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That's the sound of Lego Pikachu training for battle. That's the sound of Lego Pikachu enjoying a post training snack. And that's a reminder to not let Lego Pokemon in the recording studio. Lego Smart Brick brings Lego Pokemon play to life. Lego Pokemon with smart play. You're the trainer now. Are you Ready? Sports Radio 610 presents Pain and Pendergast.
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B
All right, there we go. We know when that music plays and it's in the 7 o' clock hour on Pain and Pendergast. And we're here at the sixth practice of Texans training camp. Sweating, steamy.
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C
Do you call it, do you call. I call it day. Day seven.
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D
Yeah.
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C
You like going by practice?
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B
I like going by practice number. You know what, how do you guys do it? Let's let Nick Casario, Texans executive Vice President, General manager, break the tie is today day six of camp because it's the sixth practice or is it practice six and day seven, it's practice two
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D
because of the second one.
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C
It passed.
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B
No tie broken. But he's the authority. His vote counts the most.
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D
Great to be here.
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C
Good morning. Question like a pro.
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A
All right.
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B
Yeah. Good morning. Good morning. It's great to see you, Nick, as always. Me personally, I wanted to make sure we got you after SummerSlam so I could get just one gut reaction to SummerSlam before we get into all the football stuff.
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D
Probably Randy Horton coming out of nowhere. Yeah, rko.
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B
So is he another close personal friend of yours?
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D
Not sure he's quite in triple H category. But we're, we're get. We're bridging the gap. You met combine.
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B
Yes. You met, you met him at the combine. And my first reaction was, is Nick really small or is Randy Orton as big as.
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D
He's really big. I mean, I'm not very big, but he's a monster. He's a big dude.
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C
It's like that picture of yao Ming and JJ. Yeah, JJ looks like a 12 year old. That's what it was. Yeah.
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B
You're a good company, jj.
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C
Yeah.
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B
It's great to see you as always, Nick. So let's, let's get into it here before we get into all the stuff we've seen on the field. Big news for Texan fans. The last day or so has been Jedevion Clowney coming back. Take us through that. What made this the right time for JD to return to the Houston Texans?
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D
Yeah, we kind of worked through the spring in there a little bit. You know, that kind of third end spot was an area that we probably felt we were going to add at some point. You know, Derek did a good job for us in that role. Had conversations with him. So just kind of keeping track of the market. Who are the players that are in that category. Feel pretty fortunate, you know, with Will and Danil. And then I would say Dylan has had a good role for us. And then we signed Dominique Robinson, who's had a pretty good training camp here. So it kind of brings a little bit different element, but that was an area we're just kind of looking at some players that maybe potentially could fill that role. And, you know, JD Was a player who we had some conversations with initially, maybe it was a little bit later in the spring, slash, summer. And then we kind of, kind of, kind of kept in contact with his agent over the course of the summer. And that there, at some point there was some level of mutual interest. He obviously had a lot of interest from some other teams. I think there's some other teams that were involved, but it kind of worked out. I mean, it says a lot about Jadevion, the fact that he wanted to be here, wanted to be around some of the things that we're doing. We didn't overlap when I wasn't here, when Jadevion was here previously. Haven't played against him multiple times. Know how big of a pain in the ass that he was, but. And he's still shown the ability, whether it's in Dallas, Baltimore, Carolina, these different stops. He still brings some positive qualities to the table. So we'll get started with him today. He'll be out here practicing. We'll kind of see how it goes.
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C
I think the thing with Javion Clowney that going back to when he was here is I get frustrated on his behalf, partly because at least part of the narrative about him is I like. And I still get people saying to me now, like, well, he doesn't play hard. I'm like, he plays hard. And he has since he's a rookie. And I don't know why people haven't picked up on that other than they're just looking at stat lines or whatever. But he's, he, he, he's got a swarmy element to his play.
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D
He's always played hard and he's disruptive with his snaps. I mean, even when we were playing against the Texans, when I was in New England, you know, their front, you know. Yeah, jj, you know, you had. JD Was a part of it. Merciless. And they'd move JD around some different spots and put him over to guard. I mean, he was really difficult to block. So he's got a unique skill set. His length, he's got real good straight line speed. He does have toughness. And to your point, Seth, he plays with good effort. I'm not really sure he runs well.
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C
Yeah.
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D
So the ability to close space and close from behind. So we feel the reality is whoever walks in the building, whoever walks in that defensive meeting room, if you don't play hard and compete, you're probably not going to last very long.
