where you were. But the fact that it's here, that it's Houston, that is Stafford, that it's your home for sure, does it mean that much more to you that way?
It definitely does.
You know, like you said, this is my crib, this is my home, and you have to take care of your crib, you know, like when we go home at night, we want to make sure our crib is nice and everything is taken care of.
So you know, I see this the same way.
You know.
I want to make sure that the kids that's coming behind me have the means to everything to you know, rease their goals and rease their full potential.
So that's all I want to do. And it's a lot of people that helped me.
Shout out to them and yeah, we're going to keep this thing moving and continue to improve on it.
P Tree Boys Boys with a Z and it's ptree boys dot com and I've got the website up right here. It's very simple donate or request funds. You do so much for so many people, and you make it very simple as well tell us about Ptree Boys a little bit more.
Yes, that's all we try to do. Make it simple.
Like I said, it's a lot of kids in the Houston community as a whole. We work a lot with Stafford, but we also help with the Houston community as a whole with different basketball tournaments. We just sent some soccer balls to Africa with our church. Like we do a lot of different things. So if you want to donate and help out and send funds to kids and needs, that's what we help with. And also, you know, we have camps. If you want to come out and donate your time, you know you can do that. So time and money is huge. And if you don't want to do any of that, a prayer helps. So those three are the ways that you know, we try to get back and help.
People in need.
And and yeah, we're going to continue to do that and continue to get better at it.
For sure.
You just finished one of your camps.
What's that like when you get that camp done, you see a kid walk up to you and hug you and Coach Petrie thank you. You know what's that like when you have that that feeling when you're around kids and they're thanking you for having you know, one heck of a camp.
Yeah, there's nothing like it.
And it's like a full circle moment because you know, I played on that field my whole life.
I grew up in this community.
So to see kids coming up looking like me playing the same sport that I played, it's like, oh, that's me in a sense, you know. So I'm just trying to help them out as much as I can, like I said, and inspire him, even if it's not football. Whatever they want to do, I want to let them know that they can do it and inspire them to, you know, continue to push harder and understand that it's not going to be easy, like just having those conversations with them. And yeah, that's what it was like this last week, and it was really fun to have that camp.
For kids who are great athletes and their parents listening right now, watching right now, jail, And what's important for high school kids to keep in mind we're in this nil era.
It's very different.
We've talked about this a bit before with college athletics and there's money out there, but you want the best for your future, the best education as well. What's important for young kids and their parents to remember is they navigate their way through their high school careers.
Yeah, that's a great question, and like you said, I'm a little bit removed from that because I didn't have to experience the whole nil thing. But I think the theme that comes to my head when you said that is just never getting.
Comfortable where you at.
Yes, you might be getting a lot of money going into college, but you haven't did anything in college. So approaching that with a humble mindset of saying, I need to establish myself, I need to continue to learn. And then when you get to that top spot in college, like, it's the next step in that too, like how can I help my teammates get better? How can I, you know, inspire my teammates to also have that mindset that I'm the best, Like, so everybody is uplifted, and then it's the next step going into college. But wherever you add just I think it's about not getting too comfortable and not getting too full of yourself because God has a way of humbling us and bringing us back to that middle ground where I think we all should be to thrive in whatever we're doing.
I think it's interesting to hear you talk about that because you and I talked about this a little bit. I get text from my buddies and went the bailer all the time, and they always remind.
Me the last text and say, hey, what are you doing your golf or whatever?
And hey, by the way, you know Jalen Petries, you know, one of our favorites of all time.
And I often ask them, you know, why is that? Like man, things were going sideways? He stayed.
And as Mark's asking that question, the first thing that popped my head was adversity.
You had adversity. They're Baylor.
Whether it was not playing early on, not successful, you had players leaving, but you stayed, you went through it. How big a lesson you think that is for guys that come into this locker room that you can share with them, like, hey, even though things might get tough early on, we stick together, we get across this adversity, we might get to where we want to go.
How big is that lesson? I know you don't walk around the locker room sharing.
That lesson, but when it comes up, I'm sure it's one that I think probably a lot of players would need to hear.
Yeah, for sure, And I think, like you said, a lot of players. For the most part, I understand that because in sports there's a lot of adversity. It's a lot of injuries, it's a lot of different things, different avenues that they can see adversity as I think it's, like you said, just about reminding people, like, we might be going through a hard time right now, but when we come out of it, just imagine how much stronger are we going to be mentally and physically if it's an injury, if it's a little bit of a setback, you know.
