The A-Team: Meet Danielle/Joe, JV Update and What's Up With That?!

Adam Clanton and Adam Wexler talk about what's going on in Houston sports and more on March 14th, 2024.

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adamtalking your teams, Adam Clinton and Adam
Wexler are the A Team A.That's JJ's number. You know he's done
a lot, but that number,I'm not even messing with it so to

(00:22):
be able to do what he's donewith that number for the community and the
Texans, and I'm just leaving thatunder him. So I've decided to possibly
go with im number fifty five.All Right, the biggest question has been
answered. Now we can move onwith the actual football beat it Jerry Jerry
Hughes my number fifty five last year, Oh for sure. Danille Hunter quieting

(00:44):
all the rumors or whatever. Idon't eve think there was rumors come up.
Let's back it up. I'm makingthis out to be way bigger than
it is. But yes, aswe get the another abbreviated edition of the
A Team underway today, the bignews of the day here locally is just
the fact that you heard it.One of several new Houston Texans added,
but you're actually hearing from him inthat case, that is Danil Hunter so

(01:07):
far the biggest acquisition of the offseason. I think he'll end up being
the biggest acquisition of the offseason.He's the biggest player they signed. Yeah,
from a stature standpoint, but youknow from a production standpoint he's not.
Then you probably overpaid him. Imean, he got fifty million bucks
for two years. But what ifJoe Mixon rushes for two thousand yards?

(01:27):
This is where I would normally answer, like a veteran sports radio host would.
If he runs for two thousand yards, then I'll jump off this building
with only a thong on. You'llstreak down Westeimer naked. But I didn't
say that. No, he's notgoing to No, but you know you're
hoping for at least as much productionas you got out of last year's one
year as it turns out running backsingletary. But he is now a Buffalo

(01:51):
or no, he is a NewYork Giant. Sorry, you should get
a lot more out of Joe Mixonjust in the fact that he's your day
one RB one. That's the thing. And I think I think I asked
you this since the season was over, when it was that he actually became
the full time because it was neverreally announced, And I think Dimiko didn't

(02:12):
hit the presser one day and say, look, we're going to make a
change here and right at the endof one of the games. There's no
question in Dimiko, do you knowwho you're starting? Running back is next
week? We only ask about oneposition, It's true, and we didn't
have to ask about that because noneof the other positions throw interceptions most of
the time most of the time.But yes, Danil Hunter is in fact

(02:32):
officially a Houston, Texan, asis Joe Mixon, and I just have
to ask you were in there forhalf of it. I know that.
Let's go. We got we gotplaces to be people, we got a
show to do. Love this.We're starting at two, but nobody's going
to be here till two twenty five. Nonsense, Come on out. What

(02:54):
time did you leave? Well,luckily now the gap in between Hunter rap
up and Mix and walking in waslong enough for me to pack up all
my stuff and run out of there. Yeah, yeah, you may.
There s this a little thing calleduh Rodeo going on over at nrgy Stadium.
I'm not gonna lie to you,Wex. I didn't know you were
going to go over there, andthat took some balls considering your show.

(03:15):
Start getting in and out. Ifyou're going to this. They actually make
it pretty easy. They what aboutthe drive though, Well, the only
issue is you have to know whereto go in. There's three ways to
get on to Murworth. You canturn right off of Kirby or off of
Main Buffalo, Yes, or youcan turn left, or you can drive
straight to Myrworth's. You cannot turnright at this time. You cannot turn

(03:38):
left. Yeah, there's too manypeople waiting to get to the parking lots.
But if you swing around and drivestraight through, there's literally not a
single car in your way. Iknow what to uh Tomorrow. She wants
to take him out of school totake him to the rodeo before the show.
Well, it's gonna be over andhe'd really love it, and like
he does not care that much eventhe weekend, the Carnival, the adventure

(04:00):
of those things. If you getthere before the rush, right after it
opens, basically everything's operational right andyou can get everything done, which I
think is what we're gonna make youcan't. You know the guy's there to
learn. Clearly, we can't betaking him out of school. Well,
if you knew, if you justknew that, just the process of getting
him into his classroom every day.This guy's not gonna gay you down for

(04:23):
going to the Rodeo Carnival instead ofgoing to school. Yes, you begin
understand. He had a field triptwo out of four days already this week.
Today's the second day of field trip. So we're now going to take
him out. So it's like inschool spring break they went to a movie.
Yes, I love it. Yeah, they've got you know, a
little bus and everything. But Ikeep telling him, next year kindergarten starts,
you're not gonna be able to doall this. Well, I want

(04:44):
to go to the director's office inloiter for a while. And I was
able to be there for Daneel Hunter. Yeah, and listen to Joe Mixon
on my very comfortable drive in SorryMatt, Sorry Ross. Daniel Hunter probably
is a thing that And it wasimmediate that I heard from him. There
was like, oh, that's cool. He like many of you guys out

(05:04):
there listening to us, wearing yourjerseys, tailgating supporting this team over the
years. Yeah, he went tothe game against the Browns in the playoffs
as a fan. He's a Houstonianup here, he said, he you
know, I didn't really have anythingelse to do was his explanation for why
he went to the game, becausehe was back home. He got a
ticket through his agency, and thenhe went to the game. He wasn't

(05:26):
with the Texans, he wasn't onthe sidelines. He wasn't doing what Kirk
Cousins in Saquon Barkley did illegally,which is contacting their teams when they shouldn't
have. He was just hanging outat the game. He was He was
just there and he said he likedwhat he saw. And really, truthfully,
even though he's so far out fromanything actually happening, because at that
point in time, you're two monthsfrom free agency. You know, it's

(05:46):
just the calendar thing, but thosethoughts were already there. He knew he
was going to be out of contract. He knew he was hitting free agency,
as he told us, you know, you know, you hear things.
He's like people like Texans, youknow, come on, you know,
you could come back home. Andhe really never wanted it to believe
it was going to be reality realityuntil obviously it was. So he never
looked, you know, got hishopes up or thought it was he had
to be here versus other opportunities.But he certainly sounded very happy to be

(06:11):
playing for Demico Ryans, a playerhe grew up watching here in Houston,
as he said, and now he'sjust kind of gonna try to pick back
up right where he left off inMinnesota. As one of the most successful
passing disruptors out there, he isan elite pass rusher. I don't know
that everyone should or would call himan elite defensive end run stopper. They

(06:33):
probably wouldn't based on what happened,But I do think a little of that
has team basis on it, andI actually think he can be more disruptive.
Like I said yesterday, as muchas you might look at Will Anderson,
male model for Clutch Sports, andsay, wow, this is really
gonna help him, it's obviously true. I actually think this helps Hunter.
Playing with the three other defensive lineman, whoever that third one might be,

(06:57):
is going to help him tremendously foreach of the end of on next year's
starting front four. I would guessit'll be the best group they've ever played
with. You know, Hunter won'thave played with three teammates as successful.
I don't think Anderson will again asof yet, It's only year two have
played similarly. Denico Autry is nowat least one of the other guys.
As we were getting ready for theshow, DJ Reiders deal with the Lions

(07:21):
became official a little bit better thanthirteen million a year on a two year
deal to leave Cincinnati and go toDetroit one by one, just kind of
like what happened with the running backsand how the Texans landed on Joe Mixon.
There are a couple of teams asof yesterday that we're interested in Eric
Armstead, and one of them wasthe team that Sheldon Rankin signed with yesterday,

(07:45):
and now another one was the teamthe DJ Readers signed with today.
It's not a matter of if,but when this happens. It seems that
way, and the deal for MalieCollins to go to San Francisco also became
official for an early seventh round pickfrom the Texans to the San Francisco forty
nine ers. We can get intowhy the one for one deal, player
for player deal was not made,and I totally get that reasoning, but

(08:07):
yes, it's definitely looking more andmore like the options to get paid and
win, which he probably could havedone in Cincinnati, where Rankins is going,
and where he probably could have gonein Detroit, where Reader is going.
Armstead's options of teams that will probablyput him in the neighborhood of paid
that he deserves and wants, theyare dwindling, dwindling hopefully to one.

(08:28):
And yeah, I do think thatis still on the horizon. Free agency
far from over. You saw KendallFuller get signed today. There's a tremendous
amount of talent still available. JustinSimmons is still available, and many others.
Whether it replies to Houston or not, maybe that's a different story.
But just point blank, you startedfree agency on Monday, we're here at
Thursday. You can make your teambetter. There are a lot of players

(08:48):
that would step in immediately and havePro Bowl caliber seasons in front of them
for whichever team ends up picking themup. You're not surprised by the way
that he said what he did aboutthe number, like and I'm not even
kidding when I ask this. Ithink it was disgusted by the team and
him. I mean it may havecome up before today. I mean,
I guess yes, But I alsothink his standpoint of all the people they

(09:09):
could have signed on the defensive line, if I'm not mistaken. There's only
one super successful edge rusher and freeagency that also grew up watching the Texans
play in his hometown, and it'shim. Probably. It was an easy
conversation. Yeah, he knows that, and it's exactly in the answer that
he said. We played that toopen the show. He says, that's
his number, you know, forall that he did for this city and
for all that he did for thisteam. Right, yeah, I can.

