Payne and Pendergast August 6th , 2026 Full Show

Summary

Payne & Pendergast – August 6, 2026 – Full Show Summary

Episode Theme:
A comprehensive deep-dive into the latest on Houston sports, with a focus on Texans training camp developments, Astros’ recent series, and key NFL topics. Seth Payne and Sean Pendergast bring their signature mix of insider analysis, candid takes, and playful banter, with appearances and commentary from John Harris, D’Amico Ryans, Nick Caserio, and Texans players.

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1. Houston Texans Training Camp: Heat, Progress, and Position Battles

Main Points:

• D’Amico Ryans on Camp Culture

  • Emphasizes building camaraderie and grit through tough practices:

    "Today was a grind day. Wanted to see our guys push through the elements...you gotta establish that and grow that camaraderie amongst each other. And you do that by doing hard things." — D’Amico Ryans [00:15]

• Offensive Optimism

  • Seth reflects on a radio interview in Canada, realizing his growing positivity about the Texans’ offense:

    "After that interview, I hung up the phone. I'm like, I think I'm feeling okay about the offense. CJ's had a good camp so far." — Seth Payne [07:55]

  • The WR room is a concern (notably injuries to Tank Dell, Jalen Noel), but Jaden Higgins’ emergence is balancing things out.
  • Running back depth with Woody Marks and David Montgomery is encouraging.

• CJ Stroud’s Practice Review

  • CJ shows solid pocket presence and decision making, even with a faulty O-line and run game at times.

    "It wasn’t a bunch of like, well, that would have been a sack...CJ was maneuvering in a pocket and it wasn’t...he’d step up, make a good decision. He's throwing the ball away when he needs to." — Seth Payne [09:06]

  • Notable: Two-minute drill success, including conversions with Higgins and Moreau. [09:04–10:21]

Offensive Line Notes

• Positive on Keelan Rutledge as a tone-setter, drawing a distinction vs. “fake tough guy” Trevor Penning:

  "Rutledge is finishing blocks on Aziz...he’s having a good play and finishing a block. He’s a tone setter, man." — Seth Payne [13:20]

• Wyatt Teller praised for technique and leadership:

  "He's just such a technician. It's really fun to watch him work with his hands." — Sean Pendergast [21:14]

Tank Dell Watch

• Tank wears pads and helmet, runs individual drills; very incremental progress.

  "He's hangar flying. I like that." — Seth Payne [15:07]

  • D'Amico notes, "We'll do the right thing by Tank...so he's feeling confident when he's able to step back out there in full team drills." [15:40]

• Seth and Sean express mild frustration at the lack of forthright injury reports but agree with the cautious approach.

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2. CJ Stroud & NFL Network Appearances

Highlights:

• Stroud’s interview with Kurt Warner included faith talk and breakdowns of his offensive teammates:

  "I'm very excited for the group we have offensively." — CJ Stroud (paraphrased, via Nick Caserio) [20:58]

• Stroud stresses the importance of trusting teammates and taking the “easy” throws, reflecting newfound maturity as a quarterback.

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3. Jadeveon Clowney Returns to Houston

Big Moments:

• Clowney describes his motivation:

  "I didn't like how I went the first time...watching D’Amico put this team together...I might as well stay home and help the team that I got drafted to." — Jadeveon Clowney [23:56]

• He reached out to D'Amico Ryans directly to join the team, showing a “rounded out, mature version of Clowney.”
• Immediate impact in camp, disruptive in drills.

  "There is gas in the tank there." — Sean Pendergast [30:24]

Why Not Dallas?

• Clowney reached out to the Cowboys but felt undervalued:

  "I reached out a few times, like, hey, what y'all thinking? ...I think I deserve to be signed right after the season was over." — Clowney [28:13]

• Texans got him on a team-friendly deal: $5.5M base, up to $8M with incentives.

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4. Astros Recap: Frustrating Loss, Key Moments

Recap and Commentary:

• Astros drop a 5-4 extra-inning loss to the Blue Jays [32:06], but maintain a division lead.

• Yordan Alvarez is thrown out at second; debate over whether he should have slid (and his tendency to slide unnecessarily).

  "The two times, most noteworthy, where he should have slid...he sprained his ankle on home plate and he got thrown out...So..." — Seth Payne [34:07]

• Joe Espada’s reaction to the out call and his own ejection; Sean and Seth analyze the pivotal moment and its impact on the game.

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5. Texans Defense and Player Impressions

From Linebackers & Coaches:

• Henry To’o To’o on the offense’s growth:

  "They ball. Like, they can move...no, I don’t think nobody can stop them...hell of an offense I’m telling you." — Henry To’o To’o [36:07]

• Seth and Sean remain cautiously optimistic, wanting preseason evidence before making broader claims.

O-line Depth and Competition

• This year’s competition and depth at OL described as the best in years, even if roles aren’t set.

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6. NFL Talk: QB Tiers, Contract News, Broadcasting Carousel

Mike Sando’s QB Tiers [from 51:22 on]

• CJ Stroud lands at 20th (early Tier 3: “legit starter but needs support”), down from Tier 2 after a challenging 2025 season.
• Dissection of Justin Herbert’s persistent high rankings despite lack of playoff success.
• Drake Maye, Bo Nix, and other young QBs discussed in context.
• Deshaun Watson is called "a 5 at this point" by an anonymous DC, indicating skepticism about his trajectory [62:26].

Major Contract Notes

• Jonathan Taylor signs 2 years, $44M to stay with Indy [44:50]; discussed relative to Bijan Robinson’s prior deal.

Broadcast News

• Tony Romo’s legal trouble and slump could see JJ Watt take a higher-profile NFL broadcast role. Watt praised for his prep and acumen, compared favorably to Romo and others.

  "J.J.'s really good at this. And I feel like JJ probably works at this the same way he worked at being a football player." — Seth Payne [71:41]

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7. Notable Quotes & Running Banter

• On Keelan Rutledge vs. Trevor Penning:

  “Penning was and always has been and will be a fake tough guy.” — Sean Pendergast [12:32]

• On change in media tone:

  “I meet so many parents of players at training camp who listen to our show… it always reminds me, okay, if I’m gonna criticize this kid, do it like a good coach would do it.” — Sean Pendergast [43:59]

• On Deshaun Watson’s future:

  “He’s a five at this point...He's just not a good quarterback anymore.” — Anonymous NFL coach via Sando’s poll [62:26]

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8. Rapid Fire: Headlines and Final Segments

• Astros: Maintain AL West lead despite tough loss; play Padres next.
• Texans: No practice today; next night practice and pep rally Saturday.
• Stefon Diggs: Signs with Commanders (1 year, up to $12M) [39:41].
• Aaron Donald: Return rumors swirled after old workout video recirculates.
• Cardinals: Camp footage goes viral for all the wrong reasons; Marvin Harrison Jr’s drops noted.
• JJ Watt’s broadcasting future: Possibly moving up permanently if Tony Romo is ousted.

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9. Final Chats: Clowney’s Impact

• D’Amico Ryans on Clowney:

  “He fits our style. He fits our brand of football...causing havoc, which is what I love.” — D’Amico Ryans [80:20]

• Seth and Sean excited by Clowney’s disruptive potential and continued durability:

  “He’s a hand grenade...you throw them in that direction, it blows everything up.” — Sean Pendergast [83:12]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening & Training Camp Culture: 00:15–06:12
• Texans Offensive Evaluation: 07:18–11:17
• O-line Deep-Dive: 11:17–13:20
• Tank Dell Injury Update: 13:20–17:04
• CJ Stroud & NFL Network: 18:31–22:12
• Clowney’s Return to Houston: 23:44–31:43
• Astros Loss Analysis: 32:06–35:19
• QB Tiers Discussion: 51:06–60:41
• Broadcasting Changes (JJ Watt, Tony Romo): 66:34–73:46
• Clowney’s Practice Impact & D-line Depth: 80:14–87:39

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Overall Tone

• Playful, candid, unfiltered, but grounded in sharp football insight. Banter and real talk intermingle with deep-dive breakdowns—trademark Houston sports radio, for fans by fans (and ex-pros).

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For listeners who missed this episode:
You got a thorough yet entertaining rundown on the Texans’ vibe heading into the season, why Jadeveon Clowney’s return is more than nostalgia, where Houston's offense is quietly moving up, and why Tony Romo’s broadcasting seat could soon become JJ Watt’s. Plus, you didn't miss any detail on Astros drama, nor any hot topic in the NFL’s QB pecking order.

Transcript

[Seth Payne]

Sports Radio 610 presents Seth Payne and Sean Pendergast.

[Sean Pendergast]

We coming to eighth time.

[John Harris]

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

[Seth Payne]

Great day. Great day. Oh, give me some juice, baby.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, yeah. Let's do it.

[d'Amico Ryan]

Today was a grind day. Wanted to see our guys push through the elements. Like, for you to build a good team, you gotta go through hard things, Right. And you gotta establish that and grow that camaraderie amongst each other. And you do that by doing hard things. Today was a tough practice. I'm proud of the effort our guys show. Proud of the discipline and really proud of the way they finished any. Everything I could ask for.

[Sean Pendergast]

And now this game's going to be over. As Miles Straw comes in to make a catch on Dalton Varsho's fly out to center. A frustrating end to what was a really good home stand. The Astros dropped two out of three to the Blue Jays, losing 54 here in 10 innings. They end up with a 4 and 2 homestand, but they lose 54 today. Heading out to the West coast after this one.

[d'Amico Ryan]

5 4.

[Seth Payne]

The final.

[Sean Pendergast]

What we do to Todd Callis's voice

[Seth Payne]

is, Todd, did Todd Callis go to Munchkin Land a couple days?

[Sean Pendergast]

We did like the Phillies did and had a contest winner do the need

[Seth Payne]

to listen to the audience.

[Sean Pendergast]

You're gonna bring a contest winner in.

[Seth Payne]

I thought it was safe to play the final call of the game without making Todd Callis sound like one of the Lollipop Guild.

[Sean Pendergast]

Did you see the Phillies had a contest winner come in and did a pretty good job of it doing a play by play of the 30 game? Yeah, I thought it was. I was kind of. It almost sounded like it could have been a retired broadcaster.

[Nick Caserio]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

But then he started screwing some really, really good.

[Seth Payne]

Okay, we play some Todd Callis audio again in headlines. We'll have to see.

[Sean Pendergast]

We're gonna have to apologize to Todd Callis.

[Seth Payne]

Well, whoever. Yeah, I. You know, I. I'd have to go look and see who pulled the play by play of the game. It might have been. It might have been Tyler. I guess it was an afternoon game yesterday. Yeah. So I don't know what happened to that audio, but that. That was Todd Callis on the call. I know it sounds like it might have been Todd Callis prepubescent teenage son, but the Astros lose yesterday, and Espada got tossed. Did he get tossed?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, he got tossed for arguing the Jordan thing.

[Seth Payne]

I was so hopping mad that Jordan got thrown out at second that I stopped looking at the tv. I just saw Espada coming out of the dugout.

[Sean Pendergast]

I look at this as Espada grabbing the team by the throat, saying, I'm going to oppose my will. He very cordially got tossed, though.

[Seth Payne]

He always cordially gets tossed. He's never. He's never feisty when he gets tossed.

[Sean Pendergast]

Like an old man complaining about his soup.

[Seth Payne]

That's exactly right, sir.

[Sean Pendergast]

This is not acceptable.

[Seth Payne]

No, this is lukewarm. Yeah, it's funny.

[d'Amico Ryan]

If.

[Seth Payne]

If for those of you may have missed it yesterday, The Astros lose 5 to 4 in 10 innings, and they fell behind 5 to 3. Bennett Sousa comes up and gives up an immediate home run to Clement, the second baseman for the Blue Jays. An extra inning. So it's 5:3, but you've got Jeremy Pena on second. You've got your Don Alvarez up at the plate, about as good a combo as you could have to try to get a rally started. And Jordan laces one down the right field line, driving Pena home. And apparently Yordon just thought it was going to be a walk in double. How do I know that? Because he basically tried to walk into second.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, he didn't. I mean, he was running hard.

[Seth Payne]

He was. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I guess.

[Sean Pendergast]

I mean, he said. He said afterwards that he had his head down and. Because the second. Because the.

[John Harris]

The.

[Sean Pendergast]

The second baseman kind of deked him to try to, you know, disguise when the ball was coming in, but Yordon just had his head down and was going.