What I'm saying.
So just reminders here and there and just having that open mindset in the locker room, you know, Linda helping hand. Hey bro, you're going through this right now, but I promise you when you come out of it, you're gonna know how to do this ten times better, ten times faster, and that's gonna help us as a team, help you as a person in the long run. So I think it's just about reminding each other because we've all been through similar things.
A couple more quick ones from me, jailing receivers. You're seeing a lot of them, of course, so tell us about them a little bit because we've got some new faces and some guys who have been around.
It's kind of like the dB. It's got some new faces, some guys who have been around.
But obviously led by Nico, who's tremendous, got the rookies out there, Kirk joins the team. A lot of different looks out there you're getting from these receivers.
Oh yeah, a lot of different I would like to say flavors, a lot of different styles, a lot of different builds. But you know, it's a competitive group. They show up every day rate to work and it's always exciting to go against them. You can't show up, you know, sleepy or like half awake, because they go embarrass you. And yeah, nobody wants that out there, especially you know, with the trash talking and stuff that we do in practice.
So yeah, it's a pretty lit group and a talented.
Group overall for sure. Okay, I got to ask you about Monday Night.
I don't know that we've had a chance to talk about this, being from Houston playing at Dallas on Monday night and then you make that play. First of all, you're disappointed that you didn't pick up the ball and Derek did. Secondly, take us to that play, and what did you see and how'd you make it happen?
Yeah, I was just basically playing my technique and dB made a great play strip sack and the lineman picked up the ball and I'm like, oh, I gotta go tackle him. And then when I tackled him, I was like, oh, the ball close, so I tried to punch it out and then you know, dB was right there again, so God blessed.
Him again with the scoop and scorer.
So yeah, big shout outs to dB though, because that I wouldn't have got my strip if he didn't get his first trip, So big shout out of him, And yeah, basically what happened. But it was definitely a big moment because I don't think I've ever hit alignment like.
That ever in my life, like with the ball in.
His hand, hit people before like that, just maybe not alignment with the ball in his hands. The fact that it was Dallas and obviously you played for Houston, You're from Houston, that matter that much more.
It definitely adds a little bit to it knowing that you know, I'm from Houston and I got some you know, Dallas friends and some people even in the Houston community that love Dallas so much. But y'all know how we rocking on this side, So yeah, it definitely made it a little bit more special.
One more.
When people ask you, what's this offense gonna look like? Nick Kelly, the new offensive coordinator, what can you tell us about what the offense might look like?
I would say fast and explosive. You know, That's what I've seen so far. They're being you know, on it in terms of everything that they're doing, so you know, I'm excited. You know, they have a lot of playmakers like I mentioned, and a definitely a great quarterback, so I'm excited about what the future hosts for them.
Very cool.
Jael, and congratulations on being honored by Effort for Juneteenth on June fifteenth. Looking forward to that. Thanks a lot for joining us.
Yeah, appreciate you man. So great to visit with.
Jalen Petrie and studio class of twenty twenty two and Johnny. I love those guys Class of twenty one, Class of twenty two. They live through the tough times here and to see Petree get a deal, Nico Collins out of class of twenty one get a deal, Davis Mills still here out of class of twenty one, Brev Jordan getting an extra year class twenty one. Love to see it, of course, Derek Stingley junior class of twenty two getting a big deal.
So very cool.
Nick Cassario draft picks part of something special to build and Petrie getting honored. Nice stuff there, and he's making plays at OTA's as well.
Yeah, it's it's kind of interesting watching today, just different configurations all across the units, and not just talking about the offensive line now the defensive line. They have some guys that are trying to get themselves ready for the season, so they've had only a handful combination because they don't have their full compliment of guys. But linebackers too, you know, Christian Harrison was a guy that Demika Rans was asked about, talked about who'll be ready for training camp. That was good news to hear, but you know, different linebacker combination, different secondary combinations. One of the guys that stood out to me today just it was one play, but it really kind of spoke to something that I think the Texans have been looking for for a while, and that's that third cover guy. When you get into third down situations, you're facing eleven or ten personnel and.
You've got to have a guy that could cover and slot.