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C
Oh, yeah, and that's one thing about, you know, I said this offseason, if I were a free agent defensive lineman who wasn't happy with the offers that I was getting, I would, I would fly to Houston and park myself in front of d' Ameco's office and just say, I want to play here. And like, I think Rod Wright does an incredible job as a defensive line coach. I think Burke and d' Ameco do an awesome job in just creating an environment where you come here and you guys have this tendency to get the best out of defensive linemen. Are you, are you starting to get the feel for this being a destination where a guy like Dominique Robinson perhaps can look at multiple plays and say, man, people go to Houston and they tend to, they tend to do pretty well.
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D
Well, I think we're fortunate that people want to come here and be a part of our program. And it really starts with the players because ultimately we can message it. And obviously there's a standard of performance that's expected day to day. It starts with d' Ameco and then defensively trickles down to Matt, Rod Wright, you know, Billy Davis, Dino Steven, even Frank Oakham, too. Frank works the defensive line, so. But ultimately, the players are the ones that hold themselves accountable. So in the end, player accountability is the best accountability. Like you can do only so much as a coach and try to message, but if the players don't go out there and perform that to that level and do the things that you want to do, ultimately it's not going to work. So it's really, it's a credit to the players. And they see, I mean, you watch practice, I mean, there's a play d' Amico showed yesterday, it was a small thing, but talk about finishing closing of the ball. I mean, Aziz must have run like 40 yards to track the ball. He was in the line of scrimmage and that was the end of the play and he was sprinting to finish on the ball. So when you see a player like Aziz do that and then Kamari shows up around the ball, so there's a trickle down effect, so you really don't have a choice. And if you don't do it, you become an outlier.
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C
Yeah, you're. Yeah, you're a black sheep.
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A
Yep.
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B
Texans executive vice president and general manager Nick Casario joining us here live at Texans training camp. To that end, how much is Keelan Rutledge showing up finishing plays in the, in, in the tape, in the offensive line room? Because we've seen a lot of that out here.
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D
He shows up every day and you saw that at Georgia Tech. That was one of the things that was appealing about him. He, he has a certain mentality and a certain playing style and it's reflective of how we want to play. And it showed up, I think, one of the first or second day of practice, even when we were in shorts. When you're in shorts, there's only so much you can do, but you're trying to get. It's more assignment football. But you know, there's going to be some contact to some degree. And I think, I can't remember what happened. It was the end of a play, him and Aziz, and then Kamari got in there. So, you know, and Caitlin wasn't backing down and he's not going to back down, which is what you want to see. So you want to toe the line because you're, we're going to play clean, hard football. You just don't want to go over the line. But that notion of finishing plays is something that we want to be able to do as a football team. And that message, I would say each day is emphasized. And then when you see it show up on tape and on the field, it kind of reinforces the decision that you made.
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B
Does it, does it even augment the message? To the rest of the room a little bit that this is a guy who's in his sixth practice today, you know, and he's the guy we're showing up here finishing these plays.
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D
Well, this is the standard and this is behavior. So this is what we're going to reinforce, good or bad. Hey, here are some things that are the positives. I mean, d' Ameco does a great job of going through practice and highlighting, hey, here are some of the things that we did well. Here's some areas that we can improve, but we're not going to coach like, we shouldn't have to coach. Effort and toughness and physicality. Our job is to find players that have those quality qualities. And then when you get on the football field, like, there's your opportunity to play physical.
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C
When I'm watching the offense, I'm trying to, you know, I did. I always remind myself, okay, look, if. If this was a combined practice versus the LA Rams, the Texans defense is going to get theirs. They're going to make some plays. And that you can't judge. Like yesterday, you know, the offense had some bad plays, but they also had some good plays. And so I try to compare the offense to where they were in training camp last year. It feels like with the offensive line and the tight ends, it just feels like it's a cleaner operation. And it's hard to judge sometimes, you know, in camp how far a run would have gone. But I know that it. It just looks better and it looks more uniform, and it looks like guys are moving in lockstep better than they were last year. Is that. Has that been your impression?
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D
Yeah, I think what you want to see in practice, there's going to be give and take. The defense is going to make some plays, the offense is going to make some plays. Hopefully you're learning from one another. I would say there's a lot of communication. You can see we want to encourage the communication because really, what you're trying to do offensively on the front, you're just trying to get the blockers distributed appropriately. So make sure we're. We talk about this hat on a hat on a hat. And it's just simple as just, okay, I have to block. Sean. Make sure everybody knows that we're working, too. Sean.
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C
All right. Get to find a block. Sean. It's a difficult question. A lot of people on social media have done it, but I think what
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D
we've been able to do, there's multiple examples of being able to get plays started, and ultimately the running back is going to have to deal with a free player, whether it's a perimeter player at the corner or even a second level player. So there's going to be a free player at some point, knowing who the free player is, and so the back understands that. So overall, the group has worked really hard. There's a lot of communication, and we're just trying to string positive plays together and try to eliminate the negative plays and just kind of get plays started. And if we do that, then hopefully we can just move the ball down the field.
