Texans All AccessWhat is happening?
Everybody, Welcome in too a Wednesday, Nation of Texans All Access from now day Texans Radio Studio. I'm your host, Sean Harris, football analy sideline reporter for your Houston Texans as we each ever so closely to the draft less than one month from today. It'll take place in Green Bay, Wisconsin. That's where all the festivities will take place. But everything will take place right here in Houston Command Center, right there at energ Stadium, and we'll have you for that entire weekend. Cannot wait for that. Now, many many years ago, in fact fourteen to be exact. But if you remember back to twenty eleven, the Texans and the NFL were in a lockout situation. So free agents at that point were well, they were on hold and a lot of them. And there was one that was being talked about a lot here in the city of Houston's name was Nom Diy Awesome Wah. He was the crown jewel as the defensive back in the twenty eleven free draft class. Well, once the NFL and players got their act together and got a deal signed, it was time to sign free agents. The Texans a skewed one. Nom be awesome. Wah to go find a safety from aplen Christian but named Danielle Manning and our guest tonight the Crown Dejoure. One of the greatest agent signings, one of the greatest signings, One of the greatest things the Texans have ever done, was to bring Jonathan.
Joseph into the building.
And it has just been a blessing to get to know Jjo through all these years as a player, even as a coach, uh, just as a great friend. And he joined Mark and I to talk about many things. Man, we had a lot of different things with j Jo. Here is Jonathan Joseph going. I would say one on two, but it's essentially one on one man, Mark and JJO.
Now joining us.
Now Jonathan Joseph, Texan's legend, cornerback coach on the field, all around great human being, Jonathan.
How's it going? Great to have you with us?
How's going with them? Guys? Man, thank you guys for having me on j Joe.
This is always an interesting sign for players, young players in particular, they're going through this draft process and Pro days and combine and all that kind of nonsense. In some respects, what do you remember about your draft process leading up to you getting drafted by the Bengals.
I think just learning to be a professional and just being consistent. Obviously, you know, different level for guys. Some guys have the combine they're invited to. Some guys just have the draft day. But I think it's all the process. And now you see even more guys kind of backing out of the combine and waiting till the guys do their pro day to be in a more comfortable environment. And you see now some coaching staffs don't even send the whole coaching staff to the combine. They may just send the defensive the unity of they looking to invest heavily on the defensive side of the draft and things of that nature. Now they're doing zoom calls instead of the in person meetings. So there's a lot of different things now compared to when I was coming out. But when I was coming out, I just remember just being consistent each and every day. You know, you had a goalie, you had something that you was working to us, whether it's the forty yard dass, vertical jump, bench press, trying to cut weight to get in shape, you know, to have your body in the bed shape when you put it in front of those coaches. And I also just learning, you know, defenses, learning ways to conduct yourself in an interview, how to conduct yourself off the field, So just learning those whole process is about just learning to be a professional.
Yeah, and you mentioned coming out.
I mean, let's backtrack even deeper, Jonathan Joseph with us in college, what do you think or how do you think you would handle your college situation now in this environment with nil and the portal being wide open and college football free agency. It's so different now, how do you think that might have changed things for you?
Jonathan?
That's a good question because I was a junior college kid, so I think I definitely would have got paid coming out.
Of junior college.
You know, coming out of junior college, I was probably top one or two at my position as a corner. Coming out has several offers. It was pretty much told by every school that I was coming to that I was going to be a day one starter at the day one started coming into South Carolina one, most improved in the spring the next year, was most valuable player. So just looking at that, that's a lot to think about. But I also put in my name into the the draft just to see where I would be drafted at, and I had a second round grade. So nowadays, you know, I guess that's how they kind of how they do the evaluation. You know you're going to be a first top ten pick or you know, one of those back end picks versus what you would make now into college.
So I probably would have had a decision to make.
I was being in one of the top players and having your choice to where schools can offer you money. Now that's a lot to think about, you see it with quarterbacks specifically, I think more than anything, Joe.
One of the things that you know when you go through this draft process tonight. I know, we get a chance to watch games and some of the game taping such, but we don't get a chance to get to know the guys behind the scenes and kind of taking your what were you're just talking about and becoming a professional some guys.
Now it's a little.
Different because guys are getting in NIO mind. They have to learn how to manage it before they get to the NFL. But when you were coming to the league, you all sudden are handled this big check and expected to know how to handle it and players are expected to know how to handle it, and there are a lot of guys that don't. They get that money and they feel like, man, I've made it, and their game doesn't develop. They've made the money that they wanted to make their entire life, and the where you go. How important is it the management of money, in management of contract to being able to be a great pro to realize you really haven't made it just yet. You made a nice little contract, but you haven't made it as a player yet. How important is it for younger players to learn how to manage all that money and all that kind of stuff and then become that player that they want to be ultimately?
Oh? Man, that's a good question. I think it's a lot that go into that. Honestly.
I think last year I had a chance to do, you know, just some scouting for the Texans during the draft, just to see if you know, there was something.
That I'd be interested in.
And I watched a lot of film on a lot of different defensive backs. And obviously those guys are getting paid well in college now with the Nils and things like that, and we look at a guy like when I watched.
His film, you've seen a kid that played hard.
They competed each and every play, and I think you know him obviously being at Georgia and having a success, I'm sure.
He was compensated well for that.