(09:31):
There's I mean zero and double zeroif they're both options, plus the
other ninety eight. There's one hundrednumbers to choose from ninety nine. Because
he also won't be picking eighty ninetynine and eighty or out should have had
ninety. I thought he was goingto maybe say ninety four only and that
that's what he wore at LSU,But he went with fifty five. Again.
He didn't even cement it in fiftyfive. He said, I'll probably

(09:52):
wear fifty five. Maybe he waswaiting to see if Jerry Hughes in fact
will be brought back. He's tryingto do Jerry slid Antonio right now.
It I'm not even kidding when Isay this, there's going to be Daniil
Hunter Jersey's prominently displayed right next toJoy Stroud ones. Where was I Where?
What? I don't do much,so I shouldn't be hard to figure
out. Probably Probably I was atCostco. I have not that recently.

(10:16):
I have not been there since yesterday. Geez. But it wasn't there.
I did see somebody in a showof Jersey. So I'm thinking, as
you described this, watch even peoplegoing to Texans game, they'll they'll put
a sticker over JJ's number and putHunter no, because you can't wear ninety
nine. I don't know if you'reaware of this. Was Creed here earlier
in the week for so no,no, no, that would have been

(10:39):
funny. That would have really beenfunny. Actually, I don't know if
you're aware of this. And I'msaying that tongue firmly planted in cheek.
Did you know that are on?Chris Gordy went to nickelback last night.
I follow him on social media,so that's all I needed to hear.
Plus he told us yesterday, Yeah, well that's true. I didn't.
I haven't heard their show this week, but I can tell you this,

(11:01):
and this is just from an accountI see on Twitter here El Mack thirteen
twenty six. If you yeah,Lauren, she'd a weird word Wednesday,
girl, I guess this is her, Yes, Moniker, I mean to
do her a solid and that's there'smore to her than just that. Well
yeah, but she's the one thatwas responsible for that, and so she
had tweeted the following, If youmissed out on Nickelback because folks bullied you

(11:24):
into thinking they don't bleep and killit, I'm sorry because it was awesome.
I got a lot of that lastnight. Now, I'm not a
huge Nickelback fan, but I havehad my share of shots I've taken at
them, but I'm getting that,like consistently, they killed it last night.
So if you went crazy, howa super popular, super mega money

(11:46):
earning band with lots of hits playsa good show, it's crazy. Yeah,
but you might not like that artistor his hits, like you don't
like Jackson Brown. I'm not gonnago. I mean, god, I
don't even know what there was asong. It's you know you're radio will
tell you the song it's about toplay, probably four or five seconds before
it arrives. Yep. I letit sit there and then as soon as
I heard the first note of someterrible Jackson Brown song, which is all

(12:09):
of them, I turned. Itjust just unbelievable that you feel that way,
all right, you know, thenext time we go to Kushatta Casino
Resort, we take a road trip. I know what we're playing in the
car so that Wex can hear itall the way to kinder Louisiana. It's
not that far. That's the goodthing for Wex. It's a short drive
over there. When you get there, though, and you've you'll probably start

(12:31):
with him. Then you'll you know, I'll be in the car, so
you'll want to shower the people youlove with love, and James, I'll
really want to jump out of thecar. And isn't there one more artist
that we could fit in? Well, if you played her, you'd be
taking another little piece of my heart, so I hope you don't. Oh,
that's right. Janis Joplin is goingto be prominently featured on our drive
to Kushine of them are appearing inconcert at Sugar Ray That's right, Sugar

(12:56):
Ray Face next month. That's true. Don't forget about baby Face, But
I'm on that Sugar Ray train.I want to go there on Saturday,
March twenty third and see what that'sall about. But it's hardly the only
thing they offered there. At basicallythe oasis at the end of the rainbow,
right there in Kushata Casino Resort,you gotta start feeling that wagering coming
on. With the conference championships goingon, conference tournaments going on. They

(13:18):
leave right into the big dance,and boys, it fun to watch all
those games as they all go off, and you've utilized all those easy to
use betting kiosks, the big screensright there at the red sports book,
right there in the smack dab inthe middle of the massive gaming floor at
Cushata Casino Resort. Take advantage ofall the resort amenities, resort style pool,
the golf, the massive gaming floor, the sports book, obviously three

(13:41):
great hotels, some tremendous Cajun cuisine. Hit him up at Cushata Casino Resort
dot com to make your plans tovisit cushut up ease technical. How do
you know that? Because he's freakingawesome and well he's a spectacle. I
have taken this segment and chet flungit out this window Adam Wexler, Adam

(14:03):
Clinton. The A team continues onSports SOX seven ninety. I remember last
year during the playoffs, I actuallycame to the game against the Browns,
and I liked what I saw there. So it's just the home feeling and
how the guys are on the fieldplaying together for each other, and where
they sworned the ball on defense.That was a big part of it.
So I'm excited about that. Ibet he listened to Jackson Brown on the
way that playoff game wex Alredy OldNews. That's Daniel Hunter, as we

(14:26):
told you in the opening segment.Liked to what he saw and liked the
vibe of the place while he washere in Houston. He will not be
playing alongside Eric Armstead. In thelast twenty minutes or so, the Jaguars,
who thought they were going to bespending a bunch of money on Calvin
Ridley, they're not. Instead,the Titans are the Jaguars. Cordy and

(14:46):
Rapaport are closing in on a dealto sign Eric Armstead, which is precisely
why the Texans didn't wait for maybewe'll sign Joe Mixon when he gets released.
They executed a trade to add him, and it's exactly why. They
probably should have either executed the tradefor Armstead and accepted the deal that he

(15:07):
was already under, or reworked anew deal more to their liking, or
not executed the trade at all,and MALIEK Collins would still be in Houston.
Apparently they were ready to part withCollins anyway. I don't know why,
and I have no explanation for that. But now neither Collins, MALIEK
Collins, nor Eric Armstead will beon the Texans defensive line. And now

(15:28):
I have to go back to somethingI haven't said since last segment. I
don't know if the Texans defensive lineis going to be the best that they've
ever had, because now I don'tknow who's the other of the four that
are starting. I know Denico Autryhas been very good in his career,
he's getting older. I know DanilHunter has been awesome everywhere he's been and
I expect that to continue. Whatcollege does he play for or did he
play for? LSU? Will AndersonJunior is likely to be better than he

(15:52):
was in his first year. Butnow they have to me and I don't
work for the team. I'm nota personnel guy. I don't know what
I'm talking talking about. For me, they completely unnecessarily opened up a hole
on their team, which at thispoint in what's available in free agency.
Jerry Tillery also signed earlier today.They did not get better. Why,
I'm ensured that they would be worseat that position. That's why I said,

(16:15):
what colleges you play for? Becausewho are you drafting? Because that's
I mean again, I don't evenbelieve that today. That's just not nobody,
even the Texans don't operate like that. There might be a defensive tackle
on the board when they draft,or there might be a defensive tackle that
they love that all of a suddenis at nineteen or seventeen and you feel
like, okay, we actually cango ahead and make this move and it's

(16:37):
not going to be too costly.Because again, forget about last year's deal,
because they're not in this anymore.They had all sorts of extra assets
for the last several drafts. Theydon't have any extra assets this year.
There's no additional draft picks that theTexans hold. They will probably have additional
picks in twenty twenty five, Imean maybe, because I don't know if
the formula is going to work intheir favor or not. Losing these free

(16:59):
agents plus gaining those they might actuallyhave more of a wash than anything else
for compensatory selections. But you onlyhave four picks in the first four rounds
of this year. I mean thatyou're gonna start to trade future assets away
and start to eliminate the regular numberof assets you have if you make that
move. But again, just liketo go get Will Anderson. If you

(17:19):
get a guy like Byron Murphy oror somebody you know can step right away
in and play and play for atleast the first four years of that initial
deal very well probably a fifth year, then that's fine. That is a
way to accommodate. But you don'twant to go into the draft knowing that
you basically have to do that,and they're getting awfully close to being in
that position, and then it's stillmight everything about free agency and the draft

(17:45):
when you're not at the very verytop wild card, you have no idea.
They had no idea they gona endedup with Joe Mixon. They had
no idea they ended up with DanielHunter. Had no idea that we're going
to do all sorts of different things. They had all sorts of plans and
contingencies to be prepared for whatever.But I doubt this is what they I
really really do. So to gointo the draft two more eight weeks in
advance and say, yeah, wekind of have to draft a defensive tackle.

