The A-Team: Texans Free Agent Splashes, Jonathan M Alexander and JVUpdate

Adam Clanton and Adam Wexler talk about what's going on in Houston sports and more on March 12th, 2024.

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adhamtalking your Team series, Adam Clinton and
Adam Wexler are the A team Awell? I hope you enjoyed your Astros
blowout? When is the eighteen SportsTalks seven ninety is a little bit of

(00:25):
a hot mic today? Wex Areyou okay? No? My volumes always
set fine, but I don'm notalways expecting you to say or scream your
opening line. I hope you guysenjoyed the Astros blowout spring training victory today.
How's that is that better? Well? I can turn back up to
normal now, louder as you're done. I forgot you wear an IFB.

(00:45):
You guys have to understand a littlepeak behind the curtain. I look at
wex I only see his left ear. I don't see his right ear,
which is where he wears an IFBinstead of a headset. Someday you'll be
able to see us on camera,I bet, and you'll be able to
see what I'm talking about. Onlyat that point it'll look more natural because
you'll be on camera, which iswhere most people wear IFPs on television.

(01:06):
NFL Free Agency continues, Yes,we had Astros baseball for you today one
beginning where the lineup again very muchlike you're going to see on opening Day.
And it's also good that I thinkwe're seeing signs of what Joespotta will
do based on the opposition, especiallywhen it's a lefty things like that.
So we'll get in a little bitof the Astros obviously as they continue marching

(01:27):
towards Marcus Stroman, I think onopening day and the New York Yankees,
as we await word on what's goingon with the MRI Yankees in Tampa so
far during spring training. But sincewe left you last, as expected and
as we implored you to relax justa little bit, a free agency lasted

(01:51):
only seven hours from eleven am yesterdayuntil we closed up shop yesterday on the
eighteen. Then thirty two NFL teamswould be like, ugh, we kind
of and kind of screwed this thingup. We got them messed up,
and about five hundred players would belike, oh my god, did I
just retire without knowing it. Thereare still a boatload of extremely talented players,

(02:15):
players that can change the course ofyour franchise. If you're good potentially
to great, if you're not verygood potentially to competitive, and yes,
the Texans are not by any meansdone yet. But as I posted on
the x platform earlier today and alot of you have responded about where the
Texans stand as we begin our showtoday, day two of NFL free agency,

(02:39):
they've basically been participating in a swapmeet. This player's leaving, well,
then this player's replacing him. Thisplayer's leaving, okay, well then
we will replace him with this player. And the timing of it all,
I think I'll have a lot ofpeople up in arms. But at the
end of the day, the samequestion I asked in the three o'clock hour
of yesterday's show is the same questionI'll ask today and probably for many days

(03:00):
on into and throughout the season.We should not be concerned about the money.
That's for the Texans to concern themselveswith. That's for the players to
enjoy clearly when they get it.But did they get better? That is
it? That is the only thingthat should be of any importance to anybody.
Is the twenty twenty four Texans outlookbetter than it was when they walked

(03:20):
off the field in Baltimore with aloss, a thirty four to ten loss.
Are they a better team today thanthere were then. Granted they're not
finished, so everybody I know whattime it is. I think everybody knows
what the goal is and what thetimeline is. But every day we only
have a certain amount of time toget to you, So obviously we're going
to hit it. We're not justgoing to sit here and say no analyzing
the Texans offseason until they've been incamp for three weeks and we think we

(03:44):
know what the final fifty three plussixteen will be. We're going to do
this every day. You're going toanalyze the moves that have been made to
date, and then we'll work offof that the next day and the next
day and the next day. I'msure the Vest and Demiko still to come
over the final eleven segments of theshow. Today we've got John Alexander,
Texans beat writer for the Houston Chronicle, who join us at four o'clock.

(04:08):
Justin Verlander is working towards playing thisseason, so we will have a JV
update for you, and again,a much deeper dive than one partial segment
will allow into the Texans free agencyperiod of activities, which is still ongoing.
Some of the yes, maybe themost talked about addition to the Texans

(04:30):
was not technically a free agent signing, but rather a Nick Cassario special.
Hey what do you guys want?Well, here's what we have. We'll
talk about that next, Yes wewill. We're also going to talk about
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Today, AC cranked Cold Beverage andthe Cup holder and Clanton slamming the

(06:02):
baseball teams from the other coasts Suckit. American League and National League and
World Serf's up Broha D eight teamsummer continues back to Adam Clinton and Adam
Wexler find Sports Talk seven ninety Remembereach and every day three to eleven PM

(06:23):
only wait tickets to three eleven setthe rest of the week. Yeah,
one set the rest of the week. So three more winners coming up.
We got our two to four today. Appreciate those of you participating and hopefully
then enjoy three eleven A Wall Nationand Neon Trees, Scott and shad Our
winners today. They like Clanton knew. Their first album, of course,
was called Downstairs. You know whyit's called downstairs Probably because they lived in

(06:45):
a high rise and they recorded iton the thirty seventh floor. Oh wait
no, because they recorded in thebasement, maybe it's not called upstairs exact
idiots. I got it. That'smy point. I know, all right,
I'm gonna get this out of theway. You're not gonna like it.
It's fine, we'll be fine.We're gonna make it through. We
dealt with this in a little bitof a different manner when the Astros went

(07:10):
and got Roberto Osuna. They wentand traded for a guy who had a
domestic issue. I don't know howmany people remember Joe Mixon's incident when he
was still at Oklahoma? Correct?Am I wrong? I thought he went
to Oklahoma. That is correct.You know I'm not you know, I
don't know this stuff, and Ireally don't care about the particulars. Like

(07:31):
I saw a dialogue today. No, listen to this. I'm trying.
This is crazy. Somebody was like, oh good, he broke a woman's
jaw, Well she spit in hisfaith just goes what happened, Like I
I know, that's terrible. Nobodyshould have anything spit in their face at
any given time, unless it's awrestling gimmick, and then that's different.
You don't break a woman's jaw.You just don't. I don't. That

(07:55):
was seven years ago. I thinkeight years ago. It was during his
tenure at Oklahoma. I don't knowif it was his senior year, last
year, I should say, butit was before he was a pro.
And a lot has happened between nowand then. And of course the Texans
aren't making this deal and this theycan go out and get a guy who
can help them. I just findit interesting that what did we always talk
about for like twenty plus years,the Texans and character and character and the

(08:16):
Texans, and they literally would letguys go by the wayside that could absolutely
have helped their team because of this, that and the other. It's just
another signal of a not a changingof the guard, but it's just not
the same franchise that it was,and I think this is an example of
that, even if it's small,although I don't look at that kind of
issue as small by any stretch.But and I don't think there's gonna be

(08:39):
a huge blowback on this, butit was interesting to see the reaction because
you could tell the people that havebeen around the block for a while and
remember that far back in the sportsworld to know, Hey, the likely
starting running back for the Houston Texansis a you know, domestic violence guy.
Uh, the definite starting running backfor the Texans. Okay, that's
what I meant. There shouldn't bemuch doubt about there trading for a guy

(09:01):
with a huge roster bonus to himin six days. So they didn't trade
for him to not have him onthe roster, and they don't have anybody
better than him. It's unlikely they'regonna add anybody better than him before the
draft. Always possible, got somuch value on the board at a certain
point in the draft, you justcan't pass on a guy you're really thinking.
Help you and keep this in mindabout mixing from a football standpoint,

(09:24):
and I'll get back to the whatyou open this with. He's a Texan
now for a year, and almostfor only a year. Very unlikely that
he is returning to the Texans forthe twenty twenty five season, even if
he plays well, honestly, becauseI just think that he gets into what
we just saw unfold the last twentyseven hours. You know how many running

(09:46):
backs have new homes more than ever, It's never happened before like this.
This is crazy and nobody wants tocommit long term. There's not a single
player that got a long term deal. The longest deal and only one running
back got it was a four yeardeal, the one that Josh Jacobs got
to unseat Aaron Jones, who thenwent elsewhere across the division, which we
saw Dereck Henry do today as theRavens locked him up. And when the

(10:09):
Texans pulled the trigger on a tradeto ensure they wouldn't be competing for Joe
Mixon services by having the Ravens orexcuity, the Bengals release him into the
free agent wild and then, asthey had clearly been after multiple other players
and definitely at least one at runningback that they missed on, they didn't
want to go through that, sothey traded for him. And it's almost

(10:31):
assuredly a seventh round pick from thisyear. They don't have a fifth or
sixth. And if they traded afourth round pick for one year of Joe
Mixon, I don't know if it'sgrounds for firing Nick Casseo, but he
would be really bad at his jobif that's what he did, so I
don't suspect that is now they couldhave traded a future pick, so maybe
it could be a sixth I doubtit's much more than that. And again,
I think we'll learn that it wasone of their three seventh round picks

(10:52):
from this coming draft in a couplemonths. But they still could again augmented
a different way. A lot ofteams are changing at that particular position.
When the Texans pulled the trigger onthat, they almost forced Derrick Henry to
sign with the Ravens. So tome, the Texans are in the equation.
But the Bengals did this. TheBengals said, so, there's two

(11:16):
suitors for Derrick Henry and we're goingto give a starting running back to one
of them. Well, the othersuitor is going to get him, and
that other suitor is the Ravens.And they did. Though it was long
rumored, I think everybody knew thatDereck Henry was likely the top target for
the Ravens and vice versa. Heends up going there on a two year
deal. That's what franchise Titans playersdo. They go to in their career
in Baltimore, right, Franchise Titanplayers go to do Steve McNair. There

(11:39):
you go, Yes, Steve McNair. I mean, there's a handful of
guys we're talking about when it comesto that organization in a Tennessee sense,
and it's Steve McNair, Aeddy George, and Derrick Henry. Now, Steve
McNair is the only quarterback in thatfranchise's history to start in the Super Bowl
for that franchise. He's definitely notthe best quarterback in franchise history. I

(12:05):
think he's second because he went tothe Super Bowl. Because I guess nobody
wants to give Dante much credit eventhough he captained some pretty awesome conference title
game and back to back year teamsriding the massive legs of Earl Campbell while
he did it. But I thinkthat's fair enough. Yeah, it's a
pretty good place for Henry. Itwas a kind of an obvious spot.

(12:26):
But back to the textan side ofthings, it was an incident that is
now almost ten years previous. Ithappened in twenty fourteen. The litigation from
it for mixing at ou lasted forseveral years and on into the beginning of
his NFL career, where he wasa draft pick of the Bengals. It's
the only team he's ever played for. I think some people might remember he
was involved his name was involved intwo incidents within the past a year in

(12:50):
change, one of which probably hadvery little involvement, though in that it
was a family member that was introuble for it. I think he was
linked to it, plus the locationof the incident involving an injured child.
But there was also the gun wieldingincident, a menacing incident. Menacing is
actually the word used in the caseitself. We talked about it, if

(13:11):
I recall correctly, when this tookplace a little over a year ago,
in February of twenty twenty three,but the charges following the trial, he
was found not guilty and acquitted ofa menacing incident, again right before they
were set to play in a playoffgame. So there's more to his background

(13:31):
than just the incident, and wecan get into the specifics of it,
but what he gave you were certainlythe unfortunate highlights of it. Been a
multiple time Bengals team captain over thelast handful of years, as they became
a threat in the postseason, asthey succeeded with Joe Burrow as their quarterback,
and as we continue next segment,more than welcome to hear phone calls

(13:54):
seventy one three, two, one, two, five seven ninety on the
personal side of it, the nonfootball side of it, and obviously the
football side of it we're gonna getinto next. Where were they they were
Damian Pierce and Devin Singletary splitting duties, Pierce the one and Singletary the two.
A year later pierces the two maybe, and now Joe Mixon is the

(14:15):
one and the same thing. Atrunning back, as at linebacker, as
at punter, as at defensive lineor edge. Did they improve at these
four spots where they basically pulled offa player swap? Have they made themselves
better? Are they more equipped todaythan they were when the season ended?
And again, what is left forthem to do? We know there are
reports out there that they are afterat least one significant game changing defensive player

(14:41):
for Damiico ryans to get his handon. Get you an update on that
as well. Yeah, and that'sthe question I want to ask you and
others about because as it pertains tohow this off season free agency period is
judged, again only two days in, essentially, that's probably going to be
a big part of it. So, yeah, we'll definitely discuss when we
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said, so fi, hey astory easy. It is good. Listen
to Rockets Radio on your smart devicejust as really Sports Stock seven ninety on
iHeart Radio. All Right, So, something Wex and I were talking about
during the break and this is Imean, it's a it's not this,
it's not a conclusion that's like breakingnews if you've been paying attention to how

(17:17):
the NFL works. And Wex saidsomething and it made me think of Blum.
You know, Blum played on aone year contract every year of his
thirteen year MLB career. That's waymore impressive to me than basically any other
sport, because while you're not learningx's and o's and intricacies and that kind

(17:37):
of thing, you are literally earningyour way into it. Cou'd like to
introduce our new third basement and utilityman, Jeff Blum. You guys have
any questions for him? Yeah,Jeff, how do you think you're gonna
fit into his offense here? Howdo you think you're gonna where do you
think they can best utilize you inthe offense they're gonna play and you're familiar
with how they like to do thingshere, so fun. Uh. Yeah,

(17:59):
we played bass. I know howto play baseball, really really good
at it. That's why people keepbringing me in every year. Also,
cause I can yell them win andI can play every position. I'm a
good locker room guy. Yeah,I know how I'll fit in. Great.
It's so nice. Okay, sothat obviously doesn't happen. The reason
I bring this up, though,is because and you kind of said it
at the tail end of our offair conversation, and I think this is.

