Payne and Pendergast August 5th , 2026 Full Show

Summary

Payne & Pendergast

Episode Summary – August 5, 2026 Full Show

Houston sports talk and analysis, featuring Seth Payne & Sean Pendergast
(Audacy / SportsRadio 610)

---

Overview of the Episode

This episode dives deep into the Houston Texans’ eventful training camp, the emotional homecoming of Jadeveon Clowney, spirited takes on the Astros’ latest stretch, and detailed insight directly from Texans GM Nick Caserio. Seth and Sean’s signature blend of NFL expertise and H-Town authenticity brings both laughter and substance as they explore Clowney’s redemption arc, Texans roster construction, and the evolving culture under DeMeco Ryans. The conversation also covers Astros trade deadline reactions, pitching challenges, and how player mindset impacts both baseball and football journeys.

---

Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. Jadeveon Clowney’s Return: Redemption, Maturity, & Team Fit

[02:16–11:41, 41:41–44:37, 60:54–75:50]

• Clowney wins the press conference: Both hosts agree Clowney’s openness, humor, and candor show a more mature player than in his first stint with Houston.

  • “He was just so open about how he was immature when he was a young guy in the league and how he’s grown and matured over time. It was really refreshing.” — Seth Payne [02:36]

• Clowney’s Own Words:

  • “It sunk in today when I was jogging on the field, I was like, oh, man, it’s crazy to be back... Happy that you back here, man... I just thank God for that, man. It’s just been a long ride, you know, and I’m glad to be here.” — Jadeveon Clowney [01:41]

• On his Texans exit (invoking Bill O’Brien):

  • “I don’t take nothing personal, man... It was just O’Brien at the time. Me and him bumped heads... As I got older, I started saying, just take care of yourself... that’s how I think I lasted eight more years in the league.” — Clowney [05:13, also replayed at 73:45]

• Perspective on change & leadership:

  • Both hosts point out how Clowney acknowledges both his earlier immaturity and the oil-and-water dynamic with O’Brien, contrasting with the culture DeMeco Ryans has built.
  • “D’Amico’s never struck me as a guy that talks to his guys much about what they should be saying in the media... They don’t get a lot of coaching.” — Seth [04:07]

• Clowney’s evolution as a player:

  • Maturity is likened to other sports stories, e.g., Kyle Lowry’s growth after leaving Houston.
  • Clowney admits being traded was a wake-up call: “Grow up, Clowney.”

• Clowney’s excitement to be back:

  • “My whole thing was to chase the Super Bowl this year. No better place for me to do it than here.” — Clowney [41:41]
  • Hosts agree Clowney had better financial offers elsewhere—this is truly about fit and unfinished business.

Notable Quotes:

• “He wasn’t just affable and funny and quippy. I thought he was very, very thoughtful yesterday. I love the version of Clowney that the Texans seem to be getting.” — Sean [11:06]
• “We could do a four hour show with nothing but Clowney clips.” — Seth [11:27]

---

2. Texans Training Camp: Culture, Competition & Position Battles

[13:21–23:26, 46:44–61:45, throughout]

• Practice Atmosphere:
  • Player soundbite: “Man, every day, don’t bring your best, you go get got... you want that practice atmosphere to be almost overly than a game atmosphere. And I feel like that’s where we’re at right now.” — Aziz Al-Shaair [13:52]
  • The team’s energy is noted as night-and-day compared to last year.
• C.J. Stroud’s Development:
  • Praise for sharper decision-making & in-sync timing with receivers, especially in red zone periods.
  • More chemistry with Jaden Higgins—discussing how rookie mistakes last year led to misattributed “inaccuracies.”
• Depth on the Edge:
  • Hosts detail how Clowney’s addition boosts the defensive end rotation and the internal competition.
  • “If I’m Solomon Bird or Dominique Robinson or Dylan Horton... Clowney coming in should light a fire under some folks.” — Sean [72:31]

---

3. Astros Talk: Trade Deadline, Pitching Staff Issues, & Clubhouse Culture

[21:26–40:39]

• Astros win over Toronto, Taylor Trammel’s Home Run:
  • The hosts delight in Trammel’s “actual home run” after the previous night’s baserunning gaffe.
  • “He not only circled the bases, man, touched every base, got home, did his crucifix sign and pointed up at the sky. And it took his teammates pointing it out to him that there was no home run.” — Sean [23:11]
• Pitching Rotation Woes:
  • Astros rotation ERA above 5.00 since June 1; continued uncertainty with Blanco, Imai, Burrows.
  • Wisneski’s emergence brings a sliver of optimism, pegged as a “pseudo-deadline acquisition.”
• Trade Deadline Reflection:
  • Seth is skeptical of the “we got injured guys returning, that’s like a trade!” party line from management.
  • Sean notes how bottom half of lineup is carrying the team offensively, with top hitters in a funk.

---

4. Texans’ Contract & Roster Management: CJ Stroud, WRs, and Extensions

[46:44–61:45]

• CJ Stroud’s contract situation:
  • Discussion of market context, with looming deals for other young QBs and how timing might affect the Texans’ leverage.
  • Nick Caserio: “The most important thing is just be honest, be real, keep the lines of communication open and be respectful to the other party. If you get a resolution, great. If you don’t, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s not going to work itself out.” [51:48]
  • Sean observes that nationally, Stroud may be “underrated,” finishing just outside the top 100 NFL players list and not getting much respect in execs’ and coaches’ polls.
• WR Market Impact:
  • Zay Flowers’ new contract (4 years, $140M, $108M guaranteed) makes Nico Collins’ extension look even more team-friendly.

---

5. Injury Updates: Tank Dell’s Status & Cautious Optimism

[80:45–85:55]

• Nick Caserio on Tank Dell:
  • Tank is getting “a little bit closer,” but staff is intentionally cautious, recognizing the severity and rarity of his leg injury.
  • “We’re just trying to be very measured, very smart... There’s a mental component as well that we’re certainly sensitive to.” — Caserio [82:39]
  • It’s possible Tank Dell may only do a dress rehearsal in preseason and not play significant snaps until regular season.
  • Seth draws analogy to the diligence of a NASA mission, emphasizing that caution is warranted.

---

Timestamps for Major Segments

• Clowney Press Conference Reaction: 01:41–11:27 / 41:41–44:37 / 60:54–75:50
• Astros vs. Blue Jays & Pitching Discussion: 21:26–40:39
• Nick Caserio Interview (CJ Stroud, roster, Tank Dell): 46:44–61:45, 80:45–85:55
• Texans Camp, Intensity & Development: 13:21–23:26, ~64:05 (Clowney edge impact)
• Clowney on Maturity/Bill O’Brien: 05:13–07:12, 73:45–75:50

---

Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• “My career started off rough... I just been fighting back ever since... to play 13 years to be in my 13th season, I just thank God for that, man. It's just been a long ride, you know, and I'm glad to be here.” — Jadeveon Clowney [01:41]
• “If you don't bring your best, you go get got... that's exactly how you want it. Because in the games against the best of the best, when everybody in the world’s watching, if you don’t bring your best, you gonna get got.” — Aziz Al-Shaair [13:52]
• “It's such an entertaining press conference. Yet at the same time, you got a lot of insight into Clowney and you feel like this kind of redemption story, the fact that they're coming full circle.” — Seth Payne [11:27]
• “He's always played hard, and he's disruptive with his snaps...The reality is whoever walks in the building, if you don't play hard and compete, you're probably not going to last very long.” — Nick Caserio on Clowney [64:18]
• “We could do a four hour show with nothing but Clowney clips.” — Seth [11:27]
• On Clowney's free spirit: “He kind of just does things at his own pace... But man, on Sunday, he plays as hard as anybody on that field.” — Seth Payne [65:01]

---

Style & Tone

• Lighthearted, unfiltered banter: Seth and Sean riff on everything from childhood motivations to Texans’ depth chart battles.
• Honest, insider perspective: Both hosts (especially Seth, as a former NFL player) break down not just the on-field news, but the locker-room dynamics behind the headlines.
• Houston sports focus, relatable analogies: The show’s local flavor (Texans, Astros, Rockets) is strong, but the themes—redemption, maturity, culture shift—carry wide resonance.

---

Summary

This episode of Payne & Pendergast stands out for its energetic, nuanced look at Jadeveon Clowney’s homecoming, the evolved Texans locker room culture, and the ever-evolving nature of player growth and opportunity in pro sports. Smart, accessible analysis gives listeners both big-picture wisdom (“sometimes you need discomfort to grow”) and the local heartbeat of Houston’s present and future. Whether it’s Clowney’s honest self-assessment, Stroud’s development curve, the Astros’ roster gambits, or the day-to-day moments of training camp, Payne & Pendergast keep H-Town fans informed and entertained.

---

For a deeper dive:

• Listen to the full Jadeveon Clowney press conference (described as “must watch” for Texans fans)
• Check out the full Nick Caserio interview for more on roster and injury updates
• Keep tabs on Astros’ pitching as the postseason approaches

Transcript

[Seth Payne]

If you can make a dish, you can make a signature recipe and showcase

[Sean Pendergast]

it on your beautiful website that you built with Squarespace.

[Seth Payne]

And if you can make a stitch, you can make an outfit and put it on your online store that you built with Squarespace.

[Sean Pendergast]

And if you can hit the pose,

[Seth Payne]

you can teach the class that they

[Sean Pendergast]

can book on your site that you built with Squarespace.