But you know, you go and do your research and everything checks the boxes across the board, and then you look at the player and he comes right in and does exactly what you've seen on film, what you was told. So I think it's really about you having a great scouting department and doing your homework on these players also to see who's going to continue to be hungry and things like that, because, like you said, you have a kid like Singley who comes in who's always been a top rated kid, or myself, who's the first round pick, and now you get one of those top guys in the top five who to get a lot of money, and now you have to manage all those things that come with being a top pick and getting you know, millions of dollars right at your lap at the age of twenty one twenty two years old. You have family, friends, people that you never met before coming at you. And at the same time, now you have to really develop your game because now that you got drafted, that's just a process just to get you to the National Affoileage Football League.
Now everybody's looking see what you're going to do while you're there.
So I think that's the biggest jump that players have to have, because when you're in the first round pick, top five pick or whatever, you normally probably going to a team who missed the playoffs or who didn't have much success the year before, or whatever reason that it was.
That you got selected to that team.
As a high pick, you have so much pressure because all the odds are going to be on you and see how you handle yourself.
See are you improving? Are you taking your job seriously as a professional?
Jonathan Joseph with us. You mentioned Kamari Lassiter, Jonathan, and I want to approach it from this angle. You ran a four to three to one forty, one of the best times ever at the combine.
So Lassiter did not. Lassiter ran slowly relative to that.
Yeah, for six four I got for So do we overblow forty times?
Isn't football speed?
With the pads on and well, the game is going on the most important thing. It's nice to be able to run fast, but you got to be able to run fast at the right moments.
Can you speak to that.
Absolutely, I think I needed to run that time.
I only played like twelve Division one games, so I needed I needed to run that time to prove guys that you know, I can play at that level if you had any doubt about my speed, you know. I think a guy like Lassily, he has plenty track record of playing experience out there, so you can now take that time.
And take it into consideration.
But when you put on the tape and watch the film, that never comes into question. It never jumps out at You're like, Wow, this guy can't run or this or maybe he's just a bad tester, because you know, a forty yard dash, just having a split second bad reaction at the line of scrimmage that goes from being.
A four six four y five to four to four, you know what I mean.
So I think it get overblown at times because we all looking for the four to three guy. Of course we are, but every fourth three guy can't play football.
Also, your guy that did run a four to three joe that you had a chance to spend some time with, especially his rookie year, and that was Derek Stingley Junior, he gets a big extension in three years, ninety million. We've seen him from the Bengals game of twenty twenty three when he came back off the hamstring to where he is now, and I don't he's a different player because we always knew it was there. We saw him as a true freshman LSU. He was a freaking superstar at eighteen years old, and his game continued to develop.
Last year he showed all that ballhawk nature.
You've got a chance to spend time with him up close with him, and he doesn't say a whole heck of a lot, But what can you tell us about the time you spend with Sting and why it's really no surprise that he has developed him the player that he has.
I think all the physical attributes always been there, Like you said, the accolades going back to high school, five star, I believe, number one player coming out, you know, at his position, all those type of things.
So I think he's always learned at the early age.
Especially from his pops, you know, me being around their family and understanding, you know, me having a son, you know, having kids, what it takes to you know, prepare a guy to get to this level. And I think they've been doing this years ago, you know, years ago, and yeah, he comes off.
He reminds me a lot of a guy like I talk about a lot. Will Fuller.
Will never talk much when he was there, but like just ultra competitor. Everything that he did, you know, he was always trying to win and putting the maximum effort and the.
Things come up with that guy.
When I was here, you know, coming in, like I said, I picked part of the first couple of bad little seasons overall team success, you know, and normally the people who get the finger point of that or just get the most criticism or just always get thrown into the spotlight. His top draft picks or the guys who are top free agent signings are a big contract signing. So I think he's been able to handle himself and continue to grow his game each and every year and buying to what the coaching staff is asking, you know, challenge guys, take the other top receivers away each and every year. Just continue to grow your game, bill leader on in off the field, and make plays when it's called upon. And I think he's did all those things and he's earned that extension. Early in the year, his dad had a post or something and I commented up on it and said, year three is normally the year where the game slows down becomes I won't want to say easy, but it's almost like you can see things happened before.
If you're not just playing out there and reacting.
They're kind of proactive if you have an idea exactly what's going on, and you're able to just make more plays and it just looks, you know, when you watch it, it just looks slaying of beauty because it's like, man, that looks easy to him.
But I think now the game has slowed down.
He processing and he's seeing it from a different lens, and that's why he's able to go out there and play the way you do. And I think the steeling is still up there for him. He haven't hit his feeling yet. I think he's far from it. He's still really young. I think we're just seeing some of the things he's able to do with his ultra analyticism and his ability to learn the game right now at a young age.
Jonathan Joseph with us JJO.
You played with Tamiko Ryans in the twenty eleven season for the Texans when you were just acquired as a free agent right before training camp. That was his last year with the Texans as a player. What are you seeing in him as a coach in the defense and maybe the performance overall so far through two seasons at the Helm.
I think a team that's buyding to his identity.
I think tough, tough minded, professional, physical approach, but also having fun.
I think if you watch the Miko play.
