March 2, 2026 • 7 mins
Monday on The A-Team, Adam Wexler and Adam Clanton react to the Houston Texans trading Tytus Howard to the Cleveland Browns and sending Juice Scruggs along with multiple draft picks to the Detroit Lions in exchange for running back David Montgomery.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Just let's just jump right into it. We You and
I had a bit of a back and forth about
the offensive line just last week, and Titus Howard was
at the center of that conversation. You, I think, thought
a lot more highly of him than I did, but
neither one of us thought he was bad. But he's
(00:22):
no longer a Texan anymore.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah, just thinking more highly of Titus Howard. That might
not be how I categorized it. Trying to make a
good offensive line unit is why it might sound like
I think more highly of him. Making a good group
of five offensive linemen has become more difficult. It's more
of a challenge. There are more holes to fill. I
hope they shoot for the moon. I hope they try
(00:44):
to add players that are a lot better than Titus Howard.
I hope they try to add players better than Tay Nursery.
Never seen any evidence of it before, but the two
deals that went down today reportedly, and this is a
league wide thing. The league year hasn't started, so these
deals will not be made official, and even when the
league year opens, they won't necessarily be announcements. Numbers one
and one A. Other teams will also be involved to
(01:05):
other teams were clearly involved here. The Texans are moving
on from Titus Howard getting a fifth round pick in
return from the Cleveland Browns seven years here in Houston
after he was surprisingly drafted in the first round, and
all things considered, the value for that player, the fact
that he signed an extension here and we'll get an
extension with the Cleveland Browns instead of playing under the
(01:26):
final year of that extension. Pretty good pick for the Texans.
I don't think there's much to doubt about that, not
a Pro Bowl caliber player, didn't play at that level,
had some really really good years a couple of years ago.
I do think he had a very good year last year,
probably his best year while Nick Cassario was here and
trying to win. But he gets sent to the Cleveland
Browns not long after. The Texans trade four running back
(01:49):
David Montgomery of the Detroit Lions now the the Houston Texans. Again.
That will be made official for some time, even though
all parties have acknowledged it. David Montgomery has comment on
it via his Instagram. Titus Howard, on the other deal,
is commented on it an article you can read right
there on our site from Aaron Wilson about not being
surprised by it. The Texans will send the Lions a
(02:11):
fourth round pick, a seventh round pick in twenty twenty seven.
Fourth round pick is in the twenty sixth draft, and
they will also send offensive lineman Jew Scrugs. The fifth
coming in for Titus Howard is the very first pick
in the fifth round. The fourth going out for David
Montgomery is only a couple of picks in front of that.
So it's not a clean trade in trade out, but
(02:33):
awfully close to it, and much closer to it than
the ability to sit there on the Twitter sphere and
the ex platform and any other social media or even
calling it to us. It's saying, oh my god, a
fourth and a fifth man, they're almost the same pick.
But now to what they're trying to do, what they
need to do. Your analysis are analysis everybody else's analysis
(02:54):
on what the Texans are trying to do to I
don't know, be better on offense. Both of these move
where may with an eye on money and obviously the offense,
which is everything we should be talking about for every
single day until they kick off against the insert team
in September.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yeah, no, I absolutely agree with you, because you can't.
You can't have a season like they did where you
had a near historical defense and for your team it
was basically and feel like you wasted it for whatever
reason because the other side of the football didn't have
its act together. And I feel like.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
You're giving them a pass for the other years when
you say that. Every time you say it, what who
the defense last year? Because you didn't put enough into
the offense. You should feel like you wasted the defense.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Oh no, you're right, you.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Should feel bad about what you've done with the offense
every single year. You've been trying to win since Nick
Cassario has been here and for him as the GM,
even though you clearly weren't trying to win in year
one and clearly weren't trying to win in year two.
You can't act like those drafts don't matter. They do matter.
You should have players from those drafts. Granted, I know
the first of those did not net you anything in
the first two rounds that was not on him, and
(04:08):
they did actually net something that was probably you could
argue that was his best draft considering what he had
to work with. Three of the players are still here.
Two of them contributed mightily to the nine game winning
streak this year, and Nico Collins and Davis Mills. But
in twenty twenty two, when you were handing a team
to Lovey Smith and Pep Hamilton, you clearly weren't trying
to win. But you should be building a foundation. And
(04:29):
that's what a Derek Stingley junior pick is all about.