(18:07):
We hold the twenty third and fiftyninth pick, let's go Well,
not a way to do that.I go back to the original question this
segment, like what why did youtrade maliite Collins? Like I said,
how I need to know why.My belief now is they were they were
looking to move on from Collins.We're ready to take the small cap savings.

(18:30):
No, just ready to move on. I think that's all that it
came to. Because now, atthe end of the day, what it
would have caused to get Armstead orwhomever they still will sign, plus what
it now cost them to move onfrom Collins, and they got nothing in
return. I mean, don't tellme a second round a seventh round pick
for your starting defensive tackle who wasa plus player last year. He's better

(18:52):
than average, way way better thanaverage, one of the better interior defensive
linemen in the AFC last year.You just told him to Lea and as
we all know, if indeed theywere trading him because of I'm saying this,
I don't even need to say that. The reports are already out there
that there was a rumored deal tojust trade him straight up for Armstead,
and they didn't do that. That'swhat I mean. They either you execute

(19:14):
the deal, so the players hereand we work his deal if you're unhappy
with how much he's making, whichI'm sure was the hold up because he
was due to make eighteen million,or you can't then trade Collins and hope
all of your defensive line and optionSheldon Rankins, DJ Reider, Jerry Tillery
and now Armstead all signed with otherteams, which has now happened. It's
just crazy. I don't credit whereit's due to Nick Cassario for some of

(19:41):
the things he's done, but thisis this is not one of those things
where I'm seeing a way out orOkay, just calm down because twenty four
hours from now you're gonna feel betterabout it. That's already happened this free
agency period. But this move isnot like any of those other moves.
Yeah, and you don't know again, I go to mixing, because that's
literal. There's no way they said, well, we have so much good

(20:02):
intel in Cincinnati that they're gonna goout and sign a running back, which
will force them to then release mixand it'll be so deep into the process,
we're gonna have to trade for him, so they don't release him because
otherwise somebody else, somebody else wouldget him. And again, why did
that domino even get there? Well, because the first running back domino which
unloaded multiple additional players into the marketplacewas Josh Jacobs signing with Green Bay.

(20:23):
Aaron Jones is on the market,Josh Jacobs as a packer, nobody likely
would have seen that mix and notbeing a Bengal. Maybe as a cap
casualty because the last two years,I think people thought he would hit the
market as the Bengals would just moveon from him and try to take the
savings. They went along with it, maybe, but it's just not They've
done a lot of good things thatI don't want to cloud their whole off

(20:45):
season with this move. But thisisn't just we wanted to sign a defensive
lineman and we just were not unableto do it. We just we drew
a line in the sand and anotherteam. I was able to give him
a bit more. It wasn't anarea of need when free agency opened,
and then they opened it up.I mean that you signed Autrey, you
have Collins. Now they will definitivelywhen they line up against whomever they open

(21:10):
the season with. And now startingon the Texans defensive line, four or
three new guys and Will Anderson,Yeah yeah, two of them are awesome.
No, I and we'll find outabout the third. It's not like
they're going to go into the upcomingseason with a terrible defense. It's just
whether it's better than last year.Is is still kind of no, I

(21:30):
don't. I mean they're they're betterup from I mean that that. I'm
not saying that. But they justdidn't need to take a step back.
That that was their own choice.I don't know. I, like you
said, I'd like to hear thereasoning behind it, but I can guess.
Yeah, this is a little odd. I'll just put it at that
and leave it at that for thissegment. But plenty more to get to
about this and other moves, notonly for the Texans but around the NFL.

(21:53):
We'll get to all of that aswe continue here on a Thursday edition
of the eighteen Dylan Brooks. Herein fact that Dylan or stay clutch with
the iHeartRadio app here every Rockets gameon Sports Docs seven ninety Brooks Home of
Your Rockets, Rockets A team rollingalong here on Sports Talks seven to ninety.
I still can't get over, youknow, reading reports, Well,

(22:15):
Texans had a deal in place wherethey would just strade uh malite Collins for
Armstead straight up. And you know, as Wex and I were talking about
during the break, if you dothat, then you know Armstead's making what
he's making on that deal, whichwas why he was available in the first
place. He didn't They wanted himto take a pay cut in San Francisco

(22:36):
and he didn't want to. Then, like you know, there's lots of
stuff floating around out there, butapparently he wanted three years and the Texans
wanted to give him two. Thatwas floated out there. So if that
was really the hang up here,you're looking at this kind of strikeout,
if that's what you want to callit, over another year on a contract

(22:57):
basically, well, I mean,it'd be nice to know this going in
that you're not going to be ableto do that, because if that's your
line in the sand, it's prettyeasy to get that figured out. But
again, you can't wait on oneand hope for the other. They will.
In this case, they could haveMalie Collins just pay him, Just
pay him for what he's you gavehim the contract for, and let him

(23:18):
keep playing for you. I don'tknow if there's some scheme issue. He
certainly seemed fine in their scheme lastyear. There I can't imagine there was
any other internal issue. I'd neverheard of anything like that. So again,
wanting to move on from Collins,well, I would think you'd want
to get better. That's why youwere engaged in conversations about trading him straight
up for Armstead. That would haveyou know. It gave you the opportunity

(23:38):
to be better, like mixing givesyou the opportunity to be better mixing over
singletary, like you know several differentother moves they've made. They give you
that opportunity and on paper to bebetter. But the sequence of moves,
for all intents and purposes, hasended. Unless they're willing to part with
even more in trade to go findsomebody else's current defensive tax because the marketplace

(24:00):
has gotten fairly thin as far asdefensive tackles go, just as we suspected
it would. First couple of daysthere wasn't a match activity there and once
the Texans weren't able to reach atrade agreement. Now Armstead, Reader,
Rankins, Tillary, et cetera.Were all available on the market, and
surely, slowly but surely last nightto today, every single one of those
players in that time period last nightto where we are today here at three

(24:23):
thirty five have all found contracts withteams that aren't run by Nick Cassio.
How do you feel about the SheldonRankins departure since we're on the subject.
To me, I don't mind anyif any of these four players are Texans.
I'm totally fine with it. Itdoesn't matter to me. You know,
Is Armstead the best of the four? Probably? Is Rankins a little

(24:44):
bit better than Reader? Maybe?I think they're also very different. Is
Collins the worst of the four orsomewhere in the middle pack of three behind
Armstead? Yeah? Maybe, Butyou have none of them. That's the
issue. I don't really like.I said, I don't really think the
amount they would have spent, whetherit's up to fifteen sixteen seventeen on Armstead
on an average annual basis, ormore like the eleven and a half on

(25:06):
Collins, or more like the thirteenon DJ twelve plus, which is what
I think. They stopped at around twelve on a two year deal,
So twenty four million for rankings.They clearly can afford it, and it
clearly doesn't hurt them long term,and it makes them better. But they
did none of those things. That'sthe issue. Who you're looking at next

(25:26):
in the group. Like I said, of available defensive tackles, they're gone
now. The best tackles that youcould possibly hope to have on your team
next year to fill that open spotare on somebody's team that you would now
have to see, is there somereason why they'd be available? Now you
have to count on Fatsukasi, theplayer you signed just before free agency open,

(25:48):
and I guess he's right now heis the starter, And you resigned
Khlil Davis, you have Kurt Heinish, and I get all that, but
if Collins was a free agent,that would be one thing. And you
tried to get any one of thosefour, and you didn't. You had
one and you turned it into asof today zero And I can't find anybody
out there that I think makes upfor that loss, not in terms of

(26:11):
the currently unsigned defensive tackle group.So if you had to, if like
this is what it is pre draft, obviously, did you change your letter
grade for the Texans free agency.I'm not handing out grades on a daily
basis like they do in school,but you're taking tests that count separately.