A guy out there, every time he took the field, you know he was holding his help to that standard. Even you go back to Alabama, I remember I played against math Carolina, just a guy. When he took the field, everybody wanted to buy off his energy and feed into you know, the energy that he brought out there, which was a no nonsense, We're here for one reason and one reason only smack you in the mouth, get to win, all team oriented, noted just about me, point the finger at me.
Everyone buy into it.
And I think that's what this team is starting to take on the last couple of years is his identity.
You see, he's excited when a guy makes a play.
He's having fun with his players, but he's also holding his players to the highest standard and having those hard, tough conversations with them, you know, but at the same time they understand they that he has their back, And I think that's what each and every player wants.
It's a guy who has his back. No different than when you playing with a guy like that.
You want to know that the guy that playing next to you have your back so you can go all out and have his back.
Also, we were talking about Derek Stingley. Of course, I just have highlights flashing in my mind in the game. I think a lot of people are gonna remember when Di Stingles finally done with his career. They're going to take back to that game against the Dolphins and the two interceptions you got when he's mad a man against Tyreek Hill, and those are tremendous and we've talked about for years, like Tyreek was just the guy that killed everybody.
He kills everybody. He's such a difficult guy to guard.
And it got me thinking, who was the toughest guy that you had to guard in your career? Now, if you can, let's let's not make it a Texan because you did have to cover a couple of guys that were pretty good in this building.
And Andre Johnson, DeAndre Hopkins. You mentioned Will.
Fuller, But who was the toughest guy that you had to guard in your career that was a non Texan man?
All those guys. Tyreek Heel is definitely one of those guys.
I remember, I think my last year with the Texans, I was thirty six years old or maybe thirty five. I was actually I remember this like it was yesterday. We laughed about it.
I was like, are they trying to get me out of here?
For sure?
We playing Kansas City first time, Alex Smith was still the quarterback.
He had me following Tyreek Hill. Me and Kevin Johnson got to get a laugh.
I say, man, they're trying to sabotage me, right, But honestly, it's any of those top quarterbacks, I mean top wide receivers that have a quarterback.
You know.
We always talk about Andre Johnson and the things he was able to achieve without having, you know, a top prolific quarterback, you know, with him throughout his whole career, and a lot of that goes because sometimes you know, if he's not the first read normally the ball is late, the ball isn't.
On time, or it's not a perfect ball.
But I think anytime you put a guy with Andre Johnson's talent, like all those other receivers Terrell Owen's, Randy Mass, Steve Smith, Larry Fitzgerald and Kwambo and Reggie Ain't, Marvin Harrison go down the list. All those guys had, you know, at some point in their career a prolific quarterback or a guy who probably was the Hall of Fame quarterback other than Steve Smith with the Panthers, I believe, But I think that just gives them an advantage because the ball's coming out on time, ball's going to be in the right fight, the ball is going to be away from you. You're not gonna be able to make a play on the ball. And I learned that a lot earlier in my career. And I had a chance to go up against t. J. Housman, Zada, Chad Johnson, Chris Henry, Antonio Chapman, all those guys each and every day in practice, and we had Carson Palmer throw them the ball. So it was it was a thing of beauty for me just to watch those guys execute. But also I know I had to be at the best of my ability to even have a chance.
Okay, two things Number one, does it make you feel old in a sense that Chris Henry's son is a stud wide receiver at modern day high school. Number two, Let's flip the question then, who is the quarterback that when you knew you had to go face.
And you're like, oh man, this is gonna be a long day, bro.
This guy puts the ball in spots where I don't even know that there's a spot.
Who is that quarterback that?
I know you're competitive and so I know you looked forward to it, but in the back of your mind.
You're like, Okay, this guy's tough to face.
I say, when it comes to that, I say, it's just three in my just specifically, I would say Tom Brady. Obviously, I would say Peyton Manny. I remember his time in Indy. When I was in Cincinnati. That was always a thing of like, you know, it was a well machine. You knew Reggie Wayne was going to be to the left, Martin Harrison to the right, Dallas Clark or Sookley or whoever else they had in the slot was going to be where they was going to be, Adrian James is going to be, and you knew exactly what the ball was going to be the time was going to be there.
It's just something that you just couldn't stop.
So I just think those guys, just off the top of my head, the way those guys had it rolling, it was tough to compete with those guys, man, just because then a guy like Aaron Rodgers. I remember that time we came, those guys played us. I think they scored on every position I remember back in twenty thirteen or something. You know, man, a guy with arm, talent and the brains upstairs to pick your part, it's hard to defeat those guys.
Excellent, excellent answer there.
Jonathan Joseph joining us Okay, you're also co host of Goat Talk podcast, asked with Andre Johnson. How's that experience going for you? Being a co host with the Goat and just having great guests on to talk to.
It's been a pleasure, man. I think it's I say, as a learning experience. Obviously, it's a different type of it's almost like conducting the interview also, but at the same time being in being part of it also, I think you get to learn a lot about the people that we've had a chance to bring on. You do your research and the more research you do about a lot of these people, you find more and more things, and then you even talk to them about it.
You know, whether it's through zoom or.
In person, you know, you can genuinely feel how they care about it or how they strongly disagree about, you know, things that may be portrayed about them, or just things that they as opposed to in life in general.
So I think this being a part.
