0:02

Now what's next? Next up? It's the next man up, next stop,

0:07

the next step, take the next step, next up, stop next,

0:11

next stop next. He wants to be next. This is next Up

0:17

with Tad Northfleet ten Chris Gordy. Let's see what's next next next? All

0:23

right, good morning, Houston. Let's get to the BIS live from the

0:26

Sports Talk seven ninety studios, stay in Northfleet. It's me. If you

0:29

new to the station, new to the show, the show's names the next

0:32

up. Excuse me if I could talk? Stand is me. He is

0:35

Chris Gordy who is at Connadie mcgovernor on the other side of the glass.

0:38

They appreciate him and his prowess with computers and recording equipment and stuff in there.

0:44

He allows us to do this thing we call next Up for the next

0:47

two hours thanks to the Shawn Salisbury Show, our brothers each and every weekday

0:51

morning six to ten am, right here on seven ninety, your home of

0:54

houthon sports our resident quarterback Shawn Salisbury. He and I were talk to some

0:59

usc and quite frankly, some Houston Texans, draftees, a couple guys out

1:03

of southern California. There Shawn Salisbury. Brian Delima loves some some baseball some

1:07

Ashtro's brother coaches young people all over the city of Houston, as well as

1:12

Emmanuel represent PV Wonder today. I want to get gord in here because we're

1:19

going to use a word to start the show, kind of a theme of

1:25

the morning. Trust. I'll come back to that here in just a little

1:29

bit. We'll have Mike Griffin speaking of Texans draft. Ease, my man,

1:33

Mike Griffin courtesy of dog Nation. He's gonna drive by. Let's talk

1:38

this, Kamari, last of the Pig. I went to bed yesterday last

1:42

night and they're building some stuff next to my buildings, so I didn't rest

1:46

well last night or this morning. There's a lot of commotion and it's just

1:49

a lot going on. So I'm just up reading over lasted. I do

1:52

need to do a bit of a me a couple Gordy. I was wrong about one thing and I need to make sure I misspoke. I want to

1:57

make sure I correct that, So we'll get my Griffin dog Nation. He's

2:00

gonna come by and say what up. Jonathan m Alexander has a piece up

2:05

Houston Chronicle. You know that's my guy. We go back to our days

2:07

on the beat in Charlotte. The remaining holes for the Houston Texans is where

2:14

his article in his work begins. He's gonna drop by eleven o'clock and help

2:19

us with that. We may get to some NBA. I promised it yesterday

2:22

and missed it just because time got away from us. But could we see

2:25

the end of an era? Gordon? Three heavyweights, three all time greats

2:30

sitting there as at home like me and you watching NBA playoffs? What does

2:35

that mean? Including the king himself? All right, but let's come back

2:38

to this word as I bring in my man Gordon. Gordon. Part of

2:42

the reason when you guys called me about potentially looking at this opportunity to come

2:46

back to Houston and work specifically what I heard. There were some other things

2:51

that I was entertaining and looking at. But at the end of the day,

2:54

when I make decisions in my personal life, financial life, or professional

3:00

life, there's one word that continues to surface for me, and the word

3:05

is trust. I knew I could come here and trust you. Brian Erics,

3:09

excuse me, Eddie Martini, our sales staff. What up to my

3:13

homie Cindy and many others. So trust is one of the reasons I'm here.

3:17

I ask you this, Gordon, as we come out of this NFL

3:21

Draft, because I brought this up last week and leading up to the draft

3:23

with you. It's clear yesterday that I'm not high on this draft class because

3:30

I didn't see how somebody was going to be truly impactful. Giving what Cassarrio

3:34

and Demiko did this offseason, I'm willing to give them benefit of doubt.

3:39

I'm going to trust Demiko and Caserio here in hindsight, not hindsight, and

3:46

looking back over this class as more details continue to come out, Gordon,

3:51

have you changed the way you view the program over there with those two men?

3:59

Say that again you trust him? I mean, in what capacity to

4:02

put together a championship roster? I mean, here's the problem with with trust.

4:08

Trust is earned, but that doesn't mean you get heart blanche to do

4:14

whatever the hell you want. Like you still, I mean, this is

4:17

at the end of the day, this is still a this is still it's

4:25

always a work in progress. I mean, did you think Bill Belichick earned

4:29

the trust of the New England fans? Sure? Did Bill Belichick get just

4:32

every like we couldn't question anything he did the last few year as hell,

4:35

No, I mean it. You know, you can earn trust, but

4:39

you can lose it that quick in this in this business. So yeah,

4:44

I mean do we do we do? We have a little bit more trusted

4:46

him and how they drafted it, built a roster yet last year. Yeah.

4:48

Sure, but you got to keep keep it doing that. And it

4:53

doesn't mean you can't miss It doesn't mean you can't big mistakes. I mean,

4:59

I don't know, I's gonna tell it's it's not. You're taking the

5:01

fun out of this. Well, look, we when we came into the

5:04

draft, we said this team, or I said, this team has some

5:08

immediate needs. They need defensive tackle either depth or starter. They could use

5:14

another linebacker, they could use another wide receiver, they could use you know,

5:16

probably an offense offensive line depth. You know, these were all the

5:20

things we said and some of those things they did not address. And so

5:25

yeah, I don't you don't just get blind patriotism for me. I'm not

5:29

a text. I'm not Texan Sally who has season tickets, who shows up

5:32

in my cowboy had goes got Texans. No matter what you do, like

5:35

you've you've got to you've got to continue to fill holes and address and address

5:40

those issues. So you know, again, well we'll see you know.

5:45

But but here's the thing. Stand. The bulk of free agency has come

5:49

and gone, the draft has coming gone, So what you have on this

5:54

roster is kind of what you have now. They may add a name or

5:57

two here and there as we get closer to OT there'll be some more camp

6:00

bodies, probably some more you know, they're signing some of these undrafted for

6:03

agents. But I don't know, man, Like I see some spots on

6:08

this team where they have downgraded from last year, and you know, certainly

6:13

they've upgraded in some spots, but they've also downgraded in other spots. So

6:15

you know, can we decisively say this the twenty twenty four Texans roster is

6:21

without a doubt better top to bottom than twenty twenty three. I don't know.

6:27

You have to go position by position. Obviously, it's headlined by Daniel

6:30

Hunter and Stefan Diggs yes, fantastic, and Joe Joe Mixon yeah, but

6:35

but yeah, they have downgraded in some other spots, particularly defensive tackle.

6:39

Can I jump in right here and this may prove how much I'm choosing to

6:44

trust Demico and Cassario if these picks translate the way I think they project.

6:53

That's the key word, based on what I've seen from some of the veterans

6:57

and the returning members. Add Dalton in there, at Norah Brown in there.

7:01

You know, all the guys on the offensive line that come back healthy,

7:04

like bring everybody back, and let's just suppose that the team will be

7:10

healthier this season than they were last season. Then you add these guys and

7:15

how they project. I think this roster is better overall and deeper overall.

7:25

Are there still holes? Absolutely? And I don't want to say holes.

7:29

Well, I use that term all the time, so I'll keep it. Are there holes? Sure, but I think some of the strengths will compensate

7:36

and cover up some of the holes. You So, I'm saying I trust

7:42

them until they give me reason not to. For those that care about this

7:46

type of thing, the PFF grades are out for are these respective selections.

7:51

Who do you think scored the highest in PFF of these gentlemen that have been

7:58

selected? Lord, excuse me. The Texans draft pick. Yes, I

8:01

don't know. Cabari Lesser, he's your highest pick. He is second Jahad

8:07

Jordan out of Louisville scored the highest. He was eighty seven point nine.

8:11

Lasted with his eighty five point four. Blake Fisher in the second round seventy

8:18

one point one, Kaitlin Bullock, the safety out of Southern California, seventy

8:20

one point five. So I don't know if that does anything for anybody.

8:26

We talk about PFF a lot on your fourth string running back got the highest

8:30

PFF grade. Thanks, So this would be like that would some Texans fans

8:33

are gonna look at that and go, what the hell is the Serao doing?

8:37

Shouldn't the guy that they took in the second round, shouldn't he have the best grade? Don't know, or you know, that whole first round

8:45

pick you had could have taken a player with that as well. Are we

8:48

gonna do this, Sam Gordy. Is Stefan Diggs good at football? Yes?

8:58

Is he better than anybody in his draft right now? He's a better

9:01

players with just the way one year of Stefan Diggs versus five years of a

9:07

Brian Thomas jornive years of unfair. We don't know if Brian Thomas is gonna

9:11

get injured, suspend it flame out well, but you still get five years

9:15

with them? What five years or somebody that can't play is not a great

9:18

thing. So I could push back and say, and what if Stephon Diggs

9:22

resigns, and let me ask you this, would you rather have? And

9:26

let's open up the phone lines on this too. I'm using the word this

9:28

morning trust. And on the backside we'll pivot because I'm gonna see how much

9:31

we trust this group over there at Mini May Park because they're back in action

9:35

tonight as the Cleveland Guardians on town. We'll talk about trust with them too.

9:39

Would I rather have one year and an AFC Championship Game appearance with Stepan

9:43

Diggs or five years worth of Brian Thomas and never get out of the second

9:48

round? Give me, Stephane, you got to be that I outcome have

9:52

to be to ask my question for you. If we're gonna do it,

9:54

we gotta do it both ways. You can't say you get all of the

9:58

benefits of a Brian Thomas or insert the other receiver. But then I'm only

10:01

I'm stuck and I'm confined to just one year Diggs. We got to look

10:05

at the high highs and the low lows. But you don't think there's a

10:09

real chance that Stefon Diggs comes here, has an awesome year, opste hit

10:13

free agency next offseason, and they're stuck with the decision. Do we make

10:16

him one of the highest paid wide receivers that overpay for him, or do

10:20

we say, okay, we're not gonna match whatever some other exorbitant amount of

10:24

money another team's giving. I think there is a possibility that Steph Diggs,

10:28

who essentially was this team's first round pick, play somewhere else in twenty twenty

10:31

five. I'm less concerned about that. What I also am pretty sure of

10:37

is Stefan Diggs is going to make this offense better, and this is an

10:43

offense that has an opportunity to play in a conference championship game. If that

10:48

is accomplished, then it was worth a one year And I'm cool. I'm

10:52

cool giving up a first round pick to go get a guy that gets me

10:56

in a game that this organization has never been in. So I chose to

11:00

trust the decision making of Nick Cassario as well as Demico Rans. Let's take

11:07

phone calls. We'll keep talking to draft and we're gonna pivot on the back end. We all bring up local Feedo's getting called up? Do we trust?

11:13

What the hell Dana Brown and Joe Spotter are doing. I've been thinking

11:16

about this all night, just trying to compare and contrash the two situations seven

11:20

one, three, two two five seven ninety getting warmed up on the Tuesday. Next up continues on your computer. Listen to Sports Talk seven ninety on

11:31

any device with our free iHeartRadio apps. Position flex he's playing in the perimeter

11:37

of the formation. He's played inside the formation. Let's say he plays with

11:43

a let's say a linebacker type mentality. I mean, he's a corner,

11:46

but he tackles, he's tough, he's physical. I'm sure there'll be a

11:52

question about his speed and how fast he ran, but he's not slow.