[Seth Payne]

He definitely thought he had it. This we know, because Jordan loves to slide. Yeah, he slides more than your Don Alvarez should slide. And he didn't slide. He kind of. He kind of, you know, slow stepped into second base and came up short of the bag by, I guess, an inch or so.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. Got tagged.

[Seth Payne]

Foot.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah.

[John Harris]

He.

[Seth Payne]

He wasn't. According to the umpire, his foot wasn't on the bag when he stepped into second base and got tagged out. And the Astros challenged it. There was really no angle that could show that he did touch second base. The funny thing is that after the game, we'll play this audio and headlines. After the game, Joe Espada said he thought Jordan was in there, that he wasn't out. And your Jordan, in his media availability, basically said, now, I think I missed the bag. So. So anyways. But that was a killer. You know, that was essentially. It was, you know, not game over necessarily, but the difference between now being down by one run, no outs, guy on second.

[John Harris]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Versus one out, nobody on with a lineup that's kind of a fall into the Grand Canyon after the third or fourth spot in the order. So anyways, they lose yesterday still a game and a half up in the division. So that's good news.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, the. Yeah, yeah. You come out of it happy about that series and feeling good about the team in general. Bray, you also raise. Got a two point something like over one era since May 1st. Now they're June 1st. Yeah, he's. Yeah, he's been very good. And you know, and Hunter, Hunter was dealing. Hunter really wasn't. He was until he wasn't. Right, right. But like as if you're still giving him a little bit of leeway in the comeback and the fact that it happens in the sixth inning, I think I feel like he's really, really close to just slamming the door shut on all of the. Any concern or, you know, like he looked great last night.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[John Harris]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

He had no hitter through five and a third. So he was. And then it kind of a little bit in the, in the, in the sixth inning. But you're right, that was a game. You know, they get up 3 nothing early in the game and you got Hunter Brown on the mountain. I'm like, okay, well this is good. They're going to win a series here and. And they did not. So Astros lose yesterday. We'll get into that a little bit more later. I think it was funny, d' Ameco, Ryan's, that cut we played on the way in where he's like, you know, this is one of those grinded out days. This is one of those days where, you know, you know, you get to bond with your teammates out here and you grind it as if yesterday was any hotter than any other day out there.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, it was. Well, it was a longer pract they had the day before. The ones didn't do a whole lot and it was the last day before day off. Right, Right. No, and it was a longer. They took more reps, they had more series than they had the day before. So they got, they, they got a lot of work done. But it wasn't like none of Tamiko has the philosophy of getting in and being really crisp and intense and off the field. So there. It's not a marathon three hour session or anything.

[Seth Payne]

No, no, I, it's funny. I went on radio up in. We'll get to the big stories in camp here in a second. I went on radio up in Canada yesterday afternoon on Edmond in Edmonton. They wanted to talk about the Texans. So naturally, when you're up in Edmonton, I'm your go to. I'm big up in Canada. So they were asking me all the questions you should about the Texans. These hosts on the station up there, mostly about the offensive side. Cause that's the thing. The defense is the calling card for the Texans.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

But when you're in another market, there's only so many things you could ask about a defense that's just freaking amazing. Like, tell us how awesome the defense is. And then I tell them, and they're like, tell us again how awesome the defense is.

[Sean Pendergast]

What other things are good about this?

[Seth Payne]

Right, Right. So a lot of questions about the offense. And you know what? I found this was a good exercise because if it were this time a year ago, I think I would have come on there and been like, this stinks. That stinks. The line stinks. C.J. looks terrible. He can't throw. He can't hit the broadside of a barn. He came in all muscled up. He had a shoulder injury in OTAs. Blah, blah, blah. They kind of went methodically. Seth. Like one. One component of the offense at a time.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And by the end of the interview, I'm like, I am feeling very positive about almost everything on the Texans right now on the offensive side. Not very. Not like they're going to be the greatest show on turf or anything like that. But I. There's not a. There's not a part of it that I. That I come away, like, getting into my truck after camp and being like, God, this sucks. Like, I feel like the offensive line is improving. They got the right type of guys. I feel like they got a lot of bodies in the tight end room. And I don't feel like they're just taking up space. I feel like there's. There's purpose with that room. The wide receiver room is just a little concerning right now. We'll talk about Tank here in a second because I know people want to hear about that because we don't know what Tank is.

[Sean Pendergast]

Jalen all hasn't been practicing, right.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Jalen Noel hasn't practiced yet, but I still. But the ascension of Jaden Higgins almost cancels those two things out for me. Higgins has looked great. And then the running back room. I feel good about how Woody Marks has looked alongside David Montgomery. So I was like, after that interview, I hung up the phone. I'm like, I think I'm feeling okay about the offense. Like, just, you know, and then CJ's the big thing. CJ's had a good camp so far.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, I have my. My impression of Yesterday's practice. And I always like to go back, you know, it's. When you watch these practices, it's kind of like when you're watching a high school scrimmage and you're convinced that your side won the scrimmage. If you're watching a scrimmage where you don't keep score, every. Every high school football player knows that his team won the scrimmage. You know, oh, yeah, we kicked their ass. You're really shocked to learn that some guy was. Some guy from the other school was telling some girl at your school that. That they kicked your ass. You're like, no, what the hell? And then you go fight at a pizzeria. The. That's. How. So you're out there at practice. And I think the one big difference I noticed as I was chatting with Jason Bristol and a few other people out there yesterday was, oh, you know what? We're having actual conversations about whether the offense is actually having a good day or a bad day, which last year was never.

[Seth Payne]

It's a boring conversation.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah. So you go through and you watch a play by play, and y. I think the real story is, for me, and this is going to sound like something I never would have allowed myself to say. I was encouraged yesterday because I thought the offensive line in the running game was more of the issue than anything else. And before you say, wait a second, Seth, haven't you been screaming about the rushing attack for years now? Yes, I have. But by and large, it's been better. Way better this year than it has been in the last couple of years. But in the absence of a good rushing attack and with pass protection that sometimes broke down, CJ Was still really good. CJ Was maneuvering in a pocket and it wasn't a bunch of like, well, that would have been a sack or that would have been. It was. He would have kind of a pocket, but a muddy pocket. He'd step up, make a good decision. He's throwing the ball away when he needs to. But the two minute drill hit Jaden Higgins for 10 yards. Got sacked and an incomplete, but then had Higgins for 15 yards. Stroud to Hutchinson for eight, then to Foster Moreau for 11 yards. They kick a field goal.

[Seth Payne]

Converted a fourth down at one point on that drive to a fourth and three. I think. So, yeah, the two minute drill was nice at the end by C.J. i agree.

[Sean Pendergast]

That was right in the middle there. Yeah. They still had a series after that.

[Seth Payne]

Yep. So that was good to see. And Kaimi was on point yesterday.

[Sean Pendergast]

Wow.

[Seth Payne]

They had Kaimi kicking 55 and 60 yarders yesterday at the end.

[Sean Pendergast]

Pretty soon we're going to start having that conversation about, hey, how come field goal kickers can't also be the punter? Cause these guys have not been draping themselves in glory.

[Seth Payne]

Did you see they brought one in for a tryout yesterday?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, that should be expected.

[Seth Payne]

And if I'm that guy and I'm not on the Texans, I don't feel great about my career.

[Sean Pendergast]

What a squandering of a couple of.

[Seth Payne]

Chuck Browning is his name.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, what a squandering of a couple of badass names. Kai Kroger and Stonehouse.

[Seth Payne]

Jack Stonehouse.

[Sean Pendergast]

Jack Stonehouse battles it out with Kai Kroger, who can shake the fewest number of punts.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, Jack Stonehouse sounds like he foils crime, that name. So, yeah, punting, honestly, it's one of the few things that I'm pessimistic about everything. It's been a good camp so far. I think just seven practices in, I feel pretty. I feel great about the defense, obviously, I feel better about the offense than I thought I would at this point.

[Sean Pendergast]

No. And I think Keelan Rutledge is really just consistently putting in good, solid days. And, you know, I get skeptical sometimes when people are all excited about, oh, it's an offensive lineman who's nasty and fights a lot because sometimes those guys end up sucking because they're too aggressive. Okay, this is. He does that stuff. But while he's keeping good balance and good technique and everything, there's. There's a lot to like about Keelan Rutledge.

[Seth Payne]

I had this set for later, but I'll ask it now. Since you brought up Rutledge and since it sounds like you kind of. You kind of subtweeted Trevor Penning right there when you said what you said.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Chris Poulos, who's the owner of West Point Lincoln, texted me yesterday, said, can you ask Seth this?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

He said, I'd like you to ask Seth the difference between Trevor Penning and Keelum Rutledge. Rutledge seems to have that same edge where he's finishing plays. But I know Seth, he says, I know Seth's disdain for Penning. And I'm just curious what's the difference between.

[Sean Pendergast]

This is the key guys who get a reputation for being a badass when what they do is they get. They get destroyed on a play, but then they jump on the guy after the whistle. That's Trevor Penning.

[John Harris]

Gotcha.

[Sean Pendergast]

Or, oh, look at that. He drove that safety out of bounds. That's Trevor Penning.

[d'Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

He gets his butt whooped, but then he's a badass when it doesn't matter.

[Seth Payne]

Keelan Rutledge is finishing blocks on Aziz. I'll show you.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right. He's like having a good play and then finishing a block. I would say the same thing about Wyatt Teller. In his career, I never thought of Wyatt Teller as a dirty player because he's putting people in the dirt in the course of action. You know, he's a genuinely good football player. So that's a big. That's why, like, Penning was and always has been and will be a fake tough guy. So he did a lot of stuff versus Mac opponents and in the Senior Bowl. This just dirty while also not being good at playing offensive line. The difference, that's. That's the difference. Rutledge is good and he's also like that. The dirty part, if you're a defensive lineman, the dirty part is guys. Like in training camp, if you're kind of. If you're dragging guys down from behind, if you're doing a lot of stuff, that's a practice tempo violation.

[d'Amico Ryan]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

And that's not Rutledge. He's just. He's getting it out. He's playing till the echo of the whistle.

[Seth Payne]

He's a tone setter, man. No doubt. He's a tone setter. All right. So Tankdale wore pads yesterday. Seth, he wore pads, he wore a helmet, and he ran patterns against air.

[John Harris]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

And that was progress yesterday in the individual period. Yes.

[d'Amico Ryan]

And he.

[Sean Pendergast]

And he caught some passes, had one drop. It looked at the end of that period he was just kind of standing, hanging his head. And I don't know if he was. I don't know if he was praying or meditating or focusing on something or just upset with himself over the drop.

[Seth Payne]

You know, what I noticed about Tank is that when we all saw him run out there, we saw he had on pads and a helmet. Everybody got real excited about that. The crowd popped for it and everything else.

[Sean Pendergast]

I thought he was going to be in an Oklahoma drill.

[Seth Payne]

That would have been fun.

[Sean Pendergast]

Fun.

[Seth Payne]

So what I noticed about Tank is that when he wasn't doing things, when he wasn't doing drills, which was most of the practice, when he was kind of moving from person to person to go talk to them, he's like, kind of like cutting through them as if he's cutting through the little orange cones in his workouts and stuff.

[Sean Pendergast]

Almost like he was.

[Seth Payne]

Almost like he was trying to show People like, hey, I'm not in this drill.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

But my legs do still work.

[Sean Pendergast]

My old special teams coach, Frank Gantt Sr. Who is a Naval Navy pilot, he would talk to us about that hangar flying. You always want to be practicing all the time because, you know, pilots will sit and they'll go. You watch the Blue Angels rehearse for a flight where they all close their eyes and they're kind of going through everything mentally. So that's what, you know, used to do that John Randall, the Hall of Fame defensive lineman, seemed to work for. He used to go through the shopping mall hitting pass rush moves on people. It was just you. Just you constantly. We used to do.

[Seth Payne]

We were nine.

[John Harris]

No.

[Sean Pendergast]

I remember reading that story about John Randall, and I started doing it when I was a kid, like, working my hands just on random things. You know, people who ski. Yeah. You know guys who are annoyingly always practicing their golf swing when you're talking to them.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Like, that's what they're doing. They're hangar flying.

[Seth Payne]

Okay.

[Sean Pendergast]

And that's what Tank's doing. He's hangar flying.

[Seth Payne]

He's hangar flying. I like that. Did you do it as an adult when you were going through the mall?

[Sean Pendergast]

Not too much like John Randall. Not once I got to the age. You didn't want it bad enough. I could be Trident as an adult.

[Seth Payne]

I've been a Hall of Famer like John Randall.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. Randall's doing up at the Mall of America in Minnesota where people are like, oh, my gosh, John Randall hit me with a spin move today. It was incredible.

