NFL Writer Eric Edholm On If Texans Are Ready For Super Bowl: 'I Still Have My Doubts'

Eric Edholm, lead draft writer for NFL.com, joins Next Up to preview the Houston Texans ahead of the upcoming NFL season. Edholm published an article ranking the 12 NFL teams that have yet to win a Super Bowl by who is most likely to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans. Edholm ranks the Texans as the fourth most likely team to win their first Super Bowl this season behind the Detroit Lions, Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills. "I still have my doubts," Edholm said. If the Texans are ready for a Super Bowl this year, "it's got to be a big improvement." However, Edholm does not deny that the Texans have upgraded on both sides of the ball but still questions the depth up front and the strength of the secondary.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
We you're ready to go to theguest line and talk to a man that

(00:02):
I respect. I'm a big fanof his work. He's a lead draft
writer. Eric Edholme of NFL dotCom. We welcome him to Houston.
Eric, good morning to you,sir, Good morg you. What's happening.
No, well, I embarrassed myselflast night in front of some former
NFL guys. We were celebrating somebirthdays. Mine was this week as well.
Trip felled. A lot of womensaw it. My young guys saw

(00:23):
it. I'm embarrassed. It knockedover food. It was a bad ordeal.
So we started by sharing. Weopen the show by sharing embarrassing stories.
You should be embarrassed about your mostrecent work. Now listen, when
I get pissed off of people inthe media, our brethren Gordy knows this.
My readiar partner Chris Gordy joined him. I said, I'm getting Eric
Edholmes on the phone and I needhim. I need him to explain himself.

(00:46):
Of the twelve teams lacking them LobardiTrophy, let's rank who's next in
line to win a Super Bowl.Detroit number one, Cincinnati number two,
and the Houston Texans come in atoh No, buff at three, and
then you got the Texans at fourth. Explain yourself. Explain yourself. Yeah,
so, my my editor tasked mewith the story. He said,

(01:08):
all right, it ranked the twelveteams who have never won a Super Bowl
with their chances to win a SuperBowl this season. Now, you know,
obviously there's you know, you canthink long term. The Texans are
probably as well set up as anyteam right now. Going as far as
you've seen already CJ. Stroud performat a high level. We know he

(01:30):
can get it done. The nexttwo years should be really exciting. Is
this the season they're going to wina Super Bowl? I still have my
doubts. I want to see morefrom the defense. It's got to be
a big improvement too. I mean, I think statistically it paints a stark
picture. Now they were very opportunisticdefensively. They came up with clutch plays

(01:53):
at the you know, the keymoments, and that helped him win a
lot of games. You know,the late interception against Wars and things like
that. I mean, just timeand time again, those plays help them
against a tougher schedule. If theydon't improve on that, side of the
ball. I have my questions.Now technically they should be better offensively too,

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But I can argue I understand whyBuffalo might anger some people being ahead
of the Texans. That's it.That's a team that clearly is taking a
step back talent wise this year.So I can I can absolutely get behind
an argument that suggests that Texans havea better shot than Buffalo this year.
Well, let's talk this out alittle bit, Eric, because you know,

(02:36):
the defensively for the Texans, obviously, Damiico Ryans. We we you
know, we can admit he's avery good defensive mind. Was highly thought
of as one of the best defensivecoordinators in the league before he became a
head coach. And we look atwhat on paper Will Anderson junior offensive ball,
you know, incredible, great defensiverookie year. We expect he's gonna
build on that, maybe take astep forward. They bring in Deniko,

(03:00):
We'll see what he does inside.Outside guy. They bring yeah, daneil
Hunter, a career double digit sackguy. That's an upgrade over John Grenard.
They bring in his e's al shareat mid linebacker. That's a huge
upgrade from Denzel Perryman, you loseSteven Nelson, we expect some combination of
the rookie Kamari Lassiter, Jeff Okuda, c J Henderson to hold down that
number two corner spot. I justlook at the grouping and say, it

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feels like they've gotten better defensively inyear two and Dimico system. Everybody knows
the playbook. Oh absolutely, Ithink that. I think they have upgrade
the talent. I mean, there'sno doubt about it. I mean,
obviously with like the secondary's the onespot that I'm you know, I don't
know that I'm gonna say that withcomplete sort of freedom and say, oh,

(03:43):
yeah, they're definitely better back thenthey could be better. I think
that's a That's how I would phraseit. But yeah, you're right,
the front seven appears to be alittle bit stronger now across the board.
I mean I was a big JohnGrenard fan. I thought he was a
nice player, cleet them, youknow, force effort, you know,
I mean, he never turned itoff. So that that's something obviously with
Hunter coming in and you know they'rethey're paying him to be that that big

