May 14, 2024 • 11 mins
KPRC reporter Aaron Wilson joins Next Up to recap the Houston Texans rookie minicamp. Texans draft picks took the field Friday and Saturday in their first practices as NFL players. Wilson also discusses the Texans trading for former Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Ben Skowronek, the competitive receiver group, the regular season schedule and a possible Nico Collins contract extension.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
To the next episode. You can'teven stop yourself fitting John and do next.
As Next Up continues on seven ninety, I think it doesn't matter where
you're selected or how you come intoour building. The goal for everyone is
(00:23):
to improve and do their best.And for me, tell guys, I
don't weigh it one way or theother. If if you're the best player,
you're gonna play, doesn't matter ifyou're undrafted, if you're drafted,
if you're a tryout guy, ifyou make our roster, and we feel
like you can help us win games, and that's what it's all about,
say on a smooth head coach ofthe Houston Texas Demiko runs over the weekend
(00:48):
over at NRG Rookie Minute Camp Fridayand Saturday with a message to the drafted
and or undrafted rookies, there's aculture here and you're gonna learn how to
fit into this culture. For moreinsight into the culture, we go to
the guest line. Now welcome in, Friend of the station. Friend of
the show one Aaron Wilson, ourTexans insider NFL big shot, heavily connected
(01:14):
around the National Football League. Iimagine with the schedule coming out and there's
still some signings. In addition,Aaron Wilson's working the phone. Mister Wilson,
good morning. How are you sir? Good morning. I can't complain
man. Happy to be back inthe saddle out last night. Appreciate Gordy
and Connor holding us down. Allright, let's start with my observation from
Afar. I did not get overthe NRG two c up close, but
(01:38):
I've seen the video. I donot believe Kamar Lassida is an outside corner
based on his movements. I alsothink Bullock has got to add a ton
of weight. He is not readyto tackle at this league, not with
those legs. That's from Afar.Those are the two that come to mind
(01:59):
from a physic standpoint. Who lookedthe part over the weekend at NLG from
the rookies drafted in undrafted, Ithought two of the better players were as
far as just how they look andNFL ready just based on sort of a
superficial analysis, and I hate toread into too much just because they didn't
(02:22):
do anything out there. They didn'teven have they had twenty guys, including
a couple of tryout players, sothey couldn't do anything. And also you
wouldn't really want to have them domuch just because they're still learning. As
Blake Fisher said, where's the cafeteria, where's a training room? He got
lost. I was trying to findthe grub and one up in the training
(02:45):
room. So it's that kind ofenvironment. It's orientation. But just from
a physical standpoint, I thought,Kate Stover looks pretty NFL ready to tight
end from Ohio State. He's acombo tight end. He can block,
he can catch, and he looks, you know the part. He looks
physically, looks like a weight roomguy. That's, you know, converted
defensive player. Blake Fisher's got somereally good feat and really athletic. He
(03:09):
really polished. They teach technique reallywell at Notre Dame. And ideally he
doesn't need to play this year,but he's a heck of an insurance policy.
And we've seen Lernie Thomson, TitusHoward this time before, so it's
good to have Blake for the futureand possibly the president. With what you
said about Kamori Lassiter, you know, I saw a pretty smooth backpedal.
(03:32):
He didn't have a lot of interceptionsat Georgia, and he did actually drop
a few just in these sort ofeasier drills, but that doesn't mean he
might not catch one in a playin a game. And then Bullock is
smooth, very rangy, very long. He may have some trouble adding the
bulk. He talked about him becominga big time hitter. He'll throw his
(03:54):
hat in there. He's not.If you watch USC, you know he'll
he'll throw his head into the fray. But he does lack a lot of
bulk to back that up to bea real striking type of safety. But
he's got a nose for the ball. My preference typically is guys at least
they can make a play, andhe's probably not going to be, you
(04:15):
know, runs the floor guy.He might be able to blitz and tackle
a quarterback, but I don't thinkyou want him in the box a lot.
He's a pure center fielder. Nineinterceptions and had five of those last
year, so you know, thoseare some of the things I saw.