11:56

So like this speed really wasn't a concern of ours. So the times of

12:00

time. But like we're drafting football players, you know, we're not drafting

12:03

track teams. Going through it, I don't want to General manager Nick Cassario

12:09

after the selection of Kamari Lasster, defensive back out of the University of Georgia.

12:13

We will hear from Mike Griffin. He's with dog Nation covering the Georgia

12:18

Bulldogs. If anybody knows Lassiter's strengths and weaknesses, I'm sure you Mike Griffin

12:24

will be able to share that as well. We start this segment as a

12:28

continuation of the previous segment. Trust. Since the draft has come and gone,

12:33

since Sunday, I've been like, excuse me. Since Saturday, I

12:37

have been thinking like, let me look at this team. Let me try

12:39

and really take a step back and look if the Texans had to do a

12:43

fifty three man roster right now, is this a better football team than the

12:50

last time we saw them. I think the answer is quivocally yes. Are

12:56

there still some areas of concern? Sure? So? I in other words,

13:01

cause Serio and Domico have not done anything in their selections, and really

13:05

let's put them together this off season. For me, I've now seen this

13:09

duo two times through and they have done nothing to deter my trust overall.

13:16

Well, there's some questionable things in there, going back to free agent signings

13:20

and all that. Don't get me going on, Patrick Queen, and why

13:22

the hell would you still seeing San fran Malie Collins if they told you couldn't

13:26

get Armstead. I know you feel some way about training, got to pick

13:30

twenty three, But overall I still trust them, Gordon, this is a

13:35

good football team. You trust everything they do. No, that's why I just that's everything. But in totality, when they did what they did last

13:43

year, yes, of course you're they've earned some trust. But again that

13:46

doesn't in my mind when it comes to a sports league, you don't just

13:50

get carte blanche. You don't. You don't get you know, it's you.

13:54

You're You're constantly having to earn the fans trust. But I do think

13:58

it's okay to have benchmarks to evaluate that trust. So we're coming out of

14:05

a major benchmark, obviously, the NFL Draft, So I go, okay,

14:09

from free agency into the draft. Cassario, Demiko, let me look

14:15

at the salary cap. How we look it. We're in good shape, all right? Draft selections? Did you mortgage the future? Nick Cassario to

14:22

go do right? He didn't do another Will Anderson junior trade this year.

14:24

Now, he tried to get back in the bottom of the first. So

14:28

some people are saying Cassio's a mission to try and get back in the bottom

14:31

of the first is an admission that he shouldn't have traded out of twenty three.

14:35

I'm not there. You did what you needed to do to get you

14:39

a wide receiver to help your young quarterbacks. I'm okay with that. Let's

14:41

just take a position by position real quick. We have some time. Just

14:45

yes or no, is this is a twenty twenty four version better than the

14:48

Texan twenty twenty three version wide receiver. Yes, because of the addition of

14:52

Stefon Deck, no question. And you bring back everybody, I mean everybody

14:56

else is back. So yep, you don't really lose anybody. Offensive line

15:01

Now that one's tough because just simply getting healthy, you're getting better bingo.

15:05

And I do think there's something to this Blake Fisher kid out of Notre Dame,

15:09

the second round right tackle. But I'll say this, George Fan stepped

15:13

in and really played last year. Yes, George Fan's gone. So now

15:16

you you are looking for that sixth offensive tackle, that Charlie Hick or that

15:22

six O lineman that can be that guy. Blake Fisher and David Sharp fight

15:24

it out for the swing tackle spot. And there's a chance none of those

15:28

three is as good as what George Fan gave you last year. Like that,

15:31

that's technically a downgrade. But then again, if Ken your Green comes

15:35

back and he's healthy, okay, that helps. And then if Juice is

15:39

healthy the whole year, Juice and Jared Patterson year, let's keep it fair.

15:45

Let's call the offensive line a watch. So let's call that a same

15:48

tight end. Same yeah, I mean your add but a rookie tight end.

15:54

What do we really? Is he that much of an upgrade and he's

15:56

not even you know, they're gonna start Dalton Chult so sure, and Ivan

16:00

Jordan, a Casario pick, is gonna get every opportunity to do his thing.

16:03

He probably just keep out of a as a wash. Call that a

16:06

wash A quarterback, same thing, I mean, no changes there. I

16:10

still wish they would have, you know, maybe drafted a guy late knowing

16:14

what you haven't Davis Mills in case, Keenum sure running back better not even

16:18

close. Well, I wouldn't say not even close. I've read some articles

16:22

that have said they think that Devin Singletary is like what he gave you last

16:27

year, like you're gonna get probably the same out of Joe Mixon. I

16:32

think Joe Mixon is twice as good as Devin Singletary. And you know what

16:34

tells me that because he's making twice as more, and Demico and Casario chose

16:40

to not only trade for him, but then to give him an extension. Why did the Bengals let him go? They believe that because the Bengals believe

16:45

with Joe Burrow and Higgins and Chase and Boyd is gone. I forget who

16:51

he brought in his boy the Colts running back? Who was they? They

16:55

went and got Zach Brown, Zach Moxcuse me? So like the Bengals?

17:00

Cool? What is a one man's trash is another man's will say slighte up,

17:04

I'm gonna say upgrade, go ahead? Full back is probably just saying

17:07

Troy Harriston and entered back defensive line. Well, let's just say defensive end

17:14

clearly significantly upgraded. Well you say significantly. We like John Grenard Grenad I'm

17:22

gonna say it again for me, uh big man? Well, I don't

17:26

know why I'm losing. I can't say his name? Now? Who am

17:29

I talking about? The Neil Hunter? Thank you? The Neil Hunters twice

17:33

as good as Jonathan Garnard in no disrespect to JG. JG's a good dude

17:37

and he's maximizing where he came into the league and injuries and all that.

17:40

JG's fine. The Neil hunters twice as good as he is. How do I know that because he's making twice as much money. How about the defensive

17:47

tackle down grade? Yeah, no doubt, linebacking core upgrade. Aziz as

17:53

Shay is better than BLAKEE. Cashman. So you had last year. Now

18:00

we got to put Denzel Perryman and Blake Cashman, so you lose he was.

18:07

I'm just putting that grouping together guys who are no longer here. So

18:11

now you have Christian Harris and right now Henry Toatoe. Slate is a strong

18:18

side. Now again, if they're running, you know some of their base

18:22

is only gonna have two linebackers on the field anyway. But you know Alzi's

18:26

shy Aziz al Shire is he a clear definite upgrade over Denzel Perryman and Blake

18:33

Cashman and those guys For me, yes see, I'll say al Share is

18:38

an upgrade over Perryman. But if you're starting Henry Totoa, that's a downgrade

18:44

from what Blake Cashman gave you last year. Blake Cashman games where he had

18:47

like twenty one tackles. I'll say slight downgrade. Maybe we'll say watch,

18:52

I will meet you and say slight downgrade. I'll meet you there. But

18:56

I expect to me go to overcome him and Matt Burke, they'll overcome that.

19:00

What about safety, They've gotten better. See my problem is Jimmy Ward

19:06

is another year older. Jimmy Wad is another year old, and he's been now injured the last two seasons he's been injured. But again, I like

19:12

this kid, this Kayln Bullock and his ball skills out of USC And I'm

19:18

gonna take this time to apologize to Kamari Lassiter. I made the comment yesterday

19:22

on more than one occasion that I was concerned about Kamari Lassiter in run support.

19:27

I was reading the notes for Colin Bullock at safety, who is more

19:33

rangey, a little smaller. He does need to add weight and bulk, but what he does take away to football. Some guys just have a knack.

19:38

He used to have one of those guys. And there are different players.

19:41

But you're gonna understand why I say this. What Honey Badger was He

19:45

just had a knack for being around the ball. He took the ball away

19:48

all the time. Bullock gives me some of that, and I'm just talking about inherent ability to just go get football like him. In the secondary.

19:53

You bring back Petrie second year in the defense, I'm a given benefit of

19:57

the doubt. Jimmy wa all right, cool. I feel better about what

20:02

they got going on in the secondary. At least you lose DeAndre Houston Carson,

20:07

who gave you some valuable minutes last year. But Lonnie john I mean,

20:11

Eric Murray still hanging around, m J. Stewart still hanging around.

20:14

Lonnie Johnson, you add to the room. I don't know. I'll say

20:18

probably same in my opinion, because again, in a perfect world, you're

20:22

starting Petrion with Jimmy Ward and they're the same safeties. But your depth there

20:26

is kind of an unknown with with what Lonnie Johnson and Kaylen Bullock will give

20:30

you. You know, we know who Lonnie Johnson is, we know who

20:33

m J. Stewart is, we know who Eric Murray. All of those

20:36

dudes have started a lot of football games in the league. I'm not saying

20:38

they are started. I'll just say they have their upgrade down grade. I

20:41

would say it's the same and then corner. I think you've downgraded there,

20:45

Corn, I think you are better. I think Stephen Nelson. We're gonna

20:48

see how important Stephen Nelson was to this team. I think Steven Nelson,

20:52

all due respect, is a starting corner in this league. But I think

20:57

Demico and Casira. You'll look at it as where is the upside between Akudah,

21:04

CJ Henderson and Kamar Lassiter. Between those three, somebody will emerge to

21:11

give us more upside than what Steven Nelson was giving us, given he's now

21:17

in his thirties and he's on the back end of his career. Yeah,

21:19

but he he's he had four interceptions for you last year, came up big.

21:26

It's some big spots. I just it felt like I didn't really need

21:29

to worry about him with him instingly playing at their best. I thought they

21:33

did. They did a really good job. I think al Kuda, there's

21:36

a reason why CJ. Henderson and Jeff Akudah both first round picks. Is

21:38

a reason why they were both available, And there's a reason stevens Nelson.

21:42

Excuse me, I was gonna say, Sam Stephen Nelson, there's a reason

21:45

he's still on the street. Yeah, I think his is financial. I

21:48

think he's he's not getting the offers he wants, so he's driving up,

21:51

driving a bargain. But in a perfect world, I would rather have brought

21:55

him back for another year than taking taking a flyer on a know Kuda and

21:57

a CJ. Henderson and who's the other guy, Mike Ford? I think

22:03

I think you've downgraded there now? Can they give you production short? But

22:06

I just know I don't love Steven because he was he was a couple of

22:11

years in every starting corn in this league. Here's the thing too, Stingley

22:14

misses any games, you feel good about this group? I mean I'd call

22:18

this a weakness on the team. No, I don't feel good if if

22:22

if Stingley misses time, excuse me, then yes, I'm concerned because I

22:26

don't think Kamar last, so it should be on the outside and I don't

22:30

necessarily trust CJ. Henderson or Jeff Akuda right now? And then uh fair,

22:34

Baron's back, John Weeks is back. Tommy Townsend probably a slight downgrade

22:38

up punter, he was All Pro two years ago. I'm fine with that,

22:41

but look at how good Tam Johnson was. Johnson was excellent he I

22:44

mean some of those games he kept pinning guys inside the ten, inside the

22:48

twenty. So I'll say slide down grade at punter. But that's getting the

22:51

picky, all right. I want to take you Alan Steve, if you

22:53

guys want to hold we got a guess on the other side. I'll try

22:56

and get you after that, and I want to go down here to Athens.

