Nick Caserio on why the Texans brought back Jadeveon Clowney

Summary

---

Payne & Pendergast Episode Summary

Episode: Nick Caserio on why the Texans brought back Jadeveon Clowney
Date: August 5, 2026
Hosts: Seth Payne & Sean Pendergast
Guest: Nick Caserio, Houston Texans GM

---

Episode Overview

This episode centers on Houston Texans General Manager Nick Caserio, who joins Seth and Sean to discuss major developments from Texans training camp—including insights on quarterback CJ Stroud’s development and contract talks, as well as the motivations and expectations behind the team’s decision to bring Jadeveon Clowney back to Houston. Additionally, the episode provides a detailed update on wide receiver Tank Dell’s recovery and a lively breakdown of roster battles and training camp storylines.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. CJ Stroud’s Training Camp Performance & Evolution

Timestamps: [01:38]–[05:20]

• Decision-Making Maturity: Caserio emphasizes steady progress in Stroud’s decision-making and communication, noting both his command of the offense and the increasingly seamless interactions with receivers and offensive linemen.

  • Quote:
    “He’s really done a good job. I think he’s embraced the ownership of the offense, the communication … that's the most critical component of offensive football.”
    —Nick Caserio [02:24]

• Receiver Chemistry & Execution: The hosts observe that miscommunications in camp are less about inaccuracy from Stroud and more about young receivers adapting and getting comfortable, especially as Nico Collins' role demands more defensive attention.

• Process Over Results: The hosts, along with Caserio, agree that the offensive “process is right” even when plays aren’t completed, highlighting growth over the previous camp.

---

2. CJ Stroud’s Contract Situation

Timestamps: [06:05]–[15:22]

• Open Communication Philosophy: Caserio reiterates the Texans’ commitment to transparency and professionalism in contract talks, aiming for “honest” and “real” interactions.

  • Quote:
    “The most important thing is just be honest, be real, keep the lines of communication open and be respectful to the other party. And if you get a resolution, great. If you don't, … maybe [it] takes place at a later point.”
    —Nick Caserio [06:42]

• Market Dynamics & Uncertainties: Discussion ensues on the timing of an extension, quarterback market movements, and the impact of perceptions both inside and outside the building. The hosts debate locking in an extension now versus later, referencing upcoming deals for other young quarterbacks.

• External Perceptions: The episode touches on league/executive rankings and perceptions of Stroud—how postseason narratives and national TV games drive outside opinions, not always reflecting internal evaluations or actual progress.

---

3. Jadeveon Clowney’s Return: Motivations & Expectations

Timestamps: [15:22]–[29:37]

Why Now? Team Building & Defensive Depth

• Role Definition: Caserio describes how the Texans identified a need for a third rotational pass rusher and monitored Clowney’s market, ultimately leveraging mutual interest to finalize the reunion.

  • Quote:
    “We felt we were going to add at some point … JD was a player who we had some conversations with… there was some level of mutual interest. It kind of worked out. It says a lot about Jadeveon that he wanted to be here…”
    —Nick Caserio [15:48]

• Positive Traits:

  • Clowney’s disruptive ability (“pain in the ass”)
  • Flexibility to rotate and keep Anderson/Hunter fresh
  • Still retains elite physical traits and effort level

Debunking the "Doesn’t Play Hard" Narrative

Timestamps: [20:30]–[22:07]

• The hosts and Caserio defend Clowney’s motor, citing specific plays where his hustle and sideline-to-sideline speed were apparent.
  • Quote:
    “He plays with good effort. I’m not really sure he runs well. So the ability to close space... whoever walks in that defensive meeting room, if you don’t play hard and compete, you’re probably not going to last very long.”
    —Nick Caserio [20:42]

Maturity & Changes Since First Stint

Timestamps: [22:24]–[27:38]

• Clowney’s Growth:

  • Clowney admits his attitude and approach have changed since his Houston rookie years. He attributes it to experience, learning to “grow up,” and the positive energy from Coach DeMeco Ryans and staff.

    • Quote:
      “The building changed a lot. In a good way. ... It’s a lot easier, a lot relaxing…when I signed back. That’s because of D’Amico ... [he] put a lot of great guys around him.”
      —Jadeveon Clowney [22:30]

  • Clowney values being at camp from the start, a rarity in his recent career, to truly integrate, learn the scheme, and set the tone for the season—a contrast to “learning on the fly” in prior years.

    • Quote:
      “I just said, Let me just go to this training camp with these guys and grind with them so they know I ain’t just here for no play around…”
      —Clowney [27:04]

Clowney & Bill O'Brien: Parting Reflections

Timestamps: [30:11]–[31:24]

• Clowney candidly addresses his friction with former coach Bill O’Brien and what the 2019 trade meant for his personal development.

  - **Quote:**  
    “I always say... It don’t matter. They pick me up on the moon to play football, I can do that... It was just O’Brien at the time. Me and him bumped heads and I couldn’t really understand... I was just taking people’s advice instead of really looking in the mirror, trying to figure myself out.”  
    —Clowney [30:11]
  

• The hosts reflect that the trade may have benefited both Clowney’s career and personal growth. They juxtapose his situation with other Houston athletes.

---

4. Tank Dell Update: Rehabilitation & Return Timeline

Timestamps: [37:55]–[41:48]

• Slow, Measured Progress: Dell is ramping up post-rehab activity but is not fully participating in drills yet. The Texans are cautious with his comeback, emphasizing the need for mental and physical benchmarks before game action.

  • Quote:
    “At some point he’ll graduate to going into more drills … At some point, whenever that takes place, we’re probably going to at least need to see him go out there in a game in some capacity…”
    —Nick Caserio [38:25]

• Preseason Possibility: Caserio is non-committal about Dell’s preseason participation; goal is to ensure Dell is comfortable and not rushing back from his significant injury.

  • “Sometimes … there’s just a little bit of maybe a mental block that you want to … you’re graduating to the next step.”
    —Nick Caserio [39:19]

• Analogy to NASA’s Artemis II: The hosts liken Dell’s recovery to NASA’s careful approach with space missions: every system must be a “go.”

---

5. Roster Battles, Scheme, and Organizational Culture

Timestamps: [28:01]–[29:37], [41:48]–[46:57]

• Defensive End Depth: Clowney’s signing signals to younger players (Solomon Byrd, Dylan Horton, Dominique Robinson) that jobs must be earned—stoking competition for DL depth.

• Team Culture: Clowney and others point out a lighter, more player-friendly culture under DeMeco Ryans compared to Bill O’Brien, fostering ownership and accountability.