[Seth Payne]

Because whatever your business, you can build it at squarespace.com use offer code EMPIRE for 10% off your website or domain.

[Sean Pendergast]

Are you looking for a pro football

[Seth Payne]

podcast that doesn't put you to sleep with spreadsheets or insult you with mindless hot takes? Football is fun. Why shouldn't your football podcast be the same?

[Sean Pendergast]

Follow and listen to Heed the Call NFL podcast with Dan Hanzus and Mark Sessler Wherever you get your podcasts, the

[Seth Payne]

snack wrap plus Caesar sauce equals extra crispy chicken Caesary greatness. Sounds delicious. Caesar sauce at McDonald's for a limited time.

[Sean Pendergast]

Ever walk past a place for rent and wish you could just take a peek inside? Maybe even explore the layout? Envision the natural light streaming through the windows or plan where your vinyl record collection would go. At apartments.com you can with tools like their 3D virtual tours, you can see the exact unit you could be living in. Really envision yourself in your new home with apartments.com the the place to find a place Sports Radio 610 presents Seth

[Nick Casario]

Payne and Sean Pendergast.

[Seth Payne]

We coming to eighth time.

[Jadeveon Clowney]

Let's get the work in, man. Let go.

[Sean Pendergast]

Great day. Great day.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, give me some juice, baby. Oh, yeah, let's do it.

[Jadeveon Clowney]

I think it sunk in the day when I was jogging on the field, I was like, oh, man, it's crazy to be back. All the fans saying, you know, cheering for me. I was excited about that. It's just a great feeling, you know what I'm saying? That after all these years have come back and they still got love for you. Happy that you back here, man. Like I said, it's a blessing. My career started off rough, y' all know, injury after injury. First game of my career. I just been fighting back ever since. And to play 13 years to be in my 13th season, I just thank God for that, man. It's just been a long ride, you know, and I'm glad to be here.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. You know, there's an old saying, Seth, that when guys come in, they get that first press conference. Did they win the press conference?

[Jadeveon Clowney]

Right, right.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

New guys come onto the team. Jadevion Clowney is not entirely New, obviously. But, you know, you get that first press conference and you say, how'd that guy do in the press? Did he win the press conference? I would say Jadevion Clowney won the press conference in a landslide yesterday.

[Seth Payne]

It's all that really matters in life. And. But it really was. Honestly, if it was just entertaining, that would be one thing, because it was probably the funniest press conference I've seen in a long time. But he was just so open about how he was immature when he was a young guy in the league and how he's grown and matured over time. And it was really. It was really refreshing. It was. I was like. I had a smile on my face the entire time I was watching it.

[Sean Pendergast]

I did, too. This has a chance to be a really fun. Redemption may be too strong a word, because it's not like he was a bad guy or anything like that. We'll play here in a second. He butted heads with Bill o', Brien, who at that time was the wrong guy to butt heads with. But it was funny when we, as we welcome everybody in here on a Wednesday, practice number seven today out here at Texans training camp. We got a ton to get to. The Astros win last night. That was nice to see. We get to all that. But it is one thing when they sign Clowney, and I was in favor of signing Clowney even before they signed him. You and I had talked about that quite a bit. And then when they signed him, and especially when you saw what they signed him for, money wise, I was over the moon about that. But it's funny when you read the quotes in the Chronicle the day after the signing of how he's matured. He wants to be a leader to the young guys. There's just something about seeing him say it and seeing body language and things like that now, I feel. Not that I didn't believe it when I read it in the Chronicle, but there was an element to it. We didn't get a chance to ask Nick about this yesterday, Casario, but there's an element to it, I thought. In reading it, I'm like, okay, well, this could be a guy who just had a talk with d' Amico and knows exactly what to say right now when he does an interview. But he seemed very sincere about kind of where he's at in life and whatnot.

[Seth Payne]

Well, plus, I don't, you know, d', Ameco, unlike Bill o', Brien, which Clowny will reference here in a second, d' Ameco's never struck me As a guy that talks to his guys much about what they should be saying in the media. And I think partly that's because they've done a really good job of, over the last three years, bringing in the kinds of guys that work well with d' Amico and his culture. And so I don't. They don't get a lot of coaching. I don't think o', Brien, remember, was. He was like a dictator in coaching them up on what to say. I'm just trying to make. Trying to be the best teammate it can be.

[Sean Pendergast]

He was on Hard Knocks. He was literally coaching them on it. Yeah. So. So I thought. I thought Clowney was great yesterday. I thought the one cut that will play here, that, to me, cut through the most. Because I think, you know, if you're a Clowney fan from back when he was here the first time, you never really got a lot of closure. You know, you never really heard necessarily. At least I don't recall hearing from Clowney talking directly about how things ended here. I think it was Adam Wexler who asked this question yesterday about, was there any bitterness when you left here in 2019?

[Jadeveon Clowney]

Nice. I. I don't take nothing personal, man. I always say to my. They put me 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. 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 gonna work out for you. And I started doing that. And when I left here, that's how I think I lasted eight more years in the league where I started taking care of myself and, you know, developing my game and having fun with it.

[Seth Payne]

And there. Okay, so there are a couple things. In his press conference yesterday, there were two different parts. Cause there was one, like, several bites where he took accountability for being immature. And right there, he said, you know, he had to start taking care of himself. When. When Sarge asked him if maybe having kids is what helped him mature, he said, no. Getting traded is what made me realize that I got a. He said, grow up, Clowny. The advice to himself was, grow up. Clowny sounds like a lot like Kyle Lowry when he went to Toronto. Yeah, that's a good thing. You know, Kyle Lowry, after he went to Toronto, said that. No, man, Houston. Because people would say, I can't believe Houston traded away Kyle Lowry. They say, no, it was. He said, no, I needed that. I needed that kick in the butt.

[Nick Casario]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

So. So there's that element where Clowney totally took accountability for just being immature when he was first drafted. But then at the same time, you pour onto it that o' Brien and him were so different and probably two of the most enigmatic people that have come through the Texans. Clowney. Clowney and o'. Brien. Just two hard people to figure out, but at different ends of the spectrum when it comes to one's kind of a free spirit and one is kind of a totalitarian on the other side. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. I thought that you touched on it. And we'll play more clowny in the 7 o' clock hour. There's a ton we gotta get to out of the shoot here. But that, to me, was the most interesting one yesterday because he directly referenced Bill o'. Brien. Invoking o' Brien's name was not something I expected in that press conference. But you're absolutely right. That's the most mature thing I thought we saw from Clowney yesterday. If you're looking for validation that he's a different Clowney. And by the way, and he kind of touched on this, too. It's. It's different when you're the number one overall pick. Being on a team.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

And you're being brought onto a team new, and you're kind of having to reprove yourself all over again. And that's kind of a sort of the situation here. He's not the number one overall pick. Clowny.

[Seth Payne]

He's right.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's a guy being brought in. But I thought. I. The. The. The part where he said that the trade is what caused him to really look in the mirror, I thought that was really interesting to me. Like, he. That. That really is a case. That really is kind of a proof that maybe there's not a lot of bitterness there, that he took that moment to say, what do I need to do differently?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

I thought was really, really cool to

[Seth Payne]

hear him talk about. And I think that's where. Because it's not like Clowney was ever a bad dude or anything, but I think the easiest way to think of it is look at Will Anderson and the way he operates and operated as a rookie and as a young player, there's a certain feeling, there's an intensity, there's a commitment to getting better all the time. And then you look at Clowney and as he would admit, didn't operate the same way as Will Anderson. And that's where the dream scenario when you draft somebody that high is that you've got somebody that just flat out wants it and has laser focused vision. And Clowney just wasn't that guy. That's what I still a very effective football player. But he wasn't a Will Anderson.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, he wasn't. But a great signing in 2026. I was thinking about that the other day. I'm like, man, as this Clowney thing was evolving, I'm like, Will in three seasons has kind of put Will's leadership skills aside because I think those are other worldly. I don't know if they were expecting that out of Clowney when they drafted him, but in terms of what Will has provided on the field, he is sort of living what I think Texan fans were dreaming about with Clowney in 2014 when they drafted him, that by year three he'd be in the running for defensive player of the year. He'd be a consistent double digit sack guy. It's just interesting to see Clowney now playing alongside a guy who I think is putting up from a number standpoint and an accolade standpoint what people had hoped Clowney would be 12 years.

[Seth Payne]

No, and that's where, I mean, it is. There's sometimes, man, it's, there's an interesting dynamic with first rounders where sometimes it feels like, gosh, like what could this guy have been if he hadn't been drafted so high because of all those things. It was, it was cool to hear Clowney acknowledge, you know, that you know, being the number one pick and like how maybe he cruised a little bit because of that because he's going to be the starter no matter what, all of that. And there didn't have to be a chip on his shoulder until he got there. So when you, when you draft a guy that high and he doesn't have an inborn chip on his shoulder, it's, it's dicey and like, as opposed to, I don't know, Cade McDonald. I was talking yesterday about Kaden McDonald and how he's out there early every day before practice and man, he's always asking for extra reps, extra reps. And somebody on a live stream said, you know, maybe he's got a chip on his shoulder because he was A second round pick and he felt like he should have been a first. I don't. I would hesitate to say, oh, yeah, that's it. Because who knows? Like, he might have been. He might have been doing that regardless whether he was a number one overall pick or a second round pick. But I think sometimes there is that dynamic of. There's a. There's a little bit more of a natural motivator in some guys. When you draft them that high, you really want them to have that. They need to have that inborn drive the way that Will Anderson.