Jalen Smith today it happened to be on my side and so I could see him and I just have my eyes on him, and I was like, hey, this looks like it's gonna be man coverage. I was kind of looking at what the front. I thought this might be some pressure. So I was like, I'm gonna watch Jalen Smith and Christian Kirk, and of all the guys for Jalen Smith to go against, like Christian Kirk's the perfect one because Kirk knows playing the inside, he knows how to read all those routes.
Man, Jalen did a really.
Good job of sticking him, just sticking in a hip pocket.
He went on a dig route kind of twelve and in and Kirk.
I mean, Jalen just stayed run on Christian's hip across the middle.
I thought, man, this is pretty good.
Like that's really good for a rookie to go against an experience vet like that. So there have been different combinations, and so in that combination Petrie was playing it almost felt like Petrie was playing the nickel on his side and Jalen Smith was playing the nickel on his side.
That's almost what it felt like. And so they weren't there together.
So they were playing five eb's, they were playing nickel, but they had Jalen and Jalen, Jalen and Jalen and Jalen Smith and Jalen Petrie both in there together, and then they had Kamarian staying outside, and then they had Kaylen in the back end.
It's just a different combination. Yea.
Then they've they've had. Now they don't have the full group back there, you know, CJ. Gardner Johnson hasn't been there. Still waiting on some of the guys to get back, you know, Jimmy to get back healthy, all that. But it just was interesting to me to see Jalen Smith step up, like, all right, I got these reps. You know, Ronald Darby retired yesterday, and somebody's got to step up and take the reps they were thinking about and I it's it's it's so I say easy, But you can think back to twenty twenty four and there are moments when you go, I, the Jalen Smith pick makes sense because you think about Cavante.
Turpin against the Cowboys.
Oh, he just took Akuda to school, and it's like Jalen Smith can go in there and play better inside and man to man better than than a Kudu is gonna play. Kuda doesn't have anything left. But that's beside the point. They needed a third cover guy. Yeah, and by having a third cover guy, if it was a third guy that could play outside and Kamari could bump inside, fine, whatever you gotta do. You just want to have three guys that can cover. And you know you got two. You know you got two studs, So can you have a third guy develop? And maybe Jalen Smith turns into that guy. That would be kind of nice, and that keeps Petrie free to be the guy that covers, tight ends, covers some running backs down the backfield and blitzes and mayhem the way that he does in that way.
So we'll see how that goes.
But it was kind of interesting to see those combinations back there today.
Well, cover guys corners might be a sub theme for the rest of the program. We'll ask Jonathan Alexander from the Houston Chronicle about that, among many other things, and talk about another list baby corner rankings in the NFL. Let's get to it next here on Texans Radio. Back in the HUNTAI Texans Radio studio, Mark Vandermere and John Harris with you and usually on Tuesday, and this Tuesday is no different. We are joined by Jonathan Alexander from the Houston Chronicle.
Jonathan, how's it going today?
It's going well. It's been an eventful two days.
Yeah, it has, it has and here we are after another Texans practice session OTAs Organized Team Activities mini camp next week. What's your thought on the latest session that you saw regarding the Houston Texans.
Yeah, I mean it's interesting.
You know, Cid strou wasn't thrown again, and Demiko Ryans of course said that it was general soreness in his shoulder, but he wasn't concerned, which is a good sign. You know, anytime your frenchise quarterback has an injury, injury, injury, there's a little bit of a concern, but Demico Ryans and Nick Kaylee didn't seem to be overly concerned with him.
Sounds like he could be ready by training camp.
But other than that, you saw a lot of positives and offseason workouts. Even though trying not to put too much stock, but Will Anderson is out there dominating so a lot of a lot of good things out there.
No doubt.
What do you think about some of the young guys, Jadon Higgins, Jalen Nole. We didn't get a chance to see Jaalen Nole on Tuesday, but just thought about some of the young guys. You know, it's tough with the offensive lineman, defensive line, et cetera. Johnathan, But what do you thought about some of the rookies that have come in and done some things.
Yeah, I think, I really think Jayden Higgins and I will I don't know that I was really expecting this, but he has an act for the explosive play. I knew Jalen Nole, you know that was what he was known for. But you've seen Jaden Higgins catch too deep touchdown passes from Davis Mills, one today and one last week. He just has a knack for getting behind the second area making place. He has that rare speed for a tall guy. He reminds you of Nico Collins. I'm not saying that he's at Nico Collins' level, but you know, one of the strengths of Nicocollins is that even though he's a big receiver, he can move and turn his body really well.