[Seth Payne]

Seth. Seth's best mall story is when he got lost from his teammates at an appearance while wearing uniform at the mall. Here was Dem.

[Sean Pendergast]

Jim Marshall head slapped me. It was great.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, exactly. Here was d'. Ameco. Ryan's on Tank Dell being back out

[d'Amico Ryan]

there yesterday on the right plan. He's. Nothing's changed with this plan. You know, we progressing him on really well. He got out did Indy today, and we expect him just continue to progress with how he's feeling. There's no set way of doing it. It'll be based upon how he's feeling, and we'll do the right thing by Tank making sure that we approach it the right way, take care of him the right way, so he's feeling confident when he's able to step back out there in full team drills.

[Seth Payne]

Anything change with CNTank out there yesterday for you as far as how you feel about that?

[Sean Pendergast]

I feel like it's everything that they've told Us is that they're just going to take it step by step and they're making it into incremental baby steps. And really, when talking to Nick. Sorry, I've got this new phone, and I don't know how to silence it. Oh, there's a little.

[Nick Caserio]

It's right there.

[Seth Payne]

There's a button.

[Sean Pendergast]

I know there's a button instead of a switch. So I press the button and I think the thing.

[Seth Payne]

Welcome to the future.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm kind of disappointed in this new iPhone. I thought the battery life was supposed to be better, and I think it might actually be worse.

[Seth Payne]

I got a 17, right? Yeah, I got a 15. I love the battery on this thing.

[Sean Pendergast]

So as far as the. They're taking the baby steps, and from talking to Casterio, it seemed like. Yeah, the actual going through each process. And after two years out of football, they want to be sure that everything's really natural and comfortable as they go along. So, I mean, as small as it might seem, basically what he did today was the same thing he's been doing, except with shoulder pads on.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. I'm a little disappointed in Nick. This is the second straight time he's done an interview with us where we asked him about Tank. He gave a nice answer about Tank. Nice expansive answer. But then the very next day, Tank does something that's milestone worthy.

[Sean Pendergast]

But you know what? I think, in keeping with the policy, they don't want to put any kind of public expectation.

[Seth Payne]

I know, but I thought we were friends.

[Sean Pendergast]

If Tank woke up in the morning and felt like, you know, sometimes the pitcher wakes up and his arm is dead.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Woken up and they're like, I don't know if I can put on the pads. But Kasario already told the people I was going to do it.

[Seth Payne]

Just told pain and Pendergast I was going to put the pants on.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, then he goes out there and tears an acl.

[Seth Payne]

That's a good point.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

All right, Nick, you're off the hook if you're listening right now. All right, Payne and Pendergast, there's a ton that I meant to get to in the open, and there's just so much stuff going on here with the Texans and with the Astros. By the way, baseball talk on Sports Radio 610 presented by Xfinity. Score. The most reliable Wi Fi 1, price, five years guaranteed Xfinity. Imagine that. All right, CJ Stroud and Jadevian Clowney, both on the NFL Network Yesterday. What did C.J. have to say? Does. Is C.J. as bullish on these offensive weapons, as I was 10 minutes ago. And Jadevion Clowney on why Houston? His phone call with Demiko Ryan's and Jane Slater asked him, hey, why didn't you go back to Dallas in a positively Dallas type of move? You want to hear what Jadevion Clowney says about that? We'll do all that coming up next. All right, the NFL Network was in town yesterday. Good seeing our friend Jane Slater out there.

[Sean Pendergast]

We talked to Jane Slater for a little bit before practice when we were done with our show. Yeah, I got excited to find out that Kurt Warner was going to be interviewing C.J. stroud.

[Seth Payne]

Yes. Yeah. The two of them sat down with CJ Stroud. Good interview. If you want to go find it, it's up there. It's on YouTube.

[Sean Pendergast]

You and I bet on Kelsey which Bible verses they would discuss.

[Seth Payne]

They were heavy. They were playing.

[Sean Pendergast]

I figured they would be.

[Seth Payne]

They were playing dueling Bible verses there.

[Sean Pendergast]

For sure. Kurt Warner is going to love C.J. stroud. It was. However skeptical he might be for whatever reason, once they get. Once they get onto the old. The old bibliotech, it's gonna be. It's gonna be on.

[Seth Payne]

There was a lot of faith talk, no doubt about that. Here was C.J. stroud on the. Kind of just doing a rundown almost of the. Of how things are going offensively. All the weapons in the different rooms on that side of the ball. How's he feeling most of the time? La Playa sounds like this

[d'Amico Ryan]

for some.

[Seth Payne]

La Playa also sounds like this. The 30, the 20, the 10. But no matter what, this is our Playa Corona. La Playa awaits. Relax responsibly. Corona Extra beer imported by Crown Import, Chicago, Illinois. I'm Susie Welch, the host of Becoming youg, a podcast where I help you stop living by default and start living by design. Listen to Becoming you wherever you get your podcasts about that group.

[Nick Caserio]

Nico, of course, is, you know, the one. On one guy, he can do everything. He can get in the slide, go outside, you know, big playability, big yak ability. And then, you know, the other guys, I think they're very talented. You know, some guys who played a lot of college ball, you know, played together in college with Hutch and Higg and Jay Noel. And then you got Tank, you got J Wad. Coming from a championship mentality with. I think he has three rings, you know, so he has that mentality and that work ethic. And then also our tight end room. I think we brought in Marlon Rookie from, you know, that team up north, he's doing very well. Then we got Dalton. You know, of course our ace had tight end Cade Foster, running backs doing well. So we. And then my biggest thing is we're tough up front. You know, we got some tough guys, some. Some young guys who, who are pushing everybody else. Like, Keelan's doing great. Wyatt from the Browns got a lot of experience. I can go on and on. Everybody's doing really well. So I'm very excited for the group we have offensively.

[Seth Payne]

That's kind of echoing what I said in the open, Seth. Like, I found myself as I was talking about this offense with other. Another radio station yesterday, I'm like, wow, I'm. And I'm generally a positive person, but I'm like, I. I feel decent about the direction of these rooms right now. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

And I think the Wyatt Teller is the guy that I've been watching and, you know, it's hard to see during play sometimes all the individual stuff, but when you watch him. But I've been pleased with him so far in the team periods. But then in the one on one pass rush, he's just such a technician. It's really fun to watch him work with his hands. And, you know, for young offensive linemen, same as it is for young defensive linemen, the. The biggest thing that guys maybe realize real quickly when they get to the NFL is how precise you have to be with your hands. And Wyatt Teller is one of the best in the. In the league in the last decade at that, and he's still very much that way. So the level of veteran expertise and then the promise of Keelan, Rutledge and Betchi, we woo. Honestly, is like, I haven't been blown away, but it's hard to get blown away by interior offensive linemen. But the scouting report on him, just how solid and strong that he is, like, you can totally see that he might develop into something.

[Seth Payne]

Yep. Clowney was on with the folks on NFL Network yesterday as well.

[d'Amico Ryan]

And.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, real quick, before we move on, just because another thing that the CJ had said in his interview with Kurt Warner that I really liked was that, you know, he talked about maturing as a quarterback and, you know, taking the. Taking the easy throws and everything. But he said a key thing in there, which is it's a. It's a great way to frame it, is that you got to trust your teammates to make those plays because sometimes it's kind of an insult to the other players when you don't throw the running back early in the down, you know, when you realize, okay, the coverage isn't right, instead of hanging on, let me throw it to the running back and let him get some yak. Like, you're insulting your running back if you don't think he can do that.

[John Harris]

Right.

[Sean Pendergast]

Like, you learn that. Yeah. No, that can be a really, really vicious weapon if you don't do it. And he framed it almost that way. Is like, yeah, trust your teammates. It doesn't have to be the circus throw downfield. You can turn a boring route into a good one if you trust your teammates to do it.

[Seth Payne]

I thought the. One of the really interesting things he said in there, we don't have the audio, so I apologize. But when they asked him about kind of changing his mentality of taking plays like that, taking what the defense gives you, is that he's like, yes. Since I've been in high. Since I was in high school, every other coach before this coaching staff or before getting to the NFL probably really was like, yeah, man, you can make all the throws.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

You should be zipping it all over

[Sean Pendergast]

the place like, yeah, dude, you too can be the next Jay Cutler in the NFL if you so choose.

[Seth Payne]

Right? Yeah. It was interesting. It was good. It was a good interview. It's good. Sit down with those guys. Here was Jadevian cloudy.

[Sean Pendergast]

I mean, that and just like, yeah. Be so. Just so hungry for the deep ball that you don't actually develop as a genuine quarterback.

[Seth Payne]

That's right. Here's Devon Clowney when he was asked by Jane Slater and Kurt Warner, why Houston?

[John Harris]

I didn't like how I went the first time, and I felt like we had a good team to win when I was here the first time. And I kept watching them after I left, watching d' Amigo put this team together, and I was like, I've been living here. My kids go to school here. If I had to pick to come here or somewhere else, I might as well stay home and help the team that I got drafted to. And I was looking forward to this. They got a lot of great players up front. I said, if I can get in the mix with that group, it can be special for us this year. And I was looking forward to that.

[Seth Payne]

All right, so it's. It's interesting. It's funny, because there I've. I've heard d' Ameco make comparisons or not make comparisons, but mentioned Daniel Hunter in the same answers.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Which deviant Clowney. Because of the Houston angle to the whole thing. You know, Daniil wanting to come back here and do something special in his hometown. This isn't Jadevian Clowney's official hometown, but it's his football hometown. This is where he started his career. Like the. The. It's funny to me, like, how this defense is such a walking advertisement for itself. Daniel Hunter, when he signed here, brought up the fact that he was at that Cleveland playoff game, the game, the playoff game against Cleveland back in D' Amico's first year, CJ's rookie year. He was at that game and he watched that defense and was like, damn, I want to play on that defense and I can do it in my hometown. It's almost an identical story from Clowney.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right. Clowny didn't sound a little bit in that particular slice. He talked about when in his introductory press conference conference, he talked a good amount about the environment that's here with d' Amico and how it's different that that particular answer sounded a little bit more like convenience, that it was part of it. I feel like that one wasn't as. Didn't. It wasn't as much full bore into, like, yeah, this is the spot that it needs to be. But, like, in fairness to him, he has given that other answer a couple of times.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, for sure. For sure. This is what his phone call, how his phone call went with d'.

[d'Amico Ryan]

Amico.

[Seth Payne]

Ryan's. What was that call with d'?

[d'Amico Ryan]

Ameco?

[John Harris]

Like, I was just really speaking to him like, hey, I see. I like what you done did with the culture over. I can tell the energy in the locker room for watching you guys on tv. And I. I was like, hey, I'd like to be a part of that. You know, I'm here. I can help the team. And just reached out to him and he was like, hey, we can work on that. And the next week, he made things happen, got me in the building. Now it's been up from there.

[Seth Payne]

Again, that, like, that's a. That that's a significant thing that Clowney's doing. The one making the phone call.

[d'Amico Ryan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

And that dynamic happens. It's. It's always interesting because you wonder exactly what. Like, what would they have reached out to him eventually? Sometimes I hear stories from front offices where I'm like, man, what's the harm in a phone call? Just to see if somebody. They'll assume that somebody isn't interested. Or so they might have been planning on talking to Clowney's agent at some point anyway. Clowney also has been a guy that has routinely waited until late in camp or when the regular season has begun to make his decision. So then maybe they're just kind of slow playing it and not not wanting to look desperate. So it was nice when they got a call from.

[Seth Payne]

I think it's really interesting just how motivated is probably the wrong word, because I think Clowney is a motivated player, as you pointed out several times. And you've got the cuts to prove it on your computer over there. That effort and motor on the field is not an issue with Clowney. But he has had this sort of strange reputation that's followed him about being, you know, like, doesn't do training camp, you know, like that. Stuff like that. Little things like that. He's still a very, very good football player, obviously. That's why I thought that was really. That he's doing the reaching out to d' Ameco that he saw these things again. There's a convenience factor, too. He lives here in Houston. But. But that. In the fact that, as he pointed out, I wanted to get into a training camp so I could finally get into a scheme and not turn to the guy next to me and ask what I'm doing. It just seems like a much. It seems like a really rounded out, mature version of Clowney.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, he's. He's a different guy than. Than when he left. And he's still like. In terms of personal, he's not. He's not Will Anderson because There's only like 4 or 5 Will Anderson type guys in the league. But he's definitely just. He's not the young kid whose head was spinning when he first got here.

