Recapping the Texans Day 6 practice

Summary

Payne & Pendergast – Episode Summary

Podcast: Payne & Pendergast
Episode: Recapping the Texans Day 6 Practice
Date: August 5, 2026
Hosts: Seth Payne & Sean Pendergast
Notable Guest Soundbites: Jadeveon Clowney, Aziz Al-Shaair, Spencer Arrighetti

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Overview

This episode is anchored by reflections on Jadeveon Clowney’s return to the Houston Texans and the atmosphere at Texans training camp after Day 6 of practices. Seth and Sean provide sharp analysis of Clowney’s maturity, leadership, and emotional press conference, along with insider insights on key developments from camp—notably the evolution of CJ Stroud and growing offensive-defensive competitiveness. Later, they pivot to the Astros' victory over the Blue Jays and the state of Houston’s pitching, plus some characteristically humorous takes on player comfort, adversity, and new MLB contracts.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Jadeveon Clowney’s Return: Growth, Maturity & Redemption (01:26–11:11; 41:15–44:20)

• Clowney Wins the Press Conference

  • Clowney was open about his growth, admitting to previous immaturity and speaking frankly about overcoming early-career adversity.
  • “It’s just a great feeling… after all these years have come back and they still got love for you… I just thank God for that, man. It’s been a long [journey]…” —Jadeveon Clowney (01:26)
  • Seth and Sean agree Clowney feels “like a different guy” and that his sincerity comes through in person more than in quotes.

• Taking Accountability & Maturity

  • Clowney credits his trade from Houston in 2019 as the wakeup call that matured him.
  • “Grow up, Clowney. That was the advice to myself.” —Sean paraphrasing Clowney (05:43)
  • The hosts draw parallels to other athletes whose careers thrived after leaving Houston, like Kyle Lowry.

• Clowney and O’Brien: A Rift Finally Aired

  • Clowney directly references former coach Bill O’Brien as a source of friction, noting their “bumping heads” and contrasting his own easygoing approach with O’Brien's “dictator” style (04:57, 03:51).
  • “It was just O'Brien at the time. Oh man. Bumped heads, and I couldn't really understand because I was an easygoing guy…” —Jadeveon Clowney (04:57)

• Leadership and Role Models

  • Hosts discuss the “dream scenario” for a #1 pick—relating Will Anderson’s laser focus and impact to what the Texans had hoped for Clowney 12 years ago.
  • “He is sort of living what I think Texan fans were dreaming about with Clowney in 2014.” —Seth (08:34)
  • Clowney now has an opportunity to mentor younger players and close the chapter that began with such high expectations.

• A Full-Circle, Possible Final Chapter

  • Clowney speaks sincerely about wanting to win a Super Bowl in Houston, even suggesting he’d retire if successful.
  • “We win a Super Bowl, you guys might not get another interview from me.” —Clowney, per Seth (43:04)
  • Seth feels Clowney’s on a “one-year, one-goal” mentality, potentially going out on top.

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2. Texans Training Camp: Competitiveness & Key Position Battles (13:04–22:03)

• Competitive Camp & Culture

  • Linebacker Aziz Al-Shaair highlights the ramped-up competitiveness and accountability across both offense and defense.
  • “Every day you don’t bring your best, you go get got. And like, that’s exactly how you want it… you want that practice atmosphere to be almost overly [intense] than a game atmosphere.” —Aziz Al-Shaair (13:37)

• CJ Stroud’s Growth and Chemistry

  • Noted big difference in the offense’s functionality compared to last year, notably Stroud’s crisp red zone period: “Boom, boom, boom…C.J. takes a snap, ball comes out, completion to Higgins…” —Sean (16:44)
  • Communication and reps between Stroud and Jaden Higgins (and Nico Collins) are emphasized as critical for season success.

• One-on-One Battles: O-Line, D-Line

  • O-lineman Keelan Rutledge’s competitive reps against Kaden McDonald praised for solid handwork—vintage Wyatt Teller “corkscrew move” highlighted as a technical standout (21:00).

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3. Astros: Recap, Pitching Woes, & Lineup Highlights (22:03–41:01)

• Taylor Trammell Home Run Sets Tone

  • Taylor Trammell’s home run (astutely named “hop on the tram!” by the booth) provided a signature moment in a 7-2 Astros win (22:52).
  • Even with offensive struggles at the top of the lineup, the 5-9 spots carried the team.