And I see that in Jaden Higgins.
A lot of bigger receivers tend to be slow, don't move out of their breaks very quick.
But Jaden Higgins and Nico Collins are two that can do that.
Without Joe Mixon and Damian Pierce out there, that moves everybody up on the depth chart. We've seen a lot of Daar Race and a lot of JJ Taylor, some Juar Jordan. What do you think of the running backs? And of course I'll add rookie Woody Marks on the list.
Yeah, I think they're all kind of grouped together, even British Brooks back from that injury. They're all kind of on a similar playing field. I don't see one standing out above the other. But I think what will help some guys is their ability to play special teams and.
To catch the ball out of the backfield.
That is why the Texans jackted with he Marks, because they needed a running back who could catch it.
Out of the backfield and be a third down back.
Obviously, Joe Mason can do all three of those things, but Damian Pierce hasn't. It hasn't really been a position, hasn't really caught the ball out of the backfield much, so I think that's where why you haven't seen him run as much. They wanted to find somebody who did things a little bit differently, somebody to compliment Joe Mixon, and I think William Marks offers that. And I think it'll be an interesting competition because you know one or two of these guys will have to be cut in train again.
Yeah, no doubt.
And everybody's got to be waived if they want to come back on practice squad. So it always gets kind of tricky. Even though not a lot of guys get picked up. We always talk about that. A lot of guys get picked up a waivers or claimed on waivers, but it does happen, and you worry about that a little bit, Jonathan. On Monday it was announced that Ronald Darby announced his retirement eleven years in the league.
Kind of I don't want to say. You see, Demko talked about it.
I thought he made some great comments on Tuesday talking about it's a tough day when a veteran gets to that point of hanging it up and it's done.
But it is done. Ronald Darby is not going to be a Texan. How problematic is that?
And what do you think the Texans do going forward to kind of replace what they thought Ronald Darby might have been. Is Jalen Smith enough He got a lot of reps with the ones on Tuesday? Is he enough where you think they'll go sign a veteran of and there are a number of them out there. Do you think we go sign a veteran to go along with what they've got already?
Yeah, you make a good point. There are a number of veterans out there. You know.
I think it's a little bit problematic in the sense that the Texans felt last year that they needed at number three cornerback and it's my understanding that they tried to trade for one at the NFL trade deadline last year.
But we'recessful.
And this year they thought they found that in Ronald Darby, And you know, to me that in the case that they'll likely try and look out there in free agency and try to try out a few guys to see if they fit this system. Now, I think Jalen Smith does offer you, you know, a potential at number three, but he's a third round pick.
He's a rookie.
You know, he's gonna make some mistakes, and I could see them bringing in a guy for competition and the just in case type of situation. So I do think it's problematic, but I do I don't think it's something that they have to worry about strongly because the cornerback three will only play if Kamara Laster and Derek Stingly, you know, suffer injury.
Well, I'm looking at a list of cornerbacks that are out there, and there are a number of Texans that are still available that we've seen, like Shaq Griffin is out there, And stop me if you've seen one of these guys sign in the last day or so. But this looks to be pretty up today. Kadar Holman's out there, Fabian Moreau who is here? To Tavier Thomas who's out there?
CJ. Henderson.
I mean we got a lot of guys. Mike Helton is out there, boy like Mike like five to seven years ago. Sante Samuel Junior, I mean there are a number of them out there.
Wait, Santa Samuel Jr. Does that sound right? He's on this list? I could be Jonathan.
Let's talk about this for a moment, the tight end position, because Revin Jordan's still on the mend. We saw Dalton Schultz out there today, seeing a lot of Luke Leche so far rookie from Iowa, what do you think ultimately happens at tight end? And I'm gonna throw Yakub in there because it looks like he can do some things as a full back, but he's also sort of an honorary member of that tight end group h back however you want to describe.
And I think it's gonna come in handy in this offense.