• Inside Jokes & Roster Trivia: The hosts display their camp expertise with player number quizzes and lighthearted commentary on both the seriousness and fun of camp life and culture.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Stroud’s Development:
  “Football is a simple game sometimes that we make hard.” —Nick Caserio [02:24]

• On Defensive Line “Nightmare”:
  “If it’s third and 12 and you’ve got Will Anderson, Daniel Hunter, and Jadeveon Clowney all out there … there’s very few offensive lines that have good answers for that.” —Landry [20:24]

• On Clowney’s Mindset:
  “I just said, let me just go to this training camp with these guys and grind with them so they know I ain’t just here for no play around. I’m here to work with these guys and get to know them, build a relationship …” —Clowney [27:04]

• On Former Coach O’Brien:
  “It was just o’ Brien at the time. Me and him bumped heads and I couldn't really understand because I was an easygoing guy … as I got older, I started saying, just take care of yourself finally …” —Clowney [30:25]

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:24] Nick Caserio on CJ Stroud’s growing command and chemistry
• [06:42] Caserio on contract philosophy and player relations
• [15:48] Caserio on why the Texans pursued Clowney
• [20:42] Caserio and hosts debunk “Clowney doesn’t play hard”
• [22:30] Clowney talks about organizational and personal change
• [27:04] Clowney on choosing to go through camp and change his approach
• [30:11] Clowney reflects on Bill O’Brien, leaving Houston, and growing up
• [38:25] Caserio updates on Tank Dell’s recovery timeline
• [39:19] Caserio on the mental aspect of returning from injury

---

Tone & Takeaways

The episode strikes a balance between locker-room candidness and insightful football analysis. Nick Caserio speaks with measured professionalism while hosts Seth and Sean maintain their signature humor and relatability, teasing each other and digging deep on both serious and light-hearted topics. Listeners walk away with a clear picture of:

• What Clowney’s return means for the roster and culture
• How the organization is managing superstar contract negotiations
• Updates on key injuries
• An appreciation for the seriousness (and fun) of training camp competition in Houston

For Texans fans or anyone following NFL team building, this episode is a must-listen for behind-the-scenes context, strategic thinking, and real locker-room perspective.

Transcript

[Squarespace Narrator]

Ever heard the story of Harry? He was a legend around here. Until one afternoon he left, never came back. Turns out Harry went and made himself a website using Squarespace. Used Squarespace domains to buy artisanseatcushions.com and he built a beautiful site with an online store to sell his artisan seat cushions. Now Harry's sitting on a fortune. And if our Harry can do it, anyone can. Build your [e-mail] use, offer, code everything for 10% off your website or domain.

[Shannon Maldonado]

My name is Shannon Maldonado. I'm the founder of Yaoi, a gift shop from the lens of artists and handmade objects. I chose Shopify because when I was testing other platforms it was definitely one of the most user friendly. It was important to me to think about where we would be in the future. All of the tools for reading your sales, like planning inventory, they're just right there on your dashboard. For anyone starting a small business, the biggest thing I can tell you is it doesn't have to be perfect. Shopify can help you build upon it. Start your free trial on shopify.com hey, it's Jen Hatmaker.

[Jen Hatmaker]

Here's what I've learned in midlife. Joy isn't the reward you earn after all the work is done. Joy is the work. That's what this new series on for the Love is all about. The Sacred yes. It's choosing delight, rest and pleasure on purpose because saying yes to yourself, that's the thing that finally lets you fill your table with everybody else. Come find your sacred yes with me. Follow and listen to for the Love wherever you get your podcasts.

[Nick Casario]

Texans Training Camp is here live from

[Landry]

the Houston Methodist Training Center. Sports Radio 610 presents Pain and Pender Gas.

[Seth Payne]

Steph and I had Nick Cerio, Texans executive Vice president and General Manager, on yesterday for about 40 minutes. If you want to go back and find it on the Odyssey app or on the Pain and Pender Gas podcast while you're at it. If you want to subscribe or download the Pain and Pender Gas podcast, you can do that. Join the millions and millions of people that do that every day somewhere around there. So Nick Casario is on with us if you do go find it. It was at 7:15 yesterday. Good conversation. We talked about CJ Stroud and of course the last time Nick was on with us in early June, he was very, very effusive in his praise for how CJ Stroud was handling the offseason. We asked Nick yesterday, has that carried over into the first week of training Camp?

[Nick Casario]

Yeah, a lot of the lot of the same things. I think the big thing is that position we've talked about on the show. It's just making good, sound decisions with the football and not trying to not make a play up, but try to force a play. Just take what the defense gives you. And I think you've seen multiple examples in practice. Whether we've made an adjustment or we've gone to the first read, you know, it's just, you don't want to be too cute sometimes. I mean, football, it's a simple game sometimes that we make hard. But he's really done a good job. I think he's embraced the ownership of the offense, the communication, really the communication between the quarterback and the offensive line going back to the earlier discussion, like that's the most critical component of offensive football. So if everybody's on the same page and everybody's kind of seeing things the same way, and to get that information out there at the perimeter of the formations that are receivers, you know, we've had some adjustments, we've had some examples where we were hotted and we were able to execute the hot. We've had some other situations where we had a side adjust. Maybe the quarterback did the right thing and then maybe the skill player didn't. So those are things that you kind of work through and then you, hey, what did you see? Here's what I'm thinking on that play. So that kind of two way discourse is important. And I think you've seen that not only on the practice field, but a lot of that takes place inside in the classroom.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah, and I think there's, you know,

[Landry]

I can think just off the top of my head of a couple of instances in camp where CJ's had accurate throws, but there was a miscommunication between him and Jaden Higgins or him and Nico Collins, or at least like a misread on how, how the receivers are reading the coverage. And, and that's the kind of stuff where I think compared to last year when, man, during training camp there were a lot of questions about C.J. after having that shoulder soreness in the OTAs, didn't look that accurate during training camp.

[Seth Pendergast]

But it's always hard to figure out

[Landry]

exactly, okay, when is an inerrant throw versus when is it a miscommunication?

[Seth Pendergast]

It's easier to figure it out this

[Landry]

year because I think CJ has been more accurate.

[Seth Pendergast]

But they're also, there's way more, there

[Landry]

are way more times where the communication is right and you're Seeing him get rid of the ball on time and in rhythm. And I think a lot of that has to do with the younger receivers being in their second year. Well, you know, except Noel's not out there. Nico being more comfortable in the system.

[Seth Pendergast]

But also, you know, you earlier had

[Landry]

talked about how we haven't seen a whole lot of Nico Collins reception so far. When you're going against a good defense like this. Yeah, that's the way it should be going. If you are taking the easy money, if the. If the defense is doing everything they can to be sure Nico doesn't get the ball, don't force the issue. And we've seen a couple of deep shots to Nico, and it was both

[Seth Pendergast]

of the instances I'm thinking of.

[Landry]

Nico was battling with Kamari Lasseter. He was battling with Derek Stingley. But C.J. put the ball where only Nico could catch it, and it didn't work out, but it wasn't, you know, on deep shots, you know, if you're 50, 50 on shots like that, you. You're doing all right. That, like, it looked right. Like sometimes you can. Sometimes you can have a successful, unsuccessful play if the process is right. So far, it looks like the process is right.

[Seth Payne]

I do too. Yeah. And I guess Nico would be that, you know, like Belichick always talked about taking away the best thing that the other team does. Is Nico probably the head of the snake on this offense?

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Landry]

Yeah. And it has been. I mean, that's the. I mean, ultimately and especially when you've got a team that hasn't been able to pass protect all that well, you know, certainly not in an above average level. Maybe they got to average last year. Yeah, it's just. It's too easy when you only have to take away one thing and the offense can't take like, they've taken away Nico. And the Texans haven't been able to do the simple things like run the ball when teams are playing high shell coverages. All right. Run the football. Oh, turns out we can't do that. I don't know what your answers are after that.

[Seth Payne]

Yep. We asked Nick Casario yesterday about the. The contract situation with C.J. both Nick and C.J. spoke about it a little bit in their media availabilities early in camp. Nick saying that there have been productive conversations. CJ Stroud was asked about it, gave a pretty brief answer where he said, it's going great. So, you know, we don't know how frequent those conversations are, how intense they are right now, but we asked Nick how key is keeping the lines of communication open when it comes to just keeping your house in order and making sure that CJ is comfortable in handling things the right way.