[Seth Payne]

Okay, so he played for the Cowboys last year. He was their best defensive lineman, probably until they traded for Quinn and Williams is. Did Dallas take the old Clowney for granted in their approach with him this off season? Because they asked Clowney yesterday, why didn't you go back to Dallas?

[John Harris]

I was shocked myself. I reached out a few times, like, hey, what y' all thinking? I think they wanted to go through training camp. I was like, that ain't my mindset right now. I think I deserve to be signed. Right after the season was over, I felt like. And when they didn't sign me, I was just like, I'm not gonna go crazy. Far off the play. I'm not going to a team that can't win. I want to go to a team that can and win and gonna be in position to be in the playoffs come December time. And why. Why not do it here? While I started it, it said.

[Seth Payne]

I mean, that sounds to me, Seth, like they were like, nah. Clowney always Signs in in late August anyways. Yeah, the Cowboys. That's how I choose to.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, it's tricky. The Cowboys are trying to massively overhaul their defense, too. So it was good last year for them. Right, right, right. But I mean, they already. They've got six, seven new starters potentially on defense, and maybe just for, for whatever reason with an older player, they just didn't want too many older guys on there.

[Seth Payne]

They obviously didn't prioritize him or he'd

[Sean Pendergast]

be a Dallas Cowboy. I mean, yeah, they. They prioritized Rashawn Gary last year. That, that seems like I would rather have Clowney.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, I would too. We got some text rolling in here. What does Clowney's contract look like? Very team friendly. Base salary of five and a half million, maxing out at eight million with incentives. Yeah, that's a really good deal for the Texans.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, no, and it's, It's. It's not that much more than they paid EJ Speed or Dominique Robinson. You know, it's a, It's a few million more. But I, I do think Jadevian probably would have had better offers, especially if he'd. Wait. You know, part of him just. It's not like. It's not fair, I think, to say, oh, he just doesn't want to go to training camp. Part of it is that he's in that category of guy, that he's probably going to get his best deal at the end of camp when teams realize, okay, we don't have. We need a guy or one of our guys got injured and that's probably where the best deals have been. So if he had, if he had followed the same strategy at some point, somebody would have come along maybe with a much more lucrative deal in this, maybe that a good team who loses a starter to an ACL and is a contender or what have you, there's somebody that might have played him, paid him a lot more.

[Seth Payne]

He's in a couple of practices and he was disruptive yesterday. No, no, no.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yesterday it was. No, it was immediate. He came in and he did a speed to power against Braden Smith and just destroyed him. I think Braden might have gotten his feet tangled up with somebody. I couldn't see from the sideline, but it was pretty damn impressive. And then he immediately had two really nice reps against Trent Brown.

[Seth Payne]

There is gas in the tank there.

[Sean Pendergast]

And I know when I mentioned this yesterday, a couple people said, whoa, is that actually good? Because that's against our offensive lineman. Yeah, it's fine. It's fine. Like, they're he's doing it against proven offensive linemen and that's what clown he's going to do in one on ones at time. I had a conversation with somebody yesterday about like well what like why would they just not chip them and because you can't, you can't chip somebody every single play, you know. Oh no, that was a question about Will Anderson. But like because you can't still true though, you can't chip everybody every single play. And especially if you trust your tackles. Yeah, they're going to be a one on one and sometimes they're going to get beat.

[Seth Payne]

Hey, real quick along those lines. Text message Anybody had eyes on Ursary so far?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, Ursari's had, he's had some bad snaps versus Daniel Hunter, which is fine

[Seth Payne]

like everybody else in the league.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, I think, I think he's looked generally where I'd expect him right now. He hasn't blown me away, but I think he's, he's an improved, I think he's an improved player over where he was at the end of last year, you know, without seeing him in an actual game yet. That's my expectation in Week one.

[Seth Payne]

All right, let's get to headlines. Coming up next, the Astros lose yesterday, still leading the division. We've got more audio from training camp coming signing of a former Texan has found a home. We will tell you who that is as well. We'll do all that in headlines coming

[Sean Pendergast]

pain and Pendergast with today's headlines smashes one fair ball to the wall and right into score.

[Nick Caserio]

Pena.

[Sean Pendergast]

Jordan digging for second. He will be out at second base. A great throw by Nathan Lucas to get Yordon and Jordan cannot believe that throw was on him. And the tag made by him and for a huge first out of the inning.

[Seth Payne]

All right, that was a big play in that game yesterday. The Astros lose 5 to 4 to the Toronto Blue Jays. So they lose the series to the Blue Jays, still leading in the AL west by a game and a half over the Rangers, who won yesterday 5 to 4. The final score in 10 innings, 5 to 3 going into the bottom of the 10th after an Ernie Clement home run off of Bennett Sousa put the Blue Jays up 5 to 3. Pena. Pena was on second base to start the inning. Jordan Alvarez was your leadoff batter for that inning. And Jordan promptly laces a double down. Well, it looked like it was supposed to be a double, ended up being a single with him getting thrown out at second. But Pena scores on the play to make it 5, 4 and it looked like you were gonna have runner on second, nobody out, down by one run, and instead Jordan, who for. For whatever reason, the rare time he chooses not to slide, he goes into second base standing up. And at least according to the umpire, he. He came up just short of the base, you know, fraction of an inch short. Heads up play by the Blue Jays infielder there to tag him, and they challenged the play. Espada. They lost the challenge. Espada went out, argued it got tossed, and. And The Astros lose 5 to 4 yesterday. That was a big. That was a big swing in that game, in that bottom of the 10.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. And it was. You know, it's funny, I felt bad for you because it puts you in a pickle, because you hate it when you are on stage. And yet in the very instance, because he'll do. He'll do some superfluous slides where you're like, hey, big fella, he loves slides. Don't put yourself in harm's way. And this is the exact time. And he didn't even get deked by the deke either. He just. He said he just had his head down and just.

[Seth Payne]

He thought it was a double.

[Sean Pendergast]

Looking for the bag. Yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

He just thought. He thought he had.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, he wasn't casually rolling in there.

[Seth Payne]

And I think anytime you don't slide, there's a level of casualness to what you're doing. You know what I mean? Like, it's that. So I think.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

So the. So the two times.

[Sean Pendergast]

But he said it was almost like he. I. I wonder if he said he had his head down in the. Looking for the base. Almost as if maybe he was running faster than he realized.

[Seth Payne]

I don't know.

[Sean Pendergast]

All of a sudden, there was the base and, oh, I should have slid all I know.

[Seth Payne]

Your point is a good point. I am very anti Yordon sliding vocally, so I have my own Reddit group for it. I've got a club. Anti Yordon.

[Sean Pendergast]

Sliding tattoo on your left buttock.

[Seth Payne]

Yep, yep, yep. If you want to check out my social media, it's ontslide Yordon.

[Sean Pendergast]

You put your sliding pants up over it.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, I do. The two times, most noteworthy, where he should have slid and chose not to. He sprained his ankle on home plate.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And he got thrown out last night or yesterday afternoon. So here was Joe Espada on that particular play after the game. No, I think I saw enough there. I think his foot was in the bag, and I don't know if he called him off. Call him out because the foots came

[Sean Pendergast]

off or not, but looked to me

[Seth Payne]

like he beat the play.

[Sean Pendergast]

How frustrating is that? Just with the, you know, just with, you know, he had a chance to be the time run there with no outs.

[John Harris]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very frustrating.

[Seth Payne]

But, you know, they. So, you know, they. They make the call in New York, and that's the ruling. And, you know, I disagree with it. The funny thing about that is Yordon after the game was like, yeah, I think my foot was off the bat. Yeah, I don't think I made it.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Sorry, Joe. I didn't mean to throw you under the bus. All right. So the Astros off today. They're off to the west coast to play the San Diego Padres, and they're the Astros up game and a half in the division. Training camp yesterday for the Texans. Long one. It was a long. Little bit longer than usual. And they're off today. The Texans also off today. No training camp practice. This was Henry Toa Toa. The offense has been a big talking point throughout training camp because we know that's the side of the football that needs to get better. This was Henry Toa Toa, inside linebacker for the Texans, saying what he's been noticing with the offense this year, man, they move fast.

[John Harris]

Online.

[Seth Payne]

Looks really good. CJ's making great decision. And the running backs, man, I'm running backs. Is they good now?

[Sean Pendergast]

Man, I don't know.

[Seth Payne]

Whatever you've seen out there, don't believe it.

[Sean Pendergast]

Like, those boys are good.

[d'Amico Ryan]

They.

[Seth Payne]

They ball like they can move. And most of the time, La Playa sounds like this. For some, La Playa also sounds like this. But no matter what, this is our Playa Corona. La Playa awaits. Relax responsibly. Corona Extra beer, imported by Crown Import, Chicago, Illinois.

[d'Amico Ryan]

Hey, there.

[Seth Payne]

I'm Kendra Adachi, and my show, the Lazy Genius podcast, helps you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. And you get to decide what matters. I'm not here to tell you what to do. I'm here to give you a new way to see. Episodes of the Lazy Genius podcast are full of compassionate time management tips and permission slips to do what makes sense for you. New episodes drop every Monday. Follow and listen to the Lazy Genius podcast on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. When they get clicking, it's over. Like, no, I don't think nobody can stop them. They're that good, and they're putting all the pieces together, and they're a hell of an office I'm telling you, hell of offense. He's even more bullish than I am. Hell of an offense. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know what the. I mean, I've had that thought before where I'm trying not to try not to get too excited over non tackle football, but that is still a very, very good defense that practices really hard out there. And some of the plays that the Texans are making are plays that they didn't have a prayer of making last year during training camp. But Jaz, do I dare to start comparing them to other offenses just yet? I'm going to need to see. I'm going to need to see the first couple of preseason series.

[Seth Payne]

I agree.

[Sean Pendergast]

I do hope Sergeant pointed this out from. Remember two years ago, the starting offensive line wasn't even together at any point in a preseason game. I think until the final. Like for a series on the final

[Seth Payne]

that was still when Tunsil was on the team. Yeah.

[d'Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, no. And it's. Yeah. And it was, it was just a matter of like. There's a lot of uncertainty about that offense going into 2024. There were still some things I wanted to see and it felt like they were just kind of casually rolling into the season. We'll be just fine with these guys. Look, yeah, your risk of injury goes up, but your risk of sucking goes up too if you don't have your offensive line out there for at least a few series altogether in the preseason

[Seth Payne]

games, that was the offensive line. Unlike this camp, where it feels like other than Ariante or Street, they're shuffling everybody around even between, you know, Keelum Rutledge has played guard and center. You know, the. They. The competition at right tackle is a really good one with Braden Smith and Trent Brown right now. This is a better offensive line room overall, talent wise than that one two years ago. And yet that one two years ago felt like they had their ones all set. Like on July 26th or whatever. When camp started, that was the year was Tunsil, Kenyan skinny, Kenyan Green, coming back from the injury. And then it was Juice Scruggs at center, Shaq Mason and Titus Howard. That was it. Those are your ones. This is a very different camp, but I feel like it's a better room.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, no, the depth in the actual competition of guys that like, like last year you had backups competing to be starters and which means that your backup was going to be a guy that might be third string on a lot of teams where this year it's, these are bonafide. There's going to be backups who are Bonafide starters on other teams.

[Seth Payne]

We'll talk more about this. We're up against it, so we'll talk more about this in the 7 o' clock hour. Stefan Diggs has found a home. He is a Washington commander one year up to $12 million.

[Sean Pendergast]

Brandon Iuk comment on that?

[Seth Payne]

Not that I've seen yet. That's who I want to see Brandon Iuk go after because I feel like Diggs might fire back at Brandon.

[Sean Pendergast]

This is where maybe this is a wake up moment for Brandon Iuk where he realizes, wow, yeah, okay, Diggs is the guy.

[Seth Payne]

Maybe I'm.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, I mean, Diggs has been more productive recently and you know, on the football field has not been a character risk at all in the last few. Couple places he's been. And yet he's got, he's got a certain cache to him that Brandon Ayuks. His cachet is even worse.

[Seth Payne]

And we'll get more to digs in the 7 o' clock hour. I just found it hilarious, the article in the Athletic that was reporting Diggs signing with the commanders and towards the very. It's not a long article, it's a report. But the very end gives like a paragraph or two on the whole lawsuit that he was kind of exonerated from because the witness was terrible, blah, blah, blah. And then there's a sense at the very end says Deke still has two outstanding pending civil lawsuits.