And that's what the other picks they should be making
that year, including a pick just a couple of slots
later at number fifteen, which they used in the first
round last year on an offensive lineman. So building an
offensive line and talking about what this team needs to
do and focusing there, this is what the conversation. That's
(04:49):
why we had a long drawn out, kind of an
odd time for it conversation about Titus Howard last week,
because this is the area of the team. I cannot
believe we're asking the exact same question about after twenty
twenty three and twenty twenty four, and again in twenty
twenty five, and honestly, for every year that this same
regime has been in place, he's built a fantastic best
in the league's secondary. They have the best edge rushing
(05:11):
duo in the NFL. They're going to have another great
group of defensive tackles. They always do that, giving them,
say I believe they can find them again. They will.
They'll reach on a few, they'll bring in a few.
Their linebackers are outstanding, their defense is incredible. All those
parts of this team and plenty of others that they've
done a nice job of putting pieces together a little
bit free agency, most of it through the draft, obviously
(05:33):
a ton of trades revolving around the draft. The player
acquisition scale for Nick Cassario, as I posted on Twitter earlier,
is tilted heavily in the favor of excellent moves and
outstanding usage of the money the cap at your disposal,
And I know there's a cash aspect to it, but
I really don't think that's much of an impact. Certainly
(05:56):
shouldn't be of the fans. It's tilted heavily in Nick's
Ceio's favor and the good heavy, heavy, heavy, fifty to three,
seventy five to ten, these moves that have been so
good to build this roster. But there's five spots on
the offensive line. You only have twenty two starters, and
five of them are given to offensive linemen and we're
asking the exact same question all over again. I will
(06:17):
probably go look up and try to catch the audio
of what I asked Nick at least two drafts ago.
Do you need to reevaluate your evaluation of how you
guys evaluate offensive linemen? Maybe they'll be looked at differently
because this is the Cole Popovich era And they found
two linemen last year, only one of which is still
under contract. Five years of building this team, four years
(06:39):
of building this team while you're trying to win, and
we sit here today and wonder who's starting it guard, guard, center,
and tackle. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Look, I mean we've said this a million times. How
can a guy who's so good in so many different
areas be so bad at this one area or his
staff or a combination of the bad.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Demiko, just because he's a defensive coach doesn't mean he
he isn't involved in both sides of the selections.
Just let's just jump right into it. We You and
I had a bit of a back and forth about
the offensive line just last week, and Titus Howard was
at the center of that conversation. You, I think, thought
a lot more highly of him than I did, but
neither one of us thought he was bad. But he's
(00:22):
no longer a Texan anymore.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah, just thinking more highly of Titus Howard. That might
not be how I categorized it. Trying to make a
good offensive line unit is why it might sound like
I think more highly of him. Making a good group
of five offensive linemen has become more difficult. It's more
of a challenge. There are more holes to fill. I
hope they shoot for the moon. I hope they try
(00:44):
to add players that are a lot better than Titus Howard.
I hope they try to add players better than Tay Nursery.
Never seen any evidence of it before, but the two
deals that went down today reportedly, and this is a
league wide thing. The league year hasn't started, so these
deals will not be made official, and even when the
league year opens, they won't necessarily be announcements. Numbers one
and one A. Other teams will also be involved to
(01:05):
other teams were clearly involved here. The Texans are moving
on from Titus Howard getting a fifth round pick in
return from the Cleveland Browns seven years here in Houston
after he was surprisingly drafted in the first round, and
all things considered, the value for that player, the fact
that he signed an extension here and we'll get an
extension with the Cleveland Browns instead of playing under the
(01:26):
final year of that extension. Pretty good pick for the Texans.
I don't think there's much to doubt about that, not
a Pro Bowl caliber player, didn't play at that level,
had some really really good years a couple of years ago.
I do think he had a very good year last year,
probably his best year while Nick Cassario was here and
trying to win. But he gets sent to the Cleveland
Browns not long after. The Texans trade four running back
(01:49):
David Montgomery of the Detroit Lions now the the Houston Texans. Again.
That will be made official for some time, even though
all parties have acknowledged it. David Montgomery has comment on
it via his Instagram. Titus Howard, on the other deal,
is commented on it an article you can read right
there on our site from Aaron Wilson about not being
surprised by it. The Texans will send the Lions a
(02:11):
fourth round pick, a seventh round pick in twenty twenty seven.