(18:22):
This is the way the running backposition specifically, which we've talked about
way more in probably the last justtwo years of our show. Let's just
say that time period. We're comingup on our five year anniversia, which
is insane. We talk about theevolution, and I feel like it's different
from even last year. You're goingto see you just got done saying it
a couple segments ago. We've neverseen anything like this. It's a musical

(18:48):
chairs at the running back position.There's also one other part of it that
we didn't discuss that is a humongousfactor in twenty twenty four. The twenty
twenty four NFL Draft class of runningbacks, which is deep is the opposite.
It stinks, No, I thoughtit was. I'm thinking of the
wide receivers. Yah, wide receiver, Sorry crazy deep? Yeah, super
that's look, how many wide receivershave signed. No, you're right,

(19:10):
very very few. I mean KendrickBourne got money, DeVante Parker agreed to
a deal within the hour, butnot you know, Calvin Ridley is about
at the end of where he's goingto go as they work out a deal
on that. We'll give you anupdate on all those items. But the
running back class stinks. There shouldn'tbe a first round pick. There might
not be a guy drafted in thetop fifty. You know, Jonathan Brooks,
there's a little question about when he'sgoing to be ready to help you,

(19:30):
even though he will be healthy forthis upcoming season. Presumed to be
the top running back in the twentytwenty four draft out of Texas. But
it's just not like you can goget a guy immediately. You know,
if you want him to like bJeon Robbinson, he's gonna step and he's
going to be a great player foryou. Jamier Gibbs Detroit, they knew
that going in. Some team knewthey were going to get him, although
very few people thought it would beDetroit. They traded up for it.

(19:52):
That's not going to happen this year. So only these guys change teams.
Just Derrick Henry and Aaron Jones andJoe Mixon and Zach Mawson, say On
Barkland, Josh Jacobs and Austin deckLearn, Tony Pollard and DeAndre Swift and
Devin Singletary and Gus Edwards and AntonioGibson. Just those running backs changed teams,
all of them starters? How many? How many? Just in the
group that I'm trying to see ifhe'll be a few more? That was

(20:14):
twelve guys. That's nearly half theleague get starters. It's nearly half the
league. We're not one hundred percentdone because there may be one or two
others. Really, when Henry signedwith the Ravens in terms of the top
of the heap, because you couldsemantically argue, well, Alexander Madison was
the starter last year. That istrue. He started for the Minnesota Vikings,
and he will find a home soon. Some people think maybe the Texans

(20:36):
ought to inquire about adding him aswell. But that's why. Because teams
know they can't get one in thedraft, nobody wants to commit to anybody
long term. So that's why somany hit free agency. That's why so
many got short term deals, andit's all gonna happen again unless there's an
awesome draft class in twenty twenty fiveor twenty twenty six, and teams will

(20:56):
have pause on it. In theTexan's case, when Zach Moss and Saquon
Barkley and Josh Jacobs and Tony Pollardand DeAndre Swift and their own guy,
Devin Singletary all find homes elsewhere,and you have not found anybody, and
you have not signed anybody, oryou've not been able to trade for anybody,
which I didn't think they would do, but ultimately they did because they

(21:19):
didn't want to get caught with literallynothing. They didn't want to get caught
after the top twelve running backs gotsigned to play elsewhere. They knew they
had to get somebody. They couldn'tgo into the draft portion of the off
season with a gaping hole at runningback. And though they pulled the trigger
a deal to get him from Cincinnatiand not allow him to hit free agency,
a conditional seventh round pick, whichis I consider it next to nothing.

(21:42):
A GM thinks that he can utilizethat to move around in the draft
if need be, and yes,it usually goes like that. You don't
usually find a player in the seventhround, but it's not impossible. And
keep in mind, one of theplayers the Texans signed to a thirty plus
million dollar deal is an undrafted player. And I'll sha hear. So we
really haven't even updated you on everythingelse the Texans did after we left you

(22:02):
yesterday. A long haired punter comingto town as well for Cam Johnston,
but keeping the focus on Mixon himselfnot a big fan and trying to augment
his resume by saying he ran fora thousand yards. That's it's kind of
a whooped to do. Now,if you're not paying attention to the NFL,
you better run for fifteen to evenget my attention. And I don't
mean to make light hard it isto play in the NFL and stay healthy.

(22:26):
But you have an extra game andyou're gonna get another one soon,
so we're gonna have to up theanny. You didn't even rush for two
thousand yards. Is this player explosive? Are there a bunch of ten plus
yard runs? Is this player goodout of the backfield? Is this player
a good blocker? Are there alot of yards after contact? Is he
such a heavy use player as heenders year eight. Are your concerns raised,

(22:51):
because well, when is that inevitablerunning back drop off going to really
hit you? Because in my opinion, it already has for Joe Mixon.
He just hasn't had him fall offa shelf, off a cliff to where
he's unusable. He was a bigpart of the Cincinnati offense, and I
think his situation last year for theBengals had people saying, you know,
what do we do? Can weafford to not have him? Well,

(23:11):
the alternative is what the Texans faced. We can't afford to not have him
because the alternative is significantly worse,and that's why the Texans did what they
did. Joe Mixon in some waysis slightly better than Devin Singletary. In
other ways, he's very very similar. He's an a lateral move. That's
why I keep going back to thequestion that I pose that so many of

(23:33):
you have had the opportunity to answeron the whole question, They've basically been
at a swap meet for a dayand a half. We lose a player,
we gain a player, They loseSingletary, they add Mixing, they
lose Grenard, they add Autrey.Although as someone pointed out, and we
discussed it the day they signed him. They're a little bit of positional flexibility
with Autrey. He's not straight upgoing to be on the edge necessarily the

(23:56):
entire time, and it just dependson what else they do. But one
out, one in, I'll sharehere in Cashman out, Townsend in,
Johnston out, and presumably Steven Nelson'snot being signed, so o kudah in
Nelson out. I gave you fouroptions for your answers. Yes, the
team is better, more talented.No, they're worse less talented. Neither.

(24:19):
It's all a negligible change with thosemoves to date. Or you could
have said I'm a wait and seefan because you just can't form a definitive
opinion, which kind of gives usthe answer already. I voted Yeah,
forty eight and a half percent ofyou, almost half think the team got
better. Think the team is moretalented than they were when the free agent
period began. In other words,you like mix and Audrey, Aalsha here,

(24:42):
Acuda, Townsend more than Singletary,Grenard, Cashman, Nelson, Johnston.
I have an example of someone whoagrees with that selection of the four,
very well known and I'll tell youwhat they had to say and I'll
see if you agree with it.This is someone that played in the league
as well. They're observing things andthey live in an AFC South city,

(25:03):
so that's another hint. I'll tellyou who that is and what they're saying,
and we'll continue to kind of delveinto this when we come back,
and we'll get you our JV update. You know, we'll throw that in
before we get to the top ofthe hour when Jonathan Alexander of the Houston
Chronicle will join us for his visitand he will no doubt have thoughts on
what the Texans have and in thiscase, haven't done. When we continue

(25:23):
here on Sports Talk seven ninety,Adam and Adam take Houston sports very seriously.
It's everything else in life that theytake lightly. I'm a bad bother
and their wives love them for itall he cares about his many back up
to the team on Sports Talk sevennineteen. All right, we're winding down

(25:47):
the three o'clock hour here on SportsTalk seven ninety. It is the eighteen
Wexac the show Killer Dan Matthews withyou taking you up until six o'clock.
We will have Jonathan Alexander of TheHouston Chronicle the very next segment to discuss
all Things Texans. Are you familiar, wex with Will Compton's work. I'm
pretty sure you are. Yeah,he's got some boys. They ride a

(26:07):
bus. Yes, that's right,bus and WTB if you want to check
him out on the platform formerly knownas Twitter. He's based in Nashville.
And when I first saw this tweetthis morning, I couldn't tell if he
was being sarcastic or not. It'sgot two hundred and fifty seven thousand views
as of right now, and allit says nobody's tagged, Nobody's you know,

(26:30):
just pretty simple one sentence. Hedidn't even put a period in it.
Houston Texans are winning the offseason rightnow. On the surface, I'm
like, okay, well, ifyou think that for real, I need
an explanation why or are you beingcompletely sarcastic and the fonts just not working
on my on my app? Well, I have a microphone today, so

(26:52):
I will pretend to be a formerNFL player with stops in Washington, Tennessee,
New Orleans, Oakland, in Vegas, a decade in the league,
and I'll pretend that I'm for withformer Titans offensive tackle Tayler one and I
have a podcast. But none ofthose things are true, right, so
now I have to make the casethat the Texans are winning. Charlie Sheening
the off season early stages. There'sTiger. They didn't know this is winning,

(27:15):
like I should attribute it to himmore than Donnie t Right winning winning
big Ley. He didn't say Bigley, Yeah, something like that. That
means you love former Tennessee Titan linemanDeniko Autry, and I bet both of
those guys do. There was anothertweeter yesterday, grind Simmons ninety four.

(27:38):
That's Jeffrey Simmons, his now formerteammate. He was basically in disbelief.
Don't tell me you let Nico goto the Texans, which happened. So
you got to be a huge fanof that acquisition. You gotta believe that
he's got a lot left in thetake at age thirty four gives them some
positional flexibility, definitely allows them toabsorb the loss of John Grenard while keeping
all of their options open for adraft pick or some other player in free

(28:03):
agency. Beginning it was only atwo year deal. It was only for
ten million per and again whatever theguarantees are really what we should be talking
about. So you gotta love thatdeal. The other player they signed that
I imagine this would refer to asanother former Titan one year in Tennessee.
For all she Heer, the linebacker, I can't imagine what there wasn't to
love about him. There's certain partsof his game, whether you think about

(28:25):
him in coverage or maybe he's notbig enough, you have a maybe other
draft pickaw I was familiar with hisgame well, So the two things I
pointed out yesterday when they made thisdeal official, and this was a player
because of all sorts of reasons,A lot of people thought the Texans would
be very interested, and the numberone reason was because they were interested in
him last year and they nearly werethe team to sign him last year after

(28:45):
he finished up his initial contract withthe San Francisco forty nine ers. When
all she Heer was playing linebacker forthe forty nine Ers, one of his
assistant GMS was Ran Carthon, andhis defensive coordinator or linebackers coach before that
was Demiko Ryant. Both of thosepeople moved on to start the twenty twenty
three season. Rand Carthon became thedecision maker in Tennessee the new GM,

(29:07):
and Dimigo Ryans became one of thedecision makers here in Houston, pretty big
one as the head coach, andthey both tried to sign him. The
Titans gave him a little bit moremoney and he played and was great there
for that person who knew his gamevery well. And now this person that
knows his game very well wants tobring him here. And I have to
believe both Compton and Lawan and anybodyelse in Nashville thinks this is a productive,

(29:32):
super productive player and a player theyknow more about and things like that,
so probably leans him into thinking,yes, the Texans have done very
well. You could probably argue thatJohnston Townshend swap is literally that they basically
got the same contract. Johnson gotone more year from Pittsburgh and then the
Texans gave it to Townsend. Lastyear, you'd probably say Townsend had it
a less successful year than Cam Johnson. The year before you might have said

(29:55):
the opposite. So I don't thinkit's much of a significant change. So
it's basically those two players. Tome, they would have someone like Will
Compton saying the Texans are winning theoffseason. Who's the last significant defensive player
left on the market, Like thetop of the heap, there's two,
but I'm sure Eric Armstead is verysignificant, especially since he has Dmiico Ryans

(30:18):
Niners ties and plays defensive tackle.Well, that's not who we're talking about.
We're talking about Daniel Hunter, theedge rusher from the Minnesota Vikings.
Vikings would love to have kept him, obviously. I think money is sometimes
the biggest obstacle, and I thinkit was for them. Well, they
owe the Texans. They've taken twoof their defensive players. That's the other.
Like if I told you that theBengals trading Joe Mixon to Houston essentially