Of that, and just being you know, meeting different people and talking to different people that you probably wouldn't even have a chance to talk to a come across. Even though I've been in this profession for a while, I think it's been a blessing. And just you knowbviously people don't hear Andre talk a lot, so just to hear him open up and talk tell some of his stories, and then it just takes you back down memory lane. So well, you know a lot of times you don't get to have that banner talk and things like that to where you can go into these conversations and just take yourself back to being you know, a guy in the locker room or just you know, college memories or whatever it may be. So I think just having a chance to do that and then also learn, you know, a lot of people did in the business world and things after their professional career. So I think just you know, getting different views and just learning and meeting people from different other professions other than football.
Also, Joe, we.
Haven't talked about this much because more than likely he's out of the realm for the Texans. But Travis Hunter plays wide receiver in corner. You obviously played corner. Your great hands, you probably could have played wide receiver at some point, and there were probably times you probably asked, Hey, I can go play wide receiver when the Texas needed a wide receiver. If you were a coach or GM and you had to decide on Travis Hunter, how would you approach it. Would you play corner and then spot him at receiver, or play at receiver and then maybe use him as the nickel cover guy on defense, or would you play him both ways all the time. You know how hard it is to play one side. How tough it would it be for Travis Hunter to try and play both?
Oh, Man, I don't like I don't want to take another way from him, because I watched that kid in college.
Man just crank out one hundred plays in a game.
Like it was nothing consistently consistently and other than a few times, you know, whether he took that one big hit on the sideline, he was always healthy, you know. And I watched him growing up because my kids played seven on seven and you know, just the things he was able to do at the receiver position. I believe he probably invented the head top. Although we always had guys, you know, yea was getting that. We called it getting moss when I was growing up, right, But you know, I remember on the seven on seven he was one of the first kids just going up and just snatching it from everybody and taking it from him. And you know, I watched him do the same thing. I watched his basketball highlights. He can jump above the rim. So it'd be hard for me because a guy like DeAndre Hopkins come to mind. I just always have that picture in my head when I see him go up and attack the ball. I have I seen a defensive back with balls feels like he is in a long time, you know, maybe Champ Bailey, possibly Charles Woodson, and then when you watch him play defense. And I have a sixteen year old son that's a junior in high school here and he played receiver in defensive back as well, So when I'm watching Travis Hunter, I'm only looking at the technique. I'm like, I've seen guys play both sides, you know, Charles Woodson, Champ Bailey and those guys, but they wasn't as just sharp and crisp as he was in detailed as he was as a receiver.
I remember one line he ran a back line.
Play in a game and it was just you know, he's running over there and he uncovered and just wiped the guy by.
And I looked and.
I was like, that was just as natural as I seen any receiver ever do it in the NFL. And you go on corner back and he got the same technique. He's able to read the quarter, the coverage and come off and make two or three crazy interceptions the way he's able to can tork his body.
So it's just I don't know what you do. I was thawing him off.
As a defensive back and then put him over there on offense because you can put the ball in his hands. And I think the train pansition to be easier with him learning the skills set of a defensive back in the NFL and going to get some snaps a receiver first from being a receiver.
And coming over to play some spot dB.
A couple more J Joe, all right, coaching, you are so impressive in so many ways. But one of the things that I always stood out was offensive players saying they would talk to you about their craft on their side of the football. You were a coach on the field, truly, do you want to coach? Is that interesting to you? You mentioned scouting last year a little bit. What's in the future for you?
Absolutely? I think you've been around me throughout my career.
You would always say coaching would be, you know, something that I would be for at some point in the future. I think it's because when I played the game, I just always wanted to learn the ins and outs, you know, other than just my position. I wanted to learn what was going on around me, obviously, the defensive line and the linebackers.
I think that helped my job out a lot.
Because I knew what my weaknesses was, I knew who my help was, and I knew I could be vulnerable at times, you know, you know, susceptible to be giving a big plays and things like that, or where the weakness was in the defense, you know, whether it was in a run fit or pass coverage.
And then I think obviously the.
Older you get, the more you sit in those meetings and you start to pay attention because you know, the league is a very repetitive league, copycat league, and things like that, So you see so much over and over that you're ave to throw your memory bank.
You're able to store tendencies from coaches.
You're able to throw all these different things if you just continue to pay attention and just learn.
And I think I was able to do that.
And you know, when we had Bill O'Brien there, everybody talked about, you know, well the New England Way and things like that, but it taught us a lot of football guys. I was on that team, you know, because we was able to sit in those meetings. The offense had to learn how to defense seen it. The defense had to learn how to offense seen it. So then I was able to sit in there and learn things that the wide receiver had to do or he wasn't getting the ball. You know, you got to go across this guy's face, but you got to get to this spot or be in this area or on defense anytime a cornerback has his hip locked, he can't get back to the seven route because he don't have the right angle. So it was just a lot of small things that I learned that I just continue to put in my memory bank, and it helped me extend my career and also helped me help other guys because every coach, I'm not going to be able to reach every guy all the time or be on the field to talk to a guy, so I was trying to do those things also, so it naturally came to me is just helping others and trying to give back.
I think that's something that I'm looking forward to in the future.
Also, obviously, players young and old, vets and rookies, Joe come from all different walks of life, et cetera. But if you could give one consistent piece of advice to young players in the league right now, what would it be.