[Sean Pendergast]

I mean, and they just kind of

[Seth Payne]

left it at that.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know, I saw Warren Sapp was telling a story about the things that Tony Dungy used to tell guys to watch out for. He had like five items and one of them was the, the women you know too well and the women you don't know well enough or something along those lines. And that's like Diggs. Diggs has a history of maybe associating with people that aren't. Aren't the best for him.

[Seth Payne]

Yes, I would agree with that.

[Sean Pendergast]

So even when he's not technically the victim or when he's not technically at fault, man, you put yourself in a lot of hairy situations.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, you're just, you're, you're walking drama, man. Just drama all the time. All right. Ringing endorsement from one of his teammates for CJ Stroud. And we haven't dug into the Mike Sando QB tears. There's some interesting non CJ angles to this. The. The tears. The ranking of the quarterbacks by executives and coaches around the league. We'll get into that and a whole lot more in the 7 o' clock hour. That is coming up next. Sports radio 610 present Pain and Pendergast. What happened? Why did they omit our names?

[Sean Pendergast]

Byron, are you fired already?

[Seth Payne]

Byron, are you trying to send a subliminal message to management that you don't want Seth and I here for the new era of 95. 7 the fan I keep. No, I need y' all here.

[Sean Pendergast]

You're damn right you do.

[Seth Payne]

That's right.

[Sean Pendergast]

Thinking that's. That's the day on August 13th, all of a sudden switch to FM. And also, by the way, you guys are out, you know.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, that's what I'm worried about. I'm worried they kind of ad libbed

[Sean Pendergast]

our name out of there like those broadcasters for the. The basketball program. Oh, yeah. You know, big change. And they just fire him just because. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm pretty sure we're gonna be here on August 13th.

[Seth Payne]

You were not very sympathetic to those two guys.

[Sean Pendergast]

And I also said I don't expect any sympathy when the day comes, when I get canned.

[Seth Payne]

According to that promo that Byron just played the bump in right there, it could be seven days from now.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm thinking about countdown.

[Seth Payne]

The countdown to getting rid of me and you.

[Sean Pendergast]

I've just got a few more chess moves in play before I become the majority owner of Odyssey.

[d'Amico Ryan]

Okay.

[Sean Pendergast]

Then I'll be untouchable.

[Seth Payne]

Just give me a cushy job when you get there.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's all I ask.

[Seth Payne]

If I. If I can come along for the ride, that would be good. But yeah, it's worth mentioning. A week from today, in fact, a week and 57 minutes from right now, Sports Radio 610 becomes 95. 7 the Fan. I've had a lot of people coming up to me about that around town at Texans practice and things like that. It's big buzz, man.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Heritage sports station. Going to fm.

[Sean Pendergast]

The. Yeah, it's called the Guys from the. The guys from the Texans front office and the coaching staff and everything that is. They're walking by us have told us that like. Oh, hey, thanks, man. Yeah, appreciate it.

[Seth Payne]

Thanks, buddy. Appreciate that. I, you know, Savior Hutchinson's dad.

[Sean Pendergast]

The best thing that is a reminder of me, like, you know, when I, When I first started doing radio back when we were on the AM dial, I. I used to, like, I didn't know exactly what the hell I was doing and I kind of was like, okay, I guess I'm supposed to kind of shout a lot and be a jerk, like, which was easy for me.

[Seth Payne]

You were really good at it.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, I have a Hair trigger when I want to have it, I can. Guys, it's weird. I can control the hair trigger. And if I decide to.

[Nick Caserio]

To be.

[Sean Pendergast]

If I decide to be angry, I can be genuinely angry all the time.

[Seth Payne]

You're the best.

[Sean Pendergast]

But then after a while, I just, I realized I don't feel good about myself when I'm. When I'm that way. And it's not good for my blood pressure.

[Seth Payne]

No.

[Sean Pendergast]

And, like, things have changed to where I think because of podcasting especially, things have changed to where everything's more conversational now and people don't really want hot takes. But the thing that helps me most in that regard is I meet so many parents of players at training camp who listen to our show.

[Seth Payne]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

Or listen to our podcasts or what have you. And it always reminds me, okay, if I'm going to criticize this. This pleasant gentleman son, at some point, I want to be sure I'm doing it like a good coach would do it and talk more about, like, okay, this is what this player needs to do differently. This is what, you know, this is what he needs to do in this situation instead of just, you know, deploring what a bum this kid is. I reserve that for the Trevor Pennings of the world.

[Seth Payne]

Yes. You don't care.

[Sean Pendergast]

What is the Houston sports team play?

[Seth Payne]

What would happen if you met Trevor Penning's parents?

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, I tell him, like, what did. Like what? What'd you guys do wrong?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Why is he like this? Why does he not take. Why does he not work on being a good football player instead of a guy that just jumps on people after he gets his ass?

[Seth Payne]

That's what I thought. That's what I thought. Hey, by the way, real quick, breaking news in the AFC South. Jonathan Taylor agrees to 2 year, 44 million dollar extension with the Indianapolis Colts.

[Sean Pendergast]

And he did that without a hold in this time? He did. No, there were no RV meetings like he had with. So they're with. Is it Carly Taylor or Carly?

[Seth Payne]

Carly. It's Cali or Carly. I can't remember.

[Sean Pendergast]

Say the daughter of Jim or say he just did it with very little drama. And so let's see. The Jameer Gibsel. Is he the last big name running back that's currently. He's.

[Seth Payne]

Well, he's the one that I know is holding in and then might get a deal.

[Sean Pendergast]

Probably he's younger than Jonathan Taylor. Probably going to get a more lucrative deal than Jonathan Taylor.

[d'Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, he probably will.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, that Jonathan Taylor one isn't as lucrative as bichon.

[d'Amico Ryan]

No.

[Seth Payne]

But Bijan probably signing that probably helped. Yeah. He's also not as good as Bijan. You know, he's really good. But Bijan getting that deal yesterday if you missed it. And it's Carly Ursi Ursay Gordon is who who probably said, you know, we're not going to go down the same road my old man did where Jonathan Taylor's going to be holding in. We're going to take care of our guy. He's been a great player.

[Sean Pendergast]

What too. I'm going to call her Carly Ursay Gordon. This dude. Who the hell. Good job on you. Marrying into that is a good job. That money.

[Seth Payne]

It's a really Good job.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

NFL money. But so Bijan gets his deal yesterday. Three years. 75 million 20. So 25 million AAV. And the domino falls into place here for Jonathan Taylor.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And deal with him for a few.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's notable for the divisional opponent where as. As Kalyn Bullock said. Yes. Last year the their offense is Jonathan Taylor. And after that they don't have much. Yeah. That Daniel Jones is only as good as Jonathan Taylor is. The same way it was in New York when Barkley was really good.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, wow.

[Sean Pendergast]

I think Daniel Jones really might be something.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

So if the Texans can can bottle up and limit Jonathan Taylor, that's key to that game.

[Seth Payne]

Absolutely. Week three is when we will see the Colts in Indianapolis. Here was Derek Stingley Jr. Yesterday. This is actually a question, just a general question about improvement on the team.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And Stingley immediately takes it over to C.J. stroud.

[Sean Pendergast]

Play has been all right.

[John Harris]

I'm seeing like C.J. c.J.

[Sean Pendergast]

Is C being C.J.

[John Harris]

the C.J. that we all know he can be.

[Sean Pendergast]

And he, he's making some real plays out there. Like he, I mean, we all knew

[John Harris]

he could do it. Like he, he'd been doing this for a long time. This is. I can't. I can't wait for everybody else to see him go out there and just, just ball. Just be himself.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay. So when I hear that I, I, it's, I'm not. This is how I hear it. This is how it lands with me. I'm not saying this is what Stingley was saying, but it almost sounds a little bit like acknowledgement that. Yeah. Like we weren't seeing the old CJ For a little while there and that it's in him. It's in that maybe, you know, this is my own take on it.

[d'Amico Ryan]

That.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. There's a lot of things that go into it above and beyond just CJ Himself. It's all the parts around him. It's Nick Caylee. It's everything else. But I do think that a weekend to camp, there's just. There's just a substantial difference in the way CJ and the offense as a whole is operating versus this defense compared to last year.

[Seth Payne]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

And CJ has had some really nice vintage CJ moments of throwing. Throwing passes into tight windows, making the right decision. I get excited about some of the throwaways because, like, honestly, in training camp, especially where you're as a quarterback, you can get away with, all right, acting like you wouldn't have gotten sacked, but there's times where a guy's, like, closing in on him and he throws the ball away, and you just. He's playing it like it's an actual game. And if there's somebody in his face, sure, I could try to make the throw and, like, pretend like I wasn't going to get sacked. But no. He throws the ball away.

[Seth Payne]

No. And I think this is just obviously totally projecting here, but I think playing it out like that and throwing the ball away at least sends the message to the offensive line, too. Like, reminds him, like, no, that's a negative play.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right, Right.

[Seth Payne]

In a game that, like, if he keeps moving around back there and he finds somebody over the middle two seconds after, it would have been in a normal game, he would have been sacked. Then maybe the, you know, maybe the offensive line is like, whatever. But if you feel acutely like, no, now we're in third and 10 instead of, you know, third and three or something.

[Sean Pendergast]

And there's. And again, when you talk about the sum total of everything, with the pass protection last year, I got frustrated because I felt like people were looking at the fact that CJ was getting sacked about half as often as he had been the year before, and they were interpreting that as, wow, the offensive line is playing a lot better. And they really weren't. For a large portion of the year, it was that CJ was taking it on himself to not get sacked. He was a smarter quarterback and a more veteran quarterback because, you know, as they say, sacks are a QB stat in a lot of ways. There's a lot of. A lot of really good quarterbacks. Peyton Manning was the ultimate who, like, never got sacked a lot. And there were times where his offensive line actually wasn't that good, but he took it upon himself to not get sacked. Yeah, CJ did more of that last year. But then also some of the past protection issues were physical or mental on the part of the offensive line. But sometimes it's because CJ's not setting or seeing the protection the right way. And I think he's gotten a lot of better. A lot better at that as well.

[Seth Payne]

My request would be to the stat people out there, to the stat gods, the people that run all the stat things, is that the sacks get put into two categories.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

One on the line and one on the court.

[Sean Pendergast]

They have that.

[Seth Payne]

But I'm. But I want it, like, on the. You want it to be one of the main stats. Yeah, yeah. Like, I know they've got X woba.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

You know, but I want it. I would want it to be like, next to home runs and rbi.

[Sean Pendergast]

Any stat you ask for, they have it already.

[Seth Payne]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

The problem is that there is 29,000 of those types of stats.

[Nick Caserio]

Well.

[Seth Payne]

And I don't want it behind a paywall either. I want it for free. Yeah, I want it for free.

[d'Amico Ryan]

I already.

[Sean Pendergast]

You got Pro Football Focus.

[Seth Payne]

I know, but I paid for enough stuff already. Yeah, no, I'm sure they do. I'm sure they do. I just want it readily available when I go to espn.com or something like that.

[Sean Pendergast]

You want, pff. To actually be a website that's easy to find things where it's not.

[Seth Payne]

That would be glorious. That would be glorious.

[Sean Pendergast]

Hey, that thing that everybody wants. Yeah. It's eight steps.

[Seth Payne]

No, but if it was more available to everybody, then people would talk about it more, and then the quarterbacks would be more in tune with. Oh, my God. God, I lead the league in quarterback.

[Sean Pendergast]

Baseball players started caring more about OPS than baseball.

[Seth Payne]

Right, right, right. Because it's in. It's right there.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's right there. They talk about it, even though all

[Seth Payne]

you had to do is add batting average or on base and slugging together. But, yes, it's right there. It's right there. Okay, question on the text page, and then we'll get to the Sando article here. Why do you all say holding in instead of holding out?

[Sean Pendergast]

Because they're in the building.

[Seth Payne]

Yes. Yeah. Here's the thing. Holdouts used to be the thing because guys would stay away from camp altogether. They would get fined. And then the teams. Once the guy came back, the teams would forgive the fines. They can't do that anymore.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right.

[Seth Payne]

It's part of the cba.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, so now. I mean, part of it, too, is now players will hold in, they'll have a mysterious injury, and then there's kind of a standoff between them and management, depending how they feel about the player as to whether they want to be hard asses about it or not. So it's a tense situation where they're holding in. Technically, the team could hit him up with a, you know, the conduct detrimental or be aggressive with it, but if it's a guy they want to have a long term relationship with, it's just an uncomfortable situation. And that's where, that's why you see so many of these with Jalen Ramsey. Remember, Jalen Ramsey had this mysterious back injury. He gets traded away from the Jaguars and the next week, all of a sudden his back is healed.