(30:38):
told the Ravens Derrick Henry's all yourssigning John Grenard as the Vikings did.
Pretty much says hey, world andBlake Cashman, Yeah, they're telling you
we're definitely even though you already probablyknew this and you knew he was going
to free Hdny, we're not goingto be able to bring him back.
But Aaron Wilson, who obviously coversall this stuff for us for kPr C

(30:59):
TX, who as well continues tonote the Texans are definitely one of the
team's strong contact and ongoing discussions withDaniel Hunter and if they get him.
If the Texans get Hunter and everythingelse that we've just covered has taken place,
because it has. How do youfeel about are you will competing?
In competing it? I will saythey won that quote tweet his tweet and

(31:25):
give some sort of ditto reference toit. Because because you didn't necessarily sign
the flashiest names, you didn't necessarilyspend the most money, but you made
your team better, or you atleast made it competent or comparable. I
should say to last year without breakingthe bank and still giving yourself the flexibility

(31:45):
moving forward to give Nico Collins anextension if so choose, or go get
it somebody else next. I don'tknow. I don't know what the plan
is at this point in time,since we haven't mentioned Nico yet today,
I'm not ready to say if youso choose, you did choose. Yeah,
what you have done this offseason?In fact, I hope that's what

(32:06):
you're telling us without telling us,because if he walks, well, it
just doesn't make How much money doyou need to have every off season?
How much cap space. I'd ratherhave wins and players you could spend it.
You know, at some point youneed to go for it. And
the unbelievable idea that some people arestill putting out there that well, maybe
they just don't feel they're like they'reready yet. Maybe they're just not ready

(32:27):
to commit to being a team that'sgood enough to win. If there's one
person in that building that thinks likethat, get rid of them, fire
them whoever that is, and lookat who you have this rookie deal.
You have to make the moves.Yeah, I don't think they're doing anything
that with their moves that suggests they'renot ready to take that big step,
Because we're not. They're not doneright. If they end up with this

(32:49):
is all that they've changed. Andreally the only difference between last year at
the end of the year when theywalked off the field in Baltimore in the
beginning of the year when they openthe season against the Jaguars is that Tank
Dell is back and healthy, andeven that does make them a better team
than the one that was beaten bya Raisins free agent wide receiver there signing
he wasn't even there for the lasthalf of the year. His name is
Tank Dell. It's gonna be awesome. I like what I see. I'm

(33:10):
looking forward to that. I hopethat that's how things fall into place,
because then I will feel that it'snot one guy that makes me feel better
either. I mean, the replacementsare there. It's just funny that there's
so many one year deals still beinginvolved here. There was one post that
I never I just couldn't pull thetrigger on yesterday. You mean a draft.

(33:34):
It was draft for a while,and I hovered over the post button
and never clicked it. Your draftfolders are eclectic. It was from a
John McClain, uh huh, along time media member here in Houston,
did a lot of NFL coverage itstill does for the team. You couldn't
quote tweet him. I was goingto quote tweet him because he made a
comment about their general manager and thework that he's doing and kind of his

(33:57):
mo and I wanted to point outto people something very specific to his wording
there. This guy likes two thingsquarter zips and value. Is that what
it said? It should have Iwish it did now that you mention it.
But he said Nick Cassario has neverbeen one to try to win in
March. Yeah, I wanted toquote tweet it and said, to be

(34:20):
fair, prior to this off season, he's never been one to win in
any other month either. Eleven months, like this year, they tried to
win, But the first twenty five, six, seven months he was on
the job, they weren't trying towin in March. He wasn't trying to
win October, November or December either. I'd say, Look, the reason
that we're all freaking out is becausefreaking out is relative. But I think

(34:44):
the reason we're not all pulling ourhair out. Dude, Hey man,
I don't have any to pull out, but I can tell you this.
You have CJ. Stroud on hisrookie deal. Striking while the iron is
hot is not just a cliche inthis case. But we'll see. Maybe
he'll prove us all wrong like wedid. He didn't think any of the
moves he made last year were overthe top of the world. Casio GM,

(35:05):
we'll post something soon on Twitter likecheck him still free agent money to
spend. I can't wait till Nickdoes that? Is he tweeting through the
twenty twenty four offseason, Jack Easterby, Why do you concern yourself with someone
who is literally unconnected to the NFLin any way because he did that much
damage before everything got good again.Uh No, I don't think he's following

(35:27):
free agency that closely. He gotoff easy man just silently slipped out the
back door after doing all his damagewith a lot of Col's money. He
had one from eight hours ago.I don't care. Don't read it on
that he does not get these airwaves. He does not get it. I
shouldn't have even brought his name up, all right. You know who I
should bring up though, UVC PowerSports Tractors and Outdoors. They are your

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one stop destination for all your outdoorneeds. There's no other place to get
to other than down there at Alvin, Texas, where Scott and Shannon Tracy
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the lot and you see all theequipment and the inventory that they've got right
outside, and then you walk throughthe front door and they've got even more
inventory in there, and then you'relike, well, I want to see

(36:13):
what this stuff's capable of. Iwant to see how it feels to test
drive a Kaaliasaki Ridge, for example. You can do that because they've got
fifteen plus acres out back a testtrack available to truly experience what it's like
to test drive any and all oftheir Kaalisaki side by sides. That's where
it's at at UVC Power Sports Tractorsand Outdoors. Just ask Stone Cold Steve

(36:34):
Austin. They have custom made severalKaalisaki side by side mules for him and
the new Kaalisaki Ridge. The commercialthat he's in for it, well you
know that he is a big fanof what they do down in alvin tex
is at UVC Power Sports Tractors andOutdoors. Check out their inventory online UVC
one stop dot com, give thema call two eight one eight two four
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(36:58):
since you into UVC Power Sports Tracknow doors. And remember with the Kawasaki
Ridge, it's business in the front, party in the back. Because Stone
coldstad sets the top two lifelong Houstonsports guys named Adam talking your teams.
Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler are theA Team A Team. Four o'clock hour

(37:24):
has arrived and we'll get right intoit, because our guest is ready to
talk. Texans. Jonathan Alexander ofthe Houston Chronicle that Houston Texans Beat Writer
were over twenty four hours into thewell the tampering period because none of these
contracts have been signed yet, thatwon't happen until tomorrow hopefully for everybody that
signed players, Texans have been very, very busy, Jonathan, although the

(37:45):
timing of everything did happen slowly enoughthat people had enough time to kind of
freak out as things have settled in. Right now, what's the best thing
that they've done and what's the thingthat makes you question their plan the most?
Yeah, I think the best thingthey've done is they've gone out and

(38:06):
they've tried to get pieces that theyspecifically on offense, that they think can
help them continue to compete, tocontinue to build around c J. Stroud.
I think resigning Don Schultz, NoraBrown, adding trading for Joe Mixon,
I think just shows how the importancethat they're putting on trying to build

(38:30):
around CJ. Striden and trying tocontinue his development and ensure that he takes
that next step. Now. Ondefense, I think they have added some
potentially good pieces. But I alsothought that they had some pieces within their
organization like Jonathan Grenard and Blake Cashmanwho could have done a great job.

(38:50):
I'm a proponent of paying your ownso but there's still time and free agency.
I think defensive end is a big, huge piece that they have to
add, uh and we'll see wherethey go. Do you think Denico Autry
is expecting or they're expecting him totake a truckload of snaps on the interior
rather as an edge player. Yeah, I believe so as of now now

(39:15):
you could. I think there's stillsome pieces out there that they could grab
where they could play him as anedge But I think as of now,
I see him as a as aas a d tackle, and he's shown
he's had production and on various spotson the office line. I think,
honestly, I do think Demko willuse him wherever they need him most.
That's Demico's history, like cross usingplayer at different positions, So wherever probably

(39:40):
they need to they need him best, it's probably where they use him.
And he's had production even at thirtythree years old. I think he had
what was eleven sacks last year.I can't remember the number off the top
of my head. But he's aproductive player, so they expect him to,
you know, be that for theTexans. Talking to Jonathan Alexander of
the Houston Chronicle here on Sports Talkseven to ninety. Okay, so Danielle

(40:04):
Hunter's potential signing with the Texans.Notwithstanding, do you right now feel like
the Texans have gotten better gotten worse? Lateral? How do you feel twenty
four to thirty six hours into thisthing. I think they've gotten better on
offense. I think until they findan ed rusher to help them to continue
that, you lose twelve and ahalf sex production until you find it.

(40:29):
I think they're at lateral really,to be honest with you, I believe
I thought Blake Cashman had a betteryear than these outside year. However,
these does have more familiarity with JamiicoRyans, so he may, you know,
Jamico may want to implement his systemin a certain way that as these
can do. But I think asof right now, they've gotten better on
offense. For sure, their runninggame has certainly improved. I do think

(40:52):
that they in the draft, they'llbe able to plug in some pieces on
the offensive line potentially, But Ithink on the events, they've taken a
little bit of a step back,and but again we're still early. A
lot of the moves could potentially bemade today and tomorrow for some cheaper contracts
and guys who are looking to provethemselves on one short, short term deals.

(41:15):
So kind of what I was mentioningearlier, maybe about the time of
how things fell into place. Peoplegot all hot and bothered about different names,
and Saquon Barkley was certainly at thetop of that list. And it's
pretty well known that the Texans weredefinitely in on Barkley but decided that enough
was enough. It has gotten toa certain point on the money scale.
So Joe Mixon is the player thatthey now will have running behind CJ.

(41:37):
Stroud. It will not be DevinSingletary. Why are you convinced they have
a significant upgrade If significant is theright adjective in having mixing over Singletary,
Yeah, I wouldn't call it significantupgrade, but it is definitely an upgrade.
I think Joe Mixon is a clearguy, cut starter. I thought

(41:59):
Devin Singletary did well, and Ithought if then I Thinktary had had started
from the beginning of the year.He could have been a thousand yard rusher,
but you know, Joe Mixon isa proven thousand yard rushers. Four
of the seven seasons he's rushed overa thousand yards, and he gets the
ball out of the backfield, whichI think he has had advantage over that
in a singletary, but I wouldn'tcall it significant, but I wouldn't say
it's an upgrade and upgrade enough thatwe can say that the Texan got better.

(42:22):
And I think Joe Mixon at twentyseven will be twenty eight when the
season begins, still has some leftin the tank. Just the fact that
he can do things catching the balland running the ball and still had and
scored a touchdown two That was themost impressive thing in the past three seasons.
He got twenty nine touchdowns on theground. That's a huge pleas and
that's something that Texans have struggle within recent years. Do you subscribe to
the theory that winning teams don't winin free agency or win in the month

(42:46):
of March, or how do youfeel about that? I realized teams can
be built several different ways, andI think here in twenty twenty four,
we're seeing that now more than ever. But what you know, in your
opinion, what is the best wayfor a team to win when it comes
to free agency as opposed to thedraft or a combination of the two,

(43:07):
or how things go throughout the entirecalendar year. Yeah, I think the
best teams draft really well. Theteams that win year and and when you're
out, they're usually drafting key playersand they're winning with players, are getting
to the super Bowl with players onon rookie contracts, and then you add

(43:27):
pieces in free agency to supplement someof the losses. But rarely do you
see teams who make c slashes infree agency every year. Rarely do you
see those teams competing for Super Bowlbecause oftentimes a lot of those guys they
signed up those big fields often hadone great year in their contract year and
then kind of tail off. ButI think the better teams are built in

(43:52):
the draft, and the Texans aredoing that, and you know, I
think in history its shown with Nicko, Sirio and Demico even said that last
year they're not gonna overspin for playersjust to overspend, and you know,
I don't think they should. Whatdo you think about a player we have
not spent much time talking about He'snow on his third team after being the
third overall pick in the draft severalyears ago. Jeff Akuda, I wouldn't

(44:14):
think the Texans are very well setat cornerback regardless of that signing. I
think there's more to do, butthat is a player they have brought in.
Obviously, Nelson was at that spota year ago. He remains a
free agent. What are your thoughtsabout maybe the expectations for Akuda. Yeah,
I mean Akuda on a one yeardeal, kind of reprove it deal.
You know, they hope they'll haveone of his best years. I

(44:37):
mean he's still, you know,twenty five years old, so he's still
growing. Former number three overall pick, so you know, he has ability,
athletic ability. He hasn't you know, had a lot of interceptions in
his career. I do think StevenNelson was one of the better cornerbacks and
I think there's a little bit ofa drop off there. But I think
they're banking on his potential, onwhat he could potentially do for them,

(45:00):
and I'd expect him to probably bringin some competition, probably draft a cornerback
at some point. John to draftto compete. Jonathan, do you think
the Texans will ever give out amulti year deal again? I mean,
yeah, I do. I thinkit's leaning towards that way. No,
I'm mighty rapping this year. Yeah, it's tongue in cheek, But we

(45:21):
were talking about this earlier. Thisdoesn't this feel like I think Wex kind
of said this without saying it,and I agree with him. Doesn't this
feel like they have just earmarked alot of money to give the Nico Collins
out of that cap space? Yeah? I believe so, because they've said
it pubbly and Nick sure rarely revealswhat his plans are public Like, they
want to sign Nico Collins after freeagency, and as you saw, Michael

(45:45):
Pittman's deal before minimum is going tobe like twenty one million dollars. I
mean he's going to be I thinkNico Collins is going to be a wealthy
man. I think his contract willlook similar to Michael Pittman. So yeah,
I think they are planning for that. They are planning for a future
move that they might have to makein their future. Last big picture question,

(46:06):
because of what this offseason has kindof felt like from Afar with who
CJ. Stroud is becoming. Froman NFL perspective, the guy has been
all over the place, a partof a lot of big events, very
visible, just a big part ofwhat I think the NFL likes about.
Well, these are guys we wantto build around. These are guys that
we want as faces of our league. These are guys we expect to win

(46:29):
and bring their teams along with them, and we think fans are going to
be interested in them. We expectthem to be on primetime TV a lot
next year, even at the initialschedule. Do you think the NFL views
CJ the Texans similarly? Oh?Absolutely, I mean they are definitely.
He was the talk of the SuperBowl when he was around there. NFL

(46:50):
was taking advantage of that. Ithink they see a young kid with a
lot of talent, with a lotof arm talent, who's exciting in the
NFL. He'll he's a bright youngstar. A lot of kids like them,
so he'll, you know, increasetheir fan base. I think absolutely
they could potentially build around him.And he's a guy who does it the
right way. He doesn't get introuble, he has his head on straight.