• Pitching Analysis & Rotation Questions

  • Hayden Wesneski’s strong outing is lauded; rotation ERA since June 1st flagged as a concern (>5.0) (28:03).
  • Discussion of inconsistencies from starters like Blanco, Javier, Imai, and the expectation of bullpen games in the postseason.
  • “I think they’re going to be team bullpen game if they get to the postseason.” —Seth (29:05)

• Spencer Arrighetti’s Emotional Exit

  • Ex-Stro Arrighetti gets emotional about being traded from Houston, describing it as a loss of a “bubble of supreme comfort” (32:48).
  • The hosts (tongue-in-cheek) argue discomfort can fuel improvement, linking to Clowney’s own narrative of growth post-trade.

• MLB Contracts: Market Setting Moves

  • Noting Zay Flowers’ historic deal (4 yrs, $140M, $108M guaranteed) and how it further validates Houston’s approach with Nico Collins (44:27).
  • Sean: “I don’t bet an eyelash at any of these deals…cap’s going to keep expanding and contracts are going to keep getting bigger.” (45:02)

• Carlos Correa Injury Update

  • Carlos Correa cleared to swing bat again, and possible late-season return sparks speculation about how he fits a strong, crowded Astros infield (39:54–41:00).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Clowney on growth: “Grow up, Clowney. That was the advice to myself.” (05:43, paraphrased)
• On competitiveness: “Every day you don’t bring your best, you go get got.” —Aziz Al-Shaair (13:37)
• Setting the mood: “We could do a four hour show with nothing but Clowney clips.” —Sean (11:12)
• On discomfort & performance: “Maybe a little discomfort could do you…this might be good for you.” —Seth, to Arrighetti via trade narrative (34:05)
• Astros confidence: “I kind of like not having to check the wild card standings every day. That’s for losers.” —Seth (27:09)
• Clowney’s goals: “My whole thing was to chase the Super Bowl this year. No better place for me to do it than here.” —Clowney (41:23)
• Future plans: “If we win a Super Bowl, you guys might not get another interview from me.” —Clowney, per Seth (43:04)

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Important Timestamps for Key Sections

• 01:26 – Clowney reflects on coming back to Houston.
• 04:57 – Clowney addresses how things ended with Bill O’Brien.
• 05:43 – Clowney takes responsibility for earlier immaturity.
• 13:37 – Aziz Al-Shaair details the camp’s heightened competitiveness.
• 16:44 – CJ Stroud’s red zone precision & chemistry with Higgins discussed.
• 22:52 – Call on Taylor Trammell’s home run.
• 32:48 – Spencer Arrighetti’s emotional reaction to being traded.
• 41:23 – Clowney on pursuing a Super Bowl and why he chose Houston.
• 43:04 – The possibility of Clowney retiring if the Texans win the Super Bowl.

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Tone & Style

The episode balances earnest sports analysis with the hosts’ trademark banter and humor. They move seamlessly from locker-room insights to relatable asides, using personal anecdotes and real locker-room language, making the conversation engaging for both die-hard fans and casual listeners.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

This episode is a must for Texans fans invested in the new chapter with Jadeveon Clowney, eager to feel the pulse of a competitive training camp, or interested in how adversity shapes careers—on the football field and the baseball diamond. Expect insightful player comparisons, strategic on-field observations, and a healthy dose of wit as Sean and Seth keep Houston sports at center stage.

Transcript

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[Seth Payne]

Sports Radio 610 presents Seth Payne and Sean Pendergast.

[Sean Pendergast]

We coming to ace time.

[Jadeveon Clowney]

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

[Seth Payne]

Great day. Great day.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Jadeveon Clowney]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

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Right, right.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Jadeveon Clowney]

Nah, I don't take nothing personal, man. I always say to man, they pick me on the moon to play football. I can do that. You know what I'm saying? I can play football. So I ain't had no hard feelings. It was just o' Brien at the time. Oh, man. Bumped heads, and I couldn't really understand because I was an easygoing guy. I was like, all right, whatever you want from me type of guy, and it's fine. Especially when I'm 21 years old, 22 years old. I was just taking people's advice instead of really looking in the mirror, trying to figure myself out. I was listening to other people. As I got older, I started saying, just take care of yourself finally, and, you know, it's gonna work out for you. And I started doing that when I left here. That's how I think I lasted eight more years in the league where I started taking care of myself and, you

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

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So.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

He's a guy.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

That's what I.