I think just continue to work and get better. I think the league is competitive league. It's a lot of different things that go into you know, players as far as making Pro Bowls, making you know, different things, So you can't get caught into all these things now, especially with social media going on, you know, you can't have a players in a small market, you know, getting upset because you don't have the same thing that a player is playing in LA or New York having, you know, just different things. Get upset if your contract doesn't go your way. You know, you can only do what's best for you. I think you know, the more, the better you play, the more leverage you have in those situations. So I think it's about understanding the game and learning the game. That's what I would say, understanding the game of football itself, but the business side also, because I think the more you can do that, it can take a lot of the emotion part out of it.
J Jo, you played in four playoff victories, if I'm not mistaken, eleven, twelve, sixteen, and nineteen, correct. I think you're the only Texan to do that. Without looking, I can't think of anybody else. Well, I'm talking about position players.
What you know.
God bless John Weeks. He's awesome.
Yeah, bust players, and he's played in six We can't. We can't, iron man, but that's pretty amazing stuff. But you tell me other than playoff victories, give me a couple of games that stand down.
This is the last one that stand out in.
Your career that you loved, whether you were doing something great somebody else was it was a win.
I presume it was a win. You tell me, man, I'll say it had to be.
I don't know if it was twenty eleven and twelve when we played Pittsburgh stiller Is at.
Home eleven, yeah, eleven, seventeen ten.
Yeah, that game there.
Everybody made plays in that game and I just remember the stadium was rocking that game and Pittsburgh was still Pittsburgh at that time.
Yep, yep, great that game and.
Had to be probably that overtime game against Jacksonville.
Okay, that's twenty twelve. Yep, that was awesome.
Walk off, the walk off with Dre.
Yep, excellent, that one, great, great man.
It was one more that Arian False just went crazy and wow, I can't remember it was twenty ten.
You weren't here for that one, but he went nuts a few times.
That was.
That was this That was against Cincinnati Bengals when he went up.
Yes, that was that was a probably playoff game.
Okay, okay, yeah, in twenty eleven, that victory. He went crazy in that game. That was awesome, good stuff. Jjo always a pleasure to visit, and we look forward to go talk. I know Watt is on the latest one, so that's awesome and we look forward tom anymore.
Oh problem. Thank you guys for having me on.
Met so many great Texans over the years, man, coaches, players, staff, et cetera. That man right there is one of my favorites. Just an absolute stud in every single way. Really appreciate Jjo stepping in. All right, it's top for in the lab. Drew Doherty's gonna stop by with me. We got a good in the lab coming up a little either or it's a game I created that Drew is flipping the script on. We'll do that next right here at Texans All Access. What's happening, everybody? Welcome back to Wednesday edition of Texans All Access from the Texans Radio studio.
I am John Harris Football and a sideline reporter. In one half of the in the.
Lab CREWM and Drew Doherty the other half. We had a good time breaking down some either oars that Drew decided to throw at me. See how I felt these were very very fun draft related Here we go in lap Drew, John, all.
Things being equal and a mecca at Buka is there, the wide receiver from Ohio State. He's one of the most mock players to the Texans. Yes, if he's available, or Gray Zabel is there. Out of those two, who would you see that you think the Texans would take him?
If I if I.
Rely solely on my my board, which you can see a Football taker dot com, I got my Harris one hundred. I'm still kind of getting it right where I want so I don't have it posted just yet, but it'll be posted soon. My Harris one hundred. I have a Buka post. I have Abuka ranked ahead of Gray's Abel just purely where I have them ranked. And I I think Greys Abels ends up being a long time starter in this league.
But it might take a little bit.
You know, having played at the FCS level, you know we've seen FCS players struggle a little bit. You know, Titus came in and you Titus as a rookie, Tights play pretty well, but.
He only played eight games and got comfortable with it.
And you know we've seen Titus, you know, have to learn how to be an NFL guard from Alabama State and.
Or guard tackle.
I mean that it could be a challenge at times, and I think Titus would be a good one to talk to you about, you know, the challenges of going from facing guys and now.
Titus had a really good last year at.
Alabama State, and one of the reasons he ended up get drafted in the first round was how he performed against Auburn that year, playing against some of the best in the SEC, and that really kind of caught everybody's attention, you know, and greys Abel did that at the Senior Bowl.
It was perfect, but you saw some of that grit and that grind.
And I know we've talked about the offensive line, and I really would like to have offensive line in the caliber of Greys Abel.
There's no question about that. But if I just go purely on.
My board and I look at the wide receiver position, I think what the Texas have done in the offseason that receiver drew with. I think Justin Watson's flying well under the radar, but you run in Braxton burials well. And then obviously the trade for Christian Kirk. I think Kirk ends up being your number two. But I think at twenty five, getting a guy like a Bukah, He's so steady, and my comp when I watched Abukah. This is even back in twenty three, I had this thought bad I remember, you know where I'm going with this, and I've comped him to a young Robert Woods. And what's funny is I went and I found a highlight reel of Robert Woods from his time at USC and I'm just like, I mean, first of all, the number stands out at number two, but still just body type what they ask him to do, how gritty and how swarming Robert Woods was and will remain throughout his career.
He's just obviously gotten up in years and been in the league for a while.
And I'm like, man, I feel like I'm watching Abuka, and I watch a Buka and I'm like, man, i.
Feel like I'm watching Robert Woods.
I feel like the same thing as I said about Robert Woods, the same things I feel about Robert Woods.