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B
I know you've been asked about the offensive line, about, you know, is there a certain point where you want to find the foul? You know, it's five best guys, all those things. This. This is about as fluid a group as I can remember in terms of how you guys are mixing and matching in training camp to the point where, you know, we joke about how, you know, he's the media. We got to kind of stay buttoned up as to who's on the depth chart and things like that. It's almost impossible to report anything because you guys are doing so much shuffling around. Do you and d', Amico, after each practice, is there some element of like, okay, if we had to play a game on Sunday, this would be our fight? I'm not asking to say who they are, but how does that evaluation evolve over the course of training camp?
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D
Sure, you talk about it every day. Look at what's going on in practice. Okay, are we getting the players the right reps in the appropriate spots? Or, you know what, maybe we need to see a little bit more of this player in this spot. I mean, I think if we had to play a game today, like, we feel we could play with nine or 10 offensive linemen and be able to go out there and play competitively. So sometimes you don't really notice the difference between the groups. We're shuffling a lot of people in there. So, okay, here's the first group that goes on the field. Okay. Then here's the next group that comes on the field. Sometimes you don't see a market difference, and sometimes there's plays where maybe the second group looks a little bit better than the first group. So in the end, we're just trying to figure out, all right, who are the five best guys. We're certainly not there yet, but we feel pretty comfortable that there's nine or ten players that we have to put on the field and play a game tomorrow. We feel like we could at least be competitive as an overall group with
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C
Marlon Klein I think, Sean, you're an old man. Tell me if I'm using this term correctly, because I feel like this is what I want to say.
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B
Yeah, yeah.
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C
I feel like with Marlon Klein, there's an element of seeing him on the hoof like that. When you see him in person, it's different than maybe what you saw, is that.
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D
I don't even know what that means. That's like the spirit that people use where it sounds very sexy, but it doesn't really get on the hook. What are we talking about?
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C
Horses? I looked it up to be sure.
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B
Anonymous executive.
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C
I knew Sean wouldn't know to view something live in person or it's natural, unedited and living state.
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D
Are we going to the Kentucky Derby or something?
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C
Well, you saw him in his natural condition at Michigan. I like when I saw Marlon Klein and you watch film of all these guys that you draft and everything. And then when I saw him in person and watched him move around a little bit, I thought, oh, okay. There's something more to him than necessarily what you might see on film. He's a big. He looks like a retired offensive lineman. Like, he's got a big frame. He's got a catch radius, and he moves. I don't like. I hate to use the term deceptively fast, but I think there's a little bit of that element to it that he's deceptively fast.
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D
No, I think he articulated well. Those are some of the things that we felt we saw on his tape. He'd been in Michigan for four years. They've had a lot of good tight ends come through that program. I mean, he didn't play as much, but the size component, I mean, six. Six. I don't know what his measurables are. Six, five and a half, six, six, 255. I mean, he's a big human being. He's got good length, he's got good thickness. A year from now, he's probably going to look a little bit different. Hopefully he looks even better. But I think the thing that stands out, at least for the first couple weeks, like his willingness, his toughness on a line of scrimmage, like you're going to have to block. I mean, we're working against some of the best players, their respective positions in the league.
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C
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A
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B
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C
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D
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D
Apply now at creators.odyssey.com and let us show you the money. And will Danil and you know, so far he hadn't really backed down, which is what you want to see. So he's going to have some good plays, going to have some plays and I'm sure he's going to want back but hopefully he's learning and can improve. But you know, the things that you're seeing, Seth, I mean we felt those are some of the things that we saw in Michigan and hopefully we continue to grow and develop him.
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B
That's an interest. That's the room I'm most interested in, Nick, is the tight end room because of the depth that you guys have created there with drafting Marlin, bringing in Foster Moreau and you've got guys there already with Dalton Schultz and Kate Stover and Brevin Jordan who've done good things for this franchise. So that's a lot of names in that room when you're, when you're looking, you know you're getting down to a 53 man roster there. With that room in particular with a diverse set of skills, how much do other positions maybe factor into who you end up keeping in the tight end room?