(26:32):
You're not taking a Monday free agenttest. You're not taking a Tuesday free
agent test, right, And it'snot the entire offseason exactly. But I
think I've ever said, oh man, the Texans are winning free agency,
because I don't say things like thatthey won free agency. If you just
do a sampling of like what peopleare writing about all of the decisions they've
made. Some people think Joe Mixonis a really great get. Other people

(26:55):
are thinking it's awful. And partof those people that are thinking it's awful
are why it's awful in that theywhift they think on bigger, better running
back deals that were out there andcould have been had on the table.
Well, yes, but there ismoney to concern yourself with you're paying Mixon
five million for one year versus thirtysomething million for the guy the masses wanted

(27:18):
in Saque versus fifteen plus for Singletaryover three years. I mean, it's
not apple quite apples to apples,even though the end of the day,
it is, because all you're tryingto do is get better. All you're
trying to do is present yourself withan opportunity with CJ. Stroud in year
two to do what Joe Mixon's teamdid when he was on the team,
with the second year quarterback Joe Burrow. That's what they're recreating here. That's

(27:41):
the timeline, and they have gonethrough this offseason, albeit today it sounds
like we're dropping a wet blanket onthem. This off season suggests that is
what they're doing. They are tryingto maximize year two, year three.
It's now they've they put themselves ina better position to win next year,
even with whatever we're talking about today, with Colins and no Armstead and no

(28:02):
Rankins and no DJ Reader, They'vemade moves to put them in a better
position to win football games next year, albeit with a tougher schedule, albeit
with a little bit of a targeton their back, which they clearly did
not have last year, and theyshould be. And that's a good sign
that they're not afraid of it orunwilling to do it or pretending like we're
on a three year deal here,we're not ready to make that leap yet.

(28:25):
This does not fall within the planwe had before we drafted CJ,
So we're gonna stick to it.No, it's different. You're good now.
You know you're good. Now,you know you can win. Now,
you already did win. So moveforward with that in an obviously big
picture which isn't even complete. They'veclearly done that. Yeah, I guess,
I guess if it weren't for theway this all unfolded at the very

(28:48):
tail end of the quote unquote bigmoves or big fish that were still out
there that were I mean, Ijust got them saying in the first segment
it's not a matter of if butwin. Actually it does a matter of
if he's in the AFC South.He's just not on the Texans. I
could care less about that. Yeah, I know, I'm not really worried
about the jam. I mean,if anybody made a move in the AFC
South to catch the Texans, thenyou've got to let me know what quarterback

(29:11):
joined the division. Ronalds issue withwhat I mean. They're players that are
coming to Jacksonville, Indianapolis and Tennesseeare perfectly capable guys. They're talented players.
But the hierarchy of the division haschanged zero since the year ended.
The best team is the Texans.The next two best teams which are very

(29:32):
equal as they were last year,Jacksonville and Indianapolis, and a clear several
steps back Tennessee. Nothing changed andmaybe nothing changes for the next several years.
You hope too. Because Will Leviscan play, then this division is
going to be awfully fun. Idon't think he can. I think he
can to that level where the division'sfun, to where they're not a pushover,

(29:55):
to where any given year they couldbe one of the seven teams near
the bottom of the playoffs. Allright, I see what you did there.
But they're so it says not evenabout him. They're team's too far
away. Their talent is low.Yeah. Well, and we kind of
thought that last year about c J. Stroud. CJ. Stroud is just
so much better that some of thetalent deficiencies, even though as the year

(30:18):
went on, and as we're talkingabout this offseason, I don't think there
was. I don't think the Texansweren't necessarily talent deficient as much as it
is. They were all on oneyear deals or short term deals, and
a lot of turnover has already happenedand a lot of it will continue to
happen under Niccosseria. That's kind ofbecoming his MO. That is a risky

(30:40):
play every time you do it,and he's extremely committed to it. When
you signed players for three years,the risk is man, I hope I
got it right because we're stuck withthem, so he almost never does it.
When you sign a player for oneyear'd be great if he's really good,
but then what then Sheldon Rank andsign somewhere else. Then Devin Singletary

(31:02):
signs somewhere else, Then Blake Cashmansigns somewhere else, and you've got to
accommodate for that college. And onevery one of those situations, other than
mixing, it cost you more moneyto find their replacement. It feels like
college to an extent, or maybeeven NBA or college basketball more than college
football. I mean, the transferporal I guess is there, but just

(31:23):
one and done that. From thataspect, is what I'm saying. I
guess he doesn't want to be bored. Well, he's certainly not going to
be bored. That is definitely notgonna be something that's going to be happening.
All Right, we will continue todiscuss we'll get into some baseball as
well. In fact, we'll getinto some baseball coming up at four fifty
when the Astros take things over.But in the meantime, we've got plenty
of things to discuss, as youcan hear right now, and one of

(31:45):
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(32:55):
To be truly effective, a goodHouston sports talk show hop must know
and love sports. In fact,our goodest Houston sports talk show host should
have Houston sports in his blood.Huh yeah, okay, yeah, yeah,
I didn't know you'd like to getwet though, but naked Sharon hell
pcp heyms huh, that's what youhad. That's what you did when you

(33:17):
put that franchise in your system.You didn't taste it, my man,
Hey, Hey, Sam, whaton this is Jay Ferrell back to the
eighteen eighteen on Sports Talk seven toninth. Back at it here it is
Thursday, as we get a littlebit closer to the weekend here on the

(33:38):
eighteen Xac and Dan here with youas per usual, the opportunity for us
here to slip out of the footballdoor and kick down the baseball door.
The Astros playing last evening, andwe'll do so again this evening and tomorrow
evenings. We'll slide out a touchearly to get you that Christian avierre throwing
the ball very well. We'll seehow that goes as they make their way

(33:59):
through the rest of the rotation,probably a full two more times or one
more time after they finish this fullsecond time through for each of them,
how will that be impacted. It'sthe season begins two weeks from today by
the initial guys. That's JP andJV and their status and an opportunity to
get you our daily JV update.It's a good one. I promise you

(34:29):
progress, simple and through and throughwhat you're rhyming now. The Wexler songwriting
staffs. When you write a newsong five days a week, every once
in a while, it's gonna rhyme, we turn to our favorite astros dot
com writer. That's the only one, Brian mctagger. They do get contributions

(34:49):
from others. Last couple of days, Alison footererb been banging out some content
for the website as she's been coveringthis team as long as well as several
others throughout spring training. As perusual, what did Brian mctagger have to
say about Justin Verlander when he joinedthe Matt Thomas Show. The last significant
news item was that he was goingto start the year on the injury list.
But you know, since then,he's been throwing his bullpens without any

(35:14):
incidents and picking up his pitch count. So if believe is throwing today,
so another step in the right direction. I think we'll see him getting games
down here before they break camp inabout ten days. So I think he's
moving in the right direction. Youknow, there's really no news, but
no news is good news. Iguess today Yankees would kill for no news
right now. Yeah, shoulder injuryis what's slowing him down. An unknown

(35:36):
elbow injury still yet to be fullydiagnosed, is what's slowing Garrett Cole down
for at least the next one totwo months. But as Brian said,
he will throw or maybe already hasthrown that VP session today and if all
goes well, we do presumably havean answer to when is he going to
throw against hitters. That would behis next time out. If he throws
well today, wakes up well tomorrow, then that will be next on the

(36:00):
agenda for Justin Verlander Live VP.I'm sure some of the Astros hitters are
like, yeah, I'll get outto the to the fields. You want
me to stand in there against JVfor the first time here at spring training,
after I've had two weeks plus ofthis. Absolutely, I'll be happy
to help old JV out. Let'sdo this and also, as they're usually
done concurrently in tandem. A JVupdate accompanied by Brian McTaggart's JP France update.

(36:25):
I think he's scheduled to start Saturday, maybe his first time he's faced
or pitched in the game this spring, so that would give him at least
one more start down here and maybepitch one of the games that it made
before the start of the season,and then you know, he's probably not
going to pitch until the end ofprobably to the second series of the season,

(36:45):
so he you know, he wouldhave a chance to pitch in the
bullpen or whatever and sort of getthat pitch count up. But it looks
like he's on track to, youknow, make the opening day roster as
the fifth starter. First seven daysof the season are played without a break,
Four against the Yankees, three againstthe Jays. As Brian said,
he is expected to pitch on Saturday. They're hoping for maybe fifty pitches three

(37:06):
innings. However that works out best, and yes, that would line him
up to be if the next timeto the Mount also goes well, to
be prepared to take the ball forone of the games against the Blue Jays.
And again, presumably if he's lastin the rotation, they're not.
I mean it's possible Renel Blanco couldalso be in the rotation. So maybe
it's not necessarily game five of theseason, it could potentially be game six.

(37:28):
So Monday or Tuesday against the BlueJays, they do get an off
day on Thursday because of the extensivetravel. Wednesday, they'll wrap up with
the Blue Jays and then somehow they'regonna have to get to Arlington by Friday
night, so they're gonna have theday off Thursday in order to plan their
travel. It's a long trip,especially by again playing a rare Friday Monday,
non holiday related series. They playthe Arlington Rangers four games to open

(37:53):
up the season on the road.Monday, they wrap that up and then
go to Kansas City before returning hometo see the Rangers for the second of
four series. You play four seriesonly against the teams in your division,
and on April fourteenth, you'll havetwo of them done. You'll have two
of them done. You'll have sevenof your thirteen games complete with the Rangers.