23:00

Let's talk to my man, Mike griff of dog Nation. Comar less.

23:04

What are we getting here? It's interesting that we ended off on the

23:07

corner spot with about half an hour in here on a Tuesday. Next Up

23:11

is the name of the show, Real Texas Talk and listen to Sports Talk

23:14

seven ninety with your non next up pictures, Tremble with fear. You're right

23:19

all the rest, hold on comfree run over with north Fleet and Gordion.

23:23

Next up Bellies, tremble with hunger. Lunchtime is so close until then shout

23:33

down on more next time. I like what you did right there, Connor,

23:42

welcome back in the next up. I get excited when I hit that

23:45

tip. Takes me back to my days in ga Uh. This is next

23:49

up. I'm Northfleet. That's Gordon Connedy McGovern on the controls over there in

23:53

the exis of time. Let's go to the guest line. Now, let's

23:57

go down there to the state of Georgia. Mike griff on the beat for

24:00

the Dogs, represent dog Nation and the sec Atlanta Journal Constitution, a whole

24:07

bunch of other experience in the Southeastern Conference. Mike Griffin, Good morning to

24:11

you, sir. I appreciate you on short notice. Yeah, man,

24:14

let's talk all right. Kamar Lassida solid player by my eyes. I'm just

24:21

not super excited. Who is he? A lot of people talking about the

24:26

forty time? What do I need to know? Well, let's go with

24:30

a forty time first. So here's here's what's up with that. I think

24:34

Mari had a made a mistake by not running at the combine. He ran

24:37

at Georgia Pro Day instead, and I was talking to I was talking to

24:45

Jim Naggy, a Senior Bowl executive director, and he's like, he made

24:51

a big mistake because the Georgia indoor is about a tenth of the second floor

24:55

than the combine. The combine is a fast it was a fast track this year. So Kamari is probably legit four to four guy, but he ran

25:03

at Georgia Pro Day. Everybody's time of the tenth faster and it was a

25:07

red flag, right because like all of a sudden that you know, you

25:10

don't see that speed, that catch up speed. Look, I don't think

25:14

this guy's a future Pro Bowl guy. I don't, but but he's solid,

25:18

man, Like this is a guy Kirby smart hand pick to take to me. You know, when Kirby takes guys the media day, they got

25:22

to check all the boxes. They gotta be technician, they gotta be fun,

25:26

you know, they gotta be solid character. I mean, like you

25:30

said, this is a solid pick. You know, I don't know again

25:33

about the upside, but I know this guy's a technician. I know he

25:37

sticks his nose in there and run support and I know he doesn't bust.

25:41

Now could could he get beat by some of the best receivers in the league

25:45

one on one probably, But that your scheme for those guys with help anyway,

25:48

So I just I think it's a solid pick. I think it's a

25:51

safe pick. And you know I got this. This guy's This guy's a

25:55

soldier man. I mean, this is one of Georgia's team leader captain,

25:57

kind of guys. So I mean, if they you're getting, I think

26:00

you're getting a rock solid pick there, real quick, simple answer, because

26:03

I want to get to Gordon. Do you like him better on the outside

26:07

can he do that? Or you like him better Nickel on the inside?

26:11

I like him a little better on the outside. You know, I think

26:14

he's got he's got to beef up a little, you know. To me, I'd like to see Kamara get a little bigger, a little more physical,

26:18

and a lot of these Georgia guys that'll happen in the league because because

26:22

they work hard at Georgia. Now they play a lot of football during the week, they have a hard time keeping weight on. I mean, believe

26:26

it or not, the NFL is going to be easier for him than Georgia

26:30

was. I mean, Kirby puts these guys through the ringer. I mean,

26:33

they got bloody Tuesday, they're hitting out, They're hitting every Tuesday,

26:36

they're hitting on Wednesday. You know, the league is gonna you know, they got these classes they got to go to. I mean, the league

26:41

is much much more manageable for these guys than when they're at Georgia. Well,

26:47

what's interesting too, Mike and watching Georgia. I watched all their games

26:49

last year, and obviously with him and Dyalen Everett on the outside, they

26:53

did a good job covering one on one. But people made a big deal

26:56

out of the lack of interceptions. But to me, the way Georgia play

27:00

Tyke Smith at that Star with Javon Bullerd and Malachi Starks, they're really the

27:04

ballhawkers. It seems like they would always be playing underneath, cutting off that

27:08

pass and you know, really getting their hands on the ball before Kamari would

27:14

have a chance to even pick off a ball. Is that a fair assessment?

27:17

Well, this is a real you know, this is a group that doesn't do a whole lot of freelancing. You know, like you said,

27:22

if you look at the interception numbers in general, you're not going to see a lot of picks from any of the Georgia corners. You know, you

27:26

go back and look at Eric Stokes, who was the first round pick.

27:29

You go back and look at Tyson Campbell, I think he was an early

27:33

second round pick. You go back and look at DeAndre Baker. You don't

27:36

you don't see six seven eight interceptions from Georgia dbs that you're right, that's

27:40

not how they play. You know, they play a lot of match they

27:44

call it matches owe but it's essentially you know, press man. But but

27:48

they play matches zone principles. You know, Kirby's going for the havoc,

27:52

he's going for the you know, he's going for the sack, he's going

27:56

for the incompletions, he's going down at distance. They don't they don't play that ben but don't bring style. That's just that's not how they play.

28:02

So I don't think that's necessarily an indictment on Kamari. You know, I

28:06

just think a lot of times they're in manned situations. You know, they're not you know, hanging back there, floating around, and it just doesn't

28:11

present the opportunities. And you can even look at, you know, the

28:14

same defense at Alabama place. You know, some of their top corners.

28:18

You know, you don't see a lot of interceptions in the style of defense. You see a lot of you see a low in you see a low

28:22

third down percentage rate, third down conversion percentage rate on the other team.

28:27

You see high sacks, and you see how I have it. But you

28:30

don't necessarily see a lot of those big turnover numbers when it comes to picks.

28:34

It's the voice of my man, Mike Griffin representing Dog Nation, covering

28:37

the SEC down there with Atlanta General Constitution dropping out the show for just a

28:42

few more minutes. I know, I got to get you out of Mike

28:44

talking Kamari last specifically and how he projects as a Houston Texan. I brought

28:49

this up during our Draft show live and it's just something that's intriguing, and

28:53

I know the parallels exist. Guys. You know, Kirby being a protege

28:57

of Nick Saban, Labama had an issue for years and they still do.

29:03

For as many defensive backs that are highly towded that come through there few of

29:07

those guys translated to you know, all pros at the next level. Minca's

29:12

probably the best recently of that crew. I feel the same way about Georgia.

29:18

You mentioned a couple guys. Tyson Campbell, You're right, was the second round pick. Stokes goes to the Packers the bottom of the first round.

29:23

I believe that was in twenty nineteen. DeAndre Baker is actually a guy

29:26

that comps to Kamari Lassiter. I just how do we explain that Felas why

29:33

doesn't Georgia have guys as good in the secondary as they have everywhere else?

29:40

Receiver, a lineman, linebackers, edge defenders. What's going on in the

29:44

secondary? Well, A couple of teams, A couple theories on that.

29:47

I think, first of all, I think Lewis Sen is awful, specially if he hadn't broke his legs, probably all pro safety. Yeah, I

29:52

think he solid. So here's the way they look at it. When you

29:56

play for a Sabing or Kirby or must Champ, you're going to get the

30:00

developed to the highest level while you're in college, because you're gonna get you

30:04

where some of these other you know that don't have that level of coaching or

30:07

don't have that iron sharpens iron, they might have a little bit more ceiling

30:11

in them that's left that hasn't been coached up yet. So I think maybe

30:15

that's that's the perception. You know, you're getting guys that have already been

30:18

you know, they go to the league. It's not like they're going to learn some new technique. It's not that they're gonna get coached up any better

30:22

than they've already been. Now, the trade off is you're getting an NFL

30:26

ready guy is any guy that's got developing your system for two years. This

30:30

is a guy you're gonna plug and play as a rookie because he's already played

30:33

these complex defenses and he's already played that level of competition that he's going to

30:37

see in the league. So it's a it's a split their stand. I

30:40

mean, I know what you're saying. There's probably That's why I said to you, I didn't think that, you know, Kamari was necessarily a high

30:45

ceiling guy in terms of you know, I don't think he's gonna, you

30:48

know, necessarily bloss him into a you know, multiple all prob. But

30:52

I think this is a guy that you're gonna plug in that's solid. And

30:56

I could be wrong. I mean, he might have more guests left in

30:59

the tank. Let me tell you, I didn't think c J. Stroud would do what he did. I thought, I really didn't. I mean,

31:03

I'm this guy, I'm so excited for him. I'm so happy for

31:07

him because when they played at Georgia, this guy played his ass off man

31:11

all played he all played Georgia. I mean, CJ. Strod was amazing

31:15

in that game. And the question was why haven't we seen this all along?

31:18

And what you got there for a coach in Houston and what happened with

31:22

that franchise and all the excitement. I mean, goy Lee, I just

31:26

never saw that coming. And this is a guy that never won anything in

31:29

the Big Ten and didn't win the title and didn't beat Michigan, and you

31:32

know his personal history, and this cats turned into one of the most exciting

31:36

superstars in the game. Who knows who that's gonna happen for. I mean,

31:40

you played the game, you never know. But what you know about

31:42

this guy is high character, well coached, solid, not going to disappoint

31:48

you in the workouts, not going to disappoint you with his assignments. And

31:52

so I mean, I think the Texans coaching staff feels like they can help

31:55

him take the next step and get what they want out of them. Mike, one last one for you real quick. I love how everybody always does

32:01

the early mock drafts for next year, but we're already seeing Carson Beck highly

32:06

thought of as probably the best quarterback in next year's draft. Him, Quinn

32:09

Yours, a few others. But how good is Carson Beck right now?

32:15

Well, he solves Rubik's cuban under a minute. So you know you got

32:17

a high processor here that goes to the line. I'm serious now, I'm

32:21

not kidding you. I can't believe the guy doesn't have an NIL deal with Ruby Excu. Yeah, right, I mean, like, hey, kid,

32:27

buy this and be a good quarterback. Right, you know you know

32:30

people, you know people would buy that. Trying to help him out here, maybe they don't advertise anymore. Right, I'm just saying I need a

32:37

cut of this. This is my idea. But no, the guy is an incredibly fast processor. He's got an NFL arm, he's got good athleticism.