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D
No, I think these are some of the discussions we're probably going to have. There's some positions where numbers wise, maybe it's a little bit more than we've had in years past, so then something else is going to have to give. So we're not there yet, but you kind of have to start to look ahead a little bit and plan. So if you're heavier at one spot, it means you're going to be a little bit lighter, another spot, you might have to carry depth at that position off the roster. So that's part of the puzzle. We're trying to piece the puzzle together here a little bit with the information that we have. To your point, Shawn, that room, you have a very varied skill sets amongst the different players and various levels of experience. So, you know, it's a good group. They got a good attitude. You know, they're all available right now, which that's always the one thing you can never really bank on. But right now, like, it's a good group to have on the field and gives yourself hopefully some flexibility offensively.
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C
I think one thing that d' Amico said the other day that was interesting, he talked about the veteran offensive lineman having to learn different techniques or newer techniques, basically operating the way that Cole Popovich wants him to operate. Is it, is that anything that's drastically different or is it little nuances and learning the scheme and all that, it's
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D
probably a little bit more nuanced. When a player is further along in his career development, 6, 7, 8, 9 years, and if he's been with one particular coach or one particular system, there's going to be some things that carry over. Maybe there's some techniques that are going to be new to that player. But I mean, that's a challenge. So I think each year you're going to see a little bit of that take place, but it's no different for us than it is for probably for other teams.
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B
Nick Casario, Texans executive vice president and general manager, joining us here on Payne and Pendergast on Sports Radio 610. Okay, so last time, last time we spoke with you, it was in early June and you were, you were very complimentary of C.J. spring that he was having, you know, we asked generally about the offense and you Brought up how CJ was kind of the linchpin of how things were going offensively a week or so into training camp. What are you seeing from CJ so far?
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D
Yeah, a lot of the. A lot of the same things. I think the big thing is that position we've talked about on the show. It's just making good, sound decisions with the football and not trying to not make a play up, but try to force a play. Just take what the defense gives you. And I think you've seen multiple examples in practice. Whether we've made an adjustment or we've gone to the first read, you know, it's just. You don't want to be too cute sometimes. I mean, football, it's a simple game sometimes that we make hard. But he's really done a good job. I think he's embraced the ownership of the offense, the communication, really the communication between the quarterback and the offensive line. Going back to the earlier discussion, like that's the most critical component of offensive football. So if everybody's on the same page and everybody's kind of seeing things the same way and to get that information out there at the perimeter of the formations that are receivers, you know, we've had some adjustments. We've had some examples where we were hotted and we were able to execute the hot. We've had some other situations where we had a site adjust. Maybe the quarterback did the right thing and then maybe the skill player didn't. So those are things that you kind of work through and then you, hey, what did you see? Here's what I'm thinking on that play. So that kind of two way discourse is important. And I think you've seen that not only on the practice field, but a lot of that takes place inside in the classroom.
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C
I can't remember if we talked about this with you before or not, but back when Ryan Fitzpatrick was here, he got benched during a portion of the season for Ryan Mallet. Ryan Mallett came in and you know, Fitzpatrick went to Harvard 50 on the Wonderlic, all of that. Veteran NFL quarterback Mallet sat on the sideline and watched. Excuse me. Fitzpatrick sat and watched Mallet operate for a couple games. And when Fitzpatrick came back, he said that he learned a lot from watching Ryan Mallett because Mallett had been in New England. He knew what Bill o' Brien wanted and how the system was supposed to operate. And I've always felt that was really interesting because Fitzpatrick was a super smart dude. But there was something about this system and understanding the way it's supposed to look that he just. He wasn't quite getting it until he saw Ryan Mallett do it. Is that. Is there some of that with cj where, man, it takes. It takes time in this system to really figure out all of the moving parts and how it's supposed to look and, like, what kind of urgency you have to have.
- [20:08]
D
It takes time. I mean, even going back to Brady, I mean, it probably took him like, three or four years until he really, like, had it. And then essentially, over the course of the rest of his career, you're kind of making some tweaks and adjustments. So it takes time, but it's nothing that you can't accomplish without, you know, intentional work and just communication. And there has to be a constant dialogue and discourse between offensive coordinator, quarterback coach, the players, because in the end, when you're on the field, you're just. You want to be able to rely on each other to do the right thing. So it takes work, and you never. It's not going to get mastered overnight. It's constant evolution. It takes time, and sometimes it takes, I'd say, multiple years. So we're in the second year of this offensive system, so there's definitely been growth and development from kind of where we started a year ago to where we are currently.
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B
It had to be nice winning three Super Bowls while your quarterback's figuring it out.
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C
Well, yeah, Brady will tell you that, like, that he wasn't.
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D
Well, people.
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C
I saw somebody on. Somebody had this. This montage of, like, he said, quarterbacks don't operate young quarterbacks don't operate like this anymore. And it was a bunch of clips of Brady from, like, year 10 and beyond. Yeah, that's not a young quarterback. Brady didn't operate that way when he was a young quarterback there.
