May 7, 2025 • 28 mins
There have been several notable acquisitions this offseason, but which Texans currently on the roster are ones you mustn't forget about in 2025? Texans TV's Drew Dougherty and Team Analyst/Radio Sideline Reporter John Harris shared some off-the-radar choices to keep in mind this season.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
In the Lab, a Texans podcast that takes a different
look at things. Drew Doherty and John Harris have their
lab coats and goggles on and the Bunsen burners burning.
Here's Drew in the Lab right now. Good to see you,
John Harris waving your hand.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I'm Drew Doherty and you make three, the three of
us here on this in the Lab where we talk
about don't you Forget about Me? No getting into the
breakfast club, not getting into Simple Minds, great band minds, Wow,
I love simple Minds.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
No, great band, forget about me?
Speaker 4 (00:40):
And then what's that other one?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
They had the big one, Don't You Forget About Me?
As their big one, But there's another one that's awesome. Goodness, gracious,
I'm just funny.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I can remember when I hear a song like, oh yeah,
I know, a.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Live and kicking that's oh I love yeah, oh good, yes,
it reminds yeah, you know.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
Here's I found this out the other day. If you're
an eighties child like I was, or just interested.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
In Meanwhile, PSA, everyone under the age of twenty is
now tuned out.
Speaker 5 (01:06):
But yeah, exactly, But even even those that are twenty
or under, it's not the simple minds.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
It's not the talking heads. It's simple minds and it's
talking heads.
Speaker 5 (01:17):
I've learned that this week when talking Heads popped up
on my son's Amazon music and it popped up and
it said, it's not the talking heads and simple minds
is the same way.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
So talking Heads, this must be the place top ten
song of all time for me. First song I put
on when I'm feeding the jukebox, Yeah at a bar
or something.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Talking heads? Wait was that burn?
Speaker 4 (01:43):
What was the burn down the house? To do that too?
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Okay, so my brother in law tells a great story.
I think you. I'm not.
Speaker 5 (01:50):
It wasn't my brother in law, but my brother in
law had a friend is it got a little bit andebriated.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
One night and.
Speaker 5 (01:59):
Apparently house got a house got set on the fire
and his buddy was sitting outside talking head song, burning
down the house, and yeah, woke up the next morning
and what had happened to the house.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
So you know, things can happen. So I always remember that.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
No more wondering. Now let's get into don't you forget
about Me? Because I think vander Meir or you came
up with that sort of phrase. As far as players
who are on the roster, typically younger who have shown
promise but for whatever reason haven't really broken through to
whatever the next level is, whether it's from good to great,
(02:39):
from contributor to starter, from really not contributing to contributing.
So there's there's lots of parameters here, but basically someone
who has not made a jump. There's a lot of
guys who are candidates for that that are on the
roster right now and driving in this morning on Wednesday, nice, rainy,
soggy Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
It's good for the grand Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
I heard the guys talking, and we heard Nick Cassario, Executi,
vice president, general manager of the Texans talking with him,
and they brought up a name who was really intriguing
to me last year when the Texans drafted him very
very late, left tackle, Ladarius Henderson.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
I don't know that he's gonna play left tackle.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
For the Texans, but he was a guy who played
elsewhere for most of his college career and then transferred
and started a lot of games for the then national
champion Michigan Wolverines. Texans drafted him. Never really got a
chance to practice because he was injured and had some
stuff going on, but I'd see him around the building
every once in a while, and I read a fantastic
(03:42):
story about him. I can't remember who wrote it, but
it's at least four or five years old, and it
was in the Athletic and it was talking about his
time in Waxahatchie, Texas, up north of here, which is
just south of Dallas. And he's a fascinating kid, fascinating,
fascinating young man. I shouldn't call him a kid, but
he's somebody that Casario said this morning on the radio,
he's transformed his body. So this could be someone that
(04:04):
could be in the mix for competing at offensive line,
which we all know they've got to play better than
they did in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
It will be the first to tell you that.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
So Ladarius Henderson someone that I've I've seen, someone that
I've just chitchatted with in the hallway from time to time,
and I'm fascinated to see what he can do in
twenty twenty five. Because you don't have any professional tape
on him. Everything you have is from twenty twenty three.
But he's an intriguing player who was a very important
part of that that Wolverine's team that won it all.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
And I don't care.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Man, no matter who you were, if you're on a
national title team, let's see what you got, you know,
let's see what you got at the next level. Now,
the NFL is littered with names who won national titles
and then didn't do anything as pros. It's a different
skill set. But knowing who he is and knowing who
he could be, I'm intrigued, John, What do you think?
Speaker 5 (04:57):
So he started his careers on State and then transferred
to Michigan, and it was.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
But he played a lot.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
Yeah, he played a lot too. No, he played a
lot of a lot of football. And so when he
so when I saw him at Senior Bowl, I remember thinking,
I don't know, and I don't want to I don't
want to be that guy that looks at a guy
that Nope, that guy can't play.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
And to be fair, to be fair, he was a
seventh round pick.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Well you say that about a round pick, you know
you're not being too overly judgmental about a seventh round pick,
say stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
But I thought he was really struggling.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
When I found out he had been hurt, it made
it made all the sense in the world because I'm like, man,
the guy that I watched during the season looked look
more comfortable than that, like moved better. So when I
found out, oh yeah, he's hurt and he's gonna essentially
red shirt in twenty twenty four, I thought, this is
the best thing. I almost feel like if you could
(05:57):
do that, if you could do that for year six
and seventh round players in particular, to give them a
year to red shirt, to learn the NFL way, to
work out in the workout hard, rehab whatever injury you've got,
and even you know, in a case where you know
he just kind of red shirt guy, if you can
just red shirt him and bring them along, you know,
(06:20):
in a little bit slower. You know, maybe they don't practice,
or maybe they do practice, but you can keep them running.
And in some cases NFL teams will do that with
later round picks.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
They'll put them on a practice squad and that's kind
of the way they do it.
Speaker 5 (06:30):
But in Ladarius's case, being injured, it was like, okay,
essentially it's going to be a red shirt year, Like okay,
get your body right, get get rehabbed, so get your body.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Fixed, then get your body right.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
And that was one of the things that stood out,
and if you do that, I wonder too.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
And we've talked about this that I think.