(04:06):
bookend next to Will, and youknow Will's obviously on the right track after
a defensive rookie of the season Ayear season as well? Is their depth
upfront? Do they have enough piecesinside? I mean, you know you
mentioned I'm trying to think who elsethey have. I think they got from
Jacksonville. Yeah, yeah, sothere's you know again, I mean,

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I think they can kind of piecetogether a pretty decent unit. I just
think that against a tougher slate thisseason they play what, at least what
right now looks a better schedule,tougher schedule. We'll see if that holds
up. But yeah, I'm willingto admit there's there's room for improvement.
How much probably determines how far theygo. We're talking with Eric ed Home,
lead draft writer for NFL dot com. If you remember, Eric joined

(04:55):
us as we were leading up tothe draft, and I think this is
what your third time on the show. Appreciate him dropping by hanging out with
Fleet and Gordon. All right,bet me being pissed at you. All
right, So look, yeah,the Buffalo, like, stop it.
Buffalo's not better? How can wehave Stefan Diggs? Buffalo does not?
How do you have them ahead?That's number one. They fired their offensive

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coordinator min season, Bobby Slowtk cameback with us. That's number two.
I understand Josh Allen. Everybody getsgiddy about Josh Allen. He's a great
player. I'm not hating on that. But the rest of that stuff we
can talk about that. The onethat's got me the most myth Cincinnati.
I'm sorry Joe Burrow was on thefield when a young CJ. Stroud went

(05:38):
to Cincinnati and we put something ontheir ass. I need you to explain
how you got Cincinnati ahead of myTexans. Yeah. I mean I feel
a little stronger about that one,clearly because I put him at two in
Buffalo three again, I think Ican entertain the Buffalo thing more than I
can Cincinnati. I think the Bengalsare in good shape now. They have

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any you in the secondary too.I don't want to dismiss their defensive issues
and gloss it over. Plus,you know y'all have Joe Mixon too.
I mean, they don't really havea running back right now that you can
say, Okay, that's the guythat's who's going to carry the load.
It's probably gonna be a committee effortthere. They don't have a standout tight
end that's a little bit concerning.They don't really have that that true difference

(06:20):
maker there, but they do havetwo elite receivers, one who's trying to
get paid, you know, whileboth of them are trying to get paid
for that matter. But see,Higgins could be his last year, you
know. Obviously the key is keepingBurrow up right. You know, he
can't miss half the season. Again, that's just as well as Jake Browning
played. I mean, I thinkhe ended up leading the NFL in completion

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percentage. You know, he tooksacks, he made plays that that I
think. You know, they didthings that Burrow wouldn't have done, and
they would have had a little moresuccess. But the Bengals were nine to
eight last year against what ended upbeing one of the tougher schedules of the
league. I know it didn't lookthat way to start to see, but
I think this is a pretty goodfootball team. And I might be misjudging

(07:03):
them. I might be giving themtoo much credit. I may be overlooking
a really strong AFC North Division.But I think they're going to be back.
I think they've got one more bigseason this window, if you will.
I don't know how you define that, but yeah, I think they're
gonna have a shot at making arun this year. So yeah, coming

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to you, Gordon, They've gottwo receivers that want to be paid,
Jamar Chase and T. Higgins.I would say the Texans two receivers,
and Nico Collins and Steph Diggs arecombined are as good or better, not
probably not better as good as JamarChase and T. Higgins. So I
will raise you two receivers for theHouston Texans, Gordon. First of all,

(07:45):
let me just throw in this.I love Nico Collins. I was
a fan of his in college.I was always felt like this is a
guy who was overlooked. I'm gladthey paid him. I think they were
really smart to get that deal done. Now, I think in six months
that contract we'll look bad at all. I think it'll fall right in line
with where you'd expect the youngest sendingreceiver. I think Stefan Diggs is on
the way down. Now. Thatdoesn't mean he can't. I'm telling you

(08:11):
year he's That doesn't mean he's bad, it just means he's reaching excellent.
I don't think you'll see a betterversion of Stefan Diggs than you've already seen
already, which is fine. Imean again, like he's there are some
There have been receivers had you know, these surprising career ascendencies in their in

(08:35):
their midies. There have been examplesof that, But I don't know that
he's necessarily going to be one ofthem. Not especially fast. That was
never his superpower anyway, And youstarted to see a little bit less of
that. That's separation, though,I don't know go down the stretch man.
I'm telling you how much of itwas physical and how much of it