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D
I mean, he said this, too. There was multiple iterations of his career.
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C
Yeah.
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D
So kind of that. 01 to 04 period, all right. The offense was kind of evolving and taking shape, and he was working on some things as well. But then he got to the point, you know, where, okay, once.04 to call it,05 to really 05 and 06,07 was like, kind of like, whoa, we just kind of changed some things. But look, this is, I would say, offensive football and quarterback play in general. Every year you have to go back. And even. I don't care how long you've been in the system, you go back to ground zero and you start with the basic foundation, play call terminology, mic identification, everything that goes into it. And you got to go out there and Practice it and the defense is going to give you something maybe you haven't seen before. I would say our defense has done a pretty good job of. We've made some tweaks and adjustments to, relative to what we're seeing. So it forces you go back, how are we going to handle this? This is a different look. Hey, that's okay. Those are the things that are continually evolving and are always going to take place.
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C
I think Sean and I, at the end of the season, we're kind of doing like, okay, how do you, how do you fix some of these issues that they've had on offense or with C.J. and like, how do you make it better for C.J. and what's the, what's the biggest thing that you could do to make the biggest impact? The old 8020 principle. Am I using that right, Sean?
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B
I think so, yeah.
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C
He's a business guy.
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B
Yeah.
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C
And it felt, it felt like, it felt like, all right, if we look at the biggest thing that could help out a quarterback that hasn't been there the last couple years, it would be a consistent rushing attack. And it felt like almost every move you guys made this offseason on the offensive side of the ball was through a lens of how do we fix this rushing attack? Is that, is that, is that fair to say that was the theme?
- [23:06]
D
Well, I mean, look, offensive football, be able to run the ball is always going to be important. When you look at, I mean, I think Buffalo had the first or second ranked rushing offense in the league and they also have like an MVP quarterback. Yeah. So, like your ability to run the football and control the game and play the game on your terms is always going to be important. So what is that going to look like? All right, who's on your team? What are some things that you can accentuate or maybe this player does well or, you know, the offensive line. Okay. You want to be able to play a certain way. So we try to look at. All right, we're starting looking at the 26 season. We're trying to build the best team possible. So we're always trying to improve in whatever area that we can. Now, we haven't played a game yet, so we're not really sure exactly what it's going to look like, but you're look across the league, like even Seattle. I mean, I think Walker, the MVP of the Super Bowl. Yep. I mean, so, I mean, how many times the running back been the MVP of a Super Bowl? So in the end, your ability to run the football is ultimately, there's A correlation between winning and losing. Because in the end, you're going to have to get tough yards and when you get into the red area, the space is confined. So how are you going to score? Well, you got to be able to run it in or you got to be able to throw it in from the fringe. So, you know, I'd say this year isn't any different than previous years. So we're trying to build a good team and we're trying to be as balanced in offense as possible, understanding some games you might have to run it more, some games you might have to throw it more. Who's the opponent? What do they do? Well, I mean, that's all part of the calculus.
- [24:26]
C
Yeah, that was. Part of it, was that it's not even just, I don't care where you finish in the rushing rankings at the end of the year, it's that when you get down into the red zone. Exactly what you're talking about. All right, let's take it. Let's look at what the offensive production was last year. And if you just are a better red zone offense, which has helped out a lot by being able to run the ball, then, man, it's a. It's a much different appearance.
- [24:48]
D
This game is about points. So where are points? Points are in a red area. So, like, how do you get the ball into the end zone? So really, our situational execution, third down, a red area, if we can improve those areas as a team, because even defensively, you know, there were times where maybe we didn't play as well as we needed to in a red area and on third down. So if those are a couple areas that we can improve as a team, then maybe that's going to help our performance, you know, on a week to week basis.
- [25:12]
A
How.
- [25:12]
B
How much did David Montgomery's proficiency and short yardage factor into him being the right guy for you guys?
- [25:19]
D
Well, I think it's just part of his profile that wouldn't say Sean has anything that one specific quality. But short yardage, I mean, those third and one, third and two, fourth and one, he got to be able to get a tough yard. So some backs may be a little bit better than others. The big thing is you're trying to go forward, you're trying to move the pile. It's going to be condensed space, it's going to be physical, you got to play strong, you're going to have to break tackles, you're going to be a free defender. Kind of what we talked a little bit earlier, but overall, I mean, David's been a pretty versatile player. He's been able to get yards and he's been a pretty, I would say probably underrated player in a passing game as well. They got really good hands.