Speaker 5 (06:52):
When when I wrote him up, I remember thinking tackle
guard and so I remember, I want to say, when
we talked to Nick, they were thinking about him as
a guard, like that was going to be his position here.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
So you get kind of a double whammy in the
sense that you get.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
To rehab your body, you get to stick around the
NFL building, and now you get to transform your body
into maybe a little bit more of a guard body,
or maybe you need a little bit more upper body
strength where you need just overall core strength and all
that to.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Be able to play that position. But I think.
Speaker 5 (07:28):
Just hearing Nick talk about him and knowing the work
and look, it's very clear that this.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Building values the values.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
Guys that put in the time, put in the effort
and get in this building and they do it with
the best intentions possible.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
And I think Ladarius has done that.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
So the tricky thing is, Okay, he hasn't taken a snap,
he hasn't put on a helmet since that Senior Bowl,
So that's gonna be.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
So that Senior Bowl was January of twenty four, right.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
So we're gonna go all the way to August of
twenty five. So you're talking a year, seven months, a
lot of time year, a little over a year and
a half. But you haven't, you know. So he's gonna
have to callous his body to that physicality again.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
And but it's also gonna be intriguing. And here's the
thing too.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
You said it, if Ladarius doesn't work out, it's a
seventh round pick, right, But if you see something, even
if he turns into a backup offensive lineman, that you
know you can rely on that, Okay, And Charlie Heck
was the same way, and Charlie was a fourth rounder.
You know, Okay, Charlie's got to go in the game
because Laramie's hurt or Titus has banged up Charlie. Charlie's
(08:42):
gotta go play. And Charlie would hold his own and
do a really good job. And it really wasn't until
Charlie hurt his foot where it really kind of slowed
down any kind of progress that he was he was
making as this team's swing tackle, a very important position.
I think Fladarius man, what if what if all of
a suddenly they're steps in and you're like, man, he
takes over right guard and I mean found fifty bucks
(09:06):
in your pocket, you know what I mean? That's that
is to me what makes it kind of exciting. And
I do think of the five offensive line positions and
it and it's funny because I've been thinking this way
for a while. When Nick said it about Ladarius Henderson,
I'm like, oh, maybe that's the guy I've felt like
all along, there's gonna be an upset somewhere on that
(09:27):
offensive line that we don't see coming. The Mike Brisell
of the group that you don't you don't see coming.
And then you're like, WHOA, Mike's really good, gets this done, gets.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
The job done.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
And so when he mentioned Ladarius, that kind of popped
up the other name that I think about a lot, come.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Out, come out, and it's don't you forget him out me?
It's not yeah, we don't have a burning flag while
throwing in the ground saying this is going right, right right,
It's like, don't forget about this guy.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
He might do something.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Well, here's another one for you.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
And then I have a three pack. After you've name,
I got one for you.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
And you should love hearing this because he is a
Pony or a former Pony player.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
That's Jalen Thomas.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
And again, Jalen played tackle at SMU, and I felt
like guard was his best position, maybe even center at
that point. But you know, he was a guy that
I'm trying to remember when he got here, like eight
and twenty three on it twenty four. I feel like
there were a couple days in training camp where I'm
watching him thinking, man, there's something there. He's thick and
stout and tough. I think there's something there. And then
(10:31):
hurt and it's.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Like, dang it.
Speaker 5 (10:33):
Because there was kind of this rash of injuries in
twenty three. I can't remember if he's part of that.
I know he was part of it in twenty four,
and I feel like he's a guy that, man, if
you worked with him every day, you know, could he
be a guy that gave you something on the inside
as well. So I feel like that's another guy Jalen
Thomas from smu've been with the organization for a couple
of years now. Don't forget about that guy, because I
(10:54):
think he's got a little something as well. So you
throw those two guys in the mix, who knows you
start performing with the threes, you do some good things.
You get in a preseason game, you have a long
stretch in the second half, Now a sudden, hey, maybe
we should get them some reps with the two's. Get
a few more preseason games, and before you know it, man,
(11:14):
you're right there on the cusp of one injury away
and then all of a sudden injury happens and you
got to step in and that who knows if that
that could happen. I just always think of Mike Brycell
in these situations. He's one of my favorite Texans of
all time. Biscuit Brizel. He was just such a such
a character, but just a really really good guard that
nobody thought anything about. Everybody, as you said, Drew forgot
(11:39):
about him, and then this guy ends up being a
really a piece of one of the best line, uh
one of the best offensive lines, if not the best
offensive line the Texans ad.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
And he was instrumental in that.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
You just brought up Jalen Thomas and he's one of
the Jalen's on this team. Jayleens the one of us
that were uh that were drafted a quartet. There's also
j it In and when you said that. I thought, oh,
John hasn't been paying attention because we just cut Jalen
Thomas a week ago.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
And I was wrong.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
As I was looking at my phone, it was a
Jayden peevee that defensive tab we saw, so pardon me,
but I'm h I was listen.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Things happened so fast and furious.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I was coaching a I was coaching a fifth grade
baseball game the other night, and the umpire, yeah, he
was about he comes over to me like middle of
the game, during the break in between innings, and I
thought he was gonna tell me something about like hey,
watch the box here or watch He's.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Like, hey, so what you guys gonna do about all
these Jalens. I'm gonna figure it out.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
And listen, it's Jalen with an I, n Jalen with
an I, and Jalen with the een, Jalen with an oh,
and that you were just talking yeah, and then you
got Jalen who is know why but ellie En and
Jalen peatree.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Old man and I forget some things. And that's what
just happened.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I guess you just yell out Jalen and see who responds.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Okay, I got a three pack of don't you forget
about me? And there's a variet to hear so receiver wise,
Xavier Hutchinson and John Metchi yep, don't you forget about them?
Who knows? This is year three essentially for both yep
that that's sometimes a good jump, and then a guy
who did really well but maybe is just scratching the
(13:18):
surface Kaylen Bullock safety on the other side, so much
has been so much attention has been paid to the
CJGJ addition and the corners and all the great stuff
that they did. But let's not forget about that three
pack there. What does Hutchinson do to leap forward? What
does Mechi do to leap forward? Because we're starting to
see some flashes from each of the three, and I
(13:40):
could see those guys all taking leaps because on another vein,
Casario brought up Kamari Lasser and how his body has
changed the aw season. So goodness gracious, what's that mean?