(08:58):
was his dissatisfaction with Alan or Dermottor Joe Brady or any of these.
I don't know. That part ishard to quantify. This might this might
be the last time on my showhere. I can't. Oh, you
can't a god. I'm glad theymade the trade. I think it was
worth a worthy risk, I reallydo. I know that sounds like I'm

(09:18):
talking out of both sides of mymouth here, but I think the Bills
can be better without Stephan Diggs.I felt like he kind of hijacked the
offense a little bit, and whenthey threw to him less frequently, they
became a more balanced and more dangerousteam. Now, in a perfect world,
you know, he'll get it onehundred hundred and ten hundred and twenty

(09:39):
targets with Houston, Collins will havehis share of the load. Tank will
do his thing. Schultz is gonnaget his catches. But again, I
feel like it has to be thatbalanced, semi balanced attack. When you
started jamming the ball in fourteen fifteen, eighteen times a game to Diggs,
that's that's when that's when Josh Allengot in trouble. I felt like,

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yeah, I'm with you, Eric, I I I think you're right.
But I think the best thing forthe Texans is that he's on a one
year deal. If it doesn't goif it doesn't go well, we'll let
him walk. If it does gowell, right, he has every incentive
don't want to play his ass offthis year to prove it to either the
Texans or anyone else for a big, fat deal. So to me,
it's a win win for the Texans. I agree. I think that's what

(10:22):
I'm saying. I think he hadactually end up being beneficial for both,
you know, both sides. Italked to some people in Buffalo, like
after the dust has settled, right, after you know that the trade happened.
It wasn't It wasn't celebration in Buffet. But they weren't happy. They
didn't want to trade him. Theyfelt like they had to, and you
know, if they would they acknowledgedthat, yes, we did notice that

(10:48):
his skills had at least flattened out. It wasn't like getting a better at
that point. And given the contract, given the stuff that had happened with
Alan and the uncomfortable situations that emerged, I mean they had to swallow hard
and make the move. Now,that doesn't mean that Jiggs can't go to
Houston and do great. I thinkhe will, and I think in a
weird setting, that's the perfect situationfor Stefan Diggs, the Houston Texas c

(11:11):
J. Stroud, the whole,the whole party. We'll get you out
here on this one. I'm alreadyover, but I would be remiss if
I didn't do this. Demiko isspeaking quite glowingly via OTAs and mandatory mini
camp. Kamar Lassiter looks as ifhe has the lead on that cornerback two
spot, opposite of Derek Stingley Jr. I'm thinking he's more of a nickel

(11:35):
and I actually like Kaylen Bullock atthe nickel even though he's a free safety.
His skill sets, to me,I think translate a little bit better
than nickel, just those two oryou know, looking at it more from
a lassiter standpoint, you think he'sa legitimate starting corning this league based on
what you saw coming out of Georgia. Yeah, that's a great question.
That's what always kind of held meback. I gave him a second round

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grade and I put him in mymid t low thirties in my ranking,
so he was right there. Imean, you know, he was right
on the cuffs, but short arms, I want to stay like around thirty
one inches, that's really you know, either a little below or just at
the average. For the outside corner. You really want like thirty two size
obviously sub six foot, sub onehundred and ninety pounds, a little bit

(12:20):
on the lighter side. Eventually thatmay end up being as his best spot.
But in the quickness really you wouldthink translates well to the slot.
So but then again, I mean, you have to have somebody who plays
outside, and that's gonna be aninteresting call. I don't know how it's
gonna end up being. You know, you see more teams use those kind

(12:41):
of safety types in the nickel roleso effectively. I mean, obviously it
depends scheme scheme, but yeah,Lassiter was somebody that I was just a
shade bigger. I think I wouldhave given him a first round grade.
So it doesn't shock me at all. He's off to a good start,
all right. That is the voiceof Eric ed Holme, Lee, draft
writer for NFL dot Com. Dropit by next up to hang out with

(13:03):
Gordon and myself. You can followhim on social media somewhere. Hold on,
I gotta find it again. Ihad it up my bad con.
If you see it, tell mewhat it is. Eric. How about
you tell the people where you aton somethoe Eric with a c underscore at
home on x or Twitter or whateverthe heck you call it these days.
You know what, Eric? Youall right? No hurn the way back?
Did I get one more invite back? That's what I want to know.

(13:26):
You cleaned it up at the endright there. It's a bit of
dice, but I forgive you.I appreciate your work. He really does
a great job. Big fan ofyour work. Eric enjoyed the off season.
We got six weeks before we getthe camp. Something like that.
Enjoy yourself, man, we'll bereading your work and thank you for drawing
by the show. All right,y'all, have a good week. Same
to you, brother, Peace toyou Eric at home NFL dot com. Everybody,