[Seth Payne]

He's practicing with the Rams. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so that's what it is. It's, it's, it's a different pool.

[Sean Pendergast]

As a former player, I try to stand by players as much as possible, but it's dirty pool. I don't like that. I don't like when players do it.

[Seth Payne]

Yep. All right, so the, the Sando QB tears are out. We talked about it a little bit earlier this week, the day they came out. For those who don't know, Mike Sando is a writer for the Athletic. Very plugged in with scouts and front office people and coaches. And he's done this, I think for 13 years now, where he surveys 50 people across all different work disciplines around the NFL and they vote. And they basically just put all the quarterbacks into a different tier. Anywhere from tier one, which is a franchise guy who carries his team all the way down to tier five, which is, you know, just not a good quarterback. C.J. stroud, for some perspective, was in tier two after his rookie year. There's usually four or five guys in tier one. This year there's four. C.J. was seventh overall in high in tier two after his rookie year. Did not drop much after his second year, even though it wasn't as good a season for CJ as his rookie year. He dropped just to ninth this past season. And probably this is voted on, I'm sure after the playoffs. Was a big tipping point, at least in the impression around the league amongst these folks. For CJ Stroud, he dropped all the way into the kind of upper part of tier three. He is 20th overall and he is behind names like Bo Nix and old man Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, apparently only lost to the Texans because he had the flu.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, that's his story. Now that he had the flu. He was a hero for even playing games. You know what looked awful from what I know of heroes when they have a flu game, they perform, they win titles, actually.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So CJ's 20th on this. Look, this is just one of a litany of things where the. You can just tell the Q rating for CJ Stroud is just down right now around the league.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

There's nothing he can do about it. I don't know how much attention he's paying to it in this day and age. It's probably hard for him to have people not come up and tell you these things.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. No, I think. I think CJ is at a pivotal moment in terms of when it comes to perception around the league, where I think there are a lot of people that are just. They're waiting. And this year, just from all the discussion in the off season, I think a lot of people, whether in the league or the. That portion of the NFL media that really watches film and everything, they're kind of.

[Seth Payne]

They don't.

[Sean Pendergast]

They don't want to say that this is a closed book on cj, but they want to see how he operates this year. If the Texans actually have a good rushing attack, if they have a better passing protection, a better O line in general, that they still feel like he's got this mysterious, vague ceiling that's higher than what he's performed at. They're just not. They don't want to, you know, put him out on the line and say it.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, it's. And it's been pretty universal that they've, you know, everybody's kind of downgraded him now as far as other things in this exercise at Sando goes.

[Sean Pendergast]

The other thing, though, really, just as far as tj, because I know we're going to the other ones. I mean, like, the. The two above him. Jalen hurts at 17, Bo Nix at 18, and then CJ Stroud at 20. Those are interesting ones because that's like Bo Nix. I think people are still banking on the upside. In a lot of ways, Jalen hurts. He's just a unicorn of a quarterback. But I like. I. But I don't see it as as much of an insult that. Okay, CJ's right around in that band where.

[Seth Payne]

That's where he played to last year.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. Well, I mean, if you look at. As objectively as possible by all the other. By all the different various quarterback metrics, he was anywhere from the 10th to 16th best quarterback.

[Seth Payne]

Right, Right, right. I guess I'm just going by the description that Sando uses for what these tiers mean, because Tier 3 is the description of a Tier 3 quarterback is legit starter, but needs better running game or defense to win. Yeah. Lower volume drop Back passing offense suits him best, I think. I think that's how the Texans feel. Their behavior would indicate that's how the Texans feel about C.J. stroud.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's just above at least how they

[Seth Payne]

want to operate with C.J.

[Sean Pendergast]

he's just above Bryce Young and Bryce Young and Daniel Jones. Daniel Jones and Bryce Young, in that order.

[Seth Payne]

Yep, yep, Yep. Daniel Jones, 21 on this list. So these are the ones, Seth and just kind of. Kind of going through these. You know, it's like I scroll down yesterday and I'm like, okay. You know, as Burrow still a definite tier one. He's at four. All right. All right. I get to six. This Justin Herbert thing has been going on for three years now where Justin Herbert still gets this grace from everybody out there. Some of these quotes in here about Justin Herbert, you could. We could play a little game. Are they saying these things about CJ Stroud? Are they saying these things about Justin Herbert? He's taken so many hits where it's impacting his reads. He's playing with quick feet at times. When he gets hit early, which he wasn't doing as a younger guy, I get it. The guy's been hit every year. That's about Justin Herbert. You could say that same thing about C.J. stroud.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

How long has he been in the league? Okay, now this is somebody who's actually critical of him. And this is how I feel about Justin Herbert. How long has he been in the league now? They've never won a playoff game. I get it. But, like, if you're the guy, at some point, I feel like they've been sniffing around enough. He should have had more accolades at this point. That's kind of how I feel like Justin Herbert came in the league in 2020. He's in his seventh year. He's not only not won a playoff game, he's had some disastrous playoff performances.

[Sean Pendergast]

He also had. He had a ridiculously bad offensive line last year. And I think he gets a lot of credit for playing above and beyond that and making do with that. But the criteria for. For category three there, that tier three is also exactly what. That's how they're handling him, is that they're running the hell out of the ball. He doesn't throw all that much. He had 3,200 yards pass. I try not to get hung up on total passing or anything, but 3,200 yards passing for a guy that's not a guy that can run, like Jalen Hurts or somebody, I don't see how that Makes him. Where is he?

[Seth Payne]

He did. He's six.

[Sean Pendergast]

Six.

[Seth Payne]

He's six now. Now he did. And maybe some of this may have had to do with the offensive line that you touched on. He was second in the league among quarterbacks in rushing yards last year. Yeah, he did run the ball a lot more last year.

[Sean Pendergast]

He ran a lot. But it's not like his calling card. No, no, no, no, no.

[Seth Payne]

It's probably more, but. But it is probably. It does probably speak to why he's so high up there is that he's very traitsy. Got a lot of traits. And it seems like the front office people that voted in this were higher on him than coaches were.

[Sean Pendergast]

And unlike cj, he's never thrown four interceptions in a playoff game. Oh, wait, yeah, he did. I remember that happened right in front

[Seth Payne]

of my own eyeballs at NRG Stadium. It did. Drake may at number eight. How do you feel about that?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, that sounds about right.

[Seth Payne]

I think he stays there.

[Sean Pendergast]

This is the year.

[Seth Payne]

Does he go up or down over under eight next year in this exercise for Drake, maybe he goes.

[Sean Pendergast]

I was going to say he's going to stand pat because he's going to face a tougher level of competition and he'll stay there. His numbers won't be as good, but I think it'll be a pretty good performance. I think. Look, I mean, like losing Stefan Diggs, but gaining A.J. brown. Is that. Is that. Is that a genuine bump up then, you know, for. Exactly.

[Seth Payne]

I don't know.

[Sean Pendergast]

Jalen hurts for everything that. That kept A.J. brown from being as spectacular as he's capable.

[Seth Payne]

I don't know. I didn't. I'm not sure. The thing I think about A.J. brown versus Diggs, and it's ironic because you and I just got done. We'll talk about Diggs here again in a second. Yeah, just got done talking about how much drama he brings in general. But it seems like once you get to practice and you're between the white lines. Yeah, he's now, you know, in Buffalo, he was a drama guy, but it seems like he's matured a little bit. He was fine here, he was fine in New England.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's not getting arguments with people about him getting the ball more.

[Seth Payne]

That's my point. Being used. Unlike A.J.

[Sean Pendergast]

brown, where A.J. brown is that. And when you have a young quarterback with a diva wide receiver who's demanding the ball, sometimes it can jostle the horse.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, that's why. That's why I think that. Who knows? Maybe. I mean, A.J. brown's a better player. Yeah, empirically than Stefan Digis.

[Sean Pendergast]

I think, you know, everything that Vrabel did initially when he had A.J. brown in Tennessee, where they were able to establish that they were able to use play action really effectively, I think they're going to be able to do that with. With the. With that. With what they're rushing attack could be in with A.J. brown, so I think he'll end up higher next year.

[Seth Payne]

Brock Purdy tied for 11th, got one tier one vote, Brock Purdy.

[d'Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

I feel like there should be a rule in this exercise. Sando does all this stuff, promising anonymity to all these guys. A vote in it, these 50 people. I feel like if you're the one person that votes for a guy on a certain tier, you should have to show yourself. If you're the one guy who voted Brock Purdy Tier 1, you should have to raise your hand, say, that was me. I voted Brock Purdy. Like, if you're one of 34 people that voted for him in Tier 2, then whatever. But if you have such a. If you have such a hot take on a guy, you need to show yourself.

[Sean Pendergast]

Jeremy Fowler kind of tweaks his ratings when he uses these. And if he feels like. If he feels like somebody's vote might be a little bit sketchy. Yeah, it sounds like he didn't go into detail about it, but he was on with, I think, Rich Eisen or. No, it was. It was somebody else. Dan Patrick. And it sounds like. All right, if a guy votes for his own guy on his own team, just because then he might not. He might not use that. He might disqualify college on it.

[Seth Payne]

I think that's okay. I think that's okay. For the sake of time here, I'm gonna page. All the way down, all the way down. All the way down, all the way down. Tier four. Malik Willis, 29th. Geno Smith, 30th. DeSean Watson, 31st. There's DeSean Watson. You want to hear the anonymous quotes about DeSean Watson?

[d'Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Cause he's a leader in the clubhouse right now up in Cleveland.

[Seth Payne]

He had a good practice. Yeah, he had a good practice.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's got the guy. He's the guy in Cleveland who's got the best chance of being maybe 29th best quarterback in the league.

[Seth Payne]

You never know. You never know. There was one person that voted for Desean in Tier 2. See, that guy should show himself. Why is he in tier 2? Here's. Here's some of the anonymous quotes on Desean. Let's see these Matchups up. You're not projecting he's going to go the whole season and be a guy at this point, are you? So that's. He's basically. Basically just saying he gets injured all the time. Monkin's offense is a little more. Look over here. Read the whole field as opposed to reading coverages. That's better for desean and for Shador. Okay. I don't think this is an offensive coach. I don't think he can come back. You do not all of a sudden get drive and desire and processing skills. Oh, that's a slap across the face. He showed he had none of that when he put on. When you put on the film. He's a five at this point. Tier five. That's the one.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, I know that. I mean, just hasn't been good when he's on the field and people have tried like hell to make excuses for him. But there's other. The problem is always. All right, there's other quarterbacks who are out there in bad situations too, who were performing better than him. Yeah. It's just he hasn't. Is this the year that somehow after now, what is it, six years now since he's been a good quarterback?

[Seth Payne]

Yes. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

That 2020 season, he put in a really good year as a passer. And after that, Drew just. We've. There was a little bit of drama. I don't know if you heard about it, but on the football field there has been nothing to get excited about.

[Seth Payne]

Zero. It was only played 19 games. Yeah, he's played 19 games. And some of those games he hasn't finished since 2020. That's why. And he's made $200 million. It's crazy. It's crazy. All right, Shador quotes. Shador is last in this exercise. There's 35 quarterbacks. Shador Sanders is 35th. Sorry. For those of you are going to text in saying I'm hating on Shador.

[Sean Pendergast]

By merely reading an article.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, by merely reading an article. Here are the quotes. Todd Monken is a great reset in the way Ben Johnson was a great reset in Chicago. Okay. He has Caleb Williams. Shador gets a fresh start with a no nonsense offensive coach who did a really good job with Lamar Jackson.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah,

[Seth Payne]

I see. That guy needs to show himself. That voter needs to set. Dumbest things I've ever heard. It's like. It's like Ben Johnson. Well, who did he coach? Caleb Williams, the number one overall pick.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, sure.

[Seth Payne]

Is a fifth round pick. All right, here's another one. If Shador has really invested himself in being a pro, studying the playbook, knowing his assignments, being able to get the offense in and out of the huddle, which he could not do last year, then there might be some upside.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's a no. I think that's where they. At some point this year they're going to really try to see what they have and after it doesn't work out with desean, they're going to. They want to see what they have in Shador Sanders and people up there still want Shador before they make a decision on, you know what talking to Figgy about it says Figgy in his neighborhood at least last year is just split down the middle on just people that were pro Shador and anti Shador.