[Sean Pendergast]

Will Anderson, yeah, absolutely.

[Seth Payne]

Or just that, you know, Will Anderson is. Was raised right. You know, you can tell, man, he had a good household. Whereas Clowney pointed out yesterday he grew up with, you know, his dad was in prison when he was born and his dad, you know, he wasn't. He wasn't trying to give a sob story or anything. He was just kind of laying out why he was immature and what he had to learn a little bit.

[Sean Pendergast]

I don't say this often about player press conferences. I would say if you're a Texan fan, it's, you know, it's eight minutes long or whatever it is. Go out of your way to find it on YouTube today if you're, if you're looking at it, it was really good. Well, he wasn't just. I think you nailed it perfectly. He wasn't just kind of affable and funny and quippy. I thought he was very, very thoughtful yesterday. I love the version of Clowney that the Texans seem to be getting.

[Seth Payne]

It was so. It was such an entertaining press conference. Yet at the same time, you got a lot of insight into Clowney and you feel like this kind of redemption story, the fact that they're coming full circle. I would, we could do a four hour show with nothing but Clowney clips.

[Nick Casario]

We could.

[Seth Payne]

It was really. And it was really cool. He's so. And Sean, I was out, I was outside. I talked to him a little bit before he went into the tent. And he's such a he. First of all, he's such a physical freak that in the NFL, I've noticed this from the time I was rookie. The guys who are physical freaks, they're almost like, like an amusement park attraction. Little kids are fascinated by them. And he's so. He was dog tired. Like, he, he talked in the press conference about how he's still adjusting to playing football in this heat, but he's been working out in the heat, but he hasn't played football in the heat, so he Was tired. But then a little girl would come up and ask if she could have her picture in his. Get a big smile on his face and go down.

[Sean Pendergast]

He still has some big kid elements to him, but I don't think there are things that maybe before, maybe detracted from his game or detracted, at least from the perception of Clowney. I don't think it's that way now.

[Seth Payne]

The other underrated former Houston Texan who was a carnival show attraction everywhere we went was Todd Wade, because Todd Wade, the offensive lineman, he was like. He was six, eight and a half or so. And he had a face that looked like. Like a World War II poster. You know, like a recruiting poster for World War II. So he just had his unique look about him. And him was, if you were out in a bar or something, women wanted to use him as a playground. Like, let me take a picture.

[Nick Casario]

Without.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, like, put your arms out. Now hang off your arm.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's funny.

[Seth Payne]

You know that old picture of Schwarzenegger with the three women? Of course he's holding up. It was like that everywhere we went. Yeah, yeah. And he was a young single.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's funny.

[Seth Payne]

He had a good time in life.

[Sean Pendergast]

Vince McMahon always liked his champion. The biggest criteria for his champion is when he walks through the airport, do people turn and look at, like, what

[Seth Payne]

the hell is that guy?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was a big criteria. All right, so practice number six yesterday, I thought this was a great cut from Aziz Al Shiir, because I think this is this. He's kind of encapsulating what it has looked like out here. It's definitely been a more competitive camp this year, Seth, in terms of each side, offense and defense, getting a little bit of their own. I thought CJ Stroud was outstanding yesterday. He was really, really good. But this was Aziz talking about where the mentality of this team starts and a conversation that he was having with CJ Stroud at one of the practices

[Jadeveon Clowney]

here as a defense in the linebacker room, we're like, man, we're the engine. The D line goes in there and

[Seth Payne]

says, they're the engine.

[Jadeveon Clowney]

Like, the reality is the first people to make contact on the football field are O line and D line. So you talk about that, you know, what Nick and d' Amico have done, bringing the guys in that they have, and just how they're cohesively, like, working together, the mentality, coming along together. I mean, I think it's just been the start of it all. And then obviously, you talk about C.J. you know, being the quarterback, you know, you get more time in the scheme, you get more familiarity with the coach and with how you like to call a game. And, you know, the guys that you're throwing the ball to, and you just see they're starting to click. And I think me and CJ Were just talking about it after practice. It's like, man, this is the most competitive training camp you've had so far. And it's only been the second day with pads on. So I think we've practiced for what, five days or six days, but it's like, man, already I just feel like, man, every day, don't bring your best. You go get got. And, like, that's exactly how you want it. Because in the. In the games against the best of the best, when everybody in the world's watching, if you don't bring your best, you gonna get got. So I feel like you want that practice atmosphere to be almost over overly than a game atmosphere. And I feel like that's where we're at right now, where, like I said, if you're not bringing your best every single play, you know you're gonna end up getting got. Whether that's from an old lineman, a receiver, you know, quarterbacks throwing a tight window. So it's been great.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, that feeling, that. Yeah, yeah. No, I think that's where there's. The offense compared to last year is night and day. I mean, just last year, there was an overwhelming sense of despair about the offense's inability to do anything against that defense. They couldn't. Sean, they couldn't get plays off. Like, it wasn't just. It wasn't just that the plays were unsuccessful. C.J. wasn't passing the ball well, not just because he was seemingly kind of less accurate than usual, but because he just couldn't actually physically throw the football. And you might say, well, wait a second. They're not allowed to sack the quarterback in training camp. Yeah. But when you've got three guys with a clear path to the quarterback, the play is over. You know, Clint referenced it yesterday. It's so many plays where CJ Just kind of turning around and throwing his hands up and, okay, that plays over. That was last year. This year, it's been way more functional. And then yesterday, the. The red zone period that they had, it was just. It was Boom, boom, boom. C.J. takes a snap, ball comes out. Completion to Higgins on a fade over Derek Stingley. Next play, quick, super quick hitter to Jaden Higgins. And then what was the third play after that? That was the. Oh, it was a C.J. touchdown. And Sergeant, I disagreed over whether CJ would have been sacked or not.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay. That was the one where he kept the play alive. He would have been sacked. But he.

[Seth Payne]

I don't know if he would have been, though, because I thought Sheldon Rank. I was watching Keelan Rutledge, and from where I was watching, I thought Keelan was blocking him pretty well. And Rankins ended up kind of coming clean when CJ ran to the right and Rankins went to pursue laterally. But I might be wrong.

[Sean Pendergast]

Who did he throw that to? Do you remember? Don't. Don't worry about it.

[Seth Payne]

No, I've got it up here.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. Don't worry about it.

[Nick Casario]

But.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, but he. CJ was outstanding yesterday. And that was nice to see, too. The connections with Higgins out there.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

It feels like they're getting Higgins a lot of work and that they feel like at least early on here, you don't see a ton of Nico out there in the. In the 11 on 11. It feels like they're. I don't know if there's a concerted effort to do this, but the amount of work that the two are getting together in the team periods, CJ and Higgins, it does. It feels like a focal point for the team that they want cj, because that was an issue last year in camp. And I think a lot of that had to do with Jaden Higgins just being a rookie and rookies not quite knowing where they need to be and things like that. But I. That's one of the most encouraging things early on here. We know CJ's got that connection with Nico Collins. We know Tank Dell comes back. There's that connection too. But Tank's a separate topic.

[Nick Casario]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

If he gets that connection going with Jaden Higgins also, that's exciting. Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And there was one. There was a play yesterday that went viral where because dj vianime during 7 on 7 got hit with a football in the thigh. But it was so. And I wasn't even thinking about this, but, you know, people outside of Houston took. Took it as an example of CJ's inaccuracy when it was actually Higgins. Higgins broke his rod up a couple yards too short. The ball. And this is. It was a great example of what happened at times last year where people thought CJ was inaccurate. It was no. That the receivers aren't always where they're supposed to be. So the ball was thrown exactly where CJ thought Higgins was going to be to where when he turned around, the ball was going to be Right there. But Higgins, I think, broke it off a couple yards too. Too short. So it ends up being an incompletion that hits DJB enemy. But like, Higgins and Higgins has done really well this camp. That was just one little example of, okay, quarterback and receiver not being on the same page. That touchdown that C.J. had thrown was to Dalton Schultz.

[Sean Pendergast]

Dalton Schultz, Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Jonathan Alexander tweeted it out as was. Was debatable. It was either a sack by Sheldon Rankins or Stroud avoids sack, extends play and hits Dalton Schultz. The debate was him listening to me and Sarge talk about it.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, okay.

[Seth Payne]

Jonathan was. Jonathan was next to us and he's like, hey, what happened in the backfield there? And then Sarge and I disagreed, but

[Sean Pendergast]

okay, yeah, one of the great debates of all time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

I'm guessing Sarge was right on that, but it's just hard to see from field level sometimes.

[Sean Pendergast]

Exactly where did you choose to watch the. The. When it was one on one period, did you choose to. Do you go. I'm guessing you go O line, D line, not db, Wide receiver.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

What do you choose when you do? Because they had one on ones yesterday.

[Seth Payne]

I'm agreeing with you. Yeah, I choose O line.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What did you see?