But how about that for a three pack? I like that,
and I think that the G one, maybe two, maybe
all three take a jump.
Speaker 5 (13:55):
I think eyes from training camp are really going to
be again on the receiver because I think that's easier
to see. I think when it comes to the offensive line,
people will be able to see some things, but then
they'll have to rely on, you know, things that other
people are seeing. Mainly me and I try and give
them the best look that I can at that offensive
line and what's going on with it.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
But I think most people want to see.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
And I think when Jalen Knowle was drafted, I think
initially a lot of people were like, oh, that's it
for Mechi went got Christian Kirk, now you got Noel.
We've seen plenty of situations over the years where you
felt like a guy was they drafted a guy at
this position, Okay, this guy's done, he's you know, this
isn't going to happen. And then all of a sudden,
(14:40):
there's some injuries or something's happened, and that guy that
you were not supposed to forget about turns into the
guy that ends up being the guy for that position.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
And that can happen.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
And look once you know, we obviously know the story
of Mechi miss missing year one, and then year two's
kind of still shaking off the rust, you know, next year.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
There were some moments I felt like in the playoff game.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
There were some moments where he made some big catches
on third down, and you know, there's that long drive
that got us within one should type the game, but
got us within one, and both he and Hutch made
a number of big catches. And I just feel like
year three. And I'm glad you said it, because it
really is year three for both of them.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
If for being honest, it's that that can.
Speaker 5 (15:22):
Be a year where you start to have figured a
few things out, You've got your routine down. You obviously
have to learn a new offense. Everybody's got to learn
a new offense. But the faster you can learn it,
the faster you can play. And it might benefit their
skill sets better, that's exactly right. It might accentuate this,
that's right. And look, we've gone through this before last year.
(15:43):
Just just take we had the Big three. Everybody's excited
about the Big three, right, Nico missed five games. Injuries happened,
Tank got hurt in December and missed the rest of
the year and missed this year more than likely.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
And Diggs got hurt Week eight.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
So that receiver room has been hasn't you know, has
not been allergic to injury.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
I wish they would be been unlucky. They've been unlucky
in a sense.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
And hopefully you're building a group there that can withstand
an injury for a few weeks.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
But look, if somebody gets hurt for the whole season.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
Okay, we got to how layered is this group to
be able to handle an injury where they can step
in and do things if Nico were.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
To get hurt.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
Okay, what more does Christian have to do? What more
does Mets you have to do? And more to hutch
have to do? What more the rookies have to do?
And I think that's what's going to make this thing,
you know, pretty interesting. And I'll give you a guy
not to forget about it. And I think it's really
easy because when we talked when when most when the
draft happened, and when Higgins for second round and then
(16:47):
Noel third round, I think a lot of people were like, oh,
Matchie Hutchinson, that's the first thing they thought of. I
remember thinking, I like those two coming in. But don't
forget about Justin Watson. Yeah, just Watson with the Chiefs
time out.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
This was a move Watson that happens within a flurry
of other fragient moves going on that people. I think
there's a large segment of the fan base that is like,
who's what Preston Watson that we even had him, or
even like who is this guy's been productive, you know
in the role he's been asked to fill in his
(17:23):
time in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
He was a guy that with Kansas City.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
I felt like Patrick Mahomes would go to like I
used to have. I remember a long long time ago
when I was playing, and I remember my quarterback saying
to me, look, I'm throwing you the ball. Like he
trusted that I was gonna be that guy no matter
where I was, I'm.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Throwing you the ball. Even tho Thereughrout really wasn't for me.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
He was like, I'm throwing you the ball, so I
know you're gonna catch it and we're gonna make a play.
I feel like that was the way Patrick Mahomes was
with Justin Watson when all the other flashy receivers with
the Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Would drop a pass, run the wrong route.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
He's Justin Watson who sort of settled everything down. Now
he's also an ivy leaguer, so I'm gonna I'm good
with that he went to Penn, which borders on non IVY,
but I but we're still I'm just joking because we
always joked about Penn being the one that was kind
of always taking the guys that had the SATs that
were lower than everybody else.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
We always that's an inside IVY League joke. Oh they're good.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
It was always, well, you know, they're really good because
they take the guys to all the low SAT scores
so they get better out.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
So that was always the joke that we went with.
Speaker 5 (18:32):
But I saw him walking the hallway the other day
and I'm like, he's put together. Well, he's six three
six four big wide receiver, can be a deep downfield threat.
I do not forget about that guy. I think a
lot of people have talked about Braxton Burials enough, you know,
the Alex Earl connection all that. But anyways, I think
(18:53):
a lot of people talk about Burrios. Oh you know,
he could be a returner, you know, put returns whatever.
So I think he's been talking about him. But and
then obviously the rookies, everybody gets excited about them. And
because of the rookies, we mentioned, hey, don't forget about
Machian Axe, and I think that's.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I think that's on everybody.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
You know, Hitler's good guy to remember.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
Yeah, but Justin Watson to me at wide receiver is
a guy where don't forget about that, dude. Because the
numbers may not be obscene, they may not even be like, oh, third, fourth,
wide receive whatever, But it's like when he would make
those catches, the opportunities that he was given, he would maximize.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Chiefs loved him.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
They yes, when they he was one of those guys
that he signs here and their social media crew as
a thank you Justin so. Not everybody gets those thank
you so and so messages. So that's a nice select
Yes exactly. Time to segue into something different. Okay, I
know you're a fan of this. I'm a fan of
(19:50):
this guy. Uh Toro?
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Oh what the mascot yet?
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Yes to so listen.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Toro has been nominated for the Mascot Hall of Fame.
He got really really close a year or so. It's
an injustice like Andre Johnson was not in the Pro
Football Hall of Fame so close. Toro belongs and deserves
to be in the Mascot Hall of Fame. So being
recognized for his outstanding performance and dedication to the Texans
(20:19):
in our community.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
He's not in yet.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
That's where you come into play, you know, he's There's
twenty eight nominees representing eleven major league teams, five minor
league teams, twelve collegiate teams from all over, not just
the end of you know, all sorts of sports. So
go to Mascot Hall of Fame dot com. You can
vote once per day from now until May twenty fourth.