(47:13):
He's a leader in the locker room. So absolutely, I believe he's
a if he can continue on thistrajector he's the future phase of the NFL
as a parting shot. As wewrap things up, do you want to
call your shot and say, sometimein the next however many hours or days,
the Texans are signing insert name here. Yeah, I'm not ready to

(47:34):
say that, but I do thinkthat they'll they'll sign a decent whether they
can come to an agreement with Hunter, I'm you know, I definitely think
there's an interest there. I justHunter is gonna cost a lot of money.
But I can't say for certain rightnow who who they'll get in free
agency, but I do think they'llthey'll get it. They'll grab a defensive
end for sure, somebody who canat least be a starter seems like a

(47:59):
reasonable enough suggestion. We will definitelygive you credit when they signed, whoever
it is. John. We reallyappreciate your coverage right there on the chronicle
obviously at John m Alexander on thetwitters or x for whatever you like to
call it. We certainly appreciate youcarving out some time during this very very
busy time. I appreciate that havingme on Jonathan Alexander of the Houston Chronicle

(48:21):
right here on the A team saywhat comes your way next. Winners never
win and winners never quit. We'retalking about beating the Red Sox and Yankees
Dodgers two to win it all intwenty seventeen World Series champions. Remember that?
Okay? Wow? Back to moretalking with these real winners, Adam

(48:45):
Clinton and Adam Wexler on Sports Talkseven ninety say We'll be there night.
Bob said, what what? What? Bro? What are you talking about?
Man? Say one moment, greatvisit. As usual with Jonathan Alexander

(49:15):
the Houston Chronicle, he brings usinto say what I will be replaying our
opening segment from yesterday in its entirety. What are they doing? Gil?
You have all this money to spend. How can you not already have Barkley
ready to go? How can younot already have re signed John Grenard?
How can you not have already addeddaneil Hunter and have the best three headed
edge rushing monster in the history ofNFL football? Come on, Nick,

(49:38):
what are you doing? And slowly, very masodically very Nick Cassario. He
has added players to accommodate for theplayers that they saw walk out the door,
so that won't necessarily be all ofour say what. This is unfortunately
a fun, fun, fun timeof year for the people who aren't super

(50:00):
closely associated with college basketball, becauseall they think about this time of year
is sweet gambling auctions, March Madness, tournaments, Get out of work,
let's go make sure my bracket's goingwell. Thursday Friday of week one,
Thursday Friday of week two, There'sno way I'm going into work that day.
Sometimes not this year, it coincideswith spring break, and it's even

(50:22):
better. You can just sit outon the patio with the tapped keg while
all your roommates in college have goneback home and it's just you and whoever
wants to stop by. Hypothetically,when you were in college, you could
have done that during the tournament.I guess if you were me. It's
not that great a time for thecoaches who are stressing. The coaches who

(50:42):
go into conference tournaments thinking I'm aboutto get my team into the tournament,
or the opposite, or I hopethis tournament lasts long because these are my
last games here. When it didn'tgo well enough for you, or maybe
things were just fine, and youstill have to stress about Okay, well,
we're about to see which players wantto return, who's going into the

(51:04):
portal? How come I have tostart recruiting from scratch again now every single
season. But you also make aboatload of money doing it now. Normally,
your athletic director is very understanding ofthe situation that you're in, whether
you're a terrible team, a goodteam, or somewhere in the middle.
Normally, they allow you to performall the duties attached to your job before

(51:25):
they've let you go, and notafter then asking you to do the very
same thing. This is how itwent down last couple of days for Utah
State head coach Kayla Ard in herpostgame press conference following Utah State's final loss
of the season. And how doyou plan to rebuild for next season?

(51:46):
I'm not going to be rebuilding.I just coached my last game at Utah
State, and I spoke with Dianaand they're going in a different direction,
and I respect her decision and Ihope they get a really good coaching awkward
pause. I'm assuming that's going tobe the last question. Good assumption,
right, Okay, thank you,thank you? Coach dude, here's why
I learned from that sound by Dianais ruthless. Diana Saba, the athletic

(52:10):
director at Utah State, after thatpublicly released the statement, Oh, we
appreciate everything Kyle and her staff havecontributed to Utah State. However, it
isn't the best interest of the programto make a change. Should you tell
the coach postgame following the season's finalloss that I know you have a press

(52:35):
conference to attend, but you're firednow can you please go address the media?
Or if that happens, should thecoach just say, well, then
my job's done here. There's nobodyfor you to talk to because there's currently
no head coach, so the mediacan talk to whomever wants to talk to
them. Why. I mean,look, if something, if things are

(53:00):
going poorly, then the obvious movea lot of times is to make change.
And let's be real, things weregoing incredibly poorly, incredibly poorly.
She was the head coach for fourfull seasons they had won five or fewer
games, and three of those fourseasons, including the current one, five
wins. She was likely this.She might have even known, Like I

(53:22):
said in prefacing this whole segment,you sometimes know either words gotten to you
or you're a competent human. Afterour nine wins in our last sixty games,
they're probably not going to want meback. But she still can you
can, you know, not beas ruthless as that who has done it

(53:42):
more ruthless And I'm not. Don'tdon't talk about the size of the program
or the pro team or what hasthere ever, Like I know that who
is it that was that one coachof the year in Toronto a few years
back, Dwayne Casey or is itDetroit? I never can't remember where he
was, and then he gets firedthat offseason, but he didn't like tell
everybody at his last press conference,like I don't remember of an incident ever

(54:08):
being like unfolding exactly like this.That's about as low as it gets.
Stan Van Gundy. I always thinkof the arm around Dwight Howard thing or
yeah, there was the shoot aroundpress conference where he basically insinuated, not
insinuay. He came full out andsaid that Dwhite Howard tried to get him

(54:29):
fired. And then later that nightat his press conference, which I think
was one of his final ones,somebody asked him, what's your source he's
like my source. I work here, that's my source. Yeah. I
mean it's like, I guess there'ssimilar aspects, but like a coach has
been told they're gone and then saidand then told to go ahead and go

(54:50):
have your press conference. I've seenit twice, Brett Beilama at Arkansas after
he lost her actually he beat Missouri, but in the press conference he goes,
yeah, they just pulled me intoa side room and fired me.
Okay, We've definitely seen it oneother time, and I've brought it up
here a few times. Because ofthe cameras being all access. During that

(55:10):
special program on HBO called Hard Knocks, Oh, we were able to dive
inside the RAMS facility, their alternatefacility because work was being done. Jeff
Fisher. Jeff Fisher talking to hiscoaches about their preparations for the upcoming game.
But I'm not gonna be there,guys, I just got fired.
Nobody really feels bad for Jeff Fisherthough. That's the difference. See,
I know what you mean. We'resports talk show hotes. I get it.

(55:32):
But it's just Jeff Fisher did someunsavory things and letting people go,
and it just was in general JeffFisher was put in a ridiculously bad position
by the owner. He did notdo anything to make it any better.
He handled it badly, and thenhe was showing the door. Eventually turnout

(55:54):
Vince Young. Yeah, his ownerput him in a terrible situation. The
team who was going to coach himand then be forced to play him did
not want him. So the ownerput the coach and the OC who definitely
did not want him because he's ina bad position. He was better because
fents ran all over him when hewas in college. That's no experience for
hambling it how they did. AndI mean Vince is also not completely innocent

(56:20):
in how everything went down. IsMatt Liner at the most overrated quarterback coming
out of college? Ever? Ishe in the top ten to what he
accomplished in the NFL? I don't, I mean I don't really. There's
so many more guys I think ofbefore him. I think the problem for
me, man, you really youstink because every time you bring up Norm
Chow, I think of USC Texas, and every time I think of that,

(56:43):
I just all we heard was thatthis was the greatest college team of
all time, NonStop. But youalso never heard Matt Liners the greatest college
quarterback of all time, to befair, of all time, because he
was really good in college and wona ton of games, because the team
he had around was ridiculous. Butwe did hear that Reggie Bush was like
the greatest everything of all the greatestnon quarterback prospect ever. Yes, you

(57:07):
heard that a ton and I wouldargue that the guy who was on the
field when he was on the sidelinehad a much better NFL career as a
running back Lendell White. Yes,no, not even close. I mean,
Reggie Bush has a ring to talkabout. Reggie Bush had a good
NFL career, not one befitting ofyou're the greatest player that ever walked the

(57:29):
earth. Well, yeah, butLendell White did not have a good NFL
career, So how could you sayhe had a better one than Reggie.
I think it's better than you remember. Reggie Bush's NFL career is totally fine.
No, I know, he justhappened to be a Heisman Trophy winner
who got picked second overall. I'mjust saying from the standpoint of everybody who
was wanting the Texans to take him, because ah, he's going to be
an awesome running back, and hejust you knew coming out he wasn't going

(57:49):
to be an awesome running back inthe traditional sense, not a between the
tackles running back. But yeah,again did he should not? He wasn't
asked to do that In New Orleans. He was a monster receiver at one
hundred catch. See what he was. He was a receiver that they drafted
with the RB next to his name. Yeah, well, some players can
do both very very well. Hedid one of those things very well,
and he was fine as a runner. He just couldn't do some of the
things that you just mentioned. LindellWhite had two good seasons. He only

(58:13):
played in the NFL for four yearstotal. Yeah, was nothing. His
last year was nothing, and thetwo in between were productive. Who was
the running back that was with himin Tennessee? Chris Jones, Chris Johns,
Chris Johnson, And that was beforethat preceded Lyndale or preceded Derrick Henry
correct or am I leaving somebody elseout in the middle there? I mean
they were a Chris Johnson was outof Tennessee, I think just a little

(58:35):
bit before a little bit of agap in between the two Christian Gale.
Lindale only played four years in theNFL. Yeah, yeah, I totally
overestimated that career. His second yearin the NFL he was very good.
His third year he had fifteen touchdowns, and then the next year was his
last year. He's still a betterrunning back than Reggie Bush, not the
better. Yeah he was Reggie Bush. He was a better Reggie was a
better receiver. I was talking abouthandling things, handling your business a little

(58:59):
bit more, and again, discreetlydoesn't even seem like the right word.
How about humanely, normally, likea like a human being, humanly,
so you don't have to wipe upon a segment called say what hey,
Like, we're gonna have to letyou go, Oh great, I'm gonna
grab my stuff, I'm out.No, you're gonna do a press conference
and you're gonna tell everyone, ormaybe she wanted to and it was just
waiting for the right moment to leteverybody know. And then she got the

(59:21):
awesome question, how do you planon rebuilding? I don't If that's If
that is how that went down,then boy, how classy it was of
her to be like, well,I respect that decision by Diana the ruthless
Ruthless. I'm sure that's what saysoutside her door. All right, we'll
go back to more free agency discussion. Also trouble in Yankee Land. We're

(59:42):
definitely gonna get to that at somepoint today and it's it's multiple fronts for
the Yankees. So we will definitelydo that and more as we continue here
on a Tuesday edition of the eighteenfor five. Hey, it's Craig Vigia.
Listen to the Home of the Astrosin your home. Just tell your
smarts play Sports Talk seven to ninetyon iHeartRadio. Daniel Hunter coming to the

(01:00:06):
Texans would be hilarious when you considerwho went to Minnesota to essentially replace his
production is how they would look atit. For sure. John Garnard signed
a seventy six million dollars deal fortytwo guaranteed preliminary reports, and that's to
play the position once held by DanielHunter. Sixteen and a half sacks in

(01:00:27):
twenty twenty three. But because weon this show are firm believers in the
mantra that sacks aren't everything. Hedid lead the NFL at twenty three tackles
for loss last season, and whenyou put him next to or opposite Will
Anderson. Given everything that happened,and we asked Johnathan Alexander, this,
would you consider it a good offseason? Not great, but good. Yeah.