(38:15):
And as I recall, don't theywind up against Seattle this year,
finish the season against Ryan Stannick's team. Yes, well, I wouldn't call
it Ryan Stein. Their last homegame against Ryan Stannick's team. Their last
road series, which is what closesout the season, is against Miles Straw's
team in Cleveland. So let's see, they're gonna play George Springer's team the

(38:39):
second series of the year. We'vegot a lot of guys out there.
Now, Man, there's nobody onthe Rangers, is there? Oh?
That Will Smith's gone. I'm surethere's somebody. Will Smith's team, is
what you would have said, though, h for sure, definitely, Thank
goodness. I hope they can.Maybe they sign him so they can go
back to the World Series, becausethat's what happens. I mean, I
know they play every team this year, so there's gonna have to be a

(39:00):
move made. I know they onlyhave three games against the Pirates. Those
come in late July, which isthe deadline. Maybe their closer gets moved
before the Astros get there to thatgame. Those games are here, and
I'll never have to refer to anymajor league team as Eroaldist Chapman's team just

(39:22):
because nobody is team Eroldist Chapman.They never were and they certainly aren't now.
Just give me a one or twoword response to the last video of
Eroaldist Chapman you may or may nothave seen on social media. That's all
I need. Oh, you couldprobably answer that with an emoji. It's
one of those vomiting emojis. Youdid not disappoint because I knew you would

(39:43):
know what I was talking about,And everybody knows what you're talking about.
Why Why that's all I want toknow. I don't want to know.
I'm not interested. It actually wasan interested in I'm not interested in an
explanation. It's just gross. Man, Stop being gross? Is that too
much to ask? It seems rathersimple. I mean, come on now,
but this is the kind of newsthat when February fourteenth hit and the

(40:07):
pitchers reported, and both JP Franceand Justin Verlander which came there saying we're
behind schedule and we've got something we'redealing with. We had talked to Dana
Brown and Joe Spoda and a bunchof the players quite a bit over the
preceding three weeks on a number ofdifferent availabilities and FanFest and the al Twove
signing, and each time everybody's expectedto be there, everybody's expected to be

(40:30):
ready to go. And now twoof your five man ros starting rotation,
we're not one of them obviously willnot be on opening day, and that's
JV. And maybe that's two misstarts. Maybe it's three. Hard to say.
It looks like it might only bethe minimum time on the IL,
and JP might miss no games,he probably won't be ramped up to where
he wants to be. But havinghim go out there against the Blue Jays

(40:52):
if continues to make the progress thathe is he's probably good to go,
you know, seventy five to ninetypitches, which isn't much different than what
val this, Javier Brown or Akidiare probably on their openings. You know,
this is the thing that if you'reif you're a contender, I mean,
I guess you could say this forany team, but especially if you're
a contender or you even fancy yourselfa contender, like the case of the
Yankees, this is your biggest fearevery February because there was no signs for

(41:17):
this happening to either one of theseteams. But in the case of Garrett
Cole or anybody who's considered a quotepower pitcher, you're just kind of waiting
on this to happen if they pitchlong enough, aren't you. He's thirty
three, so I'm like, eh, yeah, I mean, he's been
pitching for how long, since hewas eleven years old, and this is
this kind of stuff is happening now. I mean, I just this is

(41:42):
this is why in the case ofVerlander, because he is so much older,
I kind of you know, you'realways kind of in the back of
your mind thinking about it. ButI hate to say it doesn't surprise me
with Cole he's been bulletproof forever.Yeah, I mean it. I don't
think I would have to say.It surprised me because I just didn't say,
why would he get hurt just becausehe hasn't and everybody does that all

(42:05):
there is to it. Yeah,that's what I'm saying is a non doctor,
but I think there's merit to that. Unfortunately with what they do.
I'm just saying, if you pitchone hundred and fifty plus innings, which
is a pathetically low number, butthat's baseball these days, Dylan, Ryan
Scotts, do you do that foreight to ten years? I mean,
there's probably not a very long listof pitchers currently pitching that have done that
and not had a significant time awayfrom the game, either for Tommy John

(42:25):
or other injuries. Yeah, allright, four o'clock. How we're gonna
roll around. Next we will hearfrom Joe Mixon. Before the end of
the show. We'll get to oursignature segment as well. All coming up
on a Thursday edition of the eighteenTwo lifelong Houston sports guys named Adham Talking
Your Teams. Adam Clinton and AdamWexler are the A team a hour number

(42:55):
two. Here on the eighteen SportsTalks seven ninety we say see the show
Killer Dan Matthews with you on aThursday afternoon in which the Texans uh presenting
or I guess uh he we're hearingfrom the players they have pict producing.
Yeah, that's what that's the wordI couldn't think of for some apparent reason,

(43:16):
but almost like not bigger news,but it's just it's just odd.
And we were talking about it againa little bit during the break. I
feel like, to me, SakwanBarkley and Eric Armstead are Texans. If
they were offered a third year,I feel like that's offered a third year.
It was more he was given accordingto thirty three million, and he

(43:39):
ended up with thirty seven and ahalf. And it does sound like from
reports as you're saying, they holdup on Armstead, was he wanted a
third year again, which he mayor may not have played for. But
it increases your guarantees, almost assuredly. And the Texans were unwilling to do
so. And the reason they wereunwilling to do so is because they have
a philosophy. They have the techlet's call it the Texans way. You

(44:00):
ready can we can we do thatnow? Can we make that moniker Now
that they're winning again, now thatthey have some semblance of a we're trying
cohesive aura about their organization, thelikes of which we haven't seen in a
very long time, can we startsaying that, Because if Nick Cassario is
going to be the guy to guidethem to wherever they're going to go,

(44:22):
whether it's the Promised Land or justfalling short but being a very very competitive
team every single year on CJ.Stroud's rookie combat contract, then we got
to name it something because it isdefinitely a thing. It is. This
is how I'm doing it until furthernotice. You're also should add one more
thing to it. There's no rightor wrong about it, YEA. Just

(44:45):
know it isn't or hasn't, orit is working or it will work.
We don't know. We're a yearinto his plan this year, and I
don't want to try to again givehim some sort of moratorium over a well,
we're not talking about those other twoyears and some saving grace over the
rebuild just started. I mean,they got players that could help them rebuild.
Finally, the rebuild started three yearsago and they didn't do anything to

(45:07):
really make it happen. And oneof the players that's actually been here through
all that is Malie Collins, andnow he's not as they head into year
four. But yeah, they're ina position now to really actually compete every
season against every team. They area handful of teams that expect and have
a legitimate reason to expect they're winningtheir conference. The Texans are one of

(45:28):
them. I'm sorry. If youdon't think that's the case, then you
just don't understand how the NFL works. Joe Burrow's team missed the playoffs last
year. Before Joe Burrow was hurtin training camp, they thought, yeah,
we have a really good chance towin the AFC, and they didn't
even make the playoffs. So keepin mind when I say the Texans are
one of those teams, there's likeeight of them every year in the AFC.

(45:51):
It's very difficult. A really,really really good quarterback or three will
not make the playoffs. In twentytwenty four, Joe Burrow didn't make the
playerf Sean Watson. I said,good, but I'll save that for our
next segment. It's called What's upwith that? Okay? All right?
Hey, Uh, let's get y'all'sopinion on this is seven one three two

(46:14):
one two five seven ninety seven onethree two one two five seven ninety Andy
out in Cyprus is up next.Andy. What do you think? What
I'll think? I like the twoyear deal. When we look at me
players that are Lego DeVante, Adamswas was sent away, Peel was sent
away. Uh you see this allthe time. Wilkins was sent away,

(46:36):
hel Hunter was sent away. Theteam send great, great players away all
the time. It's because of moneyand contracts. I love what he is
doing. Uh, look, he'sjust gonna pivot. That's all he's gonna
do. And Autrey, if youlook up, you know we only see
off you played twice a year becauseI'm never watching Tennessee at the bar when

(46:58):
they're playing somebody else. That's sure. But when you look at all watching
him last year and you look atall his highlights, tech half his highlights
or he's playing tackle. So lookfor them to get their first round pick
to be a defensive tackles and ain'ton. I can handle will Anderson,

(47:19):
Autrey first round tackle and Hunter onmy line. Yeah sounds good today.
You just can't guarantee it because thedraft is such a who the heck knows
what you're gonna do and you onlyhave the twenty third pick. You could
have called us two days ago andsaid, hey, tell me Audrey and
Collins are on the d line flankedby Hunter and Anderson and I'm good with