[Sean Pendergast]

Still a very effective football player, but not, he's not a, he wasn't a Will Anderson.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Will Anderson, yeah, absolutely.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

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It was so.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

We could.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

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[Seth Payne]

You know, I don't think it's that way now.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Without.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, like, put your arms out. Now hang off your arm. You know that old picture of Schwarzenegger with the three women that he's holding up? It was like that everywhere we went. Yeah, yeah. And he's a young, single guy.

[Seth Payne]

That's funny.

[Sean Pendergast]

He had a good time in life.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

what the hell's that guy?

[Seth Payne]

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

[Lowe's Employee]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

That you feeling that? Yeah, yeah. No, I think that's where I. There's the offense compared to last year is night and day. I mean, just last year there was an overwhelming sense of despair about the offense.

[Seth Payne]

Hey, guys, it's Daxton and Hayden from Blondies Out Loud. And if you've ever thought about starting a podcast or making money from one, we use Create a Lab from Odyssey for our show. And it's honestly been so easy. It's free hosting and it gives you a really simple way to earn on top of whatever you're already doing, which of course we love because it just adds another stream without the extra work. So if you're a creator or podcast curious, check it [e-mail] on the under

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[Seth Payne]

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[Sean Pendergast]

His inability to do anything against that defense. They couldn't. Sean. They couldn't get plays off. Like, it wasn't just. It wasn't just that the plays were unsuccessful. C.J. wasn't passing the ball well, not just because he was seemingly kind of less accurate than usual, but because he just couldn't actually physically throw the football. And you might say, well, wait a second. They're not allowed to sack the quarterback in training camp.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

But when you've got three guys with a clear path to the quarterback, the play is over. You know, Clint referenced it yesterday. It's so many plays where CJ Just kind of turning around and throwing his hands up and, okay, that plays over. That was last year. This year, it's been way more functional. And then yesterday, the. The red zone period that they had, it was just. It was Boom, boom, boom. C.J. takes a snap. Ball comes out, completion to Higgins on a fade over Derek Stingley. Next play, quick, super quick hitter to Jaden Higgins. And then what was the third play after that? That was the. Oh, it was a CJ Touchdown. And Sarge and I disagreed over whether CJ Would have been sacked or not.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, okay. That was the one where he kept the play alive. He would have been sacked, but he just.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

I've got it up here.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, don't worry about it.

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But.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Squarespace Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Oh, okay.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

one of the great debates of all time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Pain and Sarge.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What did you see?

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

Texans training camp is here live from the Houston Methodist Training Center. Sports Radio 610 presents Payne and Pendergast pitches against Dallas in his last at bat. That's one sky deep to right field. A three pointer. Taylor Tramell, home run number six. And the Astros now lead Six to.

[Spencer Arrighetti]

There we go.

[Sean Pendergast]

Now we can all hop on the tram and go for a ride.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

Hop on.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

So happy he left no doubt that

[Seth Payne]

he hit an actual home run this time.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Jays, these Eric Eddies, a lot of them. Yeah, we'll hear from Eric Eddy's still in his feelings. Trader Eric. Eric Eddy's very much his feelings about the trade.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Lowe's Employee]

No, no, no.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, he came out and beamed like three guys or something.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

He's got a 9 ERA the last two months. I'd love for him to pitch in this series.

[Sean Pendergast]

Taylor Tramell, he left no doubt on that.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, because he came down with the ball.

[Seth Payne]

It was kind of casual about it.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

They're not focused.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

But that was cool to see. And that was a big hit. That was a big knock last night.

[Sean Pendergast]

It was close to three to two at the time.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

And Wisnes, he's got that little bit of that sneer to him that you like in a. In a pitcher, especially when he's homegrown. He went to Cy somewhere. I think it was Cy Fair.

[State Farm Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Sean, I'm old school, one of the size. Listen, when I grew up, there were two high schools in Cyprus. I can't even remember how many there were.

[Seth Payne]

I just remember now that's 26.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, it's a Sai peninsula.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

Slow down up there. Cyprus.

[Seth Payne]

I know. Chill out, chill out.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

That's for losers.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

You're sitting on this lofty perch slightly up. It's si mump. Si hump. We're standing high on a hump looking over the rest of the.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[App Store Advertiser]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Just kind of high up. Not super high up.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

No, no, no.

[App Store Advertiser]

Very flat.