(01:00:52):
If you've got a Daniel Hunter,then you've definitely made up for the
loss of Gernard. And I stillthink they should have just resigned him because
I and maybe at this stage freeagency, I'll be wrong. It's gonna
cost more, but a lot ofteams have spent their money. There's only
so much money to give. Iknow the Texans have a lot so to
the Hunter's agents. But yeah,if you've done that, then the defensive

(01:01:13):
front you walked out of last seasonwith is better today that you'll go into
the season with because you've added twoplayers that can help upfront more than the
two players that presumably would be gonebecause I'm adding Rankins to that. If
I told you Sheldon Rankins and JohnGarnard weren't coming back, and then you
told me, well, Denico Autryand Danielle Hunter are going to be here,

(01:01:34):
I'd say, great, they didupgrade. That would be that sounds
like an upgrade to me. Idon't like Jonathan said about the running back
position. I don't know if it'san extreme upgrade or an obvious and significant
upgrade, but I don't think anyonewould not include Daniel Hunter as one of
the more disruptive edge players the lastseveral seasons. I don't really think there's

(01:01:57):
much to debate. Everyone would definitelyput him in that group. The numbers
are there to back it up,and we all know it's more than just
sacks. Though. His thirty threesacks since twenty twenty one have him in
the top ten quarterback hits pressures,you know, pass rush win rate and
things like that. They they describethose players pretty well. He fits the

(01:02:20):
category very well. All right,I know the answer to this. I
actually even know what your reaction isgoing to be, but I want to
do it anyways because it's fun.What if they signed Chase Young instead.
Well, I don't know that we'vespent enough time on him for you to
definitively available. What my thoughts areon him, they're not good, I
know, I know, but he'savailable and he's talking to several teams.

(01:02:42):
Yeah, I mean, at thispoint, you have to do what you
think you need to do. Idon't want him replacing John Grenard and then
thinking they got better because you didn't. I mean, there's just no way
you could ever think that. Howmany weeks last year from afar because we
weren't logging every moment of Commander's activity. But I think he's coming back.
I think he's ready. I thinkhe'll be back. I think they're going
to activate him this week. Juston and on and on for a player

(01:03:06):
that just could not seem to getback on the field. He started fifteen
games of the fifteen games he playedwhen he was a rookie in twenty twenty,
and he was awesome. Absolutely earnedRookie of the Year, earned Pro
Bowl recognition. He was phenomenal.He was every bit of what the Washington
outfit hoped he would be when theydrafted him before every single player in the

(01:03:29):
twenty twenty draft except for one.And then after starting fifteen games, he's
played three more NFL seasons and startedseventeen total games while playing in a nineteen
total games since then. He wasnot good last year in San Francisco.
In my opinion, I don't knowif the Niners or those who followed them

(01:03:51):
closely would argue. I don't thinkhe has the same kind of by the
way, how hard he'd be goodon that defense? Well, it's maybe
it's just a lot of to showup sometimes because everybody else is making all
the plays. But it was veryeasy for him, and this is very
hardened. Like if you recall ifa player went back door on James Harden,
he looked like a clown trying toplay defense. The guy got a

(01:04:13):
wide open layup. It was onehundred percent going to show up on Twitter
the next day for the next twelveyears, and there were lots to choose
from. It happened to Chase Youngthis year on a play where he was
not going after the ball carrier.He's just kind of jogging around. The
ball carrier was basically right in frontof him. He made almost no effort
to get him, and he endedup in the end zone. Just one

(01:04:33):
play. But I don't think he'swell, I think it's pretty obvious he's
not the same player. Somebody willwant him, and they should be paying
him next to nothing to get him. It's total you're just dart at the
board. If you're counting on ChaseYoung, then you've made a mistake.
Could you maybe catch something lightning ina bottle maybe, so I wouldn't advocate

(01:04:55):
for it, but at some pointthe list dwindles and you do what you
need to do. But that's dartat the type of player. To me,
I have no faith that Chase Youngis a difference making player. And
you know how we we always uhwe discuss, well I don't like this,
or that was dumb, or youall you're doing is making a problem.
I usually want to hear, Okay, great, so what's the solution?

(01:05:15):
So if you're not gonna do that, what are you gonna do?
I have an answer. Yes,it's I've been waiting for this for years.
I've been waiting for this since BillO'Brien was in town. H I
one hundred percent believe in what I'msaying. Okay, this is not for
effect, definitely not. The Texansshould sign Jadavian Clowney. How old is
he? He's not too old tobe exactly what he was last year.

(01:05:41):
Well, they're signing him through itto a one year deal, are they?
That's all he gets? Yeah,this will be like the third straight
he's played under a two and ahalf million dollar deal. Last year helped
in Baltimore. He was you couldargue. I think he had at least
won maybe two better seasons all aroundas a Texan. I don't think he's
at any seasons better than last yearsince he left. I have no doubt

(01:06:04):
there's good football left in him,even at the age. You asked he
turned thirty one as the rest ofus were celebrating Valentine's Day this past February.
I didn't know that was his birthday. Shares one with my dad.
He is a thirty disruptive menace.Thirty one's way younger than I thought.
You're gonna say, here's the numberone pick in twenty fourteen, So this

(01:06:24):
is a it's a ten year NFLplayer. Next year is and his year
eleven. I don't think he's I'msure he'd love to break the bank.
I don't think he had a seasonbefitting of that. Because he's going to
be a thirty one year old player. Like we said, he can continue
to bemoan the fact or continue toget ridiculed by people who aren't paying attention.
This guy's never even had a tensacks season. He's a bomb.

(01:06:46):
You're right, He's only had fournine sack seasons, a pair of those
at nine and a half, whichtechnically means he sacked the quarterback at least
ten times. I know, Look, he's not about ten times. He's
a bump. This guy's not abump, but he's he's always been very
good against the run. There's somany statistics that are way way deeper.
We never even bring he gets intothe backfield. Okay, did he make

(01:07:10):
the tackle? No? Was ita quarterback pressure? No? Did it
blow up the play one hundred percent? Yes? Yes? Did they did
it actually to screw up their opportunityto do what they wanted? Did it
end up in a lost yard?Did it end up in a throwaway?
Did it end up in a turnover? Did it end up in a non
converted third down? All the timelast year with Baltimore. I think I
don't know if the Texans are interested. I don't know if they're a real
suitor. I'm not sure how Demikoviews his skill set and what they like

(01:07:32):
to do. Although I can't believefor a second he's not an awesome fit
to me watching how Jerry Hughes wasbrought in a couple of years ago and
then obviously was brought back into Dimiko'sdefense. This past year. How Derek
Barnett came aboard last year mid seasonfrom the Eagles, also still available in
free agency. I would love tosee I'm not saying he asked because we'd

(01:07:54):
love to see Hunter more than that. But when fewer players can be had
and you can, I'm Jadavian toa one year, three and a half
million dollars in Incentive's additional deal orfour and a half million. If he
gets a five million dollar deal fromthe Texans, then he just made double
what he made last year. Idon't know what's gonna make him happy.
He has made a ton of moneyas an NFL player, but far less

(01:08:15):
than he probably thought he should have, thanks Texans and himself. But at
this point would love to see himin a Texans uniform. Can have number
twenty four here, though you canhave to find a new odd number as
a D lineman to wear. LamarJackson, Josh Allen Tua. I feel

(01:08:38):
like there should be music playing andI should be going NFL players, NFL
players who throw the football, quarterbacks, guys who won award. Dick Clark
would be telling me nope. MichaelStrahan was saying, Nope, what are
who are these players Dak Jordan lovethey play quarterba my homes. They're all
better than CJ. According to somehorrible list, these are the quarterbacks the

(01:09:02):
Texans are facing this year in twentytwenty four. Maybe you should get after
them. Well, like I said, we're not done yet. As a
free agent viewing audience, how muchdo you think he's gonna cost from one
year? Like I said, he'sgotten a six million dollar a year deal.
He's gotten a ten million year twoand a half. He again,

(01:09:24):
he signed with the Ravens late inthe going for two and a half million.
Mea hunter and him. I doubtit because that means you've signed three
defensive linemen. Again, Well youcan. I don't mean you can't play
them all. It's just unlikely Jadevianlineup at linebacker. But just peel your
ears back. As a viewer anda part time participant when you watch game

(01:09:47):
shows, that's this is one ofthe best ones because you get to play
along. Is this the twenty fivethousand dollars pyramid? Yes? Higher,
well sixty four thousand or one hundredthousand. When I watched, I think
it was twenty early Different eras anddifferent shows but Clark, you could.
You could just don't look at theclues, or you're good to go.
You can play the game along withIt's not quite like Jeopardy, it's not

(01:10:10):
quite like password. It's far moreinteresting than Wheel of Fortune to play along.
That's what you think. There weren'tany South Park episodes based on a
will of fort is solved. Thepuzzle count more fortunate. What is much
more offensive? People who nag youso one I showed that any was that

(01:10:33):
the clue? She had never seenit? Terrible, She goes, I
can't believe they. Oh wait,it's South Park. I'm exactly Still,
it's fine to say I can't believethis was on at all, and it
was. But they're equal opportunity offenders, I know. But it's some of
it is so bad, so beyondbelief bad, I mean, unworthy of

(01:10:55):
the television product. I love thatshow. It's so good. All right.
The eighteen continues here on Sports Talkseven to ninety. You know what
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(01:12:23):
Fine sports talk seven ninety eighteen continueshere on Sports Talk seven nineties. So
Kermit's not gonna start opening Day.Yeah, like with JV five seconds after
you talk to the media on thefourteenth, we knew that. And now
I think the very first moment weheard that, Aaron Boone mentioned to the
media that ja Garrett Cole was goingto get an MRI because he was recovering

(01:12:44):
post start like they hoped he wouldnormally do. Well, it's a one
hundred and sixty two game season.He could make thirty three to thirty four
starts something like that. He doesn'tneed to make the first one if he's
not one hundred percent ready, Andthat's what's likely going to happen. I'm
ramping up efforts to accommodate for that. Maybe a new according to your friend,
to John Hayman, a new dealactually to me, Bob Nightingale,

(01:13:08):
a new deal on the table.The people are my friends White Sox to
try to land Dylan Cease, thoughthey're still reluctant to part with their top
prospect. And maybe Blake Snell willhave a home at some point, Maybe
Jordan Montgomery will have a home atsome point, though it doesn't seem likely,
even if they land in Yankee uniforms, that they'd be prepared or available

(01:13:28):
to pitch in the four games againstthe Astros open up the season right here
on your home for Astros Baseball.I love the Aaron Boonees quote to reporters
was quote, it would be difficultto picture Garrett Cole making the opening day
start. So we said it yesterdayversus Marcus Stroman. That's your likely opening
day matchup, and it just probablypushes everybody forward. I mean, the

(01:13:49):
Astros will certainly appear ready to dothat in light of the fact that you
brought up, brought this to Astro'scommentary and we're or not yet. We
haven't done our JV update. Maybewe should maybe, and I was a
good time for the JV update,and light of the fact we're trying to
lay out the Astros rotation and weknow JV's not starting opening day. Why

(01:14:12):
did you know one thing? Yes, are you going to sing this time?
Or are you gonna tap out likethe last time he did this weekly
Well, yesterday I didn't have totap out right. Yes, we skipped
it entirely. Yeah, you gotbailed out as more like it. I
mean I chose that was that waspersonal decision to not do that. Today,
I haven't had a My songwriter's beenon hiatus. It's not a writer

(01:14:34):
strike. But is the songwriter partof the Wexler research staff or is just
a separate entity. I've got lotsof employees, a lot of contract works
must be incredible. I mean,I try to keep the pay under six
hundred bucks. Well, good thing. Otherwise the lot at you, Yeah,
I'd like to keep it there becauseI mean, think about it,
think about this. We have aJV update February fifteenth through April ninth.