(47:40):
that. And now you can't,I guess and he's going that's all we're
saying again. It's it was nota move a team strapped, a team
pushed against the cap. Maybe,okay, we got to this is a
guy we could, you know,get something for a seventh round pick,
uh, and then be out fromunder what we need to pay them and

(48:01):
the cap hit and the cap savings. And it would be one thing if
they were that team. They're notthat team. They're not up against it.
They're not even close to up againstit. They're trying to keep from
being up against it too, right, which is a very fair thing to
consider and bring up, because it'snot just a one year thing, this
cap. But they also have otherplayers still on the roster. This team

(48:21):
hasn't been running to their players torestructure deals. They hardly have any players
that even could. They're not runningto their players saying, man, you
can take a pay cut to thisamount, or you can take a pay
cut to zero. They're going tobecause that's just the name of the game.
Everybody does that, and they justdon't even have room for them on
the field anyway, in my opinion, talked about those players most of this

(48:42):
week. It's probably MJ. Stewartand Robert Woods at the top of that
list, and there could be others, but they haven't needed to do it
because you usually don't do it beforeyou have to before I have to do
this in order to do that.They're not up against it like that.
So, yes, all of thiswill end up being moot if a lot
of us believe when they get totwenty three or again wherever they turn out

(49:05):
to draft in the first round andwe feel like the best player on the
board just happens to be a Dtackle or they've now traded up for one
of the D tackles. Johnny Newton'sprobably another name I should have added to
the Murphy list from the University ofTexas Murphy. Yeah, then everything will
be fine, But you're also thencounting on a player who's never even been
in an NFL city a locker room, field, practice, film session game,

(49:30):
and there are plenty of players whostep right in and are great.
A couple of whom they passed ontwo years ago to trade back trade and
add Kenyan Green. Both Kyle Hamiltonand Jordan Davis, the two players taken
thirteen and fourteen. That year,you had thirteen traded back to fifteen.
Again, you got something for it, and you ended up using those picks
to help your team, whether it'sthe Mechi deal or the Harris deal.

(49:52):
Because you go back and look,most of Cassario's picks, even last year's
second first round, they involved somesort of trade up. It's not just
I'm sitting here with seven picks andthese are the seven guys we got at
those seven spots. It's a festivalof moving these three picks to go get
those two picks. And if youare targeting players, then that's why you

(50:15):
do it. And you feel likethis player is just not going to be
there anymore. We've got to goand pull the trigger on this. And
that's why you want those assets todo it. And as long as you
have somebody else that's willing to doit, you pull the trigger and and
That's why I don't think it's out. I don't want to again. I
think we're I don't know if we'remaking too much out of this. But
the only reason I'm trying to stressit so much, it's because they made

(50:37):
it happen. It wasn't just amatter of circumstance. It wasn't just bad
luck. It wasn't just getting outbid. Their defensive tackle was already on
the team at an extremely affordable price, as you've watched each of these other
dtackles get signed for more, butthey chose to move on from him.

(50:59):
Yeah, it's I can't I can'tstop. It's not a buzz kill.
Somebody somebody tweeted us saying it wasa buzzkill. Then then go back to
one of the other things that Andysaid, like we already know Autrey's gonna
play a ton inside. I thinkHunter is actually going to be asked to
on occasion just to mix things up. That's a good thing to do,
kind of the way they did itwith Clowney and what although what I think

(51:20):
was more suited to actually line upon the interior, as he ultimately did
a lot during the end of it. Yeah, but it's because you just
have two supremely talented players. Armsteadwas is not your typical de tackle,
not even close to it. Helined up outside a ton over the course
of his career, but he hadbecome a player that was also super effective
on the inside. And Audrey isthat. So Andy's right, those three

(51:42):
guys will play alongside each other.They have three edges, but Audrey will
basically be on the interior because ofthe addition of Hunter. I guess just
wishing that you had this to kindof cap things off or put the cherry
on top of what you just accomplished, which was good, was a good
thing. It's just like the beginningof the if this is the so called
end and it's not. The beginningof free agency was why don't you go

(52:06):
out and get all these players weknow you have money to spend on and
they didn't. And then we haven'teven mentioned Alsha here yet and we should.
I don't know what Akuda is goingto be, but these are also
additions to the defense. It's notjust their front four that's going to be
significantly different next year. So thebeginning of free agency was the pushing the
panic button. The end of freeagency is pushing the WT letter between E

(52:28):
and G button and in between.Man, these are really smart, shrewd
moves. They're getting players. Wewere holding out hope for the best edge
rusher that was still available, andthey got him in Daniel Hunter. You
took Deniko Autry away from the Titans, and he's been super productive his whole
NFL career and specifically the last sixyears in the division. You have made
this team significantly better. If eachof the moves seems like a little bit

(52:52):
better than the player they're replacing,I think that's a fair way to assess
it. Mix it over Singletary andthe new D line over the old D
line, alsha here over the groupof Perryman, Cashman, Harris, alsha
Here Harris and I'm not sure,probably better. Oh yeah they are better.
But yeah, you're you're leaning inthe I could have been jumping for

(53:14):
joy now. Just probably jump uponce and go back to drinking. But
what a sad light. Well,Andy was at the bar, so I
just kind of bringing it all together. Oh okay, good to know that
that's what you're doing there. Hey, at least the Texans aren't being investigated
for tampering like some teams yet smallvictories. That's true, it could always
still happen. Maybe that would bepart of what's up with that. We'll

(53:37):
have to see when we come backour signature segment which always makes us ask
that question. We will get tothat next, but not before we both
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(55:06):
is gonna say he's dawn lost it? Hey, Hey, Sam, what
up? This is Jay Ferrell Backto the eighteen eighty on Sports Talk seven
ninety say now a new signature segmentcalled what's up with that? What's up

(55:28):
with that? What's up? Isay, what's up? What's up with
that? With that signator segment timeon a Thursday. You gotta kind of
call some people out with what's upwith that? And we appreciate you,
uh, you know, sticking herewith us. We'll see how this segment
works. It's brand spanking new,a new signature segment, What's up with

(55:50):
that? So on one of thetalkie talk programs, the one that features
the most screamers and Molly Carum,they asked a question today and it's the
loud of days because this is oneof the days where Mad Dog Russo joins
them and he is mad. Mattoften means stupid, and in this case
it does. The question was,give me five teams in order, listed

(56:14):
ranked that are the biggest challengers tothe Kansas City Chiefs right now, I
imagine most of us could probably guessone of them. They just played him
in the Super Bowl. That's fifthon the list. The San Francisco forty
nine ers. These are ranked.Yeah, the Lions are at the top
of the list. They're number one. The Bills and Josh Allen, who

(56:36):
repeatedly los all the time in theChief's way and they say get out of
the way, and the Bills do. Lamar Jackson make a move, and
I make a move and then theyadvance exactly. Lamar Jackson's Ravens are number
three. And get that joke.You're a long time Houston sports talk listener.
That's very good. Still the Masterof his craft. He spends some

(56:58):
time doing some basketball analyst works,still least on college basketball. He might.
I mean, I imagine he likedit then. I don't know why
he'd stopped liking it now. Butthe team that was listed at number four,
it's a panel of experts. Youknow, they talk sports, so
thus they are experts, mad Dogbeing one of them. The list is
so bad if you couldn't already tell, but the team at number four is

(57:21):
by far the worst one. Luckilythey have one intelligent analyst there, at
least. I don't want to doDominic fox Worth a disservice because I can't
tell you if he is or isnot a good analyst on this particular topic
because we're not playing his audio becausehe wasn't a moron. Mina Kimes was
on this program, and at thistime she chimes in to make sure everybody

(57:45):
knows that Chris Russo doesn't know whatthat he's talking about. This is the
team that he has fourth on thelist of biggest challengers to the Chiefs.
Right now, it's it's Cleveland,the other one that's really egregious and all
of the rest for Dominique, theBrowns. You didn't include the team that

(58:07):
beat them in the postseason in Houston, which I think would have been an
interesting one to throw in the topfive. You can point out that they
didn't have their starting quarterback, butthe quarterback they did have played better than
the starting quarterback that you just saidyou trust more than Lamar Jackson, even
though he hasn't played like an aboveaverage quarterback in like four years. I
don't even know. I mean nothing, nothing she just got done saying is

(58:31):
inaccurate. It's why from time totime I bristle at saying, yeah,
yeah, let's play the audio fromthese idiots television or radio show. Yeah
no, I know, because it'sfor those specific reasons. We don't need
them to put a list out thereor get into a debate or discussion about