They'll probably like him fans when theysee him because he's a stocky, powerful
(04:38):
back. His quas are gigantic.That's British Brooks, the undrafted working running
back in North Carolina. Yeah,yeah, very very well built guy and
then Max Tooley Athletic. A lotof tools from BYU. Probably the most
buzz it's the all there undrafted isthis Saldarius Payne than twin brothers, which
(05:00):
are a good story, but we'llsee and they get separation at this level
of nice route runners, good handsthe Yankee twins and father's say though,
is a pretty good pass rusher thatruns four eighty five at about two hundred
and eighty pounds, so he's gotsome interesting moves. Played in Nebraska,
played at Virginia attack, very highlyranked pro football focused analytics guy. So
(05:25):
someone that they invested I believe almostone hundred thousand men for his undrafted deal.
But those are so many impressions,but I hesitate to get really just
fined impressures, just took of whatit is, sure, but those are
all first blush impressions. All right, fair enough, We're listening to Aaron
Wilson our Texans inside of here atseven ninety friend of the station obviously most
(05:47):
certainly friend of the show, andso again Ricky Manning camp two days.
Guys got to learn what the restroomis, where the meeting room is?
They getting lost all over Houston.The Stefan Digg's story last week. We
made fun of that just being newto the city and you know, they
just got to learn how to practice. And you know, having been somewhat
in that space, I can tellyou that that's you know, we think
(06:08):
about it like it's just easy.Oh, if you play it Notre Dame
and you play it Ohio State andyou play at Georgia, they all practice
different. They're different tempos, differentdrills. Like learning how to practice in
the NFL is a real thing.So I know, Demiko, Bobby Slot,
Matt slog up, excuse me,Matt Burke, Bobby Slow, Demko,
they'll figure that part out in termsof how to get those guys ramped
(06:30):
up. All right, I'm excitedto ask you about. In addition that
I probably lean more into than itsounds like Chris Gordy does this. Ben
Schronick comes over from the La Ramslast week via trade Casio sends out some
late picks, receives a late pickas well as the player. How do
you think they intend to use beingschronic Will he make the fifty three man
(06:53):
roster right now? He has agood chance, and that's because of the
thirteen tackles. He's seeing the lastyear, playing seventy one percent of the
specially names snaps the rams. He'sa Frank Ross guy, and he can
also in a pinch lineup at fullback. He's done some lead blocking before.
He's about six three two twenty fiveand he can block downfield as a
(07:15):
receiver. Those are things they valueand he's had some production as a receiver
for a seventh round pick, sohe's an interesting player. He's not a
burner, but he moves pretty welland I'd say, you know, if
he makes it, he makes iton teams. That's where he'll have to
really apply his trade. For themost part, I don't anticipate him being
(07:36):
one of the top four receivers,but could he make the squad yet.
It's very competitive between him, XavierHutchinson, John Metchi's the third, Steven
Simms, and Noah Brown who's comingoff of a shoulder surgery. So you
know, they have some interesting contractsthere where they have guaranteed money. With
(07:58):
Woods, they guaranteed all five millionof Browns contract, so they will have
some tough choices with me. Acompetitive camp and ultimately what we're talking about,
none of the players probably that I'mtalking about are going to catch more
than twenty to thirty passes because thebulk of the work will go to the
stuff on Diggs, the Tank,Dell's, the Nico Collins and all those
gentlemen and Dalden Schultz and Joe Mixon'sgot to get touches too. And I
(08:22):
talk to Nico Collins over the weekendat his football camp, and you know,
he anticipates, as he should,a really dangerous passing game. So
it's interesting to see a little goBut Aaron, what was his quote on
getting paid? He said, I'mnot gonna say no to no money.
