00:00Reed Blankenship, previously with the Eagles, play safety, three years, $24 million.
00:06Quick math, $8 million on average to solidify that safety spot that they've been picking at.
00:12They've been trying to address this.
00:14Jimmy Ward there, obviously you go and you trade for C.J. Gardner-Johnson to be there.
00:19None of those fully lock that down.
00:21Jimmy Ward obviously kind of ages out and injuries end up getting to him at that place.
00:25C.J. Gardner-Johnson just does not fit with the culture at some point.
00:29And I had been under the impression that I thought that maybe they would go with M.J. Stewart, maybe
00:33Jalen Reed.
00:34Neither of those ends up being the answer is it's going to be Reed Blankenship.
00:38You look at the contract and just the style of play that he brings.
00:42But this also, to me, felt like eating your dessert before you get to your vegetables.
00:48How'd you put it, Figgy? That one, too, was good, too.
00:50Yeah, I said it's like working out and just focusing on arms.
00:54Yeah, no leg day.
00:55All chest no legs, no cardio, just arms.
00:59I like both of those.
01:01Yeah, this was a no leg day kind of move.
01:03Now, you ask, you know, how does it make us feel?
01:06Okay, so I'll put it.
01:07Or what do you think about it?
01:08Or what do you think about it?
01:09What are your thoughts?
01:09I think those are two different answers.
01:11What I think about it is great.
01:14I really do.
01:15You know how I felt about Jalen Reed.
01:17I'm like, okay, maybe, maybe not.
01:18Yeah, you had a little bit more.
01:20I was very skeptical because he just didn't play that much.
01:22In that position, that was kind of an issue last season.
01:27And so I'm looking at it, and I'm like, by itself, in the proverbial bubble, I like this a lot.
01:32I mean, you are a world-class defense, and you just got better at the only possible place that you
01:40could say,
01:40well, there's a little bit of a hole there.
01:42There's a little bit of an upgrade you can do there.
01:43The only spot was safety.
01:45You know, generally speaking, I know they're going to move some contracts around, and some players are, you know.
01:49That was the issue last season.
01:50Yeah, like Tim Settle and all that.
01:53Yeah, there's going to be some movement.
01:54But by and large, your front line players, the only place you could maybe, you know, criticize was safety.
01:59So by itself, I actually love this move.
02:02I love this move.
02:04But how did it make me feel?
02:05It made me feel like they were sitting over there going, boy, we really need some help on the offense.
02:11I got an idea.
02:12Let's help the defense.
02:13You know, it's just, but on the other hand, had they made a move on the offensive line yesterday and
02:21then made this move, we'd feel pretty good.
02:23Yeah.
02:24You know, we'd feel pretty good.
02:25The problem is they didn't make a move on the offensive line.
02:27So it's kind of a weird place.
02:28Yeah, because it did feel like safety was something that they needed some level of addressing.
02:33And I think that my thought process on MJ Stewart, Jalen Reed, one of those two, maybe a combination of
02:39two holding it down, kind of is born out of being having the zero sum nature of football beat into
02:46my head.
02:46Because you have a lot of things in a lot of places, and some places are going to be a
02:50little lacking comparatively because you can't be great everywhere.
02:54And I thought that maybe that was going to be safety for this team.
02:58Nope, they're going to spend there.
02:59And I think that the reason why this becomes in the crosshairs is because, as you mentioned, they have not
03:05fully addressed offensive line yet.
03:08Or at least not even done the thing that you typically want to do, which is have a viable answer,
03:12even if it's not the best answer in every spot before you get to the draft.
03:16Because left guard is sitting there snaking open, right?
03:18If it's Jarrett Patterson, I don't think there's going to be a person in the Houston, Texas fan base that
03:23is comfortable and happy with that.
03:24Maybe outside of somebody with the last name Patterson.
03:27And so with that being the case, this hit me in a weird place.
03:31But I do think this is a move that's okay.
03:33The problem is, again, we're having to do a lot of faith in what Nick Casario might have up his
03:39sleeve or his capability of drafting on the offensive line.
03:42And there is reason to have concern about those things.
03:46Well, and that leads to my other question here, which is more of a discussion about their philosophy.
03:52Are they sitting here thinking, look, we are an offense that is just never going to be to the same
04:00caliber as our defense.
04:01So, is it a philosophical thing?
04:05Let's just load up even more.
04:06Maybe even, you know, at some point with the draft and other acquisitions, you know, add to the defense even
04:12more and just become, you know, a team that is, you know, Mr. 17-13.
04:18You know, we're planning on winning every game, 17-13, 9-3, you know, 13-6, those types.
04:24And I'm not kidding.
04:25Yeah, I mean, they are that good.
