The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
11/06 Hour 1 - The Texans Attitude Towards Not Trading is Irritating and Concerning
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Winston, Wednesday edition of the Killer B's on ESPN 97.5 and ESPN and 92.5. The sun did come up today. The sun came up. I was very beat up. I was very upset. Whatever I woke up this morning. I really wasn't that upset yesterday, but I woke up this morning and it hit me. It's like, man, this is just doesn't feel right. Something does not sitting right with me. It was the fact that Nicusario didn't make a trade yesterday. It's a fact that the Houston Texans label themselves as contenders in the AFC. They would tell you that. They think they're a good football team. They're not going to stack themselves up to other teams and tell you not Super Bowl or Buzz. Nobody's going to do that. But if you got them true serum and they're telling you the truth after a couple of pops, they'd be the first ones and tell you, yeah, we think we can contend in the AFC. We think we can play with anybody. We might not think that Houston might not think that, but they think that yet they let the trade deadline come and go. And yeah, I think they're probably active. I think they're probably engaged in conversation, but they don't do anything. And then you look at the other teams in the AFC. Like who were the contenders in the AFC? Kansas City. They're definitely a contender in the AFC. What did Kansas City do? They went out and got DeAndre Hopkins, who's a Hall of Fame wide receiver. And they also helped out their defense too. And well, you know, the Texans, they made moves in the off season. They didn't need to do anything at the deadline. You don't think Kansas City did? Kansas City used the first rounder for Xavier Worthy and they signed Hollywood Brown. They entered the season with a pretty good wide receiver trio of her. She rise to Xavier Worthy and Hollywood Brown, but they all got hurt with the exception of Worthy went out to help their football team. Buffalo, what did they do? They traded Stefan Diggs. I think they retired to the Stefan Diggs thing. And they realized, okay, we probably need a go to wide receiver to really be the best version of ourselves. What did they do? They went out and traded for a Mari Cooper, who's actually hurt right now. Baltimore. What did the Ravens do? Deontay, John, they don't even need receivers. They're brand of ball. They don't need receivers. They go out and they trade for Deontay Johnson. They trade for a corner because their corners are all hurt and their defense isn't very good. Even the Pittsburgh Steelers are going out and making trades. Mike Williams, they trade for your guy in Green Bay. You know who doesn't make trades that has a winning record in the AFC? The Denver Broncos, the Los Angeles Chargers, and you. So instead of keeping the company of Baltimore, Kansas City, Buffalo, even the Pittsburgh Steelers, you rather keep the company of the locally Denver Broncos. Yes, another above 500. And the Los Angeles Chargers, that's the company you're keeping, Nick Casario. It's, it's why I said, I started out by saying disappointed yesterday and it was just, I said they had to make a move and they didn't make a move. I mean, if you want to talk about, you know, subtracting Khalil Davis, that's the move. That's not anywhere close to what anybody was expecting or I said that they had to do. It's disgusting to me that you're going to think that you're going to find some lightning in a bottle free agent on the street at this point in the season that you're going to give a workout to or somebody else, somebody else's trash that was playing, you know, third string that might be able to come in and do better for you when you are supposed to be one of the better teams in the AFC when you have an offensive line that has to protect one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL when you went out and spent the resources that you spent in the off season to get Joe Mixin to get Stefan Diggs to bolster your offense, to be more competitive as well as all the things you did on defense. And now with all that being said, you decided to just pucker up and do nothing at a time when you had one last go around chance to be able to enhance your team to whether you say you know, keeping up with the Jones is or just be better so that you have the best chance to win based on the injuries and the less than play that you've had to endure. Demico was talking about like it takes two to tango and I believe that like there's a lot of times where you're trying very hard to make a trade and it just doesn't happen because the other teams that you're talking to are being unrealistic and I'm not a make a trade for the sake of making a trade kind of guy and I do understand the difficulties of trading for an offensive lineman during the deadline. Like those starting offensive linemen, one, don't go on trees. Two are going to be hard to trade for, you know, in the middle of the season. Yes, Minnesota was able to do it quickly after they lost their left tackle. But at the same time, you look at, okay, why didn't why didn't Adam Thelin get traded? You think Carolina was was asking for the moon for Adam Thelin? No? How do I know that? Because they didn't ask for the moon for Deontay Johnson, who's a better receiver than Thelin is younger. And I think Deontay Johnson, he does has years on his contract for Adam Thelin's a rental in the final year of his deal. What's the deal with Jacobi Myers? Like what was the demand for the Raiders that they had on Jacobi Myers? How about Darius Slaton? So like, yes, we don't know what was being asked of these other teams. But if you could have gotten either of those three guys like a sixth or seventh round pick, I think it's a failure by the Houston Texans. There are seven winning teams in the AFC right now. Seven. Seven teams have a winning record. Kansas City made moves. We talked about them. Buffalo made moves. Talked about them. Pittsburgh made moves. Baltimore made moves. The Chargers did not. Denver did not. That's the company you're keeping. And then something else that bothered me. And I think that it's probably why I'm doing a little bit today is I turned on. I was doing a little bit of laundry today. Some honey news doing some chores before I came to work today. Whenever I do that, I look for things to occupy my time because I have ADHD. So I turned on a little Nicocerio, Texans radio, rock and roll, John Harris. And I don't like this attitude that I picked up on about the trade deadline from from the Texans. Okay, I'm going to ask this. Can I say popcorn fart on the radio? Because I think I'm about to because it feels like it feels like the trade deadline is that it feels like there's so much talk about are you buyers or you