I have that feeling about Abuka and then you realize it.
Is off the field character, just his football character are pristine, spot on. I don't know that about Gray's abel. My gut tells me that there are no issues there. I know for a fact talking to a number of people I did at the Combine a Buka like they rave rave about a book at Ohio State, and I think there are a few guys at Ohio State that that people rave about from that standpoint. So I just feel like a Buka would be a perfect perfect fit, and I want to go with a book. I would go to the Bakay, let's stick with him, he's there. Or Luther Burden, Missouri Wide Receiver. Do you think the Texans would go with?
Okay?
I you know, it's funny Bob again who now does his anonymous scout thing for I shouldn't call a thing because the work that he does is incredible. He gets anonymous scouts he being with Milwaukee or with Green Bay. Yeah, it was with Milwaukee Greenba. It was in Wisconsin Milwaukee Sentinel Journal, I think it was. And he would get anonymous scouts to talk and he had and he didn't. There was a few things about Burden that he said, you know, talking about the impact.
Of his mom.
I guess his girlfriend or fiance runs his all his management stuff. And so there was a scout that was not very you know, uh way of saying it.
He was not very positive about that.
Now we've we've seen situations like that in the past. I can tell you that I was told by it, but numerous people about the impact of stings Dad during the draft process and all that kind of stuff, and people thought that was going to be a major problem, and I don't think it's it's even a problem.
And talking to.
Derrek Stingly Senior the other day, you realize, Okay, you see exactly where Derrick Stinglely gets it, and you're like, Okay, that was not an issue. So if I take that part of it out, I just feel I feel like I trust Abuka a little bit more. Okay, I think Burden is electric. My comper Burden actually is defon Diggs because about the same size, kind of that same electricity in the way.
He plays the game. I don't think.
I think Burden's probably just a tick faster, you know Stephan always Steph didn't test extremely well coming out of Maryland and that's why you ended up going at the fourth, fifth round whatever in it being his Day three pick. But I think Burden will test a lot better. But just that kind of start stop suddenness, the twitchy stuff. Yeah, you see that with Burden. But I think where people are getting lost in a Buka is they think, Wow, he's just a slot receiver. He doesn't have kind of that kind of twitch that Burton does. And it's true, I don't think a Mecca has quite that burst. But a Mecca's got a lot of what you like in getting separation, then catching the football, then making plays after the catch, his route running.
In football intelligence, you can see in the things that he does.
I pointed out on the Cotton Bowl there's a two play sequence back to back where Abuka on the first one, on a third down catch, gets separation from a slot guy just the way.
He runs his route. And on the second one he does the same thing.
He beats the nickel man to man and he gets cross faced on his leverage, and then he runs a route to the inside, and Abuka knows the linebacker is coming in the safety or closing from the other side, so instead of running into them, he bends his route just a little bit more upfields so his quarterback can hit that hole.
Boom makes a nice sliding catch.
First down, like back to back plays, and I'm like, you had that to the Texans on back to back plays.
I feel I feel really sad about a Buka. So I've got a Buka with.
A quarterback he's played with a quarterback he's played with.
Yeah, absolutely, you got that right, Absolutely, Okay, Matthew Golden or Buka Golden, Golden speed and the I had.
Two depending on how you classify Travis Hunter receiver, corner right or whatever. My my wide receiver one is still t Mac Tedoro McMillan.
I love T Mac. I think he is a uh.
I think he's He's DeAndre Hopkins with a couple more inches and a little bit more size. He's got the best hands that I've seen as a prospect since hop.
I mean, he's got incredible glo sticks.
He ran four five, which to me at six four two fifteen to two twenty whatever he is like, ran four five. He's got incredible ball skills. I've comped in with Drake London. I'm like, man, could you have Drake Ludden this offense with Nico and Kirk Like yeah, I don't think macmillan's gonna get to us. My next receiver is Mathew Golden runs a four to two nine. That shows up in the way he plays, his ability to pull away from defenders.
He's from Houston.
There's always been kind of this passion seemingly about Houston, and I think I want to see with the client. Kana could be wrong about that, but I just know he's a Ustonian. I kind of fell in love with the guy when he said University Houston. He had two kickoff returns for a touchdown and you're like, WHOA, this guy is different. But I think his receiver game really expanded when he got to the University of Texas. Now, not a big guy, about five to eleven, but he's won seventy two.
So's not a big guy.
He's bigger than Tank, even faster than Tank, and you had a speed element, but just a guy that puts some fear and defenses. With CJ throwing a deep on it to me after Anico got hurt in that game against the Bills last year, Drew, I think our deep ball game just died, and I think that was something that we've got to be able to bring back. And I think a guy like Matthew Golden absolutely Now, don't get me wrong, I think Abuka can give you some of that too, but I then Golden gives it to you even more so.
Got it, so I would go Golden at that point.
Okay, Josh Simmons, oh offensive tackle from Ohio State, or greats Abel, Like all those wide receivers are.
Gone, okayll the receivers are gone. I've got Simmons or Zabel. I really want to say Josh Simmons. And I think just.
Because you bring him in and you let all the other competitions sort well, and he's part of the competition. But let all that stuff sort out. Let the cream rise at the top.
You know me, You've been around me long enough. I the injury.