04:26Are they saying, look, there is nothing we can or very little we can do offensively via free agency or
04:32the draft where all of a sudden the offense elevates to an above average, you know, to very good offense?
04:39You know, maybe they're thinking, we're going to try to get better.
04:42We're going to run this Patriots system.
04:43We're going to run the damn ball.
04:45But let's be real here.
04:46Our offense can only get so high, you know?
04:49Yeah, they probably was looking at it like, damn, we were that close last season.
04:54So let's keep doing what we're doing to add more to the defense and keep rolling like that.
05:00Might be on to something.
05:01And there's something to be said for this is a somewhat running proposition when you talk about having this defense
05:07be damn near infallible, right?
05:09I understand that prospect.
05:11And this is a championship-winning safety.
05:13Yes, he had a little bit of a down year last year, but I also think that there's something to
05:17be said for slotting into a defense that is very clear in what they do and a role for him
05:22that is very clear.
05:23Something that he can do, applying that physicality, you know, bringing all that, bringing what he has to this context
05:30and around the dudes that he has.
05:31Like, I do think that there's something to that.
05:34There's also a possibility that what you said factors in here where they go.
05:38There's a ceiling that we can't get to.
05:40Yes.
05:40Yeah.
05:40On the offense, again, the thing that makes it uncomfortable is we're not talking about, okay, the wide receiving core
05:46isn't that strong on the offensive side.
05:48Because if that was what we were talking about, okay, there's ways around that.
05:52There's ways to kind of make that better.
05:54Even if we go, oh, the running backs aren't that strong.
05:56We've seen that with the Kansas City Chiefs of late where they've used the screen game and there are ways
06:00around that.
06:01There's not really a way around an offensive line that is not capable of holding up, at least in the
06:06pass game, and even also being as physical as you want them to be in the run game.
06:09No real substitute for that.
06:11And that's the reason why this hits me so hard.
06:13It's not just that the offense isn't up to a certain level.
06:16It's that this is the core of what you do on offense in the offensive line, and that has not
06:20quite been addressed yet.
06:22There's the question that comes in where you go, what did you see in day one that you would have
06:27liked to see?
06:28I mean, there's dudes that go off the board that we've talked about, right?
06:30David Edwards, now that's a four-year deal.
06:32But also, I would like to have some level of addressing on the offensive line that I feel like is
06:37a long-term, because that was right now.
06:39You talk about having guarantees on the offensive line.
06:43Ed Ingram, for a few years, I feel okay about that.
06:46Arian Territory, I feel great about that.
06:48I would love to have another guy that not only do I believe can play, but can play for a
06:52period of time to where you're having not just an offensive line that looks like they can do the job
06:56for 2026,
06:56but a basis for the next few years.
06:59There's definitely some moves out there that happen in this day one of legal tampering that I would have been
07:06interested in.
07:06Now, of course, there were some that you go, okay, I completely get why you're not in that place.
07:10But there's still opportunities.
07:12I guess it's ultimately the hope that we have to lean on.
07:14There's still opportunities to make some moves, and that's all you have at this point.
07:18And then we will have the opportunity to fully judge it once you get to a place that you're settled.
07:22I mean, we were sitting here after the postseason saying, Philip Rivers could have gotten this team to a Super
07:29Bowl.
07:29Any semblance of just passable offense could have gotten this team to the Super Bowl.
07:34Maybe that's their philosophy.
07:36Let's just be good.
07:37You know, let's just be good.
07:39But there is a very big question that's hovering, and maybe we'll get to it at some point.
07:42It still sends a little bit of a message to C.J. Stroud.
07:45It still does.
07:46I mean, how would you feel if you were C.J. Stroud just seeing the way they're leaning more defense
07:52and not really trying to get him the help that we all think he needs?
07:58I would be a little nervous.
08:00Not great.
08:00Not great.
08:01I'd probably be on the phone with my agent like, hey, I don't know what's going on down here.
08:05And as much as we're talking about the nature of feel and confidence,
08:08if this is the pass rush room, so to say, right,
08:13if we're talking about the edges where you go 36 hours into 24 hours into de facto free agency
08:20and we haven't seen anything, I'm cool, right?
08:22They've earned that level of trust in that place of I know that they can take a lot
08:26or take a little and make a lot out of it.
08:28The offensive line has not been the case.
08:30I think you have to factor in the history of this.
08:32And as of right now, I think there's reason to be concerned.
08:35Now, it's not anything that you jump out the gym because there's still avenues for you to get answers.
08:39But I'm not going to be mad at anybody because I'd be mad at myself in this instance
08:43for being a little bit nervous and a little bit nervy at this point.
08:47But we will continue to watch and see if anything starts popping off,
08:51particularly offensive line-wise for the Texans and otherwise,
08:54as we continue in this free agency period of the 2026 NFL season.