(01:15:01):
Maybe paid enough? How much dothey really need from me? How much
do I really need to shell out? Can I just offer him like I'll
get your dinner, I'll get yourtickets to a ball. You used to
say, you can't say it's aGarrett Cole update. He's a former astro
and he was gonna be the opposingpitcher. But I did. I do
let them have time off, becauseagain, they're only they work when they
can work, when they're available available. Today, my songwriter has been on

(01:15:24):
hiatus, So what's the deal.Is he back? There's no words.
I don't know what that means,You guess you can find out. Why
don't you play the theme song forthe JV update and see what happens.
Still two weeks till this season starts, JV will be there, but he

(01:15:46):
won't pitch. You're Justin Berlander update, which will also, as per usual,
be accompanied by an update on JP. As usually a JV and JP
update. Still good news on allfronts for both Justin Verlander and JP.
Frantz Verlander next to the mound tomorrow, Scheduled to throw a bullpen session on

(01:16:09):
Wednesday. Verlander continues to quote unquotefeel good and they want to get amy.
He wants to get up to aboutsixty to sixty five pitches in a
bullpen session, and they want himto sleep it off and recover well the
next day. At that point intime, I think they're basically okay,
is he ready for live PP Becauseif he is, then that's the timeline

(01:16:31):
we've hoped to be on. That'sthe timeline where to stay with and it
will be a very short stay pendingany further setbacks, and there have been
zero so far. He'll be readyto go when the il has been served.
His stint there so all good newsstill on his front. I wouldn't
say better news on JP. Hejust wasn't as far behind. These are
both calendar issues, not injury issues. He wasn't as far behind when camp

(01:16:55):
began, so he is not asfar behind as things sit today. He
threw a couple of innings on Mondayin a minor league game. Joe Spott
has said he could start this weekendfor the Astros in one of their spring
training games. So if that happensand again no problems with his right shoulder
inflammation, then he will almost assuredlypitch against the Yankees in that opening series,

(01:17:15):
one of their first four starters.I would think it's possible he would
only be number five, so thatwould mean he would pitch to open up
the Blue Jays series. But ValdezJavier or Katy Brown and Brown pitch today
very well, those are probably yourstarters, I said, Yankees for France.
It's probably Blue Jays for France,and those four guys start against the

(01:17:36):
Yankees on Thursday through Sunday open upthe Major League Baseball season. As per
usual, our non Signature Segment JVupdate, It's brought to you by No.
One trying to make that clear.Yes, serious ships are available though
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(01:19:13):
A team A. You're right ifBrussel football five o'clock, some five o'clock
football, professional football in America isa special game. You know what I

(01:19:34):
didn't ask Jonathan Alexander at four o'clock. I can give you his number.
No, it's okay, I'll askhim the next time I see him.
Who does he think has won freeagency so far? And so I'll ask
you top to bottom if it's notthe Texans, and it's not, just
ask anybody who has won. Becauseyou know what's funny we're not used to

(01:19:59):
seeing. For example, the Patriotsare making moves because they've never been run
by somebody in twenty five years differentfrom that guy. Well, they're also
making moves because they have no playersthat are any good and even the players
that aren't good, they're shipping out. John You is a very good player
and they let him get to freeagency, but they brought him back.

(01:20:19):
Hendrick Bourne is all right and he'scoming off injury, but they also brought
him back. So no, Idon't think they're in the mix for best
or worst. But as a reminderfor the Houston Texans, they have made
several additions to the team. They'veadded nine players. They added one player

(01:20:40):
before this free agency period began.Outsiders fully thought Acassi a defensive lineman.
They added Lonnie Johnson Junior, signedJeff Acuda, signed Denico Autry, signed
Mike Ford, a corner, alsoa special teamer del Sean Phillips. Aaron
Wilson reported that signing today, heshould also be a major special teams contributor.
Also plays linebacker, but would bea reserve. Aziz alsha Here punter,

(01:21:03):
Townsend running back via trade, JoeMixon. Those are the additions the
Texans have made. Reportedly, noneof them are official, other than Paducassi,
because that was before this time period, and they all will become official
on the next couple of days.Texans announced a couple of the players they
retained earlier today, but they hadlong since been reported. Fair Baron,

(01:21:24):
Desmond King, and Eric Murray allbrought back. Noah Brown brought back Schultz,
Chris Boyd, John Weeks all broughtback the four key losses that again
have been reported, John Gernard,Blake Cashman from their defense, Devin Singletary
on the offensive side, and thirtythree point three percent of their specialists have
walked out the door. That's oneperson, that's Cam Johnson, and again

(01:21:47):
they replaced him with the chiefs punter, Taylor Townsend. So that's the pluses
and minuses, the ads and thedeletions for the Texans. I mentioned this
earlier in the show. I'll mentionit again since you know your friend Michael
Bolton. Yes, what does hedo that he really laments? He always

(01:22:09):
messes up some mundane detail. Yeah, and it costs them, you know,
hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ohman, that's not a mundane detail.
It's like Superman three. So whenI carefully crafted this post and very
meticulously typed out the four poll questionanswers, I checked it and rechecked it,

(01:22:30):
and then I checked it again,and then I pushed send after hitting,
after getting all things done, Idid it all correct. The question
was asked correctly, the answers weretyped correctly. It's exactly what I wanted
and a go. The last thingyou do when you post a poll question
on the Twitter verse on the xplatform, you note how long you'd like

(01:22:51):
the poll to exist. And unfortunately, rather than having it last five hours
so it would close during our showand we could talk about it, you
got another four days to vote onthis. I said, set it for
five days. I thought that afacto was twenty four hours. It is,
but I made the change. Ihit the drop down box and changed
it to five days. Oh a, five hours. So I didn't even

(01:23:13):
know that was a thing. It'snot going to really be accurate after they
signed more players, but these additionsand subtractions, one running back out,
another in, one d Lineman inalthough not necessarily the same spot, Autr
and Gernard, linebacker alsta Here andCashman, cornerback of Kuda and Nelson,
punter, Townsend and Johnston. It'sa simple question. Is the team better?
Jonathan Alexander answered it for us.In his mind, he says yes,

(01:23:34):
and he definitely thinks they made anupgrade at running back. Forty eight
percent of you so far four moredays to vote, said yes. Also,
this is a better, more talentedteam, and only six percent said
no, it's less talented. Nowforty five percent of you were split among
neither. It's not better or worse, And I'm a wait and see kind

(01:23:57):
of I don't want to vote onit yet. I haven't seen him play.
They're not done yet, so that'swhere everybody really is. They haven't
taken a step back. I thinkthat's fair. That's probably the most fair
thing to say about what they've alreadydone. They're definitely not finished. I
don't know that they're gonna add anyplayer impactfully. I know they need to
augment their wide receiver position still,and I think they believe they could do

(01:24:19):
that through the draft. So doeseverybody, which is why the wide receiver
market has done what it's done.A guy like Gabe Davis probably considers himself
extremely lucky to maybe earn thirty ninemillion over the next three years from the
Jaguars. They were anticipating losing CalvinRidley. That situation I mentioned, we'd
get to and we'll get to thatbefore we close out this segment, some

(01:24:41):
people believe were on the verge ofseeing Justin Jefferson say, I don't know
about this anymore. Reports today thathe was The Vikings asked him about an
extension, which he declined several weeksago, so not right around the time.
He now realized he's not gonna bekept passes from Kirk Cousins, but
rather most likely players of the caliberhe caught passes from last year. That's

(01:25:06):
a bad situation for him and them. They don't really have a good alternative.
And I made a little bit ofa snide comment about, Okay,
now that Kirk Cousins has you don'tthink Sam Donald's gonna light it up next
year for ten million? Right nowthat kirk Cousins has made his decision the
quarterback mark, he can really takeshape. Ten million dollars for Sam Darnald.

(01:25:28):
That's what the Vikings gave him.What did Tyrod Taylor get here for
the year that he was the I'mguessing I thought it was sixteen million for
two years, like eight each year. I could be wrong, but that's
the first number that came to mind. He obviously was the starter when things
began, and he just got moneyfrom the Jets. He did, and
but that makes that's the kind ofthing like think about. They had a
young quarterback last year, so addinga veteran also, I understand it didn't

(01:25:51):
make sense you had Aaron Rodgers havingZach Wilson as his backup if you thought
he could play, which they apparentlydid, that was fine. Having someone
better than that this year is good. Except I hate talking about Tyrod Taylor.
I know you do, only becauseI feel awful every time I do.
He's the worst quarterback to have asyour backup quarter but it also reminds

(01:26:12):
you of the time that your quarterbackwas Tyrod Taylor. Well, it has
nothing to do with his play andhis performance. He cannot stay healthy.
He cannot take a hit anymore.He's had too many concussions, He's had
too many injuries. He's exactly thekind of guy I am okay having in
my room because he's a helpful personand player and knowledgeable. But I can't
have him as my backup quarterback becausethen I need a backup for him because

(01:26:34):
he's not gonna last. And hedid it again last year. It happens
every single time a team tries todo it. And the Texans obviously did
it worse because he ended up beingtheir starter and then lasted six quarters before
Davis Mills came in to close outWeek two of that season. Yeah.
I can't even believe how much GMStalk about salary cap. And this is

(01:26:56):
my threshold. I mean, theTexans bout out of signing Saquon Barkley for
thirty seven and a half million overthree years, so they could you know,
they closed up shop at thirty threemillion over three years, and Minnesota's
paying ten million dollars in a singleseason so Sam Donald can play for them,
not even back up for them,play for them. Now they're doing
it I get. I guess somepeople would call it the respectful way of

(01:27:17):
tanking. No, no, we'renot tanking. We signed Sam Donald.
He's gonna be our starter next year. We're really not thrown in the towel.
Yeah you are. He stinks absolutelyterrible quarterback. You know why,
because he doesn't know where the ball'sgoing. We're the least accurate passers in
this league. If San Francisco hadhad to have needed him last year,
they would have been sunk even inthat offense. And it's ten million dollars.

(01:27:42):
That's the going rate. You're givingthis guy ten million? Why and
somebody else would have anyway? Butit's laughable that they want to complain or
they are that players get you know, screwed over. Like Aaron Jones got
released so they could sign Josh Jacobs. He needn't know that the whole market
had already been set. Guy hadalready been signed before he got let go
because it didn't make any financial sense. But it makes financial sense for teams

(01:28:05):
to give ten million dollars to backup quarterbacks who are starting quarterbacks. Then
come on, he's awful. Youknow what I love is that in today's
and I get it, it's nota microcosmo if anything, but like in
today's economy, like there's the NFL'snever been more flush with cash, and
the NFL has never given out morestupid money than it is right this second.

(01:28:30):
Well, they obviously have the abilityto do it. I mean Marcus
Mariota also another guy who can't play. He got six million dollars. I
want to be a third stringer whenI grow up. His cap figure this
year on the Commander's books is higherthan Joe Mixon's cap figure this year on
the Texans books. That's so stupid, I mean, and it's not gonna

(01:28:50):
change. It's probably gonna get worse. If anything, these players that are
back getting money aren't going to getbetter. You're in the room, you're
talking with your personnel. Guys,Where would we be if we don't add
Marcus Mariota to our quarterback room?Oh? Man, we'd be sunk?
All right? Start over? Wherewill we be if we sign him?
Oh? We'll still be sunk becausehe stinks. Okay, let's sign him

(01:29:13):
then, like literally your back up. How many boardrooms are saying that they're
so afraid, like they're so afraidof playing their young quarterback. Sam House
sat almost the entire year two yearsago, and then he started last year
and they found out he's probably notthe guy. But what were they doing?
Where were these other guys, theseveterans? Why did it take him

(01:29:34):
that long? Just play him.It's okay to carry a backup quarterback when
your team stinks. I mean,the Texans did it with Davis Mills perfectly.
Fine, of course he should haveplayed that. You're right, they
did it right, They were smart. There's no reason to spend money on
another quarterback to lose games for you. He can do it just fine.
For nothing. I just want thebig Domino for the Texans to fall.

(01:29:57):
That's all I'm asking for. Somepeople think it already has. Who was
It's a good question, Okay,thank you? Who are these people?
He was? Your question? Ifdan Neil Hunter's not a textan, what
what this domino? That's no,that would be the domino. But that's
what I'm asking. Who is it? Who are who are the who is
it that the people think is theDomino? I'll shut here. Okay,
that's not that's not unacceptable. Asit's the third highest paid linebacker and this

(01:30:21):
year's fight. That's great. Goodfor him. He got paid a lot
of money. Patrick Quin got onlyten more million. We just got done
talking about a bunch of players thatgot a bunch of money. That suck.
I'm not saying he sucks. Hedoesn't at all, not close.
But he's not a big fish.Oh. People fall in love with names
instead of players, like can heplay? He can play? I fall

(01:30:42):
in love with names that can play. Barkley that I'm not that in general?
Yeah, no, I get itall right. When we come back,
we will get to some of thethings we haven't talked today to about
today. It's called in case youmissed it. We do it every day
right around this time. I'm andthat is straight ahead from h Towns.