(20:44):
Get Toro in the Hall of Fame. It's not going
to be out until like it gets with the group
once anyways, Just go to Mascot Hall of.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
Fame and start voting when you can.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Yes, But I want to talk about get Toro in
the Hall of Fame. There's two main reasons he's going
in What he does as a mascot, which is hilarious,
acrobatic and awesome on game days and so far on entertaining.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
But really more so.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
The guy is an animal, no pun intended, an animal
in the community. I mean makes a massive, massive dent
in a positive way, whether it's fighting bullying, whether it's
getting kids ready for the Star Test, and then just
going around and supporting all the community initiatives that the
Texans have done over the years. But the thing that
(21:34):
sticks out to me the most that I tell people
whenever they ask about Toro is when the Texans played
in London in twenty nineteen. The team got there on
Friday and practice that afternoon. Yes, Toro and the cheerleaders
and some other traveling folks, they got there on Thursday,
the day before some things. I got there with our
(21:55):
videographer editor producer Tyler Shuttarth.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
We got there Tuesday. We had to kind of set
the scene.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
So we were we land on Tuesday afternoon, shooting stuff
at three in the afternoon on the Thames River. All
day Wednesday, were doing stuff all day Thursday, we're doing stuff,
and then Friday comes and we link up with Toro
and the cheerleaders and by this point I'm kind of fried.
I'm a little bit, a little bit jet lag. But
we're sitting on a bus. It's a rainy London, London day,
(22:25):
and I'm in one seat and behind me it's Toro
and the other guy who who does or did a
lot of his social media, all sorts of things, not
just social They basically are a two man team. And
I was amazed at the fog. I'm in I'm listening
to them planning. Okay, we're gonna do this shot here
(22:47):
and we'll be able to use it tomorrow, but then
we'll reuse it Saint Patrick's Day for this. We're gonna
do this shot today at three, and we'll double it up.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
For Christmas and for Valentine's.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
This shot tomorrow we're going to use when the comic
comes through six years from now, and we'll have that.
I was stunned planning the preparation, the foresight, the thoughtfulness
that these guys have just with you know, with what
they were doing on a day to day basis, but
they go out in the community. They do so many
good things. They're Hall of famers. In my book, put
(23:19):
Toro in the mascot Hall of Fame. What's your I
know you got a zillion Toro stories. Yeah, what's your
Toro story? Why you think he belongs?
Speaker 5 (23:26):
It's funny you said that, because as you start down
that way, I was a little disappointed because that was
kind of where I was thinking that his impact in
the community with kids in particular.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Huge, like when he goes to schools. I just it's incredible.
I mean, I think about that as a kid. I
mean I grew up in Richard Roseberg and you didn't
have Toro, didn't have a mask. Yeah, I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
The guy who wore the silver helmet, but he was
really a mascot. He was awesome.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
But I remember, you know, had been a kid, you know,
third fourth grade.
Speaker 5 (23:57):
I wasn't even here in Houston at that point, but
been kid mascot comes in and it's reading for the
star test like that would have been so cool for
me as as a little kid, that that memory. And yeah,
you grow up and you're like mask but it is
really cool. And I see him at practice. The players
are coming down and you know, they're all screaming for
(24:20):
autographs and then invariably you hear people Toro, Toro. They
want Toro to come take a picture taken out and
he obliges every single one. And when you really think
about it, yeah, it's professional sports, it's entertainment. We're in
the memory business. We're in the business of creating memories
(24:41):
for people that.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
They have forever. You talk to people. I had somebody
last year that.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
Miranda, she is the daughter of somebody owns a little
bakery over in in Heights that I'd love to go
to give him a shout out.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Angela's ov and they're incredible, and.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
I was going there and finally one day, cause I've
been in her sofage, you start talking to me, You've
got to be friends. And she mentioned she had never
been to a game before, and so I said, well, hey,
I'll give you my tickets for I said, what are
you doing Sunday night? Can you get off work on Sunday?
And they're like, well, yeah, we usually out here by noon.
And I said, well, how about Lion's Sunday night here.
(25:18):
She's like, oh my god, that was incredible and she
I gave her the tickets in my seats and Toro
came by said hey, you know, it's just like everything
that she talked about was like this great grand memory
and that's what and that's what Toro does. He is
the individual that's providing those memories for all these people,
(25:39):
for all these little kids, for adults. I mean, you
think about parents that you know are there with their
kids and the smile on their face just lighting up.
And Toro's also an author how many Mascots going into
the Hall of Fame and written a damn book.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Written a book, not many, not many. Two years ago
training camp, so it is Stroud and Anderson's rookie year.
One of my boys best friends. So I have a
fifth grader and a third grader. This kid's a fourth grader,
their friend. They played sports together. This kid knows the
sports like like the boys. Big Texans fan. He was
(26:16):
out of training camp and he was getting autographs and
his dad, one of my friends, texted me later that
day and he said, he's so pumped he got his
shoe signed by Toro.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
Dot and CJ. Stroud.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
The kid loved that shoe got signed by c J. Stroud,
but he was equally, if not more, pumped that Toro
signed a shoe. You've done a zillion events and appearances
over the years with the organization where Toro is with you.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
So have I.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
A lot of times the kids know who the player
is that is is at the event, and you you know.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
You get a range of guys. You get pay frontline quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Sometimes sometimes you get guys for further down the roster
play different positions in quarterback.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
They always the kids, whether it's a boy or girl,
regardless of age, they always know who Toro is.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
You don't always know who the player is, right, They
don't know who I am always they know who Toro
is bananas, and it's always it's always so much fun,
and I just try to whip the kids into a
frenzy whenever you know, lifting.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
Like ramp up, the screaming I'm sure are.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
But anyways, Mascot Hall of Fame, put him in, Put
him in. Let me make sure I get the website correct,
because we got to get this Mascot Hall of Fame
dot com. Please vote once per day for our guy Toro.