Who's up the quote? He's he'sencouraged about it. His family is they
(08:48):
feel good about things. I don'tstill have any real breaking news on the
contracts, but I'm confident that they'llfigure something out, and I think Michael
pitt Min's deal is a good blueprintfor it. I don't think he's going
to be like an A. J. Brown type of contract, but I
think that he'll do very well.And they have a history of doing business
(09:13):
and taking care of their own.When they did the Monk Collins deal,
there's extensions. Nick does things likethat, and I think he has a
really good negotiating relationship with Drew Rosenosyin a lot of business over the years,
going back to Rob Gronkowski, evenwith the Patriots. So yeah,
I think they can figure this out. I just don't know the timing of
it. But summer is a goodtime to do these things. Yeah they
did that. Yeah, one morefor you, real quick eron as we
(09:37):
wrap up. We know the schedulecomes out tomorrow night. Any leaks you
got any any schedule leaks on whothe Texans are playing what weeks. I
don't have a schedule leak for you. This has never been really one of
my big specialties was the schedule league. But you know they I'm looking at
the Tonents right now. I've gotit in front of me on my phone,
(10:00):
and you know that Buffalo Bill's gamesounds pretty good to me. I
think that one of these culture Jaguarsgames that looks good, you know,
possibly the Dallas game. There's alot of interest in that. Who knows,
a Thanksgiving game I think will beideal, But there're other teams of
(10:22):
Tapers are played on Thanksgiving. ButI think that it's you know that you've
seen the Texans kind of get leftout of some of these early splashy things
that you see out the league's thinkingwith Chiefs, Ravens, Jets. They're
kind of in this second tier ofconsideration. But they're not going to be
shut out of prime time. Iwould bet a couple of months will pay
(10:46):
that they will have prime time gamesand still a safe that you look at
last year, the not having wonfromone got flex right to not be a
sign one. Originally, that's goingto change, as Niko Ryan says,
they've earned that they're good enough footballteam and they've changed the status and they
way they look or looked at aroundthe NFL. And rightfully, so you're
(11:09):
this good and you have to startquarterback, you should be on TV at
night, and we got to cutyou a bit short. Brother, I
apologize, but you know how thisthing works. We appreciate everything that you
do covering the Texans and the restof the league. We more certainly get
you back on as we get otherdevelopments nearing training camp. Follow this,
man, if you hadn't, you'renot an NFL fan at Aaron Wilson underscore
(11:31):
NFL he's our Texans inside of hereon Sports Talk seven ninety brother, be
well, enjoy you some rest whileyou can. We'll be back at it.
I think the next OTA is notthis week, it's next week,
so we'll revisit it then. Allright, all right, I appreciate you a doubs
To the next episode. You can'teven stop yourself fitting John and do next.
As Next Up continues on seven ninety, I think it doesn't matter where
you're selected or how you come intoour building. The goal for everyone is
(00:23):
to improve and do their best.And for me, tell guys, I
don't weigh it one way or theother. If if you're the best player,
you're gonna play, doesn't matter ifyou're undrafted, if you're drafted,
if you're a tryout guy, ifyou make our roster, and we feel
like you can help us win games, and that's what it's all about,
say on a smooth head coach ofthe Houston Texas Demiko runs over the weekend
(00:48):
over at NRG Rookie Minute Camp Fridayand Saturday with a message to the drafted
and or undrafted rookies, there's aculture here and you're gonna learn how to
fit into this culture. For moreinsight into the culture, we go to
the guest line. Now welcome in, Friend of the station. Friend of
the show one Aaron Wilson, ourTexans insider NFL big shot, heavily connected
(01:14):
around the National Football League. Iimagine with the schedule coming out and there's
still some signings. In addition,Aaron Wilson's working the phone. Mister Wilson,
good morning. How are you sir? Good morning. I can't complain
man. Happy to be back inthe saddle out last night. Appreciate Gordy
and Connor holding us down. Allright, let's start with my observation from
Afar. I did not get overthe NRG two c up close, but
(01:38):
I've seen the video. I donot believe Kamar Lassida is an outside corner
based on his movements. I alsothink Bullock has got to add a ton
of weight. He is not readyto tackle at this league, not with
those legs. That's from Afar.Those are the two that come to mind
(01:59):
from a physic standpoint. Who lookedthe part over the weekend at NLG from
the rookies drafted in undrafted, Ithought two of the better players were as
far as just how they look andNFL ready just based on sort of a
superficial analysis, and I hate toread into too much just because they didn't
(02:22):
do anything out there. They didn'teven have they had twenty guys, including
a couple of tryout players, sothey couldn't do anything. And also you
wouldn't really want to have them domuch just because they're still learning. As
Blake Fisher said, where's the cafeteria, where's a training room? He got
lost. I was trying to findthe grub and one up in the training
(02:45):
room. So it's that kind ofenvironment. It's orientation. But just from
a physical standpoint, I thought,Kate Stover looks pretty NFL ready to tight
end from Ohio State. He's acombo tight end. He can block,
he can catch, and he looks, you know the part. He looks
physically, looks like a weight roomguy. That's, you know, converted
defensive player. Blake Fisher's got somereally good feat and really athletic. He
(03:09):
really polished. They teach technique reallywell at Notre Dame. And ideally he
doesn't need to play this year,but he's a heck of an insurance policy.