sellers? Are there sellers? Are there buyers with buyers? This guy's moving this and they should be doing this. It feels like the trade deadline comes down to like three or four trades. And then that's really it. How do you kind of how do you perceive Tuesday's trade deadline? Yeah, not to be too contrite. But I mean, it's usually much to do about nothing. So essentially, a lot of players, you're a lot of players that get moved A or on a kind of expiring type contracts, B hasn't worked out with their team. Most of it is kind of late round pigs, some flips, essentially, you saw a few trades there with a compensation, maybe it was a little bit bigger than what it was. But you're kind of looking at your team. There's an opportunity to add a player that you have a specific defined role for. Great. If not, it's just, you know, you're not going to do something just to do something just to create a bunch of busy work. Okay. Popcorn for busy work. Much to do about nothing. There's mocking people that wanted a trade like that added. It felt very much to me like an entitled New England Patriots. We've won all of these Super Bowl attitude to me. To me, what it felt like Jeremy was the first that John Harris is going to play it to the Texan side of the vest, literally with Nicocerio and just be like, oh, there wasn't a, did you see how many moves were made? And then when you start describing what, as Nick describes, what the moves are and how they go down. So it only costs you a seventh round pick or a sixth round pick or, you know, maybe a slightly higher pick to maybe get whatever you need because you are one of those teams you're describing that had a specific need because Kenyon Green can't play dead. And now he's hurt. And the fact that your third string, which was supposed to be a veteran that could come in and do some things can't do anything either. And you need help there. And your backup also got a concussion. You're hoping he's back at practice, but you need depth. So there was a specific need. It wouldn't have cost you much. You could have, and it was an expiring contract. There was a chance you could get the pick you gave up back like the Chiefs did and one of the moves they made. And you could better yourself. It was everything that fit you to a tee as to why you should have been a team that made a move. You should have been a team active enough to realize if it's not going to cost me more than a sixth or a seventh and I'm going to upgrade a specific position of need. And we all know that there's more than one of those because you talked about wide receiver. I've been harping on this offensive line situation. You had two specific needs. The Chiefs did too. They went out and felt both of them. Like how could you not, how could you sit there and go much and do about nothing? And then oh, by the way, if you look at Shefter and the guys that tweeted all the moves that were made, I'm pretty sure that Lattimore, that Amari Cooper, like DeAndre Hopkins was at Uche, the outside linebacker that went from the Patriots to the Chiefs. All these different guys were much to do about something, guys that could actually make an impact on a team that's trying to make an impact in their conference, in the playoffs, to do what everybody wants the Texans to do. Yeah, the attitude made me sick. Like I can, I can list like, Demico Ryan's like, you know, it takes two to tango. I get that. Like, I get that. I understand the art of the deal. I understand that you can't just pick, you know, these left guards off of the tree. And then here you go. He's your starting offensive lineman. I get that they probably, you know, turned over every stone. I trust that they kicked every tire. It's the attitude that bothered me. I can live with the Demico Ryan's answer. Hey, you know, players get traded. It takes two to tango. You can't always get something done. I respect that. Like I'll, I'll be upset that you didn't help the team, but I'll understand that whenever you have the attitude of, you know, whatever, it's much to do about nothing. One, it's disrespectful to the players they got traded. You're disrespecting DeAndre Hopkins whenever you say, Oh, well, they're just riddle rental contracts. You're disrespecting DeAndre Hopkins when you say that the second best receiver in Houston, Texans history. You're disrespecting Robinson, Cam Robinson, who went to Minnesota, who was really the only offensive lineman that was traded. And he was traded for fifth rounder. Maybe you didn't want to give up that. I understand. And he's a tackle. He's not a guard. I get that. But oh, it's much to do about nothing. We don't need to help our team. We're, we're just far too good. Popcorn fart, like all of the mocking people that wanted to have this trade. It really irritated me. Those are really irritated me about the Demico part of this. And his comment is what the two takes to detango, where I understand that is you got Brandon Sherford with the jags. I don't think the jags probably wanted to make a trade with the Texans and try and help them. And maybe they maybe they were willing to, but they're like, give us a force. Right. So they'll pump the ante. So that's where it takes two or Tennessee, you know, there's no way that Amy skunk and everybody over there in Tennessee wants to do anything to try and help the the Texans. So those are understandable. That's where it probably takes two to tango and it probably wasn't going to happen. But there were plenty of other teams willing and we know Carolina were sellers. We know the Browns were more sellers than we thought they were making moves. You needed to try and find someone that at the very worst was better than, than, than Kenyan green or Kendrick green, but at the very best could have been a guy with some experience that might be able to, whether it's backup Patterson or step in and be able to hold their own at left guard, help you in some sort of, I even said, if you wanted to find a center and just allow Patterson to play guard or juice to play guard, that's fine too. But there were moves to be made. Carolina, if they're selling, like you mentioned, how did Adam feeling not be better than either of the guys that you Hutchinson or Metchy in the slot to try and replace and do what Diggs does. Feelings gets a res has a resume that says he could do just that. Yeah. See, I give them the benefit of the doubt with the offensive lineman because there was only one offensive lineman traded at the deadline. And that was the left tackle when he went for a fifth rounder. Like if we're assuming that the Texans didn't want to give up a fifth or better, like I can understand that. Like Nicoceria has a pretty good draft history, doesn't want to give up a top five round pick. Okay. Like I understand that. I understand that the trade market. Look, there was no other