- 6/26/2025
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00:00Darius Slay was on a podcast, defensive back for the Eagles,
00:07defensive back for the Lions.
00:09He's been one of the better defensive backs in the league
00:11over the last several years and was asked,
00:14who's the most underrated wide receiver in the league?
00:19He arrived at Nico Collins, but then ultimately realized
00:21Nico's not underrated anymore.
00:23Who's the most underrated receiver?
00:25No, it's a good bit of those now.
00:30The most underrated one, I feel as in, that's who I went up against.
00:37One time I had, like, oh, man, this man got some stuff to him.
00:42But, dang, at that time, he's not who he is.
00:46Now, Nico Collins was so underrated to me.
00:48He's not underrated anymore, I feel like.
00:49Not no more.
00:50Maybe year one, though.
00:51He's the first one that came to my mind was like.
00:53What is it about his game that makes him so good in your mind?
00:57Like, the fact that he's big, he can run, and it's like his routes look like
01:02he's running at, like, he's 5'8", you know?
01:05So, like, he can stop on a dime.
01:07Like, he was very underrated for a minute, but now it's like he's where he's at.
01:11He might run the best dig in the NFL, I feel like.
01:14I'm telling you, like, he get up out the break.
01:16And it's crazy.
01:18Yeah.
01:19At his size, 6'4", the breakaway, it's crazy.
01:22Yeah, and he run it past a lot of guys.
01:24Like, he run past them.
01:25Big boy post, like, you wouldn't think it.
01:27So, he was my real true underrated, but now he's who he is, so he's not really true underrated
01:32no more.
01:33Yeah.
01:33So, the part I love about that, Seth, is his routes look like he's 5'8".
01:38Basically, he's saying the dude moves and looks like a slot receiver when he's getting into
01:42his routes.
01:43There's one thing last year during training camp that was really evident, where you could
01:46see, even though the Texans' offense wasn't getting, like, clicking the way you'd like
01:50to see during training camp, that his, when he sits down on a breaking route or on a stop
01:58or something, that's where he moves like he's 5'8".
02:01The same way his tiny little slot receiver types can just kind of zoo-zoo pet their way
02:07all over the place, for a big guy, he does that really, really well.
02:10And then, kind of the stress factor that it puts on a defensive back, when you've got
02:15a guy that's big, who's that big and that fast, is that he's coming at you like a straight,
02:20like a freight train on something that looks like it might be a vertical route, and you
02:26got to prepare for that, and all of a sudden, boom, he's down.
02:28And yeah, the size and his ability in the run after the catch, particularly in the playoffs
02:33and at the end of the season, when he just seems to go into a different beast mode type,
02:37everybody's taking note of that.
02:40I think it's, yeah, it's almost, what I would worry about is, you almost, sometimes people
02:46talk about, get talked about being underrated so much that they become overrated.
02:50And with Nico, the biggest obstacle still is, yeah, he's got to, he's got to string together
02:55a complete season.
02:57Play seven games and you'll be established as a top three wide receiver in the league.
03:00Yeah, the most games he's played in a season was his breakout season in 2023.
03:05Fifteen games, but the caveat that he went out of that Jets game like five snaps into
03:10the game, so he really only played 14 games.
03:13Similarly, he played 12 games this past year.
03:15Well, he only played a quarter of the Bills game.
03:17Of course, he had almost 100 yards on one play in that game.
03:21That's what's interesting to me, Seth.
03:22When I saw that too, it was Mina Kimes, by the way, who was doing the podcast with him,
03:26with Darius Slay.
03:28That was the interesting thing to me because the eye grabber on the tweet is most underrated
03:31wide receiver.
03:32And you see they're talking about Nico, and I'm like, man, I'm thinking to myself, I don't
03:35think Nico's underrated anymore.
03:37Any power rating or graphic you see on social media that lists the best wide, you know,
03:43here are the 10 best wide receivers.
03:45Nico is in there, and a lot of them, he's like five or six.
03:49And to me, that like, you're right, like that's the opposite of underrated because he's only,
03:54I don't think if you're putting Nico Collins in any sort of power ranking with wide receivers,
03:58you're counting his first two seasons at all.