He belongs he as Andre Johnson belonged in the Hall
of Fame, so too this Toro.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Okay, john gonna be with you. But we'll do this
again next week and.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
We'll be talking about O tas rookie Mini Camp and
all those other fun things.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Cool, very cool,
In the Lab, a Texans podcast that takes a different
look at things. Drew Doherty and John Harris have their
lab coats and goggles on and the Bunsen burners burning.
Here's Drew in the Lab right now. Good to see you,
John Harris waving your hand.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I'm Drew Doherty and you make three, the three of
us here on this in the Lab where we talk
about don't you Forget about Me? No getting into the
breakfast club, not getting into Simple Minds, great band minds, Wow,
I love simple Minds.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
No, great band, forget about me?
Speaker 4 (00:40):
And then what's that other one?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
They had the big one, Don't You Forget About Me?
As their big one, But there's another one that's awesome. Goodness, gracious,
I'm just funny.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I can remember when I hear a song like, oh yeah,
I know, a.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Live and kicking that's oh I love yeah, oh good, yes,
it reminds yeah, you know.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
Here's I found this out the other day. If you're
an eighties child like I was, or just interested.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
In Meanwhile, PSA, everyone under the age of twenty is
now tuned out.
Speaker 5 (01:06):
But yeah, exactly, But even even those that are twenty
or under, it's not the simple minds.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
It's not the talking heads. It's simple minds and it's
talking heads.
Speaker 5 (01:17):
I've learned that this week when talking Heads popped up
on my son's Amazon music and it popped up and
it said, it's not the talking heads and simple minds
is the same way.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
So talking Heads, this must be the place top ten
song of all time for me. First song I put
on when I'm feeding the jukebox, Yeah at a bar
or something.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Talking heads? Wait was that burn?
Speaker 4 (01:43):
What was the burn down the house? To do that too?
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Okay, so my brother in law tells a great story.
I think you. I'm not.
Speaker 5 (01:50):
It wasn't my brother in law, but my brother in
law had a friend is it got a little bit andebriated.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
One night and.
Speaker 5 (01:59):
Apparently house got a house got set on the fire
and his buddy was sitting outside talking head song, burning
down the house, and yeah, woke up the next morning
and what had happened to the house.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
So you know, things can happen. So I always remember that.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
No more wondering. Now let's get into don't you forget
about Me? Because I think vander Meir or you came
up with that sort of phrase. As far as players
who are on the roster, typically younger who have shown
promise but for whatever reason haven't really broken through to
whatever the next level is, whether it's from good to great,
(02:39):
from contributor to starter, from really not contributing to contributing.
So there's there's lots of parameters here, but basically someone
who has not made a jump. There's a lot of
guys who are candidates for that that are on the
roster right now and driving in this morning on Wednesday, nice, rainy,
soggy Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
It's good for the grand Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
I heard the guys talking, and we heard Nick Cassario, Executi,
vice president, general manager of the Texans talking with him,
and they brought up a name who was really intriguing
to me last year when the Texans drafted him very
very late, left tackle, Ladarius Henderson.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
I don't know that he's gonna play left tackle.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
For the Texans, but he was a guy who played
elsewhere for most of his college career and then transferred
and started a lot of games for the then national
champion Michigan Wolverines. Texans drafted him. Never really got a
chance to practice because he was injured and had some
stuff going on, but I'd see him around the building
every once in a while, and I read a fantastic
(03:42):
story about him. I can't remember who wrote it, but
it's at least four or five years old, and it
was in the Athletic and it was talking about his
time in Waxahatchie, Texas, up north of here, which is
just south of Dallas. And he's a fascinating kid, fascinating,
fascinating young man. I shouldn't call him a kid, but
he's somebody that Casario said this morning on the radio,
he's transformed his body. So this could be someone that
(04:04):
could be in the mix for competing at offensive line,
which we all know they've got to play better than
they did in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
It will be the first to tell you that.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
So Ladarius Henderson someone that I've I've seen, someone that
I've just chitchatted with in the hallway from time to time,
and I'm fascinated to see what he can do in
twenty twenty five. Because you don't have any professional tape
on him. Everything you have is from twenty twenty three.
But he's an intriguing player who was a very important
part of that that Wolverine's team that won it all.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
And I don't care.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Man, no matter who you were, if you're on a
national title team, let's see what you got, you know,
let's see what you got at the next level. Now,
the NFL is littered with names who won national titles
and then didn't do anything as pros. It's a different
skill set. But knowing who he is and knowing who
he could be, I'm intrigued, John, What do you think?
Speaker 5 (04:57):
So he started his careers on State and then transferred
to Michigan, and it was.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
But he played a lot.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
Yeah, he played a lot too. No, he played a
lot of a lot of football. And so when he
so when I saw him at Senior Bowl, I remember thinking,
I don't know, and I don't want to I don't
want to be that guy that looks at a guy
that Nope, that guy can't play.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
And to be fair, to be fair, he was a
seventh round pick.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Well you say that about a round pick, you know
you're not being too overly judgmental about a seventh round pick,
say stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
But I thought he was really struggling.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
When I found out he had been hurt, it made
it made all the sense in the world because I'm like, man,
the guy that I watched during the season looked look
more comfortable than that, like moved better. So when I
found out, oh yeah, he's hurt and he's gonna essentially
red shirt in twenty twenty four, I thought, this is
the best thing. I almost feel like if you could
(05:57):
do that, if you could do that for year six
and seventh round players in particular, to give them a
year to red shirt, to learn the NFL way, to
work out in the workout hard, rehab whatever injury you've got,
and even you know, in a case where you know
he just kind of red shirt guy, if you can
just red shirt him and bring them along, you know,
(06:20):
in a little bit slower. You know, maybe they don't practice,
or maybe they do practice, but you can keep them running.
And in some cases NFL teams will do that with
later round picks.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
They'll put them on a practice squad and that's kind
of the way they do it.
Speaker 5 (06:30):
But in Ladarius's case, being injured, it was like, okay,
essentially it's going to be a red shirt year, Like okay,
get your body right, get get rehabbed, so get your body.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Fixed, then get your body right.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
And that was one of the things that stood out,
and if you do that, I wonder too.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
And we've talked about this that I think.