offensive lineman that got traded. So I could, I could put two and two together. Perhaps the price for offensive lineman, if there were even offensive linemen that were available, what was too high? But there were other pieces that could have been acquired that help your team. Would they have been the upgrade at the offensive line? No, because it wouldn't have been an offensive lineman. Could it have made what has been a pretty disappointing offense slightly better? Yes. If it is for a rental and you, you're in the business of trading sixth and seventh rounders, like they're nothing, to me, you make that trade. I just didn't love the attitude. I can, I can accept the fact that you didn't get something done. I can accept the D'Amico Ryan's. It takes two to tango. We tried. We kicked every tire. I can understand that. But the, oh, it's much to do about nothing. You want to disrespect DeAndre Hopkins. You want to disrespect Cam Robinson, go disrespect Amari Cooper. Those players don't really move the needle. They don't do a whole lot. Very flippant. And I didn't like it. It was flippant because the fact that you think about this, you're right in the Patriots attitude. But it would be one thing if you're playing your best football right now, if you're a team playing like the Ravens or the Lions and you're steam rolling people and you're having your way with teams that you're playing, you're doing whatever you want, you're having success on both sides of the football, that's one thing. You say, well, you know what, I'm going to ride this out. I'm not willing to do a whole lot to give up a whole lot to try and change anything that we're doing right now because we're doing it well. But you're not, you're not blocking in the past game. You're not giving your quarterback time. One of your better receivers went down and you're not doing anything to replace them. The guys you expected to step up haven't. And so you have opportunities to get better. And yet you have this holier than now attitude that, nah, that's for other, you know, other teams to screw around with. Not something that we're needing to do. Yeah, it was something you needed to do and a golden opportunity just went right out the door. Yeah, I was folding the towels and I heard that and I just dropped my towels and disbelief. Couldn't believe it. Drop my trousers. I don't really want to think about that. Somewhere just John Watson just paused at Jeremy's comment. I don't think that I am his demographic. Probably not. I don't think I am. He just heard drop towel. Yeah, it would have to be a baby towel for him to be in that. Yeah, I'm disappointed. I mean, like, I guess the main takeaway I want to hear that audio is I just don't believe them. This sounds like the the benefit of hindsight trying to justify the inaction more than it is like their actual belief in the trade deadline. But my disappointment still comes from that this team wasn't perfect. I mean, there's six and three. We've obviously seen the problems of the offensive line. We've seen the problems with coverage from the nickel corners. We've seen the problems with death, especially a wide receiver in other places on the team linebacker death other places. This if this was a perfect team, like, maybe you could say the lions and the chiefs are fine. I get you standing pat, even though the chiefs may have moved, but you have holes. The the the costs of doing business from what we saw from this market wasn't extremely high. We're talking six or seven throughout picks. And to me, if you're not getting better, you're getting worse, especially if the teams around you are getting better. So I felt this was a missed opportunity and probably a sign that the ultimate ceiling we thought they would have unless the guys returning from injury completely change things is not as high as we'd hope they would be before the season. Yeah, I I'm with you that they're not really being truthful. And you know, Caerio is not really going to be truthful very often. To me, it's more the attitude. Like, hey, we tried. We tried. We just couldn't accomplish the price was too high. All of that. So that's that's the that's really where my stance is at. Battery Chuck, which offensive lineman would you get for a seventh rounder? I don't think you're getting an offensive lineman. There was one offensive lineman that was traded. I don't think the Texans were giving up more than a six round pick. To me, you're helping in other areas whether I do think that the price for receiver was pretty cheap. I think you could have gotten Adam Deland for a sixth. I don't hate the nickel corner thing as well. Like, I don't love Jalen Petrie as my nickel corner. They do. All right. 713, 780 ESPN. Blessings are stressing. We'll meet up with our guy Garrett a little bit later. Dana Brown had some things to say is Alex Brightman going to be an astro. We'll discuss that later on as well. Coming up next though, if Nico's been cleared and passed all the tests, why wouldn't you activate him for Sunday? And I've been waiting all day for Sunday night. 713, 780 ESPN HR and P listener line. We're on the Twitch Twitch.tv/espn975 on the YouTube and ESPN Houston Twitter as well at ESPN 975. Blankers at Pac Man Joel Brian at SACC by BMAC. I'm at Jeremy Branham. We are the bees on ESPN 975 and ESPN 95. Hey, before we go to the break, we're from a good friend, Doc Lindeville. 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I'll go Stuj younger. I think he's more athletic too. I definitely think he's bigger. He is bigger. I think that he's younger and I think that he's one of the big boys and when you're a big boy, you can move people and I think that you know it might be a little past Creighton's prime. Yeah, I would go with Stuj there. Any objection, Brian? No, it's an easy suits. He's got the height. He's got the weight. He's got the age. I think if Creighton starts yelling at people though before the snap, he could actually move some people back. Creighton be better. Oline coach than Oline. Oline. Maybe old school. Yeah, yeah. Old school. Sure. Yellen. Oh, I almost forgot. There was a terrible parking job. Terrible parking job in the parking lot today. Yup. Sure was. Was it Brian McChill? No, it was not Brian. I actually parked next to Brian. I backed into his forward facing truck. No, it was the one across the aisle. The aisle was like, it was like a forward slash, a forward slash totally totally eliminates the parking spot to his left. It's just, it's the same area where we parked the Trocious. I, you know, I should have left them a note. I'm just kidding. I don't know. Seriously. What's the protocol there? Because I had one today at the gym that really ticked me off. Like when I got back to my car, someone did, someone did the kind of angled over the white line, sure angled to where I could barely