04:00Like, he was on bad teams that were unproductive, and he was obviously a different guy then than
04:04he is now.
04:05Any power ranking of Nico Collins amongst the great wide receivers in the league today is
04:10all based on 2023 and 2024.
04:13And the fact of the matter is, he's only played 27 games in that patch of, you know, in that
04:18patch of time right there.
04:19And which is, when you look at the other names that are around him there, it really
04:24is remarkable that he's gotten and garnered this much respect in the league with that
04:28small a body of great work because he's alongside guys like Jamar Chase, who's been doing it
04:34since the day he set foot in the NFL, Justin Jefferson since the day he set foot in the NFL
04:40five years ago, Tyreek Hill, who's been doing it for a long, long time, CeeDee Lamb came
04:45in in 2020.
04:47Nico Collins is viewed by the experts out there as among the five or six best receivers
04:51in the league, and he's done it basically on 27 games.
04:55If I had to go for most underrated, I might have to unpopularly put Brian Thomas Jr. from
05:02the Jaguars into the mix just because he's, I don't look, I need to play more fantasy, I
05:07suppose, but what he was able to do as a rookie on a bad football team.
05:14Um, it gets lost a little bit in the shuffle of the AFC South.
05:18That's where some of the early season matchups for the Texans with this schedule right off
05:23the bat versus the Rams.
05:24All right.
05:25They've got Puka Nakua.
05:26You've got Nico Collins.
05:27Yeah.
05:28Two of the most promising young receivers in the game.
05:31You've got Devontae Adams now too, by the way, the Rams too.
05:34Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:35Um, and then you also, I mean, the, that week one matchup, the biggest weakness that everybody
05:42is focused on in the off season for the Texans is that offensive line.
05:45And they're going against one of the absolute best young defensive players in the league and
05:50Jared verse.
05:51They got Fisk, the draft pick from last year.
05:54They, their front seven is going to be a real challenge versus that Texans offensive line.
05:58The Rams game, uh, it's in a perfect world.
06:02I'd rather see the Rams like third or fourth game of the season, but you're going to learn
06:05a lot about just how far along the Texans are in their reset or rebuild offensively against
06:10that Rams defense.
06:11I'm looking at Brian Thomas jr.
06:13Was third in the league in yards receiving last year.
06:18Yeah.
06:18Justin Jefferson, Brian Thomas, by the way, all three LSU guys, the top three receivers in
06:24the league, all LSU guys.
06:26I, and I think if you, and you watch him versus the Texans last year, or just, I was watching
06:31some film of him yesterday.
06:32Yeah.
06:32This is a, this guy totally suffered from the fact that he was playing for the Jaguars and
06:38the fact that the Jaguars are in the AFC South because they're just not hitting a lot of high
06:42right highlight reels during the week.
06:44They're not playing in a lot of meaningful games.
06:46Nope.
06:46Nope.
06:47It's, it's interesting.
06:48Underrated.
06:48I, you know, Nico, Nico, Nico, I don't think is underrated anymore.
06:52I like a guy, I think of a guy like Terry McLaurin from Washington, who's been doing it for years,
06:56but just finally was doing it on a team last year that mattered, you know, a guy like that.
07:01Um, but man, McLaurin might be one of those guys that gets talked about as overlooked or
07:05underrated or et cetera, et cetera.
07:07So long that maybe, and maybe he's become overrated.
07:09Maybe he has, man.
07:10That's how it works.
07:11That is how it works.
07:12That's the old nose tackle conundrum.
07:13I, the, somebody, I was going through one season and this is what happens with nose
07:18tackles.
07:19If the defense is playing well, oh, that is the, that guy is the unsung hero.
07:24If the defense is playing poorly, the boy, they need a, they need a hoss in the middle
07:29there.
07:29I can't believe it's a sieve.
07:31Yeah.
07:32I can't believe they're getting run on and dime where the nose tackle is going to the
07:36bathroom on the sideline.
07:37Um, but yeah, it is a danger in becoming so, so underrated that you're over.
07:42That's true.
07:42It is true.
07:43Um, Parker McCollum, Houston area legend, country music, uh, star, uh, and regular on
07:49the Pat McAfee show.
