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The Laremy Tunsil And Kenyon Green Trades Were Cathartic. Now It's Time To Worry About The Texans' Offensive Line.
KILT-AM / SportsRadio 610
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3/12/2025
Seth Payne and Sean Pendergast shift their focus to what the Texans are doing moving forward with this offensive line.
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00:00
Hey, what's up man? I had a fun afternoon just kind of taking in the rest of the league,
00:05
thinking and reflecting on the Texans offseason so far, which is, it's weird to say that a team
00:11
is aggressive when they're trading players away and that's the sign of their aggression.
00:17
And yet, I feel like this is a pretty damn bold and aggressive move to say,
00:22
look the offensive line was a problem last year. How are we going to handle it? We're going to
00:29
tear it all down. That's what we're going to do. And we're left in this moment where,
00:34
man, it was cathartic in a lot of ways for a lot of people to trade away
00:38
guys that had been huge blemishes this season and over the past seasons.
00:43
And Laramie Tunsell, the best player amongst them, obviously.
00:49
And for a lot of Texans fans to get rid of a lot of things that were headaches along the way.
00:55
But now you are in that moment where, okay, this is where the real work begins.
01:00
They were a bad offensive line last year. Getting rid of Laramie Tunsell didn't immediately or
01:05
obviously make them a better offensive line. It made them a worse offensive line.
01:11
So now you've got some work to do and it's building it back up from the foundation.
01:15
As you said, as you appeared on Washington Radio yesterday and we're met with, frankly,
01:20
disrespect over your opinions about exactly what the Texans are doing right now,
01:26
particularly the Laramie Tunsell trade. Yeah, there's work to be done, but it feels like,
01:30
all right, they're going to try to mold this offense in the image of the defense,
01:35
which is molded in the image of D'Amico Ryan's. And you got rid of some guys that were not playing
01:39
swarm caliber football. Yeah. Yeah. There's just, there's more moves coming.
01:43
That's where I'm at with it. People were like, I can't believe you traded Laramie Tunsell. Oh my
01:47
God. Look at the offensive line. If you had to play today, this is what it would be. I'm like,
01:51
no, there's, there's more moves coming. Now. I don't know, Seth, that the moves that are
01:55
available to them right now in free agency. And then if you draft a guy, especially a tackle,
02:02
that it's a guy who's going to be ready made to play. Although D'Amico Ryan's has said,
02:06
if we draft a guy in the first round, the hope and the expectation is that he can be
02:11
a day one starter for us. We'll see how that goes, but that's kind of where I'm at. Like,
02:16
yeah, if they had to go play a game today, I'd be really worried about the offensive line,
02:19
but there's still time to get this thing fixed. And we haven't seen what it looks like yet with,
02:25
as you pointed out several times with Cole Popovich coaching the offensive line, right?
02:33
You're not plunking it down into the same to use a magnificent Gladstone word ecosystem.
02:39
As you were last year, it's very different now, new offensive coordinator. We don't know what
02:42
the system's going to be. Maybe the guys are bringing in our tailored better to do what Nick
02:47
Caley wants to do than the guys that they're shipping out of here. But yeah, I I'm, I'm in
02:52
total weight and seem, I'm completely in favor of how they're going about this right now.
02:56
Completely. I think if you just look at it on the dollars and cents side of it, you, and it's
03:01
probably something that we neglected a little too much yesterday, but it was just so much fun to
03:06
talk about the emotional stuff. You clear some cap space with, with enemy tonsil. And this is my,
03:12
this is my answer to people outside of Houston who say, Oh my gosh, the, the old line was bad.
03:17
And you get rid of your one, actually good pass protector. They were the offensive line was so bad
03:24
that getting three guys around 10 million per year, if they average that, that are just
03:32
solid veterans, not awesome, not awful that that's better for an offensive line than having
03:38
one Laramie tonsil in four guys that you can't depend on. So if they, so Lake and Tomlinson
03:44
Tomlinson who they signed yesterday, he's nothing to get super excited about, but he's very, very
03:49
affordable. And I think he's an upgrade over anybody that was playing at guard last year.