open my driver's side door and the back end of their car made it so that I had to like really, I had like a couple of inches between their bumper and mine because they came in on such an angle. And I'm like, who does this with all their spots all over? But like, are you in that big of a hurry that you just cut the angle, get in there as close to my door as possible and just say, hey, screw it, they get out. Yeah, it's tough. I mean, if the car is already there before you, you just don't park there. But was I was there first, right? I'm just saying I'm talking through the process here. It sounds like the car next to you. It broke the parallel principle. Oh, yeah, it's just the thing that Brian did the other day. It doesn't have to be over the line. It just, it's the oh, yeah, it's not strange. Yeah, it's just if you, if you park in an angle, you make it difficult for other people to get into the spot. Um, yeah, I mean, I'm not a leave a letter guy. Like, that's kind of laying my thing. I thought about the note. I thought about opening my door visually hard. No, I'm not going to leave it. No, I think I would just get frustrated talk about it on the radio and then forget about it after I did. I think we're good then. I think it'd be the release. Yeah, I'm, I'm not going to be super careful about if I have to get in my car and your car is way too close and over the line. If, well, if I have to open my car door a little bit and be in my door and the process. Yeah. No, you should just be an athlete and get through the passenger side. How did you have to do that? I managed to squeeze in, but I was not pleased. Yeah, I'll try to squeeze in, but I'm not going to sit there and wait on them. Why not? No, I didn't say wait on them. I said, get through the passenger side. No, there's no chance. Why not? Give me an athlete. Why? I mean, you can run the five yards behind to go off points of line. You think you can get through the passenger side? It's a good point. Not that big a deal. It's a pretty good point. Aaron Wilson reported earlier today. Now, Nico Collins did not practice today. Gamesmanship, you know, the hard days Thursday ahead of a Sunday game. So tomorrow will be the one that we're really watching. Aaron Wilson, who said that Kamari Lasseter had a broken spatula. You had only missed two games. Aaron Wilson, who said that D'Amico Ryan's was not interested in the Houston Texans job. D'Amico in his second year is the Houston Texans head coach in the job. He reported though that Nico Collins has passed all tests for hamstring, no setbacks per league sources, regain speed, mobility, ready to go, matter of win, not if he'll be designated for return, team still determining of activating him for Lions game. He also said he might not practice today. And then he did not practice today. So the question is if, and we don't know this for sure, but if Nico has been cleared and passed all the tests, why would you not activate him for Sunday night football? Yeah. I mean, look, we've talked about this previously, and I get that you want him 100%. But if you're hearing all these things and you know that he's regained his speed and he's ready to go, and you know how desperate they desperately need all hands on deck for their offense, why wouldn't you play him? He is the safety blanket that CJ has relied on throughout his career, not just this year. In terms of when he's getting out of the pocket, when he's going off script, when he needs to create something out of nothing, he finds Nico and he finds Nico also very quickly over the middle in the slot. He finds a way to connect with Nico Collins. There's a timing there. There's an act that there's just a chemistry between the two that works and makes sense. You're playing one of the better teams in football, maybe the best team in the NFC. You need to have all hands on deck. And I don't understand screw gamesmanship. At a certain point, they know that he's there. And if they hear what we hear and they know he's ready to go, it's not like they're not going to prepare to have him on the field if you're Detroit. But if you're the Texans, you need him on the field right now because you're swooning and you need to play well Sunday night. I like that word. Well done. I'm a fan of that word. I was listening to Dan Campbell in his press conferences and stuff. And to your point, he said, yeah, we're planning for Nico Collins. And Dan Campbell even went as far to say that he thinks Nico is going to play. So they're preparing that that Nico Collins is going to play. Now, if I were to play devil's advocate here, why not the dusty Baker principle here? Why not the dusty Baker theory that when he's good, especially with the soft tissue injuries, give him one more week. And we did know that Nico Collins was dealing with a hamstring before he injured the hamstring. He missed a few days of practice. I think a week or two prior because of the hamstring and then had it, of course, you know, go out on him on that long touchdown, place him on the IR. And he's now missed four games. So I wouldn't hate the Nico are the dusty Baker philosophy of give him one more game once he's 100% and make sure that he's 100% because if he's just now becoming 100% like in the last couple of days, well, now you can get him a week in a couple of days to 100% even more if you sit him out for one more game. And look, all games in the NFL are important. At the same time, Houston Texans are going to run away with this division. It's a two game lead. They own the tiebreaker against the Colts. What is the big deal if Nico Collins really missed the game against Detroit? Like, yes, it lessens your chances of winning against the Detroit Lions, a Lions team who was already favored. But is it that big deal if you lose this game? See, I think it is. And I think it is because of the fact that they've been playing so poorly, because of the fact that even when they win, there's a whole lot of finger pointing and second guessing and questioning just the fact that they had to squeak out a win. And then you lose the game against the Jets and all hell breaks loose. And of course, Canyon Green was awful for the second straight game. And your offense wasn't productive and wasn't able to do a whole hell of a lot. And you need a guy like this. And I think it's for a variety of reasons, because if you were playing your best football, then I can understand the Dusty Baker philosophy. But when you're playing against a team that's very, very good, and it would be really good for everything that this team needs right now to not only play good, but if they could possibly get a win to kind of start to erase some of the bad losses they had against NFC teams that are on your resume, like Minnesota, like Green Bay, and show we can compete with some of the better teams in football. In order to do