07:51He was on the Pat McAfee show yesterday, making big, bold predictions for, for your
07:58I have a feeling that the Houston Texans and the Houston Rockets and possibly, uh, the Houston
08:05Astros are all going to have a ring with another ring, uh, for the Astros, uh, here very soon.
08:11Um, wow.
08:12Now I don't know if that's this season, but I know this football team has the makings of
08:17a good, they're so close to being a really, really, really sound competitive football team.
08:23Uh, and they've been right there the last two years, last year struggled, I think kind
08:27of expected with CJ coming off such a high rookie year, uh, and, and just a record breaking
08:32rookie year.
08:32But I think once he settles in and I think he's, I think he's going to play like a veteran
08:37quarterback, like he did with rookie season.
08:39And, and, um, you know, uh, I don't know who in the world is going to play on the offensive
08:44line, but we may be so good that we don't even need one.
08:47Hey, there you go.
08:48I like that.
08:49We don't even need an offensive line.
08:50He just like that.
08:52The old David Carr commercial.
08:54Oh yeah.
08:55With nobody.
08:55We were.
08:56Yeah.
08:56Um, Parker McCollum just gave all of us permission to call it a potential golden age of Houston
09:03sports, a golden age of Houston sports.
09:05It's Parker McCollum knows how well that's age.
09:07That's what it is.
09:09Like, uh, I'm, I'm known for my country singing ability.
09:12I was at, does McCollum do, uh, he, does he do as much with the team?
09:18I think he's been out.
09:18He's, he's carried the flag.
09:20Yeah.
09:20Yeah.
09:20I think twice he's, and he's very Houston on social media.
09:24Oh no, no, no, yeah, like I'm thinking about as far as actually working with the team
09:28itself.
09:28I feel like the team, the team made a concerted effort to move away from like leaning into
09:34the Clay Walker type stuff isn't enough as much in being more like, Hey, let's appeal
09:39to the youth.
09:40They've modernized the local hip hop guys and legends have been very much embraced.
09:45I feel like I was watching, um, Nico, Nico, when he's on the green light podcast, he, he
09:52mentioned going to the rodeo and how much fun he had.
09:53And he mentioned one of the country singers, I think as a concert he got to go see.
09:57Yeah, I do.
09:58I feel like, Hey, listen, let's remember like these kids listen to everything.
10:00Yeah.
10:01It's a crossover hit, man.
10:02Yeah.
10:02I feel like, uh, just bring over.
10:04Yeah.
10:04You don't have to, you don't have to step 400% away from what you were in the early days,
10:10which felt like some of their PR efforts in the first couple of decades felt like, uh,
10:15trying to appeal to the middle aged dudes and everything.
10:17Yeah.
10:17You can, you can, you can appeal to everybody.
10:19They have modernized and broadened their horizons.
10:21No doubt about that.
10:22No doubt about that.
10:23Um, George Kittle and Travis Kelsey, I think in one other tight end, I can't remember who
10:28they do this tight end.
10:29You every year, this big collection of tight ends come into one spot.
10:34It's really annoying.
10:35Yeah.
10:35Yeah.
10:36And they do drills and they have fun.
10:39And ESPN is out there.
10:40George Kittle sat down.
10:41And I think this is with Dan Orlovsky and, um, curious your thoughts on this, Seth, that
10:47the good teams have tight end rooms that are great.
10:49I would say one of my favorite things to look back on is if you look at the past, like
10:5310 Superbowl winners, every team has either a Gronk, a Kelsey, Dallas Goddard, like you
10:59have an elite tight end playing that makes plays for you throughout the whole season,
11:02throughout the playoffs, throughout the Superbowl.
11:04You have guys that make plays.
11:05And so I just think guys saw, you know, Gronk and the Patriots win all these championships,
11:10right?
11:10You know, we need to invest a little bit more time in these tight ends, maybe get them some
11:12more ops.
11:13So I just think offenses have seen success of other teams using tight ends so much.
11:18We're going to try using them too.
11:19And now you see all these tight ends from every team, you know, the Ravens have a great tight
11:23end room.
11:24They got what?
11:24Charlie Kolar, Isaiah Likely, and Mark Andrews, like three great tight ends.