Yeah, and even IRV Smith made some plays today from from what I saw. But I but I like what I've seen from k Stover. Dalton Schultz came out there today for the first time as he nurses what appears to be a leg injury. But that was a really good sign, made a nice catch. You know, I think it may be a little bit difficult for Brevan Jordan to make the team considering, uh, you know what the Texans have added, but you know, they know what he brings when.
He is healthy.
It'll just be a matter of health for him. But you know, obviously I see Dalton Show's case Stover making the team. I think for that number three spot, it'll be between uh Smith, Brevian and Luke.
It'll come down to training camp.
Yeah, training camp is gonna be there's almost gonna be too many things to watch with.
Oh yeah, we'll see it in training camp.
There were saying that a lot because we know the offensive line and we know everything that goes with the offensive line is going to be there.
Jonathan, I said, the first week go tas.
I said, anybody that does an interview writes an article which includes the three of us and says, oh, I think the offensive line is absolutely going to be this ride it in Stone and Penn. I think is fooling themselves. I think this thing goes for a while trying to figure out what the five is going to be. Along those lines, I asked this a mark before you came on Jonathan during a break, and I said, when do you think they'll hone in on the five that they think they're going to have. Do you think it'll go all the way to training camp, it'll go through the preseason game? You think it'll be before training camp? What do you think they'll kind of hone in on the five that they think will start the season.
Probably think it'll be through that first, for that first preseason practice. I think a lot will be determined then, and through these joint practices. I think that's when they'll have a good general sense because when I look at Lda's which you can't really tell much, you know, who I think could be the start of five changes every week every week. So I don't think you can make a determination from what we've seen so far, like you said, but yeah, I think we won't know who the start and five will be until we really get into the games and see what these guys are made of.
Jonathan Alexander joining us from the Houston Chronicle. Jonathan, last year three wild cards out of the AFC. You're looking at the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Denver Broncos, and the LA Chargers.
Will that be different this year?
And if it will, who's getting in and who's out of these wild card spots? And maybe have somebody else winning the AFC West.
I don't know.
Maybe you have the Steelers really bottoming out or doing better. I don't know, what do you think?
Yeah, I have the Steelers bottoming out.
Oh and I see the Bengals kind of taking over if they can remain healthy at their most important positions. I think they were kind of catching up to the Steelers, who were starting to struggle late in the year, and you know, they obviously don't have their quarterback situation figured out. Even if they signed Aaron Rodgers, I don't think he can particularly elevate them to the level where they would.
Just become a playoff team.
I think the Bengals have a lot more promise there, and I see a lot of the same teams who were in the playoffs last year making it again this year.
Okay, every year a team from the bottom five, bottom seven of the NFL Jonathan makes a leap, makes a leap. Titans picked one, Jaguars picked two, the Browns picked five. I'm trying to remember who was at three and four. Off top my head, the Panthers were at eight. Those are the Bears were ten of the teams that drafted in the top ten, arguably the ten worst teams for twenty twenty four. Which team would you feel like makes the biggest leap in twenty twenty five.
I think the Bears are probably gonna have the biggest leap. I think they're gonna give that NFC North a run for their money. I think they're gonna be really competitive. I don't know that they're gonna win, but I think they'll find a way into the playoffs. And I think the Panthers are gonna make a leap. You know, you saw progress from Bryce Young. He seems to have solidified himself. You know, they added weapons and wide receiver and on defensive end. I think they could win a few more games. But I really do like the Bears and what they were able to do in the draft. And obviously they got Ben Johnson as a coach who I think will help elevate Caleb Williams.
So that's my pick, all right, my pick, if you're interested, John I am. My pick is the Raiders. I know they played a brutal division where all other three teams made the playoffs, but they've got gent who could be interesting as a rookie very much. So you're bring in Geno to play quarterback, good move. If Pete Carroll is your head coach. This is a different Raider team, and it's a Raider team that had some talent on it.
Last year. They just didn't play well right, which is putting it mildly, but.
They Crosby got hurt at the end of the year, they upset the Ravens in Baltimore. I'd love to do that, right, they did that, They were capable of that with Gardner Minshew. Now they got Geno and Pete Carroll run of the show. I like the Raiders to take a big jump forward. And by a big jump, I mean maybe nine, which would be tremendous. Actually that yeah, and that's absolutely amazing. I'm just looking for which team do you think pro I didn't.
It was funny.
