Why Didn't The Texans Do More To Improve Their Offensive Line?

KILT-AM / SportsRadio 610

ESPN's Dan Graziano wondered allowed what many others have. Why didn't the Texans do more to address their offensive line issues? Payne & Pendergast attempt tackle that question here.

Transcript

00:00Dan Graziano's list of 10 big questions is lingering there about these 10 big questions

00:06for purposes of this segment.

00:08Why didn't the Texans do more to improve the offensive line?

00:12Here was Nick Casario on our show about a week or so ago talking about the rebuild,

00:18the Texans rebuild on the offensive line.

00:20I would say in our situation, we feel like we have a number of players that will be able

00:25to compete in the offensive line.

00:26And we have certain levels of players or certain grouping of players.

00:30You have sort of tackle-only group.

00:32You have tackles that can play guard.

00:35And I would say in Titus' case, he's proven that he can do that.

00:38On the inside part of the line, you have players that are center-only.

00:42You have players that are guard-only.

00:43You have players that can play all three inside spots.

00:46So what we're trying to do is build up as much depth and versatility, like legit versatility,

00:51not just on a piece of paper.

00:53You're going to pencil something in.

00:54And this guy can do multiple things, all to arrive sort of at the same end point.

00:58Who are the five best guys that we feel most comfortable with?

01:01We're going to have eight players at the game more than likely.

01:04So you're going to have your five starters and then your three backups.

01:07You're going to have a next tackle.

01:08You're going to have a next inside player.

01:10And then you're going to have an extra player.

01:12And then what do you do if you lose a tackle?

01:15Who goes to that spot?

01:16Do you put the third tackle in the game?

01:18Do you move somebody from a different position?

01:20So there's different, but similar to draft, there's going to be a little bit of an ebb

01:24and flow here.

01:25And we'll get more information here as we work through the process.

01:28Okay.

01:29Yeah.

01:29It's been inspiring words.

01:30Yeah.

01:30Let's do it.

01:31Let's do it.

01:32Let's go.

01:33I agree with everything, but none of it inspires me.

01:35I get this is, you're in a little bit of the same boat as you are with the Rockets,

01:39where if you're anticipating the Rockets not doing much, trust me on the off season.

01:46And nobody, if there's one thing that sports fans hate, it's trust me, bro.

01:50Yeah.

01:51Because I like the real, the tangible look.

01:53I want that big, fat human being playing right guard now.

01:57So, but also now, you know, not to, I'm not dragging the Rockets analogy out.

02:04With the Texans, the offensive line has been a sore spot now for a few years.

02:07And the trust me, bro, really loses its luster when after multiple years, you've spent a lot

02:14of money on the offensive line and a lot of draft picks.

02:16Last year, they were one of the highest paid offensive lines in football and yet one of

02:20the worst.

02:21So trust me, bro, really doesn't ring right when, when they've already been struggling

02:26despite spending vast resources on it.

02:28Yeah.

02:28When you're cleaning up your own mess, it's, it's hard to, you know, it's, it's hard to

02:32engender a hundred percent trust from the fan base.

02:35I would say at the very least, if this helps anybody feel any better, I would still rather

02:39have this question more so than really the same question that Dan Graziano asks

02:45of the Steelers, which is why didn't the Steelers take quarterback more seriously this off season?

02:50Because if you're a Steelers fan, I mean, it's his multiple years now where it looks like

02:56the Steelers are just cool being a 500 football team and like, Hey, look at this.

03:01We're always, we never have a losing season.

03:03And I, all right, but like, this is, we've been, we've got rolling with Russell Wilson

03:07and Justin Fields and now maybe Mason Rudolph.

03:10Like what, what the hell are we actually doing at quarterback?

03:13So you're saying if the Texans had just run it back with the group they had last year,

03:16that might be an even bigger question in a Graziano article like this.

03:20Then the questions about the stuff that they did actually ran that group back.

03:26Like we ran back the group that two years in is getting worse and allowing CJ Stroud

03:32to get hit 52 times.

03:33I think that, yeah, the big thing about the Texans offensive line is that they did, they

03:37did part one of fixing it, which was getting rid of guys that they either thought were overpaid

03:43or not the right types of guys or just not good, whatever it might be.