- [25:52]
C
They love him in Detroit, the fans, I mean, just like, ever. I've never had so many people show up, like from another fan base in my mentions and be so nice. They're like, it's not, they're not, they're not. Usually a guy comes in and a bunch of other fans will say, like, ah, he's a bum. Anyway, it's the, like, these Lions fans love David Montgomery, rightfully so.
- [26:12]
D
I mean, he's the epitome. He's the ultimate professional. He doesn't really say much. He lets his actions do the talking. He works very, very hard. He plays tough, he plays physical. He was a great representation of the Detroit Lions program, what Coach Campbell and Brad Holmes have built. I mean, in some respects our two programs are pretty similar. So I think there was an appreciation. I don't want to speak for those fans, but there was an appreciation for what David brought to the table and what he provided and kind of his selflessness and being able to go out there and just play with toughness and physicality on a week to week basis.
- [26:42]
C
I don't think I've ever heard a guy in his introductory press conference say one of the things that he liked about this team was I saw the way that they practiced when we had the combined practice. Like, that's especially for an old, like I say, air quotes, aging running back. Like, that's a. Like that was really cool because that's, I mean, that's what d' Amico wants. Obviously, these guys who care about practicing players talk.
- [27:04]
D
They kind of know, all right, what a program. They don't know what a program is about. But, you know, when you see some things, you can make an extrapolation about what you think that program is about. So again, we have a tremendous amount of respect for the Lions and the way they run their program. And you know, our practice with them last year were very, very productive. So, you know, the fact the players ultimately, like, they want to go somewhere where it kind of fits their profile of what they're looking for. And, you know, we're fortunate that, you know, going back to earlier players want to be here and be a part of what we're doing. But in the end, you know, we want to play tough, hard.
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C
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I want to circle back to CJ for a second. Nick, something you said. Something CJ said the same day out here at training camp. You talked about productive conversations that have taken place with CJ's camp. CJ himself was asked about it and he was, you know, he was. He seemed upbeat about it as well. I'm not asking for a status on where things are with that. I'm just curious, from a GM's perspective, how important is that communication? How constant is that communication? Even when a deal's not getting done to kind of just keep. I think CJ's handled the whole thing really, really well and very maturely. How important is that communication with both sides in kind of keeping, keeping the house in order, if you will?
- [30:31]
D
Yeah, I mean, look, we have an open door policy around here. D' Ameco's that way. It's the way I operate. So you're never going to be closed minded in whichever way is the wind blowing. So I mean, you're going to treat it like professionals, treat it like adults. Understand there's a business component of what we do on both sides. So we're certainly sensitive to the players in that respect. And you know, they understand, like we're trying to do the best we can as a team. We're trying to look, in the end, we're trying to keep as many good players around here for as long as we can, as long as possible. Sometimes it works the way you want it, sometimes maybe it takes a little bit more work or the timetable doesn't necessarily match up the way everybody else wants it to. But again, the most important thing is just be honest, be real, keep the lines of communication open and be respectful to the other party. And if you get a resolution, great. If you don't, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's not going to work itself out. It just means it's going to maybe take place at a later point.
- [31:24]
C
I get the feeling like we're probably not going to see C.J. up at the podium at any point this training camp whining about the offers that you've made him. I feel like he's, I think he's handled it really well in keeping it quiet and just, you know, saying, I'm letting my agent handle that stuff? Is that, do you guys ever, is that just something that, do you even have that discussion with players about, like, let's keep this quiet, let's keep this in house. Or is it just something that's generally, if you've got a good relationship with the agent, it doesn't, doesn't concern you.
- [31:55]
D
Yeah, that's the most important thing. Look, we understand there's a lot of eyeballs on our sport and there's a lot of contracts that big name, big time players that, I mean, I think again, I mean, I read this morning like Gibbs, you know, they reached an agreement on his contract. Excuse me, but there's always eyeballs on, I would say players and you want to be respectful. But in the end, the more you just keep the communication amongst yourself, like we're respectful of the fans and we're fortunate that there's interest, but in the end, the best way to communicate is directly to one another. And if you have an issue or have a question about something, let's just come and sit and talk like an adult. So I think the more professional everybody handles it, the better off in the end. In the long run, everybody wins as a result.
- [32:36]
B
You've been. You've been pretty forthcoming both on this show and I think in press conferences about Tank and his saga and where he's been at with that. And last week when you did your press availability, you kind of clarified things. Not on the PUP list, but it's. So he can do certain things out here, and we're going to see where things are week to week, I guess. So I guess now that we've got you sitting here, where are we at with Tank?