At lunch today, I watched the Carolina Panthers Blueprint I think they call it, which was talking about their their draft and how they went about things. It was pretty interesting, and then had a pretty good They had a really good draft, and I feel like if Bryce is ready.
To turn that corner, it really truly turned that corner.
Like man, they could be really interesting in Carolina, like really interesting in Carolina.
Okay, they dealt with a lot of injuries last year to the key players.
All right, Jonathan, what do you have going on in the Houston Chronicle for us?
Yeah, so just wrote about Straus. Y'all can check that out. So on Wednesday, we'll have the mail Bag.
This month's mail Bag where a lot of you know, fans ask questions and I'm looking forward to putting that together.
All right, sounds good, Jonathan, thanks so much for joining us, Thanks for having me. There's our visit with Jonathan Alexander of the Chronicle and don't forget also a great story out there kayln Block and Kamari Lassiter best of buds and Jonathan does a great story on them. And coming up cornerbacks. Where does Derek Stingley Junior rank in the NFL? Where's Lassitter? How high will he go? We'll discuss that, among other things next here on Texans All Access.
Our final march through the fields.
Here, boy, that metaphor is really getting more complicated every day. Here on Texans All Access tonight, final segment. In other words, Mark Vanderman and John Harris with you been kind of jelly because Sean Pendergass has been posting picks from Boston and stuff. Oh yeah, Way Park, everything looks really nice. Yeah, I'm gonna have to take a trip up there myself. Okay Weather, Yeah, yeah, he'll be back in the morning show, back in well by the year twenty twenty six. I think he'll be back from vacation. No, I think he'll be back next week, right, or yeah, I think he's back this week. I think he's back this week. Good, Yeah, I think he's back this weeod. Not that I don't like hearing Sean and Brandon, because I really do. I like the different perspectives everything, But you know those guys, those guys have to be together, Sean and Seth.
All right, so you tell me cornerback rankings in the NFL. Who did this?
My friends at PFF, you're beautiful good friends at PFF.
And if anybody knows anything about me, you know, I use the word friends. I was at Air Quotes Loose, So yeah, this popped up on my timeline.
I was huh.
So they had a picture and a graphic should say, and it said top ten corners in the league. And I look over and I see the picture of sauce Gardner and I was like, no freaking way the picture.
But does that mean he's in the top ten? Does that mean he's number one?
PFF ranks sauce Gardner number one corner in the league.
Number one corner in the league is sauce Gardener? Why do they do this? Here's the last so they so.
Gardner's ninety one point nine PFF coverage grades is twenty twenty two, leads the league. He has forced the league guy forty six and completions a lot of league lower points six yards per cover snap uh and twenty one point four percent first down plus touchdown rate over that span. Unsurprisingly, Gardner's PFF Advanced coverage grade ranks first as well. Whatever last sentence, While he might not shadow opposing wide receivers at a high rate, he has excelled when asked to do so.
What do you mean shadow opposing wide receivers? Basically job description?
Right?
He doesn't shadow opposing receivers at a high rate, meaning what, he just stands in the middle of the field, And how is he excelled when asked to do so? This doesn't even make sense. It does shadow have a certain meaning that we don't know about. Well, it just meanslanguage like which corner, which corners are good enough to travel with?
Great wide receiver? All I see with the best ones on the opponent. That was worded bad right, by the way.
But the point being, he's not asked, oh, hey, we're frasing Tyreek Hill, go cover Tyreek Hill yet yet Derek Stingley's asked to do it, and not only does he stop.
And he comes up with two interceptions. I'm not saying he's bad.
You know it dropped off last year though, Yeah, that entire defense, exact team, because exactly all talk about this. Somehow with Zach Wilson they won more games than with Aaron Rodgers.
Right, Sauce Gardner was not great at twenty twenty four. They're hiding behind this well since twenty twenty two. Nonsense, Okay, there are two cities that are going to be pissed about this.
Where's our guy?
So Number two, Pat Sertan the second game, He's voted defensive Player of the year.
I get it, and I think Pat was really good. He's the only corner that I will say.
That is to me, even in the ballpark with sting Okay, number three, you think sting right, Yeah, sure, it's time. Trent McDuffie, Kansas City chiefs Okay, Now, I don't want to take away from McDuffie.
He's good.