[Seth Payne]

Very flat. So I was thinking about this. So the. Because the pitching is still kind of a mess. Hayden Wisneski last night notwithstanding, I don't

[Sean Pendergast]

know what you're talking about. I see two quality starts in a row. Sean, the rotation.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

And that weight it and skew it a little bit.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sustain Pro Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

Various versions of banished or what the hell. What the hell bro. They're on the what the hell bro list.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

If you're gonna, if you're gonna piggyback it. Do you want Imai to be the opener or the reliever?

[Seth Payne]

Well, I'm gonna go off.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm going to go off.

[Seth Payne]

The large sample size of one relief appearance in his life. Yeah, three innings, perfect. They have yet to get a hit off him in relief.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

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[Seth Payne]

Go.

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[Susie Welch]

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[McDonald's Advertiser]

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[Seth Payne]

Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher for delivery.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

you have it on the phone.

[Seth Payne]

No, no, no.

[Sean Pendergast]

Ball players sleep in, man.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. No, no, no. We don't have Eric Eddy on the hotline or anything. The Texas Mattress Makers hotline. No, Spencer Ericetti met with the media yesterday. He was really sad about getting traded from Houston because he was in a bubble of comfort.

[Spencer Arrighetti]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

Very low profito. Like, when he was traded, he's very emotional.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Yeah. Very emotional. Yeah. Ironically, to the Blue Jays. So I'm not going to sit here and go, hey, man up. You know, like, man up here. You may be. I'm not going to grab him by the lapels and say, be a man.

[Sean Pendergast]

I wouldn't think you would even do that.

[Seth Payne]

I'm not going to do that.

[Sean Pendergast]

I didn't know that was a possibility.

[Seth Payne]

But I will say this.

[Susie Welch]

The thing that.

[Seth Payne]

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

[App Store Advertiser]

Well.

[Sean Pendergast]

Maybe I need to talk to debion Clowney about how much it was a nice kick in the rump that when he got traded, he realized, oh, I got to earn this.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Lowe's Employee]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

That's a scouting report. But I. No, I seriously thought of that. I'm like, you know what? You haven't been great. This might be good for you.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, well, and I wonder, too, like,

[Seth Payne]

getting you out of your bubble of

[Sean Pendergast]

having your family around all the time sometimes.

[App Store Advertiser]

You know what?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. Sometimes there's such a thing as a little.

[Seth Payne]

Am I onto something here now?

[Squarespace Advertiser]

Yeah.

[State Farm Advertiser]

Thank you.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, yeah, and you're not necessarily comfortable. You know, sometimes it's like when you tell a kid, you know, some of these kids that just don't get the message, and you're like, hey, man, you're really in trouble here. I academically yeah, that's what matter.

[Seth Payne]

That's what I was like, dude, there

[Sean Pendergast]

could be a draft in the next.

[Seth Payne]

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

[App Store Advertiser]

All right.

[Sean Pendergast]

What did he call it? A bubble of comfort?

[Seth Payne]

Bubble of comfort, which. I don't like that either. Bubble of comfort.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Do you think you are?

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

All right.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

I want to get a nanny for me.

[Seth Payne]

Just for you.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[App Store Advertiser]

That's.

[Sean Pendergast]

She's gonna be him. She's gonna be a.

[Seth Payne]

That's not a nanny.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

No blurring of the lines.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

All right.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Hey, Brandy, meet my nanny, Cinnamon.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

It's.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's for him.

[Lowe's Employee]

All right.

[Seth Payne]

Headlines.

[Spencer Arrighetti]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

With today's headlines. On the ground, another chance for Allen. He goes to Pena this time. The turned in time double play.

[Jadeveon Clowney]

Game over.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Astros are rolling, man. 12 and two in their last 14 games. They've got a two and a half game lead in the American League West. They win last night 7 to 2 over the Toronto Blue Jays. So they exact a little revenge from the night before. Rubber game today, Seth. They try to win the series this afternoon. We haven't had a businessman's special in a long time. A 110 first pitch today over at Dyken Park.

[Sean Pendergast]

Good times, man.

[Seth Payne]

Between the Blue Jays and the Ashes

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's probably his one big move.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

That's still an unfinished story.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Spencer Arrighetti]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Those are your three best guys right now over the last month, month and a half.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Well, he may come back.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

He tore it in November.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Jadeveon Clowney]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, that's right.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

Oh.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, this is awesome. All right, I'm gonna stick around.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

So you like it?

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

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[Sean Pendergast]

It is not hard to destroy a college.

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[Seth Payne]

And now Campus Files is back for another season. There's a guy screaming into his phone. He's like, I just saw Charlie Kirk get assassinated right in front of me. Every week is a new episode and a new story.

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