11:28And like, so you building these rooms of the tight ends, now you go 11 personnel, 12 personnel,
11:3213, 22, all these personnels with multiple tight ends.
11:35And that's the best way to play the game.
11:36Okay.
11:36Does George Kittle's theory hold water?
11:39Is Goddard, I guess him using the word great so liberally, I think is probably the issue.
11:44That's a pet peeve of mine too.
11:46Yeah.
11:46I would say Dallas Goddard is a very solid tight end and a benefits, a guy who benefits
11:51from being on that offense as well.
11:53So the Eagles have Dallas Goddard.
11:56I don't, do you call him a great tight end?
11:58I don't think so, but I think he's a very, very solid tight end.
12:01Yeah.
12:01So that, I can get with that in that part of it is you got to, at the very least, have
12:07tight ends who can take advantage of the other guys on the offense and be kind of fit in.
12:14You know, Owen Daniels was, was he a great tight end?
12:19He was, Owen was an awesome teammate and a really, really effective tight end.
12:23I don't know if he was great, but he was very, very effective and he knew exactly how
12:27to fit into the offense.
12:28So he ended up being, yes, like when he was with the Broncos, part of, part of a Super
12:33Bowl winning effort.
12:34So depending on how you use the word great, I don't know, but you definitely need to have
12:39somebody who's very, very effective.
12:40Well, like when you bring up names like Kelsey and Gronk, it goes beyond them being tight
12:44ends.
12:44They're just great football players.
12:46You know, like that's, that's not, that's, oh, you have to have a Gronk on the team or a
12:50Travis Kelsey that, that, oh, you're telling me that helps, that helps win a Super
12:54Bowl.
12:54To me, I like the example of the Baltimore that he brought up, that has fully capable
13:00guy, like not great, but like capable guys in that room.
13:04And that's that Texans team, not just Owen Daniels, like Joel Dreesen was very good and
13:08did his job for that team.
13:09James Casey did some good things for those teams.
13:12Like it was a deep room.
13:13And with, okay, if you look at the Ravens, who, you know, they're there at the, at the
13:17end of the season, at least.
13:18Yeah.
13:19It's Mark Andrews and Isaiah, likely two different, slightly different skill sets, different types of
13:23guys.
13:24So having some diversity and having multiple effective guys is big.
13:28That's where Brevin Jordan's a little bit more of an X factor.
13:31You always have to remind yourself, oh, wait, yeah.
13:34Brevin Jordan doesn't get used frequently, but they figure out ways to, when he's the
13:40gadget or when he's the thing in a specific matchup that you can really, really use.
13:44And then if you get the same version of Dalton Schultz from a couple of years ago, yeah, you
13:48can see that being part of a really effective offense.
13:51And you just answered my next question, which is, how do you think, and I'd add Kate Stover
13:54in there, did some really good things in OTAs and minicamp as well.
13:57Like, I think this is a room that has, obviously has room to improve off of last year.
14:02It was not a great room.
14:03You had the Brevin Jordan dynamic.
14:04You're talking about what we saw to him.
14:06That was with guys like Pep Hamilton and Bobby Sloick coordinating the offense from
14:11Brevin Jordan.
14:11You know, now it's, you know, I'd like to think Nick Caley is going to have some really
14:15creative ways that he uses Brevin Jordan in the, in the offense this year.
14:18I, um, I have a weird, yeah, yeah.
14:20My, my, my more underrated, uh, offensive coordinator is Pep Hamilton.
14:24I, uh, it's frustrating.
14:25I got very frustrated with him at times during that season.
14:28And yet at the same time, I'm like, I don't know.
14:30What are you supposed to do with these guys?
14:31I don't know.
14:32I don't know.
14:32I just, he had zip ties around his wrist.
14:35I know.
14:36The fact that, I mean, I'm watching Dave Mills, like turn down wide open receivers versus
14:42vanilla coverage to hit a, to hit a shorter route or something.
14:46I'm watching, like, I'm watching all these things and I'm wondering what exactly is Pep
14:50Hamilton supposed to do with these guys?
14:52I get the plate calling could be better, but my God, but at least Damian Pierce, we saw
14:56the best version of Damian Pierce.
14:57We did.
14:58We did indeed.
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