[Nick Casario]

I mean, look, we have an open door policy around here. D' Ameco's that way. It's the way I operate. So you're never going to be close minded in whichever way is the wind blowing. So, I mean, we're going to treat it like professionals, treat it like adults. Understand there's a business component of what we do on both sides. So we're certainly sensitive to the players in that respect. And you know, they understand, like we're trying to do the best we can as a team. If we're trying to, like, in the end, we're trying to keep as many good players around here for as long as we can, as long as possible. Sometimes it works the way you want it, sometimes maybe it takes a little bit more work or the timetable doesn't necessarily match up the way everybody else wants it to. But again, the most important thing is just be honest, be real, keep the lines of communication open and be respectful to the other party. And if you get a resolution, great. If you don't, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's not going to work itself out. It just means it's going to maybe take place at a later point.

[Landry]

I do wonder from the organization standpoint, you know, and they've mentioned Multiple times how CJ's been so good in the offseason with, you know, doing all the things that they want to see him do. And part of that is just doing all the things you have to do to really learn and get comfortable in this system. If they've, if, if the team has been a little bit of a wait and see mode and wanted to just see how everything looks in camp and look, it's, it's the preseason. You haven't played against a team with a different uniform yet. But there are things you can tell out here that are substantially better on offense than they were in training camp last year. So if you want to make an apples to apples comparison, like last year, boy, it was, it was a hackneyed operation going against a really good defense and it looked like they were just completely outclassed. So far, as Aziz Elshire said yesterday, it's been way more competitive and it doesn't look, the offense has never looked out there, in my opinion, other, like they're completely outclassed, they've had some bad periods and the defense is going to get theirs and they're going to make their plays but they haven't looked outclassed.

[Seth Pendergast]

They've looked like they've. They've had guys that have gotten beat

[Landry]

and which happens when you're going against Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Landry]

And all the rest of them.

[Seth Payne]

I agree with you. I said that earlier in the off season. Is it. It may very well be. They're just waiting like training camp may be the proving ground for CJ Stroud and the fact of the matter is that, and I know it's not a real game with a real crowd and things like that. The atmosphere is different but in terms of the personnel that you're going against, he's not going to go against a better group of defenders.

[Landry]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Than the one he's facing out here every day.

[Landry]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

You know it's not like he's going against the 29th ranked defense and we got to see how he's, you know, is he wrapping his brain around the system? All right, let's go. Let's go do team period. Number one. And he's going against a bunch of scrubs. He's going against like six guys that were at the Pro bowl last year, you know. Well so it's a good proving ground for him.

[Seth Pendergast]

And then the other, you know and look I'm very much of the mind

[Landry]

o is I'm very cool with the Texans saying hey look, there's a nice

[Seth Pendergast]

carrot on a stick. We'll wait until after this season and.

[Landry]

And we'll see what happens. You do have to think about the fact that these are the quarterbacks entering their third year that would be eligible for an extension after this season. Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake May, Bo Nix, JJ McCarthy and Michael Pennocks a little bit.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah. So I don't.

[Landry]

Who know. I mean J.J. mcCarthy. Who knows if.

[Jadevion Clowney]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Who knows? Just those. Forget about McCarthy and Penix 4 like that and Lamar.

[Landry]

And Lamar Jackson's probably going to be year too.

[Seth Payne]

Right. There's going to be a couple.

[Seth Pendergast]

It's going to get bumped up. So if they are feeling way more

[Landry]

comfortable about them and they want to hedge their bets it might make sense to lock it in right now. But then you got to hope like CJ is no idiot and Mulligetta is no idiot. They know that if they sign a deal right now it's probably going to get blown out of the water.

[Seth Payne]

Next off the market might be 70 million next year. Yeah.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Landry]

It's been hovering for so long and that this is the year where it just. It's all lined up that this really

[Seth Pendergast]

especially, you've got Drake May, you've got

[Landry]

a runner up to the MVP who

[Seth Pendergast]

just probably isn't going to be as good this year because he has to face actual football teams in the regular season. But still, if he has anything close

[Landry]

to the season he had last year, yeah, he's going to get a new deal.

[Seth Payne]

Yep. Here's Nick Kasario yesterday with Seth and myself talking about how CJ's been handling the contract situation.

[Nick Casario]

Yeah, that's the most important thing. Look, we understand there's a lot of eyeballs on our sport and there's a lot of contracts that big name, big time players that, I mean, I think again, I mean, I read this morning like Gibbs, you know, they reached an agreement on his contract. But there's always eyeballs on, I would say, players. And you want to be respectful. But in the end, the more you just keep the communication amongst yourself, like we're respectful of the fans and we're fortunate that there's their interest. But in the end, the best way to communicate is directly to one another. And if you have an issue or have a question about something, let's just come and sit and talk like an adult. So I think the more professional everybody handles it, the better off in the end. In the long run, everybody wins as a result.

[Seth Payne]

I'm really anxious to see if he were to get a deal. And let's pretend that it's in the neighborhood of where that the market is kind of stagnated a little bit right now. You know, it's kind of, it's kind of stuck at 55 million. I know Dak's making 60 and I know Mahomes signed some new money for 64 or whatever. I think Mahomes is just different. I think Dak made out real well on the market because the Cowboys are really bad at playing poker. The fact of the matter is that the crux of the market has settled in at 55, Josh Allen on his extension, his third contract. Joe Burrows at 55. Trevor Lawrence is at 55, Jordan loves at 55. All of those guys are right there. The reaction would be very interesting to me, not just among Texan fans, but around the league because, and I know these are imperfect things, but they are a subset of where reactions come from around the league. And the fact of the matter is, it was just released this week, it turns out they gave the next 10 guys outside the NFL top 100.

[Landry]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

CJ will finish 103rd.

[Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

So he's just outside. So here's what the. And I know it's imperfect, but here's what the players think. Then you got the Jeremy Fowler. Then you got the Jeremy. Then you got the Jeremy Fowler thing where he's surveying all these executives and coaches. Got one vote. Yeah, got one vote.

[Landry]

That one is the more the. The val. Some of these ESPN polls of executives, that those are more valid job.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, they evaluate guys. But then you got the Mike Sando thing, which is very similar to the Jeremy Fowler Mike Sando did. His qb, if you missed it yesterday, he dropped his annual tiers of quarterbacks. C.J. plummeted in this thing. And that's a really big cross section of GMs, former GMs, coaches, scouts, things like that. He plummeted from. He was seventh after his rookie year, ninth last year. He's 20th this year and he's behind Bo Nix and Aaron Rodgers. So there's, there is not a corner of the universe right now, Seth, in the world that can say, like we would react positively to CJ getting 55 million a year.

[Landry]

The biggest thing about that though too, even though I take the. There's more credibility with those executives and coaches and everything, is that they also succumb to which games have they watched on national television. Recency bias, all of that stuff. Because most of the guys in the league, you're kind of in a tunnel, you know.

[Seth Pendergast]

And like I know a lot of

[Landry]

coaches and executives that talk to kind of the smart X's and O's types of media.

[Seth Pendergast]

They like talking to those guys because

[Landry]

they can have discussions about what else is going on in the league. You're kind of narrowed in and focused on the 13 teams that you're going

[Seth Pendergast]

to face that year.

[Landry]

And maybe one of them is a divisional, you know, a non conference opponent and you forget about them after the. So you're not really paying attention to the grand scale.

[Seth Pendergast]

And by and large, most of those

[Landry]

people on that poll are thinking of C.J. the first thing that comes to mind is that Patriots game.

[Ad Voice]

Absolutely.

[Landry]

They all watch that Patriots game. They look at the stats and the numbers and I think they don't, they don't understand necessarily the nuance of the situation.