And we've seen Lernie Thomson, TitusHoward this time before, so it's
good to have Blake for the futureand possibly the president. With what you
said about Kamori Lassiter, you know, I saw a pretty smooth backpedal.
(03:32):
He didn't have a lot of interceptionsat Georgia, and he did actually drop
a few just in these sort ofeasier drills, but that doesn't mean he
might not catch one in a playin a game. And then Bullock is
smooth, very rangy, very long. He may have some trouble adding the
bulk. He talked about him becominga big time hitter. He'll throw his
(03:54):
hat in there. He's not.If you watch USC, you know he'll
he'll throw his head into the fray. But he does lack a lot of
bulk to back that up to bea real striking type of safety. But
he's got a nose for the ball. My preference typically is guys at least
they can make a play, andhe's probably not going to be, you
(04:15):
know, runs the floor guy.He might be able to blitz and tackle
a quarterback, but I don't thinkyou want him in the box a lot.
He's a pure center fielder. Nineinterceptions and had five of those last
year, so you know, thoseare some of the things I saw.
They'll probably like him fans when theysee him because he's a stocky, powerful
(04:38):
back. His quas are gigantic.That's British Brooks, the undrafted working running
back in North Carolina. Yeah,yeah, very very well built guy and
then Max Tooley Athletic. A lotof tools from BYU. Probably the most
buzz it's the all there undrafted isthis Saldarius Payne than twin brothers, which
(05:00):
are a good story, but we'llsee and they get separation at this level
of nice route runners, good handsthe Yankee twins and father's say though,
is a pretty good pass rusher thatruns four eighty five at about two hundred
and eighty pounds, so he's gotsome interesting moves. Played in Nebraska,
played at Virginia attack, very highlyranked pro football focused analytics guy. So
(05:25):
someone that they invested I believe almostone hundred thousand men for his undrafted deal.
But those are so many impressions,but I hesitate to get really just
fined impressures, just took of whatit is, sure, but those are
all first blush impressions. All right, fair enough, We're listening to Aaron
Wilson our Texans inside of here atseven ninety friend of the station obviously most
(05:47):
certainly friend of the show, andso again Ricky Manning camp two days.
Guys got to learn what the restroomis, where the meeting room is?
They getting lost all over Houston.The Stefan Digg's story last week. We
made fun of that just being newto the city and you know, they
just got to learn how to practice. And you know, having been somewhat
in that space, I can tellyou that that's you know, we think
(06:08):
about it like it's just easy.Oh, if you play it Notre Dame
and you play it Ohio State andyou play at Georgia, they all practice
different. They're different tempos, differentdrills. Like learning how to practice in
the NFL is a real thing.So I know, Demiko, Bobby Slot,
Matt slog up, excuse me,Matt Burke, Bobby Slow, Demko,
they'll figure that part out in termsof how to get those guys ramped
(06:30):
up. All right, I'm excitedto ask you about. In addition that
I probably lean more into than itsounds like Chris Gordy does this. Ben
Schronick comes over from the La Ramslast week via trade Casio sends out some
late picks, receives a late pickas well as the player. How do
you think they intend to use beingschronic Will he make the fifty three man
(06:53):
roster right now? He has agood chance, and that's because of the
thirteen tackles. He's seeing the lastyear, playing seventy one percent of the
specially names snaps the rams. He'sa Frank Ross guy, and he can
also in a pinch lineup at fullback. He's done some lead blocking before.