32:44

He waited his time. I mean he's driving the Lamborghini. I say he deserves it. Guy sat on the bench for three years. He could

32:49

have transferred anywhere and played. You know, That's what I've said. He's

32:52

the most talented Georgia quarterbacks in Stafford. Okay, I mean the guy has

32:57

got a golden arm and all that. We know that he's a talented quarterback.

33:01

What we don't know about Carson is he a championship quarterback. And you

33:06

could have said the same thing about Stafford, by the way, until he went to the Rams. Right, So we're gonna find out if Carson grows

33:13

in that assertive charismatic I mean, we're splitting hairs here, guys. I

33:16

mean, really, I'm getting picky. But in terms of what he does

33:21

athletically with the football in his hands, his ability to read, his ability

33:23

to deliver the ball, decent mobility could get a little bit better this year.

33:29

Yeah, I mean, this guy could be a franchise quarterback. But can he be a championship quarterback? You know last year when they played Alabama

33:35

in the SEC Championship game, y'all all played by Jalen Milroe. It's probably

33:39

the only game that I'd say Jalen Milroe out played him. Man, that's

33:43

another guy. Look at this is a high ceiling guy to me, you

33:46

know, high risk, high reward kind of guy. Can can borrow?

33:50

Maybe be the one? Is it going to be Carson back? I don't

33:53

know these guys are. They're both really good. Quinn yours. You go

33:57

back and look at that Alabama game tape. This guy played the game of

34:00

his life against Alabama to beat the Tide in Tuscaloosi? Can he is he

34:04

gonna get consistent enough? I mean, could somebody else rise from the pack.

34:08

I wonder about Carson. You know, we're gonna find out though,

34:10

because he's got some weapons, he's got an offensive line, and I think

34:15

he'll go into the season as probably one of the Heisland Trophy favorites as well

34:20

as, like you said, a guy that's on the radar is a potential

34:23

one. He could have come out this year and been the fourth quarterback taken

34:25

and got what eighteen million dollars. He negotiated about a four million dollar deal

34:30

to stay at Georgie and bet on himself if he comes out next year and he's one or two and make left thirty millions. So high stakes, high

34:35

rewards with Carson the voice of Mike Griffith. Please follow him on social media.

34:40

Mike Griffith thirty two with the Ajac and dog Nation down there on the

34:45

at Mike, I appreciate a brother. Will continue to follow your work,

34:49

especially now that the Horns and ou make their way over there to that thing

34:53

that Gordy loves so much. Hey, I'm gonna be following you all because

34:58

you know, you know, Alabama wanted to high that Houston coach. You

35:00

know who they they thought, That's who they were gonna get right. You

35:02

know, they thought they were gonna get him. Whoa, whoa, You're

35:07

not talking about the guy wearing the big head set. Yeah, yeah,

35:10

that that's that that was gonna be. That was gonna be playing be Mike,

35:14

Yeah, Mike, we gotta get out of here. Yeah, no way. They thought they were getting the Miko Ryan. They thought. They

35:20

thought. Yes, they did, just like they thought they thought they was

35:22

gonna get in. And then Houston said whoa, whoa, whoa, And

35:25

he said, whoa, whoa. I could do this NFL stuff. Guys.

35:29

I'm telling you, man this that's that franchise you got. I know

35:32

you're excited locally, but nationally, that franchise is moving the needle with that

35:37

cat and that quarterback. That's exciting, no doubt about. Brother. We

35:42

got to move. I know you got stuff you need. Will take a

35:44

break. Let's do it again, Mike, Mike Griffin again, Dog Madison courtesy of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Down in the at L. Let's come

35:51

back. Trust Gordy, I trust the Miko and Casserio. Do you feel

35:57

the same way about Dana Brown, Joe a spot of Jim Crane, Bagwell

36:00

and whoever hell, they contingent that they defer to Joey Lopofitos being called up?

36:06

Is he ready homea Astros baseball Sports Talk seven ninety winn Fleet Streets,

36:12

Houston listens. Yes, I have a great shot, already a huge brand.

36:15

I'm liking your stuff. Stanton north Fleet and Chris Gordy are next up

36:21

on Sports Talk seven ninety. All right, let's wrap up our one here

36:24

in the Sports Talk seven ninety studios gallery and area. Is the low cast

36:28

in Northfleet. Chris Gordy Connedy McGovern thanks to my man Mike Griffith of the

36:34

Atlanta Journal Constitution's Dog Nation covering Georgia football. As Nick Cassario and Demiko went

36:40

and grabbed one of their best DB's in the second round, pick forty two.

36:45

As you know, Kamar a lassiter. For those that didn't hear me,

36:47

do a little bit of me a couple to open up the show.

36:52

I mischaracterize his ability to come up in the run run support, like I

37:00

come from that old school Nick Saban Belichick, Bill Parcells. If your dbs

37:04

can't tackle, you cannot win unless you are just a different, different dude.

37:08

Deon Sanders, Guys, like that Champ Bailey and even Champ would be

37:13

physical in the run game. So anyway, I looked at the notes of

37:16

Kaitlin Bullock out of usc In referencing Kamari last and I went back and listened

37:22

to yesterday's show. So I want to make sure Kamari I apologize. What

37:25

does he called himself the Locksmith? That's his nickname? Okay from Locksmith.

37:30

You're gonna get every opportunity. And I agree with Gordy. If Stingley goes

37:35

down, this thing could get interesting at corner, not knowing what we're gonna

37:39

get from Jeff o'coda and CJ. Henderson, both on their third team now

37:45

respectly. If I can get that out, all right, I wanted to

37:47

do something. Oh I started the show, we were talking about trust,

37:52

do you trust Casario Demico? And so you know I want to pivot here

37:58

because the same question could be at tonight over at minute May Park. The

38:04

Cleveland Guardians are in town. We will begin astros on deck immediately following the

38:08

A team at six PM. And this season we have seen two players get

38:15

called up. They both happen to be pitchers in Blair Henley and Spencer Arenghetty.

38:22

Neither of them were ready to play. Robert Henley was that was a

38:27

necessity. It wasn't like you've earned it, dude, It was we literally

38:30

have no one else. You have to go pitch. But and then then,

38:32

you know what I'm gonna say, there's a reason you didn't have anybody

38:36

else. But I don't want to get sidetracked on that conversation. They're gonna

38:38

do it again, and it was announced yesterday. We did it on this

38:42

show. We have not seen the corresponding move. Who else is being sitt

38:45

down? Trey Cabbage has been optioned back down coming off the international game in

38:50

Mexico City. They still need to send someone else. So Trey Cabbage was

38:53

not the guy. We got to do. Somebody else We will see.

38:57

Will that be John Singleton? Don't know who that might be. We'll find

39:00

out. But Joey Lopafedo, many of you have been clamoring for it.

39:05

He's getting the no. Two part question, Gordion, And we'll get back

39:09

to this around eleven thirty. Do you trust that Dana Brown and joe A.

39:15

Spotta has accurately designated Joey Lopafedo at the right time? To come up

39:22

and try and help this hole that is first base, right now, you

39:24

trust their judgment here, Well, a few things. He's not coming up

39:28

to start a first base every day, so let's get that out of the way. He's going to place it there some m He's still gonna get some

39:32

starts in outfield. I think they're gonna give him some starts of dh Joey

39:37

Lopafedo has experienced all over the field except the left side of the infield and

39:40

catchers, says Kyra Horra in the chronicle. So excuse me, Matt Young.

39:45

So he's gonna get some starts there. But I just want people to temporary expectations. Whoever is still on this roster, whether to Bray or Singleton,

39:51

is still gonna play first base because that's their trade. That's what they

39:55

play. Not a Singleton get sent down. Well, Singleton can't get sent

40:00

down. He's out of options, out of Yeah. I mean, you you're either cutting if you're bringing up Lowprafito and getting rid of Singleton, you're

40:07

cutting Singleton. He's gone. If you're want to part ways and eat all

40:10

the money with Josea Bray you again, I still think I'm doing that I

40:13

would. I would say that's I wouldn't be mad at that as an option.

40:16

But there I don't think they're gonna pull the plug on him just yet.

40:21

So we'll see. They all say, have it out. I mean, they could send Greg Kessinger down, you know, so that that's an

40:27

option. Keep Singleton and a bray you But I just I just want people

40:31

to understand, hose uh low Perfrio's coming up. He's not gonna You're not

40:37

gonna see six days a week him playing first base, So just get that

40:39

out of your head. Is he better? Is he ready now? I'll

40:44

say he's more ready now than he was maybe two weeks ago when people were climbering for him. So you know, that's what I said. I was

40:50

like, get him a good month, get him a good month at Triple A, to get his legs under him, and see how he does.

40:55

Now, he's actually been really good defensively. He's made some nice diving catches

40:59

out there and outfield. So again that's why I said, I think he's

41:01

going to play some games. It's in uh in you know, maybe centerfield

41:05

or left field. But the other part of it is is this stan he

41:09

has thirteen home he just says, thirteenth home run. Now get twenty seven.

41:13

Rbiss at one point one six. It's the most home runs of any

41:16

player in Triple A. It's more home runs than anybody in the big leagues

41:22

right now, Mike trot has ten. You know what's interesting about that note?

41:25

And I know I'm interrupting you, but I want to make sure that

41:28

I get this in right there. The Astros are the only team in the

41:30

majors that don't have a home run from first base. How crazy is that?

41:35

Yeah, I won't shows you how bad it's been, so so that's

41:37

good. So low Perfito's coming in and again it's do do Triple A numbers

41:40

translate to the pros? We're going to find out. But on the other

41:45

side of the stand, he also leads the leads the team in the truckouts.

41:47

He's got thirty seven. So it is boom or bus. If I

41:52

told you tonight that Joey low Perfido is going to go one for four with a home run in three strikeouts, would you take that? I mean that's

41:57

probably because at least not the home run exactly, So you know that's that's

42:00

probably where your expectation should be he's gonna have a lot of swinging miss,

42:05

He's gonna be facing some pretty good, pretty good pictures here for for the

42:08

Cleveland Guardians with Carls Carrasco, Tristan Mackenzie, who's been a thorn in the

42:13

astral side in years past. So it's again I'm not saying. Understand I

42:17

said this before the season. Right, He's not a top one hundred prospect

42:21

in baseball. He's not even one of your top five prospects. He's number

42:23

six. I know your temper in exp the expectation should be, can he

42:28

give you something? Look, staff, he hits better than one hundred. He's better than Jose Brayers. So yeah, you know that's that's where the

42:34

expectation should be. Low Paffito, Uh, He did play first in college

42:38

his freshman year, moved to second base his sophomore year at Douke. Low

42:43

Paffito has started fifty six of his two hundred and seventy six Minor Linger games

42:46

at first base, including seven this year with sugar Land. All right,

42:51

so there's that. Steve Barks was asked about what we can expect from low

42:54

Paffito. He joined that was the Shawn Salisbury Show yesterday morning. I do,

42:59

but let me hear a sparky on what we can expect. Well,

43:02

I would expect he's going to play a lot of first base, you know.