[Seth Payne]

Okay, so for one, it was really hard to see because everybody was standing in front of the drill. Keelan Rutledge had a really good. Keelan Rutledge and Kaden McDonald had a really competitive one on one. And like, Caden McDonald ended up on the ground at the end. If I could have seen from the side, it looked like Kaden had gotten some push. And the thing I liked about it was they were really fighting with their hands. They were both doing the right things, which you want to see out of young lineman is really. They understand the importance of getting inside hands and they kind of traded. They traded hand positions three times. It's pummeling in wrestling and like, that part of it was really good. And Kaitlin Rutledge ended up getting the better of Kaden McDonald at the end of that one. But I think it was kind of a stalemate. The other guy that really jumped out to me was Wyatt Teller. Oh, yeah, yeah. He's just got such. He's got precise hands and the. He had a. He had three really good reps. And I know Cody and I might disagree on whether or not he won or lost one of them, but I felt like all three of the reps that I saw of him, it was vintage Wyatt Teller, including he's Got a signature corkscrew move where he's got this. One of their old O line coaches up there in Cleveland was a big MMA guy and kind of has a unique way of teaching offensive line how to use their hands. And he incorporates a lot of MMA elements into it where he's just got really good leverage, like on the grappling side of things, and he'll corkscrew guys down to the turf. And it's totally illegal. And he did that yesterday. It was really cool to see. And you do it with, like, you do it with really precision hand work, having one hand high, one hand low, and you just torque the guy down.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right, Pain and Pendergast with you off and running here. Practice number seven out here at Texans training camp today. All right, coming up next, let's touch on the Astros. They got back on a winning track yesterday. I was glad to see this guy hit a home run, especially after what happened on Monday. And also at least one day worth of validation for Dana Brown's approach at the trade deadline. We'll tell you what that is.

[Seth Payne]

Coming up next, Texans training camp is here. Live from the Houston Methodist Training Center, Sports Radio 610 presents Payne and Pendergast pitches against Dallas in his last it back. That's one sky deep to right field. A three pointer. Taylor tr, home run number six. And the Astros now lead six to two. There we go. Now we can all hop on the tram and go for a ride.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right, So I guess that's Taylor TR's catchphrase is hop on the tram.

[Seth Payne]

Hop on.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, that's Plumber's catchphrase for Taylor.

[Seth Payne]

His other catchphrase now is, it's actually a home run.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, yeah, that was. I was happy for Taylor Trammel happy.

[Seth Payne]

He left no doubt that he hit

[Sean Pendergast]

an actual home run this time.

[Seth Payne]

This is all these, by the way, these traders, these, these Sanchez's, these Miles Straws, these George Springers, this Toronto Blue Jays, these Arag Eddies.

[Sean Pendergast]

A lot of them. Yeah, we'll hear. Eric Eddy's still in his trader. Eric Eddy's very much in his feelings about the trade.

[Seth Payne]

What if he comes in and. No, he's not pitching this.

[Jadeveon Clowney]

No, no, no.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, he's beamed like three guys or something.

[Sean Pendergast]

He said he'd like to pitch in this series if he could.

[Seth Payne]

I'd like to get a piece of these bastards.

[Sean Pendergast]

Like, he's got a nine ERA the last two months for him to pitch in this series.

[Seth Payne]

Taylor Tramell, he left no doubt on that.

[Sean Pendergast]

Left no Doubt for those who missed it. On Monday, he hit a fly ball to about the deepest part of the ballpark you can hit it to. And I think it was Miles Straw that actually went up and got it. And it was one of the outfielders for the Blue Jays jumps up, didn't rob him of a home run, but had to leap to get the ball. And Tramel just assumed he hit a home run.

[Seth Payne]

It looked like, because he came down with the ball.

[Sean Pendergast]

It was kind of casual about it.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Tramell circled. He not only circled the bases, man, touched every base, got home, did his. Did his crucifix sign and pointed up at the sky. And it took his teammates pointing it out to him that there was no home run. It was hilarious.

[Seth Payne]

That is the best thing to happen on a winning baseball team. Yeah, it's a. It's. It's a lot of fun.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes.

[Seth Payne]

If you're. If they were stuck back in the morass of early in the season, that would be evidence of this team just not having it. Yeah, no attention. They're not these bums.

[Sean Pendergast]

They're not focused. Yeah, but that was cool to see. And that was a big hit. That was a big knock last night.

[Seth Payne]

It was a close knock. Three to two at the time.

[Sean Pendergast]

Three two at the time made it six to two. And I guess the other big story. So for those who missed it, 7:2. The final score. The Astros beat the Blue Jays last night. And I would say the story in this game, the Taylor Tramell home run was definitely the big hit that put some daylight between the two teams. This was kind of the bizarro version of what the Astros had been offensively, where the top four hitters in the lineup didn't do much last night. They were 1 for 13. Jeremy Pena's hitting streak is now over. It ends at 15 games. Yordon had the only base hit out of the top four hitters, but, boy, the bottom five through nine portion of the lineup, eight for 18. Altuve had three hits. You heard the Trammell home run right there. They accounted for all of the RBIs and six of the runs last night. So that was good to see the baton kind of getting passed along in the bottom part of the lineup. And Hayden Wisneski, you know, if you're. People are a little nervous, including myself, about Dana Brown's kind of rationalization of the trade deadline not getting an arm. Well, as we got Wisneski and Blanco coming back, that's like getting two guys

[Seth Payne]

at the trail, which would almost which you might be able to sell if we hadn't heard the exact same thing last year.

[Sean Pendergast]

And it was terrible. Yeah, and it was terrible. But Wisneski, you know, he was okay his first outing. Boy, he was strong last night, I thought. Yeah, he was, you know, not, not, not a ton of swing and miss, but, you know, six innings, four hits, two, you know, WHIP of one, two earned runs. You get that out of Hayden Wisnowski every time. You should win a bunch of games.

[Seth Payne]

And Wisnowski's got that little bit of that sneer to him that you like in a. In a pitcher, especially when he's homegrown. He went to psy somewhere. I think it was Cy Fair. Yeah, Sean, I'm old school, one of the size. Listen, when I grew up, there are two high schools.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm Anna Garcia, host of True Crime News, the podcast. Every week we bring you in depth coverage on cases making headlines as well as those that go under the radar. Tune in for murders that defy explanation, mystery seeking exploration, and shocking secrets that will leave you breathless. Each week we honor the victims by going beyond the salacious in our search for justice. Crime never stops. And neither do we. Listen to True Crime News, available now on the Odysee app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Seth Payne]

Having the right people in your corner for life's biggest milestones makes all the difference. Like a friend who's there when you're house hunting or checking out a new ride, State Farm is there too, helping you choose the coverage you need. With a State Farm agent, you know someone is there to help you along the way. And with so many coverage options, it's nice knowing you have help choosing a plan that fits your needs so you can continue celebrating all of life's milestones. Head to statefarm.com to get a quote. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. The snack wrap plus Caesar sauce equals extra crispy chicken Caesary Greatness. Sounds delicious. Caesar sauce at McDonald's for a limited time.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm Jenna Fisher. And I'm Angela Kinsey and we have the podcast Office Ladies. Every Wednesday we'll be sharing even more exclusive stories and lots of laughs. Follow and listen to Office Ladies on the free Odysee app and wherever you get your podcasts.

[Seth Payne]

Cypress. I can't even remember how many there were.

[Sean Pendergast]

I just remember now that's 26.

[Seth Payne]

I just remember that I was a player. So I got here in 2002 and I just remember going on like a community appearance. And it seemed like every year I was in a brand new Cypress high school. I was like, oh, no, this is Psy Creek. Oh, this is Sai Pond. You know, this is way more side tributary.

[Nick Casario]

Yes.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, it's a side peninsula.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, it's, it's, it's growing up.

[Seth Payne]

Slow down up there. Cyprus.

[Sean Pendergast]

I know. Chill out. Chill out.

[Seth Payne]

So why don't you just start expelling some kids? You know, you don't have to accommodate everybody.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right, right. Show some discipline, man. So they remain two and a half games up in the West. I said this to you this morning. I kind of like not having to check the wild card standings every day.

[Seth Payne]

That's for losers.

[Sean Pendergast]

I know. I, I felt like such a loser when I had to check.

[Seth Payne]

You're sitting on this lofty perch slightly. It's. It's Sigh. Psy Hump. We're standing high on a hump looking over the rest of the.

[Sean Pendergast]

Like a gargoyle looking down on the rest of the AL west.

[Seth Payne]

But from a, From a lofty speed bump. Not really from really a super lofty.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just kind of high up. Not super high up.

[Seth Payne]

You don't have to. You don't have to get up all that high in the air to see a lot of stuff in Cyprus. No, you know.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, no, no. Very flat. Very flat. So I was thinking about this. So the, the. Because the pitching is still kind of a mess. Hayden Wisneski, last night not withstand.

[Seth Payne]

I don't know what you're talking about. I see two quality starts in a row. Sean.

[Sean Pendergast]

The rotation. That's true. The rotation. I didn't realize this. I think this is in Chandler's article, like the post trade deadline article that he wrote. I didn't realize that the rotations era was above 5 since June 1st.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Because maybe it's the, like the recent spate of winning that kind of cleansed my mouth some.

[Seth Payne]

There's a little bit of weirdness to it too. Just because of some of the. Just like the ridiculously bad performances.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And that weight it and skew it a little bit.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, yeah. Imai getting knocked out in the first inning will crush the ERA for the starters.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

But yeah, like, I, I'm. I'm wondering, like Wisneski, this would be very welcome because they are thin in the rotation. I'm thinking like, okay, how's the rotation shape up right now? Hunter Brown's your ace. Peter Lambert is your nouveau ace. And then after that it's like, okay, we don't know what we're getting from Christian Javier night tonight. It's been better lately. Wisneski is two starts in. Blanco is four starts into a stint where he's got nearly an eight era. And then after that, it's Tatsu Imai and Mike Burroughs.