(01:31:02):
This is a for H down.This this is Sports Talks seven night.
Because right now you said Leon Houston. Right now, back to the A
team with Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler, No doubt, Football Heavy Show leaves
us with a couple of items whonot yet had a chance to discuss worthy

(01:31:25):
of our time and discussion things youwant to hear about. We call it
in case you missed it? Whatdo we have today? Dan? All
right, So I know you guystalked about Garrett Cole, but I don't
think you talked about somebody else whomay or may not be on the field
in uniform and in set lineup onopening day when the Astros and Yankees meet
up. Aaron Judge also had toundergo an MRI, but he told the

(01:31:46):
media earlier today that the abdominal MRIwas clean. He is still eyeing the
opener, So the adult it wasit was clean, just meaning there's not
a tear. That's the I takeit. Yeah, serious, I guess
Here's what I want to understand aboutthat. There's obviously something going on there,

(01:32:08):
right, there's pain. That's whythey were looking. But there was
no answer because they didn't find anything. So then what what's causing the discomfort?
We'll find out if he is unableto take on the rest of his
remaining normal spring training schedule before theyget to Houston. Do you think because
of all of the roids he doesn'tdo that he's going to be dealing with
these kinds of injuries like I actuallydon't do. I think he's completely on

(01:32:32):
the up and up. I don'tknow. And that's not a commentary on
Aaron Judge. That's a commentary onbaseball players and baseball in general. Mike
Trout happens. See when I lookat Mike Trout, though, you mean
that absolute keg of strength, Buthe looks like he's short, but you
would not believe how rocked up heis and how huge his chested has he

(01:32:56):
been in one of those body issuesby espen don't know about that, Well,
didn't John Carlos Stanton, So youcould actually see the steroids take effect?
Uh yeah, Gien Coller Stanton tookoff all his clothes for Sports Illustrated,
ESPN, the magazine. Prince Fielderdid it once and that would never
be able to unsee that. Idon't think what you're suggesting is is what

(01:33:17):
is afoot here. He's had eightseasons and seven seasons year and two others
he's missed significant time with what kindof injury soft tissue? Well, last
year has had nothing to do withit. He ran into a wall.
He hurt his toe, but theoblique. Otherwise he would have played three

(01:33:40):
healthy seasons. I mean, listen, I'm not saying people. I guarantee
you people say the same thing aboutJordan Alvarez. This guy couldn't hit.
He didn't get enough power. Allof a sudden, he's joked up.
He could during his five seconds withthe Dodgers relaxed. He's not a dullest
Garcia. He doesn't have a syringehanging out of his ass at the plate.
It was. If I were aYankee fan, yeah, I'd be
freaking out. I think the seasonwas over already. These two players mean

(01:34:03):
as much to the team as anybodyelse. Well on God said that they
did. If you think about it, they would think last year's team was
awful. When Aaron Judge wasn't withthem, they were able to get him
still at the age of twenty one. It's impressive. Well, the other
part of it is what if it'sso? Could it be? Is it
possible that he doesn't want their money? Sodo? Yeah, why does he

(01:34:26):
want their money? That's why i'mbecause he'd have to play there just it's
not a fun year. They don'twin, somebody else offers them something reasonably.
Look at Joel Jerman's face every day. I don't know. That's why
I mean, are there any scenarios? Clearly the answers yes, But can
we really envision a scenario where theydon't resign him where he doesn't become a
Yankee long term? Not a Yankeelong term? And I'm serious when I

(01:34:49):
ask this, Where does he gobecause he's becoming a vagabond. Three teams
in three years. Well, hewas smart if you like winning, because
he said no to Washington's money.They were not gonna win even if they
sign it. But again, sohe got to move. He's a top
five, top ten in Major LeagueBaseball. This guy should not be a

(01:35:09):
journeyman all of a sudden, AndI'm using that very thickly on the sarcasm.
But like three teams in three yearsfor a guy with his talent,
and I get it, it's aunique you know, timeline. But he's
so good is why it's happened.You don't trade for him if you're the
Yankees, unless you do think you'regonna do this because they know they will.
They will offer him the most.He would have to say no to

(01:35:30):
the most money, like Aaron Judgedid. Uh, he said yes because
it was the most money, oneof yeah, one of the ylse.
Maybe there's some you's going to aplace where the taxes are so different that
you really have to overpay in SanFrancisco. I don't know about that.
Yeah, I don't envision a scenariowhere he's not back, but we will
see I think at least Juan Sotoand Anthony Volpi in the opening day lineup

(01:35:54):
for the Yankees on the twenty eighth. What else do we have? All?
Right? So, Nick Saban wasup at Capitol Hill in DC today
with Ted Kruz for part of aroundtable on college athletics. Now I know
that in written word, Saban hastalked about what pulled him away from the
field, but I don't believe we'veheard it from his own words until today.
All the things that I believed infor all these years fifty years of

(01:36:16):
coaching no longer exist in college athletics. So it's always about developing players.
It was always about helping people maybemore successful in life. My wife even
said to me, we'd have allthe recruits over on Sunday with their parents
for breakfast, and she would alwaysmeet with the mothers and talk about how

(01:36:39):
she was going to help and impacttheir sons and how they would be well
taken care of. And she cameto me, you know, like right
before I retired, and said,why are we doing this? And I
said, what do you mean?She said, all they care about is
how much you're going to pay them. They don't care about how you're going
to develop them, which is allwhat we've always done, So why are
we doing this? So, youknow, to me, that was sort

(01:37:01):
of a red alert that we reallyare creating a circumstance here that is not
beneficial to the development of young people. Man, it is. I don't
know if there's anything in sports thatis more I can see where both sides
are coming from than paying college athletesbecause the monster that is the NCAA and

(01:37:26):
these universities university is are the problemfor a lot of reasons in this country.
There's just so much money going intouniversities and not a lot like the
student loan thing. It's the sameprinciple. These universities make all of this
money, and what do you haveto show for it if you're a student
a piece of paper that gets youa bunch of debt. And that's okay.

(01:37:49):
So now the athletes take the athletesinto it. I get it.
They're profiting off the backs of thesekids. And you're telling me that they're
supposed to. Well, they gota college education. Okay, But then
where Saban's coming from. Everything thatmade him a good head coach is basically,

(01:38:11):
if not gone, it's severely hamstrungby the new system, this monster
that is. Why is it hamstrungversus just being harder? Well, because
what we talked about was it lastweek or the week before? These guys
it was already a twenty four hourjob. But yeah, so it's harder
now. I mean, I'm notreally dissenting your the opinion you gave.

(01:38:33):
It's harder because you have to referto the same players, but nobody and
over again that he's the best coachof all time in that game. Right,
Yeah, he was going to retireat some point anyway, what's the
difference. Oh my god, weran him out of the game. Who
cares? I mean it, whocares? That's the If you didn't know
college football was headed the wrong way, you needed this him retiring to tell

(01:38:55):
you that you're not paying attention.No, I don't. But why this
happened is because they did it allat the same time, with no limits
and no policing, and they fourth, well, they forethought to any of
it. They they understood that theywere It's at some point they understood this
is wrong. We are benefiting attoo high a degree. They deserve some

(01:39:15):
of the money. So some ofthe money was going to go to them,
and now they said, well,we're not going to give it any
to them. We're going to justask the people on the outside to give
us even more money, and they'regoing to give it to them for us,
and let's go ahead and let themtransfer whenever they want. And they
never. It's amazing how they can'tadd they don't know what two plus two
is Well, if we give themall the money that they want and we
allow them to go wherever they want, well, guess what they're gonna do

(01:39:39):
every single year, go where themoney is. Every single year, you
can basically go wherever you want foras much money as somebody else is willing
to pay you free. Which iswhat's That's what's changed, And how could
how could a kid in this situation, it's a five star recruit and his
family not think about that. Okay, I'm awesome at something, I have

(01:39:59):
a chance to earn money. Whyshouldn't I earn money? I will make
like the idea that they're derailing theirfutures, which I think is what a
lot of people want to present withthis, I think is bogus. If
you can play in the NFL,all this transfer your stuff has nothing to
do with it. You're gonna playin the NFL. And then a lot
of other players who are not goingto play in the NFL are now benefiting
financially tremendously. Now does it notmatter because they've lessened their earning power as

(01:40:25):
non pro athletes? Well, wasthat going to go up? Because they
got a degree from Clemson as areally good college football player that was not
going to play in the NFL.I doubt it. Of course they should
be looking for the money. AndI hope people don't hear that and think
of them in some negative bad light. These kids and their parents. This
is human normal, human nature.It's you have a tremendously sought after skill.

(01:40:50):
Good for you. You manage toget your way through high school and
on on to the radar. Okay, go ahead, this is what the
system is. I don't even thinkyou're taking advantage of it. You're just
doing what's normal. If they wantto get your position, would do and
go play for them, right right? And it's we just got finished talking
about Wan Soto. Where are yougoing? And where they give me the

(01:41:10):
most money? Exactly? And ina weird way, it is actually it
is kind of like capitalism because it'sbased on merit, your merit being your
ability. I will say about Sabanand legacy and the future. And we've
seen this probably now five or sixtimes, and he's maybe the last one
there. There aren't there's no suchthing as that moving forward. There's nobody's
gonna win five, six, sevennational titles at one spot. This is

(01:41:34):
not gonna happen anymore. They're eithernot gonna be there as long, they're
certainly not gonna be able to winas long, or they won't want to
do it as long, unless allthey don't need to do it as long,
unless all of this is regulated toa point where it makes it possible.
But even then, I can't seea scenario where it does. Yeah,
we're not about to stop where we'renot. We're not recognizing the end

(01:41:54):
it's getting. It's getting worse,much much worse. This is why when
you would say Pandora's box or theGenie the bottle or anything. So yeah,
yeah, yeah, Daneale Hunter landswith the Texans. Per rap sheet,
what breaking news, Yeah, readit? Make it so a free
agent splash edge Rusher, extraordinary,best player left on the market, says

(01:42:19):
me, Danale Hunter lands with theHouston Texans. Let's go, baby.
You feel better now, I feelgreat, You feel better than you did
before. Or he's just the samethey have I told you I had to
Will Compton quote tweet coming if thisall happened, didn't I? Yes.

(01:42:39):
The defensive line they limped off thefield with in Baltimore with John Grenardea is
significantly better than it was then today, Will Anderson, Denico Audrey, Daniel
Hunter, Malike Collins. That's yourfront four as you go into the season
opener next year. How's that sound? People? Fans honks for the Texans,

(01:43:02):
Good lucky posing quarterbacks. I likethis a great deal. Jonathan Jones
of CBS Sports says he plans Hunterplans to sign with the Texans an average
of twenty four and a half million. More deets, more discussion, more
yippid doodas for you and the Texans. As we continue here on the A

(01:43:26):
team talk about being elite Texas defensiveline, Elite, Classic Elite Chevy Sugarland,
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there today, find that brand newvehicle of your dreams and tell him Adam

(01:44:09):
Workxer sent you by Hey Sparky fromthe Astros broadcast team. Catch every Astros
game of Sports Talk seven ninety andiHeartRadio ass home of your Astros. Oh
my, my, my. DanielleHunter is a Houston, Texan and he's

(01:44:30):
on the right side of thirty.He has agreed to terms. Yeah,
he's a Texans. He's ain't goinganywhere. He could should become final tomorrow
and the reported deal is as usualfor Nick Cassario, short term, a
two year deal for Danielle Hunter,forty nine million, could be a little
bit more, but twenty four anda half million over two years. And

(01:44:51):
again, whatever the guarantees are,it's when you're on a deal that short
forty eight million guaranteed. Yeah,he's playing out the contract. Whatever the
track says he's going to get,he's going to do. What does that
mean to play it out. Yeah, there you go a five year deal
with guarantees, a quarterback deal whereyou get two hundred and fifty million but
only one seventy five is guaranteed.Yeah, that is a factor. It's
a short term deal. He's gotthirty four games plus playoffs in front of

(01:45:15):
him as a Houston won the tradewith the Vikings. That's what's important here.
Who won the trade. The Texansget Daniel Hunter for twenty four and
a half million, and they getJohn Gernard and Blake Cashman for twenty seven
and a half million. Okay,so Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter. Good
luck. You didn't get Will Anderson. He had because that's your draft pick

(01:45:38):
this year. No drafted him.Yeah, I don't look at it that
way at all. You look atwhat they had on the field and now
what they're going to have on thefield. And now the question that I've
asked four days has a definitive answer. I mean, barring injury or something
crazy, the Texans are better.That's all you're trying to do. When
you're in the position they're in,the Chiefs, the Ravens, the Niners,
the Eagles. To a certain extent, it becomes. It's very difficult

(01:46:00):
to go one off season of excellenceor one season and try to make yourselves
better than next season because you're sogood, your talent's so good. You
got to work through the cap.You got to figure out who can stay.
How do we manipulate this When you'rethe Texans, when you're an eight
win team, a nine win team, a ten win team. They're a
ten win team, you should beable to find a way to get better.
Because they weren't bad because of injuries. They didn't fall off because of

(01:46:21):
some unknown reason. This is whattheir talent suggested they could rise to.
Now their talent suggests they need torise even higher. You ran through the
list of quarterbacks that are on paperon their schedule for this upcoming season and
their four man starting group, allof whom will play a large percentage of
the snaps. Again, none ofthem play one hundred percent. But Daniel

(01:46:42):
Hunter and Will Anderson Junior are youredges. Malie Collins and Danico Autry are
your interior defensive linement that is arguablyfreaking luck. Arguably the best four person
or three person group the Texans haveever had upfront, and they've had JJ
Watt on the roster. I listen. I know I'm again Now I might
be somewhat wet blanketing this, butdo you come out basically a wash because

(01:47:12):
you're not playing the sisters of thepoor at quarterback this upcoming year? You're
playing real legit, bona fide superstill like all of the best quarterbacks are
on the schedule. Basically, Idon't look at it that way. You
have to Here's how I look atit. Get to the playoffs. Out
play the Jaguars, Colts, andTitans. All you have to do is
outplay them. Now you're in theplayoffs and you have a home game.