43:05

He makes them very athletic at that position, and he just drives the

43:07

baseball thirteen homers already, but just to gap to gap stuff and the speed

43:13

and all that stuff, but really a lot of times not that athletic of

43:16

a position. So I think it's cool, you know, and you get

43:20

another left handed bat in the lineup. But I think he was very popular.

43:24

I think the guys in the clubhouse during spring training really really like the

43:30

way he went about his business. A lot of people just said just the

43:32

way he went around, he worked, he asked questions, but he listened

43:37

more than anything else. And I think he fit right in because of that.

43:40

Guy's respected him and he played hard. And one thing that I've noticed

43:45

about this team in the last five or six years is if these guys get

43:49

a sense that somebody can help them win baseball games, and they welcome these

43:52

guys, they don't push them off on the side and let them figure things

43:55

out on their own, They're going to make things as comfortable as they can

43:59

for him and see what he can do to help them get over the hump.

44:04

Steve Sparks one half of the Astros Radio network. He and Robert Ford

44:08

do a great job. They will do a great job again tonight live for

44:12

Mini may Park as the Guardians are here for game one of a three game

44:15

set on what he believes they can expect from low Pa Fito. I want

44:20

to come back to that because my overall thought and Gord, I'm gonna put

44:23

this out there and then as we can think about it, you want her

44:25

to get back to it. Eleven o'clock hour. If Lopafilo goes yard tonight,

44:30

people are gonna say, what took so long? So all that trust?

44:34

I was saying Dana Brown in the spot. If you ask me,

44:37

do I trust that combination, which is what we've compared to Demico and Cassarrio,

44:40

obviously the smallest ample size, I would say no, I don't trust

44:45

him. Could this go aways into improving that? Sure? But if he

44:52

plays well, people are going to ask, why did you wait so long?

44:55

Wow? Answer to that is, we give him a month to get

45:00

more seasoning, and that seasoning helped him be good. Now we will see

45:02

many of you making your way over to Mini A Park to night downtown Houston,

45:07

be city in America. Gordy, they're gonna have something readily available cool

45:10

on ice. I presume tonight, Gordy, I think you have some recommendations

45:14

with the people. Well, it's the Crawford boch from Carbock Brewing. I

45:16

serve it all over bit of May Park and you know it. You love

45:20

it when you see it. The tequila sunrise stripes on the can. It

45:22

pairs perfectly with Astros baseball. And whether whatever it is, whether it's Dollar

45:27

Dog Night, whether it's you get some wings from Pluckers or whatever, just

45:30

eating some peanuts, popcorn, cracker jacks, the Crawford bacos perfectly with it.

45:36

It's a home run every time. And h you want to feel good,

45:38

feel great about this Astros team, So go get you some Crawford back

45:42

from Carbock Burwing over there at minime tonight or if you're watching or listening on

45:45

the radio at home, whatever you're doing. At a quick reminder, next

45:49

Friday, we will be out at Carbock Burning with the A team May the

45:52

tenth. They will do their show ahead of Astros Tigers a little bit of

45:57

an earlier start that day, but it will also be teacher Appreciation Day.

46:00

This is next Friday, fifteen percent off for teachers or school administration with their

46:05

issued ID. Come on over and hang out with us at carbuck Bering next

46:07

Friday. Afterward popping over and see us ahead of Astros Tigers and enjoy the

46:12

Crawford boch. Now, what's next? Next stop? It's the nixt man

46:19

up, next stop, the next step, take the next step, next

46:22

up, next stop, next, next up? This team? What would

46:27

be next? This is next up with Tad norfleetten, Chris Gordy. Let's

46:32

see what's next next next? Let's come out of halftime to kick off third

46:38

quarter if you will, certainly the second half, maybe playing the college game.

46:42

Sports Talk seven ninety stand Northfleet is at stan Sportsman on Social. He

46:45

is at Chris Gordy, my radio partner as well as our program director.

46:50

He is at Chris Gordy's previously mentioned that is at Conna dy mcgovernor. Appreciate

46:54

Connor my man c Mac assisting us with our program and in production and needs

47:00

appreciate his pridess. They appreciate all of you hanging out with us. You

47:04

have us preset number one on the audio dial. You can go back and

47:07

listen to the first hour of the program Sports seven ninety dot com as well

47:12

as the free iHeartRadio app. Without further ado, let's go back to the

47:15

guest line. Now, a gentleman that has been no stranger to these airwaves

47:21

at seven ninety most certainly on this show. Jonathan m Alexander on the beat

47:24

of the Houston Chronicle. He has a piece up now scaling this roster,

47:30

evaluating now that the draft has come and gone, how do the piece is

47:34

fit? JMA, Good morning to you. Appreciate you giving us some time

47:37

this morning. Of course, Man, how's it going, fell I can't

47:39

complain first time we're hearing from you post draft. I do want to give

47:44

you credit, Kamari Lassiter, you had in like your first two mocks to

47:49

the Houston Texans. I don't know if that's some intel that you got from

47:52

within the building. I'm not going to ask you to reveal your sources,

47:57

but that was not a why regarded fit for the Texans? Why did you

48:01

like laster to there? Or how do you think he translates now that he's

48:06

into Texas UNI. Yeah, I knew the Texans. You know they have

48:09

an especially in recent history of history of not necessarily she was the best available,

48:15

but going after the needs that they have, and one of the needs

48:19

that they had was counterback. Another one was defensive tackle too. When you

48:22

looked at where the players fit, I knew of some players that they liked,

48:28

and when you looked at where they fit and where they likely fall to

48:31

where they were at number forty two, Kamari Laster made a lot of sense.

48:37

A lot of people had gotten down on him because of a lack of

48:39

speed that he showed at It's pro Da, but he was also going through

48:44

an injury. But when he played at Georgia, he was as solid as

48:50

they came. He allowed only one hundred and thirty six passing yards all season,

48:54

allowed opponents to throw for thirty eight point five percent complete percentage, didn't

49:00

allow a single touchdown his senior year. I think over of course there's three

49:04

year for only allowed two touchdowns, so he was a lot now cornerback.

49:07

He played for a SEC program. Demiko Runs and Nicko Sario love players who

49:12

played for POWERFOP programs to be for particular Love players who plays for the top

49:15

programs. So he just seemed to fit exactly where the text is we're looking

49:20

for in a position that they were going to target. Would you be shocked

49:23

if he ends up starting opposite Derek Singley, I wouldn't be shocked. I

49:30

in fact think that that's what's going to happen Eventually. I think he's going

49:34

to prove that he's the better of the options. Jeff A. Kuda and

49:37

today Henderson certainly has an advantage already having been in the offseason program and they'll

49:45

hal, you know, weeks ahead. However, neither one of those established

49:49

themselves, and they've had the opportunity to establish themselves. Neither one of them

49:52

has established themselves as a starter for the teams that they played for so far.

49:57

So I certainly expect last to committed be the starter, or they would.

50:04

Talking with Jonathan m Alexander Houston Chronicle on the beat for the Texans,

50:07

I'm gonna put you a little bit under the gun here just because you may

50:09

have some mentel that others don't. Three dbs, specifically corners, Well,

50:16

I take that two went before Lassiter. We know that the Eagles and the

50:22

Saints trade up for Cooper de Jean as well as kool Aid McKinstry. Do

50:25

you believe Nick Cassario got caught with his pants down a little bit, or

50:30

even if he would have his brothers, the pick would still be Lassiter.

50:34

Between the Jeene McKinstry and Lassiter, I think it would still be Lassiter at

50:40

that point because I think they could have made a trade up one if they

50:45

had really loved McKinstry. What I do believe is I do believe they tried

50:51

to trade up earlier, and they tried to trade up for one of the

50:53

defensive tackles. Jason Newton was there. He was a guy who also filled

50:58

in the media and need and he had down I thought once it got down

51:02

to number forty one, it was Fromuri Lassiter, who they also liked.

51:07

Like they had a range of players who they liked that in that area,

51:12

and I think Jason Newton definitely, if they could have engineered a trade,

51:15

they would have gotten him. But as far as between m Kinstry and lasted,

51:20

I thought they felt better and number forty two without having to get a

51:22

to give up assets to give me Kinstry. What's fascinating, Jonathan. They

51:27

take Blake Fisher out of Notre Dame in the second round, a former college

51:31

teammate a Jared Patterson, and then in the fourth round they take Kate Stover,

51:35

the former teammate of CJ. Stroud. How much do you think, I mean, obviously it's not completely predicated on this, but do you feel

51:43

like they talked to some of those current players and got evaluations from them on

51:46

their former teammates and how they think they would translate to the next level.

51:50

Absolutely, and Nick Caterio said as much. And I feel like when you

51:54

he looked at they look at c. J. Stroud and even Jared Patterson,

51:59

players who played with during their rookie seasons as people they trust. They're

52:01

going to trust their words and what people say about those players and everything you

52:06

hear about a guy named like Kid Stover who was a team captain for two

52:12

years, including one year with cz Stroud and Blake Fisher, a guy who

52:16

played on a really good offensive line and held it down and I think he

52:21

only gave up one sack all year, if I'm not mistaken. I think

52:24

they use the words of their some of their most trusted players, and they

52:30

trusted what they say and those players like see this drib and Jared Passin said

52:35

nothing but great things about by those stick players, and I think that played

52:37

a huge role in why they drafted him. You mentioned Blake Fisher, and

52:42

we got into it yesterday, Jama this offensive line and you've got your uh,

52:47

you know, roster depth chart that is up here on the chronicle.

52:52

For those that have not seen that, I encourage that you do. Let's

52:55

just the elephant in the room. Is Blake Fisher gonna start at right talking

52:59

for this or is this a developmental opportunity and we're talking a season or two

53:04

down the road. Look, you knew you got guys in the second rounds

53:08

who can come in and start day one, and everything that I've heard about

53:12

Blake Fisher is like he's going to be one of the best immediately. I

53:15

really do believe. To me, thinking logically, the jury is still out

53:22

on Kenyon Green. He has not shown that he's a capable left guard yet.

53:29

Could he sure? But I honestly think that when it comes down to

53:32

it, by week two or week three, we'll probably see some We'll see

53:37

Titus Howard move back to left guard and Blake Fisher started at right tackle because

53:42

I think I think Blake Fisher just based on what I hear, if he

53:45

stays healthy, I hear that he's going to end up being the starter.