[Jadeveon Clowney]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Both of whom were various versions of banished over the last month.

[Seth Payne]

Various versions of banished or what the hell? What the hell, bro?

[Sean Pendergast]

You're going to be.

[Seth Payne]

They're on the what the hell, bro list.

[Sean Pendergast]

They are going to be team bullpen game if they get to the postseason. You know, like, I think there's going to be games that are. I think as currently structured. If you do, they're better off like throwing Javier out there for a few innings and using the bullpen.

[Seth Payne]

If you're gonna. If you're gonna piggyback it. Do you want Imai to be the opener or the reliever? Well, I'm gonna go off the. You look good as a reliever.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm off the large sample size of one relief appearance in his life. Yeah. Three innings.

[Nick Casario]

Perfect.

[Sean Pendergast]

They have yet to get a hit off him in relief.

[Seth Payne]

See, this is what I'm worried about. This is what I'm worried about with Emai on the road as a reliever is that, man, he has a hard enough time adjusting to the mound in visiting parks and now he's got to adjust to both the, the bullpen mound and the other mound. Say they're like on the road. I. I'm almost at the point where I just don't want to see Imai on the road. He needs extra rest anyway.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's a home only guy. Don't even bring him. Then he can eat whenever he wants.

[Seth Payne]

He's the guy that, when he came in, we're like, well, precious Imai, he can't. He can't be part of a five man rotation. He needs an extra day of rest.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

So he. So you can adjust to the mound. I guess. I don't know. No, I've got zero confidence in my. Yeah, it'd be awesome if it works out.

[Sean Pendergast]

Rightfully so. Spencer Arrighetti. Hey, Byron, if you can get Arighetti here, just text back to me when

[Seth Payne]

you have it on the phone.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, no, no.

[Seth Payne]

Ball players sleep in, man.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. No, no, no.

[Seth Payne]

Gone south has been a podcast about crime in the American South. But for our new season, we're widening the lens. Follow and listen to gone South Season 5. Available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your shows on the under $3 menu at McDonald's a sausage burrito is $2. So dip, drizzle or douse to your heart's desire. Cause no matter how you sauce your sausage burrito, it's still just $2. Limited time only.

[Sean Pendergast]

Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher for delivery. Everyone's talking about protein lately, but how do you actually get enough of it?

[Seth Payne]

Muscle Milk Muscle Milk has a great

[Sean Pendergast]

tasting new formula with no artificial sweeteners,

[Seth Payne]

flavors or added colors. It's high quality complete protein designed to

[Sean Pendergast]

support healthy muscles with fewer ingredients than the previous formula and 2642 grams of protein for when you're stuck in meetings or need a post workout recovery. Available in chocolate, vanilla, cream, cookies and cream, and strawberries and cream. Try the new great tasting Muscle Milk today. Available in stores nationwide. Muscle Milk Protein for All hey, it's Jen Hatmaker.

[Seth Payne]

Here's what I've learned in midlife.

[Sean Pendergast]

Joy isn't the reward you earn after

[Seth Payne]

all the work is done.

[Sean Pendergast]

Joy is the work. That's what this new series on for

[Seth Payne]

the Love is all about.

[Sean Pendergast]

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.

[Seth Payne]

As a fan chosen for the Halftime challenge, I love sports for a chance to win the big prize.

[Sean Pendergast]

But when my half court heaves only

[Seth Payne]

goes half the distance, how embarrassing for him?

[Sean Pendergast]

I wonder, is Sport Clips better than sports? Because Sport Clips haircuts is sports on TV plus an expert haircut, Hot steam

[Seth Payne]

towel and massaging shampoo tear up his comically large check. Which is better than sports plus public embarrassment.

[Sean Pendergast]

Sport Clips.

[Seth Payne]

It's a game changer.

[Sean Pendergast]

Check it [e-mail] don't have Eric Yeti on the hotline or anything. The Texas Mattress Makers Hotline? No. Spencer Arrogietty met with the media yesterday. He was really sad about getting traded from Houston because he was in a bubble of comfort, he said.

[Nick Casario]

I told my wife last night it was every emotion there is all at once. I'm going to try not to get sad about it. You know, obviously I had this bubble of supreme comfort being in Houston, Being from Houston, my family had the luxury of being at just about every game I've ever pitched here, and that's probably the hardest part to part with. It's just, you know, my house is 20 minutes from here. It's where I'm going to raise my kids Houston will always be home, and I am eternally grateful to the people in charge that gave me the opportunity to be an Astro.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay. So I'm not going to do the thing here that maybe some people would do, because you can hear it in his voice.

[Seth Payne]

Very low Profito. Like, when he.

[Sean Pendergast]

He was traded, he's very emotional. Yeah, yeah. Very emotional. Yeah. Ironically to the Blue Jays. So I'm not going to sit here and go, hey, man up. You know, like, man, man up. Here you may you be. I'm not going to grab him by the lapels and say, be a man.

[Seth Payne]

I wouldn't think you would even do that.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm not going to do that.

[Seth Payne]

I didn't know that was a possibility.

[Sean Pendergast]

But I will say this. The thing that. The thing that did strike me there is when he said I had this supreme bubble of comfort here. Bro, you've got a nearly five ERA for your career. Maybe a little discomfort could do you.

[Seth Payne]

Well, maybe I need to talk to Debbie on Clowney about much. It was a nice kick in the rump that when he got traded, he realized, oh, I got to earn this.

[Sean Pendergast]

Absolutely. I at times in my life, have been at my best when life has thrust great discomfort on me.

[Seth Payne]

That's why you intentionally sabotage your own lifestyle. You set obstacles in your way.

[Sean Pendergast]

Sometimes I'm so good at what I do, I just have to sabotage myself and create a little discomfort in this bubble that I'm in.

[Seth Payne]

You're big time into stoicism. That's what the word on Sean.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. That's a scouting report. But no, I seriously thought of that. I'm like, you know what?

[Nick Casario]

What?

[Sean Pendergast]

You haven't been great. This might be good for you.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Well, and I wonder, too, like, getting

[Sean Pendergast]

you out of your bubble, having your

[Seth Payne]

family around all the time. Sometimes.

[Jadeveon Clowney]

You know what?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Sometimes there is such a thing as a little.

[Sean Pendergast]

Am I onto something here now?

[Nick Casario]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Thank you. I think just in the same way that Clowney said that getting traded is what made him kind of wake up. And it's not like there's reports about Eric Eddie not taking it seriously or anything, but it doesn't matter who you are or just like, how dialed in you are. The. Like, there's sometimes. Yeah. You need your environment changing. Can. Can change like. Well, what you were.

[Sean Pendergast]

You were about to lose your job when you came off the aisle. What the hell do you have to be comfortable?

[Seth Payne]

Well, yeah. And you're not necessarily comfort. You know, sometimes it's like when you tell a kid, you know, some of These kids that just don't get the message. And you're like, hey, man, you're really in trouble here academically. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's what.

[Seth Payne]

Doesn't matter. That's what I was like, dude, there could be a draft in the next.

[Sean Pendergast]

You never knew, idiot. I was like, man, all the talk was he was gonna maybe get sent to Sugar Land when he got bought off, brought off the il. I'm like, what do you have to be comfortable about? And I get what he's saying. It's his hometown. It was really cool to pitch here. Your family can watch you play. Spencer Arrogetti strikes me in that 45 seconds of audio and on the back of his baseball card as someone who could use a little discomfort in his life. That's all I'm saying. Saying that's all I'm saying.

[Seth Payne]

All right. What did he call it? A bubble of comfort?

[Sean Pendergast]

Bubble of comfort, Which. I didn't like that either.

[Nick Casario]

Bubble of comfort.

[Seth Payne]

Talk to Brandy about that. Be sure I'm living in a bubble of comfort.

[Sean Pendergast]

Do you think you are?

[Seth Payne]

Right now, I'm pretty spoiled, but things could always be better. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

I absolutely live in a bubble of comfort, as you know. I don't know how to work my washer dryer. That's a bubble of comfort right there.

[Seth Payne]

All right.

[Sean Pendergast]

Pain and pender. Gassed. So maybe I'll learn how to use my washer dryer. That'll be my discomfort I'll inflict on myself.

[Seth Payne]

I want to get a nanny for me.

[Sean Pendergast]

Just for you.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Like, I wanted a nanny that, you know, just, like a nice old lady or something that knows how to handle a child and just. She can. She can give me some discipline, but she'll also take care of, you know, get me to school on time and all that.

[Sean Pendergast]

It would get uncomfortable if you ask her to spank you when you're. When you're bad.

[Seth Payne]

That's. She's gonna be a. She's gonna be a.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's not a nanny.

[Seth Payne]

No, no, no. She's gonna be a gargoyle, like, old lady. No, there's not gonna be any of that. Like. Like. Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

No blurring of the lines.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah, Gotcha.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right.

[Seth Payne]

I'm not gonna be going into business meetings introducing people to my hot, young nanny.

[Sean Pendergast]

Hey, Brandy, meet my nanny, Cinnamon.