Speaker 5 (06:52):
When when I wrote him up, I remember thinking tackle
guard and so I remember, I want to say, when
we talked to Nick, they were thinking about him as
a guard, like that was going to be his position here.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
So you get kind of a double whammy in the
sense that you get.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
To rehab your body, you get to stick around the
NFL building, and now you get to transform your body
into maybe a little bit more of a guard body,
or maybe you need a little bit more upper body
strength where you need just overall core strength and all
that to.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Be able to play that position. But I think.
Speaker 5 (07:28):
Just hearing Nick talk about him and knowing the work
and look, it's very clear that this.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Building values the values.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
Guys that put in the time, put in the effort
and get in this building and they do it with
the best intentions possible.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
And I think Ladarius has done that.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
So the tricky thing is, Okay, he hasn't taken a snap,
he hasn't put on a helmet since that Senior Bowl,
So that's gonna be.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
So that Senior Bowl was January of twenty four, right.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
So we're gonna go all the way to August of
twenty five. So you're talking a year, seven months, a
lot of time year, a little over a year and
a half. But you haven't, you know. So he's gonna
have to callous his body to that physicality again.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
And but it's also gonna be intriguing. And here's the
thing too.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
You said it, if Ladarius doesn't work out, it's a
seventh round pick, right, But if you see something, even
if he turns into a backup offensive lineman, that you
know you can rely on that, Okay, And Charlie Heck
was the same way, and Charlie was a fourth rounder.
You know, Okay, Charlie's got to go in the game
because Laramie's hurt or Titus has banged up Charlie. Charlie's
(08:42):
gotta go play. And Charlie would hold his own and
do a really good job. And it really wasn't until
Charlie hurt his foot where it really kind of slowed
down any kind of progress that he was he was
making as this team's swing tackle, a very important position.
I think Fladarius man, what if what if all of
a suddenly they're steps in and you're like, man, he
takes over right guard and I mean found fifty bucks
(09:06):
in your pocket, you know what I mean? That's that
is to me what makes it kind of exciting. And
I do think of the five offensive line positions and
it and it's funny because I've been thinking this way
for a while. When Nick said it about Ladarius Henderson,
I'm like, oh, maybe that's the guy I've felt like
all along, there's gonna be an upset somewhere on that
(09:27):
offensive line that we don't see coming. The Mike Brisell
of the group that you don't you don't see coming.
And then you're like, WHOA, Mike's really good, gets this done, gets.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
The job done.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
And so when he mentioned Ladarius, that kind of popped
up the other name that I think about a lot, come.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Out, come out, and it's don't you forget him out me?
It's not yeah, we don't have a burning flag while
throwing in the ground saying this is going right, right right,
It's like, don't forget about this guy.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
He might do something.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Well, here's another one for you.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
And then I have a three pack. After you've name,
I got one for you.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
And you should love hearing this because he is a
Pony or a former Pony player.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
That's Jalen Thomas.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
And again, Jalen played tackle at SMU, and I felt
like guard was his best position, maybe even center at
that point. But you know, he was a guy that
I'm trying to remember when he got here, like eight
and twenty three on it twenty four. I feel like
there were a couple days in training camp where I'm
watching him thinking, man, there's something there. He's thick and
stout and tough. I think there's something there. And then
(10:31):
hurt and it's.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Like, dang it.
Speaker 5 (10:33):
Because there was kind of this rash of injuries in
twenty three. I can't remember if he's part of that.
I know he was part of it in twenty four,
and I feel like he's a guy that, man, if
you worked with him every day, you know, could he
be a guy that gave you something on the inside
as well. So I feel like that's another guy Jalen
Thomas from smu've been with the organization for a couple
of years now. Don't forget about that guy, because I
(10:54):
think he's got a little something as well. So you
throw those two guys in the mix, who knows you
start performing with the threes, you do some good things.
You get in a preseason game, you have a long
stretch in the second half, Now a sudden, hey, maybe
we should get them some reps with the two's. Get
a few more preseason games, and before you know it, man,
(11:14):
you're right there on the cusp of one injury away
and then all of a sudden injury happens and you
got to step in and that who knows if that
that could happen. I just always think of Mike Brycell
in these situations. He's one of my favorite Texans of
all time. Biscuit Brizel. He was just such a such
a character, but just a really really good guard that
nobody thought anything about. Everybody, as you said, Drew forgot
(11:39):
about him, and then this guy ends up being a
really a piece of one of the best line, uh
one of the best offensive lines, if not the best
offensive line the Texans ad.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
And he was instrumental in that.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
You just brought up Jalen Thomas and he's one of
the Jalen's on this team. Jayleens the one of us
that were uh that were drafted a quartet. There's also
j it In and when you said that. I thought, oh,
John hasn't been paying attention because we just cut Jalen
Thomas a week ago.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
And I was wrong.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
As I was looking at my phone, it was a
Jayden peevee that defensive tab we saw, so pardon me,
but I'm h I was listen.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Things happened so fast and furious.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I was coaching a I was coaching a fifth grade
baseball game the other night, and the umpire, yeah, he
was about he comes over to me like middle of
the game, during the break in between innings, and I
thought he was gonna tell me something about like hey,
watch the box here or watch He's.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Like, hey, so what you guys gonna do about all
these Jalens. I'm gonna figure it out.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
And listen, it's Jalen with an I, n Jalen with
an I, and Jalen with the een, Jalen with an oh,
and that you were just talking yeah, and then you
got Jalen who is know why but ellie En and
Jalen peatree.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Old man and I forget some things. And that's what
just happened.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I guess you just yell out Jalen and see who responds.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Okay, I got a three pack of don't you forget
about me? And there's a variet to hear so receiver wise,
Xavier Hutchinson and John Metchi yep, don't you forget about them?
Who knows? This is year three essentially for both yep
that that's sometimes a good jump, and then a guy
who did really well but maybe is just scratching the
(13:18):
surface Kaylen Bullock safety on the other side, so much
has been so much attention has been paid to the
CJGJ addition and the corners and all the great stuff
that they did. But let's not forget about that three
pack there. What does Hutchinson do to leap forward? What
does Mechi do to leap forward? Because we're starting to
see some flashes from each of the three, and I
(13:40):
could see those guys all taking leaps because on another vein,
Casario brought up Kamari Lasser and how his body has
changed the aw season. So goodness gracious, what's that mean?