[Seth Payne]

Well, taking it a step further, if indeed you know, and you and I are just speculating that training camp may have a big thing to a big part of the evaluation of C.J. stroud for a contract extension, this is the exact opposite of that. This is stuff that only largely, only we are seeing out here. It's not a game that he played On Sunday Night Football, we have to

[Landry]

take that all with a grain of

[Seth Pendergast]

salt, too, because at the end of the day, this is the tough thing. It's that, man, no matter what he does in training camp, no matter what

[Landry]

he does in the regular season, there's going to be perception that he crumbled under the pressure of the playoffs, and that. That. That's going to weigh heavy in people's minds until they see it again in

[Seth Pendergast]

the way, even though he's had good

[Landry]

performances in the playoffs before, it's the most recent thing they've seen. And in terms of outside perception and maybe internally, too, they just. They want to be sure that they've actually. They've got something they can trust.

[Seth Payne]

Yep. All right, Payne and Pendergast, that was. That was Nick Casario on CJ Stroud yesterday. You can get the whole interview up on the Odyssey app, the Free Odyssey app, and the Payne and Pendergast portion of that. A little more from Kasario, but let's shift gears to Clowney. Jadevion Clowney was great yesterday at the podium. We'll get to some of what Clowney had to say. But we asked Nick yesterday, why now to bring Jadevion Clowney back to Houston.

[Nick Casario]

We kind of worked through the spring in there a little bit. You know, that kind of third and spot was an area that we probably felt we were going to add at some point. You know, Derek did a good job for us in that role. Had conversation with him. So just kind of keeping track of the market. Who are the players that are in that category. Feel pretty fortunate, you know, with Will and Daniil. And then I would say Dylan has had a good role for us. And then we signed Dominique Robinson, who's had a pretty good training camp here. So it kind of brings a little bit different element, but that was an area. We're just kind of looking at some players that maybe potentially could fill that role. And, you know, JD Was a player who we had some conversations with initially, maybe it was a little bit later in the spring, slash, summer. And then we kind of, kind of, kind of kept in contact with his agent over the course of the summer. And then there at some point, there was some level of mutual interest. He obviously had a lot of interest from some other teams. I think there's some other teams that were involved, but it kind of worked out. I mean, it says a lot about Jadevion, the fact that he wanted to be here, wanted to be around some of the things that we're doing. We didn't overlap. I mean, I wasn't here when Jadevion was here previously. Haven't played against him multiple times. Know how big of a pain in the ass that he was. And he's still showing the ability. Whether it's in Dallas, Baltimore, Carolina, these different stops. He still brings some positive qualities to the table. So we'll get started with him today. He'll be out here practicing. We'll kind of see how it goes.

[Landry]

So as soon as Nick said that, I thought of the Patriots game, the playoff game where Jadevion was a nightmare in the first three quarters of that game. He was lining up in the. Over the center, over the guard, and Brady was getting that pressure right up the middle. I mean, that became a talking point. That entire offseason, even though the Texans didn't win that game, was, man, this pressure up the gut, boy, you get

[Seth Pendergast]

a quarterback off his spot and it's

[Landry]

really hard to operate.

[Seth Payne]

It was a little like the Texans this past year losing, like, because Brock Osweiler was the quarterback in that game. Like, boy, the Texans just quarterback play.

[Landry]

Yeah, that game, too. That was the one where that Brady basically, no, look, heaved it up over his.

[Seth Pendergast]

He did a sky hook over his

[Landry]

head and it was completely.

[Seth Payne]

Well, that was one. Will Fuller. Will Fuller dropped a walk in touchdown in that game, too.

[Landry]

And for the kids that might be thinking, it sounds like it was an amazing pass. No, it was a duck.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah, it was a duck.

[Landry]

It was a pick six waiting to happen. But nobody was there to get it.

[Seth Payne]

No.

[Landry]

Except Brady was smart enough to probably know that nobody's there to get it. That was a safe.

[Seth Pendergast]

I'm gonna lob it up.

[Landry]

But it's safe to do it.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Nick Casario]

Bastard.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah, that part of it, though. But so Clowney being out there for

[Landry]

one, he's gonna rotate in. You're gonna be able to give. You're gonna be able to give Daniel Hunter and Will Anderson a blow. Keep him fresh the entire game long.

[Seth Pendergast]

But when it comes to the fourth

[Landry]

quarter especially, or in specific situations. Yeah, that old, you know, clowny kind of roaming around the line of scrimmage as a bat, and you don't know if they're gonna. The other thing, too, is him.

[Tostitos Narrator]

Nothing beats tradition like weekly game nights at mom's house and Tostitos crafted with masa made the traditional way, starting with whole corn kernels with flavors worth gathering around, like a hint of lime and Mexican street corn. And no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. That's the Tostitos way. Bring tostitos to your next game night. And you'll be winning either way. Tostitos Tradition matters.

[Pantene Narrator]

All of us strands are in real danger. And whatever it is, it's closing in. It started with just a few lost hairs here and there, but now more and more of us are disappearing every day. But listen, we think we have a plan. A way to stop the shedding. Pantene abundant and strong. Go now. It's not too late. Pantene abundant and Strong. It's a three step system that reduces hair loss by 85%. Only the strongest will survive the shedding.

[McDonald's Narrator]

The snack wrap plus Caesar sauce equals extra crispy Chicken Caesary sounds delicious. Caesar sauce at McDonald's for a limited time.

[Seth Pendergast]

Are you looking for a pro football podcast that doesn't put you to sleep

[Landry]

with spreadsheets or insult you with mindless hot takes?

[Seth Pendergast]

Football is fun.

[Landry]

Why shouldn't your football podcast be the same?

[Seth Payne]

Follow and listen to Heed the Call NFL podcast with Dan Hanzus and Mark

[Nick Casario]

Sessler wherever you get your podcasts.

[Landry]

He's so strong and powerful that when he does rush down inside, even if he aligns on the outside, he just blows up guard. Still to this day. And when you start running games without having to blitz, but running games with your defensive tackles and all that, and if you get all three of those guys out there on the field at the same time, it is. It's a Nightmare. If it's third and 12.

[Seth Pendergast]

If it's third and 12 and you've got. You've got Will Anderson, Daniel Hunter and

[Landry]

Jadevion Clowney all out there at the same time, there's very few offensive lines that have good answers for that.

[Seth Payne]

Right, Right. It's awesome you asked Nick about this. The narrative on Clowney, that the reaction from people sometimes is that Clowney does not play hard. Which couldn't be further from the truth. Nick talked about that.

[Nick Casario]

He's always played hard and he's disruptive with his snaps. And even when we were playing against the Texans when I was in New England, you know, their front, you know. Yeah. Jj, you know, you had. JD Was a part of it. Merciless. And they'd move JD around some different spots and put him over to guard, he was really difficult to block. So he's got a unique skill set. His length, he's got real good straight line speed. He does have toughness. And to your point, Seth, he plays with good effort. I'm not really sure he runs well.

[Landry]

Yeah.

[Nick Casario]

So the ability to close space and close from behind. So the Reality is whoever walks in the building, whoever walks in that defensive meeting room, if you don't play hard and compete, you're probably not going to last very long.

[Landry]

So the swarminess, of course, Clowney and I.

[Seth Payne]

What am I about to say?

[Seth Pendergast]

I'm gonna play this clip that I

[Landry]

sent to Clint yesterday. I put up a compilation of swarmy plays by Jedevion Clowney. There's one where the packers where he gets knocked down. There's another one where he bites. He bites on the play action on an end around, but then chases Xavier Worthy 20 yards down.

[Seth Payne]

He's fast. Xavier worthy?