03:47And the rebuild hasn't been as aggressive or as easy to grasp as we want it to be.

03:54And it's uncomfortable because it really is just like you've got a brand new offensive

03:58coordinator.

03:58We have no idea if he'll actually be a good offensive coordinator or not.

04:01And then you've got an offensive line that if Nick Cayley is a good offensive coordinator,

04:06just by virtue of understanding the run game and knowing how to coach the run game, then

04:11that offensive line will look a lot better.

04:13And then the run game helps the pass protection, et cetera, et cetera.

04:18You just, we just don't know right now.

04:21It's just a huge question mark.

04:22Here was, if you're wondering how CJ Stroud is feeling about the offensive line, or at least

04:26was feeling back in mid-late April when the team assembled at the stadium to begin off-season

04:33workouts.

04:35Here was CJ Stroud asked, are you surprised by the moves that were made on the offensive line?

04:39I mean, that's, that's something I feel, you know, is not my pay grade, you know, it's

04:44just, I'm just a quarterback, but at the same time, you know, it's, you build relationships

04:48with guys and, you know, your LT, of course, who I know you're talking about, and Shaq, you

04:54know, those are two of my best friends, so, that I've come into the league with, so yeah,

04:58it hurts, you know what I mean?

04:59It's, and you know, our front office knows that and they know how I felt about it, really

05:05understand and I'm not against it at all.

05:07I totally think that we're heading to the right, to the right side of things and, you

05:13know, I think something I learned about Nick is that he has a plan, no matter what happens,

05:17he always has something up his sleeve, so, of course, sometimes we don't know what that

05:21is and, but you just have that trust and that's something that I've, there's, you know, we

05:25actually talked about today having blind trust and, you know, having earned trust and for

05:29Nick, I mean, he's gained my trust in both areas, so I'm excited, but, you know, I'm

05:34always going to be best friends with those guys and rooting them on and, you know, I

05:37still talk to them daily, so.

05:39You know, he conspicuously left out Kenyon Green in that little part of the discussion.

05:43It would have been even better if he had said something like, like, yeah, I know, Laramie

05:47Tunsil and Shaq Mason, those are two of my best friends and, you know, I think Kenyon, Kenyon,

05:51Kenyon's good, he can continue to develop and maybe be good for us this year.

05:54He made the distinction that he's not one of my best friends.

05:56He's not gone.

05:57He's here.

05:58He's not here anymore.

05:59I didn't even.

06:00Oh, okay.

06:01All right.

06:02Yeah.

06:03I wonder why CJ Gardner Johnson was here.

06:04Okay.

06:05Yeah.

06:06That makes sense now.

06:07I do.

06:08Honestly, without, I thought CJ did a really good job of being transparent in that.

06:12Yeah.

06:13There's a personal side to this, but that also, um, now he does make more money than Nick Casario.

06:19So it's not, it's not below, it's not above his pay grade, it's above him on the organizational

06:24chart, which is flat CJ.

06:27Flat organization.

06:28Remember that was the big thing for a while.

06:30Flat organizational.

06:31Yeah.

06:32I remember.

06:33Um, yeah, but I, I thought he told the, I thought he walked that tightrope pretty well

06:38of as a young NFL player.

06:40We've talked about this in the past.

06:43Yeah.

06:44There's going to learn that.

06:45Okay.

06:46Sometimes your best buds and maybe guys that you think are really good football players,

06:48they're just, they're going to be gone and you just got to keep moving on.

06:50That's life in the NFL.

06:51It's going to be, well, here's the thing.

06:53And CJ, you're going to be a big reason for that because you're about to get paid in the

06:56next year or so, you know, there, there's going to be guys you have to watch go that

07:00you're friends with that are getting that are, that are leaving for non-performance reasons.

07:04They're leaving.

07:05Cause the team doesn't have enough money.

07:06They're actually good players, but you can't keep everybody.

07:09And CJ knows that CJ says that his end of your press conference.

07:12Hey man, I know it's going to be a different team next year, but that is the first cut that

07:16I've heard him that I can remember him talking about just how close, like watching friends

07:20leave that kind of thing.

07:21Yeah.

07:22Yeah.

Category

Transcript

Recommended