that, I think you need the best receiver on your team. That's one of the best receivers in football. And I think that that as much as he doesn't play offensive guard, he's a guy that kind of unlocks a different gear for CJ to give them better opportunities to move the offense. Oh, I agree that he's a game changer. If he's if he is available, the other stuff that you mentioned, though, I think is important in the like the the court of public perception. I don't think it's actually something that matters over the course of the season. Like, do the Texans absolutely need to play really well in week 10 against the Detroit Lions for their season success? No, what did Kansas City do last year in week 10? No one remembers. What did Kansas City do the year prior to that in week 10? Nobody remembers. New England Patriots won a large amount of Super Bowl championships. What did they do in week 10 in every single one of those seasons? Did not matter. And playing well, I think that starts next week. I think that starts next week whenever you go to Dallas for Monday night football, whenever Tennessee comes to town the week after that whenever you're at Jacksonville the week after that Miami then comes into town. So if you're looking for a window of opportunity, a window of games in which, okay, let's beat up on some lesser competition and get this train rolling build on this momentum. I actually think that starts a week from Monday whenever you go on the road to Dallas. See, I don't simply because of the fact Sunday Night Football, the whole world's watching and the fact that you want to make sure that you can send a message to the to the league, the world, everybody. What does that matter, though? I think it morale wise it matters in the locker room. I think that, you know, to know, well, all guys will tell you honestly, as much as they're not honest about other things, they're going to tell you that they get jacked up for Sunday night football and they want to make their you know, a present their presence known as a team as individuals. Sunday night's a big, big deal. And Sunday night, you don't want to come in not play your best football Thursday night. It's one thing. It's the only game on the schedule, but it's it's Amazon Prime and not as many people that it's not as big an audience, but it's still a national game. Right. But these next two weeks, I think are hyper important. And you know, Dallas is going to be playing without DAC already and they're dinged up. They might not even have CD. But regardless of that, that's always going to be a big game too. But at the same time, if you could come out and kind of start erasing what people saw on Thursday night from a team perspective, say, Hey, look, we did not play good football against the Jets and not just our local audience or the regional everybody saw it. Let's come out on Sunday night and send a message to the rest of the league and everybody watching. We can play with anybody. We can play with the best in the NFL. We can play with the best in the NFC and we're we want some of the lions. And then in order to do that, if we get Nico Collins back with Tank Dell and give CJ better weapons and more variety that he could get into his offense and his security blanket, there's a chance that the offense is going to play better regardless. I just think that that does matter. You mentioned hyper importance this game. Would you fair to say high intensity kind of rigorous game? Like if you're if you're taking that extra step because it's prime time, which I mean, I think it's something you could argue. But if that is indeed true, hyper importance, high intensity, more tenacity. Why do you want to play your star receiver coming off of a strain to hamstring in that type of game? Well, because of the fact that because he is your star receiver, because he gives you a legit chance to but it wouldn't you argue or wouldn't you say that if you have hyper importance, high intensity, like the competition is going to be through the roof, your chance to stack yourself up against the lions and for saying that it's going to cause like 10% more effort. I'm not playing my star receiver in week 10 with the fear that I could lose him for the next eight weeks. I am. And you know, and the other thing is no one says he's got to play every single stat and no one says he's got to play his normal workload. But the fact is, is that when he's on the field, he makes you better. So what whether you pick your spots, you limit his snaps, you do things differently so that he doesn't have to go as far. If you believe Aaron Wilson and he's he's regained his speed and he is pushing it full speed and you know that he can handle that, then whether you reduce his workload or not, having him on the field gives you a better chance to win. And therefore, I want him on the field. Okay. What is the let's put numbers on this. If it increases your chance to win by 25%, but it increases his chances of getting hurt for six weeks by 25%, are you taking that trade off by increases his chance to get hurt by up to six games by 25%? Yeah, like what is the what is the ratio here that you're looking for? Okay. Because you're certainly not guaranteeing victory with Nico. You're you're increasing your chances of winning. Sure. But I would also say that you're increasing his chances of getting hurt because it's first came back. And yes, he's fully sprinting and he's passing all these tests. But you know how those hamstrings can be tricky. I do. But at the same time, you just said it. They're going to win the division. They're going to get in the playoffs. So I believe that with or without him, if he would get was to get hurt again, they're still going to get in and he would be back yet again. So I to me, I want him on the football field that I'm willing to take the chance. Okay, I'm probably look, I trust their training staff oddly enough. Like it's not like the Astros. So like, I really do now to me go in game is somebody that I question like he allowed Will Anderson back in the game might miss this week allowed Joe mixing back in the game. Miss what three or four games allowed his ease out. Shire back into the game miss two games. So I questioned to me go in game. But I do think that they do right by the player when they have a week to evaluate it. So I actually do trust the Texans in this process. If they play Nico, I'm confident that Nico's fine. But I could certainly back them up if they're like, Hey, Nico's good. He's right there. He's right on the cusp. He was 100% on Thursday because he didn't practice today. He was 100% on Thursday. But for the sake of the long term interest of this season, we're going to hold him back. I give him the benefit of the doubt here, actually. The question, is that up to Demico to put him back in the game? Those guys, um, I think it