03:53
A hundred percent agree. And he's been very, very, very durable in his career. He's gone
03:57
eight years or so without missing a game. So that's the kind of stuff that isn't going to make
04:02
headlines on ESPN.com or anything, but you got to worry about the sum total place. Some of that
04:10
Laramie tonsil salary and cap hit with guys that at the very least can be dependable cogs in a
04:16
five-man offensive line. Yeah, I agree with that. And, and, and, and I think it probably, you know,
04:23
for Texan fans, if you're looking at the part where they get a little anxious,
04:27
it's looking around in free agency at what other teams are doing. Like the bears on paper have done
04:32
a massive shift with the interior of their offensive line. You know, they trade for Joe
04:36
Tooney. They trade for Jonah Jackson. They signed drew Dowman who was the top center in free agency.
04:42
The Vikings have been making big moves for the interior of their offensive line. They've got to,
04:46
I'll call him a rookie quarterback. JJ McCarthy has yet to start a game.
04:50
So they, you know, he's, he's going to be a first time starter next year. They sign Ryan Kelly.
04:55
They sign will fries. Um, I, the Texans had more work to do to just to tear it down in the first
05:02
place, then going and getting the guys to replace them, you know? And look, there are guys out there
05:07
in free agency right now that you wouldn't panic if they were the starting one of the starting
05:12
tackles for your team. I mean, I, I think Jedrick Wills is still out there. The Justin school guys
05:18
like that guys, whose names you're not going to recognize or anything. Um, but that are viable
05:23
starters and then you draft and see what happens after that. And there, there could also still be
05:27
trades along the way. And if they, if the Texans get to, if the Texans get are able to, to put
05:33
together an offensive line through replacements and through coaching that is middle of the pack,
05:40
it's a major upgrade over last year. There's in a lot of ways, I think you think about last
05:45
year's off season and everybody had all the salt. It was going to be, it was going to be the,
05:53
you know, um, Oh, damn it. What was the name of the greatest, greatest show on turf? Greatest show
05:58
on turf. Yeah. It was going to be the greatest show under tractable dome with all these receivers
06:02
and all these weapons you had out there. I think it feels very much like a back to basics. Nick
06:08
Caley has used the word fundamentals multiple times when he's done his few in his few interviews that
06:14
he's done so far, he talks a lot about the nuts and bolts of operating a good offense. And it's
06:20
not really as much about scheme as it is about guys playing good, fundamentally sound football.
06:24
So I like it. I'm, I'm ready for blue collar and boring. I want, I want stability. I want something
06:31
that can compliment the skills of CJ Stroud, but also compliment the defense because the defense
06:38
yesterday in trading away, Kenyon green adds a guy who is a turnover machine and CJ Gardner,
06:44
Johnson and the defense, which already was a good enough defense to win a Superbowl.
06:49
If you, you know, you don't look at that defense and you can say, yeah, there's certainly areas
06:53
for improvement, but you don't look at it and say, yeah, that was, was holding them back. No,
06:57
with a competent offense and CJ Stroud playing to the highest of his abilities. Yeah. You can
07:02
win a Superbowl with that defense. No question. And we should talk about that too. That trade
07:06
came down right before the last segment of our show yesterday. The Texans trading Kenyon green
07:11
and a fifth round pick next year to the Eagles for CJ Gardner, Johnson, and a sixth round pick
07:18
next year. I, boy, there were some things I learned. We'll dig deeper into these trades
07:23
at seven o'clock when we've got some runway to work with. I see. I've seen as 27 years old.
07:31
Yeah. I thought he was an older player just based on the fact that he's played for so many
07:36
different teams over the last few years. You know, he started out with the saints,
07:40
went to the Eagles for a year, goes to the lions for a year, goes back to the Eagles.
07:45
So the two Superbowl years, I don't know if it's coincidence or not, but he was on the team,
07:50
the two Superbowl years and was on Detroit in between a team that probably should have made
07:55
the Superbowl his year. If they hadn't screwed up so many things against the Niners
07:59
in the NFC title game, dude, I, the Texas and this guy is hard hitter. He is swarmy.