He's going into the draft though, He's gonna worry me a little bit. Yeah, but I'd be a hypocrite if I said that would keep me from drafting Simmons, because I was Sauce over sting the whole way.
And I'm sorry, I was staying over Sauce the whole way.
Yea.
And even though he had two straight years of injuries. I was a Stingley guy the entire way. In twenty twenty three, his first year on campus, at how it stayed. He transferre from seeing State, I'm watching it and they had the CJ had left and a lot of the offense had left. So I was like watching the offensive line. I'm like he was seventy one. That dude moves Holy cow. Kept watching him like this guy's pretty good. Nobody's talking about him. I thought something's wrong with me, and I started looking him up. I'm like, okay, what's this deal? And so continuing on into twenty twenty four. You know, Simmons had been on my radar screen for a while, but I'm like, man, now he's talking about him, So am I wrong?
All right, we'll see.
Well, all of a.
Sudden, the first month of twenty twenty four, everybody's talking, Oh, the highest riser, Josh Simmons.
I'm like, okay, people, all right. I wasn't crazy, got it.
This dude is a natural tackle natural, the way he moves, He's got some some bleep in his system.
He is tough and gritty.
I I would end up taking Josh Simmons. In fact, I got a feeling that Josh Simmons for me and my hair's one hundred and one.
It saw said done. He's gonna be top fifteen.
Okay, yeah, they will be around twenty nine to thirty, but Simms is gonna be tough fifteen. I think you could almost make a case he's the best pure tackle this in this draft, and I'm almost ready to make that case that he's the best pure tackle in this draft.
Okaysago Simmons, how about this one. Either the Texans will trade up to get Tyler Booker, oh, the guard from.
Alabama, and I don't know how high they have to go to do that.
Yeah, it's a good question yet, or they will trade out of the first round. He's got some ammo. He's got Nick Casseroo. He's got four picks in the top ninety some plus plus extras next year too.
Yeah.
I Booker becomes really really interesting because I think I think people in the media have sort of soured on him because in a sense, well, he's not that athletic.
Then you start, well, he's not that athletic.
Okay, he's gonna have issues with athletic bigs in the middle.
No, this guy is an alpha in the locker room.
That is something that has been discussed often about the off the line room needing some alphas. I think trading up for Tyler Booker now the question becomes how far you have to go off? So that that's the tricky part, because I can make a case for Booker at eleven to the nine Ers.
Booker at twelve to the Dallas Cowboys.
I can't see the Cowboys taking him. I can't they need him, they need it. I can't see them doing that.
My last mock draft, that's where I had Booker going because I'm like, and it was just after Zach Martin had retired, and if you think back to twenty fourteen.
It seems like too smart a move for them.
Yeah, it's exactly right now.
Twenty fourteen, he made a smart move and it was Zach Martin over Johnny Manziel.
So they can do that.
That worries me about Booker because I think they need some help on the interior in the offensive line.
But I think the Cowboys will do something flashy.
I just have a feeling that this is a year for them to Yeah, and.
They went off into live and last year.
I can see Jerry in the room going, hey, we went with your offens a lineman last year. This year we're going some flash. We want that wide receiver from Brown University like, okay.
His name is.
But I just have a feeling that when I when I heard Tyler Booker say, he essentially looked at Will Anderson Junior for his leadership, where to go in being a leader and how to be a leader.
And he looked at will and.
Offseason and he steps in at guard and he is a hammer in the run game.
Uh he as strong as an ox.
I mean his hands, God bless when he latches on to big strong dudes in the sec they go.
Nowhere is he perfect?
No?
Is he gonna get beat by some quicker? You know it's Quinn Williams gonna beat him. Probably Quinn Williams beats everybody. Quin Williams beat Zach Martin and the best guards there have ever been. So Quin Williams is gonna beat those guys. Well, Luckily we don't play Quinn Williams this year, but we do play Chris Jones. Could Booker handle Chris Jones one on one?
Yeah, I'd like to.
Think that he could, because the other part of that is Tyler Booker would then get to hammer Chris Jones in the run game a little bit and wear him down, which I kind of like.
So I thing trading up, now here's the thing. There are a number of guys.
You could convince me that they could trade up to go get and you know they trade to go get Booker, Yes, Kelvin Banks.
Yes, the question you think they trade up to get Kevin bis wellas.
This is my point and you kind of alluded to this, how much like what is your I want to go up ten picks to go get Booker.
I want to go up five picks to get Banks.
I want to go up fifteen picks to go get Will Campbell because he's falling number ten.
You know, there's there's there's that part that gets.
Really really interesting. You know, do I want to go up and get Matthew Golden? You know, Golden's sitting there at twenty, man, let me go get him? Or I think one team to keep an eye on. And I actually saw this on a website, the Atlanta Falcons. Falcons only have five picks because of the Penix trade and so they don't have a lot, and so they'd like to replenish. They're sitting there at fifteen. Fifteen's a nice little sweet spots.
Man.
Now that's ten picks. So you are going to have to give up a bit, and it's probably gonna be a little bit more than you want to give up. But for for Booker, for Banks, for Golden, for those guys, kind of in that range. Yeah, I could see it, maybe even maybe even t Mac.
The thing I like about all those guys that we're talking about.