(58:51):
it, because it is absolute,utter, total nonsense for effect only.
And Senna on the very same showwas forced to tell them that much.
This is stupid. She wants tokeep cashing her checks too, well,
she's smart, she doesn't go forthat. I mean, she might not
always be right, be different.Was it a producer making him I'm not

(59:13):
even getting into that. He's juststanding there taking it, because that's how
these things go. So it's it'stotal nonsense. If you trust Deshaun Watson
to be very good, and I'mabout the biggest backer of his football that
I think you've probably heard on theseairwaves in the last six seven years,
and there's no way I would dothat. I mean, he's played way
too much football since then. Hemight get good again, but using the

(59:35):
word I trust him more, theydidn't even trust him more than Joe Flacco
or any of the other guys thatplayed while he was less than one hundred
percent. There's all has always beensome sort of excuse for why he hasn't
recaptured his I'm gonna be awesome thisyear as I lead my team to a
four and twelve record. That's notnice. And I've never said that before
because I don't believe it. Butwe're in the four effect portion of the

(59:58):
show. It's what's up with that? What's the last time you he was
in a we trust you, wetrust you to make the play situation.
I'm the last time he's in theplayoffs one game where he was just a
total disaster until the end and theygot away with beating Buffalo late and then
they and he was a part ofthat. They were not very good for

(01:00:19):
long enough against the Kansas City Chiefs, and that was that for Deshaun Watson
as a winning and elite quarterback,because while he was very good his final
season on the field, they couldn'twin any games. Here's the thing,
what you're saying is fine, andit's it is egregious being number four.
All of those teams are egregious though, Like the Lions are number one.

(01:00:42):
Wow, I don't think that atall. Like, clearly the Niners should
be number one. His reason forhaving them five was awesome. The hangover
of losing, the mental hangover oflosing to the Chiefs. Well, they
had such a mental hangover of losingto the Chiefs the last time that three
years later they were back in theSuper Bowl. Yeah. I mean of
those teams are legitimate. Possibly adifferent quarterback. I mean, Joe Burrows

(01:01:04):
team probably should be on the list, considering there's only one active quarterback who's
beat Mahomes in the playoffs in theAFC, and it's him. How about
are at all that they had tobe to get to the Super Bowl.
I mean, the Ravens are not. They're on the list. That's why.
I mean, the list is fineother than the Browns. No,
I don't, but I don't agree. I don't think the Bills are just
we're just I know they've got JoshAllen, so we're just gonna automatically.

(01:01:24):
Okay. Then if that's the case, then you should say the same thing
about the Houston Texans, exactly whatminus Nina said. Yeah, but they're
not on the list. Josh Allenis number two. Yeah, I don't.
Again, I don't care about theorder. I thought they were ranked.
They are ranked. I don't havean issue with that. I oh,
my Bills have a much better chancethan the Lions. I mean,
I guess because they're probably going toplay them. But who they are,

(01:01:47):
it's it's a matter of Cleveland shouldn'tbe on that list though the fast That's
it. That's all there is toit. I mean, how far down
the list is should they actually be? That's the issue. They're not sixth
or seventh or eighth or ninth ortenth. What's up with it? And
you know, I I guess Ican see because of what he did.

(01:02:07):
And it's not like it's big money. Joe Flacco is in the Texans division
now, yeah, holding a clipboard. I know, but that just means
you're one snap away, and you'reone snap away from hopefully getting to face
him. I hope, oh Iget to play him. I do too,
But don't you think it's better thanaverage chance? Yeah, they're smart.

(01:02:28):
Joe Flacco showed he can serve asyour backup quarterback. That's what he's
being asked to do. Again,Well, you're saying they're smart and the
same breath as saying you hope tosee him. Well, I hope every
backup quarterback is who you get toplay. They all are worse than the
guy who could beat you. Hecan't beat you unless their team last year's
regular season Browns versus last year's regularseason Keenum, then I'm okay with playing

(01:02:51):
them with Stroud against anybody. Peopleseem to forget that going into that playoff
game. Yeah, they certainly didwhen all the people were wagering on it
and saying, oh, I thinkthe Browns have their I like the way
they're playing. Yeah, I betyou do. I bet you do.
I need to find more things thatget you going like this. Well,
you know, it's it's so muchis about who you have and and look
at those teams again that he mentioned, the team with Jared Goff who's been

(01:03:15):
to a Super Bowl and now witha second team, has been to the
conference championship game. Brock Purty,who's played in multiple Super Bowls. Lead
on the team that they did beatin the Super Bowl. You know Josh
Allen who has he played one ofthe best postseason games in the last ten
years, and he lost because heleft thirteen seconds on the clock. So
it really wasn't his fault that year. This last year, they probably could

(01:03:37):
have been in a little bit betterfield goal situation, but they're very makeable
getting less than fifty yards reputation thoughsure there are not it's no different than
a bunch of other teams quarterbacks.So like honestly that the Oilers were in
that spot. Tracey McGrady couldn't getout of the first round forever. But
that's that's the first round, Iknow. But it's just he was an
elite scoring player and yet here thehere they every year finding a way Josh

(01:04:01):
Allen every year can't get past thatteam, which again is nothing to sneeze
at, but right, but allthose teams that were brought up, you
got a two time MVP and Lamaryou got in all everything. Josh Allen
and a team starting a broken downcoming off of injury hasn't played well in
four years. To Shaun Watson,it's ludicrous. Do you think Josh Allen

(01:04:21):
and the Bills are gonna become PeytonManning and the Colts? Like they might
break through and win one, butit's gonna be Mahomes keeping them from doing
so much? More like every singleyear, more often than not, how
many times did the Patriots beat them? I think it's honestly, I think
it's more likely that it's Joe Burrowand Mahomes are Manning and Brady because Allen's

(01:04:45):
team better beat them or go toa Super Bowl by not having to face
them, and Burrow's already done that. And yeah, yeah, I'm I
am very interested to see how JoeBurrow fares this year. He's gonna be
healthy, so but love averages,this is a good year. Well,
I yeah, I'm not ready tosit here and say, oh, he

(01:05:05):
just wasn't right and that's why thatwas the only reason the Texans won last
year. Well, I mean,he just he was on the field for
half a season. It's more ofmy point not he wasn't right when he
was out there, but clearly theyweren't awesome even with him that I was
about to say. We talked abouthow they missed the playoffs. Their starting
quarterback was hurt. How hard isthat to figure out? It looked like
though that they were he was justoff and they had rushed him back from

(01:05:27):
day one of last season injury.He was not a healthy player last year
even when he was out there,but the Texans still played. They put
thirty on Cincinnati in their building,gave him two gifts at the end of
the game, and still beat him. Yeah, that's gonna be a fascinating
season, Absolutely fascinating coming up hereand to see if the Texans can continue

(01:05:50):
what they started, which is wayahead of schedule. But it sure has
been an interesting free agency week tostart this portion of the NFL calendar.
Before you know it, the draftwill be here and everything that comes with
that. We've been discussing that awhole lot more this past few days with
what's been going on, and wewill continue up until well we step aside.

(01:06:11):
For Astros Baseball, it's sooner thanyou think here on your home for
Astros Baseball Sports Talk seven ninety.But first we need to tell you one
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Hey is coach Udoka Here every Rocketsgame on Sports Talk seven ninety and on

(01:07:45):
the iHeartRadio app Home of Your Rocketsback here on the A team, and
some items clean up before we hear, maybe even in the third person from
Joe Mixon, new Texans running backwho had to deal with the reaccle of
how he was no longer a CincinnatiBengal. He talked about that quite a
bit this afternoon when he and anew edge rusher, daneil Hunter, were

(01:08:08):
both introduced and both now have officiallyput pen to paper. Also side note,
tonight, before the Rockets dismantled theWashington Wizards, Kaymi Fairbairn will be
taking the Rockets first shot for charity. Another one of Nick's brilliant offseason I
know That'll probably be the fun wayto do it. But I imagine he
will use his hands and throw thenot even kidding. I bet he could

(01:08:31):
do it from the line, fromthe free throw line fifteen feet. You
know how hard that would be.Tapp it in? Just give it a
tap tat that. He could probablybe better off from the control half court.
He can do it. I guarantee. You know he sits around,
does like soccer kicks him do thathacky sack. He might be able to
see. He might be able tohack it in. Just pretend it's a

(01:08:54):
hacky uh. The Texans introduced thosetwo players and watched Eric Armsteain get a
reported three year, fifty one milliondollar deal from the Jaguars. Reportedly,
the hold up for the Texans wasthe unwillingness to give a third year and
the guarantees that went with it.Yesterday, Aaron Wilson here with us and
over at KPRS two. KPRC tworeported that Tim Settle would be visiting with