53:49

And I think Titus Howard is still one of your best offensive linemens. You

53:52

paid him very well. The Texans is going to want to have the five

53:57

that's out there. Oh juicy, Yeah, that's that's kind of I mean

54:00

we were kicking that around when they made the pick, and and it's one of those things where you go to Titus Howard and say, look, man,

54:05

if you're best served that left guard for us, you got to go

54:07

play that spot. You know, he may not want to do it full

54:10

time, but that may be what's what's best served for him or for the

54:15

team. Uh, give me a thought of some of the other picks. The running back out of Louisville good numbers. Obviously Louisville had a nice season

54:21

last year. But when I look at this depth chart, I mean, you end up making the trade for Joe Mixon, You'll lock him in long

54:27

term before you even play a snap for you. You still have Damian Pierce,

54:30

You bring back Dario oginba walle Uh, what's the what's the ceiling for

54:35

Juar Jordan this year. Is it I mean, is it that he steps

54:37

up in a perfect world, maybe becomes a number two back. Yeah,

54:42

I see him as a backup. I think they're probably gonna give a little

54:46

Damian pitch a little leeway to figure things out and maybe eventually if it doesn't

54:52

work out with Damian Pearce and he does step up, then but I think there's also a special team value with Jordan's as well, and I think they

55:00

see him potentially being a returner. He had two returns. I think we're

55:05

testing one night now, one hundred yards, one one hundred yards. So

55:08

I think the fact that he can do multiple things. He's twenty five years

55:13

will be twenty five years old when the season starts. He's a veteran,

55:15

he's mature. They hope that he won't have too much of a learning per

55:21

I think they see him as a guy who can do multiple things, and

55:24

if things don't work out with Damian Pearson, you have your future option,

55:28

all right. Jonathan m Alexander Houston Chronicle doing this thing with Detexans. I

55:31

want to get you out on this one because I know what you teased on

55:37

social media. Your biggest concern. So, like I said, I trust

55:40

Caceario and Dimico. I don't know where your trust is if you want to

55:45

put a number out of ten or give it a letter grade. However,

55:49

it sounds like they're asking us to trust this interior defensive line position. God

55:54

is uncomfortable with it. I believe you're uncomfortable with it. What can you

55:59

tell let's here on the way out about the interior to the D line and where things stand. And by the time we get to training camp when they

56:06

called the ones, who's going out there? Yeah? So I know that

56:10

the Texans definitely hired Nate Ali assistant defensive line coach. He was defense line

56:16

coach with the Coats and he's probably going to focus on on defensive tackles.

56:24

So I think that they've done I think that he should be able to do

56:28

a good job. However, I do worry about what they what they have

56:32

there at defensive tackle, Tim Settle Junior and uh and Fali Pacha Conti.

56:39

You know, neither one of them were big names in the free agent market,

56:46

didn't have a ton of sacks. I think it's going to take their

56:50

best work. But I think the thing came behind the Texans when they went.

56:52

When they did this defensive line was they were going to build an elite

56:57

edge and piece together the inside. And I think they hope that the edge

57:00

would be so good that it will make up for whatever the deficiencies the defensive

57:07

tackles have. I do think that they'll need to look in free agency as

57:10

as things happen as it gets closer to the season to add more. But

57:16

I am a little bit skeptical because I don't think that they happen enough at

57:21

defense attacks right now. All right, that's the voice of my man,

57:23

John the m Alexander. You follow his work in the chronicle there, please

57:27

follow him on social He is at j O N the letter M. And

57:31

then that is Alexander John m Alexander Houston Chronicle dropped by next up Fleet Gor

57:36

to JMA, we appreciate it, brother, We're gonna ride. Appreciate you

57:39

having it, all right, talk to you. We are up against it.

57:42

Let's come back on the other side. I want to react to some of the things JMA had to say. Let's open up the phone lines for

57:46

the people, y'all trusting What can Sario Demico are put putting down, y'all

57:50

picking up what they putting down Step one three five, seven ninety. This

57:55

is next up with Stain Northfleet, Jeni, Chris Gordy during this next stage

58:01

on Sports Talk seven ninety Welcome to your home of Houston Sports. Next up

58:07

is the name of this show. Forty minutes from now. Matt Thomas and

58:10

Rossvieery Real for the Matt Thomas Show. Thanks everybody that's locked in with us.

58:15

And we just heard from my brother Johnathan m Alexander of the Houston Chronicle.

58:20

Gordon Jay and May says, this blake Fish at right tackle. He

58:25

feels like the two things that stood out the most. He feels like blake

58:30

Fish is gonna end up starting to right tackle for this team, which means

58:32

you gotta do something with Titus Howard, which means if where he's going,

58:38

he's gonna have to go back to the car. I mean, let's let's

58:40

not like we kicked u around yesterday. This is a this is a real

58:45

reality. But yesterday we didn't have a credible source in the building telling us

58:50

that's what he believes is going to we I but think about it was their second pick in this draft. Why would you take a like why would you

58:58

take a tackle? Like I get it, you want to have depth,

59:01

but like, why would you spend that spot when you have other immediate needs

59:06

on a tackle? When you just give money to Titus Howard and Larrmy tollinsil

59:10

In a perfect world, those guys are still playing at the top of their

59:14

game for the next two to three years. Like in other words, they're telling you without telling you. Yes, we don't think, we don't feel

59:20

good about Keny gree we don't feel good about the left guard spot. But

59:22

you know who's played that left guard spot pretty well. It's Titus Howard. So Titus, sorry, luck of the draw. You happen to be a

59:28

versatile guy who can play both right tackle and left guard. But we're probably

59:31

gonna have to lean on you to play left guard because we don't have any

59:34

other good options there. I'm willing to guess Titus was pissed when the Blake

59:37

Fisher when he's looking at his phone and you know, maybe he's watching the

59:42

draft, his white noise in the background, I don't know what he's doing

59:45

with his family or whatever, and it comes out the Texans used a second

59:49

pick, a second round pick on a right tackle, not a guy that

59:53

can play guard or a kick in isi. No, no, no,

59:58

a guy that is a right tackle. Casario said, He's a tackle.

1:00:01

That's what he is, period. So you know LT isn't going anywhere.

1:00:05

So Titus Howard's got to be like, are you bleeping kidding me? I

1:00:08

gotta go through another off season with this mess. It's a business. So

1:00:12

the second thing that Jonathan Alexander highlighted there, and you could go back and

1:00:17

listen to that interview and it's entirely Sports seven ninety dot com or the free

1:00:21

iHeartRadio app. He says he believes Kamar and Lassater will end up being an

1:00:25

outside corner and beating out Jeff Akuda and CJ. Henderson and they're gonna go

1:00:31

with the outside now. Mike Griffith joined us from the Atlanta General Constitution and

1:00:37

Dog Nation. He said he thought Kamar Lassater transitioned better or translates better into

1:00:46

outside. I see a guy on the inside, but we'll see somebody hit

1:00:51

me up. Gordon, did you see this? I don't know if they tagged you in this as well? Who is this? My man? Polo

1:00:54

vision? His point is, hey, guys, so much conversation about Kamar

1:01:00

forty times he brings up he had the fastest three condreel of the entire combine

1:01:07

six point six to two if you're into that type of thing. So the

1:01:09

foot speed not necessarily the deal. The long speed is where even Mike Griffith

1:01:15

said, the ball's gonna go over his head a little bit. But he's

1:01:17

been sticky and coverage enough to be able to make a play on the ball

1:01:21

late. Well, and you know the advanced stats you go by the guys

1:01:24

that Sports Info Solutions said that Kamari Lasser had the best EPA slash target out

1:01:31

of the cornerback class. Now what does that mean. It means expected points

1:01:35

added, So with every target his way, offenses were expected to have gained

1:01:38

negative points. So they actually had him in this metric. He was rated

1:01:42

the number one corner in this group, ahead of Quinnon, Mitchell Cooper de

1:01:45

Jene, Nate Wiggins, Terry, and Arnold Koy McKinstry. Again, it's

1:01:49

just one metric, but that's just how good he is at that cornerback spot.

1:01:53

Jam And may also say it, I'm sorry, finished it thought, well, they you know, look he's a guy. Some people had graded

1:01:58

at the back end of the first round. So if you think of it that way, you got to back into the first round talent in the middle

1:02:04

of the second. Yeah, that guy, if he shows up the camp

1:02:07

and he's ready to go, no offect. I think you put too much

1:02:10

stock in the the also rans they brought in and Jeff Acuda and CJ.

1:02:14

Henderson. I think these. I think if he clicks and he's ready to

1:02:17

go, I have no problem putting putting him in ahead of those guys.

1:02:21

I just watch a lot of football, and my experience in doing such tells

1:02:27

me that right now today, to your point, you said, coming out

1:02:30

of camp, let's see how last of the plays, last of the may

1:02:34

come in and be in the best shape of his life and he's spry and

1:02:37

he doesn't have an issue. Fair point by Mike Griffin that guys that play

1:02:40

for Sabing as well as Jim Harball, as well as Kirby Smart. There

1:02:45

are just some college coaches that implement NFL structure IOWA and what Kirk Ferrence had

1:02:52

done there, a lot of IOWA guys come in and translate immediately to the

1:02:55

National Football League based on what they're being asked to do on Saturday. If

1:03:00

I tell you this, Kamar Lassiter doesn't starting him one, but by later

1:03:04

in the year he's your starting. I just want the best dudes to go

1:03:07

out there, So if he ends up proving to be the best dude, cool, go out there. But if you're asking me today, I like

1:03:13

him better on the inside. We'll see. I also thought because I asked

1:03:16

Jonathan specifically, and Jonathan was one of the first mock drafts that I saw,

1:03:22

and he had it in both of his additions leading into the draft.

1:03:27

Kamar Lassiter that wasn't like a universal selection for the Texans. He knows something,

1:03:34

He's hearing something over there. I'll asked him flat out if they had

1:03:38

it to do again with Cassario, move up and go get Cooper de Gene

1:03:43

or kool Aid McKinstry. His response was, Nope, they got the guy

1:03:47

they liked without having to use the capitol to move up. I wonder how

1:03:52

and we'll never know. I wonder how true that is, because I don't

1:03:58

know many people would have had had Camari ranked ahead of both Cooper the Gen

1:04:02

Cooper de jen falling to the second round, many people he was the best

1:04:05

player available when day two started. According to who the draft knicks, I

1:04:12

bass around a little bit the ESPN guys. All that matters is what they

1:04:15

in the building believe right, I got Alan's been holding for a while.

1:04:18

Let's not do that to Al anymore. Al on the south side. Let's

1:04:20

talk to Texans. Yeah, and uh, that's a great point you made

1:04:27

a while ago about the guy in the building. Just my experience on this

1:04:32

team man, since day one. Stand. I ain't talking about two thousand

1:04:36

and fifteen. I'm talking about all the way to day won when they had

1:04:41

all And the thing about this heals, I don't too much put stock in

1:04:45

reporters from the building. I don't care where he is now. Yet he

1:04:48

had this, that and the third. He cannot tell me that starting coner

1:04:53

for the Houston tex in twenty twenty four, I don't think he did.

1:04:55

Meek on Ryan. So I digress from that. It hadn't even started spring

1:04:59

trend, any hitting drills. We don't know. Somebody could get it.

1:05:01

It don't matter. So I digress from that point. That stuff, how

1:05:06

many times saying you can ask for this Hills, when did the esp ND

1:05:12

the nay says, even in Houston even outside of Houston. Had the Texans

1:05:16

projecting last year, just give me a number. They didn't have many playoffs

1:05:26

deals, No, no, no, they had the Taxis with five wins.