[Seth Payne]

People are like, wow, Seth made that old mistake of having a hot nanny. And then they're like, no, it's even worse. It's for him.

[Sean Pendergast]

Just him. All right, headlines.

[Seth Payne]

Yes. With today's headline.

[Nick Casario]

On the ground.

[Seth Payne]

Another chance for Allen. He goes to Pena this time. The turned in time double play.

[Jadeveon Clowney]

Game over.

[Seth Payne]

Astros win it 7 2. They have won down 12 of their last 14 games and maintained their lead in the American League West. Lumber continues to be a really good Homestead.

[Sean Pendergast]

Astros are rolling, man. 12 and two in their last 14 games. They've got a two and a half game lead in the American League west. They win last night 72 over the Toronto Blue Jays. So they exact a little revenge from the night before. Rubber game today, Seth. They try to win the series this afternoon. We haven't had a businessman's special in a long time. A 110 first pitch today over at Dyken Park.

[Seth Payne]

Good times, man.

[Sean Pendergast]

Between the Blue Jays and the Ashes.

[Seth Payne]

And Wisneski, I think is the guy that I'm most excited about or at least intrigued by because he is. He is one of your pseudo trade deadline acquisitions. He's like, hey, hey, we're not gonna get any pitchers except we got these guys coming back.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know what else he is? Yeah, he's part of the Kyle Tucker trade.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

So that helps the Astros try to continue to run the score up on the Cubs in the Kyle Tucker trade as well.

[Seth Payne]

Well, no, imagine the. If it weren't for the, the Cam Smith, the Paredes, the Wisneski that those acquisitions. I think Dana Brown's fate would almost be sealed.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

That's probably his one big move.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. And it's. And generally speaking, it's worked out not that Cam Smith has been. He has been a superstar.

[Seth Payne]

That's still an unfinished story.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, 100%. So they win last night 7 to 2. Hunter Brown on the mound today at 110 over at Dyken Park. By the way, a little another bit of news. This is Courtesy of Brian McTaggart. MLB.com does a great job covering. The Astros posted yesterday that Carlos Correa. Good news at the doctor. He is cleared to start swinging his bat. Swinging a bat literally and metaphorically. Correa. Well, he always does it metaphorically, literally. He can swing one now, too. Correa. This is Tip McTaggart. Correa is trying to buck the odds and return to the field late in the season after undergoing tendon surgery in May. It's funny to watch the different sort of permutations or puzzles that people are trying to put together. Reinserting Carlos correct. Because here's the fact of the matter, and I know Paredes has been on a bit of a slump right now, but I'm guessing he. Unless he's getting a day of rest. He's going to bat third today. Could the three positions Correa can play for you, third base, shortstop, dh. Yeah, those are your three best guys right now over the last month, month and a half.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

So it's hurt. It really does become interesting. I would love to have Carlos Correa back because he's a good baseball player. They need good baseball players when the postseason rolls around. It's just that you're going to want all your good players in the lineup. So now we're back to kind of where we were before the season where we're like, well, Jordan's gonna have to play a lot of left field. Can we re entertain Jose Altuve playing left field? Hey, Christian Walker kind of sucks sometimes. Maybe Paredes can play first base.

[Seth Payne]

The organization had been, you know, the organization had been trying to trade Paredes in the off season because they had a crowded infield and who knows what might have happened if Correa had stayed healthy and they needed either an out, you know, left handed outfielder, which they did acquire, but maybe you get somebody a little bit higher price scale or, or a pitcher if. But that's neither here nor there. Yeah, the, the fact that he's coming back, you know, I was skeptical when Cray hinted at it.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, he may come back.

[Seth Payne]

Sorry. Yeah, I was skeptical. But then you reminded. Oh yeah, it's like all these tendon injuries aren't as bad as they used to be. Daniel Jones. Daniel Jones seems to be doing just fine coming off of a torn Achilles go.

[Sean Pendergast]

He tore it in November.

[Seth Payne]

Remember I saw we were talking to somebody after, after the season and he said, I don't know if Daniel Jones will even play football again. And we looked at each other like, have you been paying attention the last decade? Achilles tendon really isn't that big a deal anymore.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep. Jadevion Clowney met with the media yesterday. He said he is excited to be back in Houston and he wants to win a Super Bowl.

[Jadeveon Clowney]

Yeah, like I said, my whole thing was to chase the super bowl this year. No better place for me to do it here. I think they had great defense last year. I said, if I can go there, help my guys. It wasn't about the money because I could have went other places for a little bit more money than this. But I'm like, it's year 13. I started here, go back here, try to win there and see how, you know, rest of my career go. But it's been a great run, man. It's been Great. I've been having fun with it.

[Sean Pendergast]

What I love about that cut, when I listened to it, when I saw it yesterday, is it mirrors, in a way, what you. You said yourself to Nick Casario yesterday, actually, about you as a former player watching d' Amico, Ryan's defense. And if you were still an active player, especially playing on the defensive line.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

And you were figuring out what you wanted to do, and especially if, you know, there wasn't the interest you wanted in other places. Clowney had interest in other places. But just clowning, talking about watching it from afar.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

And watching that defense and say, I would like to play in that defense.

[Seth Payne]

Right. Right. Yeah. And no, and what I said is if you're. If you're a free agent, you weren't getting off. You wanted. I would go up to d', Amico, I would fly to Houston and say, I'll play for very cheap for one year and, you know, do some good things. Now, Clowny. Clowney's in a much different scenario because I think Clowney is as he has been. I think Clowney's on a year by year scenario when it comes to whether he even, you know, wants to play football anymore or anything. And it's just got to be the right situation. And he felt like this was the right situation. And he isn't that 1% of players where. When they say I had better offers elsewhere, usually I think that's bs. I do think that's the case with Clowney.

[Sean Pendergast]

I do, too.

[Seth Payne]

That he could have gone elsewhere and played for more. But this just makes so much sense.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know what else I think, too, just based on some of the joking around he was doing yesterday, which I don't think was entirely joking, I think if they win a Super Bowl, I think Clowney goes out on top. I think Clowney, he joked about it yesterday. He's like, hey, we win a Super bowl, you guys might not get another interview from me.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, that's right.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, I get that. I get. I think he's being sincere in that he is here. He wants to win a Super Bowl. And I get that's just my own gut feeling in the whole thing, that if they were to win a Super bowl, that I think Clowney would look at that as a great final chapter to his story. That's just me reading it.

[Seth Payne]

I know that's you because people said the same thing after Elway won his first Super Bowl. And it's almost like, I don't. I just. Look, if I win a Super bowl and I'M on a team that's still good. My thought is I'd like to win another one of these. This was fun.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, he was on. Well, Clowney's on a. Well, he's not Elway, but Clowney's on a one year deal. You know? You know what I mean?

[Nick Casario]

Like, it's.

[Seth Payne]

But if you had the option. Yeah. Like, it's just. You're saying, like, okay, I want it. I'm done now. I don't know. I feel like, okay, you think like Andrew Whitworth, when it was at a point where maybe he wanted retire. He goes out to the Rams, and after being kind of miserable for a long time. Oh. Oh, this is awesome. All right, I'm gonna. I'm gonna stick around.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's just my read on it. I hope we get a chance to vet this thing because it means the Texans will have won a Super bowl, so. And I'm happy to be wrong too, by the way. I'd love to have Clowney around and.

[Seth Payne]

Okay, fair. Thanks, Sean. I understand that Elway and Clowney have different careers. That's. I get it. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Zay Flowers got paid yesterday, and the Nico Collins contract is an even bigger bargain now than it was before the day started yesterday. Were you surprised? Zay Flowers got four years, 140 million, and the biggest guarantee in the history of wide receivers.

[Seth Payne]

Nah, I don't bet nylash at any of these deals. I don't understand people that get all up in their feet feelings about likes, how Bill Simmons love it when Bill Simmons weighs in. You know what? I don't care about this because Bill Simmons acted like it was a crime against humanity.

[Sean Pendergast]

So you like it?

[Seth Payne]

I'll see what the actual details of the deal are when they come out.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's four years, 140 million, 108 million guaranteed.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

To Zay Flowers, which is like, jumps way high up. The guarantees for wide receivers. I. It's the fourth highest average annual value. Again, like, when these contracts come out, there were people upset that the Texans gave money for free to Nico Collins this offseason.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

If they had kept Nico Collins where he was before they gave him that extra money, you know how far down the list he would be right now? He's still like, 13th. And that was with a massive raise.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, I think with. I guess when it comes to contracts, the only time that it really raises my eyebrows, if it's somebody that I think is just genuinely not that good where I look, you can argue about Zay Flowers in some of his. Some of his issues, especially in big games. But I don't. Yeah, this is where the, the cap's going to keep expanding and contracts are going to keep getting bigger.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep. Apparently Aaron Rodgers, you know what, we'll get to this in the 7 o' clock hour. We're up against it. Aaron Rodgers is making excuses in my mind for the loss to the Texans last year, which we will, we will get to in the 7 o' clock hour. Nick Casario is on with us yesterday. Talked about CJ Stroud, talked about Tank Dell. We'll get to both of those and also we'll dig deeper into what Clowney had to say, the difference between Clowney 2026 and Clowning 2014. And he dishes a little bit on his time when he left here in 2019.

[Seth Payne]

Texans training camp is here. Live from the Houston Methodist Training Center, Sports Radio 610 presents Paine and Pendergast.