[Seth Payne]

Yep.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know, I think for people that try to act like no, there's one uniform opinion about Shador and it's based on it's. And it's. It's based on this or that.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, no, there's. There's not. What the dynamic though is very Tim Tebow like in that the however big the faction is that is pro Shador is really loud.

[Sean Pendergast]

They're true believers.

[Seth Payne]

Really loud and very obnoxious at times.

[Sean Pendergast]

The biggest thing about Shador though is that yeah, he's the classic comes out of a. Comes out of a college system that's super QB friendly but doesn't always prepare you that well for the NFL. And he needs time to get that stuff right. You know, like Case Keenan would be an example of a guy that his rookie year he came in and did some impressive stuff when he had a chance. But really, boy, there was a lot he had to work on and he worked on it and it took a few years for him to really become a guy that got out of all those old college bad. Those bad habits and bad tendencies that he had. But that's where, you know, should door. I'm not saying that I'm not comparing them as prospects or anything but some of those habits and some of those. Some of those traits that he got away with in college just flat out can't. He's not a good enough athlete to get away from thing.

[Seth Payne]

Right, right, right. Okay. This is the last one. This is on Shador. A defensive coordinator said I'd sleep like a baby if I got to play him every week.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

So there you go. Those are the C.J. stroud, 20th in the Mike you might

[Sean Pendergast]

be in a defensive lineman playing the Browns. How excited you are that you know that this is guy he's going to hold on to the ball for six seconds.

[Seth Payne]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm going to have three chances at a sack.

[Seth Payne]

He's not Lamar Jackson. Like, the chances of him escaping and hurting you far less.

[Sean Pendergast]

My, my, my favorite, my favorite tweet by a Browns fan that was that some people, some Shador fans thought this guy was being serious, but he was totally joking. He was like, you guys are underestimating his scrambling ability. I've seen him scramble out of the pocket, then back into the pocket twice. Yeah. And all the pro Shador people are like, yeah, that's what they don't see. That's what they don't do with Shador.

[Seth Payne]

That's funny.

[Sean Pendergast]

He might end up being good. I just, He's a, He's a developmental guy.

[Seth Payne]

Hey, shifting gears here for a second because this, this could impact the Texans, at least in terms of who's calling their games. It seems like CBS's decision to remove Tony Romo from the number one NFL broadcast team may not be temporary. According to. This is according to an article. This is according to Jimmy Train of Si in an article that I'm seeing here on sports business journal.com JJ Watt, of course, I think most Texan fans who listen to the show know he got a bump up, at least from what we can tell so far, an interim bump up to the number one team on cbs. He'll be partnered with Jim Nance for the time being as Tony Romo is indefinitely on leave right now. But according to Jimmy Trainer, it's, quote, pretty clear that CBS is using this whole mess as an opportunity to sort of test drive a Nance. JJ Watt pairing doesn't look like Jim Nance ain't going anywhere. He's their number one guy. And so he decides to leave. He's the number one guy. And Trainer says it's safe to say that Watt will call at least two games with Nance because Tony Romo's court hearing isn't even until September 21st.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

So there's two Sundays before that, week one and week two. And. And so this. They're. Trina also speculates that there could be a morals clause, which is something you and I talked about when this whole thing went down last week that might give CBS an opening to get out of four years at nearly $70 million of Tony Romo.

[Sean Pendergast]

And this is the classic where somebody's gonna say, well, this guy did this and he didn't get fired. Right. Because that guy was actually good at his job and paying attention where with Romo. So this is the kind of thing situation where you as an employer, you kind of get excited when you hear, like, oh, we've got. Okay, cool. We couldn't fire him just because he's gradually gotten worse and worse over the last few years. Because that part would be Garrett. Just, if we think he's bad at his job, we fire him. We still own the money. This is like, oh, okay, we've got an out here.

[John Harris]

We can.

[Sean Pendergast]

We can get out of this deal. I just. It's been. It's been almost sad in the last couple years. The first. The first couple years, he started to dip where you could tell that, all right, he doesn't have the benefit of having played against these teams and everything. And he's not. He's not. You know, he's. He's not as on point in the game the last couple years. It's just. It's like he's not even watching the game. He's just not even paying attention, and he doesn't understand what the hell the Gene Stereotor is telling him about the rules. At times, Jim Nance is the guy that's saying, hey, watch. Watch the slot receiver here. You know, like, hey, this is the part where they might want to take a shot here.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

And he's way more accurate at it than Romo.

[Seth Payne]

And people will say that, okay, he's a little goofy, but I don't need the hardcore analysis. I think he's kind of fun. You know, it feels like you're sitting next to a goofy guy watching.

[Sean Pendergast]

Randy likes it because she feels like she's at a party.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No. And I know Brandi likes that about him. I would say this to Brandy and others, is that there are different categories of goofy guy at the party. There's one that adds to the party, and there's others that are like, this guy is really annoying. Can I just go in the other room and watch the game? Yeah. Romo is taking away from the broadcast right now with the goofiness.

[Sean Pendergast]

Brandy doesn't want watch as much Romo as I do. That's the problem, I think. Oh, she gets in small dosage. Yeah, yeah, he's that small dosage. Like, hey, this guy's a lot of fun.

[Seth Payne]

Right?

[Sean Pendergast]

And then you got 10 minutes, then you got to take a road trip with him. Yeah, yeah. So jj, I think I'll much more prefer jj. Like, you know, the. Like, Greg Olson versus Tom Brady. I. As of right now, Yeah, I like Greg Olson a lot more on a broadcast. I think he does an awesome job I like Brady a lot more than I think most people do.

[Seth Payne]

Well, I think Brady's gotten better.

[Sean Pendergast]

He, you know, what he did do, he learned last year. Like, okay, it's hard for somebody like that who's so. Who's so technically smart and sees the game a different way to. To know exactly what to focus on when you're putting it out there for the masses.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know, and I think he also just let it. He let it fly a little bit more, you know.

[Seth Payne]

Yep. I like Brady a little more too now because he's into wwe. You know, I think he's a man of the people to me now. You know, forget that he makes $37 million calling football.

[Sean Pendergast]

I like that guy from bar stool made the best point, which is that the cringy part for me isn't that he's doing anything with wwe. Like, whatever. You're a middle aged man, you know, Such a freak flag fly.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's just, he's just bad at it. When it comes to him talking smack and everything, I just, I don't buy it. I don't buy that part of it.

[Seth Payne]

No, I don't.

[Sean Pendergast]

And I don't want to see him in. In wrestling trunks.

[Seth Payne]

I want to see him in a singlet.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, yeah, that's what he has. You should definitely.

[Seth Payne]

He needs to lean into being like,

[Sean Pendergast]

hey, I'm real, like an NCAA wrestler. Y things.

[Seth Payne]

Yes. Yes. All right, so. And just back to JJ for a second. So I think the thing about jj, like, I'm glad you brought up Brady. Guys like Tom Brady, Jason Whitten isn't the caliber of player Watt and Brady were, but he was handed a really cush job, mostly because he was a Dallas Cowboy and he's going to be a hall of Famer. Whereas Brady, I think, got handed that job because he was Tom Brady. And he wasn't great at it at first. Jason Whitten was terrible at it. He was so bad he went back to playing football. JJ's really good at this.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And I feel like JJ probably works at this the same way he works at being the same way he worked at being a football player.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right, right. Yeah. Like, he's actually. Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Talking to people.

[Sean Pendergast]

He knows the storylines. He's not saying the same thing over and over and over again.

[Seth Payne]

Actually probably watches some of his tape and things like that.

[Sean Pendergast]

I know every time we talk about this that it's weird because somebody will say, Seth, you're being just. You're just jealous of Romo. I'm like, no, I'm, I'm not jealous at all of those other guys who are also making 20 or 30 million dollars a year broadcasting and they're good at it. Yeah. It's like, I think we just said

[Seth Payne]

we like, like four of them.

[Sean Pendergast]

I think Greg Olson is awesome. Yeah. It's just, it's just that Romo's not good at it and I feel like, honestly, if you don't realize he's not good at it, I feel like you're not paying attention.

[Seth Payne]

Right.

[Sean Pendergast]

Because long before he really started, he. For a long time he was calling out the play beforehand and he was wrong at like a 50% clip.

[Seth Payne]

Right.

[Sean Pendergast]

Which is hard to do, honestly, but people were picking up on it because they, they. The highlights and the clips that people would pull were always when he was right. But then he got to the point beyond that where it wasn't just that he wasn't calling out plays, it was that he didn't understand what was happening on the football field.

[Seth Payne]

Yep. Texter expresses this, and I wholeheartedly agree. It's a shame that they're going to be breaking up JJ Watt and Ian Eagle. Yeah. Well, at least temporarily. Right now, we don't know if it's permanent.

[Sean Pendergast]

Unless JJ pulls a power move.

[John Harris]

Move.

[Seth Payne]

Send me back to the B team.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, no, that. I'm only going to the A team if you give me I and E.

[Seth Payne]

Boy, that would be.

[Sean Pendergast]

Who's the C team at cbs?

[Seth Payne]

I think it's Kevin Harlan and whoever he does the game with, I like. I mean, Jim Nance is still obviously excellent. He's a Hall of Fame announcer. I just find Iron Eagle and, and Kevin Harlan to be more fun.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

You know, they're like, they're like, Kevin Harlan is maybe the best in the business overall. I mean, considering everything that he does with basketball and on the radio and on tv.

[Sean Pendergast]

Those guys are an incredible blend of being polished on the play by play side of things, but also having personality.

[Seth Payne]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

They're not dry at all. They can give and take. They set up the color commentator really, really well. And yeah, that's.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's really.

[Sean Pendergast]

Gifford's coming back, right? Who? Or not Gifford. Someone said Frank Gifford. Al Michaels. Al Michaels is coming back for Amazon this year?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, I think so. I haven't heard otherwise, so. Yeah, so be ready for that. Greg Olson is also a pretty good rapper. Somebody said. I think that goes back to his days at Miami.

[John Harris]

Me.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. When he lived in the building with all the football Players. Yeah, he probably wouldn't want you Googling on the rap lyrics from back then. Greg Olson.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, it's Trent Green is Kevin Harlan's.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, that's his sidekick. Okay.

[Sean Pendergast]

According to Gemini. But Gemini's so bad these days.

[Seth Payne]

I think he's. I think Gemini's right on that one.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm pretty sure it sounds. I know I've seen them together before. I didn't know if that was a

[Seth Payne]

standard one Aaron Donald worked out yesterday.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, they were.

[Seth Payne]

The topic on TV while we've been doing our little radio show here is, was, do the Rams, with Aaron Donald, do they become possibly the best defense in the history of the NFL? That's how you make good tv, man. You got to be really hyperbolic. Yeah, that's a chance to be the best defense in the history of the NFL.

[Sean Pendergast]

So the Rams versus the Texans and the Seahawks this year, the three way race to see who's better.

[Seth Payne]

The good news is that the Texans only have to face one of them in the Super Bowl.

[Sean Pendergast]

The good news is also that the Texans face a lot of offenses in the division that are nothing like the NFC West.

[Seth Payne]

I know that's true.

[Sean Pendergast]

The Seahawks have to face the Rams. Rams twice. If the Seahawks end up being if. Like, we'll see. With their new offensive coordinator. And they gotta face the 49ers twice. Yes, etc.

[Nick Caserio]

Etc.

[Seth Payne]

Speaking of which. But. But the one horrible.

[Sean Pendergast]

Did you get to face the Cardinals? The Cardinals.

[Seth Payne]

Well, that's what I was gonna ask you. Did you see the video that was making the rounds yesterday?

[Sean Pendergast]

Compilation of horrendous plays.

[Seth Payne]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

By the Cardinals. I'm watching this.

[Seth Payne]

I'm like, God, this team's so bad.

[Sean Pendergast]

But then I'm like, I thought it was AI.

[Seth Payne]

No, it's real. The most disconcerting part about that, that if I'm a Cardinals fan, would be that Marvin Harrison Jr. Is a part of a lot of those lowlights. Yeah, he's reported.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, no, no, no. Yeah, not very good. Cardinals fans are sick of him and his drops.

[Seth Payne]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

This is. Who's the worst person. Who's the worst person online? So Aaron Donald was at the Rams facility. They're assessing, you know, what's going on with both sides and everything. So people started posting videos of Aaron Donald working out, like from previous training camps. Camps. But like saying that that was yesterday. They're old clips. So.