08:05
He is like dangerously swarmy. They are trying to set a record for concussions
08:10
administered this coming season. CJ back there. And there's, he was injured in 2023. He only
08:18
played three games in the last 21 regular season games. He has 13 interceptions. Yeah.
08:24
So you'd ballhawk compare that to Eric Murray, who has, I think three interceptions over the
08:31
last several years. It was, I can't remember the stat. It's very, very meager. It does not stack up
08:36
and that, that kind of ability to force turnovers. If you can just get competent play out of the
08:41
offense that makes for not just winning the division, but getting home field advantage in
08:46
the playoffs where we know this Texans pass rush and their ability to force turnovers makes a big,
08:51
big difference in the playoffs. So true, man. Yeah, he's, he's been, he's been near the top
08:57
of the league. CJ Gardner Johnson has in what they call ballhawk percentage.
09:04
And it's basically just the percentage of times you've been targeted where
09:09
you either get a cup, you know, you're getting your hands on the ball in some way.
09:12
And he's, I'm looking at a stat here. Second in the league behind Denzel Ward,
09:17
Derrick Stingley Jr. For context is fifth in the league. It feels like Derrick Stingley Jr.
09:22
gets his hands on the ball. Every time it gets thrown in his direction, he's fifth. CJ Gardner
09:26
Johnson is above Derrick Stingley Jr. So you got your secondary now has two guys that, that this
09:33
ballhawk percentage matches the eye test. Plus Kalen Bullock, who feels like one of those guys,
09:39
plus Kamari Lassiter, who feels, feels like one of those guys. Plus there's a physicality element
09:44
to him. And then you got Jalen Petrie, who this team loves, and I think is going to get a second
09:48
contract who now all of a sudden is freed up to be whatever Swiss army knife you want him to be.
09:55
You know, go back to the dolphins game last year, where after the game tongue of Iowa,
10:01
basically he wasn't trying to make excuses for his turnovers for which he had multiple turnovers in
10:06
that game. But he basically made the point, man, it's, it's hard to pick an easy guy to target
10:12
when you're going against this defense. And that was, as they were playing with
10:16
two rookie defensive backs, right. And with Eric Murray out there as a safety in that game,
10:21
if I remember correctly. So the, it becomes that much more difficult. You throw Jalen Petrie
10:26
and CJ Gardner Johnson into the mix and it gets, it's a whole lot of fun. It's really a whole lot
10:31
of fun defensively. The swarm quotient though, still really has to be lifted on the offensive
10:36
side of the ball. Yep. And I think the good news there is their behavior as a front office
10:42
and a coaching staff on that side of the ball over the last week tells us that they know that
10:50
recognize the problem. There was a feeling that I think you and I, and a lot of people had at
10:55
the middle of the season when, when either D'Amico or Nick would talk about the offensive line,
11:01
where there was this concern that they weren't seeing the same things we were.
11:04
And I think in retrospect, it's probably more that they weren't going to throw guys under the
11:08
bus in week nine of the season. Like this is, we're going to love the one we're with right now.
11:13
And there's no reason for us to go on talk radio or a press conference and say how bad they suck.
11:18
Well, it was, you know, at one point Nick said that it was a lazy narrative that the offensive
11:22
line was playing poorly. I'm like, all right, well, you just got rid of 60% of that offensive
11:28
line. You brought in a guard that's going to compete with some of the guys who are on the
11:31
roster already. I very, I, at the very least, I feel exonerated Sean, that we were not being
11:36
lazy with our narratives about the offensive line. I just feel like I'm not cuckoo for cocoa
11:40
pups. You know what I mean? I'm like, yeah, it was like, yeah, cause that was the only,
11:44
the only explanation is the one that you just gave, which is that they were, they were not
11:48
going to throw guys under the bus publicly, even though internally they very much knew it was an
11:53
issue. You're right. It, it, but it was as close as I've come to feeling like I did in the Jack
11:58
Easter beer where I am I cuckoo for cocoa, but if I lost all sense of football and how it works,
12:06
because my God, I feel like the offensive line is a huge problem. Yes, yes, yes, yes, absolutely.
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