- [32:56]
D
Right. Yeah, he's getting a little bit closer, making progress. We've done some things sort of like after practice, individually, you know, ramp up wise. At some point, he'll graduate to going into more drills in practice. At some point, whenever that takes place, we're probably going to at least need to see him go out there in a game in some capacity so that the first time he's playing isn't potentially in a regular season game. So we're just trying to be very measured, very smart, and we've talked about this. Each player is kind of their own entity, so we probably try to do what we think is best for each individual player. So Tanks work really hard. You know, he's certainly made progress, and I think he's getting a little bit closer to whatever that next step is going to do.
- [33:38]
B
You feel like he's going to play in a preseason game at some point here.
- [33:41]
D
We'll see. Yeah, it might be more of. So you can go through the mechanics of going back on the field, warming up, getting in the huddle, not necessarily have to go out there and play 50 plays in a game sometimes. And I want to speak for a player, there's just a little bit of maybe a message mental block that you want to. Okay. There's a. You're graduating to the next step. So you go from rehab. Okay. Then you get from rehab to practice. Then you go from practice to call it a real game or, you know, a real situation.
- [34:11]
A
Yeah.
- [34:11]
D
So there's steps that players have to go through. And, you know, there's a mental component as well that we're certainly sensitive to. So the physical is the physical, the mental is the mental. We can't extrapolate necessarily what a Player how he's feeling or thinking, you know. But we try to just make sure that we support them and put them in a position where they can go out there and feel comfortable and confident as possible.
- [34:30]
B
People are anxious and I know Tank is the most anxious of all to get out there, Nick, but I know you. I don't know if you're out here. He got the stone cold Steve Austin pop the other day when he walked out here. Crowd was cheering loud for Tank Dell.
- [34:41]
D
Did they break the glass?
- [34:42]
B
They should have. That's what we need.
- [34:44]
C
He looked at me like, I know what the hell that means. I know. What's he doing?
- [34:48]
D
His introduction.
- [34:50]
C
I've seen a little bit. I do the beer stuff.
- [34:52]
D
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [34:53]
B
He this, the glass breaks and then he walks out and the crowd goes crazy. That's all I was saying.
- [34:57]
C
Glass breaks.
- [34:58]
D
There's a glass.
- [34:59]
B
They had like at some. At WrestleMania they had like a glass door and it just shatters and he walks out.
- [35:04]
C
You know, he's got the biggest, the best badass high school intro I've ever seen. Did you ever see Will Anderson's high school? I have not actually where they introduced or at least in this one game, they've got the, they've got a gigantic cage and the team is in a cage. And then like they introduce the team and they. Will Anderson, everybody bust out of this cage and run out of things.
- [35:22]
D
Andy walks around the building with a scowl sometimes.
- [35:27]
B
Scary. Nick Casario joining us here, Texans executive vice president, that is.
- [35:32]
C
Oh, sorry. No, no, go ahead. People know he's the general manager. No, as you're talking about making that like that step by step progression. I'm almost thinking about Tank like if he was a rookie. Because there's a big jump from the speed and intensity of a preseason game on into the regular season. So yeah, getting that one step in of okay, you're out here at practice, but then you go into a one up, one level intensity up into preseason instead of going straight into a regular season.
- [35:56]
D
And the reality is some players may need that, other players may not. So it's case by case. And just trying to figure out like what makes the most sense.
- [36:03]
C
John, let me tell you about the first time I ever dropped into coverage in an NFL game. Like how would you back. I don't know what's going on here. However fast they were moving in practice. Tracer bolts.
- [36:18]
B
Your Madden score is 87 at the end of your game.
- [36:20]
C
No, you know what? The biggest bad, the biggest insult. Yeah, that's. I never knew that was good. I didn't know that was good until he told.
- [36:27]
D
No.
- [36:27]
C
The funniest thing about the biggest insult when they have you drop back as a nose tackle is that they don't even coach you up on it. They're like, like, listen, yeah. You're genuinely just a mound of flesh out there. Okay. I'm like, yeah, but I gotta be looking for number three, right? Like, don't bother yourself with the simple arithmetic, idiot. Just get back in there in the, in the, in the hook spot. Yeah.
- [36:46]
B
Do you have anything to scouting report about Seth's backpedal back then?
- [36:49]
D
No, we didn't have that.
- [36:49]
B
No.
- [36:50]
C
They gave me an 11 on the vertical.
- [36:51]
B
His hip flex.
- [36:53]
C
Mad people did an 11 out of
- [36:55]
D
a hundred out of 100.
- [36:56]
B
Then he got 41. The next year they saw his hops.
- [36:59]
C
Yeah.
- [36:59]
B
Do you pay attention any of The Madden score? NFL top 100, anything you knew? 87 was good though.
- [37:06]
D
Well, I'm like using off of a academic scale.
- [37:09]
B
Oh, okay.
- [37:12]
D
88, 90 plus.