He's about six three two twenty fiveand he can block downfield as a
(07:15):
receiver. Those are things they valueand he's had some production as a receiver
for a seventh round pick, sohe's an interesting player. He's not a
burner, but he moves pretty welland I'd say, you know, if
he makes it, he makes iton teams. That's where he'll have to
really apply his trade. For themost part, I don't anticipate him being
(07:36):
one of the top four receivers,but could he make the squad yet.
It's very competitive between him, XavierHutchinson, John Metchi's the third, Steven
Simms, and Noah Brown who's comingoff of a shoulder surgery. So you
know, they have some interesting contractsthere where they have guaranteed money. With
(07:58):
Woods, they guaranteed all five millionof Browns contract, so they will have
some tough choices with me. Acompetitive camp and ultimately what we're talking about,
none of the players probably that I'mtalking about are going to catch more
than twenty to thirty passes because thebulk of the work will go to the
stuff on Diggs, the Tank,Dell's, the Nico Collins and all those
gentlemen and Dalden Schultz and Joe Mixon'sgot to get touches too. And I
(08:22):
talk to Nico Collins over the weekendat his football camp, and you know,
he anticipates, as he should,a really dangerous passing game. So
it's interesting to see a little goBut Aaron, what was his quote on
getting paid? He said, I'mnot gonna say no to no money.
Who's up the quote? He's he'sencouraged about it. His family is they
(08:48):
feel good about things. I don'tstill have any real breaking news on the
contracts, but I'm confident that they'llfigure something out, and I think Michael
pitt Min's deal is a good blueprintfor it. I don't think he's going
to be like an A. J. Brown type of contract, but I
think that he'll do very well.And they have a history of doing business
(09:13):
and taking care of their own.When they did the Monk Collins deal,
there's extensions. Nick does things likethat, and I think he has a
really good negotiating relationship with Drew Rosenosyin a lot of business over the years,
going back to Rob Gronkowski, evenwith the Patriots. So yeah,
I think they can figure this out. I just don't know the timing of
it. But summer is a goodtime to do these things. Yeah they
did that. Yeah, one morefor you, real quick eron as we
(09:37):
wrap up. We know the schedulecomes out tomorrow night. Any leaks you
got any any schedule leaks on whothe Texans are playing what weeks. I
don't have a schedule leak for you. This has never been really one of
my big specialties was the schedule league. But you know they I'm looking at
the Tonents right now. I've gotit in front of me on my phone,
(10:00):
and you know that Buffalo Bill's gamesounds pretty good to me. I
think that one of these culture Jaguarsgames that looks good, you know,
possibly the Dallas game. There's alot of interest in that. Who knows,
a Thanksgiving game I think will beideal, But there're other teams of
(10:22):
Tapers are played on Thanksgiving. ButI think that it's you know that you've
seen the Texans kind of get leftout of some of these early splashy things
that you see out the league's thinkingwith Chiefs, Ravens, Jets. They're
kind of in this second tier ofconsideration. But they're not going to be
shut out of prime time. Iwould bet a couple of months will pay
(10:46):
that they will have prime time gamesand still a safe that you look at
last year, the not having wonfromone got flex right to not be a
sign one. Originally, that's goingto change, as Niko Ryan says,
they've earned that they're good enough footballteam and they've changed the status and they
way they look or looked at aroundthe NFL. And rightfully, so you're
(11:09):
this good and you have to startquarterback, you should be on TV at
night, and we got to cutyou a bit short. Brother, I
apologize, but you know how thisthing works. We appreciate everything that you
do covering the Texans and the restof the league. We more certainly get
you back on as we get otherdevelopments nearing training camp. Follow this,
man, if you hadn't, you'renot an NFL fan at Aaron Wilson underscore
(11:31):
NFL he's our Texans inside of hereon Sports Talk seven ninety brother, be
well, enjoy you some rest whileyou can. We'll be back at it.
I think the next OTA is notthis week, it's next week,
so we'll revisit it then. Allright, all right, I appreciate you a doubs
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