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah, he's really fast.

[Landry]

There's just multiple examples of Clowney being on the ground because he got blocked, but then getting up and running.

[Seth Pendergast]

There's a.

[Landry]

There's a goal line sequence where he basically saves a touchdown because Travis Kelce quits blocking. And he keeps going all the way

[Seth Pendergast]

across like he is a sideline to sideline player.

[Landry]

He chases receivers downfield. He's always been that guy. It's always been three hours on game day.

[Seth Pendergast]

He plays his butt off.

[Landry]

I think o' Brien's issue then was what is he doing with the other 165 hours in the week?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Landry]

And does that add up?

[Seth Pendergast]

Right?

[Landry]

I think it's 168 hours in a week.

[Seth Pendergast]

And like Indian Clowney talked about that

[Landry]

yesterday when he got traded. He realized he had to. He had to grow up. That was his quote. Grow up, Clowney.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. So let's get to that. Here is Jadevion Clowney yesterday saying, what's changed from then to now?

[Jadevion Clowney]

Yeah, the building changed a lot. In a good way. Very, very good way. It's a lot easier, a lot relaxing, that building than it was when I first got there. Coaching staff different. It's fun. It's a little bit more fun. And the group of guys in that building is great. It's just easy to go back up in there than I expected when I got. When I signed back. But like I said, that's because of d', Amico, the guy that's running up, running the show. He put a lot of great guys around him. Coaches and you can feel the energy and all the other guys can feel it. So I know great things gonna happen here for me and the team. So I'm just looking forward to the opportunity.

[Seth Payne]

Okay. So that was more on the changes in the building.

[Seth Pendergast]

More so the changes labeled a little

[Landry]

differently than I thought because Landry asked him, how are you different now than when you. Than you were here the first Time. And he just flat out said, you know, he basically said he was an immature player when he was young. He didn't really know exactly how to operate and everything. And that changed a lot over the course of the last 12 years.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Well, here's one example of maybe not even just changing from back in 2019 to now, but even at the places. And he talked about this. We'll get to this. The places that he's been over the last few years, most of the time, he's gotten there right as the season is starting. Yeah, he hasn't been there for training camp, so.

[Seth Pendergast]

Oh, yeah. Yesterday I saw somebody say I was surprised that Clowney was still out there. Look, what are you talking.

[Landry]

This is somebody in the national media.

[Seth Pendergast]

I was like, what are you talking about? He signs. He waits as long as possible to sign. That's his deal.

[Landry]

This is the first time in a

[Seth Pendergast]

long time that he's been right there

[Landry]

at the beginning of, like, almost the beginning of training camp.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. And he talked about that because this. I think Landry asked this too, about the heat. How's the heat? How, you know, how you're re acclimating to the heat. And Clowny brought up the fact that, yeah, it's hot, but I wanted to be here to get into the system.

[Jadevion Clowney]

Thing is, I've been training here for the last 12 years, but it still hit different. I did three plays a day. I told him it felt like six or seven, but let's just get back into football shape. All that running. I'm text my trainer today and say, man, we did all that running for me to get tired today, like full plays. But. But now that's football shape, man. I just got to work. That's what training camp for, you know, As y' all know, I've been missing training camp for some, so I was excited to get out here in training camp and knock the rust off earlier this season than I did in the previous year. So I was looking forward to this. Getting to know the guys early instead of walking in week one. Hey, man. Learning the scheme on the fly. You know how many times I did that? I did it in Baltimore, Seattle, Dallas, Cleveland. No training camp. Walk out there and just play week one. And I look across the line, somebody telling me, you know what I'm saying? But it's gonna be a lot different this year. Cause I'm gonna learn a playbook before the season start, man. It's gonna be a lot smoother season for me.

[Seth Payne]

He can't take the blame for Seattle and Him showing up the first week. Bill o' Brien had him on a franchise tender hostage situation.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, that was.

[Landry]

And he tried to ambush him.

[Seth Pendergast]

He tried to set up an ambush.

[Landry]

But then Clowney, in Braveheart fashion, sniffed out the ambush.

[Seth Payne]

He did.

[Landry]

And he didn't come in.

[Seth Pendergast]

Remember, o' Brien was saying, we just. He went all Southern Bell. He went Southern Melville o', Brien, he's like, we just need. All we need is for Genevion to come in and sign the franchise tag. I don't know what the issue is. And it turns out, yeah, you guys had a deal ready to trade him

[Landry]

immediately to Miami as soon as he signed that franchise tag.

[Seth Pendergast]

But Clowney sniffed it out.

[Seth Payne]

He did.

[Seth Pendergast]

He knew what you're up to.

[Landry]

Long shanks.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, Clowney's the one, the William Wallace of the NFL.

[Seth Pendergast]

But no, that part, the visual of

[Landry]

that was really good because he was doing. He was acting out. You know, when you look across the line of scrimmage for somebody to tell him what to do, that is. That's a very real dynamic. The smart offensive lineman will pick up on that, that you're coming, they're seeing what you're being told to do, and you can't.

[Seth Pendergast]

Like you said, you can't play fast

[Landry]

when you're not really comfortable in the system.

[Seth Pendergast]

He's also.

[Landry]

He's played in this wide nine defensive system before. I couldn't. I couldn't remember the timelines. I talked to him real briefly before he went in. Cleveland and Seattle were both wide nine systems when he was there. And, like, there's a lot of common DNA with Matt Burke and what he did there, what he's learned between the guys that were running those defenses.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah, that's good.

[Landry]

So I think. And plus, Tamiko keeps it relatively simple, as simple as possible for these guys. So I think that by. Yeah, by week one, there's not going to be any issues at all about him being comfortable in the system.

[Seth Payne]

Clowney expounded on the desire to get here early and learn the scheme.

[Jadevion Clowney]

Like I said, I made the decision because I want to learn a scheme. Man, I didn't walk, like I said. I walked into too many teams the first week. And you know how hard it is to play when you don't know the scheme. You play a lot slower than you normally want to because you got to look across the field. Somebody got to tell you what to do. You know what I'm saying? I done been doing that for so many years, throughout my career, so I just said, let me just Go to this training camp with these guys and grind with them so they know I ain't just here for no play around. I'm here to work with these guys and get to know them, build a relationship so they can have a great season.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Again, one of the things I was most enthusiastic about with Clowney yesterday, Seth, it seems like he's got a real genuine respect for what Demico Ryan's is all about. For what you as a player have to like the non negotiable things that you need to sign up for as a player. To be part of this, to be part of this defense and being out here at training camp is one of those things.

[Landry]

I also wonder too, where Derek Barnett hangs in the balance of all this or was hanging in the balance of all this.

[Seth Payne]

Nick mentioned he had talked to him in that cut we played.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Landry]

You know, Derek Barnett was probably kind of, you know, doing what Clowney's done the last few years is kind of sit, wait and see what, what offers

[Seth Pendergast]

emerge, what's the right situation.

[Seth Payne]

And I'd still bring Barnett back.

[Landry]

I would too.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Shouldn't change.

[Landry]

But is one of the things Clowney said is that he, when, when he had to learn that, hey, you're not the number one overall pick, you got to go and improve yourself. He said, that's what I've been doing. I come in, I steal people's jobs.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, I heard that too.

[Landry]

It's like, man, yeah, you're the other guys on the roster and this is good.

[Seth Pendergast]

It's good competition to have.

[Landry]

But man, for Solomon Bird and Derek, Derek Horton and, and Robinson, like those guys, it's tougher to crack that starting rotation right now or that too deep rotation that they play with.