- [37:14]
B
Yeah.
- [37:14]
C
Who is my comp? Your comp was the same score.
- [37:18]
B
The player this year who has the same score you did is Zach Allen.
- [37:22]
C
Yeah, racist that. Oh, yeah, no, I'm talking about Madden.
- [37:27]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Nick Casario joining us here. I'm curious this, because I think you guys make a habit of bringing in football junkies. You know, like guys that just love every aspect of football. Who is the biggest and you can name multiple names if you want to. Who's the biggest football junkie on the team?
- [37:42]
D
On the team.
- [37:43]
B
On the team.
- [37:44]
D
Oh my gosh. Yeah.
- [37:46]
C
So like when it comes to like just wanting to know every aspect of
- [37:48]
B
it, just whatever mixed definition of a
- [37:51]
D
junkie, I would say Petrie, Kamari, Will Aziz, Henry. I mean those guys are Henry's and
- [38:02]
C
Henry's an interesting one because like Henry Toa. Toa is a guy that I think like the worried where he's. Where he is now compared to what I thought he could be as a rookie, you can see that a lot of it has been like, he did transform his body, but then also like a big part of his game has to be just the recognizing routes, taking the right leverage, all of that. And you can tell he's really worked on that.
- [38:24]
D
He's worked really hard. So this is what, year four for him. So from where he was as a rookie to where he is now, he's made as much progress as anybody. He works really hard. Very instinctive. We've challenged him some areas. Hey, here are the things that we Want you to improve. And he's responded accordingly. But he just has a certain mindset and demeanor and overall mentality. Again, like going back to kind of your question, I mean, we're fortunate we have a lot of players with that type of mentality and mindset, you know, which is. That's what works, and that's who d' Amico is. That's how he was as a player. And, you know, that hasn't necessarily changed between how many years ago that was to. To where we are now.
- [39:07]
B
Well, on this defense, too, there's a lot of guys that get a lot of attention on this defense at the All Pro and Pro bowl level, things like that. But just. I mean, Henry's a guy, you know, Reed Blankenship, bringing him in. Tommy Togi is a guy.
- [39:19]
D
Yeah.
- [39:19]
B
Like, Tommy's a good example. I feel like it's. Yeah, you guys have a nice top layer of really elite talent there, but, boy, on this defense, it's. That. To me, I guess I think I'm just me saying this subjectively, that next tier of players is, like, almost the glue that holds the whole thing together.
- [39:35]
A
Right.
- [39:35]
D
Well, I mean, you know, not to use this phrase, but the notion of glue guys or. I mean, there's actually. It's pretty good. It's a pretty good podcast, actually, as well. I mean, it's Alex Smith, Shane Battier. I mean, it's. But anyways, you need guys who, like, just embrace their role. I mean, Tommy, I don't think he said, like, two words, like, since the offseason started to where he is now, he just lets his performance kind of do the talking for him. So who just embrace their role and who take the coaching and who improved and gotten better. Like, Tommy's another example of a guy brought him in, like, October 24. And from where he was to where he was to where he is now, I mean, you've seen. I mean, d' Ameco's talked about him. I don't know. I don't know. Almost every day at the podium, but
- [40:16]
B
it's almost every day he did this week. Yeah.
- [40:18]
D
Yeah.
- [40:18]
B
So it's. Yeah. 40 minutes flies by.
- [40:21]
D
Man, that's already 40 minutes.
- [40:22]
B
Yeah, we're 40. We got, like, 30 seconds left.
- [40:24]
D
Yeah.
- [40:25]
B
Yeah.
- [40:25]
D
Oh.
- [40:25]
C
Undrafted rookie free agent to adopt last year, Casey Osai and Jackson Woodard. One of those guys is back in the fold this year.
- [40:32]
B
Oh, side.
- [40:32]
C
Yeah.
- [40:33]
D
Yeah.
- [40:33]
C
Right now, my leader in the clubhouse is Noah Whittington.
- [40:35]
D
Yeah, Noah's done a pretty good job. Yeah. No way. He's limited there, limited spring. He kind of was coming off a little bit of a toe. We're just trying to get him ready for training camp. But I mean, he's, he's gone out there and you know, he's done a pretty good job. Good toughness, got good straight line speed. Yeah, I mean, we'll see how it goes. Probably a bunch of opportunities here in the preseason to carry the ball.
- [40:52]
B
No doubt. Texans executive Vice president and general manager Nick Casario. Nick, we always enjoy it, man.
- [40:56]
D
Appreciate it. Always good to visit with you guys.
- [40:58]
B
Yeah, you too. You too. Appreciate the time Nick Kucerio joined Paragould
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