probably varies. Yeah, I mean, Demico, Demico certainly can hold them out. Like if the training staff comes to you and like, Hey, you know, Will Anderson says he can go on this ankle, but you're like, eh, I saw it. He doesn't look good. The mobility is not great. And of course, they're telling you about his mobility. He certainly has the power to hold them out. Yeah. Okay. Because I would think in game with everything he's got going on, I just wonder how much he's involved in the. I think it's more like if the training staff says he's good to go, then I would think that it's more likely to be coordinators. And that's why I'm asking because I would assume that as if it's a star player, he probably has someone who'll be getting his ear and say, Hey, he's good. What do you want to do? Sure. But because I wasn't quite because I would just think with everything going on while the game's going on at that speed with the play and I would and him call in place, I would think it would be more on the coordinators. I think I think it relies. I think everything comes down to the desk of the head coach. I mean, they all have input certainly. Yeah. But if they're like, Hey, you know, we'll give it a go. He's moving at 60% at the MECO. If he was like, Hey, I don't want him to go. And the MECO has the ultimate power 7267, Brandon just wants to wrap everyone in bubble wrap. Not everybody, just the star players. I couldn't care less about the mediocre players. If you, if Jared Patterson wants to run out there through a concussion, but by all means, by all means, if Kendrick green wants to play through a broken leg, by all means, I only care about the star players. I have preferential treatment to the stars. 6381. Come on, J bones. Stop it. It's football. His odds of getting hurt every game. Yes. But they increase first game back off a hamstring versus like seven days later, 10 days later, the further you are away from a hamstring pool, the less likely you are of re aggravating the injury. Yes, there's odds of always getting hurt, but those odds decrease the further you get away from the hammy that you aggravated and then you're rehabbing it and all that. So let's, let's, let's be truthful. We're talking about here, a texture. All right. Go ahead. I think that there's, you know, and getting back to the intensity thing, I think there's obviously a higher level of intensity from the, from the kickoff with a team like the lions. I think once you get in between the lions during the game, I'm not sure that the intensity is any different no matter who they're playing. I would agree with that, which it's a different conversation. I do think the, oh, we really want to win this one. I think that it, that it kind of always exists and that if you need something to motivate you like that, then I kind of question you anyways. All right. 713780, ESPN, HRP listener line, Dana Brown, he had some things to say. Is Alex Bregman going to return to the Astros? Is he going to be here? Dana had a lot to say. Take that for what it's worth. It is the killer bees on ESPN 97 5 and ESPN 92 5. ESPN 97 5 You found that killer bees live for the Veritex community bank studios. Here's Joel Blanken, Jeremy Branham, Dana Brown had some things to say. What is the GM meetings or whatever? Where's the San Antonio or Scott? I don't even know where they're at. But Dana Brown was talking yesterday. Scott Boris talked today, agent of not only Alex Bregman, but also of you say Kukuchi. So Dana Brown, we know that Dana Brown has a lot to say. How much do you trust Dana Brown? First and foremost, before we listen to Dana Brown talk. I don't trust what he says a whole lot. I don't even miss his deadlines. He tells us one thing and then another can be true. So yeah, I don't trust him a whole lot. Yeah, I don't I don't put a whole lot of faith in what Dana Brown's saying. Now, there's some things that he says that maybe it's like a mandate from above, which those are like, okay, maybe like when Jim Crane has his eyes set on something, they kind of get done, right? Jim Crane after Kendall Graveman got hurt. What does he do? I want Josh Hader go get it done. The year before we need a first baseman Jeff Bagwell wants a first baseman. What do you do? I want Jose O'Bray. You go get it done. So Crane Crane, if he has his mind set up to it, I think that he will mandate get this done, get it done quick. So there is that element that you kind of have to try to balance and try to pick up on here was Dana Brown talking to John Marosi saying that he has talked to the representative of Alex Bregman, Scott Bors. We've had multiple conversations with Scott Bors. So, you know, Alex has been great for this organization. We'd love for him to stay here. We feel like, you know, there's a good chance we're going to get something done. And so the conversation back and forth with Scott have been quite interesting. So we're optimistic. All right, optimism. They've talked. What is your takeaway from this sound buy from Dana Brown? It's good that they've had multiple conversations. It's good that they're not playing Astroball in a lot of ways where they just say that they've made an offer. And then at the very end, it's kind of like they're saving grace to be able to say, hey, we tried, but they walked out the door. They got a better offer. We couldn't compete at a certain point. So the multiple conversation sounds like there's more dedication to getting a deal done with Bregman than maybe some of the guys in the past that have walked out the door, i.e. Correa Cole and other Springer. To me, this sounds like they're negotiating. I love it. Like if you're if you're going back, why would you be going back and forth with an agent? Like this multiple conversations is a good thing. And look, again, like we just told you, I don't put a whole lot of faith in what Dana round is saying, but I don't think he would lie to the fact that he's talked to Scott Boris and they've had back and forth conversations. So that to me sounds like a negotiation that they're exchanging at least, hey, we really like them. Okay, well, here's what it's going to take. Okay, well, here's where we're at here. Like it sounds to me like that is a negotiation between Dana and Scott Boris, which I mean, that's going to make a lot of people happy if the negotiations $200 million for six years. Okay, I don't know if I like that a whole lot. Dana Brown asked, okay, well, if you don't get pregnant, what's your plan B? Our mindset right now is that he's not going elsewhere and that we want to sign him. So if he ends up going elsewhere, we're across that bridge and then we get there. But I'm going into this off season with the thought process that we're going to get pregnant. Hopefully, you know, we can do it. And as I said, you know, the conversations with Scott have been productive. Is