[Seth Payne]

Absolutely. And Nick said in that cut we played a little bit earlier is that this is something that goes back to the spring, that they took a look at their roster. He saw the same thing that you'd been talking about throughout the spring, which is one of the few weaknesses on this defense, on this team is depth at that defensive end position. So this is something that they've been looking at since the spring. And if I'm Solomon Bird or I'm Dominic Robinson or I'm Dylan Horton or any of those guys. Yes. I look at the signing of Clowney as a message from management that I haven't done enough yet to prove that I can be that DM3. You know, that's how you have to internalize it. I don't know if they have any of them have the Ceiling to where they're going to get to it. But, yeah, like, Clowney coming in and saying that should light a fire under some folks.

[Landry]

Why am I still saying Derek Horton?

[Seth Pendergast]

And in my mind, every time I

[Landry]

correct myself before I say it, you're

[Seth Payne]

combining him with Derek Barnett. That's my guess.

[Seth Pendergast]

I guess that's what it is. But in my mind, I'm like, no, it's not Dylan.

[Landry]

Yeah, it's a really stupid thing I do. Apologies to Dylan Horton and his family.

[Seth Payne]

They'll be okay. Here was the one I thought this was the. This was the cut from Clowney that got most. The most attention and the one that made me sit up because he mentions Bill o' Brien by name. Was there any bitterness when you left the team or when you got traded away in 2019?

[Jadevion Clowney]

I don't take nothing personal, man. I always say to my head, it don't matter. They pick me up on the moon to play football. I can do that. You know what I'm saying? I can play football. So I ain't had no hard feelings. It was just o' Brien at the time.

[Facebook Narrator]

Ah.

[Jadevion Clowney]

Me and him bumped heads and I couldn't really understand because I was an easygoing guy. I was like, all right, whatever you want from me type of guy at his fine. Especially when I'm 21 years old, 22 years old. I was just taking people's advice instead of really looking in the mirror, trying to figure myself out. I was listening to other people. As I got older, I started saying, just take care of yourself finally, and, you know, it's going to work out for you. And I started doing that when I left here. That's how I think I lasted eight more years in the league where I just started taking care of myself and, you know, developing my game and having fun with it.

[Landry]

The. He's just a much different person than he was back then. But I do wonder, like, I don't. I don't think he would willingly go play for Bill o' Brien again. I felt like it was such an oil and water situation. Clowney was this kind of just goofy free spirit. Bill o' Brien is. Whatever the hell he is. He's a very, very complicated human being,

[Seth Payne]

but he has his way of doing things, and it's his way or the highway.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Jadevion Clowney]

Yeah.

[Landry]

And those two were just not gonna mesh no matter what. So Clowny was kind of doing that thing where he acknowledges that he had to grow up and that he was immature and everything, but I feel like there's still a little Bit of extra. Of like. Yeah, but, but o' Brien didn't have to be that way about it. He didn't, you know.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, what it probably tells you is that the way the, the way Jadevian lays that out is that that trade, and I'm paraphrasing here, but that trade might have been one of the best things that happened to him as a person.

[Landry]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Is that it was a, you know, maybe some wake up call might be too strong. It's not like he's a bad guy.

[Seth Pendergast]

He was just flat out said, I mean, he said, grow up, Clowney. That's what he told himself, grow up, Clowny.

[Seth Payne]

And, and it. To me, that's a sign that o' Brien may have been minimizing actually how mature Clowney was at the time, or could be at the time that, that he wasn't bitter about it or anything.

[Seth Pendergast]

I mean, sometimes though, that is like, and I know I've said this before

[Landry]

already, but like the Kyle Lowry trade to the, to the Toronto. I mean that's what Lowry said afterwards was. No, it was a smart thing to do by Houston. I wasn't going to become the player I did if I hadn't gotten traded away because people would look at that

[Seth Pendergast]

and be like, how do you trade him away? Look at him now.

[Landry]

And I pulled up one of the

[Seth Payne]

Leisler Rockets, got a first round pick for Lowry and then used it to get James Harden.

[Landry]

One of the things, Bill o' Brien

[Seth Payne]

got a third round pick for Clowney and used it to get Gary and Connelly.

[Landry]

Oh, yeah, that was a good move. I like the upside on.

[Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Were you going to say.

[Seth Pendergast]

Well, no, in one of the clips

[Landry]

Clowney had said, you know, he was kind of laughing about how he had a good time when he was here. He's a young player and he had

[Seth Pendergast]

a, had a bunch of, had a

[Landry]

bunch of great friends. And I'm thinking about.

[Seth Pendergast]

I pulled up the first.

[Landry]

This is a report from March 10, 2015.

[Seth Pendergast]

Okay.

[Landry]

Report. Jadevion Clowney bitten by teammates.

[Seth Pendergast]

Pitbull. That was Swearinger's pit bull. Yeah, yeah. And then that was right around when the KC3. When was the Casey?

[Seth Payne]

That was 2013.

[Seth Pendergast]

That was 13.

[Seth Payne]

That was 2013.

[Seth Pendergast]

Were all three of those guys released though?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah.

[Landry]

Smoking a.

[Seth Payne]

They said it was a black and mild.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Dark and mild, whatever it was. Willie Jefferson, Sierra Wood and oh, a Montgomery. Sam Montgomery.

[Landry]

Yeah, that's right.

[Seth Payne]

Good trivia question. Who are the KC3? So, yeah, Clowney was great yesterday and

[Podcast Host]

it's why does it feel like nobody really gives us the inside scoop? Join us on the Powers that Be, the podcast where insiders from Puck break down who has influence, how they use it, and what it actually means for you. New episodes every weekday. Listen to the Powers that Be. Wherever you get your podcasts, you know

[Facebook Narrator]

that thing that you love, you'll find others geeking out about it on Facebook. Whether you're looking for community or inspiration, Facebook helps turn passion into action. Obsessed with running a marathon? Discover a neighborhood run club group, start training and meet your new neighbor. Thinking about cooking more at home? Connect with meal prep groups to discover recipes in a new community. And as you're scrolling the feed, you may even find reels showing you top running shoes or the best tools for your culinary journey this summer. Find more on Facebook.

[Seth Payne]

I am really excited to see man. Dude, I'm excited for the opener. I mean, Josh Allen was already struggling with a defense that had Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter with no clowney on, you know. Now, now Clowney is that guy that may be on those passing downs or the downs where, where Josh Allen might hurt you with a scramble. Yeah, you got Clowney, who is Nick Casario said and as you showed me in those videos right there, pretty good straight line speed to chase guys down.

[Landry]

He gets from the, the center of the field to the sideline with ridiculous speed. Yeah. And chasing down guys like Jalen Hurts and others that it's just.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Landry]

When you start some of the either like the exotic things you could do or the wrinkles that you could do, including, man, sometimes when you either force the quarterback to flush the pocket, but you got Clowney coming around on the edge to chase him like there's, there's some really fun stuff they could do.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, yeah, it's going to be a good time, man. It'll be a good time watching this defense. By the way, I don't know if you saw this story, but as long as we're talking about Bill o', Brien, Bill o' Brien apparently is only the second biggest psycho among coaches at bc. Now that Bill Murray's son is. Did you build Bill Murray's son was on the UConn staff.

[Landry]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Actor Bill Murray, comedian Bill Murray, Old man Bill Murray. His name's. His name is Luke Murray and he's now the new BC head coach. He fired or had fired the play by play and color guy for the basketball team there.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Who have been there forever and are alums of the school because they're associated with the old regime.

[Seth Pendergast]

Tough luck Tough cookies.

[Jen Hatmaker]

I don't know.