[Sean Pendergast]

Steph and I had Nick Casario, 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.

[Jadeveon Clowney]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

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. 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, 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 then to get that information out that 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 Payne]

Yeah. And I think there's, you know, 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, the coverage. And, and that's the kind of stuff where I, 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. But it's always hard to figure out exactly, okay, when is an inerrant throw versus when is it a, a miscommunication? It's easier to figure it out this year because I think CJ has been more accurate. But they're also, there's way more, there 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, Noel's not out there. Nico being more comfortable in the system. But also, you know, you earlier had 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 of the instances I'm thinking of. Nico was battling with Kamari Lasseter. He was battling with Derek Stingley. But C.J. put the ball where only Nico could catch 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're. You're doing all right. Yep. That like it, 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Yeah. And it has been. I mean, that's the. I mean ultimately and especially when you've got a, 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 this. That I don't know what your answers are after that.

[Sean Pendergast]

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 closed minded in whichever way is the wind blowing. So I mean, you'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. 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.

[Seth Payne]

I do wonder from the organization standpoint, you know, and they've, they've mentioned Multiple times how CJ's been so good in the off season 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, 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 a 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 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. They've looked like they've, they've had guys that have gotten beat and which happens when you're going against Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And all the rest of them.

[Sean Pendergast]

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 C.J. 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 than the one he's facing out here every day.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

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, so it's a good proving ground for him.

[Seth Payne]

And then the other, you know, and look, I'm very much of the Mind O's. I'm very cool with the Texans saying, hey look, there's a nice carrot on a stick. We'll wait until after this season and, 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, Jaden Daniels, Drake May, Bo Nix, J.J. mcCarthy and Michael Penix. Those a little bit. Yeah. So the. I don't. Who knows? I mean J.J. mcCarthy. Who knows?

[Sean Pendergast]

Who knows? Yeah, just those. Forget about McCarthy and Pennix. Yeah, four like that.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

Right.

[Seth Payne]

There's going to be a couple going to get bumped up. So, so if they are feeling way more 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 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

Next off the market might be 70 million next year.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah. It's been hovering for so long and that this is the year where it just, it's, it's all lined up that this really is especially you've got Drake May, you've got a runner up to the MVP who 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 to the season he had last year. Yeah, he's going to get a new deal.

[Sean Pendergast]

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. Excuse me, 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, the fans, and we're fortunate as 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

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 Dax making 60, and I know Mahomes signed some new money for 64. 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 the. It was just released this week. It turns out they gave the next 10 guys outside the NFL top 100.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

CJ will finish 103rd.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

So he's just outside. So the. 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.

[Seth Payne]

That one is the more the. The Val. Some of these ESPN polls of executives that. That those are more valuable job.

[Sean Pendergast]

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. 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.

[Seth Payne]

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. And like, I know a lot of coaches and executives that talk to the smart X's and O's types of media. They like talking to those guys because 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 to face that year, and maybe one of them is a divisional or, you know, a non conference opponent and you forget about them after. So you're not really paying attention to the grand scale. And by and large, most of those people on that poll are thinking of C.J. the first thing that comes to mind is that Patriots game. Absolutely. 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

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. Stuff like training camp.

[Seth Payne]

We'll have to take that all with a grain of 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 he does in the regular season, there's going to be a perception that he crumbled under the pressure of the playoffs. And that's going to weigh heavy in people's minds until they see it again. Even though he's had good 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep. All right. Pain and Pendergast. So 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 Pender gas 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 Danil. 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 they're. 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 shown 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 pretty practicing. We'll kind of see how it goes.

[Seth Payne]

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 a quarterback off his spot and it's really hard to operate.

[Sean Pendergast]

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.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, that came, too. That was the one where that. Brady basically. No, look. Heaved it up over his. He did a sky hook over his head and it was a completion.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

And for the kids that might be thinking, it sounds like it was an amazing pass. No, it was a Duck. It was a Duck. It was a pick six waiting to happen. But nobody was there to get it.

[Sean Pendergast]

Nope.

[Seth Payne]

Except Brady was smart enough to probably know that nobody's there to get it. That was a safe. I'm gonna lob it up.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes.

[Seth Payne]

But it's safe to do it. Yeah. Bastard.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, that part of it, though. But so Clowney being out there for one, he's gonna rotate in. You're gonna be able to give. You're gonna be able to give Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson a blow. Keep him fresh the entire game long. But when it comes to the fourth 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. 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. If it's third and 12 and you got got. You've got Will Anderson, Daniel Hunter, and Jadevion Clowney all out there at the same time. There's very few offensive lines that have good answers for that.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right, Right. It's awesome you asked Nick about this. The narrative on Clowney, 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 them over to guard. I mean, 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 it. To your point, Seth? He plays with good effort. I'm not really sure because he runs well.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Nick Casario]

So the ability to close space and close from behind. So. 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.

[Seth Payne]

So the swarminess of Clowney and I,

[Sean Pendergast]

what am I about to play?

[Seth Payne]

I'm going to play this clip that I 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's fast. Xavier worthy?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, he's really fast. And there's just multiple examples of Clowney being on the ground because he got blocked, but then getting up and running. There's a. There's a goal line sequence where he basically saves a touchdown because Travis Kelce quits blocking. And he keeps going all the way across like he is a sideline to sideline player. He chases receivers downfield. He's always been that guy. It's always been three hours on game day. He plays his butt off. I think o' Brien's issue then was what is he doing with the other 165 hours in the week?

[Jadeveon Clowney]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And does that add up? Right? I think it's 168 hours in a week. And like Indian, Clowney talked about that yesterday. When he got traded, he realized he had to. He had to grow up. That was his quote. Grow up, Clowney.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Jadeveon Clowney]

Yeah, the building changed a lot. In a good way. Very, very good way. It's a lot, a lot easier, a lot relaxing, that building than it was when I first got there. Coaching staff. Different. Different. It's fun. It's a little bit more fun. And the group of guys in that building is great. It's just been easier 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 the show. He put a lot of great guys around him and 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

More so the changes labeled a little differently than I thought, because Landry asked him what's. How are you different now than when you. Then you were here the first time?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And. And he just flat out said. You know, he basically said he was an immature player when he was young. He didn't. He didn't really know exactly how to operate and everything. And that changed a lot over the course of the last 12 years.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. Well, here's one example of maybe not even just changing from. 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.

[Nick Casario]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

He hasn't been there for training camp, so.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, yeah. Yesterday I saw somebody say, I was surprised the clowney was still out there. Look, what are you talking. This is somebody in the national media. I was like, what are you talking about? He signs. He waits as long as possible to sign. That's a deal. This is the first time in a long time that he's been right there at the beginning of, like, almost the beginning of 20 training camp.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Jadeveon Clowney]

Thing is, I've been training here for the last 12 years, but it still hit different. I did three plays today. I told him it felt like six or seven, but let's just get back into football shape. All that running. I'm gonna text my trainer today and say, man, we did all that running for me to get tired today, like, full plays. But. But nah, 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 years, 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 tell me, you know what I'm saying?

[Seth Payne]

But.

[Jadeveon Clowney]

But it's gonna be a lot different this year because I'm gonna learn a playbook before the season start, man. It's gonna be a lot smoother season for me.

[Sean Pendergast]

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 Payne]

Yeah, yeah, that was. And he tried to. Amp. He tried to set up an ambush, but then Clowney, in Braveheart fashion, sniffed out the ambush.

[Sean Pendergast]

He did.

[Seth Payne]

And he didn't come in. Remember? Oh, Brian was saying, we just. He went all Southern Bell. He went Southern Bell. Bill 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 immediately to Miami as soon as he signed that franchise tag. McClowney sniffed it out.

[Sean Pendergast]

He did.

[Seth Payne]

He knew what you're up to. Long shanks.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Clown.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's the William Wallace of the NFL.

[Seth Payne]

But no, that part, the visual of 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. Like you said, you can't play fast when you're not really comfortable in the system. He's also. 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. Yeah, that's good. So I think. And plus, Tomiko 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Jadeveon 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 have 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. Again, one of the things I was most enthusiastic about, about with Clowney yesterday, Seth, it seems like he's got a real genuine respect for what Demico Ryan's is all about.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

For what you as a player have to like the, the non negotiable things that you need to sign up for as a player.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

To be part of this, to be part of this defense and being out here at training camp is one of those things.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. 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 emerge, what's the right situation.

[Sean Pendergast]

And I'd still bring Barnett back.

[Seth Payne]

I would too. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Shouldn't change.

[Seth Payne]

But there. 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, I heard that too.

[Seth Payne]

It's like, man, yeah, you're the other guys on the roster and this is good. It's good competition to have. But man, for Solomon Bird and Derek, Derek Horton and Robinson, like those guys, it's tougher to crack that starting rotation right now or that too deep rotation.

[Sean Pendergast]

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. 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 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.

[Seth Payne]

Why am I still saying Derek Horton? And in my mind, every time I correct myself before I say it, you're

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

I guess that's what it is. But in my mind, I'm like, no, it's not Dylan. It's Derek. Yeah, it's a really stupid thing I do. Apologies to Dylan Horton and his family.

[Sean Pendergast]

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. That's 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?

[Jadeveon Clowney]

Nah, I don't take nothing personal, man. I always say to my head, it don't matter if they pick me 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. 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 mind. 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, and it's gonna work out for you. And I started doing that. And when I left here, that's how I think I lasted eight more years in the league where I started taking care of myself and, you know, developing my game and having fun with it.