[Seth Payne]

Okay, that's a bad person.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay, that's a bad person. So the person that posts the old clip presenting it like it happened yesterday with A quote, aaron Donald was in pads at camp. That's a bad person. But the person that replies after watching the video, yeah, he's not the same. Lol. Is that guy worse though? I feel like that guy's worse because he's acting like, oh yeah. I'm watching this clip of him working out and I can tell he's not the same guy. When you're, you've clearly been proven wrong immediately.

[Seth Payne]

Okay, here's cuz.

[Sean Pendergast]

Aaron Donald was good right up until the day he retired.

[Seth Payne]

Of course he was. Okay, so, so, and that person, the second person you're talking about is being serious in their take.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, they've got, they've got an opinion on this, this, this, this video of him hitting a sled.

[Seth Payne]

If the question is who's the worst? Like who's a bad person? Yeah, the first person's a bad person because they're putting, they're putting bad information out there. There's a lot of people walking around thinking, Aaron Donald, in coming into the building and taking a physical, also went out and was pushing a blocking sled yesterday, which would indicate that he's, you know, probably going to come back. The other person's just stupid. They're not a bad person. That other person's just dumb.

[Sean Pendergast]

I always look in the replies too and I'm trying to figure out how, how stupid somebody is. I wait and see if they replied before or after the, the readers added context. The community notes are in there because it's like after once there's the note below it that says, hey, actually this video is from three years ago. There's still people that are coming in fast and furious commenting on it.

[Seth Payne]

I like that X does that.

[Sean Pendergast]

I do.

[Seth Payne]

That's nice. It's nice having this saved me a few times.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm easily sold to, you know, middle screen. Middle screen is a notorious middle screen to make a lot of jokes that in the past people would have recognized as sarcasm. Except now there's so much idiocy out there that people see something that's clearly sarcastic. Somebody opposed a video yesterday of Will Anderson breaking down the defensive line. Afterwards, he was giving him a talking to and middle screen replied, turns out maybe, maybe Will Anderson isn't the cancer people accuse him of being. And there's so many people that were tearing into middle screen after that. That's a genuinely funny sarcastic remark that's no really good.

[Seth Payne]

Did you see the very end of that video when C.J. was kind of walking up to the group?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And I think it was Sheldon Rankins or somebody coming kind of stepped in between him, almost like, hey, we're not done yet over here. Yeah, that's what it looked like. The video kind of cut off before

[Sean Pendergast]

you get the full content. That's what it looked like.

[Seth Payne]

Into the video cut off, I'm like,

[Sean Pendergast]

why'd you stop filming? Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

All right, final segment coming up. We're gonna hand things over to Mark Vandermeer and John Harris. So I'm assuming are in the stadium studio this morning over there. No practice today for the Texans. That's why we're in studio. But coming up next, what are Jadevion Clowney's teammates and coaches saying about his first couple practices here? How excited are they to have number 90 back? We'll discuss that. Come 22. 22.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

All right, Pain and Pendergast with you. We are in studio today. No, Texans practice. They're back at it tomorrow. Nighttime practice on Saturday. Old 6pm Action.

[Sean Pendergast]

I think there's a pep rally beforehand, and I might be speaking at it.

[Seth Payne]

What are you gonna say?

[Sean Pendergast]

I don't know. I'll let the moment grab me. Okay.

[Seth Payne]

See how you feel.

[Sean Pendergast]

I like to make it look like my impromptu remarks are impromptu.

[Seth Payne]

Organic.

[Sean Pendergast]

The old Winston Churchill theory. Have your impromptu remark. Spend a lot of time preparing your impromptu remarks.

[Seth Payne]

I like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Spirit grabbed me, and this is what I felt and wrote down on my notepad three hours ago.

[Seth Payne]

Are you gonna drink before you go up there?

[Sean Pendergast]

No, no, no. There's children around.

[Seth Payne]

No, I knew you wouldn't.

[Sean Pendergast]

I just. I only drink around my children. Yeah, same, same. Yeah, that'll be good. Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Where's the pep rally taking place?

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm guessing right out there at the field. Okay. It's not like downtown. And then we march Netherlands style over this.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, yeah. The battle Red.

[Sean Pendergast]

March, march, march down Main street to the stadium.

[Seth Payne]

The pep rally in the Woodlands. And then we will walk all day long to practice. All right, here was. Here was d' Amico Ryan's yesterday. His thoughts on Jadevion Clowney's initial couple practices here.

[d'Amico Ryan]

As a Texan, Clowney is bringing what he's always done. He's explosive, off the edge.

[Nick Caserio]

Right.

[d'Amico Ryan]

He finds a way to get to the quarterback. He's been very productive throughout his career of getting to the quarterback, causing havoc, which is what I love. And so he fits our style. He fits our brand of football. He came in late yesterday and he's been picking up the scheme, picking up things we're asking him to do and he's fitting right in. Made a couple plays today, you know, in the backfield a lot as I'm standing back there. So that's encouraging to see and we'll continue to give him more. He'll get caught up to speed here pretty quickly. But we're excited with, you know, the type of player we're able to add and continue to add to depth to our defensive line. You know, we want to rotate a lot of guys there so we don't wear any one guy out. We want those guys to be able to last throughout the duration of the season. And Clown, it definitely gives us that flexibility that we were looking for at the defensive end spot.

[Sean Pendergast]

And so aside from rotating in, the other thing that you know you can do with Clowney because they did it back here was when Whitney Merciless and J.J. watt and Clowney were on the field at the same time. You got one of those guys as a like a stand up interior player or a linebacker type and two point stand. You can do a whole bunch of fun stuff, especially with. When you think about. I was talking to John Harris about this Will Anderson and Genevion Clowney together when they're on the same side and say either Jadevian or Will is a stand up, the stand up roving guy. You can run some games where they just blast people and clear open space for, you know, you blast the, you know, Clown, he's a stand up linebacker on a pass, rushing down blasts the tackle in the ear hole and it opens up a lane for Will or as they're trying to scramble the to to pick up Will on the inside, Clowning comes free. There's a lot of fun stuff you can do for.

[Seth Payne]

And if you're a quarterback who's like, well, I got to get rid of it, you're throwing it into the teeth of the best secondary in football.

[Sean Pendergast]

And then with the, with Clowney, the thing about him that's still very much a thing because this does not tend to decline with age is he's got really, he's really tall with really long arms and he forces a lot of bad throws just even on undesigned rollouts or you know, things where the defensive end is expected to maybe come clean but the quarterback's still able to get the ball off on bootlegs. They just can't throw over him. He's just so tall that he just, he blocks their blocks, their vision and screws up a lot of bootlegs. Even if there are tight ends or second level receivers open, they just, they can't throw accurate passes.

[Seth Payne]

Yep. I think it's, it's the, the word d' Ameco used. Their havoc, I think is the perfect thing to describe Clowney because he's never had double digit sacks, but he's always doing stuff. Yeah. You know, he's, he is, he is causing problems for opposing offense.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's a hand grenade. Like there, there's certain guys who call him hand grenade players. They're just kind of. You throw them over in that direction and it blows everything up.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

And then everybody else else swarms in to pick up the carnage.

[Seth Payne]

Yep, that's a good description. I think the other thing that's interesting about Clowney is in watching him at practice yesterday. Again, it's one practice, but he's still doing it at this age at a very high level. And if you had, if you had told me, if you had. If someone told you, Seth, back when he was getting injured in his very first NFL game and getting micro fracture surgery weeks later and then missing half of the next season, that Jadevion Clowney and Khalil Mack would be the only two guys left from the first round of that draft. At least until Aaron Donald comes back.

[John Harris]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And Aaron Donald, it's, you know, needed a couple year hiatus. If he comes back, they'd be the only two left playing football. I would have said you're nuts. Jadevian clown. He's going to be playing at age 33. He's not even going to make it to 23.

[Sean Pendergast]

Clowney's got that body style and type of that. He's one of those guys who's supremely athletic, but he's a little bit stiff in the way he moves. You always get really nervous. When he ended up on the ground, it looked like he was going to get injured like an RG3. Remember RG3. As athletic as he was, you know, he's kind of getting nervous for him when he got tackled because it just looked like he fell stiffly. Yeah. And that's like. Yeah. I wouldn't have expected he's been as durable as he is.

[Seth Payne]

Okay, so are we still. It's been years since we've had Clowney in the building here.

[John Harris]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

When games roll around, are we still nervous when he goes to the ground or does his body of work say we're past that?

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, the one thing I noticed from watching, I watched four of his complete games is that he does a great job of staying up. He's not. Yeah, he's a savvy player by now, you know, and he's just.

[d'Amico Ryan]

He's.

[Sean Pendergast]

He understands where the contacts coming from and he is just. He's so strong. He's like a, you know. You know how Randy Moss was way stronger than you'd expect.

[Nick Caserio]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

Like because he was so slender. He's just so tall and slender. But a lot of his impressive 50, 50 balls or just climbing the ladder balls when he would Moss people, it wasn't as about as vertical or anything as much as he was just so physically strong and able to go up through that clown. He's that same type of guy where yes, he's impressive looking physically because he's muscular as hell, but he's. He's kind of slender by defensive end standards, but he's just ridiculously strong and there's just so many times where he's got three guys blocking him and they all fall off and he ends up making a tackle for a loss.

[Seth Payne]

Still at this age that's happening, man, it's crazy. Here's Henry Towa Toa on one of his newest teammates. Jadevion Clowney.

[d'Amico Ryan]

Legend.

[Seth Payne]

When I first seen him, I didn't realize how tall he was, but man, just being able to add him in the group, like obviously we have Will Danil but having a veteran like that to be able to come in and like obviously scare teams when they see it on paper. Like they see Clowney on there, like they don't want to block that. So having his presence. He's such a cool dude. Calm collective dude. But these few days have been great

[Sean Pendergast]

to have him here the. That defensive line with Logan when Logan Hall's out there. And Logan Hall's been making a lot of plays too. He's kind of quietly just having a really good camp. But because you've got all of these. This other bling to look at out there, it doesn't get as much attention.

[Seth Payne]

So tall.

[Sean Pendergast]

But he's really tall. There's. Yeah, I know. Versus quarterbacks that have a tendency to. To have passes batted. They haven't. Clowny and Danielle and. And Logan Hall, I'll. Out there. They've got some. They've got some length.

[Seth Payne]

They do. They do. And when we had Nick on the other day, I thought it was interesting because we. The first question we asked him was about Clowney and why now with Clowney and he kind of casually mentioned that they did. He has talked to Derek Barnett.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

You know, and obviously I think Derek Barnett's still out there. I don't think he signed with anybody. I would still call Derek Barnett again. I, I, you know this. He got clowny. And so that fortifies your first defensive end behind Will and Daniel. And as you point out, they can all three be out there at the same time. But if Derek Barnett wants to come back for the same human monies he was working for before, I would take Derek Barnett back in that room again, too.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's. The competition for that fourth defensive end right now has gotten really, really fierce. Solomon Bird keeps showing up. Yep. And Solomon Bird is a guy that I thought was really polished as a, as a rookie. As a guy coming out of college, he was pretty polished, but he does, he doesn't have a lot of the elite traits, but they're, you know, they also want a guy that can just go in there and be solid, that you can trust and depend on, and he's, he's got more of a shot of making this roster than I would have thought maybe two weeks ago. He showed up a lot.

[Seth Payne]

Absolutely. He has. No question. No question. All right, so we are done. Back out sweating tomorrow out there, Seth.

[Sean Pendergast]

Not me.

[Seth Payne]

We got our one day of air conditioning.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's what they. Everybody looks at me out there at those practices. He's as dry as the Sahara.

[Seth Payne]

Look at him, man. He is cool over there. Yeah, yeah. Antibodies to you, my friend.

[Sean Pendergast]

Antibodies and. Oh, crap.

[Seth Payne]

What?

[Sean Pendergast]

I had something to say to you. Oh, I don't know.

[Seth Payne]

Don't worry.

[Sean Pendergast]

Dabba dabba, dude.

[Seth Payne]

Okay, thank you. Scooby dooby doo. All right, we're done. We are out of time. Mark Harris. Mark Harris. Mark Vandermeer. John Harris. Yeah, that's okay. I called the host in Canada yesterday by the wrong name. And the show that I was on yesterday, and I'm like, man, I felt bad about that.

[Sean Pendergast]

How do you insult a Canadian? Is that like a Slurpee?

[Seth Payne]

No, you looney.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, I don't know it. Text in your slurs for Canadians to the text page.

[Seth Payne]

There we go.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right, we're done. Not just Hong, not cracker, ass cracker. Something above and beyond that.

[Seth Payne]

Vandy and Harris up next.