[Seth Pendergast]

I see all the people all over media like, oh, oh, the poor play by play announcement.

[Seth Payne]

It's a little weird.

[Seth Pendergast]

It's life, all right. Oh, the guys who comment on all the coaches who get fired all the time are now being subjected to the same team. These guys are just the humanity.

[Seth Payne]

These guys are just the game commentary.

[Seth Pendergast]

Maybe they suck. I don't know.

[Landry]

I haven't listened to the home broadcast of a beast.

[Seth Payne]

Well, you at least admit that that's very rare for new coach to come in and do and fire the broadcast team because they're associated with the old regime.

[Seth Pendergast]

I like Brett Dolan.

[Seth Payne]

It's a little.

[Seth Pendergast]

Dolan and Brett Dolan got let go and kind of an unceremonious dump. That's it. The Astros were done. Remember when the Astros were firing anybody and everybody?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Seth Pendergast]

Oh, little Peggy. She's been here for 40 years as the receptionist. Get your ass out of here. Peggy.

[Seth Payne]

Sounds to me like you felt zero sympathy for Brett Dolan at the time because you don't feel any sympathy for these guys.

[Landry]

No, I had sympathy for Brett Dolan

[Seth Payne]

because you knew him.

[Seth Pendergast]

I just don't know.

[Ad Voice]

I.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yes, cuz I know them. I don't know anything about these guys. I don't know if they suck. I don't know if they're good.

[Seth Payne]

I'm just saying it's a little strange.

[Seth Pendergast]

A little strange, but whatever. Yeah, go get another job. We all. They come for us all, Sean. That's the industry. I say, if anything, I'm due the.

[Seth Payne]

I'm about to have him come get you right now.

[Seth Pendergast]

No. If and when I get fired, I

[Landry]

don't want anybody shedding any tears over me.

[Seth Payne]

Don't worry.

[Seth Pendergast]

That's the.

[Landry]

That's the business. I've had a conversation with coaches about this before because coaches will always say, I don't like that people have this, you know, hot seat power ranking about coaches and everything.

[Seth Pendergast]

And I'm like, bro, you fired 10 people this morning. What the hell are you talking about? Oh, oh. But no, we can't talk about you guys getting fired. Yeah. All right.

[Seth Payne]

Coming up next, a little more from Kasario. We promised the Tank Dell update. How. How will you feel when you hear what Nick Casario has to say about where Tank Dell's at relative to preseason games? We asked Nick about that yesterday.

[Landry]

We'll do since Pain and Pendergast.

[Seth Payne]

All right, Pain and Pendergast with you. Final segment. And we'll hand things over to John Harris and Mark Vandermeer, Nick Casario sat down with Seth and I yesterday, and he's. He's been pretty forthcoming on our show a couple of times about where Tank Dell is in his rehabilitation and his hopeful return to football. And so we asked him yesterday, what's the. At your press conference last week, he gave us a pretty lengthy update on Tank and where he is one week into training camp. Where are we now with Tank Dell?

[Nick Casario]

He's getting a little bit closer, making progress. We've done some things sort of like after practice, individually, you know, ramp up wise. At some point he'll graduate to going into more drills in practice. At some point, whenever that takes place, we're probably, probably going to at least need to see him go out there in a game in some capacity so that the first time he's playing isn't potentially in a regular season game. So we're just trying to be very measured, very smart. And we've talked about this. Each player is kind of their own entity, so we probably. We try to do what we think is best for each individual player. So Tanks worked really hard. You know, he's certainly made progress, and I think he's getting a little bit closer.

[Seth Payne]

All right, so he's getting a little bit closer. He had mentioned kind of, you know, getting into games.

[Landry]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

So the follow up to Nick was, will Tank play in the preseason this year?

[Nick Casario]

We'll see. Yeah, it might be more of. So you can go through the mechanics of going back on the field.

[Seth Payne]

Sure.

[Nick Casario]

Warming up, getting in the huddle. Not necessarily have to go out there and play 50 plays in a game sometimes. And I want to speak for a player, there's just a little bit of maybe a mental block that you want to. Okay. There's an. You're graduating to the next step. So you go from rehab.

[Tostitos Narrator]

Okay.

[Nick Casario]

Then you get from rehab to practice. Then you go from practice to call it a real game or, you know, a real situation.

[Tostitos Narrator]

Yeah.

[Nick Casario]

So there's steps that players have to go through and, you know, there's a mental component as well that we're certainly sensitive to. So the physical is a physical, the mental is a mental. We can't extrapolate necessarily what a player, how he's feeling or thinking, you know, but we try to just make sure that we support them and put them in a position where they can go out there and feel comfortable and confident as possible.

[Seth Payne]

You know, I'm more confused now as to where Tank is after that, because

[Seth Pendergast]

then it almost sounded like we just

[Landry]

want him to go out there and go through a dress rehearsal.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. While everybody else is playing.

[Landry]

We want to be sure he remembers where the.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Landry]

Like where the sideline is and everything.

[Seth Pendergast]

We don't want him running off to the visitor sideline. You know, sometimes people forget these types

[Landry]

of things when you're gone from the game for two years. I think that they are genuinely wide open to multiple scenarios depending on how he responds to things. And every time they take another step in terms of activity, they gotta sit back and reassess and see how he recovers. And keep in mind that it's just a really rare, brutal injury that's hard

[Seth Payne]

to come back from. That's my takeaway from the last year, is that this injury was everything it was advertised as when he sustained it back in December of 2024.

[Seth Pendergast]

You know, what I learned about the

[Landry]

Artemis II mission from d' Amico was that NASA didn't just say, hey, let's go sling somebody around the moon.

[Seth Payne]

That's true.

[Landry]

That they took their time with it.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Landry]

It was.

[Seth Pendergast]

It wasn't just like, hey, we got fuel, right? Yeah, go fuel her up and send that thing. Light this candle.

[Seth Payne]

Yes.

[Landry]

No. They're gonna be a little bit more

[Seth Payne]

meticulous three years in advance. Everybody has to say it's that they're a go.

[Landry]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And that's what all of each of Tank's ligaments.

[Landry]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Need to say that they're a go.

[Landry]

In the movie version of it, there's gonna be some nerdy dude with a short sleeve collared shirt with a pocket protector.

[McDonald's Narrator]

Yeah.

[Landry]

Who says, hold on a second, Skip. We've got a. I've got some data that shows this might not be safe. And everybody's gonna hate him at the time, but it's gonna turn out that he's the guy that, you know, wanted

[Seth Pendergast]

to hold out Tank Dell for one

[Landry]

more week to keep him from crashing into the dark side of the moon.

[Seth Payne]

The voice of reason in the whole.

[Landry]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Yep, yep, yep. So that's where we're at with Tank right now.

[Jen Hatmaker]

We'll.

[Seth Payne]

We'll see where this thing goes.

[Seth Pendergast]

I was.

[Landry]

I was thinking about Tank the other day. We were watching him. We were watching him do some. Some stuff with the physical therapist in. On the turf in there.

[Seth Pendergast]

And I was.

[Landry]

I don't know if you noticed.

[Seth Payne]

You say in the bubble?

[Seth Pendergast]

In the bubble.

[Landry]

Yeah, in the bubble. And he looks good and everything and all that.

[Seth Pendergast]

His legs are small.

[Nick Casario]

All right.

[Seth Payne]

I want these people to talk like he had, like, Earl Campbell legs. Yeah.