I think McDuffie is excellent. I think McDuffie is right there. Uh to me, there's remember when it was Larry Fitzgerald Calvin Johnson and Andre in the league. It was like that, to me, is the three? I think it's certain McDuffie and stinct. I don't even think Sauce is.
In that picture. Okay, So you shouldn't get hung up in the order necessarily.
Well, I don't know, I I am, because they're putting they're putting Sauce Carter number one.
Well that, but I'm talking about two, three, And don't tell me it's lower than four.
Number four. Here we go, Jalen ra Jalen Johnson, Chicago Bears. How'd they do last year? Yeah? How did they do last year? How did they do thattlast year?
I don't think there's a GM in the league that would take Jalen Johnson ahead of Derek Stingley Junior. You got to think of it in those terms, Okay, And here's the final that should be one of their components. And I know they use a lot of these analytics, but the analytics of what GM would draft so and so ahead of so and so? Is there any what's the percentage of GMS in the league that would do that?
That's exactly right, That's exactly how he looked to play a little bit which GMS And by the way, Derek Stingley is at number five, But let me read what they say and then I'm gonna go back to your thought.
After a poor rookie season, it's hurt.
Stingleys generated a ninety point three PFF coverage grade over the last over the past two seasons, the best mark amongst all cornerbacks. The twenty twenty two number three overall pick. Plays a high risk, high reward brand of football. Why because he he plays a high risk, high reward brand of football. But does he give up what the hell?
I mean?
Every so off base is gonna give up some stuff. But it's not like Stingley takes all these chances and gets burned.
That's right exactly.
He got beat by Kayshawan Boody last year against the Patriots, Right.
Yeah, we had a three touchdown lead already. Yeah, and right to game situations into into account as well.
Absolutely, if you're a GM in this league and you're like pick a defense, pick a corner, our guys getting picked for the time. First Sertan is gonna be the next guy, yeah, and then mcduffe you're.
Gonna have sauce.
You can have Jalen Johnson, GM's are gonna well if if I if those three guys are gone, then okay, I'll take those other two.
Derek Stingley number five five, the booty five, the booty ball. What a term. That was a good one. But you have a lead.
If you're Derek that day, you know you can basically do what you want here in this game, and maybe you take a chance. Maybe did get burned. I don't know, but maybe he'd take a chance that you wouldn't take if it was a tight game against a really good team. Yeah, right, and maybe he shouldn't do this, but I think you have to take game situation into concept.
This is right.
This whole high risk, high reward like this is so completely off base as it pertains this thing that I can't even Anyways, that's the graphic. That show was the top ten. Wow, But they did an article in the top thirty two and.
Kamari made it. Kamari comes in at number thirty one.
All right, There were several great There were several great rookie seasons in twenty twenty four, and Lasters was arguably right behind those of Cooper, Dejen and Quinnon. Mitchell Man I swear to God the Cooper Dejen love, and I like Cooper Degen. He didn't have the year Kamara Lasser did. He just had a couple of really good games and a couple of viral highlights.
Exactly. You know who he is, Sauce Gardener. He's Sauce Gardner. That's right. He plays in a big market for a championship team, a lot of love, and he's one of the exciting whites as they are called. Yeah, I mean Ian Reid blankets. Why did they get in trouble for that? I don't know.
They didn't want anybody to call white chocolate white chocolate?
Yeah right, yeah? Jason? Uh why my Jason Williams. Jason Williams. What of the many? The few?
Anyway?
Last y rank third among rookies in PFF Advanced Coverage Grade and fifteenth among all cornerbacks. He led the also the NFL with a forty five point two percent completion rate aloud thirty one.
Wait, they just said he was fifteen. He was all he was in.
He was fifteenth in Advanced coverage grade okay, and led the NFL with a forty five point two percent completion rate allout.
A pff Man.
So all over the great grade in the advanced class, doesn't that mean you should be doing really well in the other class?
Yeah, isn't that what Chylie regard. I don't know. I don't get that.
It's just hard to have sting at five and last year with those numbers at thirty one. I'm glad Kamari got some some run, but there are in no way gams this league are like, yeah, I'll take Jalen Johnson over Derek Stingley.
You're gonna have to win the top fifteen next year. That's cool.
All right, that's it for the show tonight. Tomorrow we will get into it more about what is going on around the NFL. More on OTA's all of it coming up tomorrow night at six. Area forty five is next. Have a great night, Go Texans.