this a burn the ships for Dana Brown? No, we don't need the ships. We're not going back. It's Alex Bregman or bust. I didn't like hearing any bit of that because I would have preferred for Dana to say we have multiple options that we can still work something, you know, look at as well simply because you just put dollar signs in Scott Boris's eyeballs again because he was like, Oh, you don't have a plan B? Well, that means you really need Alex Bregman, which means you're probably going to pay a little extra. And if I'm Jim Crane with all the negotiations Jim Crane has done over the years and how shrewd of a businessman he is, that's the last negotiating tool I want my general manager throwing out there. I kind of get the sense that it's just my read on the situation. And I don't necessarily agree with it. Like I need to see the terms. I kind of get the sense that Jim Crane has given the order to Dana Brown to lock up Alex Bregman. I wouldn't be mad at it. I wouldn't be surprised by it. It does make me think about him and the fact that the last several moves that he has been literally or supposedly involved in have not gone well. But at the same time, if that's his way of thinking, depending on the price in the years, I would be, I would be, I'm, I'm, I'm be very pleased that Alex Bregman's back on this baseball team. But like you said, look, I said yesterday, I think it was when I was reading some articles on the top 50 free agents, six years and 180, I think it was was for Bregman. I'm not in on six years for yeah, that's why that's why I was a little surprised. You're like, Oh yeah, I like it. I love this. Like I don't know how you could if you don't know the terms. Yeah, if you're going, if you're going like four or five years and you know, and you're in the $30 million a year range, I can stomach that I could be fine with that. And I think that's more along the lines with the Astros are probably trying to hope for is a four year deal. But everything that's out there says Breggman's looking for six. Yeah. And if you, if you have Dana Brown talking like this, and he's gotten the mandate from Jim Crane, I don't think it'd be any less than what Matt Chapman got. Yeah, that's scary. Any less than six. Like if everybody, oh, yes, like if they hear Jim Crane, he told Dana Brown, gold sign, Alex Breggman, no other option. Okay, well, what if it's 250 million for seven years? That's not good. That would be another cost restrictive. I think it was 151 for six. Okay. I could live with that. I could live with it. I wouldn't be pleased with it because like I said, I don't I just I'd be I know they don't want to go over four. Yeah, I think it'd be a terrible, terrible contract. The AAV wouldn't be bad actually be less than what he's making. Right. It'd be 25 million. I don't think that you should sign a 31 year old next year who's been regressing the last three years to a six year contract. Yeah, I don't I think everybody would celebrate it. And I think that in three years, be like, Oh, I wish this would be a contract drain that you wish you didn't have. I don't want to go any further than four. And I know that in that fourth year, I'm probably not going to love it. All right, Dana Brown had some other things to say about Alex Breggman had some other things to say about some of the other players as well. What is the number for you when it comes to Alex Breggman? Do you think that Jim Crane has told Dana Brown, get it done when it pertains to Breggman staying in Houston 713 780 ESPN HR and P listener line 713 78037776. First a moment on HR P human resources and payroll. I love them. They are the very, very best, mostly because whenever I ask for time off there, they're the portal that I go through. So it's it's just classic conditioning of why I like them so much. Cougar owned by my colleague, Ocoogs, Chris Fisher, great people at HRP. 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So yeah, the demand right now is going to be much higher than it would be in February. Let's be honest, as an agent, you're not doing your job if you're not shooting for the moon. I mean, until they say no, nothing is off the realm of possibilities and everything should be on the table to ask for. So he's doing his job by asking for the moon right now. Yeah, so I don't think that anything will be done quickly. Now, whenever I hear like Dana Brown say that it's interesting, it couldn't mean that the demand is high. But we also know that Boris likes to put a lot of stuff in contracts like even these long-term deals who have opt outs after year two, year three, he's even signed some shorter term deals, Blake Snell, the Jordan, Jordan Montgomery signed a, you know, a two year deal with an opt that after year one hated his time in Arizona. Arizona hated having him and he actually opted in because you get the money and they do expect that he'll be traded. So Boris is pretty dang creative. Garrett Cole, another one. Garrett Cole had an opt out. He opted out. The Yankees had an option to tack on what $36 million in an extra year and they're like, Oh, never mind, we're just gonna play the contract as is. Why did you ever opt out to begin with? You weirdo? That was really, really strange. I don't understand what Garrett Cole was doing with that move. I think he was trying to get the extra 36 when he realized the Yankee Yankees made Bach on it. And he obviously has put all his eggs in the basket of he wanted to be a Yankee that he didn't want to consider that anymore. I think he would have gotten more on the open market. And I think he's going to get into them. I do. Cashman was from people I've heard say things that they said that Cashman wasn't willing to do what they wanted to do. And if that's the case and you have to consider playing somewhere else, he didn't want to play anywhere else. I guess not. I guess not. Here's another one from Dana Brown. He was asked, do you think you have a decent chance with Bregman? I think really, really good chance he said. So this depends on what you think of Dana Brown and what you think of the words that Dana Brown says. I think we have a really good chance to see to me what it sounds like is again, Dana Brown's probably saying way too much in the media, but these seem sincere to me. They sound they do sound sincere. That's why I think it might be a mandate for ownership. Yeah, but I mean, there's a lot of times Dana Brown just talks it's not true. The good and the bad of it Jeremy is the fact that it's I'm encouraged by the fact that Bregman could be back because I don't think that the other viable options are not the other options are not viable at third base that I would that I would really like. But at the but at the same time, I don't like the fact that if if there is a good chance he's coming back that the way Dana's handling the media is basically