[Seth Pendergast]

Remember when he was A bodybuilder. Remember when he used to. Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

If he had Earl Campbell thighs, he would still be walking around with that bullet in his thigh because Earl would have been like, whatever, there's a bullet.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah. I've never heard once somebody say, look at the sweep on his quads. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So no, the turf, because that's been the big off season topic because the World cup, all these stadiums have had

[Landry]

to head turf in there and everything. We talked to Nick.

[Seth Pendergast]

No, we didn't talk to Nick about it. But all these football players are saying like, hey, why, come on, how could. If you did it for them, how can't you. Why can't you do it for us?

[Landry]

Here's the thing. One, the average non goalie soccer player weighs 165 pounds. And there are very few combo blocks and other things going on. The, the difficulty of bringing in turf for football players and installing it where it'll hold up.

[Seth Pendergast]

It's hard. You see the super bowl every year they'll do a documentary about how they've

[Landry]

spent three years growing this turf and

[Seth Pendergast]

it's incredible install and this sucks.

[Seth Payne]

Which obliterated in the first place.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah. Because everybody's slipping around all over the place.

[Landry]

It's pretty on television.

[Seth Pendergast]

But the other is like there's two

[Landry]

people involved in this organization, have a history with it. D', Amico, Ryan's and yours truly. That did not have great experiences on a palate system. D' Amico to the point where he sued the team and got a 10. Well, I can't remember if they reported it or not because he had a really bad injury on the pallet system.

[Seth Pendergast]

I myself, I wish I had been

[Landry]

more litigious at the time. I would have sued.

[Seth Pendergast]

Except I blame that turf for me

[Landry]

tearing my hamstring tendons off my pelvis.

[Seth Payne]

That old palate system.

[Seth Pendergast]

That old palate system which at the

[Landry]

time was heralded as a state of the art system.

[Seth Pendergast]

I don't think. I just don't trust.

[Landry]

I don't trust that it's that it's that simple and easy on the technology's improved that much in the year.

[Seth Payne]

Just because it's new doesn't mean it's state of the art.

[Seth Pendergast]

Right, right, right, right. So just be careful what you wish for.

[Landry]

George Kittle.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah.

[Landry]

Worry about your electrical substation more so than the turf.

[Seth Payne]

Boy, that was funny yesterday.

[Seth Pendergast]

Oh yeah. There's a. So for people that don't know there's

[Landry]

an electrical substation next to the 49ers practice facility. That people have speculated might be cause of some of their injuries. And there's a. There's a Twitter account called 49ers Electrical Substation. Yeah. And he's basically taking ownership of every little injury that happens.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. That quote from Kittle about wanting to play on grass.

[Landry]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Substations like. Well, we'll see about that. NFL Network's here today.

[Seth Pendergast]

Oh, yeah, Kurt Warner's gonna be here.

[Seth Payne]

It's a big day. And Jane Slater and Kurt Warner.

[Landry]

I'm told that Kurt Warner is going to be interviewing C.J.

[Seth Pendergast]

stroud.

[Jadevion Clowney]

Oh.

[Landry]

So we'll be able to steal that audio.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah, that'll be good. And I know that you know Robert

[Landry]

Mays who writes for the Athletic, who's awesome, super smart dude. He interviewed Kamari Laster the other day. I talked to Robert when he was out here. And so he interviewed Kamari Laster. I don't think he's posted that interview yet, but I'm guessing that's going to be a really good interview because he'll show him. He'll show him plays and break down the plays and everything. Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

I memorized the roster yesterday on my walk.

[Landry]

So you can do the old like. Okay, so who's number one? Whose number almost said 81. Okay.

[Seth Payne]

Jaden Higgins.

[Landry]

Yeah, yeah. Who's number 53?

[Seth Payne]

53 is no longer on the team. It was Junior to Funa who got cut this morning.

[Tostitos Narrator]

He did.

[Shannon Maldonado]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

I can't believe that's the number you

[Seth Pendergast]

picked the hell to Funa. But that's more impressive that you know

[Landry]

about old number 42.

[Seth Payne]

Number 42 does not exist.

[Seth Pendergast]

Oh, wow.

[Seth Payne]

There is no 42.

[Seth Pendergast]

See, you know what? I'm impressed with myself that I'm coming

[Landry]

up with arcane numbers instead of like an obvious like Jade Higgins or something.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah.

[Landry]

What about number 41?

[Seth Payne]

41 is. 41 is. No, no, no. It's Stephen hall, cornerback.

[Seth Pendergast]

Oh, wow.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[McDonald's Narrator]

All right.

[Landry]

What are the punters numbers?

[Seth Payne]

Punters Numbers are 36 and 38, Seth. That would be Jack Stonehouse, number 36. And Kai Kroger till his ass gets Lander.

[Ad Voice]

Landry.

[Landry]

Landry and Cody did like a one hour live stream bagging on the punters yesterday. They're not good.

[Seth Pendergast]

We probably. We should buy. I was thinking like, boy, we should probably be talking about this because Cody

[Landry]

and Landry are not happy.

[Seth Pendergast]

I try to, I try to ignore

[Landry]

special teams as much as possible.

[Seth Payne]

No, but that's the thing. If a punter, you have a great team out here potentially. And if a punter Loses you a game because they shank at the wrong time or they muff a snap or something like that. They've been fine catching the ball. It's punting the ball that's been the problem.

[Landry]

We don't need CJ having in his brain. Oh, got to get this first down here.

[Seth Payne]

We saw what happened when he forced things.

[Landry]

Stonehouse might give us the old backwards punt. Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, man. So. So, yeah. But I've been doing this thing every day where I check in to get my wristband to come in here, and they asked me if I want a roster.

[Jadevion Clowney]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And I said, I don't want a roster. In fact, I want you to quiz me on a player. And yesterday I got it wrong. They brought up number 47. It's Sioni Takitaki.

[Ad Voice]

Oh.

[Seth Payne]

And I got it wrong. He's new, so I didn't really have him in my brain. So I've memorized the entire roster. That's. That's. That's my contribution.

[Podcast Host]

Taki.

[Landry]

Taki did a fun little Instagram or TikTok video with his wife after he signed with the Texans.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, it was cool. I like these guys wives kind of getting in it, you know, Toa to his wife is really fun. Wyatt Teller's wife is really fun.

[Landry]

Man.

[Seth Pendergast]

I love, like, honestly, in, like, the

[Landry]

little dance he did and everything.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Seth Pendergast]

I just.

[Landry]

I wish I'd been born in Samoa.

[Seth Pendergast]

Like, you heard about Polynesian culture there. I feel like I would have.

[Seth Payne]

I think you would have.

[Seth Pendergast]

I feel like I would have been

[Landry]

a better defensive lineman.

[Seth Pendergast]

I would have been a nicer person.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, you'd have been more playful.

[Seth Pendergast]

Like, all the Samoan guys I played with were simultaneously nice. Simultaneously the nicest people I've ever met, but also the people that I did

[Seth Payne]

not want to have a switch.

[Seth Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Landry]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

All right.

[Nick Casario]

Make money from your podcast with the Odyssey Creator Lab. You create the show, we bring the advertisers.

[Seth Payne]

Apply now at creators.odyssey.com finding ways to

[Ad Voice]

be financially savvy is a smart move. And knowing you could be saving money for the things you really want, like that dream home or new ride, is a great feeling. That's why the State Farm personal price plan can help you save when you choose to bundle home and auto bundling. Just another way to save with a personal price plan. Head to statefarm.com to get a quote. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts, and savings and eligibility vary by state.

[McDonald's Narrator]

Hear that? That's now crispy and McCrispy strips meeting. Creamy Caesar sauce sounds extra crispy. Caesar sauce at McDonald's for a limited time.