Is they feel they feel swarm, and they feel like they would fit. Now, the fact that I've mentioned four guys that I feel like could be really good fits for the Texans, that also makes me think that Nick sits there and goes, yeah, that's four guys. The probability is that one of them will be there at twenty five, and we feel very good about that, so we don't have to give up extra draft land Yap.
We can just sit here at twenty five.
Now, if you start seeing you know, you're sitting there thinking that with the Falcons at fifteen, but all of a sudden, two or three of them go off the board the next five PICTU, you're like, oh, now, maybe they go up and get one of those guys that ends up remaining. I think that could end up being Booker. As much as I love Booker, I just think t teas like a guard and Bookers a true guard. Booker isn't playing tackle. Booker's not playing center. He is a guard left guard mainly, but I would imagine you could play right guard with him too. He's a guard, and I think that I don't want to say it hurts his value, but I think it just maybe limits.
There might be two teams, three teams that go.
Sort of anchors it.
Yes, yes, we want a little bit more scheme flex and we get that with Gray's abel.
You gotta know you haven't need a guard.
And the flip side of that is there are some teams that definitely have needs a guard, no doubt.
All right, well let's uh, let's get rid of the either orders. It's their final question of today. But let's say some odd alternate universes out there and the Texans at the first overall pick. Oh, they weren't going to trade it. They're taking their player at number one overall. Who's a pick for the Texans? Not a quarterback? Obviously, I know exactly what I do. I know exactly what I do. This should be Travis Hunter to me all day, every day. And here's why I actually texted Sean Pennery at some point.
I don't know why I was. I think they may be talking about in the air, and I had a thought.
I was, like, you know, I said, Sean kind of half jokingly said if I were Nick, I'd trade everything I've got to get up to go get Travis Hunter, because Travis would end up killing two birds with one stone. Because yes, the Texans signed Ronald Darby, I think is a really good move. But I feel like you could take Travis and you could put him on a slot. Or you could have Travis played man and man on the outside and put Kamari on a slot and have Sting, Travis Hunter and Kamari Laster going man to man on the three best receivers on the other side, and you are absolutely no flies one at that point. Plus you then can add Travis Hunter at receiver and he becomes the two or three receiver, giving you downfield components, give you catch and run situations, giving you kind of that that X factor.
You can give him push passes.
Jet sweeps, all that kind of stuff, and you kill two birds with one stone.
So I to me, it would be Travis Hunter.
Now the flip side of that is my number one overall player in Harris one hundreds. Abdul Carter ooh interesting, Yes, I would take Travis Hunter, but I have dual. Carter's my number one player to Harrison one hundred and my hope is that he does not end up at Tennessee. I think I'd rather face cam Ward than have to tangle with eb Duel Carter. It's kind of the way I feel right now, but you can change my mind later on all Right, there's a lot of stuff going around in the NFL, including one of our own while he's making a slight job change. We'll discuss that next on Texans All Access. All Right. Here we go, last segment of a Wednesday issue of Texans All Access. I'm your host, John Harris, football analyst, sideline reporter for your Houston Texans, and it's the Houston Texans in the sense that we attached to our good pal J J.
Watt.
Now, JJ last year was in the studio for NFL and CBS the pregame show.
I always wondered.
Whether JJ would like that or not, because there's just really no time with so many guys on the show to kind of spread your wings and discuss football and b JJ Watt, who we know him to be, funny, sarcastic, informative, smart, all those things great football I Q that you would love as a game analyst. Well wish no more. Now there's kind of a domino effect here. I'm gonna read you a tweet from Jimmy Trayner. Jimmy has covered the media side of life for a long time. He does it for SI. He tweeted this. CBS announced that Gary Danielson is retiring as CBS's lead college football analyst after the twenty twenty five season. CBS now does Big Ten games as opposed as you see either way, Charles Davis will succeed Danielson the following season. Traina finished that leaves a huge opening for CBS's number two NFL analyst job. No, it does not, because that's where JJ Watt will go. If you remember, JJ did the net Flix game last year in the booth I believe was Nate Burleson and I think they did it with Iron Eagle, and that's who JJ will be calling games with starting in twenty twenty five. Charles Davis did the games with Iron Eagle. I thought there's a great team. Now Charles is gonna go in twenty twenty six and become the lead college analyst alongside great play by play man Brad Nesler.
So Davis, who I love. I love Charles Davis.
He's gonna hop over to the college side alongside Brad Nessler. JJ is gonna slide in starting this year with Iron Eagle and be the number two team on CBS.
I absolutely love it.
I think it's gonna be freaking awesome, not only for JJ but for all of us. I think it's gonna be really fun to listen to JJ for three hours discuss football and he's with Iron Eagle, and I think he's gonna have a blast with Ininegle.
I think it's gonna be really fun.
I think I am makes it really easy for his analyst. You here in basketball now during March Madness Iron Eagle with Bill Raftery and with Grant Hill, he does a great job keeping them a gauge kind of some back and forth with the two. With the three of them, I think he and JJ are going to be a wonderful, wonderful TV crew. So with the Danielson retirement announcement, the domino effect does get all the way to JJ Danielson retiring after this season.
Charles Davis will move over there.
Because Charles is out, then that moves JJ into the spot next to Iron Eagle. So congratulations JJ, awesome stuff and thank you to Mark for being here, to Drew for being here, and all you for listen.
We'll see next time, and as always, go Texans.