giving all the ammo to Scott Boris. Yeah, Dana never really plays that game. Well, though, like there's been other like the Kyle Tucker thing. Yeah, we really want Kyle Tucker back. Like he's done that really with everybody. And I think that's a mistake. Maybe so. I do think the numbers, the number in the markets, the market though, like you could say you could be in the market for a for a car, right? I really want this, you know, this this nice car. And then you're like, Hey, I tell every dealer, Hey, I really want this nice car. And like they're gonna be like, you know, dear in the headlights. Oh, this guy, I haven't attracted buyer. But then if you're also shopping the market and playing them against each other, then you're still probably gonna get a very similar price to if you didn't have that attitude. So it could go both ways. 71378 03776. I'm with you though. I wouldn't let them see that I'm sweating. I wouldn't be talking this openly about it. I would be very private about it. I don't know how much it matters. But I would be more like you where I'm keeping the cards close to the best. Let's go out to the HR and P listener line, John from the northwest side. You're in the hive with the bees. What's up, John? Yeah, man, you know, I love that. It's a dead man, but I'm sorry, man. I'm just tired of watching now. It's a bit about the third base of your stop. Alex is one of the best defensive just stop I've ever seen. But his hip is not great at all. If I'm going to pay superstar money and all and overpay and all that, you know, and this is my wish, but it'll never happen. Don't get near. Give me a play like a pretty female, somebody like that that can hit and play defense. One of them kind of guys, man. Alex was on our team when we got swept. We keep far. I like the Alex. I appreciate the two world series and all that kind of stuff. But man, this team here needs another hit and not tougher. Duncan did itself and shaped this season and hit like even hit the idea of him, no money. Appreciate the call, John. There's a lot to digest there. You're getting Freddy Freeman. And you remember when Lou no try to get Freeman, though, yeah, you know, was like hot and heavy after Freddie Freeman and with obviously good reasons, Freddie Freeman's a hell of a baseball player and he's a great human being that would fit in any clubhouse. And he does play good defense. Look, Alex is an above average defender. We've talked about that. Alex is not a bad hitter by any stretch of the imagination. The biggest thing with Alex is he's digressed every year and he's also gotten hurt more and it was interesting that he fixed his elbow problem that we were talking about to see if that was going to affect his free agency. But in the process, he's breaking down a little bit more too. So if you want to say go out and get somebody, Jeremy's already highlighted the fact that they don't have the money to play with that a lot of people think that they do. And also you got to have guys out there that could fill the void of what you would be looking to fill with if Alex pregnant isn't your guy. And there aren't that kind of superstar guy out there. And if there was, he'd be commanding way more than what Alex is commanding. Yeah. I wouldn't. I wouldn't pay Braggman more than four years, 120 million. That's never going to get done, Branham. I know. But that's my number. That's my best and final. Braggman's going to be 31 years old next year. I think that he has shown signs of decline. He is, you know, John mentioned, he's a very good defender. He is, you know, one of the gold glove. Obviously his arm isn't what it used to be. The offensive numbers aren't what they used to be. You look at OPS plus, which is like the average OPS plus zero or 100 being the average ball player. It is declined in each of the last three years. It just went down each of the last three seasons. He's getting older. I don't think he's like the super athlete. People treat him like he's a superstar. And I really don't think he's a superstar. I think he's a solid player, really good defender. He'll work. He'll work counts. He'll have good at bats. Although his own base percentage was down to 315 this year from 363. So that's kind of alarming. Why did that go down? Maybe he was trying to hit more home runs in a contract here. I wouldn't get pregnant in the money. He is the back of the epitome of the back of the baseball card guy because of the fact that, you know, the back of his baseball card, essentially, aside from the gold glove, what Scott Morris is using as extra ammunition to try and sell his client to all teams interested is the winning mentality. He's been there, done that. He's got the rings to prove it. He's done a lot in this game, but at the same time, reputation doesn't win baseball games going forward. And to the point we were both making, if he's digressing, if he's going backwards in terms of, yeah, we always always slow, slow start. It was an extremely slow start this year, slower than it's ever been. The numbers are going down. The production from a power perspective, they're down. So if you think, well, the money's going up, but the production's going down and that's a good deal, that's not the kind of return of investment most teams are looking for. 713 780 ESP and Scott Morris said that, uh, the Astros interest in a reunion with Bregman. They're certainly measured to me throughout the process that they're actively engaged. Also, it's a market certainly that the Astros are very aware is very healthy. Cool. That's an agent drawing up the, uh, the demand of his player. The Astros really want them. And then other teams in baseball really want him. Uh, so we'll see what happens there. 713 780 ESP. What's the most you give to Bregman? What's the longest you go to Bregman? And Dana also had other things to say. How about Kakuchi? How about JV? How about Kyle Tucker? Who in a year will be a free agent unless something gets done before then? 713 78037776. It is the BCSPN 97.5 ESPN 92.5 Welcome to the financial quarterback podcast. I'm Josh Gyllensky. And every week I'm diving into the world of retirement, investing and financial planning from understanding market moves to protecting your future. We covered all I bring on expert guests and have a little fun with games and real world insights. With nearly two decades of experience and a Forbes recognized track record, I'm here to guide you through the biggest questions about your money. Subscribe to the financial quarterback podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Enter at CareerBuilder.com to win a trip to Jingle Ball in New York City and discover your earning potential along the way. CareerBuilder.com knows that your skills are superpowers and employers need you now like never before. 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