1:05:28

That was over undercoming end. It opened that five and a half and

1:05:31

then it went up to like six or maybe yeah, opened that five and

1:05:34

a half and it went up to six and a half. So you know

1:05:38

what that tell me. All that draft and all that mock stuff, it

1:05:43

was washed because they over over achieved. Now just get real quick on this

1:05:47

draft. I'm not knocking the d line because I heard somebody say, this

1:05:53

old school player say, you know, with that much pressure to me go

1:05:57

bringing off the edge of stands, its gonna be it. You know,

1:06:00

the inside will be a lot easier. And this is the thing which we

1:06:04

got to realize before last year. Staying we was like thirty two, thirty

1:06:10

one, thirtieth. Then stopping the run. People have forgot we dropped all

1:06:14

the way and the teams stopping a run. And even if you do go

1:06:17

back in there with that upfront, but look at the look at the edge

1:06:20

of rush, as you you added, can be in the backfield, tackles,

1:06:25

tackles for loss can get back there a lot. It's a lot gonna

1:06:28

be a lot different now because you got another year, Anderson. You got

1:06:30

these guys on the edges that can move around, go up to the eight

1:06:34

gap. You're gonna have a different speed of lines. So I'm not tripping

1:06:39

on the deal. In defensive back, they gonna have a little bit easier

1:06:42

job because what you've done, you bought a lot of pressure on them ends.

1:06:45

And we know that helps defensive back. So I give hey, you

1:06:49

know what I'm saying, just the luoss of it. Can't just look at

1:06:51

the player on the jersey, this guy in it. You gotta look at

1:06:55

the hunter. You gotta look at Will Anderson. Yeah that, and you

1:07:00

can send your boy your boy you like the linebacker, you can send him

1:07:03

in a blitz or player. You got dudes that's gonna call these ain't no

1:07:08

just regular dudes. Stand And I don't think we highlighted enough the edges that

1:07:12

the Texans got. We're looking at all pro type, tallible player and you

1:07:16

talking about coming up and when that blag hit the ball, hit the quarterback

1:07:19

hands, you're gonna have to be on the move. And you didn't.

1:07:24

Really we got burned yet. That dude and what's it Indiopolis. He burned

1:07:27

us a little bit running back, but for us to take that step we

1:07:30

took in a running game this year past year that we had stopping to run.

1:07:34

But I like the guys, the Mico guys. You know why,

1:07:36

because I think the Mico didn't look at too much of the jersey. He

1:07:40

wanted swarming, physical guys, meaning that we needed to tackle better stand because

1:07:44

a lot of them guys plays. He had called them dudes miss tackles.

1:07:47

If you can remember all I do, and I appreciate your passion, I

1:07:50

do remember miss tackles were an issue, and yes, gramatically, I think

1:07:55

they want to do some different things where there's gonna be a heavier emphasis on

1:07:58

the perimeter of the d defensive line, those guys coming off the edge.

1:08:00

We could talk some more about that, Gordon, because I know you have

1:08:02

some additional thoughts on Texans and the way too early twenty twenty five mock drafts.

1:08:09

What do the draft nicks say the Texans will need to add to the

1:08:13

roster. How deep in the playoffs do they anticipate the Taxans will run.

1:08:15

We'll do that on the other side and talk some more about trust lowal Fito

1:08:19

getting called up over at min and May Park tonight Sports Talk seven ninety to

1:08:24

the next to the dirt Rove. But this is next up. You've kind

1:08:27

of hit on everything I wanted to say with Stan Norfleet and Chris Gordy on

1:08:32

Sports Talk seven ninety. All right, about twenty five minutes, Matt Thomas

1:08:35

and Ross Viria are gonna come into this room and do to Matt Thomas Show

1:08:39

from noon to three. Appreciate those brothers for doing that. Then I see

1:08:43

Joel Spott is gonna join them at twelve thirty. Believe I saw that on

1:08:45

the rundown. It's every Tuesday. Yeah, so see what the manager has

1:08:49

to say. We will talk more astros as we bounce around h Town in

1:08:54

this segment and get ready to wrap things up. Let's finish off these Texans

1:08:57

nuggets, shall we. I think that I'm gonna trust Nick and Domenico.

1:09:08

They haven't given me reason not to. That mean I agree with everything,

1:09:12

and I think we gotta go through another off season of what is this?

1:09:15

What are the best five offensive linemen? Then I think we go stylistically defensively.

1:09:24

Did they do enough at corner and will not fortifying the interior of that

1:09:30

defensive line. When you lose Rankings and Collins from last season, will that

1:09:35

come back to bite him? An ass I wonder at my man l on

1:09:40

the south side of the city called in Gordon as you heard, and he

1:09:44

says he's thinking with Will Anderson Jr. Danil Hunter and Deniko Archery, they

1:09:50

may put more emphasis on the ends and linebackers improving their play and expecting a

1:09:58

little bit less just because they're not as talented as Malie Collins and Sheldon Rankins

1:10:02

from that interior spot. Schematically, he could be onto something. Now,

1:10:06

I mean that sounds good, but you know what if what if a team?

1:10:12

What if you face the teams with really good running backs and they're just

1:10:15

gashy up the middle. I mean, then what do you do? So I think the sheer mass of Faticassi coming over from Jacksonville. They didn't have

1:10:23

that guy last year. And I think Aziz al Shia plays more downhill,

1:10:29

more physical in the run game compared to a Blake Cashman. Now, one

1:10:33

of the things that Denzel Pearaman could do was he could get down in there

1:10:38

and thump and put his face. We call to put your face in the

1:10:41

fan, it means boom, I'm want to go down the middle. I

1:10:44

can't say it that way because some of you are immature. Anyway, I want to strike a man in the face and make him go backwards. Right

1:10:49

pairman got nicked up, missed some time, and so you got that.

1:10:54

But if Christian has can pick up where he left off and Aziz al Shia

1:10:58

can fill in, and maybe knowing and understanding nuances of the defense can elevate

1:11:02

that crew, maybe Henry to Toad cuts it on. Maybe Demico has seen

1:11:08

enough in six starts this season that he feels Henry, who was a slight

1:11:12

failed If I'm being honest at the position, maybe they feel like Henry can

1:11:15

give him some and as a linebacker room they would look better. The Jaguars

1:11:20

were ninth in the league and stopping the run last year. That's where Soonokossi

1:11:26

comes from. And then the Titans were middle of the pack. You know,

1:11:32

or al Shaire was playing and Grety he's playing linebacker. But the Texans

1:11:36

were sixth in the league last year. Ninety six yards pignificant improvement, and

1:11:41

again a big reason for that is because of what Molly Collins and Sheldon Racketts

1:11:45

were doing for you upfront. So yeah, I don't know, man.

1:11:49

I mean, we know the schedule is gonna get a lot tougher. You

1:11:51

know you're gonna play the Baltimore Ravens, who're gonna run Derick Henry. Action.

1:11:56

Yes, she did a good job of stopping Derrick Henry twice last year

1:11:59

of the Titans, But Derrick Henry of the Ravens may come at you a

1:12:01

little bit differently, especially when you got to worry about Lamar and get out

1:12:05

the edge and all that stuff. Cowboys bring back Zeke not worried about him.

1:12:11

Who the Packers signed. They got one of the one of the good

1:12:14

running backs out there. I'm just kind of running through it to see,

1:12:17

like, you know what good running backs you're gonna face next year. See

1:12:23

to me, it doesn't matter. There's not a runner in this league that

1:12:26

I believe Domico and his game plan shouldn't come back because he saw it.

1:12:30

The proof is in the pudding. They gave up less than one hundred yards

1:12:34

on the ground. They went from one of the historically worst defenses run defenses

1:12:39

in the history of the league to Domico shows up and now they're in the

1:12:44

top put two of your best pieces and stopping the runner. Gone down. But now I've improved my linebacker play and my edge play, and I didn't

1:12:53

have Jimmy Ward. Don't know if I'm gonna have Jimmy Ward the majority of

1:12:57

season anyway. Yeah, I just I think it starts up front. And

1:13:00

you know, again it's we're just talking a simple you know what they give

1:13:03

up last year off to looking at yards per carry, So if it was

1:13:10

ninety six rushing yards per game, I'll go look at yards per carry.

1:13:13

But let's just say that increases by a yard and a half this year.

1:13:16

That's huge, yeah, or yard and it's you know, you're giving up

1:13:20

five four four and a half yards five yards of carry. That's a significant

1:13:24

steal. I just I'm just saying, like, if it gets that bad,

1:13:28

what do you do? Then nail Hunter and well Anderson aren't helping that.

1:13:30

They're on the edge standing going. You know, your end should be

1:13:33

able to set the edge for you, and then your end should be able

1:13:36

to fall inside and aid in the inside run game as well. They aren't

1:13:42

just flying And now I know they're playing the wide nine alignment and all of

1:13:45

that, but you aren't just reckless abandoned unless Demko is going to pivot off

1:13:49

of the installation of how he wants to articulate and demand from his defense.

1:13:56

Maybe he's gonna tell him, hey, look, guys, Interel, you

1:13:58

guys do what you can. Hold the point, try and anchor Ian's linebackers.

1:14:02

We're going to react to the run on the way to the quarterback,

1:14:05

and we're just gonna get the bleep out the quarterback as much as possible.

1:14:09

We're gonna make teams one dimensional, and then we'll choke them out and do

1:14:12

that later. I don't know the season finale against the Colts. Jonathan Taylor

1:14:15

ran for one hundred and eighty years, so you know you're gonna see him

1:14:17

twice this year. So just one of those things to think about. You're

1:14:21

worried about the run defense on this team, I'm worried about I'm worried about

1:14:26

the tackles and your defensive tackles, and if they're not good, it's a

1:14:30

clear downgrade from last year because you're settled on Tim Settle. Uh huh.

1:14:33

There, it's gonna be a problem again. We can get all excited about

1:14:38

the the addition of Daniel Hunter and Will Anderson in year two. Yes,

1:14:43

but if teams say we're not gonna throw it forty times against you, were

1:14:45

gonna run it and they're gashing you, then what do you do? Then

1:14:49

the second you sell out load the box, they come up and play action

1:14:54

over the top on you. I'm not worried about it. They got Demigo

1:14:58

Ryance, we have Okay, we can say what Demiko rans. It doesn't

1:15:00

solve, It doesn't mean I'm sorry Denico. Is Demiko suiting up? Is

1:15:05

he gonna go out there and help stop the run? Because all I'm telling

1:15:09

you is they were were You say they were the sixth best team in the

1:15:12

league from a yardage standpoint over the course of a game, on a per

1:15:15

game basis, I can see that hovering around that same space. I don't

1:15:19

think they're gonna go from six to sixteenth in the league. I don't think

1:15:23

they're gonna be an average of below. I'm just saying I don't believe that

1:15:26

Molly Collins and Sheldon Rankins are twice the players of Faticassi and Tim Settle and

1:15:31

Khalil Davis and Mario Edwards. And you know we'll see if Deniko Autry they

1:15:35

play him mostly in terior jersey numbers are out. Kamari Lasserter He's gonna rock

1:15:42

fourteen. Blake Fisher fifty seven at right tackle, Kaylen Bullock at safety.

