Stoerner: Trading Laremy Tunsil Is Boldest Move Texans Could Make

KILT-AM / SportsRadio 610

The Texans traded Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil to the Washington Commanders for draft picks. The Drive's Clint Stoerner likes the move, saying it's the boldest Houston could make to show it's serious about improving the offensive line.

Transcript

00:00Houston, this is this is a big time big time move. This is

00:03going to be couched more than likely as a great move for the

00:07Washington commanders to get the needed much needed protection

00:10for Jaden Daniels. And that's great. That's great that let

00:13let them have that up there. I'm gonna tell you right now. For

00:18me. This is a win now move for the Houston Texans. Getting out

00:25of the Laramie Tunsil business is the biggest boldest move that

00:28Nick Asario and D'Amico Ryan's can make to show how serious

00:31they are about fixing the old line about setting a championship

00:37and about on his new, their new OC and O-line coach to do their

00:41jobs with no exceptions made baby. This is big. This is a big

00:45time move for the Texans. And we'll see how they how they end

00:49up going about shuffling the deck at the offensive line

00:53position. Luke, I know I'm not Are you concerned at all about

00:57their ability now to protect their quarterback?

01:00No, no more than I was an hour ago. Right. So this doesn't

01:05change that. And that's the funny thing. You know, stats

01:08and I'm a big stats guy, but stats are like bikinis. They

01:10show a lot, but not everything. And so everyone's saying, you

01:13know, it's like that. I've never heard that before. So, uh, you

01:18know, a lot of people right now are saying Tunsil, here's what

01:21the commanders are getting ranked second in this third in

01:23this yada, yada, yada. But for the reasons that you already

01:26laid out, Clint, you know, a lot of the numbers do look good

01:28for Tunsil. But for those that watched him consistently week in

01:31and week out, you know, a lot more of the bad as well. And

01:34that's why I think for the Texans, it is that addition by

01:37subtraction. And now moving forward, we'll see what happens

01:41with the contract who's paying what if the Texans theoretically

01:44don't have to pay anything reports are it would create $14

01:47million in cap savings. And now the Texans also have eight draft

01:51picks in this upcoming draft, which is supposed to have plenty

01:54of good offensive linemen. They'll have a couple extra draft

01:57picks in next year's draft as well. With this trade, two of

02:00the picks from from this draft trade go to this year to the

02:03next year. So they're set up to try to make some moves now to

02:07improve this offensive line, whether through these draft

02:11picks, the only one round they don't have a pick in is the sixth

02:13round, they have two picks in the third round, so they can

02:17extra salary cap space, potentially, depending on if

02:20they had to chip in money on this deal. And now you could go

02:23out and you know, try to be a little more aggressive in

02:27improving the offensive line after getting rid of guys like

02:29Shaq and tons. Yeah, I'm gonna tell you, look, the I've said

02:33this a million times, like they have, and they've said it, the

02:37Texans have said it, the Texans have repeatedly said, Hey, look,

02:40we've got to fix the past protection from the inside out.

02:44We've got to we've got to make sure that we can protect the

02:46inside. And as an old quarterback, I'm here to tell

02:48you, I don't give a damn how good my tackles are. If my guard

02:52center guard, any or all of them together are always pushed

02:56back into my lap. Now I got to retreat back, I got to retreat

02:59outside. And whether that's a defensive end peeling off of the

03:03side that I'm rolling to, or it's a defensive end that's

03:05chasing the high side. And either way it goes, I'm a

03:09sitting duck. And I know look, CJ Stroud is a good athlete.

03:12He's proven the Georgia game come out of college. He proved a

03:15couple of times this year that he's a better athlete than we

03:18give him credit for. But the reality of it is if he doesn't

03:21have anywhere to push up into the pocket, he and every other

03:24quarterback out there is going to struggle. And I don't give a

03:27damn how good you are on the edges, right? Here's the deal.

03:30You move right now the way they're the way they are set

03:32right now. You move Titus Howard to left tackle, you let Blake

03:35Fisher be your right tackle, you freed up cap space with several

03:39moves that you made restructuring deals, cutting

03:42Shaq Mason trading Laramie Tunsil. Now you've created some

03:45cap space. Now you can go out there and you can get a left

03:48guard, you can go out there and get a center, you can go out

03:51there and get a right guard, whether that's free agency, or

03:54it's the draft, guys, Jarrett Patterson, to some degree at

04:00center, you can have a healthy competition with guys like Juice

04:03Scruggs at one of the guard positions, or at center, you

04:07got not only a frontline, but you've got a you've got much

04:11better depth than you had last year. I don't know what the

04:13Texans are going to do. But I have zero concerns about the

04:17tackle position with this football team. If your offensive

04:20coordinator is worth. I mean, his worth is weight if he is

04:26just if he's just a competent NFL offensive coordinator. If

04:32you don't have top tier tackles. It is very simple and very

04:38common to have help solutions with your tackles. Where it's

04:44hard to have help solutions and your hands are really tied is

04:47when your guards and your centers aren't worth a damn.

04:50Right? Then you got to go you can't make you got to slide,

04:53you got to slide everything right? You can't. There's just

04:56fewer options of getting help inside there. And you've got to

04:59show your cards to the defense by moving the running back up

05:03in the a gap or stopping the tight end in the a gap or help

05:06both and getting those guys that help that they need inside

05:08there. Right. So firming up the interior of this offensive line

05:13is is much more possible right now. And and not only is it

05:19more possible from a cap space, but it's all it's also more

05:22possible from a coaching perspective for these guys to

05:25get it done. So for what it's worth, I have no concerns with

05:29the protection. I think you put it best Luke right there. You

05:31don't have any more concerns right now. Then you had and he

05:37had just much concern when Laramie was a Texan to when he

05:40wasn't man. It's crazy because this could be a this could be a

05:44win win for everybody involved. Right? Because I look at Larry

05:47Tunsell is a great pass protecting offensive lineman no

05:50doubt about it. Now there's penalties as you mentioned that

05:52come along with it. I don't like the offseason stuff and and and

05:56the the antics that he pulls in the offseason because when he's

05:59allowed to do that, then the other guys feel like they can

06:02act a certain way the head coach can't hold them accountable. But

06:05the reality of it is if you plug Laramie Tunsell into a system

06:09that's already got leaders, you know, that's the head coach is

06:12already, you know, establishing, you know, the culture and the

06:15physicality and all that comes with that, then Laramie is gonna

06:19be fine. The problem is in Houston, you need as in the

06:24offensive line room, you needed Laramie Tunsell to be more than

06:27just one of the best pass blocking tackles in the game,

06:31you needed more, you need more out of that money, you need more

06:34out of the captain, you need more of an impact player that

06:38can impact the guys around them, then just do their job at

06:41an elite level. That's, that's, that's where I'm at. All right,

06:45I'm Clint Sterner. Luke Morrow is in the building for Ron

06:48Uglie today. Tyler's on the ones and twos in the back. The big

06:51news, the Texans have traded Laramie Tunsell to the

06:54Washington commanders and got back a boatload of picks.

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