But how about that for a three pack? I like that,
and I think that the G one, maybe two, maybe
all three take a jump.
Speaker 5 (13:55):
I think eyes from training camp are really going to
be again on the receiver because I think that's easier
to see. I think when it comes to the offensive line,
people will be able to see some things, but then
they'll have to rely on, you know, things that other
people are seeing. Mainly me and I try and give
them the best look that I can at that offensive
line and what's going on with it.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
But I think most people want to see.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
And I think when Jalen Knowle was drafted, I think
initially a lot of people were like, oh, that's it
for Mechi went got Christian Kirk, now you got Noel.
We've seen plenty of situations over the years where you
felt like a guy was they drafted a guy at
this position, Okay, this guy's done, he's you know, this
isn't going to happen. And then all of a sudden,
(14:40):
there's some injuries or something's happened, and that guy that
you were not supposed to forget about turns into the
guy that ends up being the guy for that position.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
And that can happen.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
And look once you know, we obviously know the story
of Mechi miss missing year one, and then year two's
kind of still shaking off the rust, you know, next year.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
There were some moments I felt like in the playoff game.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
There were some moments where he made some big catches
on third down, and you know, there's that long drive
that got us within one should type the game, but
got us within one, and both he and Hutch made
a number of big catches. And I just feel like
year three. And I'm glad you said it, because it
really is year three for both of them.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
If for being honest, it's that that can.
Speaker 5 (15:22):
Be a year where you start to have figured a
few things out, You've got your routine down. You obviously
have to learn a new offense. Everybody's got to learn
a new offense. But the faster you can learn it,
the faster you can play. And it might benefit their
skill sets better, that's exactly right. It might accentuate this,
that's right. And look, we've gone through this before last year.
(15:43):
Just just take we had the Big three. Everybody's excited
about the Big three, right, Nico missed five games. Injuries happened,
Tank got hurt in December and missed the rest of
the year and missed this year more than likely.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
And Diggs got hurt Week eight.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
So that receiver room has been hasn't you know, has
not been allergic to injury.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
I wish they would be been unlucky. They've been unlucky
in a sense.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
And hopefully you're building a group there that can withstand
an injury for a few weeks.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
But look, if somebody gets hurt for the whole season.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
Okay, we got to how layered is this group to
be able to handle an injury where they can step
in and do things if Nico were.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
To get hurt.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
Okay, what more does Christian have to do? What more
does Mets you have to do? And more to hutch
have to do? What more the rookies have to do?
And I think that's what's going to make this thing,
you know, pretty interesting. And I'll give you a guy
not to forget about it. And I think it's really
easy because when we talked when when most when the
draft happened, and when Higgins for second round and then
(16:47):
Noel third round, I think a lot of people were like, oh,
Matchie Hutchinson, that's the first thing they thought of. I
remember thinking, I like those two coming in. But don't
forget about Justin Watson. Yeah, just Watson with the Chiefs
time out.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
This was a move Watson that happens within a flurry
of other fragient moves going on that people. I think
there's a large segment of the fan base that is like,
who's what Preston Watson that we even had him, or
even like who is this guy's been productive, you know
in the role he's been asked to fill in his
(17:23):
time in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
He was a guy that with Kansas City.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
I felt like Patrick Mahomes would go to like I
used to have. I remember a long long time ago
when I was playing, and I remember my quarterback saying
to me, look, I'm throwing you the ball. Like he
trusted that I was gonna be that guy no matter
where I was, I'm.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Throwing you the ball. Even tho Thereughrout really wasn't for me.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
He was like, I'm throwing you the ball, so I
know you're gonna catch it and we're gonna make a play.
I feel like that was the way Patrick Mahomes was
with Justin Watson when all the other flashy receivers with
the Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Would drop a pass, run the wrong route.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
He's Justin Watson who sort of settled everything down. Now
he's also an ivy leaguer, so I'm gonna I'm good
with that he went to Penn, which borders on non IVY,
but I but we're still I'm just joking because we
always joked about Penn being the one that was kind
of always taking the guys that had the SATs that
were lower than everybody else.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
We always that's an inside IVY League joke. Oh they're good.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
It was always, well, you know, they're really good because
they take the guys to all the low SAT scores
so they get better out.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
So that was always the joke that we went with.
Speaker 5 (18:32):
But I saw him walking the hallway the other day
and I'm like, he's put together. Well, he's six three
six four big wide receiver, can be a deep downfield threat.
I do not forget about that guy. I think a
lot of people have talked about Braxton Burials enough, you know,
the Alex Earl connection all that. But anyways, I think
(18:53):
a lot of people talk about Burrios. Oh you know,
he could be a returner, you know, put returns whatever.
So I think he's been talking about him. But and
then obviously the rookies, everybody gets excited about them. And
because of the rookies, we mentioned, hey, don't forget about
Machian Axe, and I think that's.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I think that's on everybody.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
You know, Hitler's good guy to remember.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
Yeah, but Justin Watson to me at wide receiver is
a guy where don't forget about that, dude. Because the
numbers may not be obscene, they may not even be like, oh, third, fourth,
wide receive whatever, But it's like when he would make
those catches, the opportunities that he was given, he would maximize.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Chiefs loved him.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
They yes, when they he was one of those guys
that he signs here and their social media crew as
a thank you Justin so. Not everybody gets those thank
you so and so messages. So that's a nice select
Yes exactly. Time to segue into something different. Okay, I
know you're a fan of this. I'm a fan of
(19:50):
this guy. Uh Toro?
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Oh what the mascot yet?
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Yes to so listen.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Toro has been nominated for the Mascot Hall of Fame.
He got really really close a year or so. It's
an injustice like Andre Johnson was not in the Pro
Football Hall of Fame so close. Toro belongs and deserves
to be in the Mascot Hall of Fame. So being
recognized for his outstanding performance and dedication to the Texans
(20:19):
in our community.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
He's not in yet.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
That's where you come into play, you know, he's There's
twenty eight nominees representing eleven major league teams, five minor
league teams, twelve collegiate teams from all over, not just
the end of you know, all sorts of sports. So
go to Mascot Hall of Fame dot com. You can
vote once per day from now until May twenty fourth.