1:15:47

He's gonna wear forty one to start, Jamal Hill fifty six, Solomon Bird

1:15:51

fifty, Marcus Harris fifty nine, jehar Jordan forty two as a running back,

1:15:58

forty two for a running back. This is the number they give you when you get in if you make the team. Fourteen last of there was

1:16:02

thirteen in college. He's gonna wear fourteen here. And then the other second

1:16:09

round pick, Blake Fisher wore fifty four in college. He's gonna wear fifty

1:16:13

seventy. I don't care about the lineman. I'm not buying this jersey. All right, let's come back. I'm gonna stick with the Texans theme MAK

1:16:19

twenty twenty five, way too early. Where do they have the Texans at?

1:16:24

And then let's take another look at the astros. Hunter Brown on the

1:16:27

bump tonight, oh for four is a start of nine point six eight e

1:16:30

R versus Carlo Carrasco. Carlos Carrasco, excuse me, he's one or two

1:16:35

on the year. Guardians in Town. Let's wrap up here on the twoesay

1:16:39

Sports Talk seven ninety do it again, Onto done, Next tex As.

1:16:48

More of Next Up continues now on Sports Talk seven ninety home of your World

1:16:55

champion Houston Astros. All right, fleen to get ready to get up out

1:17:00

of here on a Tuesday. Uh, let's button up a couple of things,

1:17:03

shall we, gentlemen? Uh? We were talking about the Texans.

1:17:08

Oh, I did see Fox Sports, the NFL crew NFL on Fox they

1:17:13

gave out team grades for the draft. I told you yesterday I was kind

1:17:17

of C plus, maybe B minus. That's where Fox came in at.

1:17:23

They gave the Texans a C plus, the Colts got a B minus,

1:17:27

Titans got a B minus, and Jacksonville got a B minus. Who do

1:17:32

we? How are you gonna give out a real draft grade? Though you'll

1:17:36

know, you'll know what some of these guys are. Let me hear.

1:17:39

Don't we have Mail Kuiper in there? I thought I saw Mail Kiper in

1:17:42

there. Meil went through his thing on one of the shows yesterday. I'll

1:17:45

catching you off guard. Kind I apologize, Kyper. Tell me how you

1:17:47

evaluate this Texans draft, it's a little linkedy, but for Kipe, I

1:17:51

make an exception. Well, I like a lot of whether. I like

1:17:54

the players they drafted. Field, Kamari Lasso or I had talked a lot

1:17:58

about on this podcast. He's in the hip hocket of those receivers. He

1:18:01

plays a physical brand of football. Yes, he didn't run four four five.

1:18:04

Who the hell cares? These forty times drives me crazy. Field A

1:18:09

four to five is a bad forty time? Now is how do you play?

1:18:13

You can play. You can run a four to five and still play

1:18:15

faster. You can run four to fourd played up a four to six. Guy Blake Fisher, had he been back at Notre Dame for another year,

1:18:21

would have been a guy we were raving about. Kaylen Bullock. I know

1:18:25

Matt Miller and you talked about him a lot. I'm not as high on

1:18:28

him, but the third round that's not bad. I love Kane Stover,

1:18:30

former linebacker, defensive player at two hundred and sixty five pounds, round of

1:18:33

four to sixty five, caught the ball block. He's kind of a throwback

1:18:38

type of player. The Texan fans are gonna love and guess what. C

1:18:41

J. Strouds reunited with Katee Stover. I love that that they did that.

1:18:45

They didn't forget about one of c J. Stroud's key guys in Kine

1:18:48

Stover. Then you know, later in the draft, I thought Jamar Jordan

1:18:53

could be this year as Keaton Mitchell. I didn't think he'd run a four

1:18:56

five sixth all he might run a four to four. He didn't, but

1:18:59

he played fast at Louisville. He was a home run hitting back or catch

1:19:02

the ball out of the backfield. Then you get a Marcus Harris Lade.

1:19:05

At one point in time, we were talking about Marcus Harris maybe third or

1:19:08

fourth round. So I just thought they got some good football players. But

1:19:11

I thought some of those guys early were a little underrated, Kamari Laster being

1:19:15

one of those. And I really think that Cad Stover is going to be

1:19:17

a key guy for CJ. STROWND. So both sides of the ball,

1:19:20

they got help for a team that is ready to roll maybe into the Super

1:19:24

Bowl, who knows. Oh the last part, I like Texas may be

1:19:28

ready to roll right into the Super Bowl, roll right in with the Chiefs,

1:19:32

the Bills, the Ravens being scary, they should be afraid of in

1:19:39

the NFC. Yeah, I go, I'll roll right in. We have

1:19:43

CJD. Don Okay, Yeah, they got Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson,

1:19:46

Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes. Joe Burrows got some different toys this time around.

1:19:50

He didn't have his same cast and characters. Jamar Chase Boy him gone,

1:19:57

Joe Mixon him gone. Offensive line look a different. Let's see what

1:20:01

Joey b has to offer that upgrade of those one. They added our memes

1:20:06

right, yeah, memes out of Georgia, big mountain of a man as

1:20:11

well. Oh, drafted the Jamaine Burton, former Georgia wide receiver. Yeah,

1:20:15

like life for that. Yeah, Burton's a good player like that. Oh, speaking of wide receivers and I were talking about this, there was

1:20:20

just an update in the division because the Jaguars drafted Brian Thomas, junior wide

1:20:28

receiver out of your LSU. They cut Jay Jones him gone, thought Jason

1:20:34

Jay Jones was a good little player, but he was released today within the

1:20:40

division. As we forecast what the twenty twenty five Mott Draft would look like.

1:20:45

Obviously the results of the twenty twenty four season, the Houston Texans come

1:20:49

in according to the thirty thirteen Houston Texans come in at pick ironically picked twenty

1:21:00

three, again Gordon. So they have the Texans basically winning a playoff game

1:21:04

and then that's it. The Texans are stuck in between the Dolphins at twenty

1:21:11

two and the Cowboys at twenty four. The thirty third Teams Way Too Early

1:21:16

Mott Draft had the Texans that picked twenty three selecting Denzel Burke quarterback excuse me,

1:21:23

cornerback Ohio State. It's so silly, you don't know, you don't

1:21:28

know where these teams are gonna be call this year. Thing could change eighteen times, all right. The number one overall pick, according to the Way

1:21:34

Too Early mindraf James Pierce, junior defensive end edge defender at the University of

1:21:41

Tennessee. That's a large jump. I mean, like, I like James

1:21:45

Pearce. He was one of the leading sackers in the SEC this past year.

1:21:47

But I'm not like, I gotta see more. I am to say

1:21:51

the top pick in the draft, to say Jadevian Clowney, I mean to

1:21:55

say, you know, like what the Long kids or Chris Long with number

1:22:00

two overall when he came out you're talking about the boats of farms the kids.

1:22:02

Yeah, I mean he's fine. Harold Perkins, you got a LSU

1:22:06

down there at eight. The thing that jumped out to me the most is

1:22:10

actually, should Dors Sanders Dion's kid to the Giants at number two overall?

1:22:15

I don't look like, how is he? I don't know. I'm so

1:22:19

torn on him because he was exciting to watch when the schedule was soft last

1:22:27

year, and then when we saw that schedule they got in the thick of

1:22:30

that Pac twelve schedule, things got ugly. Well, I'm gonna say for

1:22:35

him specifically, when Travis Hunter missed those games, whatever it was, the

1:22:40

last lacerated kid he or whatever that hurt them, and then that offensive line

1:22:45

was embarrassing. So I'm gonna give him a little bit of anefit out now.

1:22:48

I don't see a guy that's number two overall. I don't like that

1:22:51

projection. He's the favorite to win the Heisman right now according to some people.

1:22:56

I think DraftKings put out Heisman favorites and Shadua Sanders was number one,

1:23:00

Like what are we doing? Their schedule will get will get interesting because you

1:23:04

go from playing a PAC twelve schedule that was loaded with talent last year to

1:23:09

now a big, big twelve schedule that includes this is so weird to say

1:23:14

it's a big twelve schedule. They get Colorado or they get Baylor, UCF,

1:23:17

Kansas State, Arizona, Cincinnati, Texas Tech, Utah, Kansas and

1:23:21

Oakie State. It's just that's weird to say that Utah's in there and Arizona's

1:23:27

in there. UCF, can we bookmark this for tomorrow? I'm sorry,

1:23:30

I'm just looking at a note. This is according to Warren shop. I

1:23:33

heard everything you just said, gord It, but I'm thinking, you know

1:23:36

how I do? I think, oh yeah, I'm just again like I

1:23:39

like your door. But let's yeah. The number two overall is he can't

1:23:43

he can't be he can't be Washington State in Arizona. But he's gonna come

1:23:46

in the NFL and beat the Falcons and the Buccaneers. You know, that's

1:23:48

that's just where it's like you. He has to take a big step forward

1:23:53

this year, warn Sharp of Sharp Analytics. The fifteen largest cap hits through

1:23:59

this season, Deshaun Watson's cap hit is sixty three point eight million dollars.

1:24:03

Right now, God love him number one in the league, Dak Prescott number

1:24:06

two at fifty five and a half. And you saw the other thing that

1:24:11

put out there. I was getting ready to go to it, and we closed the books on that turn. Well, some people are pushing back,

1:24:15

saying next year's fifth round pick, there's one more pick left from the way

1:24:19

that Cassio has flipped it. But the bulk of the Watson return is already

1:24:26

in house. I had that out here. I had it up here somewhere

1:24:28

early here. It is the Watson trade, Kenyon Green, Damian Pierce,

1:24:33

will Anderson, Junior Tank Dale, Kamari Lasseter and maybe a fifth round pick

1:24:39

next year. Was it worth it? I would say, in trusting Cassario

1:24:43

and Demiko. Nick got us about as good as you can get out of

1:24:46

that. Yeah. Go ask Cleveland fans if they think they won that trend.

1:24:49

All right, Gotta get ready to get up out of here. Oh, I saw last note. I promised there were someone in to roll with

1:24:54

Joe Flacco again. Houston Rockets Raphael Stone finished tied for four in the NBA's

1:25:00

Executive of the Year Award. Ropes. Stone finished with three of the third

1:25:05

most first placed votes, so congratulations to the Rockets. Roephaeslstone over there all

1:25:11

right, got to do it for us. Connedy McGovern, Gordon, flee

1:25:14

all of you Houston that allows us to do this thing called next Up. Astros in action tonight over at min in May Park, I may pull up

1:25:20

guardians in town. Good luck, best wishes to Joey little Paffito. God

1:25:24

willing will do it again tomorrow. Let's talk some astros. Joe spot on

1:25:28

with the Matt Thomashell coming right your way. God willing will do it again. I'll be well.