Fourth round pick is in the twenty sixth draft, and
they will also send offensive lineman Jew Scrugs. The fifth
coming in for Titus Howard is the very first pick
in the fifth round. The fourth going out for David
Montgomery is only a couple of picks in front of that.
So it's not a clean trade in trade out, but
(02:33):
awfully close to it, and much closer to it than
the ability to sit there on the Twitter sphere and
the ex platform and any other social media or even
calling it to us. It's saying, oh my god, a
fourth and a fifth man, they're almost the same pick.
But now to what they're trying to do, what they
need to do. Your analysis are analysis everybody else's analysis
(02:54):
on what the Texans are trying to do to I
don't know, be better on offense. Both of these move
where may with an eye on money and obviously the offense,
which is everything we should be talking about for every
single day until they kick off against the insert team
in September.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yeah, no, I absolutely agree with you, because you can't.
You can't have a season like they did where you
had a near historical defense and for your team it
was basically and feel like you wasted it for whatever
reason because the other side of the football didn't have
its act together. And I feel like.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
You're giving them a pass for the other years when
you say that. Every time you say it, what who
the defense last year? Because you didn't put enough into
the offense. You should feel like you wasted the defense.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Oh no, you're right, you.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Should feel bad about what you've done with the offense
every single year. You've been trying to win since Nick
Cassario has been here and for him as the GM,
even though you clearly weren't trying to win in year
one and clearly weren't trying to win in year two.
You can't act like those drafts don't matter. They do matter.
You should have players from those drafts. Granted, I know
the first of those did not net you anything in
the first two rounds that was not on him, and
(04:08):
they did actually net something that was probably you could
argue that was his best draft considering what he had
to work with. Three of the players are still here.
Two of them contributed mightily to the nine game winning
streak this year, and Nico Collins and Davis Mills. But
in twenty twenty two, when you were handing a team
to Lovey Smith and Pep Hamilton, you clearly weren't trying
to win. But you should be building a foundation. And
(04:29):
that's what a Derek Stingley junior pick is all about.
And that's what the other picks they should be making
that year, including a pick just a couple of slots
later at number fifteen, which they used in the first
round last year on an offensive lineman. So building an
offensive line and talking about what this team needs to
do and focusing there, this is what the conversation. That's
(04:49):
why we had a long drawn out, kind of an
odd time for it conversation about Titus Howard last week,
because this is the area of the team. I cannot
believe we're asking the exact same question about after twenty
twenty three and twenty twenty four, and again in twenty
twenty five, and honestly, for every year that this same
regime has been in place, he's built a fantastic best
in the league's secondary. They have the best edge rushing
(05:11):
duo in the NFL. They're going to have another great
group of defensive tackles. They always do that, giving them,
say I believe they can find them again. They will.
They'll reach on a few, they'll bring in a few.
Their linebackers are outstanding, their defense is incredible. All those
parts of this team and plenty of others that they've
done a nice job of putting pieces together a little
bit free agency, most of it through the draft, obviously
(05:33):
a ton of trades revolving around the draft. The player
acquisition scale for Nick Cassario, as I posted on Twitter earlier,
is tilted heavily in the favor of excellent moves and
outstanding usage of the money the cap at your disposal,
And I know there's a cash aspect to it, but
I really don't think that's much of an impact. Certainly
(05:56):
shouldn't be of the fans. It's tilted heavily in Nick's
Ceio's favor and the good heavy, heavy, heavy, fifty to three,
seventy five to ten, these moves that have been so
good to build this roster. But there's five spots on
the offensive line. You only have twenty two starters, and
five of them are given to offensive linemen and we're
asking the exact same question all over again. I will
(06:17):
probably go look up and try to catch the audio
of what I asked Nick at least two drafts ago.
Do you need to reevaluate your evaluation of how you
guys evaluate offensive linemen? Maybe they'll be looked at differently
because this is the Cole Popovich era And they found
two linemen last year, only one of which is still
under contract. Five years of building this team, four years
(06:39):
of building this team while you're trying to win, and
we sit here today and wonder who's starting it guard, guard, center,
and tackle. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Look, I mean we've said this a million times. How
can a guy who's so good in so many different
areas be so bad at this one area or his
staff or a combination of the bad.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Demiko, just because he's a defensive coach doesn't mean he
he isn't involved in both sides of the selections.
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