[Seth Payne]

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 that Clowny was this kind of just goofy free spirit.

[Nick Casario]

It.

[Seth Payne]

Bill o' Brien is, whatever the hell he is. He's a very, He's a very complicated human being.

[Sean Pendergast]

He has his way of doing things and it's his way or the highway.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Yeah. And those two were just not gonna mesh no matter what. So clown. He 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 have, you know.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Jadeveon Clowney]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, what it probably tells you is that the way the, the way Jadevion 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.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

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. He was just sort of.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. I mean, sometimes though, that is like. And I know I've said this before 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 and be like, how do you trade him away? Look at him now. And I pulled up one of the

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

One of the things, Bill o' Brien

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. What were you gonna say?

[Seth Payne]

Well, no, in one of the clips, Clowney had said, you know, he was kind of laughing about how he had a good time when he was here as a young player and he had a, had a bunch of. Had a bunch of great friends. And I'm thinking about, I, I pulled up the first this is a report from March 10, 2015. Okay, report Jadevion Clowney bitten by teammates. Pitbull. That was Swearinger's pit bull. Yeah, yeah. And then that was right around when the KC3. When was the KC3?

[Sean Pendergast]

That was 2013.

[Seth Payne]

That was 13.

[Sean Pendergast]

That was 2013.

[Seth Payne]

Were all three of those guys released, though?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Smoking a.

[Sean Pendergast]

They said it was a black and mild.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Dark and mild.

[Seth Payne]

Whatever.

[Sean Pendergast]

It was. Willie Jefferson, Sierra Wood and oh, Montgomery. Sam Montgomery.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, that's right.

[Sean Pendergast]

Good trivia question. Who are the KC3? So, yeah, Clowney was great yesterday and it's. I am really excited to see, man. I'm. 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.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know, now. Now Clowney is that guy that may be on those passing downs or the downs are where. Where Josh Allen might hurt you with a scramble.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

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.

[Seth Payne]

He gets from the. The center of the field to the sideline with ridiculous speed.

[Nick Casario]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And chasing down guys like Jalen Hurts and others that it's just. Yeah. 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. And 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

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.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

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 Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Tough luck, tough cookies. I don't know. I see all the people all over media like, oh, oh, the poor play by play announcement.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's a little weird life.

[Seth Payne]

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.

[Sean Pendergast]

These guys are just the game commentary.

[Seth Payne]

Maybe they suck. I don't know. I haven't listened to the home broadcast of a beast.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

I like Brett Dolan.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's a little.

[Seth Payne]

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?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

No, I had sympathy for Brett Dolan

[Sean Pendergast]

because you knew him.

[Seth Payne]

I just don't know. Yeah, because I know him. I don't know anything about these guys.

[Nick Casario]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

I don't know if they suck. I don't know if they're good.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Go get another job. We all. They come for us all, Sean. That's the industry. I say, if anything, I'm due.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

No. If and when I get fired, I don't want anybody shedding any tears over me.

[Sean Pendergast]

Don't worry.

[Seth Payne]

That's the. 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. I, you know, hot seat power ranking about coaches and everything, and I'm like, bro, you fired 10 people this morning. What the hell are you talking about? Like, oh.

[Jadeveon Clowney]

Oh.

[Seth Payne]

But, no, we can't talk about you guys getting fired. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right. Coming up next, a little more from Casario. 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.

[Seth Payne]

We'll do since Payne and Pendergast.

[Sean Pendergast]

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 hopeful return to football. 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 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 try to do what we think is best for each individual player. So Tanks work really hard. You know, he's certainly made progress and I think he's getting a little bit closer.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

So the follow up, 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, 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, then you get from rehab to practice, then you go from practice to call it a real game or, you know, a real situation.

[Seth Payne]

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 the physical, the mental is the 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

It almost sounded like we just want him to go out there and go through a dress rehearsal.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. While everybody else is playing, you want

[Seth Payne]

to be sure he remembers where the. Yeah. Like where the sideline is and everything. We don't want him running off to the visitor sideline. You know, sometimes people forget these types 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

[Sean Pendergast]

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 Payne]

You know, what I learned about the Artemis 2 mission from D' Amico was that NASA didn't just, hey, let's go sling somebody around the moon.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's true.

[Seth Payne]

That they took their time with it.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes.

[Seth Payne]

No, they're gonna be a little bit more meticulous three years in advance.

[Sean Pendergast]

Everybody has to say it's that they're a go.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Need to say that they're a go.

[Seth Payne]

And in the movie version of it, there's gonna be some nerdy dude with a short sleeve collared shirt with a pop protector 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 to hold out Tank Dell for one more week to keep him from crashing into the dark side of the moon.

[Sean Pendergast]

The voice of reason in the whole.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

We'll.

[Sean Pendergast]

We'll see where this thing goes.

[Seth Payne]

I was, 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. And I was. I don't know if you noticed.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, you say in the bubble.

[Seth Payne]

In the bubble, yeah. When we were in the bubble and he looks good and everything and all that. His legs are small. All right.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Back. Remember, Remember when he was a bodybuilder? Remember when he used to. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

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 Payne]

Yeah. I've never heard once somebody Say, look at the sweep on his quads.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

So. So no, the turf, because that's been the big off season topic because the World cup, all these stadiums have had turf in there and everything. We talked to Nick. Oh, no, we didn't talk to Nick about it. But all these football players are saying, like, hey, why come on, if you did it for them, how can't you, why can't you do it for us? 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. It's hard. You see the super bowl every year they'll do a documentary about how they've spent three years growing this turf and it's incredible. And they install it and it sucks.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's obliterated in the first place.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, everybody's slipping around all over the place. It's pretty on television. But the other is like, there's two people involved in this organization, have a history with it. D', Amico, Ryan's and yours truly did not have great experiences on a palate system. D' Ameco 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. I myself, I wish I had been more litigious at the time. I would have sued. Except I blame that turf for me tearing my hamstring tendons off my pelvis.

[Sean Pendergast]

That old palate system.

[Seth Payne]

That old palate system, which at the time was heralded as a state of the art system. I don't think, I just don't trust. I don't trust that it's. That it's that simple and easy. Own the technology's improved that much in the year.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Worry about your electrical substation. More so than the turf.

[Sean Pendergast]

Boy, that was funny yesterday.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, yeah. There's a. So for people that don't know, there's an electrical substation next to the 49ers practice facility that people have speculated might be a 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 to the 49ers,

[Sean Pendergast]

that quote from KD about wanting to play on grass.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Oh, yeah, Kurt Warner's going to be here.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Jadeveon Clowney]

Oh.

[Seth Payne]

So we'll be able to feel that audio.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, that'll be good.

[Seth Payne]

And I know that you know Robert Mays who writes for the Athletic, who's awesome, super smart dude. He interviewed Kamari Laster to 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, I memorized the roster yesterday on my wall walk.

[Seth Payne]

So you can do the old like. Okay, so who's number. Who's number. I almost said 81. Okay.

[Sean Pendergast]

Jaden Higgins.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah. Who's number 53?

[Sean Pendergast]

53 is no longer on the team. It was Junior Tofuna who got cut this morning. He did? Yeah. Oh, man, I can't believe that's the number you picked.

[Seth Payne]

What the hell to Funa. But that's more impressive that you know. How about old number 42?

[Sean Pendergast]

Number 42 does not exist. Oh, wow. There is. There's no 42.

[Seth Payne]

See, you know what? I'm impressed with myself that I'm coming up with arcane numbers instead of like an obvious like Jade Higgins or something.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

What about number 41?

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Oh, wow.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

All right. What are the punters numbers?

[Sean Pendergast]

Punters numbers are 36 and 38. Seth. That would be Jack Stonehouse, number 36 and Kai Kroger. Phillis ask. It's coming.

[Seth Payne]

Landry and Cody did like a one hour live stream stream bagging on the punters yesterday. We should probably. I was thinking like, boy, we should probably be talking about this because Cody and Landry are not happy. I try to, I try to ignore special teams as much as possible. No, but that's the thing.

[Sean Pendergast]

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.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

We saw what happened when he forced things.

[Seth Payne]

Give us the old backwards punt. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

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.

[Jadeveon Clowney]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

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. Taki. Taki.

[Nick Casario]

Oh.

[Sean Pendergast]

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.

[Nick Casario]

Roster.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's. That's. That. That's my contribution.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, it was cool. I like these guys. Wives kind of getting in it, you know? Toa's wife is really fun.

[Seth Payne]

Wyatt Teller's wife is really fun, man. Man, I love, like, honestly, in, like, the little dance he did and everything.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

I just. I wish I'd been born in Samoa. Like, Polynesian. I feel like I would have.

[Sean Pendergast]

I think you would have.

[Seth Payne]

I feel like I would have been a better defensive lineman. I would have been a nicer person. Yeah, you.

[Sean Pendergast]

You'd have been more playful.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

not want to have a switch.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right.

[Seth Payne]

It's Sophia with enough Franklin with the Y. And if you're looking for some bubble gum dum dum podcast, then you are in the wrong place, baby. Whether I'm reminiscing on the trials and tribulations of working in the corporate world to recapping today's latest reality TV show. You're going to want to pull up a chair and stick around. It's a good time and always 100% unfiltered. Follow and listen to Sophia with an F. Wherever you get your podcast.