(01:09:17):
the Texans. Defensive tackles played fora couple of teams, including the Bills.
Yes, Settle for Tim All everyoneput that line together and how they
unfortunately have to use it because yes, Diana Rassini reporting that two years,
seven million dollars is the deal heand the Texans have agreed to. He
is not the answer that anyone islooking for, and I think that includes

(01:09:38):
the Texans players and coaching staff.He is a player that will be a
part of their defensive line rotation,I would suppose, but nothing more than
that from an expectation standpoint. Ifit was more than that, then that
would be a humongous surprise, atleast according to me, in spending the
last couple of days as free agencyopened up and kind of looking at some

(01:10:00):
of the alternate options if their plansfell through, and I have to believe
their plans have fallen through. Nextyear will be year seven for Settle and
he has not been a regular rotationplayer for any of the teams he's been
on. He's been on the fielda bunch, but I wouldn't exactly call
him a starting level player, andthey have an opening there, but he

(01:10:20):
has been added to the team mentionedJoe mix Mixing met with the media.
He wore number twenty eight where hewas Indications are he's going to wear it
again? He said, he gaveus some thought, but probably will go
with it again. So he saysthat number twenty eight he's going to make
some place. I thought about changingit, but I think I'm gonna stick

(01:10:42):
to the two eight. Just goahead and stick to the traditional number of
running backs, and two eight isgoing to be where it is. And
I promise you, like I said, as you expect a lot from that
number this year, I promise youthat what does a lot mean? You
think? I mean? Well,let me phrase that, what would make
you happy from number twenty eight?He needs to be explosive, But I

(01:11:06):
think I'm asking for too much.He is not has not proven to be,
at least the last several years.Usually running backs don't improve in that
front. And it's been an explosiveplayer. There's not a bunch of big
runs. There's not a consistent stretchof big runs. Different system, maybe
things will be a little different.He definitely is an asset, a plus,

(01:11:27):
not just a guy who can catchthe ball, not just a guy
you'll throw three to four passes toper game. He is a plus in
the passing game. I do expectthat to be an area they as a
team, as an offense, andhopefully for Bobby slok as a play caller
and improved part of how they're goingto move the ball down the field.
He should be a weapon on thirddown, he should be a weapon on
the early downs in the past game, and I do think he can help

(01:11:48):
provide both Mitch mismatches if you're lookinghis way, and also kind of dictating
the other matchups where maybe it givesyou an opportunity to get Dell in a
look that you want to get,Nico Calls going to look that you want,
or anybody else along the line.But you know, the expectation is
he can handle the workload because he'scurrently a strong number one because there is

(01:12:10):
no tandem. I don't know thatthat's going to be the final vote from
what they do in free agency orto the draft, because I suspect they'll
have somebody here they feel can beon the field ten fifteen snaps a game.
I don't think that's Damian Pierce.But until then you're counting on him
to protect and get your first downs. I think he'll be a plus player
in the red zone too. Ithink he's a little bit better maybe with

(01:12:31):
his vision in the red zone alittle bit bigger. It's probably the biggest
difference just looking at his numbers,like when he's in you know, there's
only really one season where he hasn'tbeen on the field, and that was
twenty twenty. He produces when he'sout there. He's a high usage player.
He has taken a lot of repsover the last handful of seasons,
and you know, looking at someother ways that you know guys put their

(01:12:56):
yards together. You know, eightynine yards a game. That's what he's
at averaged combined for the last threeseasons twenty one, twenty two, and
twenty three. A's top ten inthe NFL among running backs. It's in
a group of McCaffrey and Jonathan Taylorand Dereck Henry and Nick Chubb and Jacobs
and Kamara and Bryce Hall Eckler.Then Mixon that's a super productive player.

(01:13:17):
Now, much of his running ison the low end. He's one of
the least productive runners in terms ofyards per carry. And then you flip
to the other side, he andMcCaffrey are on the very very high end
of how productive they are in thepassing game. And with the quarterback that
you have and with what you wereprobably hoping would be the case, if
you've got, say, a sexiername at the running back position in free

(01:13:41):
agency, that's still a good thing. Yeah, the sexier name was quite
obviously Saquon Barkley. Barkley twenty fourtouchdowns the last three years and slightly fewer
yards per game. It's almost thesame, but it's a slightly less than
mixing Derrick Henry two years or eighteensixteen million to play for the Ravens,
thirty two touchdowns or thirty five touchdownscombined the last three years, both of

(01:14:03):
those totals behind the thirty seven touchdownsof Joe Mixon. Twenty nine rushing touchdowns
a six fewer than Derrick Henry,only six fewer, and again he has
eight receiving touchdowns. Henry has zero. You're talking about high usage, How
does it compare, because that's theguy I think of when you say the
words high. Fifty nine carries inthe last three seasons puts them behind Henry

(01:14:28):
and Jacobs, So it's all it'sall relative. He's he's very Henry esque.
There are a lot He has twotires that he's been running on for
seven NFL seas. I hope they'vebeen rotating and balancing them just for the
sake of this upcoming season, whichis all you need. Which is why
having an additional we can count onthis player to help us in the backfield

(01:14:50):
player is necessary. If it's Pierce, that's fine, but they can't go
into the season believing it he canbeat the guy they in. He can
outplay that guy, that would befine. The guy they bring in more
likely to be from the draft orstreet free agent scrap he any other scenario

(01:15:12):
the field. I guess the freeagent. You don't think they'll draft one.
I think they might, but Idon't think he'll play. I just
think the class is because yeah,he did mention that yesterday. So if
they do, that means I mean, if it's one of the guys at
the top of the of the board, is still maybe only a pick between
like sixty and ninety or sixty andone hundred. I don't know that you're
automatically counting on that player to stepright in, but it's possible. But

(01:15:34):
there might only be two or threenames I can even think of that could
be that the marketplace for backs meanAlexander Madison has not been signed. J
K. Dobbins has not been signed. As a guy who had won K
team two of the last three years. He didn't. Now last year was

(01:15:54):
a dud. Let's just put itthat way. You're talking about Madison.
Yeah, here's the team, here'sthe go get it. Sorry, he
can't. He only does it whenhe's not the starter and he's filling in
for the injured starter, which isand it took him forever to realize Chandler
can play if they should have playedhim long earlier in the season. Yeah,
Madison is not. That just strikesme as a guy I don't want

(01:16:16):
to say used up. The playersat running back that have been signed,
that's why they've been signed. Yeah, that's that's unfortunate. The good part
of all of this is, andthis is this applies to the defense too,
since you know we're you know,nobody's hanging their head. But Armstead
would have been nice if you hadgotten him. The good thing is now

(01:16:38):
that you have CJ. Stroud,he really does in a lot of ways
cover up either deficiencies, holes whateveron both sides, just by just by
being in the building, being onthe team, being on the field.
He is a guy that can bethe ultimate equalizer. I know that sounds
like I'm trying to gloss over itor dress it up or make it better.

(01:17:00):
Yeah, you're making me mad.It's true. It's awful. It's
a terrible way to go through NFLlife. I'm not the GM. You
don't want it, like everything youcan do to prevent that. It's It's
what Mahomes would have been doing eachof the last several years if they didn't
find Isaiah Pachecko at the end ofthe draft. Well, now they've drafted
running backs every year pretty much,or they've added a running back every year,

(01:17:23):
McKinnon, Edward Hilaire. Obviously theydrafted Pachecko, so they made sure
it wasn't a huge issue. Butthe Ravens are like, man, we
have Lamar Jackson and now we're goingto give him Dereck Henry and we've been
one of the best running teams inthe NFL for years. You know,
the Bills kept trying to replace Singletary, They did it with Moss. Now
they've found someone in Cook and Mixonhas been playing with Joe Burrow all these

(01:17:45):
years, like they're hoping Mixon isdoes what you're saying. The opposite of
what you're saying he prevents CJ fromneeding to overcome this clear deficient area,
which is running the football. He'snot, but he's not injury that's the
good news. Like he's not someof these running backs. And look,
it's the position it is. Ifyou're not a guy that's missed time at

(01:18:06):
that position in the NFL, andyou've played as much as Mixon has as
some of these guys, it's actuallya minor miracle, I think. I
mean, your job is basically tobe into a get into a car wreck
twenty five times a game. Soif you're not, if you're not injury
prone at this point, that's atleast then again, could be like we're

(01:18:27):
talking about with Garrett Cole, you'rejust waiting for it to happen. I
sure hope that's not the case.He could also just be an older running
back. He's just not nearly assuccessful anymore. He could go from averaging
four yards of carry to worse,and four yards of carry is not good.
That's very wet blanket of you.All Right, We've got Astros Baseball
of the spring training variety coming upnext. We'll be back at it again
tomorrow at three o'clock