(20:44):
Get Toro in the Hall of Fame. It's not going
to be out until like it gets with the group
once anyways, Just go to Mascot Hall of.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
Fame and start voting when you can.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Yes, But I want to talk about get Toro in
the Hall of Fame. There's two main reasons he's going
in What he does as a mascot, which is hilarious,
acrobatic and awesome on game days and so far on entertaining.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
But really more so.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
The guy is an animal, no pun intended, an animal
in the community. I mean makes a massive, massive dent
in a positive way, whether it's fighting bullying, whether it's
getting kids ready for the Star Test, and then just
going around and supporting all the community initiatives that the
Texans have done over the years. But the thing that
(21:34):
sticks out to me the most that I tell people
whenever they ask about Toro is when the Texans played
in London in twenty nineteen. The team got there on
Friday and practice that afternoon. Yes, Toro and the cheerleaders
and some other traveling folks, they got there on Thursday,
the day before some things. I got there with our
(21:55):
videographer editor producer Tyler Shuttarth.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
We got there Tuesday. We had to kind of set
the scene.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
So we were we land on Tuesday afternoon, shooting stuff
at three in the afternoon on the Thames River. All
day Wednesday, were doing stuff all day Thursday, we're doing stuff,
and then Friday comes and we link up with Toro
and the cheerleaders and by this point I'm kind of fried.
I'm a little bit, a little bit jet lag. But
we're sitting on a bus. It's a rainy London, London day,
(22:25):
and I'm in one seat and behind me it's Toro
and the other guy who who does or did a
lot of his social media, all sorts of things, not
just social They basically are a two man team. And
I was amazed at the fog. I'm in I'm listening
to them planning. Okay, we're gonna do this shot here
(22:47):
and we'll be able to use it tomorrow, but then
we'll reuse it Saint Patrick's Day for this. We're gonna
do this shot today at three, and we'll double it up.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
For Christmas and for Valentine's.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
This shot tomorrow we're going to use when the comic
comes through six years from now, and we'll have that.
I was stunned planning the preparation, the foresight, the thoughtfulness
that these guys have just with you know, with what
they were doing on a day to day basis, but
they go out in the community. They do so many
good things. They're Hall of famers. In my book, put
(23:19):
Toro in the mascot Hall of Fame. What's your I
know you got a zillion Toro stories. Yeah, what's your
Toro story? Why you think he belongs?
Speaker 5 (23:26):
It's funny you said that, because as you start down
that way, I was a little disappointed because that was
kind of where I was thinking that his impact in
the community with kids in particular.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Huge, like when he goes to schools. I just it's incredible.
I mean, I think about that as a kid. I
mean I grew up in Richard Roseberg and you didn't
have Toro, didn't have a mask. Yeah, I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
The guy who wore the silver helmet, but he was
really a mascot. He was awesome.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
But I remember, you know, had been a kid, you know,
third fourth grade.
Speaker 5 (23:57):
I wasn't even here in Houston at that point, but
been kid mascot comes in and it's reading for the
star test like that would have been so cool for
me as as a little kid, that that memory. And yeah,
you grow up and you're like mask but it is
really cool. And I see him at practice. The players
are coming down and you know, they're all screaming for
(24:20):
autographs and then invariably you hear people Toro, Toro. They
want Toro to come take a picture taken out and
he obliges every single one. And when you really think
about it, yeah, it's professional sports, it's entertainment. We're in
the memory business. We're in the business of creating memories
(24:41):
for people that.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
They have forever. You talk to people. I had somebody
last year that.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
Miranda, she is the daughter of somebody owns a little
bakery over in in Heights that I'd love to go
to give him a shout out.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Angela's ov and they're incredible, and.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
I was going there and finally one day, cause I've
been in her sofage, you start talking to me, You've
got to be friends. And she mentioned she had never
been to a game before, and so I said, well, hey,
I'll give you my tickets for I said, what are
you doing Sunday night? Can you get off work on Sunday?
And they're like, well, yeah, we usually out here by noon.
And I said, well, how about Lion's Sunday night here.
(25:18):
She's like, oh my god, that was incredible and she
I gave her the tickets in my seats and Toro
came by said hey, you know, it's just like everything
that she talked about was like this great grand memory
and that's what and that's what Toro does. He is
the individual that's providing those memories for all these people,
(25:39):
for all these little kids, for adults. I mean, you
think about parents that you know are there with their
kids and the smile on their face just lighting up.
And Toro's also an author how many Mascots going into
the Hall of Fame and written a damn book.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Written a book, not many, not many. Two years ago
training camp, so it is Stroud and Anderson's rookie year.
One of my boys best friends. So I have a
fifth grader and a third grader. This kid's a fourth grader,
their friend. They played sports together. This kid knows the
sports like like the boys. Big Texans fan. He was
(26:16):
out of training camp and he was getting autographs and
his dad, one of my friends, texted me later that
day and he said, he's so pumped he got his
shoe signed by Toro.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
Dot and CJ. Stroud.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
The kid loved that shoe got signed by c J. Stroud,
but he was equally, if not more, pumped that Toro
signed a shoe. You've done a zillion events and appearances
over the years with the organization where Toro is with you.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
So have I.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
A lot of times the kids know who the player
is that is is at the event, and you you know.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
You get a range of guys. You get pay frontline quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Sometimes sometimes you get guys for further down the roster
play different positions in quarterback.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
They always the kids, whether it's a boy or girl,
regardless of age, they always know who Toro is.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
You don't always know who the player is, right, They
don't know who I am always they know who Toro
is bananas, and it's always it's always so much fun,
and I just try to whip the kids into a
frenzy whenever you know, lifting.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
Like ramp up, the screaming I'm sure are.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
But anyways, Mascot Hall of Fame, put him in, Put
him in. Let me make sure I get the website correct,
because we got to get this Mascot Hall of Fame
dot com. Please vote once per day for our guy Toro.
He belongs he as Andre Johnson belonged in the Hall
of Fame, so too this Toro.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Okay, john gonna be with you. But we'll do this
again next week and.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
We'll be talking about O tas rookie Mini Camp and
all those other fun things.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Cool, very cool,
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