(01:47:33):
Now you go out and win yourhome game when you're favored to do so
against probably a very good quarterback.Now you're one of the last eight teams
in the NFL. That's it.That's all you have to do. Now
you've only reached the same point youdid a year ago. You can go
out and lose to Josh Allen,and you can lose to something, but
you're gonna beat a few two youhave the same guy. Maybe you're knocking
some of them out. Well,it's not even about that. Your quarterback

(01:47:56):
is them. You know, Iknow. I know that, But what
I'm saying it can't. You canand you will. You will have had
that quarterback against the MVP, andit didn't mean anything, yes, because
you couldn't stop the other guy hisfirst road play well for a half.
Well, the most important half isthe second one, and that's when he
dominated. What ifschever half they outdo, he is an important one.
It wasn't all about Lamar Jackson dominatingthe Textans. It was full scale both

(01:48:19):
sides of the ball. Texans defensegot dominated, Texans offense got dominated.
That's why the scoreboard was very onesided by the end of the game.
Man, they've got to get athey've got to get a dynamic receiver to
pair along with Nico Collins. Whocould they get? Oh wait, they
have him coming back? Is TankDell. Yeah, they haven't done much
with that receiver group. They've obviouslybrought back Noah Brown. But again the

(01:48:42):
reports just a few minutes ago,Daniel Hunter, elite edge rusher from Minnesota
Vikings, has agreed to terms ona deal to join the Texans for the
next two seasons. So Nick Cassario'swork here this off season. In a
little over a day and a halfcertainly made this team on paper significantly significantly.
Now I think it's fair to saybetter. They are threatening upfront,

(01:49:05):
just with the front four. Dude, I think al Shah here with how
much activity is going on up front. I know he had one hundred and
fifty plus tackles last year. Idon't know what the number is gonna be
this year if he's healthy. ChristianHarris had half of a good season last
year. The second half of hisseason was unbelievable, but remember he was
not that kind of player at thebeginning of last year. I would expect
that's more of what he is forthe full seventeen this year, if healthy,

(01:49:27):
and now you just got to figureout where the other pieces fit in.
There is still a draft. Thisis I don't know as excited as
it could get for fans. They'dprobably like to see some more significant,
offensive helpful changes made at this point, which I think is a fair philosophy
to have when you're looking at CJ. Stroud. But you probably made life
a whole lot easier for your team. If they go out there, take

(01:49:49):
the ball first, score a touchdown, they're gonna win a lot of games.
They put points on the board andhave the other team playing from behind,
and they're facing that front a muchmuch more more threatening presumably fair statement.
Will Anderson had one of his worstNFL seasons last year. I mean
he probably did, right, Ihope it's the worst. So he's probably

(01:50:13):
a better, more threatening, moredisruptive player, and now there's so much
more disruption next to him and aroundhim. I think the qualities of these
individuals that they have allow them todo things differently upfront. They don't all
have to line up in the samespot. You can bring a de tackle
in, take Hunter off the field, slide Autry outside for a snap for
three for a series. There's allsorts of things that I think this opens

(01:50:35):
the door for because of the abilitiesof these two new defensive players. And
obviously you mentioned the age of Hunterin a short term deal as well.
One of the things we worry aboutit with Mixon as a running back in
his eighth year. Where you worryabout it is Autry in his mid thirties
or early thirties. I don't thinkyou're worrying about that at all. With

(01:50:56):
Hunter, the player he's been providedhealth is exactly the same players player he'll
be for his seasons in Houston.Very very important question I need to ask
about this particular transaction. I'll getto that when we come back for the
final segment of the show. Rightnow, I want to tell you what
I've told you about all day long, and I'm gonna tell you one more

(01:51:17):
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(01:52:05):
entire world. This is Ellen Green. He's Jayleen Green. Great given Doe
from Green Ay sit down. You'relistening to Adam Clanton and Adam wislon the
Two Adams, the Eights and eighteight Sports Talk seven ninety Huh for your
Rockies, Madam Winston is gonna getbrought out. Daneil Hunter was not gonna

(01:52:25):
be denied. That is sack numbereleven. That's a seven figure bonus that
daneil Hunter just picked up. I'massuming that was last season. Dan correct
sixteen and a half sacks in twentytwenty three and an NFL leading twenty three
tackles for a loss. Also lastseason, that is what daneil Hunter did

(01:52:50):
as a purple people eater. Hewill now be wearing well, I think
he'll be wearing red, white andblue. He's gonna he's gonna be wearing
whatever the Texans debut as their updated, streamlined, slightly altered jerseys at the
draft. Wow. I'm still digestingthe fact. And I just asked WEX

(01:53:12):
this a few segments ago. Whatif Chase Young is the signing, then,
how are you gonna feel You don'thave to ask that question anymore?
Your bookends are now Daniel Hunter andWill Anderson Junior in year two, bolstered
by other signings along the defense.And what's interesting is I tweeted, you

(01:53:32):
know, now you're cooking with gas, Houston Texans, and someone said,
yeah, the defense is cooking withgas. I get it, You're not
You're not htown takeover twenty one.I get it. You're not necessarily enthused
that Joe Mixon is the starting runningback as opposed to maybe some of the
other big names that were out there. But man, this has got to

(01:53:55):
be the most Casario deal ever too, because it's just a two year deal,
so it's not long term, quoteunquote Basically anything other than two years
is somewhat long term. But yeah, if you're the Texans and you're saying
yourself, all right, we're notgonna be playing the Sisters of the Poor,
and I know wex chose not tolook at things this way, but
I'm going to. That's just I'vebeen thinking about this schedule upcoming basically since

(01:54:19):
the final horn of the game inBaltimore, like this is going to get
significantly more difficult. And although youhave CJ. Stroud as your as your
quarterback, and he is one ofthem, being one of the top guys
at that position in this league.So yes, teams have to account for

(01:54:40):
him on their defensive side of things. You're going to be going up against
to who's who this year at quarterback, provided their health provided all that,
but first place calendar, first placeschedule, in first place quarterbacks. The
mahomes Is, the Dak Prescott's,the Josh Allens, the Lamar Jackson's of
the world. It's all coming yourway. If you don't have a serious

(01:55:00):
crew that is ready to wreck shopin that backfield of the opposition week in
and week out, what are youeven doing. You're having to run up
the score. You're gonna have tohave the greatest show on turf type of
offense to account for what you're goingto be giving up. Now, you
don't have to necessarily think about that. As a matter of fact, you
can start saying, Okay, dependingon what happens in the draft, could

(01:55:24):
we be talking about the Houston Texansdefense being one of the upper echelon ones
in the league. I'm not readyto go there yet, but it's certainly
promising. Well yeah, I meanthere's still other names too that you can
add and in terms of depth andyou're right. I mean you usually need
about three or four different guys offthe edge that can rush, because I
mean you circle those guys out.And Dave, one of our listeners,

(01:55:45):
brought up Derek Barnett, who reallyshined last year for the Texans. Zee
possibility, Yannick and Gockway is outthere, Carl Lawson is out there.
Jadeveon Clowney as we talked about earlier. Yeah, Jadeveon Clowney, could you
imagine and I know it's it wouldseem like an an overflow at that point,
but depending on where he plays him, do you imagine if they brought

(01:56:06):
him in just for fun. It'sjust like everything else about this regime with
the Texans is kind of full circlewhen you consider that Tamiko Ryans as the
head coach. Why not, Well, he knows his way around the building
and this time he's not gonna beled by a self invault blowhard. Hang
on, if only I could figureout who it is you're referring to.

(01:56:29):
Oh yeah, that's right, BillO'Brien, the guy with the buttch in
Just it's just incredible. Like again, oh and Jack's not here either,
Well, yeah, that's another plusevery minute that he's not in the city
is a plus. I just youknow, again, it's not the be
all end all, but man,hey, what has Will Compton tweeted about

(01:56:50):
things now in Houston? Because ifhe thought they were winning the off season
before, and you know what,maybe he knew that this was in the
works. Pretty patch in guy playedin the NFL in ten years. Maybe
he knew this was gonna happen.Because the funny thing is Danille Hunter was
just one of many names attached tothe Texans and many other teams. And

(01:57:15):
I think the last thing I readwas that it was not between the Texans
and the Colts, but that thosewere the teams that were kind of like
involved in trying to pry him awayfrom Minnesota. And if that's indeed true
as well, then you've got asituation where you took him away from a

(01:57:36):
potential you could have been in thedivision but not playing for you. So
a lot to like about this.It doesn't mean that the Texans are winning
the Super Bowl in twenty twenty four, I guess early twenty twenty five,
but good, this is good.It makes the lack of activity, if
you will, over the past dayor so. And you know, I
was never like, oh, theygot to sign Saquon Barkley. But I

(01:57:59):
will admit, especially because you knowJoe Mixon, like I was a little
underwhelmed at that being the situation atrunning back because I'm like, well,
if you're gonna do that, thenyou might as well just bring back Singletary.
Well, I mean, I thinkthere are three different things at play.
I mean, let's just start withyesterday first, and I said on
Twitter, I said, look,I understand not being the team that wins
the first day of free agency,because for the most part, there's one

(01:58:20):
of two teams that either go forit all on the first day of free
agency. They either not good orin the case of the Philadelphia Eagles,
they're desperate because they know if theydon't have a good season, not only
is the head coach probably gonna getbounced, but this would be the third
head coach for Howie Roseman there inPhilly, so you got to believe that.
Finally, Jeffrey Lourie would be like, clearly, this isn't working out

(01:58:41):
anymore. I gotta move on.I think the other thing as well is,
you know, with the Texans,in all of this is that,
you know now, I mean,you've got a couple of years to really
kind of go all in. AndI think that probably what spurred this on.
You know, you hear all thetime deadlines make deals, is the
fact that the Colts were involved.Because football is a reactionary sport and everybody

(01:59:03):
does things in order to be ableto try to get the next guy or
to stop that guy. And inthe case of the NFL, what do
division opponents usually do if a team'sgot a dynamic quarterback. We got to
find a way to stop that guy. So I think that probably Cassio and
the crew over on Kirby when theysaw that Indianapolis was involved, They're like,

(01:59:24):
oh, we know why they're involved, we know why they want him.
It's it's fascinating and I'm really lookingforward to see how this all unfolds.
And of course the draft still awaits, and maybe maybe they do something
else. I don't know what itwould be, but the biggest one of
I guess one of the biggest namesstill on the market, and certainly the
one that I think a lot ofTexans fans want is going to be in

(01:59:46):
the fold. I just can't evenimagine what Ross is going to be able
to talk about on a very shortnightcap addition heading into Rockets launch pad.
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one three nine fifty two eighty five. Seven one three nine one three fifty
two eighty five. That is goingto do it for today's program. A
very eventful one, particularly the lasthalf hour of it, and we'll certainly
react to that tomorrow when we getback in here. But keep it right
here on Sports Talk seven to ninetybecause we've got the entire lineup to react

(02:01:36):
to the daneil Hunter signing throughout theday tomorrow. But before we get to
any of that, of course,Rockets basketball coverage right around the corner after
a short nightcap with ross Avier Real. Gotta say thanks to everybody who was
involved in the program today. Thanksto Jonathan Alexander the Houston Chronicle for joining
us for Dan the Showkiller and wexI may see It is the a team

(02:01:58):
here on Sports Talk seven ninety I'vegot you covered for Rockets basketball and a
little bit ross right around the corner, and we will see you again on
this show tomorrow at three